Free Republic

Worker unrest is on the rise at the Shanghai factory of a major supplier for Apple gadgets, with protests at times turning violent in response to draconian “COVID zero” lockdowns. Workers at the Quanta Computer plant — which makes Apple’s MacBook laptops — have been under strict lockdown for nearly two months with limited supplies as the Chinese government takes drastic measures to keep production online despite a recent COVID-19 case surge. But the fed-up employees – most of whom are low-wage earners – have reportedly started to revolt against the measures. The unrest has included violent confrontations involving hundreds...

A pensioner from Chernihiv who shot down a Russian plane with a hunting rifle was awarded the medal "for assistance in protecting the state border". Valery Fedorovich shot several times at a Su-34 fighter jet. For dedication, the head of the state border service Sergey Deineko awarded the pensioner with an award. This was announced on August 19 by the press service of the department ( the video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cF5E9Oli4M ). Pensioner from Chernihiv received a medal of the State Border Service Fyodorovich left a trophy as a keepsake – a piece of the downed plane. "On the second lap, how...

A gut-wrenching image that shows a 15-year-old boy who is suffering from terminal cancer comfort his sobbing brother after telling him that his life is going to end soon has left many people on the internet in tears. The teen, named Ian, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma - a type of bone cancer - in 2019. After undergoing surgery and months of chemotherapy, his family rejoiced when they learned that he was cancer free. However, in November 2021, they discovered that the disease had not only returned - but that it had also spread throughout his body. Now, he and his...

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At the request of the defense, the judge on Friday instructed the jury in the Gov. Gretchen Whitmer kidnap trial about what entrapment means - though his instructions on what it doesn't mean may help the prosecution. At issue: Did the defendants show any reluctance, the judge noted, or were they already willing participants? "The crucial question in entrapment cases is whether the government persuaded a defendant who was not already willing to commit the crime to go ahead and commit it," U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker told jurors, who are set to begin deliberations next week in the retrial...

Ukraine's forces struck a bridge of strategic importance to Russia shortly after President Vladimir Putin's military managed to restore it. Serhiy Khlan wrote Ukraine's armed forces created "fireworks" at the bridge in the city of Kakhovkaridge in the city of Kakhovka. "It looks like there won't be a grand opening," wrote Khlan, who is a deputy chairman of the Kherson Regional Council. In a subsequent post, Khlan said that Ukraine's Operational Command South had also confirmed that Ukrainian forces "destroyed the plans of the occupiers to repair and use" the bridge. The defense ministries of Russia and Ukraine were contacted...

Alabama TikTok star Mama Tot shared her grief and frustration on the social media platform Friday, telling her 8.7 million followers how she feels after the man accused of fatally shooting her son in a botched pot deal turned himself in and was charged with murder. Ophelia Nichols, the real name of the social media star, told how she felt a sense of sorrow when she first saw a photo of Reuben Gulley, 20, who Prichard, Ala., police say shot her son, Randon Lee, 19, in a local gas station. 'I am not happy,' she said. 'When I seen that...

Europe's worst drought in years has pushed the mighty river Danube to one of its lowest levels in almost a century, exposing the hulks of dozens of explosives-laden German warships sunk during World War Two near Serbia's river port town of Prahovo.

Deputies demanded the suspect show his hands and get on the ground. "He began to follow the commands when suddenly a skunk came running around the corner, approached Simonson, and released its well-known and malodorous spray before fleeing the area," the sheriff’s office said. Simonson was taken into custody without further incident. After deputies read him his rights, they said Simonson claimed that he was "wide awake and bored," so he went for a ride on his bicycle and noticed an open church window. Deputies said he claimed to have gone home before returning on foot, removing a screen from...

A video claims to show a HIMARS ATACMS launcher in Ukraine, but the video is likely just showing a non-standard cover--possibly over empty tubes to protect them from dust and dirt. Hello everyone, Some of you may have seen this video doing the rounds this morning, claiming it is evidence that ATACMS is in Ukraine at the moment. And I can certainly see why people think that, given the rectangle on the back of the truck gives the impression that it is ATACMS rather than the standard rockets. However, this image here shows the back of a standard, HIMARS six-missile...

The FBI division overseeing the investigation of former President Trump's handling of classified material at his Mar-a-Lago residence is also a focus of Special Counsel John Durham's investigation of the bureau's alleged abuses of power and political bias during its years-long Russiagate probe of Trump. The FBI's nine-hour, 30-agent raid of the former president's Florida estate is part of a counterintelligence case run out of Washington – not Miami, as has been widely reported – according to FBI case documents and sources with knowledge of the matter. The bureau's counterintelligence division led the 2016-2017 Russia "collusion" investigation of Trump, codenamed...

If brighter days are ahead for the U.S. economy, why are so many tent cities popping up all over the nation? At this point things are so bad that even the New York Times is admitting that “America’s homelessness problem has the makings of an acute crisis”. That article goes on to explain that our homeless population is steadily rising. Tonight, hundreds of thousands of our fellow Americans will be sleeping in tents, under bridges, in overcrowded shelters or in their vehicles. Of course there are many that are so addicted to drugs or alcohol that they just sleep wherever...

It's a move that House Republicans should consider when they regain the majority in November, but will they do it? In the aftermath of the unlawful August 8 raid on Mar-a-Lago, the Republican Party has been united in its revulsion of what appears to be an unprecedented ransacking of a former president’s home. The legal justification doesn’t pass constitutional muster. There seems to be no crime committed, only that the National Archives grew impatient over record retrieval. That’s not a crime; people dragging their feet regarding government documents is quite common in DC. There is zero legal justification for the...

A federal court denied a petition for rehearing in a case surrounding United Airlines’ vaccine mandate — one judge accusing the company of “coerc[ing] its employees into violating their religious beliefs.” Judges for the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, widely considered the most conservative federal court, voted 13-4 on Thursday to deny a rehearing. The court also denied United Airlines’ request to vacate a panel opinion from February, which held that the mandate inflicted irreparable harm and remanded the case to district court. Trump-appointed Judge James Ho penned a concurring opinion, admonishing the airline for creating...

You really covered yourself in glory this week, Wyoming.The right column is comprised entirely of blue states while the left column is comprised entirely of red ones — except for Georgia, which I suppose technically qualifies as blue for the moment given that it went for Biden and two Democrats in last year’s Senate runoffs. But let’s revisit that this fall, after Brian Kemp takes care of business against Stacey Abrams. Georgia may be the truest purple state in the union in 2022.The vaccine data comes from this fascinating survey by Morning Consult, which has been tracking public opinion on...

Fox News host Tucker Carlson is attempting to alert Republican congressional leaders and the GOP base that the Democrats, as of now, have a strong shot of holding the Congress in November.Carlson said:“Unpopular presidents drag their parties to the bottom in midterm elections. That’s the unchanging rule of politics. You saw it famously in 1994 with the Republican takeover of Congress after two disastrous years of Bill Clinton. You saw it in 2006 after Hurricane Katrina. You saw it in 2010 after ObamaCare. You saw it in 2018.”He continued, noting that despite Biden’s unpopularity, the Democrats are on track to...

CNN is apparently desperate to convince Americans to stop taking the glass-half-empty view of absurdly high gas prices that declined somewhat. Look on the bright side, says CNN: think of the small gas price dip as a $100-a-month raise instead! “Next time you stop at a gas station, think of it as a $100-a-month tax cut. Or a maybe $100-a-month raise,” CNN tweeted to its over 59 million followers on Aug. 19. The original CNN Business Senior Writer Chris Isidore’s propaganda piece was headlined: “America just got a $100-a-month raise.” CNN’s tweet was massively ratioed with over a whopping 7,100...

In 2020, the current attorney general, Alejando Gertz Manero, accused Murillo Karam of “orchestrating a massive media trick” and leading a “generalized cover-up” in the case. The arrest came a day after a commission investigating the disappearances said the army bore at least partial responsibility. It said that a soldier had infiltrated the student group involved and that the army didn’t stop the abductions even though it knew what was happening.

Gunfire and explosions shook an upscale hotel in Mogadishu on Friday evening, as police responded to an attack by unidentified gunmen, according to local authorities and witnesses. Police Major Hassan Dahir confirmed to CNN that a gun battle was taking place between gunmen and Somali security forces at the Hayat Hotel in Somalia's capital, in an area frequented by lawmakers and government officials. Two security officials, including Mogadishu intelligence chief Muhidin Mohamed, were wounded in the ongoing attack, Dahir said. Details remained murky, however, as the siege continued. The Al Qaeda-linked terrorist group Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack in...

An elite all-girls school in Nashville that planned to open enrollment to anyone who identifies as female has rescinded the policy following a backlash from parents and alums. Officials from Harpeth Hall, a $33,000-a-year private school in Tennessee, sent a letter to students and parents saying it will continue to only 'serve girls and young women' following criticism over plans to include transgender students, WSMV reported. 'We recognize that this philosophy elicited strong reactions of support and opposition beyond our expectations,' the school leaders wrote. 'Based on the response from our school community, the Harpeth Hall Board of Trustees is...