Free Republic

Chinese protesters have turned to blank sheets of paper to express their anger over COVID-19 restrictions in a rare, widespread outpouring of public dissent that has gone beyond social media to some of China's streets and top universities. Images and videos circulated online showed students at universities in cities including Nanjing and Beijing holding up blank sheets of paper in silent protest, a tactic used in part to evade censorship or arrest. One widely shared video said to be from Saturday, which could not be independently verified, showed a lone woman standing on the steps of the Communication University of...

Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden announced the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will be awarding Oregon a total of $695,097 for sagebrush conservation efforts across the state. This funding will help support collaborative efforts by ranchers, growers, and agencies to improve habitat. “Restoring and conserving Oregon’s sagebrush ecosystems can help to address the damage and dangers invasive species bring to important rangelands and habitat to promote a healthy environment and a strong economy,” said Senator Merkley, who used his position as Chairman of the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee to secure this funding in the infrastructure law.

Almost a full two weeks after first filing for bankruptcy on Nov. 11, the insolvent cryptocurrency exchange FTX finally held its first-day motion requests on Tuesday (Nov. 22). The hearing took place in Wilmington, Delaware, the traditional city where corporate bankruptcy cases are heard.Presided over by Judge John T. Dorsey of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, the Tuesday session focused on what assets FTX has, to whom they are owed, and where the overall bankruptcy case for FTX and its affiliates should be held.The remaining “how” of the once-popular crypto exchange’s implosion has been widely covered;...

Vladimir Makei 'passed away suddenly', Belarusian state media reported today They gave no cause for Makei's death or any explanation of the circumstances Makei, 64, was due to meet Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov tomorrow He was then set to travel to Poland to meet a host of Western diplomats Some opposition figures in Russia and Belarus have posited the Belarusian security service could well have been involved in Makei's death Belarus's long-standing foreign minister has died suddenly, the state news agency Belta reported on Saturday, just days before he was due in Poland to meet key Western officials. 'Foreign Minister...

Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) side deal with Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) to enact permitting reform before the end of the year is on life support as Republicans look to deprive the lawmaker of a major victory that could aid his potential 2024 reelection. Manchin is in discussions with GOP colleagues about striking a deal on permitting reform in the lame-duck session, but Republicans say it faces an uphill path as they view his West Virginia Senate seat as a top pickup opportunity in the next election. “It’s a heavy lift but we’re still exchanging ideas,” said Sen. Shelley...

Elon Musk: SpaceX, Mars, Tesla Autopilot, Self-Driving, Robotics, and AI

This list only includes destroyed vehicles and equipment of which photo or videographic evidence is available. Therefore, the amount of equipment destroyed is significantly higher than recorded here. Small arms, ATGMs, MANPADS, loitering munitions, drones used as unmanned bait, civilian vehicles, trailers and derelict equipment are not included in this list. All possible effort has gone into avoiding duplicate entries and discerning the status of equipment between captured or abandoned. Many of the entries listed as 'abandoned' will likely end up captured or destroyed. Similarly, some of the captured equipment might be destroyed if it can't be recovered. When the...

Former President Donald Trump had dinner with rapper Kanye West and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes at his Mar-a-Lago estate late last week. But Fuentes says he doesn’t think Trump knew who he was, at least at dinner.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, who also sits on the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, said Sunday that he doesn’t believe the committee’s upcoming report would focus almost entirely on Donald Trump. Schiff, a California Democrat, told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union,” that he doesn’t believe a recent Washington Post story about how the contents of the report could potentially leave out investigations in other areas. “No, I mean — I certainly hope not,” Schiff said. “I would like to see our report be as broad and inclusive as possible. We are discussing...

WASHINGTON—Sam Bankman-Fried’s multimillion-dollar Washington charm offensive revolved around a small financial regulator and a group of senators with whom the purported crypto billionaire found common cause in a bid for light-touch regulation of digital assets. For FTX, the crypto exchange Mr. Bankman-Fried founded, the goal was to steer oversight of crypto into the hands of what was perceived to be a friendlier regulator than the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has been promising a more stringent approach. His effort dovetailed with desires of other regulators and legislators to hold sway over a new, fast-growing industry. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission,...

Today’s front page reports that the French Navy scuttled their fleet at Toulous. Dozens of ships are sunk in the harbor and some submarines have decided to sail for the Mediterranean to join the Allies… Below the fold: two future Hall of Fame football coaches are being inducted into the Navy. Washington Redskins skipper Ray Flaherty is swearing in after the Redskins play the Chicago Bears in the NFL Championship game. Dick Harlow is also signing up after Harvard’s football season is over… Another football coach is mentioned on the second page: former West Point assistant Col. LaVerne G. Saunders...

(Posted as Vanity as not yet a 'news story' for the journalists on FR.) Video at Link. Urumqi, Xinjiang, roadblocks were placed in the community to prevent residents and vehicles from entering and exiting, making it difficult for firefighters to put out the fire even if they tried their best.

President Biden's administration is scrambling to track the nearly $20 billion in military aid it has sent to Ukraine as Republicans warn of impending audits when they take control of the House in January. Likely future House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has said his party will not be giving Ukraine a "blank check" to fend off Russia's invasion. A potential audit would determine how much, if any, of the U.S. aid is ending up in the wrong hands. The Biden administration's previous tracking efforts have inspected only a fraction of the aid provided to the country. While some staunch Ukraine allies...

FOX 5 reports gunshots erupted Saturday around 8 p.m. following a “dispute between a group of teenagers and young adults” near Atlantic Station, in Atlanta, Georgia. One person was killed in the incident and five others wounded. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution notes that the shooting occurred after “a group of people were escorted off the property by Atlantic Station security and off-duty Atlanta officers.”

Tufts research school has diagnosed museum curation with a bad case of white supremacy, and it’s offering a post-graduate cure.

Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the Senate should defund law enforcement refusing to enforce gun laws. Anchor Dana Bash said, “Five months, it’s been that long since the president signed a bipartisan bill. You helped negotiate it. It incentivized states to implement red flag laws. Virginia and Colorado, where these mass shootings took place over the last ten days or so, they already have red flag laws in place, and it did not prevent those mass shootings.”

Ukrainian women have played a crucial part in their country's resistance to Russia's full-scale invasion. Now, a new school is training women to play a vital new role. The Female Pilots of Ukraine is the country's first school dedicated to solely teaching women — both civilians as well as those serving in Ukraine's security forces — how to fly drones. Both the Ukrainian and Russian militaries have been using drones in the war in Ukraine, for reconnaissance and fighting. Ukraine has many women in the military but they rarely work as drone pilots, according to the school's administrators. The school,...

Video at link. From Bannon's War Room. (Posted as Vanity as it is not yet a 'news story'.)

Russia’s infamous Wagner Group has abandoned dozens of former Central African Republic (CAR) rebels in Ukraine’s Donbas region after recruiting them to fight Vladimir Putin’s war, two former CAR fighters told The Daily Beast. The CAR sources, who were recruited by Wagner after quitting the Union for Peace (UPC) rebel group last December, said that many of the 100 or so ex-UPC fighters currently in Ukraine have lost contact with Wagner after the group trained them and flew them to the Donbas region about eight months ago. “Some of our colleagues have called us [on the phone] to inform us...

Fifty organizations dedicated to food sovereignty and food justice issues signed an open letter calling out Bill Gates over his latest claim that technology is the solution to world hunger and food sovereignty and asking the media to do a better job of covering the issue.Fifty organizations dedicated to food sovereignty and food justice issues are calling out Bill Gates over his latest claim that technology is the solution to world hunger and food sovereignty.In an “open letter” published earlier this month, the groups addressed comments Gates made, during interviews with The New York Times and The Associated Press, about...