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A simple visit to an obscure factory by Chinese President Xi on Monday is all it took to raise the specter that China could be contemplating cutting off supply of critical materials to the U.S. and potentially crippling large swathes of its industries. Also, fueled by political innuendo in Xi’s recent call for a new “Long March” in reference to a key founding tenet of the Chinese Communist Party, speculators are growing increasingly wary of Chinese export restrictions to the U.S., including rare earth minerals. As the world’s largest producer, the Middle Kingdom has a vice-like grip on rare earths...

Populist leader Marine Le Pen and her Rassemblement National (National Rally, or RN) have triumphed over sitting French president Emmanuel Macron in the European Parliament elections, according to exit polls. Ms Le Pen declared victory following exit polls showing the RN winning around 24 per cent of the vote, compared to Macron’s La Republique En Marche! (LREM) who, according to projections, has come in second with 22.5 percent of the vote, French newspaper Le Figaro reports. Declaring victory, the RN leader said, “The trust we have been given by the French in designating us as the first party in France...

An American tourist who ate a slug on a dare was among three people recently infected with rat lungworm in Hawaii, according to health officials. The three cases are isolated and occurred months apart, according to the Hawaii Department of Health (pdf). All three were visiting from the United States. As the name suggests, rat lungworm is caused by a parasitic roundworm, Angiostrongylus cantonensis, that infects rats’ lungs. The parasite then finds its way into slugs, which are then eaten by rats, completing the cycle.

Apparently roast beef sandwiches weren’t enough for this winner. A Florida Man is accused of stealing $1450 that was being counted by an Arby’s cashier. The man, Christopher Merrick, told police that the money “was like calling out to me” before he grabbed it. He walked into a closed Arby’s in as a female worker was counting the cash for her cash drawer. When the employee walked away from the counter, Merrick, grabbed the cash and ran out of the store. Merrick ran into a nearby McDonald’s and hid in the women’s bathroom.

DOLORES, Colo. (KKTV) - Boulders weighing a combined 10 million pounds destroyed a stretch of highway in southwestern Colorado and have left road crews with a daunting cleanup job. "It’s truly mind-boggling that something that big came down," said Mike McVaugh, CDOT Regional Transportation director for southwest Colorado. McVaugh spoke with 11 News sister station CBS Denver about the job ahead. The massive boulders were part of a rockslide Friday afternoon that rendered part of Highway 145 impassable. The slide left behind an 8-foot-deep trench where pavement once was. According to CDOT, the trench was caused by the biggest boulder...

A Russian-born British scholar is suing an alleged FBI informant and four news outlets for allegedly defaming her by linking her to Russian efforts to influence President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign. Svetlana Lokhova filed the suit Thursday in federal court in Alexandria, Va., seeking more than $25 million in damages from longtime University of Cambridge academic Stefan Halper as well as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post and MSNBC. Lokhova alleges that Halper and the news outlets conspired to spread a false narrative that she approached then-Defense Intelligence Agency Director Michael Flynn on behalf of...

Joe Samuels, chief executive of the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA), declared that fraudulent qualifications "are a problem on the African continent." Many African National Congress (ANC) officials lied about their degrees that qualified them for top government positions — with enormous perks and salary. Daniel Mtimkulu, head of engineering services at PRASA, lied about having a Ph.D. Former minister of cooperative governance and traditional affairs Sicelo Shiceka lied about having a master's degree, and Tembakaze Mnyaka lied about having a master's degree in town planning. Vincent Mdunge was spokesman for the South African Police Services (SAPS) and was sentenced...

FULL TITLE: Marine Le Pen's National Rally party wins France elections for European Parliament, Greens surge in Germany: polls The European Union's traditional center splintered in the hardest-fought European Parliament elections in decades, with the far right and pro-environment Greens gaining ground on Sunday after four days of a polarized vote. Turnout was at a two-decade high over the balloting across the 28 European Union countries. The elections were seen as a test of the influence of the nationalist, populist and hard-right movements that have swept the continent in recent years and impelled Britain to quit the EU altogether. Both...

President Trump has authorized Attorney General Bill Barr to declassify all materials related to the Russia investigation, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is giving his full support. Graham said that while Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation was "not a witch hunt" like Trump has claimed, he wants to know exactly how and why it began, and expressed suspicion for those who do not support Trump's decision to release the relevant documents. "The people who are worried about this are worried about being exposed for taking the law in their own hands," Graham said on "Fox News Sunday." Graham was referring...

Video at link.Full title: British Scholar Sues Deep State Spy Stefan Halper and The WaPo, WSJ, NYT and MSNBC for Linking Her to Trump-Russia HoaxRussian historian Svetlana Lokhova broke her silence in April, stepped forward and claimed she was manipulated into entrapping Gen. Michael Flynn through FBI operative Stephan Halper. Flynn was set up by the Obama deep state. Obama hated him because he told the truth about ISIS and they spied on him during the Transition period. The FBI was out to set up Michael Flynn. Russian historian Svetlana Lokhova spoke out in April about how she was set...

Newly Declassified Doc Proves Barr Right as Fake Russian Brennan Spy and Italy's Role in Spying Exposed! The plot thickens. Video at link.

When last we checked in on suspended Judge Shelley Richmond Joseph, she was in considerable hot water. Having allegedly conspired with as many as five people to orchestrate the escape of a criminal illegal alien from her courtroom, she was arrested and prosecutors didn’t seem to be in the mood to let her off lightly. The charges she’s facing could carry decades of jail time, not to mention the end of her judicial career. But with a bit more time to think about it, the US Attorney handling the case appeared to have a change of heart. He decided to...

Live news coverage from Britain's Sky News of EU Election results.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed the New York Times on Sunday, describing the newspaper’s treatment about whether former Trump administration staffer Hope Hicks would comply with a subpoena as “Hope’s Choice.”

UYANG, China—One night this September, construction supervisor Chen Shouli fired off a joke in a chat group. “Haha,” he typed on his black iPhone 7, followed by an off-color wisecrack about a rumored love triangle involving a celebrity and one of China’s most senior government officials. Four days later, he says, the police telephoned, ordering him in for questioning. “I thought, I haven’t done anything wrong, have I? I’m law-abiding,” recalls Mr. Chen, a wiry 41-year-old. “So I went in. Once I arrived, they wouldn’t let me leave.” Mr. Chen was locked in a cell for five days, he says....

NIGEL Farage tonight delivered a massive “wake-up call” to the Tories and Labour as he led the Brexit Party to a historic win in the European elections. Millions of voters deserted the two main parties and flocked to Mr Farage in a bid to show their fury at the failure of the political class to deliver Brexit.

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said on Sunday that Speaker Pelosi’s job is at risk because she is being pressured to go down the impeachment road.“Her job is very much at risk,” Graham said on “Fox News Sunday.” “Nancy Pelosi is riding a bucking, wild bronco called the Democratic caucus.” “Seventy percent of the Democratic base wants President Trump impeached. She knows that impeachment would be political suicide because there’s no reason to impeach the president. So she’s trying to keep the party intact. If she goes down the impeachment road, Republicans take back the House, we keep the Senate, President...

    The FReeper Canteen Observes ------------------------Memorial Day 2019 ------------------------     HistoryMemorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service. There are many stories as to its actual beginnings, with over two dozen cities and towns laying claim to being the birthplace of Memorial Day. There is also evidence that organized women's groups in the South were decorating graves before the end of the Civil War: a hymn published in 1867, "Kneel Where Our Loves are Sleeping" by Nella L. Sweet (see below) carried the dedication "To...

Recently we had a spirited debate here over the strengths and weaknesses of top-down totalitarian systems, such as China and Nazi Germany, when it came to economic growth. In "Hitler's Beneficiaries: Plunder, Racial War, and the Nazi Welfare State," Gotz Aly, a leading German historian of the Holocaust, sheds new light on the Nazi "Economic Miracle." In a nutshell, Aly argues that "The Nazi leadership established a framework for directly sharing the spoils of its military victories with the majority of Germans," and that it was Hitler's ability to---until late 1944---keep the average German family on the home front well...

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating religious discrimination claims against two airports because plans for Chick-fil-A restaurants were scrapped after complaints about the fast food chain's stance on LGBTQ issues. "The Department of Transportation has received complaints alleging discrimination by two airport operators against a private company due to the expression of the owner's religious beliefs," an FAA statement said. “FAA's Office of Civil Rights has notified the San Antonio International Airport (SAT) and Buffalo Niagara International Airport (BUF) that it has opened investigations into these complaints. The FAA notes that Federal requirements prohibit airport operators from excluding persons on...