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Mainland China reduced its holdings of United States debt by US$23 billion to US$980.8 billion in May from April, the first time the total dropped below the US$1 trillion mark in 12 years, the US Treasury Department said on July 18. China’s US debt holdings have dropped for six consecutive months. Japan, the current largest holder, and more than 10 other holders of US Treasuries also disposed of their US debts to some degree. What caused the US debt to fall out of favor? Wang Yongzhong, director and researcher of the International Commodities Research Office of the Institute of World...

Praying daily since 2015:Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media. I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ~ 1 Timothy 2:1-2 Religion Forum Threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind.

Deliveries of aviation industry goods to Russia will be allowed to the extent necessary to ensure the safety standards of ICAO, the international civil aviation organization. Against the backdrop of reports of this, Aeroflot shares on the Moscow Exchange rose by 5%. In addition to goods for the aviation industry, the EU will make exceptions for transactions with agricultural products, oil transportation and the purchase of medical equipment and medicines from Russia to third countries. The EU has also pledged to ease access to justice and to ease the ban on any dealings with Russian government entities. As part of...

"Homophobic Telescope Reveals First Hi-Res Images of Deep Space."First a disclaimer. That is not a headline from the Babylon Bee. It is an actual MSN headline of a July 13 story about the first amazing images seen from the James Webb Space Telescope. How can it be homophobic?MSN is borrowing from "INTO," which calls itself "A Digital Magazine for the Modern Queer World."While most people were amazed by the images sent by the Webb Telescope -- which is so powerful it can peer back almost to the beginning of time -- MSN's article was absurdly obsessed with the man it...

If you thought Covid was the only Scamdemic being used by the powers-that-be to herd the masses in the direction they want, think again. Monkeypox has officially been declared by the World Health Organization as a “global public health emergency.” According to Just The News: The World Health Organization this week officially declared the monkeypox outbreak a global public health emergency, a move that comes after several months of the virus’s having spread to dozens of countries around the world. The WHO said on its website on Saturday that organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus “has determined that the multi-country outbreak...

The worst line I ever wrote as a pundit — yes, I know, it’s a crowded field — was the first line I ever wrote about the man who would become the 45th president: “If by now you don’t find Donald Trump appalling, you’re appalling.” This opening salvo, from August 2015, was the first in what would become dozens of columns denouncing Trump as a unique threat to American life, democratic ideals and the world itself. I regret almost nothing of what I said about the man and his close minions. But the broad swipe at his voters caricatured them...

Denver Newsroom, Jul 14, 2022 / 20:00 pm The ombudsman of Spain, Ángel Gabilondo, said he is concerned that because doctors are exercising their right to conscientious objection, there are places in the country where no abortions are performed in public medical facilities. Gabilondo’s comments were revealed in a letter he sent to Mónica García, a leftist congresswoman in the legislature of the autonomous region of Madrid, which was leaked to the El País newspaper July 12. El País, whose editorial line supports abortion, pointed out that Gabilondo, a member of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party and former minister of...

Denver Newsroom, Jul 14, 2022 / 18:00 pm (CNA). A poll released this week found that of Catholic likely voters in the U.S., half believe in the Real Presence of the Eucharist, and 37% go to confession at least annually. RealClear Opinion Research conducted an online survey of 1,757 Catholic likely voters June 15-23. Conducted in English and Spanish, the poll carries a 95% credibility level of plus or minus 2.58 percentage points. The poll asked Catholic likely voters about their religious beliefs and practices, and their political engagement. The survey found that 37% of the respondents go to confession...

When a naked man in southwestern Florida recently raised a ruckus outside his house and threatened a deputy with a kitchen knife, the SWAT team swooped in and apprehended him. Soon afterward, Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno stood on the man’s driveway in combat gear for a news conference while the suspect went to the jailhouse that the sheriff likes to call the “Marceno Motel.” “He’s an oxygen-stealer and a scumbag, and I’m glad he’s outta here,” Marceno told reporters. “I’m proud to say that in this county, if you present deadly physical force ... we meet you with deadly...

The 'pro-choice' governor only supports the 'deadly choice that ends a human life,' one Republican said.LANSING, Michigan (LifeSiteNews) – Michigan Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued several line-item vetoes Thursday for the state’s $22.2 billion education budget, including cutting provisions that would have supported pregnancy support options except abortion and stem-cell research excluding the use of human embryos. The Detroit News reported that the budget contained $1 million for “pregnant and parenting student services” at community college and university campuses, with language supporting recommendations for care, delivery, foster care, adoption or family planning but forbidding abortion referrals, as well as $5...

he global monkeypox outbreak is primarily being driven by sex between men, according to the first major peer-reviewed paper to analyze a large set of cases of the virus. The outbreak, which epidemiologists believe initially began in mid-spring gatherings of gay and bisexual men in Europe, has since alarmed such experts by ballooning to nearly 16,000 cases worldwide. Now infectious disease specialists are developing an increasingly refined understanding of the predominant conduits of monkeypox transmission, as well as the typical disease course patterns. “These data point clearly to the fact that infections are so far almost exclusively occurring among men...

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis said he plans to meet with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill in September at an interreligious meeting in Kazakhstan. The pope confirmed the meeting in an interview that aired in the United States July 11 on Univision, the Spanish-language network. “We are going to meet in Kazakhstan in September because there is a religious meeting” there that both have promised to attend, he said. Although the Vatican has not officially announced the visit, Kazakh authorities said the pope confirmed his participation at the Congress of World and Traditional Religions during a Zoom meeting in April with...

WASHINGTON — The White House confirmed on Saturday that the strain of coronavirus that infected President Biden several days ago is likely to have been BA.5, the highly contagious Omicron subvariant now comprising most new infections in the United States. “The president’s causative agent is most likely the BA.5 variant,” said a Saturday morning letter from the president’s personal physician, Dr. Kevin C. O’Connor. He added that confirmation, which came from preliminary genetic sequencing, “does not affect the treatment plan in any way.” BA.5 now accounts for eight out of 10 new coronavirus cases in the United States, and although...

Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) stated that if he was a Democrat, the attack on him “would be the number one story. And it wouldn’t just be the number one story for a day, it would be the number one story for an entire cycle.” And every single House Republican would be called on to condemn the attack. Zeldin said, “Well, this keeps happening over and over again, and you could find other stations that should be covering it and aren’t. I’ve been in Congress now — this is my fourth term, and over the course of these years, when you...

SAN FRANCISCO - Runners are lacing up their shoes as the San Francisco Marathon returns this weekend, bigger than ever. Organizers say nearly 24,000 people have registered for the 2022 events, after years of virtual races and a scaled back marathon weekend last September.

Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson says he will not oppose legislation to codify federal protection for same-sex and interracial marriage. The House passed the Respect for Marriage Act this week in response to the U.S. Supreme Court‘s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. The court used the finding of a right to privacy in its 1972 abortion decision to support future decisions, including Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 case that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, one of the new bill’s Senate sponsors, says the legislation is needed after Justice Clarence Thomas suggested in his own written Supreme...

The state of banks in China dominates concerns about the economy and global growth. With pictures of angry crowds outside banks and tanks on the street in one city to quell discontent about being unable to withdraw funds, it bears asking what the true state of Chinese banks is. Officially, Chinese banks are in fine shape. Nonperforming loans are low and are disposed of in a controlled manner. Banks remain comfortably within their regulatory limits of loan growth, and deposits continue to rise. However, as with all things China, a look behind the official statistics gives cause for concern. First,...

A school resource officer who shot and wounded a Kansas high school student after the student shot him four times won’t face charges because he believed his life was in danger, a prosecutor announced Friday. Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe said school resource officer Erik Clark shot Jaylon Elmore at Olathe East High School after Elmore shot him four times inside an assistant principal’s office on March 4. An assistant principal, Kaleb Stoppel, was shot and wounded during the exchange, “most likely” by two bullets fired by Clark, Howe said in a report. Clark and Stoppel were released from...

A large study confirms one in five Americans believes violence motivated by political reasons is—at least sometimes—justified. Nearly half expect a civil war, and many say they would trade democracy for a strong leader, a preprint posted today on medRxiv found. “This is not a study that’s meant to shock,” says Rachel Kleinfeld, a political violence expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace who was not involved in the research. “But it should be shocking.” (snip) He and his colleagues surveyed more than 8600 adults in English and Spanish about their views on democracy in the United States, racial...

The blaster that helped the Rebel Alliance finally take down the Empire could soon be yours. Han Solo’s DL-44 Heavy Blaster Pistol from the original Star Wars trilogy will be sold next month by Rock Island Auction Company. The weapon isn’t just a lovingly crafted replica, either. It’s the actual prop that was wielded by Harrison Ford on the set of the original film in the franchise... Here's the auction page: Lot 1247: Documented Mauser Broomhandle “DL-44 Heavy Blaster Pistol” Prop