Free Republic

President Trump is planning to give TikTok another lifeline. With a mid-June deadline approaching and trade talks with China in limbo, Trump is expected to sign an executive order staving off enforcement of a law banning or forcing the sale of the app, according to people familiar with his plan. It would be the third extension since Trump took office in January. The current one expires June 19. The White House had been facilitating a deal for investors to take ownership of an American-operated TikTok, but it got tangled in Trump’s imposition of heavy tariffs on Chinese imports in early...

Chinese propagandists are using ChatGPT to write posts and comments on social media sites — and also to create performance reviews detailing that work for their bosses, according to OpenAI researchers. The use of the company's artificial intelligence chatbot to create internal documents, as well as by another Chinese operation to create marketing materials promoting its work, comes as China is ramping up its efforts to influence opinion and conduct surveillance online. "What we're seeing from China is a growing range of covert operations using a growing range of tactics," Ben Nimmo, principal investigator on OpenAI's intelligence and investigations team,...

Have you heard? South Korea pulled a “North Korea” and just crushed their enemy into dust. ... It all started when the liberals impeached the right-wing president. Then, they triggered a new election, which, of course, they won. And now, they’re feverishly working to expand their high court to lock in a permanent liberal majority. Steve Bannon saw it coming back in May; he knew our South Korean allies were headed for serious trouble. ... Would Republicans ever pull something like this? Oh, heavens no. We’re still stuck operating under the Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney battle plan: “That’s not...

A cargo ship carrying 3,000 cars, including 800 electric vehicles, caught fire off the coast of Alaska and continues to burn. The Coast Guard says that all 22 crew members escaped the ship and were picked up by two nearby freighters. The ship, a Liberian-registered car-carrier named "Morning Midas," was on its way to Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexico, from Yantai, China.. ... the Coast Guard is going to let the ship burn, since trying to put out a lithium-ion fire is nearly futile. ... In 2022, the Felicity Ace, a car carrier slightly larger than Morning Midas, sank in the Atlantic...

With the Trump administration back in the White House, America has an opportunity to restore commonsense energy and manufacturing policies after years of radical environmental overreach. One of the most glaring examples of this overreach is the electric vehicle (EV) push -- a movement championed by progressive elites that, under the guise of sustainability, threatens to undermine national security, weaken domestic industry, and entangle our economy further with the Chinese Communist Party.The EV revolution is not a grassroots innovation born out of market demand. It is a politically engineered shift, heavily subsidized by taxpayer dollars and driven by mandates from...

Report: Iran ordered materials from China to produce hundreds of ballistic missiles Iran has ordered thousands of tons of ballistic missile components from China, with the aim of rebuilding its military power, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the details of the deal between the two countries. The same sources said that in the coming months, shipments of the compound ammonium perchlorate are expected to arrive in Iran, which, when combined with fuel, can propel hundreds of ballistic missiles. According to one source, some of the materials may even be sent to pro-Iranian militias, including the Houthi...

Are the tariffs working? The headline from the BBC, Tariffs prompt record plunge in US imports.The details, Goods brought into the US plunged by 20% in April, recording their largest ever monthly drop in the face of a wave of tariffs unleashed by US President Donald Trump. You literally have to go down to the final two sentences to learn the bottom line of the report, Exports so far this year are up about 5% compared with 2024. The overall goods and services deficit in April was $61.6bn, down from $138.3bn in March. Wut? Exports are up? How can that...

A Harvard graduate, a doctor and an actress have been at the center of social media storms over perceived privilege. Some see economic anxiety behind it. What do a Chinese commencement speaker at Harvard, an actress posting selfies and a trainee doctor at a Beijing hospital have in common? Not much — except that they’ve all found themselves at the heart of fierce online debates in China about privilege and inequality. The three disputes, which have dominated Chinese social media in recent weeks, all featured accusations that the main players had gotten ahead by dirty means, whether that was true...

South Africa is attempting to court China in the wake of the Oval Office meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump last month, in which South African President Cyril Ramaphosa argued with Trump over “genocide.”The meeting produced theatrics and commentary, but little in the way of economic progress between the two countries.Ramaphosa arrived at the meeting determined to correct what he had called Trump’s “misinformation” about the country, but without any concrete proposals for resolving tensions and trade disputes that had emerged.South Africa’s communications ministry, which is run by the opposition, later issued a draft policy that proposed setting aside racial...

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs on June 2 vetoed a bill that would have prohibited the Chinese communist regime and state-owned enterprises from acquiring property in Arizona, according to her office.Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs speaks at the state Capitol in Phoenix on May 2, 2024. Matt York/AP PhotoSenate Bill 1109, sponsored by Arizona Senate Majority leader Janae Shamp (R-Ariz.), seeks to prevent China from buying or holding a substantial interest—a 30 percent stake or more—in property within Arizona.The proposed measure was designed to safeguard the state’s “military, commercial and agricultural assets” from the risks of “foreign espionage and sabotage,” which could...

A call between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping has taken place, according to Chinese state media. The bulletin from China was not immediately confirmed by Trump or his team. It offered no immediate details about the call itself other than to say the talks took place and that they happened at Trump's request. Either way, the apparent call would be a significant step in Trump's highest-stakes trade talks and the first time Trump and Xi have spoken since Trump's inauguration. The long-awaited call also comes at a fraught moment for US-China trade talks, which Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent...

As U.S. tariffs tighten the screws on China’s export machine, Beijing is striking back with strategic precision. Export restrictions on rare earths are now Beijing’s latest move to break down European trade barriers and push back against escalating pressure from Washington.In today’s global trade standoff, the gloves are off. The U.S. is wielding its market clout -- 25% of global consumption originates from the American domestic market. Anyone in the export business must deal with the United States. China, meanwhile, holds an current monopoly on rare earths -- and is making it clear it will not hesitate to weaponize that...

MI State Rep. James DeSana (R-Carleton) today held a press conference to announce the introduction of House Resolution 118, which contains three Articles of Impeachment against Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. “As a legislator and lifelong Michigan resident, it is my belief that we are dealing with the most lawless Secretary of State in Michigan history,” said Rep. DeSana. “Not only has she flaunted numerous Michigan laws, but Michigan courts have ruled against her on seven separate occasions.” The Articles cite numerous instances in which DeSana alleges Secretary Benson violated state and federal election laws, abused her authority, and...

Yunqing Jian, 33, first entered the country on a fraudulently obtained F1 student visa, the FBI says One of the two Chinese nationals arrested for allegedly smuggling a toxic crop-killing pathogen, which also has devastating health effects on humans, stuffed the noxious fungus into her boots while entering the United States in 2022, documents show. According to an arrest affidavit for University of Michigan post-doctoral research fellow Yunqing Jian and her boyfriend, Zunyong Liu, Jian first brought Fusarium graminearum, described as a "potential agroterrorism weapon" in scientific literature, in August 2022. A transcribed WeChat conversation between Jian and Liu shows...

On Jan. 19, Haoxiang Gao boarded a Delta flight from Detroit International Airport to Shanghai, China, using a different Chinese passport than the one he surrendered. A Chinese student at the University of Michigan fled to China after being charged with illegal voting in the 2024 election, according to the FBI.In October, while attending the university as a foreign national student, Haoxiang Gao turned himself in after allegedly being registered to vote and casting a ballot in the general election in Michigan. Gao was charged with two felonies: false swearing to register to vote and trying to vote as an...

In the dawn light of a South African savanna, a team of rangers huddle around a satellite dish aimed skyward. Their phones spring to life with a signal – an unthinkable result just months earlier in this remote, off-grid conservation zone. The source is Starlink, Elon Musk and SpaceX’s satellite internet service, offering encrypted, high-speed connectivity far from state-controlled networks. But in South Africa, this signal didn’t just connect – it disrupted. And that disruption provides some subtext to the extraordinary “Wild West Wing” showdown between Donald Trump and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in May, which played out in...

If fire departments on land have problems unleashing the torrent of water needed to extinguish a single burning EV, the crew of a ship doesn't stand a chance against hundreds of flaming lithium-ion batteries. A cargo ship carrying around 3,000 vehicles across the Pacific Ocean caught fire on Tuesday. The Morning Midas, a 600-foot cargo ship, was in the middle of a voyage from Yantai, China to Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico when the fire broke out. Zodiac Maritime, the ship's London-based operator, noted that smoke was first spotted on a deck carrying 800 electric vehicles. Once the blaze got out of...

The crew of a cargo ship carrying 3,000 vehicles to Mexico, including 800 electric vehicles, abandoned ship after they could not control a fire in waters off Alaska's Aleutian island chain. Smoke was initially seen coming from the deck loaded with electric vehicles Tuesday, according to a Wednesday statement from the ship’s management company, London-based Zodiac Maritime. There were no reported injuries among the 22 crew members of the Morning Midas.

The Justice Department on Tuesday charged two Chinese researchers with attempting to smuggle a fungus dubbed "Fusarium graminearum," into the U.S. which it claimed scientific research "classifies as a potential agroterrorism weapon." The two researchers, identified as 33-year-old Yunqing Jian and 34-year-old Zunyong Liu, were allegedly receiving funding from the Chinese government for their research, and were allegedly citizens of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The pair, who were supposedly dating, allegedly lied to U.S. officials about the fungus in Detroit last year, with Liu stating he did not know how the material ended up in his luggage. He...

After June 4, 1989, the U.S. government downgraded concerns over China’s human rights record to pursue realist interests. That Trump is doing the same today should be no surprise. Today marks the 36th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre on June 4, 1989, yet in recent months the international community has paid little attention to this historical moment and the question of democratization in China. One of the reasons is that after U.S. President Donald Trump took office, he implemented a foreign policy under his “America First” principle that prioritizes transactionalism and ignores values. Trump not only discontinued the Summit...