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In Naperville, Illinois, the school board announced it would distribute $10 million back to taxpayers this year. Yes. A tax refund. In a news release, Superintendent Dan Bridges told residents that he "understands the great burden many of our families have faced during the COVID-19 Pandemic and hopes that this reimbursement lessens that burden." The typical family will receive a refund of $200 to $500. Good for Naperville. The 10-month pandemic shutdown generated a savings of roughly $20 million, or about 6.5% out of a $300 million school budget. The Naperville Sun reported that the district's expenses for everything from...

At least half of London’s boroughs have bought and deployed China-made surveillance systems linked to the abuse of Uyghurs, according to data exclusively given to the Thomson Reuters Foundation, raising alarm among privacy advocates and lawmakers. Freedom of information requests filed in late 2020 with all 32 London councils and the next 20 largest UK city councils found about two-thirds owned technology made by two Chinese companies accused of links to the repression of Uyghurs. At least 28 councils owned technology made by Hikvision, the world’s largest purveyor of video surveillance systems and vendor to Xinjiang police agencies, revealed data...

Chinese authorities recently announced a crackdown on criminal rings involved in making fake COVID-19 vaccines, and revealed that some of the products were distributed to other countries. Arrested suspects were accused of gaining illicit profits totaling around 18 million yuan (about $2.78 million). As of Feb. 10, twenty-one vaccine-related cases were being investigated across the country, with 70 suspects arrested, according to a Feb. 15 report by Chinese state media Xinhua. In the early stages of China’s vaccine rollout, the report said, suspects made huge profits through manufacturing fake vaccines, selling and reselling them at high prices, and inoculating groups...

In a handwritten letter sent exclusively to Religion Unplugged, Cardinal Joseph Zen reflected on the Vatican’s continued cooperation with the Chinese Communist Party, declaring the Church in China “schismatic,” and placing the blame on Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Parolin. “I will never fight with the Pope, but the Pope never tried to silence me, so [I] will continue to protest against Parolin,” Zen said. Cardinal Zen, a retired bishop from Hong Kong, has been an unwelcome commentator on the Vatican’s secretive and opaque deal with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on the rights of the church in China. However,...

Former President Donald Trump on Feb. 17 expressed dismay at the Biden administration’s stance toward China, pointing to the Biden family’s business ties with the regime in Beijing. When asked about President Joe Biden’s comments on Feb. 16 that appeared to repeat Chinese Communist Party (CCP) talking points used to justify the government’s repression of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, Trump noted the controversy surrounding Biden’s son, Hunter, and his dealings with China. “His family’s involved with the Chinese, certainly, a long time and a lot of money,” Trump said in an interview with Newsmax. “The whole thing is ridiculous: We...

A venture capitalist and political fundraiser was sentenced today to 144 months in federal prison for falsifying records to conceal his work as a foreign agent while lobbying high-level U.S. government officials, evading the payment of millions of dollars in taxes, making illegal campaign contributions, and obstructing a federal investigation into the source of donations to a presidential inauguration committee.Imaad Shah Zuberi, 50, of Arcadia, California, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Virginia A. Phillips, who also ordered him to pay $15,705,080 in restitution and a criminal fine of $1.75 million.In November 2019, Zuberi pleaded guilty to a three-count information...

Beijing’s Belt and Road deal with the Australian state government of Victoria looks set to be torn up in weeks as the deadline for the states’ to inform the federal government of all foreign agreements draws nearer. Speaking to the Herald Sun, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he saw no benefit to Victoria’s deal with Beijing and signalled that the agreement would be unlikely to stand under the bill. “If there are benefits, what are they and what was paid for them? I don’t have the answers to those questions at this point, but the assessment of those arrangements will...

Melissa Rogers will be director of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, and senior director for faith and public policyCatholic League president Bill Donohue comments on President Biden’s faith-based programs: President Biden’s decision to appoint Melissa Rogers to head the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships is telling. She will also serve as senior director for faith and public policy in the White House Domestic Policy Council. He could not have chosen a more seasoned secularist to steer these faith-based entities. Rogers may be a Baptist, but it is her secular vision of faith-based programs that will direct her decision-making....

The Biden administration changed its position on an upcoming Supreme Court appeal dealing with Arizona’s electoral integrity laws, disavowing the previous administration’s interpretation of anti-discrimination provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Although the Biden administration won’t present oral arguments in the case or update a friend-of-the-court brief filed by the Trump administration, it signaled to the justices and the public that it’s leaving the door open to adopting a more aggressive interpretation of the statute in the future. Section 2 of the law forbids voting practices that result “in a denial or abridgment of the right … to...

Former President Donald Trump is considering joining a new social media platform but stated he might create his own—coming after he was suspended by Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and other Big Tech websites last month. In an interview with Newsmax on Wednesday night—one of his first since leaving office—the former commander-in-chief said he is weighing his options after Twitter moved against him. “We’re negotiating with a number of people, and there’s also the other option of building your own site. Because we have more people than anybody. I mean you can literally build your own site,” Trump said, adding that he...

In Gateway City Church v. Newsom, (9th Cir., Feb. 12, 2021), the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Santa Clara County, California COVID-19 Order that prohibits all indoor gatherings, including worship services. The court said in part: The challenged ban on indoor “gatherings” ... applies equally to all indoor gatherings of any kind or type, whether public or private, religious or secular. The Directive, which appears to affect far more activities than most other jurisdictions’ health measures, does not “single out houses of worship” for worse treatment than secular activities.

New York Assembly Republicans will introduce a measure to form an Impeachment Commission designed to gather "facts and evidence" regarding Governor Andrew Cuomo's handling of nursing home deaths during the pandemic. Nursing home deaths have plagued Cuomo's response to the pandemic and he's facing heavy criticism for withholding information from legislators. Some have called for his resignation and others pushed for voters to recall him, but save a successful challenger in the 2022 election, the only method of removing Cuomo from office is through impeachment. On Thursday, Assembly Republicans announced a resolution to create an impeachment commission consisting of eight...

Paris, France, Feb 17, 2021 / 05:36 pm MT (CNA).- The French National Assembly has passed a bill that backers say will counter extremism and separatism, especially among French Muslims. However, the bill includes stricter controls on religion, bars religious symbols in some circumstances, and places strict regulations on homeschooling. The bill, titled “Supporting respect for the principles of the Republic,” aims to uphold “French values” like secularism and gender equality. It passed the National Assembly Feb. 16 by a vote of 347-151 with 65 abstentions. The body is controlled by President Emmanuel Macron’s center-liberal party. The bill is considered...

I started listening to Rush in the early 1990s, and although I enjoyed him throughout his career, his early days were especially entertaining. From putting a condom over the mic (safe talk), his "update themes" (can name many of them), and his exposure of the House Bank Scandal, these are what I remember him for and wish that level of irreverence had continued. What do you remember from those days?

President Biden took a snow day Thursday as varying forecasts call for DC to receive between 1 and 4 inches of snow — but Vice President Kamala Harris will be carrying on with scheduled in-person events. Biden postponed a trip to Michigan, where he was scheduled to tour a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing facility, and the White House declared an 8 a.m. “lid” for reporters — meaning no in-person events are expected. The president’s trip to Portage, Michigan, was preemptively canceled Wednesday evening before any precipitation fell in Washington.

Click here to read the full articleWhat about the Biden Crime Fam­i­ly? They had those records for well over a year of bla­tant fraud As the Man­hat­tan dis­trict attorney’s office steps up the crim­i­nal inves­ti­ga­tion of Don­ald J. Trump, it has reached out­side its ranks to enlist a promi­nent for­mer fed­er­al pros­e­cu­tor to help scru­ti­nize finan­cial deal­ings at the for­mer president’s com­pa­ny, accord­ing to sev­er­al peo­ple with knowl­edge of the matter.The for­mer pros­e­cu­tor, Mark F. Pomer­antz, has deep expe­ri­ence inves­ti­gat­ing and defend­ing white-col­lar and orga­nized crime cas­es, bol­ster­ing the team under Dis­trict Attor­ney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. that is exam­in­ing...

President Trump at Arlington CemeteryThey are completely unhinged and consumed by hate.House Democrats introduced legislation on Thursday to prevent twice impeached US Presidents from being buried in Arlington Cemetery.They called their bill the “No Glory for Hate” bill.JUST IN: House Dems have introduced a bill to ban “twice impeached presidents” from burial at Arlington National Cemetery and federal funds from going to buildings displaying their names or acknowledging their achievementsThis bill is called the “No Glory For Hate Act” pic.twitter.com/o3Y9n7qJUi— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) February 18, 2021

FR CANTEEN MISSION STATEMENT Showing support and boosting the morale of our military and our allied military and the family members of the above.Honoring those who have served before. FReeper Canteen Come on in, we're open Need a place just to hang out? This is it. It's casual FRiday here at the Canteen. Pull up a seat and relax. We serve coffee, tea, conversation and music. Our AWESOME military, our AWESOME allies, and their families are welcomed and honored here. No worries in the FReeper Canteen Just Hangin' Cafe. Grab a cup or a glass, and start a conversation....

The conservative movement lost a genuine icon. More importantly, they lost a genuinely good, good man. What is the best way to honor Mr. Limbaugh? To me, the best way to carry on his legacy will be to pick up his sword and fight in the only way we know. Fight for conservatism. Fight for what is right. And always, always fight for a better America. Rest in Peace, Rush.

Michigan now admits after ‘certifying’ the 2020 Presidential election, that more voters should be removed from their voter rolls than there were votes won by Joe Biden in the race. Mixed with other suspected fraud, (like 141,000 ballot drops at 6am the day after the election) all the ballots in this state should be forensically audited to determine the full extent of the election fraud. There was so much fraud in Michigan in the 2020 election it is difficult to know where to start. There were late-night ballot dumps in Michigan like other states: Republicans were harassed and prevented from...