Free Republic

CNN commentator Van Jones said Vice President Harris went from “cringe to cool” in 24 hours, as videos of her continue to go viral on TikTok. “There’s something happening that’s hard to quantify, because what’s happening on TikTok right now, is extraordinary,” Jones said Monday on CNN. “All the things that were cringey about Kamala, her laugh, the coconut tree comment, being unburdened by what — all those weird things she’s said.” She’s gone from cringe to cool in 24 hours as a whole generation has taken all that content and remixed it in all these incredible TikTok videos,” he...

Data from the United Nations shows that China has surpassed the US in the amount of daily dietary protein available to its population – an important indicator of a modern quality of life, and one that some commentators and politicians in the West thought would be impossible to achieve. According to the latest data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), China overtook the US in 2021, reaching a daily supply of 124.61 grams (4.39oz) of protein per capita. In the same year, Americans had access to 124.33 grams (4.38oz). For comparison, Japan’s daily protein supply per capita...

WASHINGTON — In his short time in the U.S. Senate, J.D. Vance, the newly tapped Republican vice presidential nominee, has been a hawk on China. He has introduced legislation to restrict Chinese access to U.S. financial markets and to protect U.S. higher education from Chinese influence. In an interview with Fox News shortly after being named as former President Donald Trump’s running mate on Monday, Vance called China “the biggest threat” to the United States. When asked about Russia’s war in Ukraine, Vance said Trump would negotiate with Moscow and Kyiv to “bring this thing to a rapid close so...

Just two hours after an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, Chinese retailers began selling T-shirts capturing the moment. The swift production was made possible by digital printing technology, leading to thousands of orders from China and the US.Within hours of Donald Trump shooting, T-shirts put on sale in China Just over two hours after an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump during a rally in Pennsylvania, Chinese online retailers swiftly began selling souvenir T-shirts. These T-shirts featured photos capturing the moments just after Trump escaped the attempt on his life, according to a report by the Times of India...

China is leading the world in adopting generative AI, a new survey shows, the latest sign the country is making strides in the technology that gained global attention after U.S.-based OpenAI's ChatGPT launched in late 2022. In a survey of 1,600 decision-makers in industries worldwide by U.S. AI and analytics software company SAS and Coleman Parkes Research, 83% of Chinese respondents said they used generative AI, the technology underpinning ChatGPT.That was higher than the 16 other countries and regions in the survey, including the United States, where 65% of respondents said they had adopted GenAI. The global average was 54%....

An Australian who travelled around the country asking other Aussies if they would fight to defend the nation has received some surprisingly mixed answers. Surfer and journalist Fred Pawle took his camera and mic to locations including the NSW Central Coast, Sydney, Melbourne, Byron Bay, the Gold Coast and Brisbane in recent weeks posing the question to people on the street. 'My initial motivation was whether you would be able to judge the responses based on where you live, so which areas would be more or less likely to defend the country,' Mr Pawle told Daily Mail Australia. He said...

The Ukraine war will end in a surrender, not in a negotiated deal. That is my sense of where the war is headed and why the parties cannot negotiate a settlement. The latest wrinkle in the missing negotiating saga is a declaration in the form of an interview given by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the Philadelphia Inquirer. In the interview, Zelensky said there can’t be direct negotiations between Ukraine and Russia but there could be indirect negotiations through a third party. In Zelensky’s proposed scenario, the third party will serve as an intermediary and any deal will only be...

During an interview with CNBC on Thursday, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo stated that “We want China’s economy to flourish.” But they can’t have “our most sophisticated, leading-edge AI chips or the equipment that makes those chips.” CNBC Washington Correspondent Megan Cassella asked, “[T]here’s been some reporting recently that the U.S. is looking at further export restrictions to limit the amount of China’s access to our chips and sophisticated technologies. Can you give us any information on sort of what’s under consideration and what to expect?”

A nationwide electricity outage struck Ecuador on Wednesday, leaving the nation of some 18 million in the dark, including the capital's subway system, as authorities worked to repair faulty power lines, a senior official said on Wednesday. "There is a failure in the transmission line that caused a cascade disconnection, so there's no electricity at a national scale," Public Works Minister Roberto Luque said in a post on X. Luque also serves as the country's acting energy minister. A Reuters witness said there was confusion on the streets of Quito, the capital, as traffic lights ceased working. Operations of Quito's...

Fentanyl gets manufactured by Mexican drug cartels and then transported over the US border where it eventually results in tens of thousands of overdose deaths per year. But the precursor chemicals used to produce all of that fentanyl isn't produced in Mexico. It comes from China. Not only has China brushed off repeated US demands that it crack down on the sale of these chemicals, but we learned a few months ago that China's government is still subsidizing them. This comes from a House committee report that looked into it.As part of our investigation, the Select Committee obtained materials showing...

One year ago today, China executed as terrorists 13 separatist militants. According to Xinhua, the 13 were condemned in 7 different cases from Aksu, Turpan and Hotan — all prefectures of the western Xinjiang region. Muslim Uighurs comprise a near-majority of that province’s population, and although Xinjiang is formally an “autonomous region” many Uighurs find it not nearly autonomous enough. Going tension has fomented a separatist movement that has appeared to gain strength — or at least visibility — during the past decade, including multiple spectacular and deadly terrorist attacks as well as several riots. “The execution of criminals involved...

CHANCAY, Peru—In this serene town on South America’s Pacific coast, China is building a megaport that could challenge U.S. influence in a resource-rich region that Washington has long considered its backyard.... ...The U.S. worries that China’s control over what could become South America’s first true global commercial hub will allow Beijing to further strengthen its grip over the region’s resources, deepen its influence among America’s closest neighbors and eventually plant its military nearby.... Peru’s Foreign Minister Javier González-Olaechea said...“The United States is present almost everywhere in the world with a lot of initiatives, but not so much in Latin America,”...

A factory in China is developing hyper-realistic humanoid robots that can chillingly mimic human facial expressions and emotions in scientists' latest attempt to replace workers with machines. Ex-Robots, a robotics firm based in the northeastern coastal city of Dalian, is trying to create lifelike droids that engineers hope will soon be used in the healthcare and education industries. Terrifying footage from inside the Ex-Robots factory shows workers surrounded by piles of disembodied heads, neck-length silicone masks and spare limbs as they work to construct the most complex class of robotic products in the world. Drawings of robot designs are adorned...

Collaboration between Brandeau and the PLA to develop bio-weapons, security breach.

Former President Donald Trump said Thursday he would “never ban TikTok,” making his firmest statement in support of the Chinese government-linked social media app that he said he would ban during his term in office. **/ “Well, the big message is vote for Trump. We’re going to make our country greater than ever before,” Trump said, before calling President Biden is the “worst president in history.” Kirk then pressed Trump on whether he would ban TikTok, as the 45th president had come back to the app this past weekend in a video about his UFC 302 appearance that has now...

China’s top-secret spaceplane has released a mysterious object into Earth’s orbit just 372 miles above the surface. The US Space Force is monitoring the situation, but the purpose of the object ejected on May 24 is unknown. A Harvard astrophysicist first spotted the object, speculating it could be a subsatellite deployment, or a piece of hardware ejected before the spaceplane ends its mission and deorbits.

<p>'Any car company that’s not paying attention to them as a competitor is going to be lost when they hit their market. BYD’s entry into the U.S. market isn’t an if. It's a when....'</p><p>The car, launched last year by Chinese automaker BYD, sells for around $12,000 in China, but drives well and is put together with craftsmanship that rivals U.S.-made electric vehicles that cost three times as much. A shorter-range version costs under $10,000.</p>

Plagued by delays in ship repairs and outdated design practices, the US Navy faces mounting challenges in maintaining readiness and keeping pace with China’s rapid shipbuilding advancements. This month, USNI News reported that the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) revealed that fewer than 40% of US Navy ships had completed repairs on time, despite the availability of shipyard space. The GAO ranked shipyard conditions second only to F-35 Lightning II air fighter sustainment costs as the most problematic readiness issue facing the US armed services.

Chinese electric auto-giant BYD has released a bold supercar concept through its premium Fang Cheng Bao brand. The Super 9 rocks no roof, the barest hint of windscreen, and lascivious scissor doors – and it's apparently headed for production. BYD is the world’s largest EV producer. It produced 20% of the 10 million EVs sold globally last year, from Tesla (13%), Volkswagen (9%) and General Motors (6%) – those are all very rough figures for simplification purposes. For stats – go here. It is also the dominant brand in the world’s largest and fastest growing automotive market, at a time...

It has been a long time since the West dominated shipbuilding or steel making. We are already aware that we are losing ground in consumer goods, as well as in finance and transport. Add it all up, and we no longer expect the US, Europe or its allies to control the global market in most major industries. Still, even as other industries lost ground there was one thing most economists and industrial experts would have felt sure we could rely on: Apple. Whatever else happened, nothing would knock its world-beating iPhone — without question the world’s most profitable product —...