Free Republic

There are stronger signs that China’s next aircraft carrier will be fitted with an advanced type of aircraft launch system, with official confirmation of a test flight of a carrier-based early warning plane. State broadcaster CCTV confirmed in a report on the weekend that the KJ-600, the country’s first domestically developed fixed-wing early warning aircraft, had a test flight in Xian, Shaanxi province, in late January. The KJ-600 is designed to operate from an aircraft carrier but its weight and turboprop engines make it less powerful than a jet, requiring help from a catapult for take-off. China has two aircraft...

In China’s bid to acquire advanced technology from the United States, officials from the north-central city of Baoding tried to meet with Silicon Valley executives and discuss deals for companies to set up offices there, according to internal government documents that The Epoch Times obtained recently. Citing the Chinese regime’s key strategy of “bringing technologies in, exporting our products out,” the Baoding government detailed a successful example: it attracted AXT Inc., a U.S.-based designer and manufacturer of semiconductor substrates, to set up a factory in Dingxing county, Baoding. The semiconductor substrates are components for making electronic chips, which power nearly...

Eldina Jaganjac is fed up with what she says are ridiculous beauty standards imposed on women — especially when it comes to hair removal. Jaganjac ditched the tweezer she once used to trim back her unibrow and the razor to shave her upper lip back in March 2020. She said she was just as feminine with the hair there. Not all men were as complimentary, Unilad reported. Jaganjac had to cope with a guy yelling ‘pluck that’ or staring at her eyebrows like she has a “third head.”

Remember how media and folks on the left would attack President Donald Trump over putting kids in “cages” even though those cages (large initial holding areas after illegal aliens are picked up) were built under Barack Obama and Joe Biden? This despite the fact that Trump actually improved the situation by having fewer illegal aliens coming in and discouraging illegal entry. Not to mention actually checking who the kids were ultimately turned over to so they weren’t turned over to human traffickers like they were under Obama.But now it’s ramping up again because of Joe Biden’s encouragement about not deporting...

They were slaughtered trying to stop real-life raiders of the lost ark — an artifact so powerful and holy they were forbidden from ever seeing it. The harrowing mass-murder of at least 800 people at an Ethiopian church in Tigray highlighted the apparent whereabouts of the Ark of the Covenant, one of the biggest mysteries in religion and the stuff of movie legend. The ark — a large, gold-covered wooden chest said to hold Moses’ Ten Commandments — was held at the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem for centuries, but vanished after Jerusalem was sacked in 586 or 587 BC,...

To borrow from an old Jim Croce song, you don’t tug on Superman’s cape, you don’t spit into the wind, and you don’t mess around with Elon Musk. Particularly if you’re the Washington Post and you’re owned by Jeff Bezos, the erstwhile richest guy on the planet.Did I mention the top spot currently belongs to the aforementioned Mr. Musk?As our friends over at Twitchy noted, you’d think by now WaPo would know better than to purposely tangle with Musk. The two richest people on the planet — Musk currently sits on top with an estimated net worth of $197 billion,...

Here’s something the Democrats hope you will miss.Law enforcement officials testifying before a joint Senate hearing on Tuesday confirmed their belief that the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol building was planned before the day of the event. This information completely annihilates the Democrats’ narrative regarding the assault on the Capitol building.The Hill reported, “Top current and former law enforcement officials testifying Tuesday before a joint Senate hearing on the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol told lawmakers that evidence pointed to coordination and planning behind the mob of people that overwhelmed Capitol Police officers during the attack.”Former...

Is the video that claims the Ashli Babbitt shooting was staged available anywhere? I mentioned it to a friend today and wanted to send him a link. But the places where I looked had taken it down. ML/NJ

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - Bishop Andrew Han Jingtao, of the "unofficial" community of Siping (Jilin), died in the night between 30 and 31 December 2020. Born on July 26, 1921, to a devoted Catholic family from Shanwanzi, Weichang County, Hebei, the family moved to Linxi County, Inner Mongolia during his childhood. In 1932 he entered the Minor Seminary of Siping and in 1940 joined the Major Seminary of Changchun. He was ordained a priest on 14 December 1947. Because of his Catholic faith and his loyalty to the Pope, he was arrested in 1953 and, after a period of...

To boldly farm fish where no one has farmed fish before. The seabass eggs, all 200 of them, were settled in their module and ready to go. The ground crew had counted the eggs carefully, checked each for an embryo, and sealed them tightly within a curved dish filled precisely to the brim with seawater. The countdown, and then—ignition! For two full minutes, the precious eggs suffered a riotous shaking as the rocket’s engines exploded to life, followed by another eight minutes of heightened juddering as they ascended to the heavens. These embryonic fish were on their way to low...

GREENBELT, MD (WBFF) - Six foreign nationals are facing federal charges for allegedly opening hundreds of fraudulent bank accounts, with the help of a bank employee, and using those accounts to try to deposit more than $700,000 that they stole or tried to steal from churches and other religious institutions. The U.S. Attorney's Office announced today that a federal grand jury in Maryland has returned a superseding indictment charging Nicolae Gindac, 52, of Dania Beach, Florida; Mateus "Romi" Vaduva, 28, of Baltimore; Marius Vaduva, 26, of Baltimore; Marian Unguru, 36, of Baltimore; Daniel Velcu, 43, of Baltimore; Vali Unguru, 18,...

>> You and the president have suggested that we’ll approach normality towards the end of the year. What does normal mean? Do you think Americans will still be wearing masks for example in 2022? >> You know, I think that’s possible that’s the case. It depends what you mean by normality. >> Right. That’s why I want you to define it. [Laughter] >> No, Dana, it’s important because if normality means exactly the way things were before we had this happen to us, I mean, I can’t predict — I mean, obviously, I think we’ll have a significant degree of...

As previously reported, earlier this week (Feb. 18), South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster signed into law the Fetal Heartbeat Protection from Abortion Act, prohibiting an abortion if a fetal heartbeat is detected. One day later, in Planned Parenthood South Atlantic v. Wilson, (D SC, Feb. 19, 2021), a South Carolina federal district court issued a temporary restraining order barring enforcement of the Act, saying in part: Because the Act bans abortion months before any fetus could be viable, ... Plaintiffs are likely to succeed on their claim that the Act is unconstitutional. Indeed, courts have “universally” invalidated laws that ban...

Iowa’s high property taxes are a growing concern. The Tax Foundation examined the “effective tax rates on owner-occupied housing” across the United States. Iowa ranked 12th highest in the nation. At the heart of high property taxes is local government spending. Unless spending is controlled, any property tax relief will be limited. Iowa’s property tax system is complex, and more transparency is needed. Iowa should look to Utah’s Truth-in-Taxation law, which since 1985 has been controlling the growth of property taxes and providing transparency and accountability for taxpayers. Utah’s Truth-in-Taxation is the gold standard model for any property tax reform.

Throughout the pandemic, the press has been excoriatingly harsh on a governor who was slow to act, unnecessarily endangered the lives of the elderly, alienated experts, and cooked the numbers. It just thought the governor in question was Florida’s Ron DeSantis rather than New York’s Andrew Cuomo. After it has become clear that Cuomo’s handling of the pandemic was not just criminal in the metaphorical sense, but perhaps in the literal sense, the press has begun, only reluctantly and belatedly, to abandon its long-running Cuomo hagiography. It never made any sense to lionize Andrew Cuomo at the expense of Ron...

CNA Staff, Feb 23, 2021 / 02:00 pm MT (CNA).- A German Catholic bishop has publicly defended his support for a book of blessings and rites for homosexual unions. Bishop Peter Kohlgraf of Mainz also suggested that Catholics with homosexual inclinations cannot all be expected to live chastely and the Church should adopt a pastoral approach that acknowledges this. “Quite a few people who have homosexual attractions belong to the Church and are truly pious in the best sense of the word,” Bishop Peter Kohlgraf of Mainz wrote in a column for his diocesan newspaper that was also published on...

Places with highest daily reported cases per capita Seven-day average of daily new reported cases per 100,000 residents

'People keep asking us what can you do for us? Open your churches. Open your churches! Take a stand for the Lord Jesus Christ and take a stand for the people!'EDMONTON, Alberta, February 23, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – The wife of incarcerated Canadian Pastor James Coates said to a large crowd gathered at the jail where her husband is being held that the best way to protest her husband’s imprisonment is to “open your churches.” “People keep asking us what can you do for us? Open your churches. Open your churches! Take a stand for the Lord Jesus Christ and take...

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas announced in a Tuesday notice to the Public Utility Commission of Texas that four of its board members will resign effective Wednesday, Feb. 24.. A fifth board member separately submitted her resignation. Gov. Greg Abbott sent out a statement saying he welcomed the resignations. ... All five members who are resigning live out of state, ... Last week, amid growing frustrations and public outcry during the winter storms in Texas, ERCOT removed the names of its board members from its website. It has since restored those names. Prior to being pulled down, the biographies...

76 years ago today, Feb. 23, 1945, U.S. Marines raise the American Flag on Mount Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima.