Free Republic

Circuit de Spa-FrancorchampsFirst Grand Prix1950Number of Laps44Circuit Length7.004kmRace Distance308.052 kmLap Record1:46.286 Valtteri Bottas (2018)

A Seattle court has ruled in favor of a self-described “non-binary transgender woman” — or, as some might say, a “biological male” — and ordered a family-owned, Korean female-only nude spa to adopt an “inclusive” policy. In January 2020, Haven Wilvich, a trans activist, attempted to procure a membership at the Olympus Spa, a Korean-style health and welfare center with a strict females-only policy

A Russian spa in San Francisco has declared this weekend the “Weekend of Ukraine,” offering anyone with a Ukrainian passport free spa passes. Archimedes Banya, a Russian banya, or bathhouse, with elements of Greek, Turkish and German spa and steam room culture, issued a statement to its customers over email Thursday in support of Ukraine, after Russian forces launched an invasion of Ukraine. “We, the staff at Archimedes Banya, are supporting the independence and national sovereignty of Ukraine, and express our condolences to the Ukrainian people suffering from the aggression,” reads the statement from spa management, which was also posted...

Local "resistance committees" and the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), which led demonstrations in the uprising that toppled then-president Omar al-Bashir in April 2019, are organizing a campaign of protests to try to reverse the military takeover. Internet services have been badly disrupted since the October 25 coup, and phone coverage remains patchy. Although daily life came to a near standstill, shops, roads, and some banks have since reopened. On Sunday, the commander in chief of the military, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, met an Arab League delegation, which stressed the importance of dialog and the democratic transition, his office said in a...

The man accused of killing eight people in the Atlanta massage spa shooting spree pleaded not guilty Tuesday to four counts of murder, for which prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Robert Aaron Long, 22, has already pleaded guilty to killing four people at Young’s Asian Massage parlor in Cherokee County on March 16. He appeared Tuesday before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville in Atlanta for the charges related to four deaths in two other spas, according to ABC News. His lawyer, who waived arraignment, entered not guilty pleas to all charges, including murder, aggravated assault and domestic...

Emergency crews are searching for a missing person after a huge fire at a plastics manufacturer. Homes were evacuated after the blaze at Leeson Polyurethanes Ltd in Leamington Spa caused explosions and reports of a strong chemical smell. A large plume of black smoke began to billow from the site on Friday morning and was visible from miles around. The missing individual is an employee and his family have been kept informed, Warwickshire Police said. Supt Mike Smith described the fire at the site on Juno Drive as "incredibly challenging" and said all other staff were safe. The company published...

A person on the antifa side was hit with an impact munition from police at the violent WiSpa protest in Los Angeles.

We reported earlier this week about a troubling story out of Los Angeles where an irate woman was going off on the staff at a spa in Los Angeles because, she said, there was a transgender person with a penis hanging out in the women’s section of the spa. I think it’s fair to say that’s something most women would have a concern about.The woman talks about how there were other women who saw the person and were also offended by what they saw. The woman went off on the spa staff for “siding with him,” the transgender person.Warning for...

As it happens, Wi Spa isn’t the only similar space that’s had to balance accommodating both cis customers and trans customers in various stages of their transitions. A rep for Century Day and Night Spa on Olympic Boulevard recalls a similar situation just before the pandemic shut them down in spring 2020 in which a trans woman (“with everything reflected female on her driver’s license”) caused an uproar among cis gender female clients by exposing male genitals in the female pools and lockers. “[She] wouldn’t really use the spas, [she] just sat at the corner of the pool with [her]...

The first lawsuit over the U.S. government's embattled coronavirus small business loan program was filed in federal court Wednesday by a company that operates a strip club in Michigan. It's the first of what could end up being a series of protracted legal battles over which businesses qualify for the hastily-conceived $349 billion relief effort. The lawsuit asserts the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Treasury violated the Constitution by barring coronavirus relief loans for businesses that have "live performances of a prurient sexual nature." Which businesses qualify has evolved since the plan’s first version. The plan currently states that...

Tests found that the clients recently were infected with the same strain of the virus, "increasing the likelihood that the two HIV infections may have resulted from a procedure at the VIP Spa," the news release said. The spa, which shut down in September after a health inspection, offered "vampire facials," procedures in which plasma is extracted from a client's own blood, then injected into the patron's face, KRQE-TV reported.

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft is a wanted man -- cops say they've issued a warrant for his arrest as part of a recent prostitution, human trafficking sting operation in Jupiter, Florida. Cops say 77-year-old Kraft will be charged with soliciting another to commit prostitution. Officials say Kraft is accused of soliciting a prostitute on at least 2 separate occasions roughly "a month ago." Cops say they have obtained evidence from body cam video and surveillance that has been conducted over the last several months. Officials say Kraft was driven to the spa by a chauffeur. The average cost...

Since her husband was murdered in 1996, Mary Franklin has been devoted to helping others who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. That’s why she’s proposing Trauma Spa, or T Spa, to give women access to mental health treatment who otherwise couldn’t afford it. Franklin met with Gov. Charlie Baker yesterday, seeking a $400,000 grant to fund T Spa, a 12-week pilot program that would collect data by treating up to 300 women who suffer from PTSD due to a loved one’s murder.

The state health department said it is not aware of any new blood-borne infections after the department announced the closure of an Albuquerque spa being investigated for concerning practices. VIP Spa, located on 809 Tijeras Avenue in Albuquerque, is closed indefinitely. The New Mexico Department of Health, along with the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department and the Board of Barbers and Cosmetologists Board, inspected the spa on Friday after a client developed an unspecified infection that may have resulted from a procedure done there, according to a news release from the health department. The health department is now urging...

South Korea recently sold a hundred of its locally designed and made K9 155mm self-propelled howitzers to India for about $7.5 million each. South Korea has already sold 350 K9s to Turkey and 120 to Poland. While superficially similar to the American M109 the K9 is a heaver (46 tons versus 28 for the M109), carries more ammo and has twice the range (up to 56 kilometers in part because of a barrel that is a third longer). There is more automation on the K9, so it has a crew of five versus six on the M-109. South Korea thus...

The owners and two employees at a popular San Jose spa are charged with health insurance fraud, accused of billing insurers for chiropractic treatments, “when in reality they were providing free mani-pedis.” The owners of the San Jose Chiro Spa are accused of using their spa, near Montague Expressway and 680, to bilk insurance companies out of more than $7 million, according to Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Christopher Kwok. The investigation, dubbed "Operation Nail Polish," began in 2012. Prosecutors say an undercover investigator went into the spa numerous times for manicures and pedicures. Employees reportedly took the investigator's...

Wisconsin police searching for Radcliffe Franklin Haughton, who shot seven peopole at Azana Salon & Spa -- Police in Wisconsin are searching for a 45-year-old man who walked into a spa in a suburban Milwaukee mall and shot at least seven people. Authorities said Radcliffe Haughton was searching for his estranged wife, who works as a stylist at the Brookfield day spa. Police were called to the mall around 11:00 a.m. Sunday after Radcliffe opened fire hitting at least seven people. There are reports that an explosive device was also found at the salon. As of press time three people...

“This should come as a surprise to absolutely no one. The radical Marxist-progressives (communists) took control of the democrat party some time ago. They’ve only become more emboldened with the election of Barack Obama, who was raised as a communist from birth.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wants to change how it analyzes problems and makes decisions, in a way that will give it vastly expanded power to regulate businesses, communities and ecosystems in the name of “sustainable development,” the centerpiece of a global United Nations conference slated for Rio de Janeiro next June. The major focus of the EPA thinking is a weighty study the agency commissioned last year from the National Academies of Science. Published in August, the study, entitled “Sustainability and the U.S. EPA,” cost nearly $700,000 and involved a team of a dozen outside experts and about half...

POLK COUNTY, Fla. -- Officers in Polk County said they caught a man peeping in a tanning booth. Lakeland police said they arrested Mark McElwee at Leon's Tanning Salon on Hancock Street. They said he was holding a cell phone over a wall to record another customer.