Free Republic

Considering how pessimistic Western analysts and policymakers have recently become about Ukraine’s chances in Russia’s imperialist war, Ukrainians should be even gloomier. They’re the ones doing the fighting and the dying. Russian missiles are destroying their country. Their people are the targets of the Kremlin’s genocidal urges. In fact, Ukrainians remain bullish about their country’s future. To be sure, not quite as bullish as a year ago, but bullish nonetheless.

On Wednesday’s “CNN News Central,” co-host Kate Bolduan remarked that “2023 was a tough year for the economy” and it was “even tougher for the housing market.” And CNN Business Correspondent Rahel Solomon stated that while mortgage rates will decline in 2024, “it’s not going to be significant,” but it’ll hopefully lead to more listings and help affordability. Bolduan began the segment by saying, “2023 was a tough year for the economy, to say the least, and even tougher for the housing market. Mortgage rates reached a 23-year high, home sales sank to a 13-year low, add that together with...

President Biden was spotted soaking up the sun Saturday during a beach outing that came after a tough four-day workweek. The commander-in-chief caught some rays at the beach near his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Biden, 80, sported blue swim trunks adorned with sea turtles and a white polo shirt as he sunk his toes in the sand alongside First Lady Jill Biden.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday night that fighting in Bakhmut and throughout eastern Ukraine remains “very tough.” “It is very tough in the east, very painful,” Zelensky said in his nightly address to the Ukrainian people. “We need to destroy the enemy’s military might, and we will. Bilohorivka and Maryinka, Avdiivka and Bakhmut, Vuhledar and Kamyanka — and all other places where our future is being decided. Where our future, the future of all Ukrainians, is being fought for.”

President Joe Biden tried to send a message of strength as he reacted to remarks from Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday. “America and its allies are not going to be intimidated by Putin and his reckless words and threats,” Biden said, as he glanced at his notecard. “He’s not going to scare us or intimidate us.” The president spoke about Putin at the White House after delivering remarks on the ongoing devastation following Hurricane Ian in Florida.

President Biden said that Tuesday’s primary results in California, Mississippi and other states sent a message that voters want leaders who will take a tough stance on crime. “I think the voters sent a clear message last night. Both parties have to step up and do something about crime, as well as gun violence,” Biden told reporters on Wednesday before boarding Air Force One to travel to California.

US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy warned Sunday that the “next few weeks will be tough” as COVID-19 infections driven by the Omicron variant continue to surge. Murthy said that the country is still pushing around 800,000 new cases per day, though some regions, such as New York, have begun to see a plateau in infections.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that there could be lockdowns again without widespread “tough” vaccine mandates like the one he implemented in New York City. De Blasio said, “Look, right now, here’s what I fear. Omicron is here. It’s all over the country. This variant moves fast. We have to move faster. I’ll tell you what I hear from our business community that their greatest fear is shutdowns. Their greatest fear is going back to where we were in 2020 to restrictions, to people losing their livelihood. You mentioned unemployment....

A good 2 minute message about life and Jesus Christ. https://twitter.com/TheRightMelissa/status/1437656888250978307

Sen. Joe Manchin’s defiant statement that he will not vote for a sweeping election reform bill nor vote to get rid of the filibuster has progressive groups and some Democratic lawmakers wondering when Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) will get tough with the West Virginia Democrat. Manchin is a member of Schumer’s leadership team and Schumer has several points of leverage, including the power to replace him as chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. But Schumer doesn’t have a reputation for getting tough with colleagues. Instead, he keeps them close and hardly ever criticizes Democratic senators...

Black-owned businesses trapped in the Minneapolis no-go zone where George Floyd was murdered by a police officer are pleading for, among other things, help from police, reports the New York Post: Black merchants near the once-thriving corner of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue said police have abandoned the blocked-off intersection, creating a dangerous autonomous zone that has seen crime spike and business evaporate. “The city left me in danger,” the owner of Smoke In The Pit restaurant told The Post Thursday. “They locked us up on here and left us behind,” said the merchant, who asked to be identified only...

Two guys grow up together, but after college one moves to Georgia and the other to Texas. They agree to meet every ten years in Florida to play golf and catch up with each other. At age 32 they meet, finish their round of golf and head for lunch. "Where you wanna go?" "Hooters." "Why Hooters?" "They have those servers with the big boobs, the tight shorts and the gorgeous legs." "You're on." At age 42, they meet and play golf again "Where you wanna go for lunch?" "Hooters." "Again? Why?" "They have cold beer, big screen TVs, and side...

During an interview on CNN on Wednesday, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) commented on the Democrats’ performance in Senate races by stating that Democrats faced “a really tough map, and every single person that looked at it, any expert on this would say that, from the get-go.”

Alex was having trouble in school. His teacher constantly yelling at him, "You're driving me crazy Alex! Can't you learn anything?". Alex's mama decided to meet with his teacher to discuss the situation. The teacher told her Alex was a disaster, getting the lowest marks of any of her students. She had never had such unmotivated and ignorant boy in her teaching career. Alex's mama, shocked at the feedback, withdrew her son and moved from Detroit to Cleveland. Twenty years later, the teacher was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Her doctors advised surgery and recommended that she go to Cleveland...

MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show" has been hit with a serious one-two punch. One day after finishing May with its worst ratings since Donald Trump took office, the lefty pundit's eponymous program faced a Vanity Fair bombshell report that the New York Times didn’t want its reporters appearing on Maddow's show, not because her ratings were down, but because she was too far left, even for them. The New York Times had reportedly blocked its reporters from appearing on “Maddow” because the program is too partisan, with one insider from the Grey Lady's newsroom agreeing, telling Fox News “it rubs...

A young Texan grew up wanting to be a lawman. He grew up big, 6' 2" strong as a longhorn, and fast as a mustang. He could shoot a bottle cap tossed in the air at 40 paces. When he finally came of age, he applied to where he had only dreamed of working: the West Texas Sheriff's Department. After a series of tests and interviews, the Chief Deputy finally called him into his office for the young man's last interview. The Chief Deputy said, "You're a big strong kid and you can really shoot. So far your qualifications all...

Companies say contributions made before lynching comments became public; law makes that unlikely Half a dozen corporations have asked Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith to reimburse their contributions to her runoff campaign. The companies have been under intense scrutiny in recent days for their financial support of the senator in the wake of her remark that she would be “on the front row” of a “public hanging” at a campaign stop earlier this month. The NAACP has said her comments evoke Mississippi’s bloody history of lynchings. The video has drawn new attention to her runoff race against Democratic challenger and former U.S....

A debate held in the British parliament on Thursday regarding human rights violations and the post-coup situation in Turkey has called on the UK government to take a tougher stance on Ankara. Secured by Labour deputy Joan Ryan, the 90-minute debate was the first discussion on Turkey in four and half years and was attended by almost 20 MPs. Opening the debate Ryan criticised Prime Minister Theresa May's recent Ankara visit and said she had signed an arms deal but remained silent on human rights violations. "Business deals can never replace human rights. The government does not have Turkey's human...

It was a scheme designed to offer Syrian refugees a new life in Scotland, away from the horrors of their war-ravaged homeland. But some of the first to be given sanctuary in Rothesay eight months ago have spoken of their unhappiness on Bute, saying it is ‘full of old people’ and a place ‘where people come to die’. Argyll and Bute Council was among 16 Scottish local authorities to sign up for the initiative, with the first 100 Syrian refugees flown to the UK and on to Scotland in November last year. But Abd, who had been making trips to...

Yesterday's hero was Charlie Sykes on WTMJ for the way he pinned Trump to the wall in a Easter weekend radio interview... real good stuff if you didn't catch it.  -HERE- Today we have Vicki McKenna at WISN doing more of the same  -so is it suddenly open season on Trump now? As the MSM's refusal to cover the news accurately gave rise to Breitbart and Drudge -and subsequently those two sold-out to Trump and are now creating an online market for the reality-based coverage they refuse to do- the 'conservative' media's daily tongue-bath of Trump has obviously created a MASSIVE...