Free Republic

The Chinese Communist Party has ramped up its propaganda efforts to control the narrative surrounding the novel coronavirus—by rejecting criticism and painting a picture that Beijing is effectively handling the outbreak. The regime’s propaganda has gone through several phases: first ignoring the severity of the outbreak, then creating positive coverage, and now, blaming the United States. Internal government documents obtained by The Epoch Times have highlighted how the regime bungled its data tracking and censored discussions of the outbreak, fueling the virus’s spread. High-ranking communist authorities have pushed a handful of talking points to deflect blame, including that the origin...

It is no secret that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), despite being a signatory to the Biological Weapons Convention, regards the development of bioweapons as a key part of achieving military dominance. The vice-president of China’s Academy of Military Medical Sciences, He Fuchu, said in 2015 that biomaterials were the new “strategic commanding heights” of warfare. People’s Liberation Army (PLA) general Zhang Shibo went even further in his 2017 book, “War’s New High Land,” claiming that “modern biotechnology development is gradually showing strong signs characteristic of an offensive capability,” including the potential for “specific ethnic genetic attacks.” To be perfectly...

WASHINGTON — Democrats stepped up their calls on Sunday night for John Bolton to testify at President Donald Trump's impeachment trial after an explosive new report alleged that in his unpublished book, the former national security adviser said Trump personally tied Ukraine aid to an investigation of the Bidens — an account that conflicts with the president's. "John Bolton has the evidence," tweeted Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. According to the manuscript, as reported by The New York Times Sunday night, Trump told Bolton that nearly $400 million in aid to Ukraine would not be released until that nation...

Margaret Brennan on Sunday's Face The Nation seemed to place her faith in the veracity of second hand information produced by the whistleblower concerning the phone call between the Ukrainian president and President Donald Trump. Secondhand information which could be properly labeled as "hearsay" which is what guest Senator Lindsey Graham called it. The sparks flew as Graham vigorously pushed back on Brennan's assertion that a secondhand source, or hearsay, for the phone call in question, is something that an impeachment inquiry could be based upon.

Earlier today it was widely reported that North Carolina Senator Richard Burr was not happy with Ted Cruz. That doesn't make him a special snowflake. Most of the practitioners of crony capitalism and Failure Theater in the Senate are not happy with Ted Cruz. But Burr was not content to merely take a number and get in line. Burr had to make a point of how pissed he was at the idea of Ted Cruz winning the nomination. (Burr's Heritage Action score is 45%, which is the same as arch-conservatives John Cornyn and Mitch McConnell.) Cruz has become such a...

Two senior House Republicans are accusing the Justice Department of being behind “anonymous attacks” in the press targeting a House Intelligence Committee GOP staffer who helped author the committee’s well-publicized memo alleging surveillance abuse by the FBI and DOJ during the 2016 election. The same House staffer is also a driving force behind the latest Russia records standoff. "I would have a lot more respect for DOJ or House committee Democrats if they would take out their frustrations on members of Congress, and leave staffers alone,” South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, told...

Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) said Friday that "rumors" on Capitol Hill suggest President Trump could fire special counsel Robert Mueller before Christmas, after Congress leaves Washington for the winter recess. “The rumor on the Hill when I left yesterday was that the president was going to make a significant speech at the end of next week. And on Dec. 22, when we are out of D.C., he was going to fire Robert Mueller," Speier told California's KQED News.

Special Report: US State Dept., CIA War Against Pentagon Breaks Into the Open With Profound Impact on Strategic Policy Analysis. By Gregory R. Copley, Editor. Senior bureaucrats in the US Department of State and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) have begun bringing their "war" with the Department of Defense into the open, strenuously advising foreign leaders to avoid meetings with key US Defense officials. This was particularly evident during the visit of some 12 African leaders to Washington, DC, for the June 24-26, 2003, Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) conclave. At least one visiting African head-of-state was told by a...

The launch of Tomahawk missiles by President Trump has displaced the gravitational center of twitter purists, litmus nuts, conspiracy loons and the even creepier goons that orbit the remnants of the Ted Cruz #NeverTrump camp. Their latest anti-Trumpism du jour targets Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and spouse of Ivanka Trump. Every loon campaign needs a hashtag, and their chosen identifying moonbattery is scribed under #FireKushner.

Hillary Clinton is HIV positive, according to a shock claim by a Washington D.C. call-girl who says she was diagnosed with the virus after a pay for play fling with former President Bill Clinton in April of last year. “Bill Clinton visited me one night when he was in town, and he left me with more than a cash payment,” said Mandy Cloud, the pseudonym the former D.C. call-girl chose for her book set to be published next month. Cloud says she worked as a high-end call-girl in the world’s most powerful city for 14 years, and claims she went...

As desperate presidential candidate Hillary Clinton tries to match the momentum of opponent Donald Trump, she’s also battling two shocking secret health issues! In a bombshell exclusive, The National ENQUIRER has learned the 68-year-old Democratic front-runner is suffering from the early stages of the debilitating disease multiple sclerosis — and has endured a series of strokes! “Hillary’s past health problems are down to MS,” a political insider close to both Hillary and husband Bill Clinton told The ENQUIRER. “She’s been working with her staff to keep the medical drama under wraps, and she’s doing her best to deal with it.”...

Will these whispers turn to shouts? The word behind the word is that Paul Manafort is already earning his keep BIG TIME as he moves to deliver a stunning blow to the Cruz campaign a source describes as a potential “punch to the face” that involves the number 172. Here is a brief summary of what will simply be called the “172 Plan” : **Talks are ongoing and more numerous between Team Trump and a second party over the last 48-hours. **If these talks lead to an agreement, it will be a game-changer in the 2016 Republican nomination process. **Manafort...

Donald Trump has denied any connection to the National Enquirer story released yesterday claiming Ted Cruz has had 5 mistresses: I have no idea whether or not the cover story about Ted Cruz in this week’s issue of the National Enquirer is true or not, but I had absolutely nothing to do with it, did not know about it, and have not, as yet, read it. Likewise, I have nothing to do with the National Enquirer and unlike Lyin’ Ted Cruz I do not surround myself with political hacks and henchman and then pretend total innocence. Ted Cruz’s problem...

What if the biggest mystery surrounding Col. Moammar Gadhafi had nothing to do with his long, brutal reign as the world's most eccentric and violent leader turned pariah? And what if a long-lost letter from a Catholic cardinal who knew Gadhafi's true identity was evidence that could have solved the mystery? To many Libyan people, the biggest question mark about Gadhafi does not involve his repressive and dictatorial rule, delusional statements or brazen lies. Behind closed doors, for years, they've wondered if he is Jewish. Last week the issue came out in the open, as NBC's Richard Engel reported from...

Chief Justice John Roberts is not stepping down from the Supreme Court, despite a celebrity gossip report, a source very close to Roberts told Fox News. RadarOnline.com reported Thursday that Roberts, 55, would be resigning for personal reasons. But the source said the report is "completely untrue." There is "no medical issue, no issue at all," the source said, adding that there is not even a 1 percent chance that Roberts is considering resignation.

Kenya’s Catholic bishops are charging two United Nations organizations with sterilizing millions of girls and women under cover of an anti-tetanus inoculation program sponsored by the Kenyan government. According to a statement released Tuesday by the Kenya Catholic Doctors Association, the organization has found an antigen that causes miscarriages in a vaccine being administered to 2.3 million girls and women by the World Health Organization and UNICEF. Priests throughout Kenya reportedly are advising their congregations to refuse the vaccine. “We sent six samples from around Kenya to laboratories in South Africa. They tested positive for the HCG antigen,” Dr. Muhame...

Emergent is a website which tracks emerging rumors, aggregates them, and evaluates their accuracy. Looks interesting.

Section 4 of the 25th Amendment likely to be invoked; Obama being shipped out! Washington has not witnessed so much top level White House intrigue since October 20, 1973, when a Saturday night saw President Nixon fire the Watergate independent counsel, the U.S. attorney general, and the deputy attorney general in the “Saturday Night Massacre.” Just ten days earlier, Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned after being charged with accepting bribes while governor of Maryland. In the case of President Obama, the senior firings are not happening during a single nght but the recent involuntary sudden departures of the White House...

Over the last few days, a wholly preventable scandal has metastasized for the GOP in Illinois that could very well cost Republicans the Governor’s mansion and “president” Obama’s former Senate seat: both were winnable races, if Republicans had learned from mistakes of the past and gotten in front of a potential problem before it was allowed to yet again reveal the GOP in Illinois to be a myopic boys’ club that protects its own while covering-up anything that could potentially upset their cucumber-and-mayonnaise soggy sandwich cocktail parties. “Romney Republicans” have gotten conservatives into an untenable position yet again.

From the National Enquirer: “PRESIDENT OBAMA has been caught in a shocking cheating scandal after being caught in a Washington, DC Hotel with a former campaign aide, sources say.” This is news for 2 reasons. 1. If true it is a shocker. 2. If it is false, the National Enquirer will have much explaining to do. (UPDATE: Apparently the Globe forced the National Enquirer to go ahead with its story. Hence the graphic at the top. Back to the original post.) Hey, remember that soccer game that wasn’t a soccer game on April 10? Was it? Nyah. By the way,...