Free Republic

So, is China going to attack? Short answer: Only Xi knows. Absent that information, here are a few thoughts. A range of pressures, including an aging population, unresolved territorial disputes, and a slowing economy, is conspiring to challenge the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) legitimacy, which is premised on a post-Tiananmen promise of prosperity. These pressures may lead Xi to take action over Taiwan before Beijing’s economic and military advantages dwindle – the so-called “Davidson Window.” Then there is the “Pax Olympics” school that sees concern over global image forestalling Chinese aggression till after the 2022 Winter Olympics. There are ready...

You can hear the blows before you can see them. The noise of blunt objects striking arms, legs and backs filters through the thick shrubbery on the border between Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. People screaming in pain, gasping and whimpering. Anzeige Powerful men in dark uniforms are standing on the Croatian side of the border on this hot June day. They are battering Afghans and Pakistanis who have come to Europe to apply for asylum. All of the men are wearing balaclavas; one of them has also donned black sunglasses. Their uniforms bear no insignia to ensure that they are completely...

Google announced Thursday that it would no longer allow ads or monetization for content that promotes climate change denialism. The policy change will apply to publishers, advertisers and YouTube creators, who will no longer be able to make money from content that “contradicts well-established scientific consensus around the existence and causes of climate change.” Google plans to enforce the new policy with a blend of algorithmic detection and human moderation and the change will go into effect next month. While there’s some room for interpretation in the new rules, according to Google they “[include] content referring to climate change as...

Bill Maher ended his show Friday night with a message ... "I hope I scared the s*** out of you," and he delivered ... by laying out a believable scenario of how the 2024 Presidential election will go down. Maher believes we are in the grips of what he calls a "slow-moving coup" at the hands of Donald Trump, and his evidence is really hard to rebut. As he says, Trump learned from 2020 that you can't overturn an election with the current players in place, so he's been spending most of his time trying to change all that. The...

Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time Luke 11:27-28 Friends, our Gospel blesses those who hear the word of God and observe it. In this regard, I would like to speak about the response of the Polish people to the word proclaimed by St. John Paul II. The power of the Polish Communist state, and behind that the power of the Soviet Union, is what John Paul faced at the beginning of the 1980s. But he was practiced in the art of facing down oppressive political forces, having grown up under Nazism and Communism. He spoke of God, of human rights, of...

October 9, 2021 Saturday of week 27 in Ordinary Time Basilica of Saint-Denis, Main Altar Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green.First readingJoel 4:12-21 ©The day of the Lord is near; sun and moon grow darkThe Lord says this:‘Let the nations rouse themselves, let them marchto the Valley of Jehoshaphat,for I am going to sit in judgement thereon all the nations round.Put the sickle in:the harvest is ripe;come and tread:the winepress is full,the vats are overflowing,so great is their wickedness!’Host on hostin the Valley of Decision!For the day of the Lord is nearin the Valley of Decision!Sun and moon grow dark,the stars...

Mary T. Cocaine, the matriarch of Table Talk Pies who played “an influential role in the growth and success” of the iconic Worcester business, has died, officials said Friday. Cocaine died at home on Oct. 6, surrounded by family. She was 94 years and was predeceased by her husband of 68 years, Christo Cocaine, according to a spokesman for Table Talk. Born in Worcester in 1927, Cocaine was the daughter of Theodore Tonna, one of the founders of Table Talk Pies. She was the oldest of seven children. She graduated from The Bancroft School and attended Wheaton College. Cocaine married...

Saturday, October 9, 2021: Join the RSBN crew LIVE from Des Moines, IA for all day coverage of President Donald Trump's Save America Rally. coverage starts noon local time ( 1pm eastern)

Despite the county-wide lifting of a mask mandate, including in government buildings, the director of a Florida health department threatened to call the police when a mother refused to put on a mask. On Oct. 6, Casey Goff—a Flagler Beach resident and mother of four—went to the Flagler County Health Department with her 3-year-old daughter to apply for a religious exemption. The effort was part of a proactive measure to opt out of any future efforts by the Flagler County School Board (FCSB) to impose mask mandates on her children. “I walked in and a lady offered me a mask,”...

It has now been two weeks since the Arizona audit presentation exposed massive amounts of fraud and elections law violations. The unredacted, uncensored audit report and all evidence of criminality have been delivered to Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich. Since this delivery was made, Brnovich has issued a litigation hold notice on the County. However, we have still seen no real action out of Attorney General Mark Brnovich. Today, Wendy Rogers tweeted, Rogers: Everyone is asking what is going on with the AG in Arizona. I have no idea. I will work on finding out but no news in this...

It Is Not The Critic That Counts. Theodore's Quote introduced by JAG Questions: (1) Does this quote below have any application to what we as Christian Evangelicals do in the world, for example, our efforts to push forward the success of the Lord Jesus' Great Commission to go and make disciples of all nations? ` (2) Do you think it has any application to you and what you do, as it relates to those who criticize you? (if you have any critics.) ` (3) In general what are your thoughts regarding this quote? ` Start quote. “It is not the...

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill late Friday, Oct. 8, that establishes the first statewide commission in California to monitor and track hate crimes and incidents. AB 1126, authored by AssemblyGov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill late Friday, Oct. 8, that establishes the first statewide commission in California to monitor and track hate crimes and incidents. AB 1126, authored by Assemblyman Richard Bloom, D-Santa Monica, will enable a state Commission on the State of Hate, which many supporters say could be a model for the nation, to formally recommend policy to the governor and Legislature and hold public hearings to...

Yesterday, pretend president Joe Biden falsely claimed yet again that vaccinated people cannot spread the COVID-19 coronavirus touting his administration’s implementation of vaccine mandates for federal workers and active-duty military and push to mandate large businesses when he made the questionable remarks. “We’re making sure health care workers are vaccinated,” he added. “Because if you seek care at a health care facility, you should have the certainty that the pro– — the people providing that care are protected from COVID and cannot spread it to you.” Liar, liar, pants on fire. “A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the...

Xi’s tone took a more conciliatory approach than that of a speech he made in July, when he vowed to “smash” any attempts at Taiwan independence. China claims the island of some 24 million people as part of its own sovereign territory, and has previously threatened to take control by force if Taiwan formally declares independence. However Taiwan, which has its own elected government and constitution, has maintained that it will defend its democracy and independence. President Xi has previously spoken of the “inevitability” of Taiwan’s return and has said that the issue cannot be passed from generation to generation...

An Elyria City Council member was arrested Thursday as part of a statewide prostitution sting overseen by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office. Mark Jessie, 64, faces a misdemeanor charge of soliciting sex for money, the Elyria Police Department said in a news release. He will make his first court appearance Wednesday in Elyria Municipal Court. Jessie, a Democrat, has represented the city’s Ward 3 for eight years. He will face off with Republican candidate Maurice Corbin III in the Nov. 2 general election. Jessie was arrested as part of a statewide sex trafficking sting named “Operation Ohio Knows.” The operation,...

Don't get me wrong, the guy the protester is protesting is a bona fide jerk. Nevertheless, looks like a threat to me. Why isn't DOJ investigating BLM? Pic is from article about guy in Virginia who blasts out monkey sounds, etc, when people go by.

One day after the Senate approved a temporary lift to the U.S. debt ceiling, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell wrote in a letter to President Joe Biden that he would not aid Democrats again in raising the debt limit.

WASHINGTON, Tuesday, Oct. 8. The feature of to-day was the review of artillery and cavalry on the great plain east of the Capital. There were twenty-one batteries of artillery and fifty-seven companies of cavalry on the field. Of the artillery, eleven batteries were of regulars and twelve volunteers -- in all, one hundred and twenty guns. Among the guns were four thirty-two pound brass pieces, in charge of the men who were at Port Sumter. The proportion of twelve-pound howitzers and ten pound Parrott guns was very great. Of the review itself little can be said. The material of the...

Now I get it, Little Lyin’ Hood’s obsession with “circling back.” For what is a “circle” if not just a slow-motion spin?All that word salad getting tossed around is just old Slo-Joe’s attempt to follow suite and circle back to some good news.President Joe Biden put a positive spin on September's disappointing jobs report, focusing on a better unemployment rate. "Today's report has the unemployment rate down to 4.8%, a significant improvement from when I took office.”You are to ignore the fact that the “significant improvement” he cites is due solely to a dramatic decrease in the labor participation rate...

Not only was this week a terrible one for so-called “fact-checkers” like the ones at the Associated Press and Politifact, but the New York Times found itself in a rather embarrassing situation after they had to issue a massive correction to a Wednesday report their health and science reporter Apoorva Mandavilli wrote on Wuhan coronavirus vaccine strategies for children. In the original story, archived here, Mandavilli claimed that officials in Sweden and Denmark were “joining the ranks” of other countries by “announcing that adolescents should get only one jab of the Moderna vaccine.”