Free Republic

The Chinese tech billionaire behind Asia's version of Amazon has reportedly not been seen in public for more than two months after falling foul of President Xi Jinping. Jack Ma, one of China's most successful and outspoken tycoons, criticised the country's 'pawnshop' financial regulators and state-owned banks in an incendiary speech in Shanghai in October. He called for reform of a system that 'stifled business innovation' and likened global banking regulations to an 'old people's club'. The speech angered the Chinese government, which viewed Ma's criticisms as an attack on the authority of the Communist Party, and led to its...

“I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called” (Ephesians 4:1). There can be no right living without right principles. Imagine someone saying, “I have some extra money lying around. I think I’ll send a large check to the government.” Absurd, isn’t it? But every year, honest wage-earners fill out forms and give part of their income to the government. Why? It’s not because they are generous but because there is a law— a doctrine—that says they have to. Unless people know the reason for...

Weeks before a presidential inauguration, the District of Columbia would normally be humming with construction vehicles, putting the finishing touches on preparing for thousands to flock to the nation's capital. But this week, work crews actually worked on taking some erected structures down. On Tuesday, workers broke down the reviewing stands that were put in place in front of the White House for the 2021 Presidential Inaugural Parade. President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris plan to take the oath of office in front of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, but with limitations due to the COVID-19 pandemic....

"The Trump campaign had ample opportunity to challenge election results, and those efforts failed from lack of evidence. The legal process was exhausted, and the results were decisively confirmed. The Department of Justice, too, found no basis for overturning the result."

Lumberjacks, arborists and other tree professionals cut down an untold amount of trees and stumps every year. The extremely high risk associated with tree felling requires them to undertake precautions and measures to protect themselves. Despite the safety precautions, many people still get injured in the line of duty. Tree felling is extremely dangerous, that is why most people rely on professionals to get the job done. Of course, not all tree felling is performed by professionals. Hobbyists cut trees too, along with many property owners, but most of them are backed by decades of experience.Facts and figures According to...

300 B.C. Somewhere in what is now Switzerland: three Celts make camp for the night in the dark of a pine forest. One snaps branches from a nearby tree while others empty milk from crude hide bladders into a small wooden bucket. One pine branch becomes a spit to hold the bucket, the other branch a stirring rod. They stir the curds and nod approvingly to one another at the smell. They are making Swiss cheese, long before the birth of Switzerland, or even Julius Caesar, and some 2300 years before the grand opening of Foods For Living.When Julius Caesar...

@daveweigel Unexpected statement from Paul Ryan: "It is difficult to conceive of a more anti-democratic and anti-conservative act than a federal intervention to overturn the results of state-certified elections and disenfranchise millions of Americans." More...

Though an op-ed by Desmond Tutu in the Guardian is framed to makes it seem that the focus is Israel’s reported nuclear weapon arsenal, as we read through it, we learn that the South African Anglican cleric had a different goal in mind: to peddle the lie the Israel is an apartheid state. The piece (“Joe Biden should end the US pretence over Israel’s ‘secret’ nuclear weapons”, Dec. 31) evokes the Israel-South African comparison early, in arguing that Jerusalem offered to sell nuclear weapons to the apartheid government in Pretoria in the 1970s. Israel in fact is a multiple nuclear...

Thank you so much for all the well-wishes on my 18th birthday! Tonight you will find me down at the local pub exposing all the dark secrets behind the climate- and school strike conspiracy and my evil handlers who can no longer control me! I am free at last!!

October 2010 marked the 24th anniversary of Justice Antonin Scalia's appointment to the US Supreme Court. Well known for his sharp wit as well as his originalist approach to the Constitution, Justice Scalia consistently asks more questions during oral arguments and makes more comments than any other Supreme Court justice. And, according to one study, he also gets the most laughs from those who come to watch these arguments. In September 2010, Justice Scalia spoke with UC Hastings law professor Calvin Massey. Series: "Legally Speaking" [3/2011] [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 20773]

I don't think a GA desertification is far away, possibly before the 6th. Where we need work & activism is MI & PA.

1976 was rock’s annus mirabilis. America’s Bicentennial Year–which I spent patriotically popping plenty of red, white, and blue pills—saw the release of such immortal LPs as Frampton Comes Alive, Hotel California, and Fly Like an Eagle, to say nothing of such timeless singles as Paul McCartney and Wings’ “Let ‘Em In,” Gary Wright’s “Dream Weaver,” Chicago’s “If You Leave Me Now,” Barry Manilow’s “I Write the Songs,” and Leo Sayers’ “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing.”Despite the ominous pall cast by the advent of punk—that surly horde of three-chord barbarians who threatened to storm the gates and sack classic rock,...

The wife of this local Amish family will be identified as "L" and for the sake of this article, we'll call her husband "J." "L" and "J" live in house that they built from the ground up, on a 40-acre farm that was part of "J's" father's property. They have five children. The oldest (referred to as "A" in this article) is a 7-year-old boy. Their home is modest, functional and immaculate. A summer day with an Amish familyAmish families get an early start to their day, waking about 4:30 to 5 a.m. "If we oversleep, we really have to...

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) reacted to the dismissal of his lawsuit against Vice President Pence on Saturday, telling Newsmax that a court's refusal to force Pence to overturn the presidential election results essentially served as a call to Americans to incite violence in the streets. "The bottom line is the court is saying, 'We're not going to touch this. You have no remedy,'" Gohmert told Newsmax. "Essentially, the ruling would be 'You have to go to the streets and be as violent as antifa, BLM,'" he added. Gohmert was referring to protests that at times became violent over the summer...

The electoral commission proposed by a group of 11 Republican senators would look at alleged election irregularities, Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) said Saturday. “They’re gathering all the information and they’re challenging every single thing that’s out there. I mean, everything from Sharpies on ballots in Arizona to suitcases of ballots under tables in Georgia to laws that were changed to individuals that were dead or that moved or from out of state that voted,” Lankford said during an appearance on Fox News. “All those things demand us to be able to take a look at. We have got to take...

WINONA, Texas — One person is dead and three more, including the suspect, were injured following a shooting at an East Texas church Sunday morning. According to the Smith County Sheriff's Office, the shooting took place at Starrville Methodist Church, located on Farm-to-Market Road 16 in Winona. The SCSO says the suspect had been hiding in the church's bathroom following a car chase with authorities Saturday night. The SCSO says the suspect was in a dark Volkswagen Beetle and had a shotgun pointed out the window, but later left the car due to a tire blowout and ran away. Sheriff...

In America, January 3rd, 2021 In this, the Declaration of the seventy-five million Americans who sought to have their votes count, who sought to be governed by the United States Constitution, who sought to live free in a nation of laws, we borrow from the words from our Founding Fathers: When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them,...

In light of the strong probability that a Biden administration will soon take office in the White House, Americans must prepare for the cold reality that one of Joe Biden’s foremost objectives will be to fulfill his party’s pledge to “decarbonize the power sector” by implementing “all zero-carbon technologies.” Toward that end, the Democrats will seek to enact a “Green New Deal,” the highly prized centerpiece of their environmental agenda. What, exactly, will that mean for the everyday lives of Americans. The origins of the term “Green New Deal” — an idea founded on the premise that the greenhouse...

A New York state lawmaker has introduced a bill that would allow the government to detain people that they deemed to be a potential public health risk. While the law does not specifically mention coronavirus, it comes amid increasing concerns that the Covid-19 crisis could be used to usher in authoritarianism. RT reports: Authored by a Democratic member of the New York State Assembly N. Nick Perry, Bill A416 calls for the “removal and/or detention” of individuals who are identified as a “case, contact or carrier” of a contagious disease. Such person or group of persons shall be detained in...

President Trump spoke to 300 state legislators from Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania on Saturday and urged them to decertify the false election results for Joe Biden. The Zoom call was hosted by Got Freedom?, a 501(c)4 nonprofit election integrity watchdog group. The President spoke for about 15 minutes and urged the lawmakers to review the evidence of lawlessness, fraud and irregularities that occurred in the 2020 election. Also on the call were Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, professor of law John Eastman, Liberty University Law School Professor Phill Kline, Assistant to the President for Trade and Manufacturing, Peter...