Free Republic

French President Emmanuel Macron has suggested the imposition of a global taxation system in order to subsidise the green agenda to mitigate climate change. Speaking at the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact in Paris on Friday, Mr Macron argued that actions from individual governments would be insufficient to deal with the alleged armageddon set to descend upon the world and therefore a new international taxation framework should be established.

The billionaire founder of Craigslist, Craig Newmark, is using his fortune to further shape journalism into partisan activism to help Democrats win elections. He is the nation’s leading financier of the “mis”- and “disinformation” industries and is now the largest private stakeholder in America’s legacy journalism schools. The most recent Twitter Files released by Matt Taibbi add a deeply disturbing new layer to the story. They show Newmark is at the very heart of an incestuous web of government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and corporate media institutions operating in concert to censor political opponents on social media. Newmark is financing the...

The Biden administration will drop pre-departure COVID-19 international air testing requirements effective Sunday (Jun 12) at 12.01am after heavy lobbying from airlines and the travel industry. The Biden administration will announce on Friday that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will no longer require pre-departure COVID-19 testing for travellers coming to the United States after it determined based on the science and data that this requirement is no longer necessary. The CDC will do a reassessment of this decision in 90 days, the official said.

Beijing will "not hesitate to start a war" if Taiwan declares independence, China's defence minister warned his US counterpart on Friday (Jun 10), the latest salvo between the superpowers over the island. The warning came as Wei Fenghe held his first face-to-face meeting with US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore. US-China tensions have been soaring over democratic, self-ruled Taiwan, which lives under constant threat of invasion by China. Beijing views the island as its territory and has vowed to one day seize it, by force if necessary.

Two Ivy League students face plagiarism allegations according to a petition that has accumulated over 5,500 signatures as of June 7. A group called “For Justice in College Applications,” cited multiple instances of alleged plagiarism by Madeline Choi and Annabelle Choi, siblings “accepted to the highly-selective 7-year bio-dental program at UPenn.” The group calls itself “a group of parents, students, teachers, and researchers who are fighting for justice and integrity in academic research and the admission process for highly selective universities in the United States.” Annabelle is a current student, and Madeline is a high school senior accepted in the...

Aeroflot on Saturday announced a temporary suspension of all international flights, beginning on March 8 at midnight Moscow time. According to Aeroflot, the suspension is "due to new additional circumstances impeding the operation of flights." "International services scheduled by Rossiya Airlines and Aurora Airlines (flights within the range of SU5400-5799 and SU5950-6999) will also be suspended," the Russian airline added. "To reduce risks for passengers of inability to use return flights to Russia Aeroflot, starting from 6 March (00:00 MSK), will stop admitting on international flights passengers holding return tickets with the return segment to Russia dated after 8 March...

Dmitry Rogozin, director-general of Roscosmos, announced that Russia would be halting the delivery of rocket engines to the US, saying "let them fly into space on their brooms," according to RIA Novosti.Rogozin added that Russia would be ending cooperation with the US on experiments on the ISS. He added that the priority of the country's space program would be adjusted to focus on satellites for defense interests. Rogozin announced as well on Thursday that Roscosmos would be freezing cooperation with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in a letter to the administrator of the DLR, Anke Kaysser-Pyzalla. The DLR announced on...

When I moved from the US to the Netherlands five years ago, the grocery store was an adjustment. Some ingredients I used to buy, like chocolate chips, aren't available here. But it's possible to find some American ingredients and snacks in the foreign-food aisle of a Dutch grocery store. Some ingredients I used to buy, like chocolate chips, aren't available here. But it's possible to find some American ingredients and snacks in the foreign-food aisle of a Dutch grocery store. Some ingredients I used to buy, like chocolate chips, aren't available here. But it's possible to find some American ingredients...

The “F Joe Biden” movement has become a national movement, showing up from college football games to protest marches, making it to concerts and onto live television.It’s even become so popular, it produced its own spin-off chant — Let’s go, Brandon — in part because of the refusal of an NBC reporter to acknowledge that the crowd in the stands were actually shouting “F**k Joe Biden.”When the chant broke out while Kelli Stavast was interviewing the winner of that day’s NASCAR race, Brandon Brown, Stavast claimed they were saying, “Let’s go, Brandon.” A meme was born, perfectly encapsulating not only...

With COVID-19 cases falling in many parts of the world and vaccination programs ramping up at warp speed, international travel no longer seems like a distant dream.The Henley Passport Index, which has been regularly monitoring the world’s most travel-friendly passports since 2006, has released its latest rankings and analysis.Visual Capitalist's Anshool Deshmukh details below that the most recent data provides insight into what travel freedom will look like in a post-pandemic world as countries selectively begin to open their borders to international visitors.Prominent Countries Still Holding StrongThe rankings are based on the visa-free score of a particular country. A visa-free...

A potentially dangerous regional war may be developing in Northeast Africa thanks to the Chinese-funded Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). It seems that, wherever people grab onto Chinese money, despair follows.The Nile is the longest river in Africa and may be the longest in the world. (The Amazon competes with it for that title.) While Egypt’s historic prominence means that most people instinctively associate the Nile with that country, the great river actually runs through eleven nations. The White Nile begins in Rwanda or Burundi, flowing north through Tanzania, Uganda, and South Sudan. The Blue Nile begins in Ethiopia, flowing...

SEATAC, Wash. - Gov. Jay Inslee on Monday announced new international travel restrictions from the United Kingdom and South Africa and other nations that have reported cases of a COVID-19 virus that has mutated. The governor made the announcement during a news conference that was livestreamed. “What we’re announcing today is to try to reduce the rate of infection coming from these other countries, which will work in parallel with all of the individual efforts to keep our families and our loved ones safe this holiday season,” Inslee said.

Democracy is in disrepair. Over the past four years, President Donald Trump has mocked its rules and norms, accelerating the decay of democratic institutions in the United States. We are not alone: a global reckoning is underway, with authoritarian leaders capitalizing on broken promises and failed policies. To reverse the trend, President-elect Joe Biden has proposed to convene a Summit for Democracy. His campaign presents the summit as an opportunity to “renew the spirit and shared purpose of the nations of the Free World”. With the US placing itself once again “at the head of the table”, other nations can...

Flight attendants on Chinese flights were advised to start wearing disposable diapers as a protective measure against COVID-19. CNN Travel reports that the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) announced late in November new guidelines for COVID-19 protocol among airlines traveling to high-risk areas. The guidelines list the usual protective measures such as medical masks and gloves; some items even list goggles and disposable shoe covers. But it was the mention of the disposable diapers that inspired the most chatter. The document states, “It is recommended that cabin crew members wear disposable diapers and avoid using the lavatories barring special...

The United States, along with 31 other countries, signed on Thursday a document declaring that “there is no international right to abortion.”The two-page Geneva Consensus Declaration on Protecting Women’s Health and Strengthening the Family was cosponsored by the U.S., Brazil, Egypt, Hungary, Indonesia and Uganda. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the signing of the document took place at a virtual multinational ceremony instead of at the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, as originally scheduled. The other signatories to the Geneva Consensus Declaration were Bahrain, Belarus, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congo, Djibouti, Eswatini, The...

The rightful president of Belarus, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, appeared via video last month before the United Nations Human Rights Council. Her country’s August election, she declared, had been “stolen.” Despite objections from a representative of the Belarusian government, who said she had no right to address the body, Ms. Tikhanovskaya implored the United Nations to act. “Standing up for democratic principles and human rights is not interfering in internal affairs,” she insisted, “it is a universal question of human dignity.” No one knows how Donald Trump’s Covid-19 diagnosis will affect his presidential campaign, but before falling ill, he repeatedly suggested that...

Boom! This from May 2020 and You Have to Listen to this!!! Do not let your opinion about Tony dissuade you. These doctors tell the truth. Their numbers are now outdated but, at that time, completely in line with the facts Introducing the “Facts From the Frontlines” episode of #TheTonyRobbinsPodcast – where Tony uncovers the truth about coronavirus with a 7-person panel of highly qualified researchers, an experienced epidemiologist, a Nobel Laureate, and M.D.s testing and treating patients on the frontlines. Together, they reveal the evidence-based research that has come to light in the last two months. This is one...

JTA - The choice for next secretary-general of the United Nations said he wants to be an “honest broker” and a “bridge builder.” Antonio Guterres, a former prime minister of Portugal, was approved unanimously by the Security Council on Thursday after several straw polls in recent days. The General Assembly, made up of 193 nations, is expected to approve the choice in its vote next week. Until December, Guterres served 10 years as the UN high commissioner for refugees. He said the experience prepared him for his new post. Guterres, 67, told The Associated Press before the closed door Security...

"Police arrest eleven people after 'assault on officers' as thousands of Black Lives Matter activists marched on US embassy in London and crowds gathered peacefully around UK demanding 'justice' for George Floyd killed by cops 4,000 miles away in US Eleven people were arrested in London today as thousands of Black Lives Matter protesters peacefully marched on the US Embassy in London, with hundreds more taking to the streets of Cardiff and Manchester, to demonstrate against the killing of George Floyd. Chants of, 'I can't breathe,' rebounded across the Thames this afternoon, the words Floyd was heard gasping before his...

I was just listening to Lou Dobbs on Fox Business News with my wife, and apparently the US has been allowing international air travel from *non-citizens* for quite some time. Including from China. I didn't stick around for the rest of the details, figuring I would toss something at the TV.