Free Republic

Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst said China is "intentionally poisoning" Americans by supplying Mexican cartels with the materials to make the deadly opiate fentanyl, which is then sold in the United States."The Chinese are selling these precursor chemicals into Mexico. Then the Mexican cartels are working on making the fentanyl and distributing it up into the United States," Ernst told CBS News correspondent Catherine Herridge in an interview aired Friday.When Herridge asked whether the flow of chemicals was occurring with approval from the Chinese Communist Party, Ernst responded: "I believe it is. I think that the Chinese are intentionally poisoning...

The Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles face off Sunday in the Super Bowl, but their competition extends beyond the gridiron to the social media stage, where the two teams are vying, along with the NFL's other 30 franchises, for followers and engagement on TikTok, the controversial video-sharing app that reportedly has close ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Although spy balloons are currently dominating the headlines, the wildly popular TikTok appears to be China's premier Trojan Horse.With 2.6 million followers (and 46.1 million likes), the Chiefs are the most popular of the 32 NFL teams on the platform,...

Gonzalo Lira asks about the future of nato Their next project, if they choose not to simply call it a day and go home, would almost have to involve attempting to project power across oceans.Now, granted the US has shown some ability to do that, the biggest example is still Okinawa... What nato would be looking at would be more like the full-on invasion of the Japanese home islands that the US was still trying to work up the cajones for when the two atom bombs ended WW2.

The U.S. housing market cooled off pretty dramatically last year, after mortgage rates more than doubled from historic lows. Home prices, however, have been stickier. Prices began falling last June, but are still higher than they were a year ago. Now, as demand appears to be coming back into the market, due to a slight drop in mortgage rates, prices are pushing back. **** Hepp notes that some of the exurban areas that became popular during the first years of the pandemic and saw prices rise sharply are now seeing larger corrections. But she doesn’t expect that will last long....

Due to a significant security threat on the Israeli rescue and relief mission in Turkey, and following a joint situational assessment with the heads of the IDF Home Front Command and Search and Rescue Units which took place on Saturday night, United Hatzalah CEO Eli Pollack and Vice President of Operations Dov Maisel instructed the head of United Hatzalah’s rescue mission Major (res.) Yossi Cohen to end the mission and return to Israel as soon as possible. The team quickly packed up their equipment and gear and made hasty arrangements to fly back to Israel at the earliest opportunity. Due...

This is must-see TV. If you didn't watch it last night, give yourself a treat and watch it today. Friday night's opening monologue on Tucker Carlson Tonight was a further demonstration of why Mr. Carlson is the most important political commentator in the United States. He takes on and explains political issues in ways that clarify what is really going on and uses his considerable dramatic skills to engage and keep a mass audience focused on what can be rather abstract issues. This is not to denigrate other brilliant conservatives such as Victor Davis Hanson — who Tucker recently acknowledged...

(Daily readings from the USCCB)Jesus said to his disciples: “I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:20–22The scribes and Pharisees were masters of the Old Law. Now that the Messiah had arrived, they were unwilling to go deeper and move beyond the Old Testament teachings that they often misrepresented. They preferred a black-and-white approach to morality that had been with them for centuries and did not want to change when presented with Jesus’ new and higher calling.Today’s Gospel continues Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, which...

A long but thorough observation of the facts: from Odessa, to Lvov, to Vlad’s defined strategy to the collective West’s strategy, to the Ukies recent “ Volksturm” mobilization ( 16 year olds forced registration)…. The Western war cheerleaders will not like this dose of reality. ————————— “ Recently, there is a lot of talk about where the escalating spiral will end. Will it conclude in World War III? Will there be a nuclear war? What are the determining factors? And what would indicate World War III is imminent? I’ll go through these questions in detail from a strategic perspective. But,...

MILFORD, N.H. — A debate over the Milford School District's bathroom policies is continuing after a temporary fix is not sitting well with students or parents. Monday night, the school board voted to limit the number of students who use restrooms and locker rooms to the number of private stalls that exist in the restroom. With trash bags now covering urinals, students and parents said the new policy isn't a good fix, and school leaders said it's affecting students' work in the classroom. "None of us actually asked for any sort of change," said high school student Marelyn Bergin. "The...

Washington state's biggest school district is considering shuttering some schools and laying off staff in the near future as enrollment rates continue to drop following the pandemic. Seattle Public Schools officials floated the idea of "consolidating" schools during a workshop reported on by The Seattle Times. Funding for most school districts is tied to the number of students, so declines in enrollment will likely contribute to budget shortfalls.

The Bible In Paintings ~ Encouragement for Appreciating and Applying God's Word ~ T H E L A S T S U P P E R ֎ Featuring 35 Paintings, 1 Relief and 4 Windows ֎ M A R K «Chapter 14»* On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?” So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a...

House Bill 24, the Idaho Launch bill, passed the House yesterday afternoon by a razor-thin margin after more than an hour of spirited debate. Rep. Megan Blanksma is the House sponsor, but Governor Little has been the driving force behind this bill, which would expand the existing Idaho Launch Grant program, providing $8,500 per high school graduate ($102 million overall) for technical education and workforce training. Idaho Freedom Foundation strongly opposes this bill because it significantly expands a government program, subsidizes corporate training programs, and distributes money to certain industries as determined by the unelected Workforce Development Council. Opponents of...

Scientists have just spotted a strange circular filament wobbling around the sun's pole that has them really excited. A huge filament of solar plasma has broken off the sun's surface and is circling its north pole like a vortex of powerful winds, but scientists have no clue what caused it. "Talk about polar vortex! Material from a northern prominence just broke away from the main filament & is now circulating in a massive polar vortex around the north pole of our star," space weather forecaster Tamitha Skov said on Twitter while sharing a video sequence taken by NASA's Solar Dynamics...

An estimated five tons of rock lobster walked out of the sea this week following a harmful algal bloom that has been developing on the West Coast of the Western Cape. Also known as a red tide, it is the latest in increasing incidence of the devastating phenomenon. Algae are simple plants found in the world’s oceans that produce about 70% of the oxygen in the atmosphere, are a food source for small fish and crustaceans, and play a vital role in marine ecosystems. But too much of a good thing can have dire consequences. In certain conditions, microscopic forms...

In a suit filed by New York City workers fired for refusing vaccinations, there’s evidence that this is exactly what happened. One year ago, New York City fired over 1,430 city employees who refused to take the COVID vaccine. Several of those workers filed a class action lawsuit against the City. During that lawsuit, the teachers’ attorney introduced a sworn deposition stating that, when teachers refused the vaccination, the city flagged them as “problems” and handed their fingerprints over to both the FBI and the New York criminal justice system. Michael Kane, the named plaintiff in Kane v. DeBlasio, has...

Chelsea Handler Posts "Day In The Life Of A Childless Woman" Video To Brag About Her "Free Time" But Here's What She Gets Wrong About Motherhood BY GINA FLORIO·Feb 10th 2023· 7 min read Chelsea handlerGetty/Frazer Harrison Comedian Chelsea Handler has build a brand on being childless and single. She often talks and writes about the fact that she never wanted to have kids, which is why she's so carefree and happy. Her latest is a reel called "day in the life of a childless woman." *This article is intended for readers 18 and older.* There are some celebrities who...

Canada's Defence Minister Anita Anand would not speculate on where the object came from. She described it as cylindrical in shape but said it was smaller than the Chinese balloon shot down off the coast of South Carolina in the US a week ago. It was flying at 40,000ft and posed a risk to civilian air traffic when it was brought down about 100 miles from the border at 3.41pm EST (8.41pm GMT), she added.

Five days after a train carrying vinyl chloride derailed and exploded near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, crews ignited a controlled burn of toxic chemicals to prevent a much more dangerous explosion. Thousands in East Palestine, a town of about 5,000 people, evacuated, and officials warned the controlled burn would create a phosgene and hydrogen chloride plume across the region. Phosgene is a highly toxic gas that can cause vomiting and breathing trouble, and was used as a weapon in the first world war. Though no one died in the accident, the catastrophe serves as a wake-up call to the potential for...

If you’ve ever wondered why you can’t find common factual ground with liberal friends, the reason may be that not only have private outfits worked successfully to censor news, but government agencies as well. If you’ve ever wondered why you can’t find common factual ground with liberal friends, the reason may be that not only have private outfits worked successfully to censor news, but that government agencies as well, from the CDC to the CIA, have successfully censored it by proxy. It’s not just the major media that have been corrupted by the government (acting as megaphones for government agencies...

Many fully-grown adults have never developed the ability to think beyond words. Others are keenly aware of how easily people fall for this language game. And tactically exploit this mental weakness. This isn’t a new phenomenon. William Shirer, the American journalist and author of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, described his experiences as a war correspondent in Nazi Germany: [page image at site]. In June of 2015, the PATRIOT Act expired. The Obama Administration then restored most of the provisions under the title Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ensuring Effective Discipline Over Monitoring Act....