Free Republic

Department of Justice Files Statement of Interest in Vermont First Amendment Free Exercise Case United States Supports Parochial High School Students’ Claim that State Improperly Barred Them from College Course Program The Department of Justice today filed a Statement of Interest in the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont supporting parents and parochial high school students who claim that the State discriminated against them in violation of the Free Exercise Clause of the U.S. Constitution by barring them from a state program paying tuition for high school students to take up to two college courses. The case, A.M....

Full Title: Member of Sophisticated China-Based Hacking Group Indicted for Series of Computer Intrusions, Including 2015 Data Breach of Health Insurer Anthem Inc. Affecting Over 78 Million People FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, May 9, 2019 A federal grand jury returned an indictment unsealed today in Indianapolis, Indiana, charging a Chinese national as part of an extremely sophisticated hacking group operating in China and targeting large businesses in the United States, including a computer intrusion and data breach of Indianapolis-based health insurer Anthem Inc. (Anthem). Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice DepartmentÂ’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Josh Minkler...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP/VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE and AMERICA: Government, Family, Military, Business, Education, Churches, and the Media. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Religion Forum threads labeled “Prayer” are closed to debate of any kind.

FULL TITLE: Alyssa Milano calls for women across America to go on a 'sex strike' until Georgia's controversial anti-abortion 'heartbeat bill' is overturned Alyssa Milano has called for all women to go on a 'sex strike' until a controversial anti-abortion law in Georgia has been repealed. Milano, 46, who was instrumental in the #MeToo movement, called on her vast social media following to abstain from sex until the restrictive abortion law - dubbed the 'heartbeat bill' - is overturned. The heartbeat bill makes it illegal for women to have an abortion after a heartbeat has been detected in the womb...

“My Sheep Hear My Voice” (John 10:22-30) On this Good Shepherd Sunday, Jesus says to us: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” This is our text. “My Sheep Hear My Voice.” I should certainly hope so! But how closely are we listening? And when we hear the voice of our Shepherd, do we follow where he is leading? Today we will hear the voice of Jesus speaking to us, and by God’s grace...

President Donald Trump is scoffing at Democrats’ attempts to pry loose his tax returns, saying his refusal to release the records as a candidate didn’t hurt him in 2016 and voters “didn’t care” about the issue. A leading House Democrat has issued subpoenas for six years of Trump’s tax documents and given Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig a deadline of this coming Friday to deliver them. […] The subpoenas came from Rep. Richard Neal, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, on Friday, days after Mnuchin refused to comply with demands to turn over Trump’s...

If a new Mississippi law survives a court challenge, it will be nearly impossible for most pregnant women to get an abortion there. Or, potentially, in neighboring Louisiana. Or Alabama. Or Georgia. The Louisiana legislature is halfway toward passing a law — like the ones enacted in Mississippi and Georgia — that will ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, about six weeks into a pregnancy and before many women know they’re pregnant. Alabama is on the cusp of approving an even more restrictive bill. State governments are on a course to virtually eliminate abortion access in large chunks...

A (less than) 5 minute video showing illegal aliens on our side of the border awaiting their care and feeding service provided by we the people. SPIT https://www.facebook.com/groups/26012226159/permalink/10156056101536160/

Harvard said on Saturday that a law professor who is representing Harvey Weinstein would not continue as faculty dean of an undergraduate house after his term ends on June 30, bowing to months of pressure from students. The professor, Ronald S. Sullivan Jr., and his wife, Stephanie Robinson, who is a lecturer at the law school, have been the faculty deans of Winthrop House, one of Harvard’s residential houses for undergraduate students, since 2009. They were the first African-American faculty deans in Harvard’s history.

Recently release FOIA documents into the special counsel team of Robert Mueller reveal the remarkable trail of a 2017 entrapment scheme conducted by Prosecutor Andrew Weissmann to target George Papadopoulos. [Hat Tip to Undercover Huber and Rosie Memos who have been reviewing documents.] Before digging into the details it is important to note this is a DOJ/FBI entrapment operation being conducted in 2017 by the special counsel; this is not prior to the 2016 election. The detail surrounds a series of events previously discussed {Go Deep} where George Papadopoulos was approached by a known CIA operative named Charles Tawil. In...

I think the time is coming for an idea that is so old that it is new again: cutting the Federal government in half. The idea is: cancel all Federal welfare-type programs, including all means-tested welfare programs (apparently there are over 150 of them), all healthcare-related programs including Medicare and Medicaid, all education-related, arts-related and housing-related programs, and anything else of this sort -- in short, most everything except for the military, national parks, and maybe some public works. Social Security could eventually be reformed to a system of private retirement accounts, known as a "provident fund" system and in...

Actress and former model Peggy Lipton, who rose to stardom in the late 1960s on the counterculture police series “The Mod Squad” and later starred on TV’s “Twin Peaks,” has died. Her death from cancer was announced Saturday by Kidada and Rashida Jones, her daughters from a marriage to famed music producer Quincy Jones. “She made her journey peacefully with her daughters and nieces by her side,” Lipton’s daughters said in a statement to The Times. “We feel so lucky for every moment we spent with her.” Born in New York on Aug. 30, 1946, Lipton began modeling at age...

May. 11, 2019 - 6:25 - Trade negotiations stalled when China called for changes to the text that served as a blueprint for a deal; reaction and analysis from Michael Pillsbury, director for Chinese strategy at the Hudson Institute.

Opposition to tolling the future Interstate 10 Mobile River Bridge and the Wallace Tunnel dominated the public comments during Tuesday’s hearing into the massive $2.1 billion project. From local politicians to business owners, the message to the Alabama Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration was clear: A $3 to $6 toll will place enormous burdens on drivers and workers in Mobile and Baldwin counties, and it won’t fly with the rest of the public either. “It’s a huge expense,” said Roger Nelson of Daphne, who commutes daily to work to downtown Mobile. “It will be passed on.” Said...

[Catholic Caucus] The LGBT Political Campaign Behind Pope Francis' Election By David Martin  With theologians and bishops aghast over what some are calling ‘the most terrible schism the world has ever seen,’ it behooves the Catholic hierarchy to take a closer look at the 2013 papal election since it appears to have raised to the Chair of Peter “a man, not canonically elected.”  To recap, on the eve of the 2013 conclave, Cardinal Óscar Rodríguez Maradiaga who was one of the key kingmakers for the papal election was busily on the phone with cardinal electors from the Honduran embassy in Rome. His frenzied...

Over prosecutors’ objections, a 14-year-old boy charged with shooting two men on a CTA platform earlier this week has been released to his parents after a bond hearing. "At today’s detention hearing, we requested the minor be held in custody,” the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office said in a statement. “The court made the finding that under the law the minor must be released because he was held in custody for 42 hours … and not brought before a judicial officer within 24 hours.” A spokesperson for Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx said prosecutors objected and asked for electronic...

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Build America Bureau has finalized a direct loan of $225 million for the Interstate 10 Corridor Project, a critical step forward for one of the most highly anticipated regional transportation and mobility improvements in Southern California. Construction will begin in early 2020 on the four-year project in San Bernardino County, which will include the installation of express lanes (also known as toll lanes) between the Los Angeles County line (near Montclair) and Interstate 15 (just west of Fontana). The low-interest federal loan, which closed on May 3, is through the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation...

For the third time in her life, Hillary Clinton toured the nation, hoping to be loved. Hoping to break the cycle that the more people see of her, the less they like her. The third time wasn't the charm. This weekend, the Clintons took the Hill and Bill Tour to The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., in what amounts to home turf for them these days. Thanks to low demand, ticket prices plummeted to as low as $2 each. And pundits who remark on the tour inevitably point out that she didn't visit Wisconsin this time, either. But it doesn't seem...

Pro-Aborts Disrupt Abortion Survivor’s Testimony at London’s March for Life Thousands kneel to pray in repentance for Britain Militant abortion advocates attempted to disrupt and drown out an abortion survivor's testimony at London's March for Life as they parodied a popular song and sang "We need abortion and if it's quite all right." More than 5,000 pro-lifers gathered on May 11 to mark Lifefest 19, the second London-based rally, organized by the U.K.'s March for Life movement. Marching under the banner of "Life from Conception: No Exception," thousands knelt in prayers of repentance for the nation, after a procession from Emmanuel Centre, Westminster,...

In February 2018, Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards said that Christians should be forced to perform abortions because morality is a form of ‘discrimination.’ In a recent statement, Richards said that her ‘happiest moment’ was forcing Christians to pay for abortions: Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards seems to jump at every chance she gets to do an interview with a journalist who will flatter her abortion work. In her latest interview, Richards revealed her proudest moment on the job – forcing Christians to pay for contraception, including methods that many say can cause early abortions.