Free Republic

Finally, after a month of living with a brutal, Wuhan-style lockdown, the 13M residents of Xi’an, the provincial capital of Shanxxi, are finally free to go about their business. The CCP announced over the weekend that it would end the lockdown after a month, having officially triumphed over the virus yet again (although other outbreaks are vexing authorities in Beijing and elsewhere). On Monday, meanwhile, health authorities confirmed the first new confirmed case of COVID in Shanghai since the start of the latest round of outbreaks. While it’s only one case for now (at least, according to what the CCP...

Even more worrisome, though, is what the court’s reasoning means for our ability to address national challenges going forward. The majority stopped the order based on a wildly anachronistic vision of how the federal government should operate — one that would require Congress itself, rather than federal agencies, to micromanage complex problems.

What do I mean God has changed your diagnosis? In Genesis 17:4,5 God told Abraham that He had made him a father of many nations, but in Romans 4:19 the scripture says that his body was dead and his wife's womb was dead. Now, we know you can't physically be a father of many nations when you have a dead body and your wife's womb is dead. Despite that God said He had made him a father of many nations which means that God had to have done something about his and her bodies. Now, here's what you need to...

The mother of a New York City man accused of gunning down two NYPD officers before a third returned fire told local media Monday that her son had "a fixation on guns," suffered from mental illness and lost vision in his left eye after a brawl with gang members as a younger man. She also said she regretted phoning in the domestic violence altercation that dispatched police to her Harlem home. Shirley Sourzes called 911 Friday to report a domestic incident involving her 47-year-old son, Lashawn McNeil.

ROCK singer Meat Loaf has tragically died age 74. Born Michael Lee Aday, Meat Loaf had a stellar career spanning six decades after shooting to fame with his powerful, wide-ranging voice. The rock veteran was among the most popular musicians of all time, selling millions of albums around the world. His Bat Out Of Hell album trilogy - famous for its operatic rock style and the hit single of the same name - was his most popular release. US news outlet TMZ is reporting that Meat Loaf died from Covid-19 after falling ill earlier this week, although their claims have...

Economic growth in the United States slowed sharply in the first weeks of the year due to supply chain disruptions, high prices, and labor shortages linked to the surge in Covid-19 infections, according to data from a purchasing managers survey released Monday.The U.S. IHS Markit flash composite purchasing managers index, one of the first comprehensive looks at economic growth this year, fell to 50.8 in January from 57.0 in December, severely undershooting expectations and signaling almost no growth in the economy. Economists had forecast a reading of 56.7. “Soaring virus cases have brought the U.S. economy to a near standstill...

Until Omicron forced a late change of plans, the World Economic Forum was expected to hold its annual meeting in person in Davos, Switzerland this coming week. That was to be the context for the release of Davos Man by Peter S. Goodman, a New York Times reporter, on Tuesday. The book is a pointed critique of the Forum and US CEOs—including Marc Benioff, Jeff Bezos, Jamie Dimon, Larry Fink, and Stephen Schwarzman—who are part of the class of globe-trotting billionaires which political scientist Samuel Huntington dubbed Davos Men. It’s an impressively detailed recounting of the reordering of conventions of...

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

The Australian Open is facing criticism over its handing of a small protest against the Chinese Communist Party's alleged mistreatment of tennis player Peng Shuai. Protestors unfurled a banner reading 'Where Is Peng Shuai' during the match between China's Wang Qiang and American Madison Keys and one of the protesters also wore a t-shirt with the same slogan supporting Peng. Security guards at the Australian Open on Friday ended the protest, according to Max Mok, who was one of three people involved in the demonstration. Mok told CNN that security guards initially confiscated the banner citing a tournament ban on...

They launched their £18million podcast deal a year ago with a pledge to promote ‘shared values’. But Harry and Meghan’s pet project appears to have suffered a blow, with audio giant Spotify reportedly taking production into its own hands. After the deal resulted in only one show being streamed, it is advertising for in-house staff to cover ‘every step’ of the process. Spotify announced the partnership with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Archewell Audio in December 2020 as they were ‘citizens of the world’ who wanted to ‘elevate underrepresented voices’. But aside from a 33-minute ‘holiday special’ that month...

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is waging a quiet campaign to keep his caucus from getting a whole lot Trumpier after the midterms. "He wants people who he knows are team players, people who are interested in solutions," said a GOP senator who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid angering fellow Republicans. "There are a lot of people who are running for office these days who have different agendas." In Alaska's Senate race, McConnell is backing incumbent Republican Lisa Murkowski, who voted to convict former President Donald Trump on impeachment charges last year. She faces a Trump-backed...

Authorities have identified the son of a Philadelphia police officer who was shot and killed Monday morning during an apparent robbery. Hyram Hill, 23, was found shot multiple times on the 1400 block of West Allegheny Avenue just after 4:30 a.m., according to police

President Biden held a meeting with White House officials Monday to discuss the administration's plan for combating rising prices as inflation continues to surge throughout the U.S., reaching levels not seen in 40 years. In remarks ahead of the meeting, the president touted an executive order he signed in July aimed at increasing competition by cracking down on larger firms in industries that the administration sees as too "consolidated," referring to the issue as a decades-old problem the federal government needs to address.

President Biden has had his share of testy moments with the media, but he's also not hesitated to work the refs at times with compliments about their integrity and intelligence. During his lengthy press conference last week, Biden asked the media a rhetorical question about his predecessor Donald Trump, wondering if journalists could imagine a time in the past where a figure could "intimidate" an entire party out of taking a vote that would benefit Biden. "It sounds like I’m being solicitous — you’re all bright as hell, well-informed — more informed than any group of people in America. But...

Moscow, January 24, Interfax - The Russian Imperial House of Romanov will support a Russian Orthodox Church decision to recognize the authenticity of the remains of the last Russian emperor, Nicholas II, and members of his family. "If now comes a moment when the Russian Orthodox Church, having studied all the multilateral findings, is prepared to recognize the 'Yekaterinburg remains' as being authentic, this will be taken by the Imperial House with reverence, confidence in the Russian Orthodox Church, and with great joy," the House of Romanov spokesman Alexander Zakatov told Interfax. The head of the House is Grand Duchess...

~The FReeper Canteen Presents~ Road Trip: Nellis Air Force Base, NevadaNellis Air Force Base is a United States Air Force installation in southern Nevada with military schools and more squadrons than any other USAF base. Nellis hosts air combat exercises such as Exercise Red Flag and close air support exercises such as Green Flag-West flown in "Military Operations Area (MOA) airspace", associated with the nearby Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR). The base also has the Combined Air and Space Operations Center-Nellis.The U.S. Air Force Warfare Center is headquartered at Nellis Air Force Base and reports directly to the...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden responded to a question about inflation on Monday by calling a Fox News reporter a vulgarity. The president was in the East Room of the White House for a meeting of his Competition Council, which is focused on changing regulations and enforcing laws to help consumers deal with high prices. Reporters in the room shouted a number of questions after Biden’s remarks. Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked Biden about inflation, which is at a nearly 40-year high and has hurt the president’s public approval. Doocy’s network has been relentlessly critical of Biden. Doocy called...

The President of Romania has bestowed the National Order of Merit upon a priest who reposed earlier this month, who was instrumental in the fight for democracy in Romania in the late 80s and early 90s. Fr. Sorin Grecu held a hunger strike before the statue of Lenin that once stood on Bucharest’s Free Press Square, which led to the monument’s dismantling. The site of the President of Romania reports: The President of Romania, Mr. Klaus Iohannis, signed the decree for the post-mortem decoration of Fr. Grecu Sorin Paul.Thus, as a sign of high appreciation and gratitude for the courage...

[Catholic Caucus] Compare what Archbp. Roche said in 2015 to what he is saying now.It is very hard to respect clerics who are just weathervanes, waving around, changing directions under the pressure of whomever is at the moment in power.Archbp. Roche, now in present role as Prefect of the CDW, now one of the chief enforcers of the cruel legacy document of the Francis’s Regime, in 2015 said that the Traditional Latin Mass is a “valid expression of the Church’s liturgy”.“Unity … [is] not looking just for simple uniformity,” he said, adding that Pope Francis “talks about unity with diversity....

Detlef Schrempf did not mince words over fellow NBA All-Star John Stockton’s wild COVID-19 takes. Stockton, arguably Gonzaga’s most famous alum, had his season tickets for home basketball games suspended over his refusal to comply with the university’s mask mandate. Schrempf quote tweeted an article from the Spokesman-Review that discussed Stockton’s history of nonfactual COVID-19 claims and Gonzaga’s ticket suspension decision. In his post, he wrote, “Bat XXXX crazy. I am so disappointed we have so many role models not up to the task. This is not helping!”