Free Republic

Shanghai, China has become a dystopian hellscape under the latest Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-imposed Covid-19 lockdown. Reports and videos testify to people starving to death because they are not allowed to leave home, Covid-positive children (even infants) separated from their parents, pets murdered by government officials, and people jumping to their deaths in despair. Yet the CCP continues to lie—and not be called on it in any major way by American government and media. Even a line from China’s own national anthem is reportedly being blocked on Chinese social media platform Weibo (Reclaim The Net: "China’s Weibo blocks lines of...

Netflix saw its stock tank 25 percent after it reported losing 200,000 subscribers in the company’s first quarter – the sharpest decline in a decade. “The company’s shares cratered more than 25% in extended hours after the report on more than a full day’s worth of trading volume,” reported CNBC. “Fellow streaming stocks Roku, Spotify and Disney also tumbled in the after-hours market after Netflix’s brutal update.” With the closing of the second quarter, Netflix is projected to lose 2 million global subscribers. In a letter to shareholders on Tuesday, the company said the company’s content still remains popular but...

Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo., responded to a recent Kansas City Star article appearing to link her faith to "White Christian nationalism," which the congresswoman said tried to make her look like a "radical." The Missouri lawmaker is running for Sen. Roy Blunt's open seat in Missouri’s crowded GOP primary this August and was the subject of story titled, "Running God's way: Can Vicky Hartzler's 'conservative biblical values' win a Senate seat?" The article was published by the KC Star on Easter Sunday. Reporter Daniel Desrochers suggested Hartzler's Christian views about returning the country to its traditional values mirrored "White Christian...

UnionPay is afraid to cooperate with a number of large Russian banks because of the risk of secondary sanctions, RBC learned. Sanctioned banks that issued such cards or planned to do so are forced to abandon projects Large Russian banks that have been under blocking sanctions from Western countries will not be able to issue UnionPay cards, as the payment system is afraid to cooperate with them because of the risk of secondary sanctions. RBC was told about this by five sources in large banks, including those that fell under sanctions. An interlocutor close to Sberbank said that the bank’s...

Researchers promoted the medical transition of children through biased research after receiving funding from pharmaceutical companies that produce hormone therapy medications. Activists at an organization with the stated goal of helping young people obtain medical transitions published research claiming to find an association between medical transitions and improved mental health. Media outlets are promoting this research uncritically while failing to mention problems with methodology and conflicts of interest.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is one step closer to facing espionage charges in the US after a British judge formally approved his extradition. The case will go to Britain’s interior minister for a decision, and Assange, 50, still has legal avenues of appeal. A judge at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday issued the extradition order in a brief hearing, as Assange watched by video link from Belmarsh Prison. He stated his full name and date of birth. It is up to Home Secretary Priti Patel to decide whether to grant the extradition. The order comes after the UK Supreme...

The Covid epidemic was bad enough with the government shutdowns and deaths. But was even worse is that all the Fed monetary stimulus and Federal government stimulus “relief” led to a reversal of fortune. In that, the share of net worth held by the top 1% grew and the gap between the 1% and bottom 50% hit an all-time high. Now that the 1% have fed at the Federal trough, The Fed is anticipated to raise rates by 100 basis points at the next two meetings. Remember, REAL average hourly earnings are getting crushed under Biden and his pro-1% policies....

Airline passengers rebelling against the Biden Administration’s mask mandate for public transportation caused the number of unruly passenger incidents to skyrocket in 2021, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) data show. Anti-mask airline passengers can rest easy after Monday’s announcement by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) that it will no longer enforce the mask mandate on public transportation — but 2021 was a much different story, as airlines reported record-high numbers of incidents to the FAA during the year. Last year, airlines reported 5,981 unruly passenger incidents to the FAA — a 3,168% increase from the mere 183 incidents reported in 2020....

President Joe Biden will appeal a judge’s ruling that declared his mask mandate for those flying on federal airplanes unlawful if the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends it. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle of the Middle District of Florida declared the Biden administration’s airport mask mandate unlawful and held the CDC exceeded its authority.

Insect numbers have plunged by half in some parts of the world due to climate change and intensive agriculture, a study has found. The combined pressures of global heating and farming are driving a "substantial decline" of insects across the globe, according to UK researchers. They say we must acknowledge the threats we pose to insects, before some species are lost forever. But preserving habitat for nature could help ensure vital insects thrive. Lead researcher, Dr Charlie Outhwaite of UCL, said losing insect populations could be harmful not only to the natural environment, but to "human health and food security,...

Starve your own voters to own the libs. That appears to be Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s latest strategy for reaching the White House, given his decision to deliberately snarl traffic on the U.S. southern border — leaving food to rot and critical components for cars and other manufacturing to remain inaccessible to U.S. companies and consumers. Last week, Abbott (R) announced that state troopers would begin “enhanced” safety inspections of commercial vehicles crossing the border, ostensibly to catch illegal immigrants and drugs. Now, federal officials from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) already inspect vehicles crossing the border for human trafficking...

Democrats quickly turned on one of their own — Florida gubernatorial candidate Nikki Fried — when she dared to celebrate her first mask-free flight. Fried shared a photo of herself smiling, maskless, onboard her first flight since the mask mandate for all domestic air travel was overturned just one day before. “Peace out to the TSA mask mandate, but also peace and respect to others, whether wearing a mask or not,” she captioned the photo. Fried was not alone in her desire to celebrate, either. Within hours of the mandate being lifted, dozens of videos from airports and even planes...

Germany has said it will stop importing oil from Russia by the end of the year. "We will halve oil by the summer and will be at zero by the end of the year, and then gas will follow," said German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. Germany currently buys a quarter of its oil and 40% of its gas from Russia and has warned that it could face a recession if supplies suddenly stopped. The US has already banned Russian oil imports, while the UK plans to phase them out by the end of the year. The EU has said it...

ussia launched an intercontinental missile in an apparent bid to scare those who "threaten" Moscow this afternoon (April 20). Russia is currently invading Ukraine and launched the ballistic missile, known as "Satan II" as a "warning", according to the Russian Ministry of Defence. The news comes from the Russian media who say that the launch of the Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile was carried out at the Plesetsk cosmodrome. It is reported that President Vladimir Putin said that the missile would provide "food for thought for those who try to threaten Russia", reported The Mirror. The missile is said to be...

WEDNESDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF EASTER LUKE 24:13-35 Friends, in today’s Gospel, two disciples meet Jesus on the road to Emmaus. He asks what they are discussing and one recites all of the data concerning him. Then Jesus speaks: “Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke!” He then rehearsed for them the whole of the biblical story, showing how it culminated in the Messiah who offered a sacrifice for the salvation of the world. When they came near the village to which they were heading, Jesus “gave the impression that he...

Russia has said it had test-launched its Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, a new addition to its nuclear arsenal, which Vladimir Putin said would give Moscow’s enemies something to think about. The Russian president was shown on television being told by the military that the missile had been launched from Plesetsk in the north-west and hit targets in the Kamchatka peninsula in the far east. “The new complex has the highest tactical and technical characteristics and is capable of overcoming all modern means of anti-missile defence. It has no analogues in the world and will not have for a long time...

A sex education theatre show aimed at children has been cancelled after the venue said it had received "unprecedented threats and abuse". The Family Sex Show, featuring topics such as consent, pleasure and queerness, was due to be performed at Bristol's Tobacco Factory in May. The creators of the show, who said they had also received threats, have now cancelled its whole tour. More than 38,000 people signed a petition calling for it to be axed. The petition claimed the show was "profoundly irresponsible" and "wholly inappropriate".

Jon Caldara, president of the Independence Institute, calls Xcel Energy the "corporate antichrist of Colorado,” and he blames state government and the Colorado Public Utilities Commission for helping the company achieve that title by giving it a virtual monopoly in metro Denver. The devil's in the details. The PUC was established in 1913 to regulate electric street lights and telephones, among other utilities, replacing what had been the Railroad Commission. In the decades since, it's evolved into its current configuration. Headed by director Doug Dean, a former lawmaker, the PUC has three commissioners appointed by the governor to four-year terms:...

In case you need more proof that the conspiracy theory about Donald Trump that obsessed the press and congressional Democrats for four years was made up by Hillary Clinton and her campaign, here comes another piece of evidence: John Durham reveals that the “A secret Trump server is communicating with a Russian bank” claim is bunk. In a new filing, Durham reveals that the CIA concluded that cellphone data and Internet traffic provided by Clinton attorney Michael Sussmann was “not technically plausible” and “user created.” Just like the Christopher Steele dossier, they made it all up. Wish the CIA could...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calf.) spoke on Monday at the University of California at Berkeley in a conversation with former Sen. Barbara Boxer (D.-Calif.) and during that conversation asserted that she had never “intended to run for Congress.” “I never intended to run for Congress and I certainly never intended to run for leadership,” Pelosi said. “But, when the opportunity came, I was ready. So, I was very policy and legislative oriented. So, I knew my brief there as speaker.” Pelosi went on to say that she had been deemed a hero for various moments when she mocked President Donald...