Free Republic

Dozens of storeys of the more than 656-foot China Telecom (0728.HK) building “burned with great intensity,” sending thick smoke into the sky, state broadcaster CCTV said. The fire has been put out, but casualty numbers are not known yet, it reported.

COVID lockdowns and remote learning was severely detrimental to kids, with one expert saying it hurt everything from reading and writing to basic social skills. The National Center for Education Statistics conducted a study on 9-year-old students over the two years since the pandemic began. They found test scores in reading fell five points, while in math they fell seven points. The US Department of Education called this the largest drop in reading test scores since 1990, while in math, it was the first time they'd ever recorded a lower average.

Of all the key Senate races to watch, and there certainly are some battleground, the Pennsylvania race to replace retiring Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) may truly be the one to watch. For how likely it supposedly has been that Democrat John Fetterman would win, it turns out a shift in polls shows the momentum may not be on his side, but rather that of his Republican opponent, Dr. Mehmet Oz. It's already been nearly a month since the Trafalgar Group poll was released showing Fetterman's lead against Dr. Oz at just under 5 percentage points. His lead has now shrunk...

During a guest appearance on 'The View' on Wednesday, Georgia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams - once a pro-lifer raised in a religious home - said she supports abortion 'until the time of birth' in some cases. When asked by the show's new conservative host, Alyssa Farah Griffin, if she believed there should be any limitation on abortion, Abrams said: 'Viability is the metric and that if a woman's health or life is endanger then viability extends until the time of birth.' Abrams added that abortion is a 'medical decision not a political one' and called various state-imposed limitations on...

The “Great Resignation” is causing waves across the workforce, but not in places you might expect. While plenty of attention has been devoted to Gen Z employees switching jobs in record numbers, new data shows the C-suite is struggling too. Deloitte reports around 70% of high-level executives are seriously considering quitting their jobs, largely to improve their emotional well-being. In fact, these departures are already underway. According to a recent report conducted by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, over 650 CEOs left their jobs in 2022. What’s behind this exodus of leaders? Workers across all industries have been deeply impacted by...

“After a lunch during which Greenwald gushed about how wonderful Trump was, Yellen concluded she couldn’t continue their fifty-year-long friendship,” according to Ullmann. “They stopped talking to one another.”

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Carey Wooten spent nearly seven weeks hunting for safe drinking water for herself, her two children and three dogs after clocking out each day as a Taco Bell manager, so Gov. Tate Reeves’ announcement that the water is clean again in Mississippi’s capital came as welcome news. Wooten said Friday that the liquid flowing into her kitchen sink still smells like sewage, but not as bad as before, and she’s glad she won’t have to run to distribution sites before their bottled water supplies run out each day. Jackson had already been under a state health...

The world’s largest package delivery company and the union representing tens of thousands of its employees are entering a critical countdown towards the expiration of the current union contract in 2023. Workers at UPS are demanding better wages and workplace protections, following a summer of demands for better equipment against heat-related death and illness inside the ubiquitous brown trucks. But union organisers and labour leaders are also preparing for the possibility of a strike, which could be the largest ever against a single company in the US. Roughly 350,000 members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Union work as drivers...

Rumors circulated this week that the White House was considering giving Ukraine the long-range missile systems it has asked for since the early days of the Russian invasion, but it became clear on Thursday that President Joe Biden ultimately decided against the idea. Sources close to the White House reportedly told CNN this week that the Biden Administration is unlikely to “significantly change” its approach to helping Ukraine, even as Russia retreats and the war looks to be winnable for Ukraine. Those rumors, however, appear to have scared the Kremlin, prompting a response this week that the supply of longer-range...

Two of the greatest insights from the philosopher Plato are that societies are structured around symbols of justice and unity. and that societies need stories to function in an orderly way without the chaos of tyranny. For most of American history, those symbols of justice and unity were the Declaration, Constitution, flag, and churches. These symbols combined for a powerful unifying story: the story of American liberty and equality that was also inspiring the advance of liberty and equality around the world. In the maelstrom of the chaos of 24/7 news, societal decay and violence, and media and political platitudes,...

There are reports on the Russian General SVR Telegram channel, which tends to be an anti-Putin station, that is claiming there was an inside-job attempt to assassinate Putin with an attack on his motorcade. He was not harmed. They are claiming that the first car of the convoy was blocked by an ambulance, but the second car made a slight detour and did not stop. A loud bang was supposedly heard from Putin’s car, but it continued and arrived safely at the president’s residence. They further claimed that the body of a man was then found driving the ambulance. They...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed a sweeping package of climate legislation into law on Friday, aiming to accelerate the Golden State’s transition to clean energy. Among the long list of initiatives to receive gubernatorial approval were measures to cut air pollution by 60 percent and reduce state oil consumption by 91 percent over the next two decades, accorWithin the same time frame, the bills intend to save California $23 billion by avoiding damages caused by pollution, reduce fossil fuel use in buildings and transportation by 92 percent and slash refinery pollution by 94 percent.ding to the governor’s office.

REPORTS coming out of Russia on Friday, September 16, suggested that Russian-appointed deputy head of Berdiansk (Ukraine) Oleg Boyko and his wife Lyudmila have been killed. Russian-appointed deputy head of Berdiansk Oleg Boyko and his wife Lyudmila were killed near their garage in what appears to be an assassination, according to the chairman of the movement “We are with Russia”, Vladimir Rogov. Oleg Boyko, Russian appointed deputy head of Berdiansk military-civil administration for housing and communal services, and his wife, Lyudmila Boyko, were killed. “Law enforcement officers are asking citizens who have any information regarding the incident to promptly inform...

On Friday, Hillary Clinton agreed with an MSNBC host's assessment that the sending of 50 migrants to Martha's Vineyard was "literally human trafficking" and claimed no one wants "open borders. "Joining "Morning Joe," Clinton concurred with host Joe Scarborough's sharply critical remarks about the move by Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, which has set off a media firestorm amid the fierce debate over how the country handles illegal immigration. Scarborough repeatedly called it "human trafficking" by DeSantis and accused him of using innocent people as political pawns. "I think, Joe, you have laid out the craziness of the time in...

CNN anchor Chris Wallace said Friday on “New Day” that after the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, it was apparent that some of former President Donald Trump’s supporters would hear a “call to arms” in his comments about the possibility he will be indicted. Thursday on Hugh Hewitt’s nationally syndicated radio show, when asked about being indicted, Trump said, “I think if it happened, I think you’d have problems in this country the likes of which perhaps we’ve never seen before. I don’t think the people of the United States would stand for it.”

On June 4, 1974 the Cleveland Indians held a promotion called Ten Cent Beer Night at Municipal Stadium during a game against the Texas Rangers. It was exactly what it sounds like: the Indians gave unhappy people who rooted for a bad team unlimited quantities of nearly-free alcohol and it turned into utter chaos. Ten Cent Beer Night has been much written about over the years so most of you probably know the broad details of it all. It’s pretty straightforward: the 1974 Indians were a pretty miserable squad. They were actually an improvement, though, over the 1969-1973 clubs, but...

It’s Brilliant to Flood Sanctuary Cities with IllegalsApr 16, 2019 RUSH: Austin, Texas. Andrew, great to have you, sir. Welcome to the EIB Network.CALLER: Hey, Rush. You talked yesterday about Democrats not ready and willing to accept illegals into sanctuary cities.RUSH: Yes.CALLER: Their reaction exposes a truth that I think most of us know, that their compassion for illegals is faked. If it was real, they would embrace this proposed policy, right? Now, if you combine their fake compassion with the fact that they view illegals as a future Democrat voting bloc, it shows that their stance on illegal immigration...

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. - A Florida man is facing premeditated murder charges after he told police that he shot at them because he thought they were members of the Mexican Cartel, according to an arrest affidavit. Lukas Alves is facing several charges including attempted first-degree premeditated murder of a law enforcement officer after he allegedly shot an officer in the chest at a Melbourne hotel on Friday. When interviewed by police about the shooting, Alves said he believed the officers were members of the Mexican Cartel and they showed up outside his room to steal his belongings," according to an...

Ginger Daikenchuto comprises four medical herbs: zanthoxylum fruit, processed dried ginger, ginseng, and malt sugar. A new study explains how daikenchuto, an herbal medicine containing ginger, pepper, ginseng, and maltose, protects the gut against inflammatory bowel disease. The benefits of a traditional herbal medicine on colitis, one of two disorders that compose inflammatory bowel disease, are reported by Zhengzheng Shi and colleagues at the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences (IMS) in Japan (IBD). The research, which was published in the journal Frontiers in Immunology, demonstrates that daikenchuto (DKT), a herbal remedy made up of ginger, pepper, ginseng, and maltose,...

...Mr. Mueller resolutely set about to change the “culture” of the FBI. That’s the word he used. He was going to make the bureau into an intelligence agency, or in his repeated terminology, an “intelligence driven” organization. Unintended consequences followed. The organization I had served for 33 years would undergo a cultural change in subsequent years, culminating in the ugly disaster of Crossfire Hurricane, the fruitless but disruptive investigation of the Trump campaign and Russia. Mr. Mueller had worked with FBI special agents in Boston and San Francisco, but he didn’t know the FBI’s culture or how it functioned. He...