Free Republic

I was struck with a memory of the first "Hunger Games" movie. This memory came while I was wondering about how foolish and corrupt Washington D.C. and the media seem to me. These are actually my people- I'm a multi-degree former Democrat. I was thinking about how to tell folks in the academic and urban bubble what they look like to folks who live and work where I live and work. Maybe I could help them understand why much of the country is so disgusted by our government and much of media which purports to cover our government. The movie...

Areas of Hebei, Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Henan, and Ningxia provinces, as well as Inner Mongolia and Beijing announced that they entered “wartime” mode over the weekend due to surges in COVID-19 cases.“Wartime” mode typically means that restrictions are placed on when residents can leave their homes, and almost all public facilities, such as schools, stores, stadiums, and parks, are closed.A spokesperson for the Beijing city government Xu Hejian said at a press conference on Jan. 8: “At present, diagnosed patients and cluster outbreaks are happening all around the country.”Tight ControlThe central government advised against travel for the upcoming Lunar New Year...

The Taliban staged multiple and sustained attacks across Kabul and eastern Afghanistan on Sunday hitting the heavily secured diplomatic neighborhood of Kabul and the Parliament area as well as Afghan government installations in at least two provinces. A NATO spokesman confirmed multiple attacks had occurred across Kabul, potentially in as many as seven locations.

SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia (AFP) - Huge crowds seeking autonomy for eastern Bolivia rallied Saturday against leftist President Evo Morales, as tens of thousands marched to support him in the capital, La Paz. The governors in the eastern lowland and energy-rich states of Santa Cruz, Tarija, Beni and Pando all declared greater self-rule at celebratory rallies Saturday, a move strongly opposed by Morales, who ordered extra police deployed to the region. The four rebel provinces -- out of the nine that make up Bolivia -- account for around two-thirds of the total gross domestic product and are home to a more...

OTTAWA -- The Federal Government is set to introduce a bill that would give Alberta, B.C., and Ontario extra seats in the House of Commons. The bill to be tabled Wednesday would add 22 seats to the Commons, which currently has only 308. It would give Alberta five extra seats, while B.C. gets seven and Ontario receives 10. These provinces would get more seats after the 2011 census to reflect their population growth. Provinces whose growth is static or even dwindling would keep the seats they have now. The bill is essentially an amendment to the Constitution, but because it...

I know there is no 'Republican' or 'Democrat' party in Canada, but let's assume red = conservative majority and blue = liberal majority. I'm curious, which provinces would be which colors? I'd guess something along these lines... Ontario: blue Quebec: blue Manitoba: "swing province" (could go either way) Saskatchewan: red Alberta: red British Columbia: red Yukon, Nunavut, NW Territories: red Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island: No idea, but I'd guess blue since they're closer to Quebec...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 27, 2006 – The 8th Iraqi Army Division now has responsibility for military operations across two large provinces, a senior U.S. military officer told reporters in Baghdad yesterday. "Today is the day that the 8th Iraqi Army Division assumed control of battlespace inside of Iraq," Army Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, a spokesman for Multinational Force Iraq, said. The 8th division is one of 10 such Iraqi army units now formed and will take the lead for counterinsurgency operations in both Diwaniyah and Wasit provinces, Lynch said. Those provinces make up a combined geographical area of about the size...

Turnout by province in Iraq's Oct. 15 referendum on a new constitution as reported by the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq. Countrywide, 9,775,000 Iraqis voted, about 63 percent of registered voters. the commission said. Turnout percentages from January's parliament elections, when total turnout was 60 percent, are in parenthesis where available for comparison. Anbar (west, Sunni Arab): 32 Babil (south, mostly Shiite): 72 (71) Baghdad (central, mixed): 56 Basra (south, mostly Shiite): 63 (48) Dahuk (north, Kurdish): 85 (89) Dhi Qar (south, Shiite): 54 (67) Diyala (northeast, slim Sunni Arab majority, large Shiite and Kurdish minorities): 66 (34) Irbil (north,...

Dateline, 17 September, 2005, National Capitol It is self-evident that this new constitution is fatally flawed. It is unlikely to be ratified. And even if it is, it will fail in practice. Begin with ratification. One province is so opposed that it refused to take part in the drafting. The governors of two provinces refused to sign the document and are committed to its defeat. There is a hotbed of opposition in another province. One of the leaders there walked out of the drafting, and returned home to lead the effort to defeat the constitution, taking a majority of his...

FOB WARRIOR, Iraq— Governors from the Iraqi provinces of Kirkuk, Sulaymaniyah, Diyala and Saladin met August 24 at the Iraqi Army’s K-1 military installation near Kirkuk to discuss issues affecting north-central Iraq. Governors Mustafa Abdulrahman of Kirkuk, Dana Ahmed Majid of Sulaymaniyah, Raad Rashid Mullah Jowad of Diyala and Deputy Governor Abdulla Hasan Jobara of Saladin represented their provinces at the meeting. Top coalition leaders from the region were also present at the event, including 42nd Infantry Division Commander Maj. Gen. Joseph Taluto and 116th Brigade Combat Team Commander Brig. Gen. Alan Gayhart, as well as the commanders of sister...

KAZAN, August 26 (RIA Novosti) - It is necessary to strengthen the single vertical of power, but this must not lead to the unlimited consolidation of powers within the federal government, Russian President Vladimir Putin told a State Council session in the capital of Tatarstan Friday. The president established the State Council on September 1, 2000 in order to increase regional governors' involvement in the country's political and economic spheres. Putin said the government and a Federation Council working group had drafted proposals on the redistribution of powers between Moscow and the regions, including a large-scale transfer of powers from...

KAZAN, August 26 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Vladimir Putin told the State Council Friday that he had asked the Cabinet to speed up work on the bill delegating some of the federal government's powers to regional authorities. Putin said that increasing the role and independence of the provinces was a long-term goal possible to achieve only if all the branches of the government worked toward it together. The list of powers vested in regional governments should be extended, he said, adding that a State Council ad hoc group had discussed the issue with Cabinet ministers earlier in the week....

BEIJING (AFP) - People in Beijing were warned to stay indoors as the Chinese capital was shrouded in yellow smog with pollution reaching dangerous levels. "Under these polluted conditions, we propose that the majority of citizens reduce their time outdoors and avoid breathing this seriously polluted air," the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau said in a warning posted on its website. Beijing's air quality has been at the lowest level for the past two days with the air "seriously polluted," the bureau said. Experts said the capital was experiencing a heat inversion, where warmer air in the atmosphere was keeping the...

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (Reuters) -- The United States has demanded that the IRA disband after the guerrilla group's astonishing offer to shoot the killers of a murdered Northern Ireland Catholic man. "It's time for the IRA to go out of business," U.S. special envoy Mitchell Reiss said Wednesday. For the IRA's political ally Sinn Fein, Northern Ireland's biggest Irish nationalist party, the U.S. demand was yet another blow to its democratic credentials. Reiss told BBC radio: "It's time for Sinn Fein to be able to say explicitly, without ambiguity, without ambivalence, that criminality will not be tolerated. "You can't sign...

Dear all, Canadian Conservatives successfully exposed the amateur and unprofessional efforts of pro-socialist factions within the PC Party of Canada... those commiteed to dealing with socialists but rejecting all forms of cooperation with other fellow Conservatives. The bad news is they have put up ANOTHER poll for some sick twisted reason... help us expose this plot and show that we want to work with conservatives to defeat the Liberals in Canada. Please vote YES to cooperation with fellow Conservatives athttp://www.canadawebdesign.ca/lakelandpc/mainpoll.html