Free Republic

Chinese food manufacturer Fufeng Group bought 300 acres of land near Grand Forks, North Dakota, to set up a milling plant. The project is located about 20 minutes from the Grand Forks Air Force Base, raising national security concerns. ... At first glance, the largely barren, wind-swept tract of land just north of Grand Forks, North Dakota, seems to be an unlikely location for international espionage. There’s not much on the more than 300-acre patch of prime Dakota farmland right now other than dirt and tall grasses, bordered by highways and light industrial facilities on the outskirts of the city....

Here's an amazing but true statistic. After more than a decade of declining carbon emissions here in the United States, in 2021, President Joe Biden's first year in office, emissions rose. In other words, not only have Biden's energy policies been a disaster for our economy and national security as we have become more dependent on Russia and Iran, but they haven't worked as a global warming solution. To understand the utter futility of Biden's "renewable energy" crusade, we must go back about 15 years in time to when the amazing shale revolution, thanks to energy pioneers such as Harold...

The world’s greatest eater will limp bravely into battle in the sport’s premiere event on Monday, July 4th. Joey Chestnut shocked the competitive-eating community on Friday when he hobbled into Hudson Yards in New York City on crutches during the official weigh-in before the 2022 Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest — a 4th of July tradition on Coney Island. “I’m gonna eat like a madman,” the world’s top-ranked eater told Fox News Digital before weighing in at 235 pounds.

In 2019, Rocky was arrested in Sweden along with his two bodyguards after a fight.Back in 2019, former President Donald Trump was personally involved in getting A$AP Rocky out of jail in Sweden after a street fight, and now, more details are emerging. Sweden’s Justice Minister revealed to a local news source this week that Trump used bullying tactics, including threatening to wage trade restrictions against the country, to free the rapper. “If you can try and do something like this against Sweden, what will you then try and do to slightly weaker countries that don’t have the European Union...

As The Fed raises rates in their attempt to wrangle inflation, we are seeing an about-face in the US housing market. The pandemic-related Fed monetary stimulypto begat a housing boom that is careening to a halt as the fastest-rising mortgage rates in at least half a century upend affordability for homebuyers, catching many sellers wrong-footed with prices that are too high. It’s an astonishing turnaround. Just a few months ago, house hunters felt pushed to make offers within days, waive inspections and bid way above asking. Now they can sleep on it and maybe even shop for a better deal....

Daily Harvest, a direct-to-consumer brand that relied on a network of online influencers to promote its products, announced earlier this month the voluntary recall of its French Lentil and Leek Crumbles after people who consumed it reported becoming ill. Several influencers told CNN Business last week that they spent time in the hospital with mysterious symptoms that puzzled doctors, including intense gastrointestinal pain and extremely elevated liver enzymes. Daily Harvest said it does not comment on pending litigation, but stressed the steps it has taken to address "an adverse reaction" to its French Lentil and Leek Crumbles. "We have reached...

SNIP Daddy's Dogs, a popular hot dog spot in Tennessee, introduced its "Snip for Shake Deal," for willing male customers. The special comes just days after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that had protected a woman's right to get an abortion – by choice – in the U.S. for more than 50 years. "The world's a pretty crazy place right now, but I have a way to make it just a little bit better," said the restaurant founder Sean Porter, who introduced himself as "Dr. Big Daddy" in a social media video. "There's nothing...

The Texas Supreme Court on Friday blocked a lower court order that permitted some abortions.

The latest test of a US hypersonic weapon failed after an “anomaly” occurred during the first test of the full system, the Pentagon said Thursday.The test, carried out at the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii, was supposed to launch the Common Hypersonic Glide Body atop a two-stage missile booster. The booster is designed to launch the system and accelerate it to hypersonic speeds in excess of Mach 5, at which point the glide body detaches and uses its speed to reach the target. It was the first time the entire system was tested, called an All Up Round test....

Despite supposedly being a form of crypto, OneCoin didn’t actually have a payment system or a blockchain model, the crucial technology that underpins cryptocurrencies — thus rendering OneCoin’s tokens essentially worthless. Ignatova and the company’s founders are accused of knowing as much. (In a statement to the BBC in 2019, OneCoin denied any wrongdoing.) OneCoin relied on its users to bring in more participants by offering a slew of rewards, commissions and “trading packages” at different price points, according to federal investigators. In the end, the network of investors spanned over a hundred countries. More than 3 million people are...

Washington Rumor Mill Material: Slow Joe has kept the Italian Ambassadorship position open for Pelosi. After Dems lose control of the House, Nancy will take her wine-guzzling skills to become the U.S. Ambassador to Italy.

BERLIN (AP) — Fearing Russia might cut off natural gas supplies, the head of Germany’s regulatory agency for energy called on residents Saturday to save energy and to prepare for winter, when use increases. Federal Network Agency President Klaus Mueller urged house and apartment owners to have their gas boilers and radiators checked and adjusted to maximize their efficiency. “Maintenance can reduce gas consumption by 10% to 15% ,” he told Funke Mediengruppe, a German newspaper and magazine publisher. Mueller said residents and property owners need to use the 12 weeks before cold weather sets in to get ready. He...

The climate advocates who cheered President Joe Biden’s arrival at the White House last year are preparing to give up on Washington. Instead, environmentalists and many of their Democratic allies are starting to shift their focus to state capitals as the places to press for action on climate change - going back to a strategy that they employed with some success during the Trump era. The flight from D.C. is in large part a response to 18 months of frustration with major setbacks to Biden’s climate agenda, capped by Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling that hobbled the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority...

The plight of female basketball star Brittney Griner relating to her arrest on drug charges in Russia earlier this year is even more uncertain than ever. Yesterday in a court near Moscow, the legal prosecution of Ms. Griner finally began, with her trial kicking off in an abbreviated session. Prosecutors had intended to call on four witnesses, but only two showed up to give testimony. Cameras were not allowed in the courtroom, but footage of Griner entering the proceedings showed her sporting a white and black Jimi Hendrix t-shirt. Media reports after the court had adjourned explained that during her...

Presenting abortion as the ‘life-saving solution’ for women facing challenging pregnancies is a warped view of health care. The U.S. Supreme Court decision on Dobbs has sent abortion advocates and their allies in the media scurrying to strike fear into the hearts of women. One example from just before the ruling is a New York Times article titled “Poland Shows the Risks for Women When Abortion Is Banned.” The article’s false implication is that thousands of women in the United States could die of pregnancy complications because physicians will now have their hands tied from intervening in life-threatening situations. That’s...

The NYPD’s rank-and-file took another huge hit in June, as 523 cops are leaving the force, with 123 of those officers resigning — the most in a single month in at least a decade, according to staggering pension fund stats obtained by The Post. Of the total number of cops exiting, 400 are retiring, according to a police source. To date, 2,119 cops have left the job in 2022, with 1,472 retiring and 647 resigning, a 38% spike over the previous record of 1,535 for the first six months of 2020, the attrition numbers show. “The exodus has become a...

2 July 2022Saturday of week 13 in Ordinary Time San Bernardino Realino altar Church of Jesus, Lecce, Italy Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green.First readingAmos 9:11-15 ©I will restore the fortunes of my people IsraelIt is the Lord who speaks:‘That day I will re-erect the tottering hut of David,make good the gaps in it, restore its ruinsand rebuild it as it was in the days of old,so that they can conquer the remnant of Edomand all the nations that belonged to me.’It is the Lord who speaks, and he will carry this out.‘The days are coming now – it is the...

Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time Matthew 9:14–17 Friends, in today’s Gospel, people ask Jesus why he and his disciples do not fast when John and his disciples do. Jesus’ answer is wonderful: “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is still with them?” Could you imagine people fasting at a wedding banquet? It would be ridiculous! Jesus later says, “People do not put new wine into old wineskins.” The new wine is the Gospel. The receptacle for this wine must be conformed to it, not the other way around. To take in the Good News, we can’t...

Republican lawmakers called on the Biden administration to monitor Chinese influence in higher education better after a report detailed that a number of universities had reorganized cooperation agreements with the Chinese government. Earlier this month, the National Association of Scholars showed how a number of Chinese government-funded Confucius Institutes had reorganized and were still largely functional even as the universities claimed they had closed the centers. Under the Trump administration, the Chinese cultural centers had drawn significant scrutiny due to their ties to the Chinese Communist Party. The national security concerns voiced by government officials ultimately led most colleges to...

Russia's new 100 rouble banknote is impossible to withdraw from ATMs after Western firms that program cash machine quit the country following Ukraine invasion The Association of Russian Banks has asked for a six-month delay to rolling out the new 100 Rouble banknote as a new security feature is needed The Rzhev Memorial to the Soviet Soldier, a memorial to one of the bloodiest battles of the Second World War, is featured on the note to fuel patriotism The Western companies which install and update ATMs have pulled out of Russia Russia’s new 100 rouble banknotes are impossible to withdraw...