Free Republic

Inhabitants and small farmers of Agua Amarilla and the Huacho in Combarbalá, Chile are facing the invasion of millions of locusts, devastating crops, trees and pastures. Heavy damage has already been reported in both communities, with people starting to worry for their livelihoods and asking officials to eradicate the insect plague. The flying insects move westward within the region of Combarbalá a trail of devastation behind them. First investigations show that the locusts are the endemic Chilean species Elasmoderus Wagenknechti (Orthoptera: Tristiridae), also known as “Lobster of Combarbalá.” Historical books indicate that such gigantic plagues have already occurred in the...

Honduras hopes to relocate its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem before the end of the year, putting an end to its policy of neutrality - a move likely to further anger the Palestinians. "I have just talked to Prime Minister Netanyahu to strengthen our strategic alliance, we spoke to arrange the opening of the embassies in Tegucigalpa and Jerusalem, respectively," Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez posted on Twitter on Sunday. "We hope to take this historic step before the end of the year, as long as the pandemic allows it." Netanyahu said the intention was to open and inaugurate...

A major fire has resulted in significant damage to the upper fuselage of an Ethiopian Airlines 777F in Shanghai (PVG). The six-year-old aircraft had arrived from Brussels (BRU). According to the airline, the fire occurred while cargo was being loaded. The 777F was about to fly to Sao Paulo (GRU) and Santiago (SCL) via Addis Ababa (ADD). There were no injuries. Photos and videos on Chinese social media show the fire burning through the fuselage skin in several locations. In a statement, Ethiopian said it had worked with the authorities to contain the fire, and that the cause of the...

A police raid on a business operating in spite of a Repbublican governor's emergency orders but first.... "Analysts have long talked about the end of an American-led system and the arrival of an Asian century. This is now happening in front of our eyes. If the 21st century turns out to be an Asian century, as the 20th was an Amercian one, the pandemic may well be remembered as the turning point of this process" The words of the European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell...... In Idaho last Thursday state police raiding the Hardware Brewing Company in Kendrick. The...

In San Jose, California today Pastor Mike McClure of Calvary Chapel told worshipers at an outdoor service that the church will reopen for a regular indoor service next Sunday regardless of any local orders..... His comments came hours after a US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that upheld Governor Gavin Newsom's ban on indoor church services..... The Oregon Supreme Court telling a local judge to throw out his injunction against Governor Kate Brown's coronavirus emergency orders or explain why he shouldn't by 5 pm Tuesday...... North Dakota Republican Governor Doug Burgum getting emotional at his Friday media appearance over...

The coronavirus hit Chile at a particularly delicate time. Back in October, the Chilean military deployed tanks and troops onto the streets of Santiago – the Chilean capital – and President Sebastian Piñera declaring a state of emergency to quell a violent uprising triggered by – of all things – a hike in metro fares (can you imagine that happening in NYC?). Now, some of the nation’s poorest are rising up against the government again in a violent protest movement over the lack of government assistance. Specifically, food shortages have left thousands of Chileans with nothing to eat, and the...

The coronavirus story later but first... An interesting sidebar to this evening's White House coronavirus news conference is the annoucement of US military and law enforcement operations in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea said to be aimed at drug trafficking..... President Trump saying on Twitter that Iran is planning to attack US troops in Iraq..... Efforts to form a unity government in Israel are stalling.... Turkish forces shelling Syrian army positions in northwestern Syria late Tuesday.... Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussing the situation in Syria with Russian President Vladimir Putin.... The Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today...

I AM Infinity , I was with your ancestors allowing you to Be. Realize your existence, your every breath, Heart beat and Soul I hold in my very Hand that is My Spirit. I created you, I know you. I AM your existence and The Truth that watches over you. Your Yes to this saving grace of who I AM FOR YOU IS YOUR GIFT OF SALVATION. Your awakening comes as you receive I AM your Source Your Love Your Savior Your Provider Life and this world can not save your soul and this is who you are ! You...

The forces of savagery are closer than you think. Last week, I was in Santiago, Chile, delivering eight lectures at the Universidad de los Andes on “The Moral Foundations of a Free Society.” I was speaking to a group of 50 students, most of whom were from Latin American countries from Mexico to Patagonia.(snip) At the end of my week, I got into an Uber and headed for the airport. My driver, for reasons I don’t understand, did not take the fastest and safest route. Instead, he decided to drive through the heart of the city and through the area...

A handful of major states resisted pressure on Dec. 15 to ramp up efforts to combat global warming as a U.N. climate summit came to a delayed close. The summit talks in Madrid, dubbed COP25, were viewed as a test of governments’ collective will for more aggressive cuts to greenhouse gas emissions. But the conference, in its concluding draft, endorsed only a modest declaration on the “urgent need” to close the gap between existing emissions pledges and the temperature goals of the 2015 Paris climate pact. Brazil, China, Australia, Saudi Arabia, and the United States had led resistance to bolder...

The US Supreme Court will hear President Trump's appeal to stop Democrats from gaining access to his business financial records and tax returns..... The vote to impeach President Trump in the House Judiciary Committee..... The US and China have announced the Phase One trade deal.... In California Governor Gavin Newsom coming out late Friday rejecting the Pacific Gas and Electric plan to pay wildfire victims and move out of bankruptcy.... The results in the British election with all seats decided show the Conservative Party at 365 of the 650 seats in the House of Commons.... The European Union has adopted...

Chilean officials say they have located debris believed to be from an air force plane that went missing on Monday. They said the wreckage was found floating 30km (19 miles) from where the C-130 Hercules cargo plane with 38 people on board last made contact. The wreckage was spotted in a body of water known as the Drake Passage. The plane was en route from Chile's southern city of Punta Arenas to the country's Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva base in the Antarctic. The located debris "could be part of the remains of the sponges of the internal fuel tanks," Air...

Its last known position was about 390 nautical miles from Punta Arenas and 280 nautical miles from the Antarctic base, according to the Air Force. There were 17 crew members and 21 other passengers on board, who were on their way to perform "logistical support tasks" such as repairing the floating oil pipeline that provides fuel for the base, said the Air Force. In addition to crew members, the plane was also carrying personnel from the armed forces, an engineering firm, and the University of Magallanes. After the plane lost contact, the Air Force declared a state of alert and...

"The Horowitz report is just the beginning of the unraveling of the plot to destroy Donald Trump" That's the view of former CIA employee Larry Johnson in response to recent mainstream media reporting.... The House Judiciary Committee chairman Democrat Congressman Jerry Nadler sending a letter to President Trump today..... A stabbing attack at London Bridge with two killed and the attacker shot dead..... Later Friday in the evening a stabbing attack reported in the Netherlands in The Hague.... The late word from Iraq is that Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi will be resigning..... Russian airstrikes reported in northwestern Syria Friday.......

Chilean Conference of Bishops Sides with Marxist Protesters The situation in Chile is very dramatic and, once again, the Church is on the wrong side, as this article from The New American indicates. Chile's Conference of Bishops have echoed the calls of protesters for a new Chilean constitution as protesters ransack, loot, burn, and desecrate Catholic churches throughout the country. This past month Chileans have seen their country ravaged by a small minority of revolutionaries, supported by the media, United Nations, and foreign international powers. Their aim is to destroy the legal system of the country and establish a communist...

Born in Valparaiso, Chile, on November 25, 1915, the great Latin American leader, General Augusto Pinochet. The very idea of referring to a Latin American ruler as “great” is a rarity. So many of the rulers south of the United States have been vicious, not just recently, but since ancient times. From the Incas and Aztecs of old to the Fidel Castros and Nicholas Maduros of the present, Central and South American rule has traditionally resulted in permanent poverty, usually awash in blood. Augusto Pinochet is the exception. He ruled from the date of his coup d’état, September 11, 1973,...

Next year, the number of Venezuelans fleeing their country will overtake the Syrian exodus. To date, more than 4 million have left. One-third of these refugees and migrants are sheltering in Colombia, which has maintained a very generous open-door policy. However, the strain is beginning to show. We were recently in Colombia, where a senior international official told us, “Colombia is a now a ticking time bomb.” This description may be hyperbole, but the country indeed appears headed towards a tipping point. Such an outcome would exacerbate the regional humanitarian crisis triggered by Venezuela’s collapse. It could also threaten the...

Chile has been engulfed in fearsome riots, and a lot of speculation has rolled around about the influence of foreign agents, pretty much all dismissed by the establishment President Trump has said as much, and naturally been criticized, for it. Chile's weak president, Sebastian Pinera has said it, too. Nothing to see here, move along. But now a story emerges from Rancagua, a mid-sized Chilean city of about 200,000 situated about 54 miles south of Santiago. Here's a Google Translate from a piece that ran in El Rancaguino, the local newspaper: Mayor ordered the expulsion of 50 foreigners from...

President Trump pardoning two members of the US military in war crimes cases tonight and restoring the rank of another convicted in a war crimes case..... Israel investigating an air strike in Gaza this week that killed a family of eight..... Two missiles fired from Gaza early Saturday morning Israel time aimed at the city of Beersheba.... "So now they convict Roger Stone....... The House "impeachment inquiry" active on Newsdump Friday...... The BBC promoting an interview with Britain's Prince Andrew on this Newsdump Friday..... French police looking for witnesses at an international level as they investigate sexual abuse of minors...

* Santiago's Plaza Italia has been used for three weeks as the main gathering site for the mass demonstrations* But yesterday the protest escalated as a hooded group began to loot the La Asuncion church in the area* Church pews, pianos, religious paintings and iconography were all carried out of the door and set alight * Nationwide protests, which have a range of demands, have so far left 20 dead and a further 2,500 injured Demonstrators have started looting churches in Chile as the long-running protests continue. Thousands of people had gathered near the site in Santiago's Plaza Italia that...