Free Republic

After years of Russiagate conspiracy theories about how the Russians had somehow rigged the 2016 presidential election using Facebook ads, the Senate Intelligence report awkwardly revealed that the Russian operation had focused most of its attention on black nationalists. The Senate report revealed that "most of the videos" put out by the Russian IRA troll factory on YouTube "pertained to police brutality and the activist efforts of the Black Lives Matter organization" and found that "no single group of Americans was targeted... more than African-Americans" around "race and related issues". But that was an understatement. The Russians had created their...

We are facing an unprecedented global energy crunch. Demand for energy is continually rising, and the production of energy is not keeping pace. One of the biggest reasons for this is that large financial institutions have become extremely hesitant to fund any new energy projects that will add more carbon emissions to the environment. Instead, they want to fund projects that will help us transition to the new “green economy”, but meanwhile we are getting to a point where we will soon see widespread shortages of traditional forms of energy.So now we all get to suffer. A lack of oil...

The energy shortage is severe enough that it could cause a lot of unhappiness and social unrest, said Blackstone CEO, Stephen Schwarzman. Benchmark US oil futures are around $85 a barrel after surging about 75% year-to-date. Oil could rise to $100 a barrel, said BlackRock CEO Larry Fink. The global energy crisis is severe enough that it could fuel social unrest, said the CEO of asset management company Blackstone on Monday. Stephen Schwarzman was speaking at the Future Investment Initiative conference in Saudi Arabia. Schwarzman, who is also co-founder of the investment firm, said: "We're going to end up with...

On the global news front I have been watching one event with special attention, mainly because it seems like almost no one else is – I am speaking of course about the social and economic collapse in South Africa that has been escalating over the past couple weeks. What is strange to me is that certain parallels between South Africa and the US are being summarily ignored.Basically, the South African situation is a more exaggerated version of what is happening in America, and we need to consider if it is merely a preview of future events as the extra financial...

<p>A California church that espouses anti-LGBTQ beliefs and has been the recent target of protests was bombed with an improvised explosive device early Saturday morning, authorities said.</p><p>The El Monte Police Department responded to calls around 4:30 a.m. about smoke at First Works Baptist Church. Officers discovered windows were broken and realized there had been a blast, Lt. Christopher Cano told reporters at the scene. There were no injuries or deaths.</p>

Riot police fire teargas and use batons against firefighters asking for pay rise French riot police clashed with uniformed firefighters at protests in Paris on Tuesday, in extraordinary scenes where police used batons and shields against crowds of angry fire officers in helmets. Thousands of firefighters held a demonstration in the French capital, as part of long-running protest movement asking for better pay and conditions, including an increase in their hazard bonus which has not changed since 1990. Some firefighters set their uniforms alight as a symbolic gesture before colleagues put out the fires. But as a group of fire...

The US national security industry is planning for the impact of an unprecedented global food crisis lasting as long as a decade, according to reports by a government contractor. The studies published by CNA Corporation in December 2015, unreported until now, describe a detailed simulation of a protracted global food crisis from 2020 to 2030. The simulation, titled ‘Food Chain Reaction’, was a desktop gaming exercise involving the participation of 65 officials from the US, Europe, Africa, India, Brazil, and key multilateral and intergovernmental institutions. The scenario for the ‘Food Chain Reaction’ simulation was created by experts brought in from...

The black youth unemployment rate for ages 16-19 is 393% higher than the national unemployment rate, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). As of October 2013, the unemployment rate for this demographic was 36.0 percent, an increase over last month’s rate of 35.1 percent. The national unemployment rate currently stands at 7.3 percent. …

In a speech given at the Heritage Foundation Wednesday morning, Paul Ryan said Obama’s method of rallying public support for his $447 billion jobs package was “sowing social unrest and class resentment” and could be “just as damaging as his misguided policies,” reports Politico. As Business Insider points out, Paul Ryan used to be the politician that Obama liked to use “as an example of the type of policy-minded Republican he could work with.” However, the feelings were not reciprocated Wednesday morning when Ryan made it very that he believes the president is stoking an atmosphere of division that is...

Jerusalem's part in tonight's 'March of the Million' social protest was distinctly more social than protest.

Quantum Leap By Ari Bussel The Arab Spring has finally extended to Israel. Earlier this year, when the “Youth Revolt” spread like wildfire throughout the dry lands of the north Saharan desert, most commentators noted that Israel was not part of the discourse. Observers claimed it was a true social revolt against decades of tyranny. This was only partially true. There was something extraordinary in the force with which the discontent spread throughout the Middle East. The Spring of Discontent was fueled by elements foreign to the Middle East, so those in power, rooted in the status quo, were struggling...

Snippet In recent months, some of the brightest minds at Moody’s rating agency have been mulling a fascinating question: should they introduce a formal rating of “social cohesion” into sovereign debt indices, when they judge whether a government is likely to default on its debt – or not? What is becoming clear is that hard numbers do not tell the entire tale. What will be equally crucial in the coming years is not the sheer scale of debt, but whether governments can implement a rational and effective way of cutting it – and potentially allocating pain – without unleashing (at...

Source: Reuters * Worst episode of Italian racial unrest in years * Cars burned, road blocked, some 15 immigrants arrested * Southern town still tense, thousands protest (Recasts, changes dateline from ROME, adds violence, arrests) By Ilario Filippone ROSARNO, Italy, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Thousands of immigrants protested against racism in a southern Italian town on Friday, after a night of rioting that was sparked by an attack on African farm workers by a gang of white youths. In one of Italy's worst episodes of racial unrest in years, dozens of Africans in Rosarno, in the Calabria region, smashed car...

Reuters Features Shortage of Women in East Germany Causes Turmoil 2 hours, 51 minutes ago By Erik Kirschbaum LIEBENTHAL, Germany (Reuters) - A steady exodus of educated women is worsening a gender gap among eastern Germany's young and could be sowing the seeds of social upheaval. Reuters Photo There are now more than 130 men for every 100 women in rural parts of the East and demographic researchers fear the surplus will widen as educated young women continue to leave the former communist region. Depopulation has long been a problem for the East, but the disproportionate number of women leaving...

Remember the emblem of the Communist party? The hammer and the sickle. With China’s newly adopted sector of commerce, the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) is sitting on a three-legged stool -- agriculture, industry and commerce. In today’s China, the likelihood of a guerrilla warfare or armed uprising is near zero. Even if there are some sporadic acts of terrorism, there is simply not sufficient firearms in the society to sustain any meaningful impact on China’s militia. Contrary to public belief, the most likely cause of a social uprising in China is not the quest for more democracy. Democracy is never...

Arabian TwilightBy Lowell PonteFrontPageMagazine.com | August 14, 2002 A CENTURY AGO THEY WERE GOATHERDS, Bedouin Arabs struggling against a corrupt and decrepit Ottoman Empire eager to milk them for the benefit of Constantinople. The Saudi royal family remains colonial, although its appearance of wealth disguises this. But its relationship to the West is that of a colony, a provider of raw material – in this case light, sweet Saudi Arabian crude oil. And the day this oil runs out, or can be bought cheaper elsewhere, or Western technology makes oil unnecessary, the House of Saud will again become the tent...