Free Republic

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has, or has had, ties to 143 school districts in the United States, including 20 near military bases, through its "Confucius Classrooms," according to a recent report, "Little Red Classrooms: China's Infiltration of American K-12 Schools" by Parents Defending Education (PDE), a grassroots organization. Attention to Confucius Institutes has mainly been centered around colleges and universities, but less so on K-12 education. This means that Chinese state propaganda is probably now pretty much all over American K-12 classrooms. PDE observed that more than $17 million had been spent by the CCP on Confucius classrooms in...

The Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) transnational repression, a pervasive scheme that extends far beyond its border and quells dissenting voices, came under the spotlight during a U.S. congressional body hearing on Sept. 12. Witnesses, ranging from lawmakers to dissidents, gave their testimony before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), a bipartisan and bicameral panel. "The Chinese Communist Party has waged a pervasive, coercive campaign around the world against anyone who does not agree with the party," Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), who co-chairs the CECC, said in the opening remarks. Mr. Smith recounted a giant sculpture in a California park morphing...

TEMU app software has the full array of characteristics of the most aggressive forms of malware/spyware. The app has hidden functions that allow for extensive data exfiltration unbeknown to users, potentially giving bad actors full access to almost all data on customers’ mobile devices. It is evident that great efforts were taken to intentionally hide the malicious intent and intrusiveness of the software. We engaged numerous independent data security experts to decompile and analyze TEMU app’s code, integrated with experts of our own staff, and analysts who have written independently in the public domain. Contributing to the danger of mass...

Pope Francis urges Chinese Catholics to be ‘good citizens’As Pope Francis concluded Mass on Sunday in the Hun Theatre in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar, he took a moment to invite two Chinese bishops to stand with him at the altar for a moment.The Pope greeted Cardinal John Tong Hon, bishop emeritus of Hong Kong, and Cardinal-elect Stephen Chow Sau-yan, SJ, bishop of Hong Kong.As he held up their hands, Pope Francis sent greetings to the “noble people of China” and wished “all the people the best.”He encouraged the people of China to “strive ahead, always advancing.”Turning to the faithful...

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the BRICS grouping of countries was on course to meet the aspirations of most of the world's population, according to recorded remarks at a summit of the BRICS countries in South Africa on Tuesday. "We cooperate on the principles of equality, partnership support, respect for each other’s interests, and this is the essence of the future-oriented strategic course of our association, a course that meets the aspirations of the main part of the world community, the so-called global majority," Putin said. -snip- Putin was unable to attend the summit in person because of an arrest...

China and Russia used the second day of the BRICS Summit of emerging economies to criticize the West, while also throwing their support behind the proposed expansion of what’s seen by some as an alternative power bloc. The leaders of Brazil, India, and China are all in South Africa — which is hosting the event — while Russian President Vladimir Putin is participating virtually to avoid arrest under an International Criminal Court warrant over war crimes in Ukraine.

A new report from Parents Defending Education (PDE) puts forth evidence of Chinese Communist Party funding in several public school programs, revealing pro-China influence and messaging. PDE outlines that since 2009, nearly $18 million of CCP funding has contributed to school programs across a total of 34 states and Washington D.C.In the state of New York, 12 public schools were included in the PDE’s findings, prompting seven members of the House of Representatives to address a letter to the state’s governor, Kathy Hochul. Led by Rep. Brandon Williams (NY-22), the letter detailed concerns surrounding evidence of CCP funding in particular...

resident Biden and his family are huddling in secrecy this week at an exclusive home on the shores of Lake Tahoe in Nevada amid the special counsel investigation into his son Hunter. According to the White House, the Bidens are renting the $18 million home of environmental activist, businessman and former Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer at fair market value for a nine-day vacation following the president's trip to Hawaii to survey damage from the recent devastating wildfires. Biden is being joined on the vacation, which began Tuesday, by First Lady Jill Biden, their daughter Ashley, son Hunter, his wife...

Nicaragua’s Communist dictator, Daniel Ortega, has authorized the installation of Russian military bases on his territory. The decree is reported to have been signed on Monday, August 21, according to the Russian state news site “Avia.Pro”. Avia.Pro reports: The President of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, signed a decree according to which the deployment of Russian military bases and deployment of cruise missiles will be allowed in the country. This decision could become an important factor in the geopolitical balance of the region, especially given its close proximity to the United States. The Russian news site also highlights the distance between Nicaragua...

America’s Brobdingnagian $1.3 trillion national security budget thrives on manufactured threats and falsely demonized foes. or crying out loud. Since the Munich Security Conference in 2007, the man (Putin) has said over and over, and then over again, that Ukraine’s ascension to NATO is an absolute red line. And anyone with their head screwed on right would have no trouble accepting that declaration by answering one simple question. To wit, how would Washington react if Russia put missiles and nukes in Mexico, or Cuba, or Nicaragua, or Granada or Venezuela or even Tierra Del Fuego? The bloated now 31-nation NATO...

In this episode of "Try to Control Your Shock and Amazement"...As the Biden Border Crisis continues, unabated — by my count, roughly 31 months and running — a startling new statistic illustrates the perils of an open border. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents have recorded a roughly 800 percent increase in illegal aliens from China crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, according to updated federal data released on Friday.What could possibly go wrong? We should shudder at the thought. Consider the following: Between October 2022 and July 2023, there were roughly 17,700 illegal alien encounters with Chinese nationals along the...

The ‘House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party’ was in session when a Code Pink activist disrupted it by holding up a sign reading, “China Is Not Our Enemy.” “The United States needs collaboration, not competition, with China,” she insisted. Collaboration was the correct term. While most people stopped paying attention to Code Pink in the aftermath of the Iraq War, the leftist anti-war group never went away, but beyond the backing for Venezuela, Iran and the other usual terror states, it’s become a vocal defender of China. The level of collaboration between Code Pink and China is unusual...

...A Chinese-backed biolab in California was awarded over half a million dollars in US taxpayer cash, records show. The black market lab - which was raided earlier this year - was found to be making illegal Covid and pregnancy tests and storing disease-riddled mice and hundreds of samples of pathogens, blood, and other dubious chemicals.... ...Universal Meditech was also awarded a massive $360,000 tax credit in 2018 through California Gov. Gavin Newsom's CalCompetes program - though UMI's inability to meet program guidelines meant it never actually received those funds....

The Biden administration’s top energy official held multiple talks with a Chinese Communist Party official linked to an oil company counting investment from Hunter Biden’s private equity firm just days before the U.S. moved to release oil from its strategic reserve in 2021. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm controversially spoke with China National Energy Administration chairman Zhang Jianhua one-on-one multiple times in meetings that had not previously been reported, according to internal Energy Department calendars obtained by Fox News. Granholm and her Chinese Communist Party counterpart met on November 19th and 21st, 2021, just days before the White House announced its...

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has opened an investigation into the Chino Valley Unified School District, which authorized notification to parents if a child starts to identify as a different gender. Bonta claims he “has a substantial interest in protecting the legal rights, physical safety, and mental health of children in California schools.” Notably and maybe a little ironic, AG Bonta and Gov. Gavin Newsom are directing the Attorney general’s substantial taxpayer funded resources at parents over their concerns about inappropriate curriculum in public schools, while ignoring credible threats from the illegal Chinese-owned bio lab in Reedley, California.

In the end, there really was a silk road of money that flowed from China to the Biden family's coffers, despite Joe Biden's insistence to the contrary. The U.S. Attorney's office in Delaware — which charged Hunter Biden with tax and gun crimes last month — released to a federal court last week a now-scuttled plea deal that affirmed the presidential son got millions himself from Chinese sources in 2017-18 alone. That included money from a Chinese energy firm as well as legal payments from a Chinese executive convicted of bribery. The records confirm reporting from investigative author Peter Schweizer's...

Russia and China teamed up on a major military exercise off the coast of Alaska last week, according to a new report. The Wall Street Journal said the 11-ship force “appeared to be the largest such flotilla to approach American shores,” citing experts it did not name. Four U.S. destroyers and P-8 Poseidon aircrafts kept a wary eye on the ships.

Pope Francis Confirms Vatican Envoy’s Visit to China in Wide-Ranging InterviewIn a newly published interview, Pope Francis described the ongoing Synod on Synodality as fulfilling “the dream of Paul VI” and underscored that the process is about recovering a lost form of ecclesial participation, not changing doctrine.The Holy Father also confirmed rumors that Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the Vatican’s special envoy for peace in Ukraine, will soon be visiting China. The pope described Zuppi’s “scheduled stopover” in Beijing as part of the Vatican’s “peace offensive,” which has already included visits to Kyiv, Moscow, and Washington, D.C. The Pope said he is...

Deleted strategy papers from CEFC China Energy – a Chinese Communist Party-run company where Hunter Biden served as Managing Director – detailed plans for China to “surpass” America as the “world’s leading country” while coordinating forms of “warfare” to influence other countries away from viewing the Chinese Communist Party as a “threat.” CEFC China Energy recently made headlines following a New York Post exposè highlighting how Hunter Biden leveraged his father’s name to ink deals with the Chinese government-linked entity, and several whistleblowers have confirmed these accounts. The company, founded by the now-missing Chinese tycoon Ye Jianming, has been identified...

REEDLEY – When Reedley code enforcement officers investigated a warehouse at 850 I Street on March 3 over an illegally attached garden hose, they had no idea what massive medical violations they would go on to uncover. “It was pretty clear right off the bat that something was going on we didn’t have a business license for,” Reedley City Manager Nicole Zieba said. “They didn’t have any city approvals; that building was supposed to be vacant.” [snip] Over 900 mice were located at the facility. Court documents identify Wang Zhaolin as the Prestige representative onsite during the investigation. Zhaolin informed...