Free Republic

Change from Previous Month: +16.28% (+8.5 points) Change from 12 Months Previous: -11.00% (-7.5 points)

One is an event, two is a coincidence—but three is a pattern. On Monday, the Department of Justice announced that a third Chinese national has been nabbed for allegedly trying to smuggle biological materials into the United States. Making things more disturbing is a fact that a Hollywood screenwriter couldn’t have come up with: the smuggler was studying in, where else, Wuhan, China. You’ve heard of Wuhan, haven’t you? The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan released a statement alleging that Chengxuan Han, “a citizen of the PRC” (People's Republic of China), sent packages containing biological material...

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Monday that it has apprehended a University of Michigan (U-M) scholar from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) for allegedly smuggling biological materials into the U.S. Chengxuan Han, a Chinese national affiliated with U-M, is accused of sending multiple packages containing biological materials to a university laboratory and lying to federal officials about the matter, according to the DOJ. Han is the second Chinese national linked to U-M in two weeks to be hit with federal charges related to alleged smuggling of biological materials. “The alleged smuggling of biological materials by this alien...

MI State Rep. James DeSana (R-Carleton) today held a press conference to announce the introduction of House Resolution 118, which contains three Articles of Impeachment against Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. “As a legislator and lifelong Michigan resident, it is my belief that we are dealing with the most lawless Secretary of State in Michigan history,” said Rep. DeSana. “Not only has she flaunted numerous Michigan laws, but Michigan courts have ruled against her on seven separate occasions.” The Articles cite numerous instances in which DeSana alleges Secretary Benson violated state and federal election laws, abused her authority, and...

The Justice Department on Tuesday charged two Chinese researchers with attempting to smuggle a fungus dubbed "Fusarium graminearum," into the U.S. which it claimed scientific research "classifies as a potential agroterrorism weapon." The two researchers, identified as 33-year-old Yunqing Jian and 34-year-old Zunyong Liu, were allegedly receiving funding from the Chinese government for their research, and were allegedly citizens of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The pair, who were supposedly dating, allegedly lied to U.S. officials about the fungus in Detroit last year, with Liu stating he did not know how the material ended up in his luggage. He...

Yunqing Jian, 33, first entered the country on a fraudulently obtained F1 student visa, the FBI says One of the two Chinese nationals arrested for allegedly smuggling a toxic crop-killing pathogen, which also has devastating health effects on humans, stuffed the noxious fungus into her boots while entering the United States in 2022, documents show. According to an arrest affidavit for University of Michigan post-doctoral research fellow Yunqing Jian and her boyfriend, Zunyong Liu, Jian first brought Fusarium graminearum, described as a "potential agroterrorism weapon" in scientific literature, in August 2022. A transcribed WeChat conversation between Jian and Liu shows...

On Jan. 19, Haoxiang Gao boarded a Delta flight from Detroit International Airport to Shanghai, China, using a different Chinese passport than the one he surrendered. A Chinese student at the University of Michigan fled to China after being charged with illegal voting in the 2024 election, according to the FBI.In October, while attending the university as a foreign national student, Haoxiang Gao turned himself in after allegedly being registered to vote and casting a ballot in the general election in Michigan. Gao was charged with two felonies: false swearing to register to vote and trying to vote as an...

A Chinese national couple was hit with criminal charges Tuesday for allegedly smuggling a dangerous fungus into the US capable of destroying crops and poisoning humans and livestock. Zunyong Liu, 34, was caught by US Customs and Border Protection officers attempting to smuggle Fusarium graminearum – a biological pathogen considered to be “a potential agroterrorism weapon” – into the US via the Detroit Metropolitan Airport last July, according to a criminal complaint filed in a federal court in the Eastern District of Michigan. Liu initially made false statements about his visit to the US and his knowledge of the pathogen...

DETROIT — Federal agents have arrested a University of Michigan scholar from China on charges she tried to smuggle a biological pathogen into the U.S. characterized as a potential agricultural terrorism weapon that can be used for targeting food crops. The FBI counterintelligence case against UM scholar Yunqing Jian, 33, and her boyfriend, 34-year-old Zunyong Liu, was unsealed in federal court in Detroit on Tuesday and marks the second time in less than a week a Chinese national with ties to the university has been charged with federal crimes. On Friday, prosecutors unsealed a criminal case against a former University...

Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, citizens of the People’s Republic of China, were allegedly receiving Chinese government funding for their research, some of which at the University of Michigan, officials said. "The complaint also alleges that Jian’s electronics contain information describing her membership in and loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party. It is further alleged that Jian’s boyfriend, Liu, works at a Chinese university where he conducts research on the same pathogen and that he first lied but then admitted to smuggling Fusarium graminearum into America -- through the Detroit Metropolitan Airport -- so that he could conduct...

Two Chinese nationals have been charged with allegedly smuggling into the U.S. a fungus called "Fusarium graminearum, which scientific literature classifies as a potential agroterrorism weapon," the Justice Department said Tuesday. Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, citizens of the People’s Republic of China, were allegedly receiving Chinese government funding for their research, some of which at the University of Michigan, the Justice Department said.

The NCAA is coming to ready to adjudicate the case of the century. The NCAA has the most important case in their history. Already they have lost on NIL and paying players, but they still have rules for cheating, lying, and advanced scouting (stealing). Michigan is beging to realize with the notice(s) of allegations, and the upcoming hearings, that their PR machine is beginning to crack. The National Media is beginning to clue in on what was going on. In part there was a FBI investigation that gave the university cover, because the NCAA could not move forward until they...

The Journal of Architectural Education (JAE), the field's premier scholarly journal, has dedicated past issues to topics like the "various nuances through which water and design mix" and the "relationship between stories and architecture." Last year, the journal landed on a different topic for its fall 2025 issue: The "ongoing Israeli genocidal campaign against Palestinians in Gaza." The journal's "call for papers"—a prompt for essay submissions—was littered with anti-Semitic rhetoric. It lauded "siege and prison breaks" as methods of "anti-colonial life- and land-protection" and justified Hamas's Oct. 7 attack as "the rupture of settler containment." The fall issue, the journal...

Institutions like the military and colleges are sometimes said to mirror society. One can only wonder where we are headed as a Country, but more importantly we must ask if individual schools are trend setters. Take the Ivy Leauge schools and their affinity for foreign students who hate America, or how they pushed degrees without merit until DEI created a need for the degrees. In sports cheating is usually limited to gaining an edge on the field... sometimes fame, power or money are additional motivators. Take Michigan University and the Athletic Program as a whole. Multiple team sports were cheating...

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s decision to fork over taxpayer money to build a new stadium for the Buffalo Bills drew renewed scorn – after the NFL team’s billionaire owners sold a minority stake for a massive profit, The Post has learned. Hochul, a Buffalo native, had agreed in 2022 to provide $600 million in state funding – with Erie Country tossing in an additional $250 million – for the privately-owned stadium after Bills owner Terry Pegula threatened to leave Western New York. The new 62,000-seat Highmark Stadium, expected to open in 2026, played a significant role in inflating the value of...

The University of Michigan has fired an administrator after she was accused of saying that Jewish students should not benefit from diversity programs as they are "wealthy and privileged," according to documents obtained by the New York Times on Thursday. The administrator, Rachel Dawson, formerly worked as director of UoM's office of academic multicultural initiatives. According to the documents and her lawyer, the firing comes on the back of alleged comments made at a conference in March, in which she claimed the university was "controlled by wealthy Jews." Dawson also said that “Jewish people have no genetic DNA that would...

During a holiday dinner at the start of Rosh Hashanah, a gunman burst into the home of a University of Michigan Rabbi, holding him and twenty Jewish students of the school at gunpoint. “I’m taking everything, give me everything!” the gunman reportedly yelled while pointing a handgun. However, according to the Detroit News outlet, witnesses heard no gunshots, and the house’s occupants quickly fled through a door, leaving the burglar with just a single purse he grabbed after rushing in. The robbery suspect has not yet been found, but police simply described as a “Black man in his early 20s.”...

Days after a group of young men attacked a University of Michigan student after overhearing him say he was Jewish, most of the state's top elected officials have yet to utter a word on the brazen anti-Semitic act.Just two of Michigan's congressional representatives—Reps. Haley Stevens (D.) and Tim Walberg (R.)—had addressed the Sunday incident, which occurred just a block from the university's Jewish Resource Center, by Tuesday morning. Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer (D.), Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D.), and Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D.), Elissa Slotkin (D.), Hillary Scholten (D.), Bill Huizenga (R.), and Debbie Dingell (D.) have not addressed it and...

The number of migrants flocking to the US-Mexico border from a country known as a hotbed of ISIS recruitment has skyrocketed under President Biden. More than 1,500 migrants from Tajikistan are known to have crossed the border between October 2020 and May 2024, according to leaked border dated obtained by The Post. At least 500 Tajiks have been caught so far this year. Over the previous 14 years there were just 26 Tajik nationals crossing the border. It’s unknown how many of the Tajik migrants were released into the US, but the vast majority of migrants caught at the border...

Officials from the National Science Foundation tried to conceal the spending of millions of taxpayer dollars on research and development for artificial intelligence tools used to censor political speech and influence the outcome of elections, according to a new congressional report. The report looking into the National Science Foundation (NSF) is the latest addition to a growing body of evidence that critics claim shows federal officials—especially at the FBI and the CIA—are creating a “censorship-industrial complex” to monitor American public expression and suppress speech disfavored by the government. “In the name of combatting alleged misinformation regarding COVID-19 and the 2020...