Free Republic

China is doubling down: China has just announced that they will be pulling back from US private equity investments. Chinese state-backed funds are halting new investments in US PE firms due to government pressure. According to PE executives, funds like China Investment Corporation (CIC) have already begun withdrawing planned commitments. Chinese investors are also avoiding US-linked deals, even when managed by non-US based PE funds. Just 24 hours ago, China warned they would retaliate against countries that cooperate with the US in ways that compromise their interests. It's very clear what's happening here: China is seeking to isolate the US...

CNBC ECSTATIC OVER TRUMP'S INFLATION REPORT: "Expecting +0.3%... up 0%! Boy, that is progress. We haven't had a number that low [since] October '23. Strip off food and energy? DOWN -0.1%, [lower] than expectations! Find a lower number, you're going back to COVID times!" https://x.com/i/status/1900173997741883893

15-year-old Frances Staudt and her mother, Aimee, discussed how her refusal to play against a biological male ignited a firestorm with the Tumwater School District during “Fox & Friends,” and allegedly prompted a series of threats against their family. After warming up for the Feb. 7 game, Frances notified her coach of her refusal to play against the “quite obvious” biological male spotted on the opposing team. Then, per the complaint, a school employee allegedly confronted Staudt’s younger brother about taking a video of the game, saying, “You better think twice about what you’re doing right now.” Shortly after the...

“The lunch he was supposed to have was sitting right out in the hallway… and staffers will now be eating that lunch,” per Fox

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte called on members of the alliance to either increase their defense spending targets or start taking "Russian language courses." NATO's current target for members' defense spending is 2 percent of their country's GDP. Trump said in 2018 during his first administration that the defense spending goal for NATO should be doubled to 4 percent. While on the campaign trail in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election, Trump also accused NATO of relying too much on U.S. contributions. During a December appearance on NBC's Meet the Press, he even suggested the U.S. could look at leaving...

If you have an old or damaged tv to get rid of, check out this 19sec video. https://xcancel.com/PlanetOfMemes/status/1869143208418214032#m

The organization, CSTO, is a Russian-led security alliance that includes Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan “Radicals from Central Asia have accounted for a notable share of recent Islamic State-inspired or -directed plots and attacks in the United States, Europe, Turkey, and Iran,” Lucas Webber and Riccardo Valle wrote in a Hudson Institute analysis last year. In September 2022, ISKP – which vehemently opposes Russia’s support for the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria – claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at the Russian embassy in Kabul which left six dead. Despite repeatedly warnings from foreign sources – including the U.S....

The Women's March group is returning with a series of D.C. protests in light of President-elect Trump's win.Why it matters: The first Women's March was held the day after Trump's 2017 inauguration to protest what the participants saw as threats the administration posed to issues like civil rights and gender equality. It's considered to be the U.S.' biggest-ever single-day demonstration.And now, almost eight years later, the group is protesting another Trump presidency.State of play: The Women's March group will host a rally in D.C. Saturday at Columbus Circle in front of Union Station "to build community and power ahead of...

Has anyone seen or heard from FReeper Nathan Bedford? I haven't seen him on the site in quite a while

The Iraqi suspects are accused of a litany of crimes including genocide and rape.. Two suspected members of the Islamic State (IS) group have been arrested in Germany accused of enslaving and sexually abusing a pair of Yazidi girls in Syria and Iraq, prosecutors said today. The Iraqi suspects, identified only as Twana H. S. and Asia R. A., are accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and membership of a foreign terrorist organization... Twana H. S. repeatedly raped both children, with the help of Asia R. A., who prepared a room and put make-up on one of the...

Short List of Dispensational Beliefs 1. Dispensationalists believe in a literal 1,000-year period―the millennium―in which Christ has returned and rules the world in a utopian political kingdom from Jerusalem (Revelation 20). This, despite Revelation 20 being the most symbolic chapter in the most symbolic book of the Bible. And this, despite Jesus’ teaching that his kingdom is a spiritual one, not a physical one (John 18:36). 2. Prior to the millennium there will be a period of worldwide unrest called the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:21). They think it will last seven years, despite no single verse in the Bible speaking...

Interview UFC’s Leon Edwards: ‘In Jamaica killing seemed normal. We were used to death all around us’ Donald McRae Fighter opens up on his tough upbringing, escaping gang life and his stunning defeat of Kamaru Usman to become world champion Donald McRae @donaldgmcrae Tue 12 Dec 2023 06.19 EST Leon Edwards laughs as he remembers how, seven years ago, he and a friend used to practise his interview technique at home in Birmingham. “I was terrible at interviews,” the UFC welterweight champion admits as his traumatic life, blighted by the murder of his father and his immersion in gangland strife...

California lawmakers have repealed the state’s controversial “medical misinformation” law meant to silence and punish physicians and surgeons who communicate and treat their patients in a way that deviates from the “official government position” regarding COVID-19... Assembly Bill 2098 (AB 2098) aimed to empower the state’s medical board to revoke the medical licenses of any healthcare professional who spread what the state deemed as “misinformation” about the safety, efficacy, and development of the COVID-19 shots, as well as alternative treatments to the virus... Senate Bill 815, which passed with a 35-1 vote, primarily makes reforms within the California Medical Board.......

A married Pennsylvania State Police trooper is facing false imprisonment charges after he allegedly violently detained his ex-girlfriend and committed her to a mental health treatment program under bogus claims.Ronald Davis, 37, was arrested Thursday on accusations he abused his authority to carry out the twisted takedown that left his former girlfriend improperly stuck in a medical facility for multiple days, the Dauphin County District Attorney’s Office said.Davis reportedly told her: “I know you’re not crazy, I’ll paint you as crazy” leading up to the forced medical treatment, the victim claimed, according to court documents released by the district attorney’s...

I remember when Richard Nixon resigned. Even though I was only 12 at the time, I had a general understanding that our country’s president had done something wrong, got caught, and needed to step aside. “By taking this action,” Nixon said in his national address on August 8, 1974, “I hope that I will have hastened the start of the process of healing which is so desperately needed in America.” Fast forward to 2023: A former president faces 91 felony charges for crimes ranging from falsifying business records to the “willful retention of national defense information,” from violating the Georgia...

San Francisco Mayor London Breed on Wednesday accused the homeless coalition of holding the city "hostage for decades."London made those comments while joining a crowd of more than 200 people who had gathered outside the federal courthouse to urge the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to cancel a federal judge’s order banning the city from clearing tent encampments until there are more shelter beds than homeless individuals."The homeless coalition has held San Francisco hostage for decades. It is time for their reign to end," Breed said, noting that the city has spent billions of dollars to help homeless people.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Ukraine was worth 200.09 billion US dollars in 2021, according to official data from the World Bank. The GDP value of Ukraine represents 0.15 percent of the world economy. source: World Bank

ori Weaver Hawkins with AAA says the country currently has about a 25-day supply of diesel. But that metric has been misinterpreted by some. “We may have a 25-day supply of diesel, but that doesn’t mean in 25 days we’re going to run out of diesel,” said Weaver Hawkins. Weaver Hawkins says that would only be the case if diesel stopped being produced. But reports have prompted some panic among consumers, leading them to buy in large quantities. “That does cause problems,” Weaver Hawkins said. “It will cause disruption.” She says diesel producers are trying to play catch-up to reach...

Fall is coming.

onald Scully gazes at his herd of 208 cows munching grass and clover in a verdant field, as a light breeze ruffles the stillness. “There is an enjoyment for me to come out and look and see how healthy and happy these cows are,” says Scully, 47, a third-generation dairy farmer. “Every single cow has her own personality, they’re all individuals.” The pastoral scene in Ballyheyland, a landscape of rolling hills in County Laois, is replicated across rural Ireland. Ireland has 7.3 million cattle, substantially outnumbering humans, and a long history with the animal stretching into myth, including the Cattle...