Free Republic

China’s state-run media outlets have come out in force this week after keeping relatively quiet in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s surprise announcement of tariff increases on Chinese goods. Whether it’s the mouthpiece of the Communist Party or the national television broadcaster, the latest commentary exudes confidence about China’s ability to stand up to the U.S. That’s in contrast to a more muted press in preceding weeks. In an environment of tight government control of what messages are allowed to surface, the shift can shed light into what Chinese leaders are thinking about the drawn out trade negotiations....

US President Trump signed an executive order Wednesday declaring a national emergency, barring the use of telecommunications equipment made by companies deemed a threat to national security… The Executive Order did not name China or Chinese companies specifically. However, separately, and soon after the order was signed, the US Commerce Department did just that. The Commerce Department added Huawei and 70 affiliates to its “Entity List” after it concluded that the Chinese company was engaged in activities “contrary to US national security or foreign policy interests”.

FULL TITLE: Conservative televangelist Pat Robertson says Alabama abortion law is 'extreme' and he believes the state 'has gone too far' Christian televangelist Pat Robertson has said that he believes Alabama's near total ban on abortions is 'extreme' and that the state has gone 'too far'. Robertson, who opposes abortion and hopes to see Roe v Wade overturned, made the remarks on Wednesday on The 700 Club, hours before Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed the new law. The Alabama law contains an exception for when the pregnancy creates a serious health risk for the woman, but not an exception for...

Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, May 13, 2019 Court Finds RM Broadcasting Must Register as a Foreign Agent U.S. District Court Judge Robin L. Rosenberg has ruled that a Florida-based company, RM Broadcasting LLC (RM Broadcasting), was acting as an agent of a foreign principal and must register as such under the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (FARA).The Department of Justice contended in a civil counterclaim that RM Broadcasting has been acting as an agent of the the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency (Rossiya Segodnya), a Russian state-owned...

Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, May 13, 2019 Informatica Agrees to Pay $21.57 Million for Alleged False Claims Caused by Its Commercial Pricing Disclosures Informatica LLC f/k/a Informatica Corporation has agreed to pay $21.57 million to resolve allegations that it caused the government to be overcharged by providing misleading information about its commercial sales practices that was used in General Services Administration (“GSA”) contract negotiations, the Justice Department announced today.  Informatica is a software development company, headquartered in Redwood City, California that sells tools for establishing and maintaining data warehouses.“Companies that negotiate contracts...

A former campaign adviser for John Kasich has registered as a foreign agent to lobby against sanctions on Russia despite being a long-time critic of the Kremlin for interfering in U.S. politics, according to a report. John Weaver was the top strategist on the 2016 presidential campaign of Kasich, the Republican former governor of Ohio who has frequently been at odds with President Trump. Weaver claims he accepted a six-month contract worth $350,000, plus expenses, to work for the foreign power because he wanted to defend America against what he described as Trump's “dangerous” policies. The former Kasich aide signed...

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio will announce his run for the White House tomorrow, joining 22 other Democrats in an increasingly crowded primary race....A campaign spokesperson confirmed the event to NBC News.

Some rank-and-file congressional Democrats favor starting impeachment proceedings against President Trump. Even Democrats who don’t favor impeachment, such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have suggested that Trump’s behavior could be impeachment-worthy, pointing to his administration’s refusal to comply with Congress’s requests for documents and testimony from key officials and the Mueller report’s references to potential obstruction of justice by the president. But Pelosi has downplayed the possibility of pursuing impeachment, hinting that such a move would hurt Democrats electorally. Put simply, the impeachment of Bill Clinton hangs over everything — Republicans impeached Clinton in 1998, and voters rallied to his...

The new Nancy Pelosi/Jerry Nadler BIBLE will be published today... Their BIBLE is all 440 pages of the GREAT MOSLEM PROPHET Robert Mueller. Jerry Nadler beating a dead horse

With the 23-player Women’s World Cup squad named on May 2 , the U.S. Women’s National Team is in its final phase of preparation before the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The USA is coming off a 3-0 victory against South Africa on May 12 in the first match of the three-game Send-Off Series Presented by Volpi Foods. The Americans will now play the middle game of the Send-Off Series, taking on New Zealand on May 16 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis (7 p.m. CT) in front of a crowd that will be over 34,000 and the largest for...

Harvard Deans Ronald S. Sullivan Jr. and his wife Stephanie Robinson were let go from their positions amid the uproar Sullivan's defense of Harvey Weinstein.

The White House announced a reporting tool to let people share instances of political bias by social media platforms. “The Trump Administration is fighting for free speech online. No matter your views, if you suspect political bias has caused you to be censored or silenced online, we want to hear about it!” the White House said on Twitter Wednesday. “SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS should advance FREEDOM OF SPEECH. Yet too many Americans have seen their accounts suspended, banned, or fraudulently reported for unclear 'violations’ of user policies,” the form says. “No matter your views, if you suspect political bias caused such...

Two former top Obama administration officials are working on behalf of Huawei, even as the Chinese telecom giant faces a Trump administration that increasingly sees it as 'a threat to national security'..... President Trump signed an executive order Wednesday likely aimed at limiting the influence of Huawei, ZTE, and other Chinese companies the U.S. intelligence community and law enforcement officials see as threats. But 'Samir Jain', 'Obama’s senior director for cybersecurity' policy for the National Security Council, registered as a lobbyist for Huawei in March 2019,.... and 'James Cole', who was Obama’s deputy attorney general from 2011 to 2015, has...

President Trump is set to unveil an immigration plan that would vastly change who is allowed into the United States. Trump will present the plan in a speech from the White House Rose Garden Thursday afternoon. The new plan would focus on reducing family-based immigration to the U.S. in favor of employment-skill-based immigration.

Workers were working on repairs on a runway at Asuncion silvio pettirossi international airport. 'Too close for me. Video at the link.

There is no shortage of candid opinions on British actress Jameela Jamil's Twitter feed. Aside from starring on NBC's "The Good Place," the 33-year-old is best known for being an outspoken activist, often weighing in on issues from body positivity to sex and consent. This week, Jamil joined the chorus speaking out against highly restrictive abortion legislation being passed or considered by a number of states nationwide. In a series of impassioned tweets on Monday criticizing Georgia's "heartbeat bill," Jamil revealed she had an abortion - a choice, she said, she does not regret. "I had an abortion when I...

President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed a full pardon for former media mogul Conrad Black, who was convicted in 2007 of fraud and obstruction of justice and spent 3-1/2 years in prison. Black, 74, a Canadian-born British citizen, once ran an international newspaper empire that included the Chicago Sun-Times, Britain’s Daily Telegraph and the Jerusalem Post. “Lord Black’s case has attracted broad support from many high-profile individuals who have vigorously vouched for his exceptional character,” the White House said in a statement announcing the pardon. It said Black had made “tremendous contributions to business,” had written books on history and...

Toward a High-Velocity Astronomyby Paul Gilsteron May 15, 2019 Couple the beam from a 100 gigawatt laser with a single-layer lightsail and remarkable things can happen. As envisioned by scientists working with Breakthrough Starshot, a highly reflective sail made incredibly thin — perhaps formed out of graphene and no thicker than a single molecule — could attain speeds of 20 percent of c. That’s good enough to carry a gram-scale payload to the nearest stars, the Alpha Centauri triple system, with a cruise time of 20 years, for a flyby followed by an agonizingly slow but eventually complete data return....

Full Title: First Lady Melania slays in sleeveless floor-length, $6,000 Akris gown, as bow-tied President welcomes White House Historical Association for gala dinner First Lady Melania Trump wowed those in attendance at the White House Historical Association Dinner on Wednesday. Appearing alongside her husband, the first lady wore a floor-length sleeveless black gown. The gown appears to be a similar version of a gown designed by Akris, which sells for $5,990. President Trump, who wore a black bow tie, and the first lady spoke at the start of the gala, which was held Wednesday in the East Room. The annual...

A beautifully decorated room has been discovered at Emperor Nero's famed Domus Aurea (Golden House) in Rome and brought back to light after 2,000 years. The hall is decorated with panthers, centaurs and a delightful sphinx. Experts chanced upon the room while they were doing restoration work on the vault of a neighbouring part of the palace... It was made thanks to a platform erected to restore the vault of room 72 od the sprawling and sumptuous complex, one of the 150 rooms hitherto rediscovered in the grand House the controversial emperor built in 64 AD after the great fire...