Free Republic

Germany’s Parliament, known as the Bundestag, received enough votes last week to remove a section of the country’s Criminal Code to reduce the minimum penalties for “dissemination, acquisition and possession of child pornographic content.”According to the Bundestag, the bill specifies that “possession and acquisition should be punishable with a minimum penalty of three months’ imprisonment, and distribution with a minimum penalty of six months’ imprisonment, and distribution with a minimum penalty of six months’ imprisonment. The offenses regulated in Section 184b of the Criminal Code are therefore classified as misdemeanors and not as crimes.”In 2021, the possession of child sexual...

A Portland-area trans woman is among a group of three trans suspects and a man who have been convicted and sentenced on May 6, 2022, over their role in a transgender porn production company that victimized a seven-year-old. Tools used in the child sex abuse video included neck collars, sex devices and a cage. The pedophile convicts ran Rosy Hills Productions and called it a “family-owned transgender pornography production studio specializing in amateur, BDSM and taboo fetish content.” Marina Volz, 32, formerly known as Matthew Volz, of Vancouver, Wash. (near Portland, Ore.), was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Volz...

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) -- A top Argentine official denied on Friday that the government plans to devalue the peso amid rumors that drastic official actions are looming. "We are not going to take any explosive measures," Deputy Economy Minister Axel Kicillof said at a news conference. Argentina's economy is under pressure from rising inflation and slowing trade, and people have been increasingly trading their pesos for U.S. dollars to shelter their earnings.

McALLEN — The toll booths on the Mexican side of the international bridges have stopped accepting U.S. currency and are only taking pesos. According to an official the measure is only temporarily and due to a conflict between the Mexican Agency of Bridges and Roads and the Bank where it makes its deposits in dollars. To fight money laundering the Mexican Government prohibits banks to take deposits for more than $7,000 per month. CAPUFE deposits an average of $20,000 per day. "We are working in an exception for this government agency," Jorge Espino Ascanio, Delegate of CAPUFE in Reynosa, said...

Starting Monday, patrons of the Dallas-based Pizza Patrón chain, which caters heavily to Latinos, will be able to purchase American pizzas with Mexican pesos. Restaurant experts and economists said they knew of no other food chain with locations so far from the Mexican border offering such a service. "We're trying to reach out to our core customer," Antonio Swad, president of Pizza Patrón Inc., said Friday. "We know they come back [from Mexico] and have pesos left over. We want to be a convenient place for them to spend their pesos." While U.S. restaurant chains have stepped up their marketing...

Polls: Citizens losing sympathy for illegal immigrants By Laura Crimaldi Monday, May 1, 2006 New national polls show Americans are feeling less sympathy toward undocumented workers and have serious doubts the government can fix the country’s massive immigration problem. Recent Zogby International polls show the immigration protests in March left three in five adults feeling less compassionate toward undocumented workers. Even 46 percent of the Hispanic respondents said they are less likely to be sympathetic to the cause of immigrants as a result of the protests. The Zogby poll also shows 18 percent of respondents believe Congress and President Bush...

HAVANA (AP) - Cuba's dollar-only stores displayed "closed for inventory" signs Tuesday after the communist government suddenly shut them down, blaming new U.S. measures aimed at squeezing the island's economy. Long lines stretched from state stores with food and personal hygiene products - nearly the only items still sold to Cubans in dollars - as people scrambled to buy shampoo and soap from rapidly emptying shelves.