Free Republic

Many people saw the triumphant figure skater Alysa Liu win gold for the U.S. yesterday. Liu skated a nearly flawless program to become the first American woman to claim the gold medal in 24 years. Most people don't realize that Arthur Liu, Alysa's father, participated in the Tiananmen Square protest as part of the 1989 democracy movement, which led to his persecution. At 25, he went into exile in the U.S. as a political refugee and shortly after became a lawyer. Alysa is the oldest of his five children. Liu was a primary female recruitment target for the CCP's...

Will this week’s Supreme Court decision limit the use of tariffs as a foreign policy tool of presidents, or did it set up a firewall against future leftist chief executives while allowing this president to continue to utilize other means to the same end? Is the decision momentous or of little consequence? A lot of attention this week was focused on Alysia Liu’s stunning Olympic performance and the tale of a baby monkey in a Japanese zoo (name Anglicized to “Punch”). Punch was abandoned by his mother, had been raised and bonded to his caretakers who needed to integrate him...

Several prominent Democrats have been open and vocal about their plans to punish members of the Trump administration, including civilian ICE agents, if they regain power. Eric Swalwell has vowed to make ICE agents' lives a living hell if he's elected governor of California, Rep. Shri Thanedar said Dems will prosecute ICE and Border Patrol agents, as has Philly DA Larry Krasner, and Mehdi Hasan wants the next Democratic president to run on a platform of prosecuting conservatives. Now Suan Rice, the former Obama National Security Advisor and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, as promised that Democrats will...

There is a fundamental difference between how China and the United States view higher education. Grasping that difference is essential to national security. Top Chinese graduate students are cultivated with the expectation that their expertise will advance state priorities. So when Beijing sends its top students to matriculate at American universities, it is not pursuing benign cultural exchange; it is deploying strategic assets. Seen through that lens, China is using the American university system as a conduit for absorbing American know-how, extracting technical expertise, and moving valuable research and intellectual property back to China. The practical effect is that People’s...

Modern smart watches can measure an array of health indicators. Step counts and heart rates sit at the simpler end, while VO2 max and blood-oxygen levels are mainly of interest to committed health nuts. The newest addition to the category is heart-rate variability (HRV).As its name suggests, HRV measures not how quickly the heart beats, but how regularly spaced those beats are. With heart rate a lower score is usually better, other things being equal, since it suggests a high level of cardiovascular fitness. When it comes to HRV, though, a higher number—that is, a more irregular pattern—is generally what...

In preparation for the massive snowstorm that hit much of the country in the past few days, many people made runs to their local grocery stores to stock up on basic essentials like canned food and bottled water. But during that shopping blitz, some social media users noticed that though every other water brand sold out, one remained nearly untouched. Based off its reputation, I bet a few of you know exactly which one it is. According to photos posted to Reddit, Dasani, the bottled water everyone loves to hate, seems to have never left many store shelves. (Aquafina is...

Can we deport mayors? Apparently we can. And the more, the better. Police officers who were actually illegal aliens have been caught and prepped for deportation. The campaign manager of a California mayor turned out to be a Chinese spy. And now a Florida ex-mayor is being prepped for denaturalization and deportation after allegations of immigration fraud and bigamy. Exciting times. Federal prosecutors are seeking to revoke the U.S. citizenship of former North Miami Mayor Philippe Bien-Aime, alleging he concealed key facts about his identity and immigration history to obtain naturalization. Prosecutors allege Bien-Aime used the name “Jean Philippe...

It’s the largest incident of liquid pollution in American history, with reports stating that roughly 250-million gallons of raw sewage has poured from the Washington, D.C., sewer system into the Potomac River over the last month. This biohazard tide infects much of the Chesapeake Bay, and will eventually make its way along the eastern seaboard via the Atlantic Ocean. Astute observers in times past noted how it seems as if the beltway deliberately craps on Americans. As it turns out… The national media has demonstrated remarkable restraint from reporting on this catastrophe as it continues in the national capitol region....

You never go wrong with competing under the American flag. She did it. After a string of wokester statements from other athletes, and way too much attention on American athletes who chose to compete for other countries such as China, the amazing Alysa Liu, who focused on her skating and delivered a stellar, watch-it-over-and-over-again free skate, has won Olympic gold, the biggest prize in skating. .....................SNIP....................... It kind of stands out that China, which doesn't have a high winter Olympics medal count, is apparently trawling the world for overseas Chinese athletes who fled the socialist hellhole to represent them since...

Digital IDs offer undeniable benefits, but they come with risks that strike at the heart of conservative values: privacy, individual autonomy, and skepticism of centralized authority. uppose for a moment that Joe Citizen and his lovely wife are rendered unconscious in an auto accident. Joe is a diabetic and suffers from hypertension, while his wife is under medication for rheumatic heart disease and is allergic to some types of antibiotics. When the EMTs arrive they scan their embedded chips, quickly ascertain their blood types, their medical history, their doctors' names, and their insurance information. Treatment begins almost immediately. Joe is...

SShould I carry a concealed handgun?Yes. Next question?Generally, the answer is still yes, but it’s a bit more complicated. We carry because we understand the eternal battle between good and evil rages around us every day, and because evil can confront us anywhere at any time. We also carry because we can’t predict when we’ll need a handgun. If we could, we could approach that confrontation with a rifle, which is the minimum one should be wielding in a gun fight. Sadly, rifles are heavy and hard to conceal, so handguns are the best compromise. Even if one lives in...

“Iran has a better chance of being liberated than Iraq, because I see that most Iranians are fighting.” Human rights activist and founder of the NGO Humanity Forward Sarah Idan was the first Iraqi woman to participate in the Miss Universe pageant in 45 years. However, a photo with the Israeli contestant forced her and her family to leave Iraq permanently. Idan has been an ambassador for UN Watch and is a staunch advocate for peace with Israel. In this interview, we discuss the situation in Iraq and the possibility of political change in Iran. You left Iraq for the...

My Weekly Reaction Brad & Lex at it again (4 years ago) with Metallica: Master of Puppets

Mike Huckabee's analogies regarding land rights and defense, specifically his suggestion that if a people like the Irish can defend their land, they can keep it—have been viewed as a significant rhetorical own goal that complicates the very pro-Israel stance he intended to defend. Critics and media analysts have highlighted several major ramifications of this logic and analysts have noted the internal contradiction in Huckabee's argument. By shifting the justification from a divine mandate (the Promised Land) to a right of conquest/defense media commentators pointed out that the Irish analogy is particularly fraught. If land ownership is determined solely by...

An accused pervert charged with grooming young girls in California has been linked to an extremist cult that wants to destroy civilization. Bryant Gonzalez from Downey, LA County, has been allegedly tied to “764,” an online network of creeps trying to tear apart society through the corruption and exploitation of minors. The network’s goals include social unrest and the downfall of the current world order, including the United States, according to the FBI. Gonzalez, 24, was busted in his hometown on Thursday and accused of sickening crimes against young girls aged 11 and 15. He allegedly groomed one of his...

NEW YORK (AP) — Logan Paul has set a new world’s record — for the auction price of a trading card. The wrestling and social media star’s rare Pickachu Illustrator Pokémon card, a “Holy Grail” for collectors, sold for $16.5 million Monday at Goldin Auctions after 41 days of bidding. Paul had purchased the card in 2021 for $5.275 million, a Guinness record at the time for a Pokémon card. He had added a diamond necklace and custom case and wore the card at WrestleMania 38 in 2022. Guinness World Records adjudicator Sarah Casson was on hand Monday for the...

NASA today released its final investigation report on the causes behind the Starliner thruster issues during that capsule’s only manned mission in ISS, issues that almost prevented the spacecraft from docking successfully and could have left it manned and out-of-control while still in orbit. Starliner docked to ISS in 2024.You can read the report here [pdf]. NASA administrator Jared Isaacman made it clear in his own statement that the Starliner incident was far more serious than originally let on. “To undertake missions that change the world, we must be transparent about both our successes and our shortcomings. We have to...

There is a familiar rhythm in public debate. First comes the report. Then comes the denial. Finally comes the euphemism. The controversy over Islamic no-go zones in the West follows precisely this pattern. The phrase itself is contested. The underlying phenomenon is not. We should begin with clarity. What is meant by a no-go zone? The core idea is simple. A no-go zone is an area within a city where ordinary civic norms do not fully apply, where state authority is attenuated, and where non-members of the dominant local community are discouraged, intimidated, or effectively excluded. In the specific...

This morning, EPA released the official Federal Register version of its Rescission of the Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding as to motor vehicles. The Federal Register cite is 91 F.R. 7686. This official version of the Rescission, in printed, single-spaced and triple column format, is only 111 pages, versus the 436 pages the previous preliminary version; however, the text appears to be substantially unchanged. It only took literal minutes for the first lawsuit challenging the Rescission to get filed. Here, via the website of the Union of Concerned Scientists, is a copy of a Petition that they say was filed today...

“Crisis is when brittleness meets shock. “— Yuri Bezmenov’s Ghost on X. By shutting down the government for a minimum of ten days supposedly over funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Wile E. Coyote Democratic Party is about to blow up another Acme bomb in its mangy muzzle. I will tell you why. First, this DHS business is just a stupid prank to bamboozle the public. It will not shut down ICE operations, as Chuck Schumer pretends. ICE was already funded with $75-billion in last year’s Big Beautiful Bill. The shutdown will only defund the Coast Guard...