Free Republic

HONG KONG/TAIPEI - China has slapped a ban on thousands of Taiwanese food imports, from fruit and vegetables to cookies and baby food, ahead of an expected visit to the island by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi later Tuesday. The unconfirmed trip by the highest-ranking U.S. official in a quarter century -- and China's reaction to it -- have sent regional tensions soaring and plunged Sino-U. S. relations into the deep freeze, as fears grow over a possible military response by Beijing. China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, has repeatedly warned against Pelosi's trip, while Washington on Monday...

A Woodbridge teenager who was part of a theft ring that included two armed robberies in Stafford County was convicted of multiple charges Monday. Isaiah Alexander Cuff, 19, pleaded guilty in Stafford Circuit Court to two counts of armed robbery, using a firearm in the commission of a felony and conspiracy. He will be sentenced Oct. 24.

Political neophyte Dr. Mehmet Oz might have a decent shot at keeping Pennsylvania's open Senate seat red if he bothered to do the work, a GOP strategist said of the vacationing, Trump-backed candidate who is trailing Democratic rival John Fetterman. "If Oz wasn't mentally and physically on vacation, it might be an even fight," said Keith Naughton, a Republican strategist turned cofounder of the political consulting firm Silent Majority Strategies, told The Hill about the pivotal contest to replace the retiring GOP Sen. Pat Toomey and possibly tip the balance of power in the 50-50 Senate. And embattled former President...

If that’s the case, Biden has also made sure that we’re bound to lose...but maybe there’s more going on here than meets the eye. Tucker Carlson understands that Nancy Pelosi’s planned trip to Taiwan is not the first act in the politics between America and China but is the latest act in a decades-long relationship that has seen China steadily usurp America’s lead both economically and militarily. It’s All About Eve on a national scale, with shy, backward China systematically working to take on America’s role in the world, although without the tiresome liberty part. In this version, though, America...

By its actions, the WHO has neutered their qualifications as a global health organization. Abir Ballan, author of the June 2022 piece titled “The WHO Review and Why it Matters to You? has documented the corruption by WHO/global leaders and governments concerning Covid treatment. In essence, Ballan’s findings are a call to action to “reassess the WHO’s candidacy as an authoritative global public health organization” and the necessary actions needed to “safeguard” people’s “health sovereignty.” With the unending mismanagement of Covid treatment and the WHO’s influence on so many countries, it is a critical call to action. Ballan ponders the...

The mascot for a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant in New Jersey has become the latest costumed character to be accused of racism. The incident on July 30 occurred when Natyana Muhammad took her children to the chain's location in Wayne, New Jersey - and the employee playing Chuck E. Cheese allegedly ignored her daughter during a meet-and-greet period. She posted a video of the encounter to Twitter which shows the employee walk past as a small child holds her hand out for a high-five. Muhammad wrote of the incident: 'My 2-year-old was racially discriminated against.' 'As you can see, he...

PHOENIX (AP) — The Republican speaker of the Arizona House faces voters Tuesday and the anger of supporters of former President Donald Trump after he rejected pleas to help overturn the 2020 election results and testified before Congress about the efforts. Speaker Rusty Bowers is trying to move to the state Senate because of term limits and faces an opponent who criticizes him for refusing to help Trump or go along with a contentious 2021 “audit” that Republican leaders in the Senate commissioned. Bowers faces an uphill battle in the eastern Phoenix suburb of Mesa, especially after the state Republican...

Dave was a single guy, living at home with his father and working in the family business. He knew that he would inherit a fortune once his sickly father died. Dave wanted two things: • to learn how to invest his inheritance and, • to find a wife to share his fortune. One evening at an investment meeting, he spotted the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her natural beauty took his breath away . "I may look like just an ordinary man," he said to her, "but in just a few years, my father will die, and I'll...

Ever feel like there’s just not enough time in the day? Turns out, you might be onto something. Earth is rotating faster than it has in the last half-century, resulting in our days being ever-so-slightly shorter than we’re used to. And while it’s an infinitesimally small difference, it’s become a big headache for physicists, computer programmers and even stockbrokers. Why Earth rotates Our solar system formed about 4.5 billion years ago, when a dense cloud of interstellar dust and gas collapsed in on itself and began to spin. There are vestiges of this original movement in our planet’s current rotation,...

A high-level U.S. Postal Service official appointed under President Joe Biden was caught during a child sex sting, admitting “I’m a pedophile” on camera. Russell Rappel-Schmid, the Chief Data Officer for the U.S. Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), was caught in San Diego, California attempting to meet a 14-year-old boy for sex. The PRC is responsible for overseeing the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) – which deals with mail-in ballots during election season – and Rappel-Schmid was tasked with running the commission’s data management and compliance with the OPEN Government Data Act.

Voters on Tuesday will decide the political fates of three House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump last year for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Reps. Peter Meijer, R-Mich., Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., and Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., are all competing against Trump-backed primary challengers as the contests mark the latest test of the former president's influence in GOP elections. After Tuesday, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., will be the last House Republican who supported impeachment still facing a primary. Cheney, vice chair of the committee investigating the deadly riot and Trump's efforts to...

Click on link

Voters in Kansas are the first in the US after the collapse of Roe v Wade to decide whether to protect the right to abortion care, a high-stakes test that could have a major impact on abortion access in the heart of the country. The outcome of the election on 2 August will determine whether the state’s constitution explicitly denies the right to abortion access in Kansas. Anti-abortion state lawmakers are likely to pass severe restrictions on abortion care if the amendment passes. One poll from co/efficient shows the election is likely to be close, with 47 per cent of...

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., announced the first ever hearing on gain-of-function research, which will be aimed at pinning down the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. "Throughout this pandemic, Dr. Rand Paul has led the effort to hold government officials accountable on the status of efforts being made to combat COVID-19, and the origins of this virus that has killed over 6 million people worldwide," a spokesperson for Paul told Fox News Digital. "This has been over a year-long process of getting Congressional Democrats to finally agree to a hearing, which will also be the first Congressional hearing on gain-of-function research....

NEW ORLEANS - A former Louisiana Democratic Party leader who resigned from the state Senate earlier this year, citing depression and a gambling addiction, pleaded guilty Monday to a federal wire fraud charge. Former Sen. Karen Carter Peterson entered the plea before U.S. District Judge Sarah Vance, court records show. Documents filed Monday outlined a scheme in which she diverted more than $94,000 in campaign funds for personal use, including for casino gambling. Prosecutors said she also arranged for another $53,000 in state Democratic Party funds to be kicked back to her by associates she arranged to be hired by...

‘Made His Bed With The Fascists’: Democrats Implode Over Andrew Yang Creating A New Political Party. Yang co-published an op-ed with former Republican New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman and former Republican Congressman David Jolly on Wednesday, announcing their creation of the “new Forward party.” This merges three separate movements run by the three founders, all claiming to unite Americans from all ends of the political spectrum.

Welcome to The Bicycle Thread. A monthly PING List for bicycle enthusiasts to share experiences, information and ideas.

Prayers up. FR is funded solely by contributions made by the liberty loving patriots who love and use it. We are beholden to no political party. No advertisers, no outsiders, no sugar daddies, no corporate string pullers. Definitely no government subsidies or tax breaks. No 501c or other IRS non-profit status. This means no commercial ads. No annoying pop-ups. No ad tracking. No mail campaigns. No spam. No third-parties -- not even the IRS -- trying to control what we do or say. We are self-funded, fiercely independent and enjoy our freedom to speak plainly in the support of God,...

Learning this method can be advantageous for big game hunters – especially if there is no time to calculate all of the variables needed to adjust the scope. As I lay prone on the ground, squinting at the target only 100 meters away, the training instructor began shouting orders. I was a young airman basic in the United States Air Force and, unlike other branches of the US military, we only got to spend one day at the firing range. Using an M-16 shooting 5.56 NATO ball ammo, we were told to aim for “center mass.” The target was...

“Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path” (Proverbs 2:9 KJV).