Free Republic

[Snip] The full-year trade deficit for 2021 increased 27% to $859.1 billion, larger than the previous record of $763.53 billion in 2006. [Snip] American consumers have spent heavily on imported goods such as computers, game machines and furniture, flush with stimulus money while less willing to splurge on travels and dining out due to health concerns. [Snip] Trade deficit with China grew 14.5% for the full year to $355.3 billion, as U.S. demand for Chinese goods surged amid the post-pandemic economic recovery. A trade pact with China implemented by former President Donald Trump to reduce the bilateral deficit with Chinese...

"While this issue still hasn’t impacted a significant percentage of the national workforce, various vaccine mandates have led to the dismissal or forced resignation of workers who declined to comply and get vaccinated. This is a significant financial issue for many families because the rules regarding unemployment benefits make many workers ineligible if they either quit or are terminated for cause. In response to this, four states – Arkansas, Florida, Kansas, and Tennessee – had already passed laws making such workers eligible for benefits, with extensions offered in some cases. Now a fifth state has joined the list. Iowa will...

Lackey. Lickspittle. Toady. Sycophant. Take your pick: when it comes to defending Joe Biden, they all fit CNN's John Harwood. In the wake of President Biden shirking responsibility for COVID in a conference call with governors yesterday, there was Harwood on this morning's New Day downplaying and 'splaining away the president's punt on the pandemic. Harwood popped up to play defensive MVP for Biden, probably doing cleanup for Biden's minders: "I think that was a throwaway line from Biden . . . I don't think he was actually signaling it's not my job anymore, it's your job . . ....

The father who went viral on Christmas Eve for getting Joe Biden to say 'Let's go Brandon' said he used the public call with the president to 'voice my disapproval' of the administration. Jared Schmeck, 35, did an interview with former Trump aide Steve Bannon on Monday to explain the exchange and his intentions behind using the phrase that has become synonymous with 'F**k Joe Biden.' 'For me, 'Let's Go Brandon – and I've said it in other articles – I am a Christian man,' Schmeck said during Bannon's War Room podcast on Monday. 'For me, it's God first and...

Is the liberal MSM starting to talk about Joe Biden’s issues including his coherence and confusion problems? It seems like they might finally have started approaching the topic, although certainly not calling out everything, as we might. As we noted over the weekend, in a surprising move for CNN, they were honest and reported on his “confusion” when he was talking about test kits with ABC’s David Muir. He repeatedly called test kits “pills,” then corrected himself and then called them “pills” again even after correcting himself. In a remarkably honest report, CNN took notice of it and pointed out...

"A CNN panelist claimed that a father of four, who tagged a phone call with President Joe Biden with the phrase “Let’s Go, Brandon,” was not only being impolite but also harboring feelings “about insurrection.” Ron Brownstein, a senior editor at The Atlantic, joined a CNN panel to discuss a phone call between Biden, First Lady Jill Biden, and an Oregon father Jared Schmeck who ended his live-streamed phone call with a less vulgar substitute for “f*** Joe Biden.” The CNN host dubbed the interaction between Schmeck and the Bidens “disrespectful,” “juvenile” and “reprehensible.” He also asked Brownstein for his...

A Central Point father of four who wished President Joe Biden and the first lady a wonderful Christmas and added “Let’s go, Brandon,” at the end of a live streamed Santa tracker call told The Oregonian/OregonLive that he didn’t intend his parting message to be vulgar. “At the end of the day, I have nothing against Mr. Biden, but I am frustrated because I think he can be doing a better job,” said Jared Schmeck, 35, who works for an electric company and was previously a Medford police officer for six years until he resigned in July 2018. “I mean...

"Multiple reports are coming in that Joe Biden will address the nation on Tuesday to unveil another round of draconian lockdowns nationwide. The rapid spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 is the latest fearmongering tool being used to exert perpetual control over the masses. But the narrative will be a tough one to sell because the agenda to jab every man, woman, and child in the country is contradicted by Omicron’s apparent immunity against the injections. They’ll need to mix in gaslighting, fake science, and outright lies in order to deliver both sides of the message with a straight...

Joe Biden filed an emergency lawsuit on Tuesday seeking to immediately reinstate his vaccine mandate for private employers with 100 or more workers after the rule faced a series of legal challenges. Earlier this month, the Fifth Circuit Court in New Orleans issued a preliminary pause on the order, which prevented the Occupational Safety and Health Administration from moving forward in implementing the employer rules. The Justice Department argues in its filing, according to The Wall Street Journal, that the rules reflect 'OSHA's judgment that these measures are necessary to mitigate Covid-19 transmission in the workplace, and the grievous harms...

My husband and I went to our local Toyota dealership here in Southern Maryland - one of the largest Toyota dealerships on the East Coast - looking for a new 2022 Camry. We've owned several Camry's since 2000 and I've owned Toyota vehicles since 1980. My husband just comes along with me. He knows that I'm capable of detecting bullsh*t and cockamamie stories from sales staff, so he just sits back and listens. (He's trained me well, I must admit!) We arrived a few minutes before the dealership opened, so we took a drive in the lots in the back...

Biden approval drops to 38% in USA TODAY poll A year before the 2022 midterm elections, Republicans hold a clear lead on the congressional ballot as Joe Biden’s approval rating sinks to a new low of 38%. A USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll, taken Wednesday through Friday, found that Biden’s support has cratered among independent voters. Among the findings: Nearly half of those surveyed, 46%, say Biden has done a worse job as president than they expected, including 16% of those who voted for him. Independents, by (44-6), say he’s done worse than they expected. 64 percent say they don’t want...

The national embarrassment in the Oval Office finds new ways to make a mockery of the United States every time he talks to someone. This week, that “someone” happened to be the Duchess of Cornwall. Camilla apparently can’t stop talking about Biden “breaking wind” during a reception on Monday. He is supposed to be committed to reducing emissions – but when President Joe Biden produced a little natural gas of his own at the COP26 summit, it was audible enough to make the Duchess of Cornwall blush. An informed source has told The Mail on Sunday that Camilla was taken...

so much wonderful content being made off of the Lets go Brandon meme. I thought it would be nice for everyone to share a meme created off the meme.

Joe Biden has framed a nail-bitingly close race for governor of Virginia as a referendum on his young presidency and an opportunity to rebuke his predecessor, Donald Trump. Seemingly liberated from the formal trappings of office by a return to the campaign trail, Biden used a rally in Arlington, Virginia, to launch an unusually scathing and sustained attack on the former president. Biden had made the short journey from Washington to speak in support of the Democrat Terry McAuliffe, who faces a tight election against the Republican Glenn Youngkin next week. “Just remember this: I ran against Donald Trump,” he...

Biden unleashed.