Free Republic

The Trump administration will soon unveil new regulations that will exempt religious institutions from the “Obamacare” requirement that health-insurance programs must include contraceptive coverage, the Wall Street Journal reports. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump promised to repeal the “contraceptive mandate” for religious institutions. New regulations, fulfilling that promise and allowing employers to opt out of the contraceptive coverage, will soon be released, according to the Journal. Trump Set to Roll Back Obama-Era Contraception Rule (Wall Street Journal)

Archbishop Denis Hart of Melbourne, Australia said that he would go to jail rather than obey a law requiring him to divulge the contents of a sacramental confession. The archbishop was responding to a recommendation from the royal commission on sexual abuse, which had urged Australian states to implement new laws requiring priests to disclose reports of sexual abuse that they heard in confessions. Archbishop Hart stressed that the Church could not accept such legislation. “I believe that this is an absolutely sacrosanct communication of the highest order,” he said. He added that he would “go to extreme lengths outside...

Diamond & Silk react to the removal of the statues.

The guy who helped President Donald Trump write his seminal book, The Art of the Deal, said the former reality-TV star will soon leave the White House on his own accord. In a series of tweets Wednesday, Tony Schwartz—who co-authored the 1987 book that helped define the real estate magnate's public image—said he thought the walls were closing in on Trump and he would soon leave office in an attempt to save face. Every tweet Schwartz sent Wednesday was about Trump. "Think of Trump as a toddler w/reactive attachment disorder, and therefore in a permanent virulent tantrum. His development ended...

<p>The co-author of Donald Trump’s memoir The Art of the Deal has predicted the US President is going to resign by autumn if not sooner.</p> <p>Mr Schwartz, who has been a vocal critic of President Trump and spent 18 months interviewing and shadowing him in the 1980's, suggested he would negotiate a deal for immunity in the Russia investigation in exchange for giving up his seat in the Oval Office.</p>

Barcelona terrorist attack today- Result of open borders & lax immigration laws. Are you listening #SantuaryCities?https://twitter.com/Julien_Assange/status/898215932799012865  

A federal grand jury Thursday indicted two former information technology (IT) aides of Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz — Pakistani-born Imran Awan and his wife Hina Alvi — on four counts of conspiracy in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.The FBI arrested Awan at Dulles International Airport July 24 as he was preparing to board a flight to Pakistan. When his wife Alvi left the U.S. for Pakistan in March, federal authorities found more than $12,000 in cash hidden in a suitcase. She had withdrawn the couple’s three children from local schools and does not intend to...

While a national debate over Confederate symbols in the U.S. rages this week, a monument on Chicago's South Side commemorating the deaths of 4,000 Confederate soldiers stands largely unnoticed. At Oak Woods Cemetery in the Grand Crossing neighborhood, the 30-foot granite monument, called Confederate Mound, marks the mass grave of soldiers captured and held at Camp Douglas, where many died of smallpox and cholera. Topped by a bronze statue of a Confederate infantry soldier, arms folded across his chest, the monument was dedicated in 1895, with President Grover Cleveland and an estimated 100,000 people attending. Unlike many other statues commemorating...

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei used his English-language Twitter account on Wednesday to declare, “If the U.S. has any power, they better manage their country, tackle white supremacy rather than meddle in nations’ affairs.” Khamenei linked this comment to the Twitter hashtags for #WhiteSupremacy and #Charlottesville. He included a photo of indeterminate origin showing a younger version of himself holding a black child, which is presumably supposed to demonstrate his superior racial sensitivity. To its credit, the Washington Post was sharply skeptical of the tweet, noting that Khamenei routinely seeks to exploit American crimes and tragedies for political advantage....

California Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher met with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange Wednesday in an effort to obtain information about the source of a leak of Democratic officials’ emails. Rohrabacher told The Daily Caller in an exclusive interview Thursday that Assange is hoping to leave the Ecuadorian embassy in London where he is currently in asylum, and that during the meeting they explored “what might be necessary to get him out.” The congressman told TheDC that “if [Assange] is going to give us a big favor, he would obviously have to be pardoned to leave the Ecuadorian embassy.” Assange took asylum...

In the wake of the violence that took place in Charlottesville over last weekend, numerous activists and politicians have called for the destruction of more historical monuments, although a significant majority of Americans (62 percent) think the monuments should stay put. Only 27 percent of Americans think these statues should be removed for fear of offending some people. As usual, public opinion’s not stopping liberals from pursuing an unpopular agenda. Though by no means comprehensive, here’s a list of the monuments that are facing calls for removal or have already been torn down. 1. The Jefferson Memorial in Washington DC...

At some point in 2019 (if not sooner) a Republican Senator may walk into the Oval Office and say to President Trump: “Mr. President, we don’t have the votes,” at which point the Trump presidency will end in a resignation or a conviction in the Senate. This scenario actually occurred forty-three years ago this summer when Republican Senator Barry Goldwater walked into the Oval Office and told Republican President Richard Nixon that they didn’t have the votes in the Senate to save his presidency.

A federal judge on Thursday ordered the IRS to name the specific employees the agency blames for targeting tea party groups for intrusive scrutiny and said the government must prove it has ceased the targeting. Judge Reggie B. Walton also said the IRS must explain the reasons for the delays for 38 groups that are part of a lawsuit in the District of Columbia, where they are still looking for a full accounting of their treatment. Judge Walton approved another round of limited discovery in the case and laid out six questions that the IRS must answer, including the employees’...

View at link https://www.arcamax.com/politics/politicalnews/s-1988593

The U.S. economy is on track to expand at a 4.0 percent annualized pace in the third quarter with inventory investment contributing 1.12 percentage points to growth, the Atlanta Federal Reserve's GDP Now forecast model showed on Thursday. Last Friday, the government said its first reading on the gross domestic product in the second quarter was a 2.6 percent growth pace, which was 0.2 point below Atlanta Fed's final estimate.

CNN suggested Thursday that the terrorist attack in Barcelona, Spain may have been inspired by the violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., because both involved a vehicle running down pedestrians. The claim has drawn criticism because vehicle-ramming has been used before by Islamic extremists to carry out terrorist attacks. Investigators have not drawn any links between the incidents in Barcelona and Charlottesville.

Fleas in two Arizona counties tested positive for the Bubonic plague — the same disease that killed millions of people in the 14th century throughout Africa, Asia, and Europe, public health officials say. Navajo County public health officials announced Friday that fleas collected near the town of Taylor tested positive for Yersinia pestis, the bacteria that causes the Bubonic plague, the Associated Press reports. The announcement came one week after Coconino County officials first discovered fleas in the area found to be carrying the plague. KNXV reports that Coconino County officials first discovered the plague-infested fleas in the Red Lake...

First bursting into the headlines when they shut down far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos in February at the University of California at Berkeley, antifascists again captivated the public imagination by battling the fascists assembled at the “Unite the Right” white power rally in Charlottesville. But what is antifa? Where did it come from? Militant anti-fascist or “antifa” (pronounced ANtifa) is a radical pan-leftist politics of social revolution applied to fighting the far right. Its adherents are predominantly communists, socialists and anarchists who reject turning to the police or the state to halt the advance of white supremacy. Instead they advocate popular...

tales of heroism, but still no coherent explanation of what happened. I can't imagine how a US combat vessel did not see and avoid a container ship. terribly sad loss of life, as usual the crew responded with heroism.