Free Republic

China has removed six diplomats from the UK, including its consul-general in Manchester, after they were accused of assaulting a Hong Kong protester in the northern English city, Britain said on Wednesday (Dec 14). UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said the six envoys had left the country by a Wednesday deadline imposed by London for them to waive their diplomatic immunity and be questioned by police over the October incident. Greater Manchester Police launched a criminal probe after Hong Konger Bob Chan alleged Chinese diplomats subjected him to "barbaric" treatment - dragging him inside their compound to assault him -...

A 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck off Taiwan's eastern coast on Thursday (Dec 15) followed by multiple lighter aftershocks, the island's weather bureau said, with shaking felt in the capital Taipei. The quake hit just after midday (12pm, Singapore time) about 30km off the coast of Hualien County at a shallow depth of 6km. The US Geological Survey reported a lower 5.9-magnitude reading and a depth of 12km.

Vadim Yermolenko helped smuggle tech used in nuclear weapons into Russia, according to court documents. DailyMail.com can reveal his double life after it emerged co-defendant Alexey Brayman runs an online craft store in New Hampshire with his wife. They are allegedly part of the 'Serniya Network', run by Russia's security service...Yarmolenko and Brayman, who were indicted on Tuesday then released after posting bail, allegedly helped supply Russia with technology that can be used in nuclear and hypersonic weapons.

More than 400 congregations in Texas have voted to leave The United Methodist Church amid the mainline Protestant denomination's ongoing schism over LGBT issues. Over the weekend, UMC regional bodies in Texas voted to approve the disaffiliation votes of hundreds of churches, with most planning to join the recently created Global Methodist Church. The total number of departing congregations includes 294 of the 598 churches belonging to the Houston-based Central Texas Conference and 145 of the 201 churches belonging to the Lubbock-based Northwest Texas Conference, reported The Dallas Morning News. The departing congregations constitute nearly half of all UMC congregations...

A city in Central Texas held separate Christmas parades this year after an LGBT group featured a man dressed in drag at last year's parade unbeknownst to the Christian group that once organized the annual festive event. The city of Taylor, a “progressive, growing city” of roughly 15,000 residents about 30 miles northeast of Austin, decided to host its own separate parade last week following controversy over a decision by the Taylor Area Ministerial Alliance (TAMA) to ban the LGBT group Taylor Pride from its Christmas Parade of Lights following last year's display that offended some families. Last month, TAMA...

A pastor and his son have been arrested after claiming $8.4million in COVID relief funds for a family-run Christian ministry they claimed employed 486 people. Evan Edwards and his son Joshua, 30, were arrested at their family home in New Smyrna Beach in Florida at about 7am on Wednesday. The arrest came more than two years after the family - including Edward's wife Mary Jane Evans and daughter Joy, 36 - were stopped by Florida highway patrol trying to flee the country in a Mercedes SUV, according to a federal complaint. Federal agents found bags of shredded paper in the...

The first openly transgender woman set to be executed in the U.S. is asking Missouri's governor for mercy for the rape and murder of her ex-girlfriend, citing mental health issues. Lawyers for Amber McLaughlin, now 49, on Monday asked Republican Gov. Mike Parson to spare her. McLaughlin was convicted of killing 45-year-old Beverly Guenther on November 20, 2003. Then known by the name Scott McLaughlin, she had been terrorizing and stalking her ex-girlfriend Guenther before she raped her and then stabbed and strangled her to death. McLaughlin dumped Guenther's body in St. Louis near the Mississippi River, according to STLToday....

An Arizona mother went viral after she showed up to a school board meeting in a cat costume and makeup to mock what she says is the school's 'woke agenda.' Lindsey Graham, a conservative and published author who hosts the 'Patriot Barbie' podcast, made headlines after video showed her in the feline getup, inspired by board member, Paul Bixler. Bixler, 72, a retired teacher and principal, identifies as transgender woman. She was appointed to the Liberty School Board, which covers eight schools on the outskirts of metropolitan Phoenix, in 2021 after the election was canceled and is slated to serve...

Back in 2010, RNC Chair Michael Steele was heavily criticized and eventually lost his position because donors were angry about what they believed was luxurious spending on private jets, floral arrangements, chauffeur services, and member meetings in expensive tropical locales. Donors were used to frugality from the RNC under the George W. Bush administration, when “Karl Rove would bitch if there were flowers on the tables” and staff holiday parties were catered by Chick-fil-A.Despite Joe Biden’s economy and three straight cycles of election losses, the RNC’s big-spending days are back with a vengeance. Perhaps because of these losses both RNC...

San Diego County spent $20,000 of taxpayer funds on “binders and tuckers,” articles of clothing used by individuals who present as the opposite gender. The money went to the San Diego Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center with the intention of “funding for binders and tuckers to transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals,” a document from a County of San Diego Board of Supervisors meeting reveals. Binders and tuckers are articles of clothing that are used by males and females who want to mimic their opposite-sex peers. While binders flatten the chest to make women appear more masculine, tuckers are used...

Roughly 50 pro-life groups sent a letter to the U.S. House and Senate on Tuesday, warning that taxpayers could end up funding abortions by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) under a new rule put forth by the Biden administration. The letter details how a portion of the $71 million increase in funding from appropriations bills (totaling $911 million) for the Office of Women’s Health at the VA will be used to “underwrite the transformation of veteran’s health facilities into abortion centers” under an interim final rule (IFR) which provides funding for abortion by the VA. “Women veterans deserve quality...

New Yorker who sat on the jury that found two Trump Organization companies guilty of criminal tax fraud has revealed how the panel referred to the former president as “Joe Smith” during deliberations. “I constantly fought my knee-jerk belief that of course anything with the name Trump on it is crooked,” the juror told the Daily Beast.... ...New York City residents on the jury had been angered at how the Trump Organization had cheated working people, the juror told the Daily Beast. They discussed how city services like fixing potholes were impacted by the unpaid taxes during jury room deliberations....

The Kremlin’s hand isn’t necessarily behind every bit of fake news. But many who write misinformation also interact with people and organizations linked with the Kremlin who use cultural events and diaspora outreach as a guise for lobbying and spreading propaganda. These organizations don't go unnoticed by the law...The Kyiv Independent mapped these connections to allow readers to draw their own informed conclusions about the credibility of these people and organizations. This article profiles several people and groups with alleged ties to the Kremlin. The visual map that accompanies the article displays the people in their orbit and how they’re...

A customized Moderna Inc. vaccine combined with a Merck & Co. cancer drug helped ward off the recurrence of the skin cancer melanoma after surgery in patients in a mid-stage clinical trial, the companies said. The companies said Tuesday the combination of Moderna’s personalized cancer vaccine and Merck’s Keytruda cancer immunotherapy reduced patients’ risk of relapse or death by about 44%, versus Keytruda alone, in the 150-volunteer study. The results, which the companies said were statistically significant but haven’t been reviewed by independent scientists, suggest promise for an emerging but unproven class of vaccines that aim to treat diseases rather...

The mother of a 15-year-old girl who died of a suspected fentanyl overdose in a high school restroom has filed a negligence and wrongful-death lawsuit against the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Moscow has said no “Christmas ceasefire” was on the cards after nearly 10 months of war in Ukraine, with fighting looking set to drag on through the winter. ...Zelenskiy had called on Russia this week to start withdrawing its troops by Christmas as the first step towards a peace deal, but Peskov said on Tuesday there would be no peace with Kyiv until Zelenskiy accepted the “realities” on the ground – referring to Russian control over parts of four Ukrainian regions it annexed in September following coercive and illegal “referendums”. After a series of lightning Ukrainian counteroffensives, Kyiv has regained...

Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul explains his opposition to the omnibus spending bill on 'Kudlow.' Rand Paul:"This brings on the LIE that the Republicans are fiscally conservative" "Republicans are emasculated and have no power" "We have to do the budget the way its supposed to be done"

Video has emerged, as repored earlier, showing presumed infiltrators among protestors in Brasilía Monday night, when five busses and six cars were torched, Following the brutal arrest of indigenous leader José Acácio Serere Xavante by Federal Police in front of his wife and children Monday for the crime of protesting, violence broke out in the Brazilian capital, with Bolsonaro supporters allegedly attempting to storm police HQ and free Xavante. Now this… The men who set the bus on fire on Monday night were all felons. They were dressed as Bolsonaro supporters. It was all a setup. From the tweet below,...

Arizona State Senator Sonny Borrelli has filed a lawsuit against Katie Hobbs and Maricopa County on behalf of Mohave County, alleging that Maricopa County “experimented with unproven and proprietary artificial intelligence in voter signature verification.” Borrelli’s lawsuit states that due to Maricopa County’s use of “unproven software programs that improperly but unavoidably influenced the judgment of poorly trained workers tasked with signature verification, in violation of Arizona statutory law, the voting strength of residents of Mohave County, Arizona, was diluted and their Constitutional rights were violated.” True The Vote made this shocking discovery. State Senator Sonny Borrelli filed the lawsuit...

Ron Paul on the FBI: "It almost looks like the FBI was designed to spy on Americans who might be disagreeing with policy." Clip.. [1 min 14 sec]