Free Republic

CHICAGO, November 2, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) -- Francis-appointed U.S. Cardinal Blase Cupich said that if Catholics want to engage in “discernment” like Pope Francis does, they must let go of “cherished beliefs.” “It is our job to take up that discernment. It takes time. It involves discipline. Most importantly it requires that we be prepared to let go of cherished beliefs and long-held biases,” said the Archbishop of Chicago in a talk to the Catholic Theological Union published on YouTube October 27. “It is this willingness of Francis to let go of the unnecessary and explore unchartered waters that gives him...

This has been a crazy year in American politics, perhaps the most tumultuous year since 1968. When, in the early morning hours of November 9, the outcome of the 2016 election became clear, almost everyone -- experts and non-experts alike -- felt that the political earth had trembled beneath their feet. Here are thirteen of the most shocking moments since Donald Trump won the election. 1. On November 27, 2016, President Trump tweets that "I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally." 2. As he takes office, President Trump refuses to create a...

Americans oppose Donald Trump’s emerging tax plan by broad a 17-point margin, with 60 percent saying it favors the wealthy -– including six in 10 of the wealthy themselves. As details –- albeit still scarce -– have emerged, support and opposition have grown essentially in tandem. Fifty percent in this ABC News/Washington Post poll oppose the plan, up 6 percentage points from September; 33 percent support it, up 5 points. The rest, 17 percent, are undecided.

About half the respondents in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll suspect that President Donald Trump broke the law during the presidential campaign, and just 3 in 10 Americans surveyed think that alleged wrongdoing ends with those who were charged this week by the special counsel. The poll finds substantial support for the investigation, with 58 percent approving of how special counsel Robert Mueller is handling it, and more — 68 percent — approving of the filing of federal charges against Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, and one of his associates. See PDF with full results here.

The latest Post-ABC poll shows that Robert S. Mueller III, for now, enjoys overwhelming support for his investigation. He also gets high marks for the indictments of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and adviser Rick Gates. And in even worse news for President Trump, nearly half (49 percent) of Americans surveyed think he committed a crime. Mueller receives 58 percent approval and only 28 percent disapproval from Americans. By a margin of 51 percent to 37 percent, Americans do not think Trump is cooperating with the investigation. Even among Republicans (57 percent to 21 percent), voters strongly approve (69...

WASHINGTON — After Monday’s legal shock and awe, one thing is certain: The Mueller investigation poses a serious and perhaps existential threat to the Trump administration. Apologists for the president can yell “nothing burger” until they’re blue in the face. Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his associate Richard Gates — now under home confinement and charged with offenses that carry long prison terms — would likely disagree. Campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, whom special counsel Robert Mueller has “flipped” into cooperating with the probe, also might attest that Monday’s acts and revelations are a very big deal. Trump must...

WASHINGTON — Democracies sometimes collapse suddenly. More typically, they waste away. One major cause of institutional decline involves politicians putting their own immediate interests ahead of their obligations to democratic norms. We wake up one day and discover that a long series of individual choices has rotted out the constraints on authoritarian rule. President Trump plainly feels no sense of stewardship when it comes to our political system or to any accepted standards of truth. From the moment he descended that escalator at Trump Tower in 2015, he made clear that he would say and do anything to advance his...

This YouTube video between Dr. Jordan Peterson and others is what liberals want to do to entire professions. Instead of teaching social justice in departments of education, law and social work and require you to take diversity training that advocates social justice, the Ontario law society is trying to say all attorneys and paralegals must file a statement of belief agreeing with social justice. If you fail to do so, they will revoke your credential. This is an example of the systemic discrimination against conservatives liberals are instituting, not just discriminating against conservatives in admittance to schools and graduate programs...

Complete with video of Myeisha Johnson kissing her husband's coffin, the local Miami media is continuing the drumbeat of blaming Trump. Of course the only interview is from her one on one with Clinton Foundation donor George Steponallofus on ABC. Myeisha says she thinks the coffin might be empty. Media is carefully trying to avoid a whole lot of mention of grandstander and attention monger Frederica Wilson.

Just when you thought liberals had sunk as low as they could, they break out the shovel and start digging. Nothing is sacred anymore. Nothing is off limits, and everything is political. This week showed us once again there is nothing Democrats won’t exploit, no grave they won't dance on, if they think they can score political points. And there’s nothing "journalists" won't spin, won’t lie about, and no hypocrisy too great to prevent them from smearing their political opponents.

WASHINGTON -- One person who obviously didn’t know “what he was signing up for” is President Trump. Others include Trump voters who believed they were electing a decent human being to be commander in chief. What Trump reportedly said to the grief-stricken widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, who gave his life for his country, is not some kind of minor miscue or media-fueled distraction. It speaks to the core issue of Trump’s character and demonstrates, as clearly as any incident to date, his unfitness for the office he holds — and dishonors. Trump is a weak, narcissistic man in...

If Donald Trump thinks there’s nothing wrong with exploiting the presidency for his personal profit, he should read the Constitution. That’s the argument plaintiffs made in a Manhattan federal court on Wednesday, in the first-ever lawsuit to accuse a president of violating the emoluments clauses — once-obscure constitutional provisions that the nation’s founders adopted to prevent corruption of public officials. The emoluments clauses are based on a simple, sound idea — that the nation’s security and well-being are threatened when those entrusted with acting in the public interest use their office for private gain. Until Jan. 20, there was no...

What do severe cuts to core environmental protections and New Jersey's middle class losing federal tax deductions for local property and state income taxes have in common? What's the common thread between climate programs and Obamacare? These key protections and programs are on the chopping block to pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest one percent of Americans if the Trump administration and their allies in Congress have their way. Experts with scientific certainty say damage from regular flooding and extreme weather like Harvey, Irma, Irene and Maria will occur with increasing severity and frequency due to human-caused climate change....

When Donald Trump faced criticism from advocacy groups for not including more women and minorities in his cabinet last January, the incoming administration promised that the lower rungs of the bureaucracy would ultimately look more diverse. Now, recently available government data on the ethnic and gender make-up of the broader Trump administration shows that with over 1,000 mid-level political jobs filled by mid-year the appointees look much like the top leadership: mostly white and male. Office of Personnel Management numbers analyzed by Reuters show that 88 percent of such appointees were non-Hispanic white and 62 percent were men. “This administration...

I would like to say, "You can't make this stuff up." But, apparently about half of you will think that I am. According to a POLITICO/Morning Consult poll released Wednesday (Oct. 18), nearly half of voters across the nation -- 46 percent -- believe the news media fabricate news stories about President Donald Trump and his administration. Just 37 percent of voters think the media do not fabricate stories, the poll shows, while the remaining 17 percent are undecided. Fabricate: Invent or concoct (something), typically with deceitful intent; make up for the purpose of deception. That means just one in...

Former Vice President Joe Biden slammed President Trump on a range of issues and suggested that he has behaved in a way that's "dangerous." "We have a president who does not understand governance, forgets his policies -- he doesn't understand how the government functions," he said at an event with Ohio Governor John Kasich at the University of Delaware He added, "This breaking down of international and national norms is the glue that holds the entire world order together and holds together our system, that is what is being attacked now and that what's most dangerous." Biden said that the...

Undercover video obtained by Project Veritas shows New York Times London Senior Staff Editor Desiree Shoe revealing a biased political agenda in the operation of the so-called ‘paper of record.’ Shoe explains a difficulty in reporting about President Donald Trump objectively due to political bias. In one exchange, she says that journalists covered Trump in such a sensational way during the election season so as to deter readers from voting for him. Shoe also shares her negative opinion of Vice President Mike Pence, citing his religious views.    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOBuGCd39Xw

As raging wildfires devour the lives, homes and dreams of Californians in an unprecedented scale, one voice has been conspicuously mute through day after day of crisis: President Trump. This is not a man who is reticent to let Americans know what is foremost on his mind. He is also someone who should have learned by now — after devastating hurricanes and the Las Vegas massacre — that Americans expect their president to step forward with empathy and resolve in moments of national trauma. Yet Trump has offered no more than a few perfunctory words about the Wine Country fires...

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday urged Democrats to make a healthcare deal after cutting off Obamacare subsidies to health insurance companies for low-income patients in a forceful move that sparked threats of legal action and concern of chaos in insurance markets. The decision is the most dramatic action Trump has taken yet to weaken the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law, which extended insurance to 20 million Americans. The move drew swift condemnation from Democrats and threats from state attorneys general in New York and California to file lawsuits. Trump, a Republican, urged opponents to reach...

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to weaken the Obamacare law and make it easier for Americans to buy bare-bones health insurance plans, but the action faces possible legal challenges. Stymied in Congress by the failure of Senate Republicans to pass legislation to dismantle Democratic former President Barack Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement, Trump’s order marks his administration’s latest effort to undermine the law without action by lawmakers. Trump’s order gives people more access to plans that do not cover essential health benefits such as maternity and newborn care, prescription drugs, and mental health and addiction treatment....