Free Republic

If you think state and federal government COVID-19 policies are too restrictive, you haven’t been to a college campus lately. Schools across the country have imposed extreme, micromanaging rules on 19-22 year olds—a demographic more likely to die from the seasonal flu and pneumonia than COVID.Paying top dollar at already overpriced institutions for vastly inferior remote learning, university students remain unnecessarily isolated and barred from using the services and facilities they and their families are paying for. Many schools, like Southern Methodist University, forbid students from having guests in their dorm rooms. Others have even installed security cameras in the...

In 1978, the farmers in a small Chinese village called Xiaogang gathered in a mud hut to sign a secret contract. They thought it might get them executed. Instead, it wound up transforming China's economy in ways that are still reverberating today. The contract was so risky — and such a big deal — because it was created at the height of communism in China. Everyone worked on the village's collective farm; there was no personal property. "Back then, even one straw belonged to the group," says Yen Jingchang, who was a farmer in Xiaogang in 1978. "No one owned...

This one is funny :)

CHINA P. R. Police demolish church under construction in Hebei Rome (Fides) – On April 11 police demolished a Catholic church in Xiao Zhao village in the province of Hebei, 200 kilometers south of Beijing. Xiao Zhao village is in the underground diocese of Zhen Ding. The local Catholics, who had obtained the land and regular building permit for the church from the local authorities, fear that the demolition orders may have come from higher authorities. Early yesterday morning, a security force of about 2000 men entered the village. Military tanks pushed down the semi-finished walls of the building and...