Free Republic

China's ultra-strict COVID-19 curbs are taking a toll on businesses and jobseekers as Beijing stresses again and again the need to maintain its zero-tolerance approach to the virus, to save lives, if not livelihoods. Since 2020, China has reported 5,226 COVID-19 fatalities among its population of 1.4 billion. In contrast, more than 1 million people have died of the disease in the United States. Keeping a lid on China's COVID-19 death toll has come at a cost to its economy.

“Traditionalism: Fidelity, Resistance, Work of the Church”: Jean-Pierre Maugendre On Saturday, September 24, 2022, a symposium on the future of the traditional Mass was held in Paris, bringing together nearly 500 participants. The great success of this event, co-organized in particular by the associations Oremus-Paix Liturgique and Renaissance Catholique, was due to the quality of the interventions and in particular that of Jean-Pierre Maugendre, President of Renaissance Catholique, a translation of which appears below.Everything began well:The Council that has just opened is like a resplendent dawn that is rising over the Church, and already the first rays of the...

“After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes. In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, waiting for the moving of the waters; for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted. A...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sent a letter to finance ministers and central bankers from the world’s 20 leading economies Thursday urging they change course and steer a global economic recovery that includes developing countries hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of the war in Ukraine and escalating climate emergencies. The U.N. chief said in the letter ahead of the Group of 20 summit in the Indonesian resort of Bali next month that these world events along with the rising cost of living, tightening financial conditions, and unsustainable debt burdens “are wreaking havoc on economies across...

In the worldy, economic sense, the U.S. dollar has often been referred to in recent times as "the cleanest dirty shirt": Fortune, July 2022: "Why is the dollar dominating? Because the U.S. is" the cleanest dirty shirt. " Asia Times, September 2022: "Analyst Louis-Vincent Gave at Gavekal Research observes that 'in a dangerous world, the reason for the US dollar' s super-charged performance over the last year has been investors' view that it is the 'cleanest dirty shirt' in a smelly pile of laundry.'" In the spiritual sense, who or what has the "cleanest dirty shirt" in the world? The...

For years the political left has made fools of themselves by sucking up to celebrities. Both in election season and out of it, always it’s the same story. Susan Sarandon, Matt Damon, Eva Longoria and the rest of them all come out to support the Democrat party. Want to weigh up the rights and wrongs of American foreign policy? Then make sure George Clooney is on your side. Want to address income inequality? Well make sure you’ve got Taylor Swift on board. Of course the whole thing is ridiculous. And conservatives have not been shy about pointing out that fact....

A 42-year-old-man was hunting Elk in Idaho when a mountain lion emerged from the wilderness and began stalking him. Jared Erickson - from Paradise, Utah, just south of the Gem state - was lucky to get away with his life after the encounter with the lion in which he was forced to fire his gun twice. After the second shot he was able to scare off the mountain lion, which then returned into the wilderness disappointed. Erickson pulled out his pistol and phone upon noticing the big cat. With his left hand he filmed the lion as it moved menacingly...

Oct 13, 2022 (twitter.com/natirom/status/1446432164099379201) Attorney, NGO Nati Rom: Hundreds of Muslim citizens of Israel are chanting in Jerusalem, our capital, 'Khaybar Khaybar ya Yahud, Jaish Muhammad Swafa Yeud', and in a free translation - 'Jews, remember Khaybar' (a Jewish settlement that signed a peace agreement between it and Muhammad's army - the agreement was broken and the Jews were slaughtered to the very last of them).

Interesting item from the Times of India:Coins are not only used as a mode of exchange but they also reflect heritage. Indian-Roman relations was one such area where coins played a major role in establishing and strengthening ties between two countries.At a special exhibition on Roman coins and other Roman antiquities found in South India, inaugurated by the Italian Embassy Cultural Centre director Angela Trezza at the Government Museum in Egmore on Tuesday, rare coins and antiquities were put on display for the public...Historically, trade between ancient Rome and India can be traced to the rule of Roman emperor Augustus...

very pleasantly surprised over Tudor Dixon's debate performance,,completely defanged Whitless over the abortion issue... https://youtu.be/PES362RFnVo

Disclaimer: This was written before Russian mobilization was announced. The situation in Ukraine is ongoing and we aim to produce the most up-to-date content. A real David vs Goliath story is unfolding as Ukraine has fought back one of the biggest military juggernauts in the world, the Russian army, but does Ukraine really stand a chance at winning this war? Don't miss today's epic new military video to take a look inside the battle for Ukraine![ Full Transcript, LONG: ]On February 24th of 2022 Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine under the guise of a 'special military operation'. In reality...

David Hogg, a survivor of the 2018 Parkland school shooting and co-founder of March for Our Lives, will be the keynote speaker at Cal Poly’s annual Student Leadership Institute conference on Friday. The theme of this year’s one-day conference is “Amplify the Voices of All Leaders,” and it is open to students only. It will be held from 12 to 6:30 p.m. in the campus’ multi-activity center in the Recreation Center. “The Student Leadership Institute will bring students from a variety of experience levels together to learn from each other and explore topics that are rich and relevant to our...

SCOTUS takes up another Colorado caseTRANSCRIPTIn tonight's In-Depth Report, another example of the Left's drive to compel speech is on the Supreme Court's docket. Jack Phillips, owner, Masterpiece Cakeshop: "I'm not judging these two gay men who came in. I'm just trying to preserve my right as an artist to decide which artistic endeavors I'm going to do and which ones I'm not." Following in the footsteps of Masterpiece Cakeshop baker Jack Phillips, another Colorado artist is asking the Supreme Court to provide relief from the state's anti-discrimination law. Lorie Smith is a website designer who sought to expand her...

As Twitchy reported Tuesday, Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland has seen a 582 percent increase in the number of students who identify as “gender nonconforming” in the past two years. What could possibly explain it, other than the school providing them with an inclusive safe space where they can be who they are? Here’s Christopher Rufo, one of the “stochastic terrorists” setting his unhinged followers loose against another doctor who just wants to provide medical care to transgender children. She says demand for gender-affirming surgery has increased five-fold over the past five years. She also notes that 18 is...

Five people were shot and killed, including an off-duty police officer, on a northeastern Raleigh greenway Thursday, Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin said at a press conference. Two others, including a Raleigh Police K9 officer, were transported to a hospital. The officer had non-life threatening injuries. Baldwin said Raleigh police have contained a suspect, but the suspect is not in custody according to a 8:27 p.m. tweet from the department. The investigation remains active.

Three metal detector fans have discovered a Roman hoard worth tens of thousands of pounds while spending the weekend camping in south-west England.The group were staying in a field near the ancient village of Pewsey, in Wiltshire, when they found the treasure trove a mere six paces from where they had pitched their tent.Robert Abbott, 53, switched on his device after breakfast one morning and very quickly found something.At first the computer shop owner from Essex, near London, uncovered only discarded metal tent pegs. But he dug a little deeper and hidden below was a valuable silver Roman coin called...

Labour’s Ben Bradshaw says church is ‘actively pursuing a campaign of discrimination’ against lesbian and gay peopleThe Church of England must move swiftly to welcome lesbian and gay people and embrace same-sex marriage or face mounting questions in parliament about its role as the established church of the country, a senior MP has said. The church was “actively pursuing a campaign of discrimination” against lesbian and gay people that was incompatible with its role as a church for England, said Ben Bradshaw, the Labour MP for Exeter and a former secretary of state for culture, media and sport. He was...

The story of the only Jew, probably the only Westerner, to become a general in the Chinese Army.My husband, Charles, was related to the only Jew, probably the only Westerner, to become a general in the Chinese Army – known as “Two-Gun Cohen” – who played a historic part in China’s abstention and the UN’s recognition of a Jewish state in 1947. In 1961 Charles’s mother, while staying at the King David Hotel Jerusalem, had to call the house doctor. Dr. Cyril Sherer arrived and, serendipitously, they discovered they were cousins! Cyril, a Londoner, lived many years in New Zealand...

Russia has acknowledged the deaths of several of its conscripts in Ukraine. Russian media reports that these soldiers have been sent to the front without training. Source: BBC News Russian, citing relatives and close friends of the dead soldiers Details: BBC journalists identified three out of five soldiers [whose deaths were reported by the Chelyabinsk Oblast military commissariat on Thursday, 13 October]: Anton Borisov, Igor Yevseev and Timur Akhmetshin. They were conscripted by the Korkino military commissariat [in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia] between 26 and 29 September. A total of almost 1,000 people were conscripted around that time, the relatives of...

There is an astonishing development in Australia…. For me it is absolutely chilling and threatening. This is not just about Victoria – its about the whole of Australia – and the Western world. There have been many canaries in the coal mine – but this is the first time I have seen this – someone being persecuted and losing their job, not because of something they said or did – but purely because of the church they belonged to. Not a cult – not an extreme sect – but a mainstream church with no history of extremism. Read, weep, pray...