Free Republic

I rushed to hope that the U.S. would turn the Gaza port initiative into the first step in the move toward its comprehensive peace vision, in cooperation with the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority. This was all based on the hope that Qatar, which is Hamas, would be ousted from any role in it, since it is a sponsor of Islamist terrorism worldwide. My hope was indeed consistent with the first reports about the port initiative. I termed it a "port of hope" and considered it a miracle that the Biden administration would take an actual...

Doomsday “prepping” is seeping into the mainstream as Americans of all ages and political persuasions are becoming increasingly worried ahead of the 2024 presidential election about the prospect of a civil war. Hoarding food, water and weapons was once associated with libertarian extremists, but as a rematch between President Biden and his predecessor, former President Donald Trump, seems all but inevitable in 2024, prepping has become a bipartisan activity, according to a Monday USA Today report. “On the left, you have people afraid (Trump’s) going to declare himself dictator of the United States and people on the left are going...

The U.S. said it had delivered more than 54,000 pounds of humanitarian supplies to Gaza on Tuesday as a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas was extended amid prisoner releases. The ceasefire has provided a window for humanitarian efforts in the small territory, where people have been running out of fuel, water and food amid bombing by Israel. Gaza is controlled by Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government. In a release, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) said it had airlifted “24.5 metric tons, more than 54,000 pounds, of UN humanitarian supplies to...

Good morning fellow Freepers. I wanted to take this opportunity to pick your brains. I am looking for suggestions on where to shop for prepper supplies. Most websites want to sell you a huge bucket of stuff, most of which I'd probably never use. What I am looking for instead is a website (besides Amazon of course) where I could go to in order to purchase what I want to acquire. For instance, I can't find any place that will sell individual packets of dried milk, or crackers, stuff like that. The reason I am asking for help is because...

Earlier we told you that the mayor of East Palestine, Ohio called President Biden’s trip to Ukraine a big slap in the face, but the area did end up having one presidential visit. Former president and current presidential candidate Donald Trump went to East Palestine today and brought a lot of supplies with him. Trump got a warm welcome from the citizens of the town: Donald Trump makes it to East Palestine, Ohio, before Mayor Pete or Biden can find the time to get there. Perfect America first metaphor. pic.twitter.com/cKOh6ghD5Q — Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) February 22, 2023 This small American...

Just started speaking.......

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A top Republican in the U.S. Congress said on Sunday the odds of conflict with China over Taiwan "are very high" after a U.S. general caused consternation with a memo that warned that the United States would fight China in the next two years.

The Mighty Mississippi might need a new nickname. North of Memphis, the river looks more like a desert than a river, as barge traffic up and down the crucial corridor is slowed or stranded amid a historic drought. Paul Rohde, who represents the river's shipping and towing industry, says the Mississippi is plunging to record low levels just as farmers send their harvests down river for export. "It's stark. We are seeing operational challenges that are almost unprecedented," said Rohde, Waterways Council vice president of the Midwest area. "One-twelfth of the world's population eats something that emanates from the Mississippi...

Found this for $5.99 in the camping section of Walmart. I have been wanting to have some on hand in case of emergency, and this is way cheaper than I have ever seen it. Could be handy in SHTF times.

Day 93. Today, we discuss the latest news from the battlefront, focussing on the Donbas, and whether there are some positives Ukraine can take from the situation. Plus, an interview with Alex Ostrovskyy, Head of Whisky at The Whisky Corner.

President Joe Biden’s administration will continue exempting a number of China-made medical products from United States tariffs even as the Chinese coronavirus crisis exposed the nation’s over-reliance on foreign countries for vital supplies. Late last week, the Biden administration announced that certain medical products made in China would continue to be exempted from U.S. tariffs. The tariff exclusion would have ended at the end of May but now they will be in place until at least the end of November.

Put simply, an API is a component of a drug that impacts health -- for example, suppressing a disease or its symptoms. APIs are the result of integrating substances known as key starting materials, or KSMs, and intermediates. Few pharmaceutical companies handle the whole process, from KSM to finished drug. Most import at least some materials, especially generic drug makers. And most roads lead to China. ... The U.K.’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency estimated in 2017 that China alone was producing about 40% of all APIs. Its actual influence may reach even farther. This reporter experienced the Chinese...

A Russian government official has threatened that Russia will limit its vital food exports to only nations it considers “friendly”. Dmitry Medvedev, a senior Russian security official who previously served as the nation’s president, has threatened that Russia may soon cut off the West from food exports.A major player in the global market for wheat and other agri-food products, Russia will instead focus on keeping itself fed, according to Medvedev, alongside supplying its friends and close allies. Posting on his Telegram, Medvedev said that cutting off the likes of North America and the European Union from its agricultural produce would...

The United States is providing Ukraine with gas masks, hazmat suits and other supplies to protect it from a possible chemical or biological weapons attack from Russia. White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed the assistance on Friday. She said it was being provided in light of warnings that Russia could use such weapons to counter Ukraine’s stiff resistance during the invasion and might be plotting a “false flag’ operation to justify such an attack.

It seems as though Ukraine is getting more supplies from the UK and other nations, as they have now pledged a new round of supplies, and some of the supplies appear to be of a higher price tag. Meanwhile across all fronts in Ukraine the counterattacks have made massive progress in pushing the Russians back and liberating the Ukrainian villages once occupied by the invaders. Join me as we discuss the past 24 hours of events, and see if there is anything we can take from it.

It was a spooky time to be out at sea off the US East Coast on Halloween in 1991. A strong storm system over the maritime provinces in Canada merged with the remnants of Hurricane Grace, forming a new, epic, and dangerous Nor’easter. The winds of this new storm breached 70 miles per hour and a wave as high as 100 feet was measured off the coast of Nova Scotia, but the storm was not renamed as either a tropical storm or a hurricane – instead, it is known only colloquially as simply the Perfect Storm. Six fishermen from Massachusetts...

The container shipping giant Maersk warned Wednesday that shipping delays caused by increased customs inspections as a result of Western sanctions might spoil or damage food and medical shipments that are bound for Russia.Maersk announced on Tuesday that it was cutting service to Russia to comply with sanctions but is allowing exemptions for food, medical, and humanitarian goods. But now the Denmark-based company is warning against bookings for the exempted goods due to delays. “We do, however, warn caution on still placing bookings for perishable cargo due to significant delays in key transshipment hubs that may damage the cargo,” Maersk...

Global supply chain pressures eased in February as backlogs and delivery times improved in several key markets and a measure of ocean shipping costs declined, according to new data from the New York Federal Reserve released on Thursday. The New York Fed’s supply chain pressure index, first published in January to measure the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on global production troubles and prices, remains at a historic high. But from a peak of 4.5 in December, it has fallen over consecutive months and hit 3.3 in February, with 0 representing the index’s long-term average. The index combines measures of shipping costs,...

As Charles Kennedy writes at OilPrice.com, U.S. gasoline prices are rising after the Russian invasion in Ukraine and could hit $4 per gallon, according to data from the AAA. The average price per gallon of gasoline reached $3.57 as of Friday, according to GasBuddy data, after starting the week at $3.51. A year ago, the average price for gasoline was $2.65 per gallon. “Russia is one of the leading oil producers globally, behind only the United States and Saudi Arabia and if they choose to withhold their oil from the global market, such a move would eventually be reflected in...

Britain’s largest supermarket chain warned “the worst is yet to come” on food inflation as the cost-of-living crisis pulverizes the working poor. John Allan, chairman of Tesco Plc, told the BBC’s Sunday Morning Live that low-income households have difficulty choosing between food and heat this winter. Budgets are tight, triggering a ‘winter of discontent’ if widespread inflation doesn’t diminish. “In some ways, the worst is still to come – because although food price inflation in Tesco last quarter was only 1%, we are impacted by rising energy prices. Our suppliers are impacted by rising energy prices. We’re doing all we...