Free Republic

On Monday, an eerily familiar scene in the streets of Kiev heralded a dangerous new phase in the Ukraine crisis. Once again, riot police faced angry demonstrators who claimed that the government was betraying their country; once again, blood spilled on the pavement, resulting in at least one death and over 100 injuries. This time, however, the players’ roles had shifted. The ones fighting the government were grenade-wielding members of Svoboda and Right Sector, radical militants who had, until that point, been allied with Kiev. Their target was the democratically elected, Western-leaning government of Petro Poroshenko which is working on...

Pope Francis will give all priests discretion during the Roman Catholic Church's upcoming Holy Year to formally forgive women who have had abortions, in the Argentine pontiff's latest move towards a more open and inclusive church. In Church teaching, abortion is such a grave sin that those who procure or perform it incur an automatic excommunication. Usually only designated clergy and missionaries can formally forgive abortions. But from Dec.8 to Nov. 26, during an extraordinary Holy Year or "Jubilee" on the theme of mercy announced by Pope Francis in March, all priests will be able to do so, he said...

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Donald Trump may show up to his campaign events in his own 757 aircraft emblazoned with a personal logo. But Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker may trump Mr. Trump for the flashiest ride over Labor Day. Mr. Walker plans a bodacious motorcycle ride through New Hampshire which covers considerable territory. “Mark the date on your calendar! Governor Scott Walker will be riding a Harley-Davidson through all 10 counties,” his campaign advises. .......Mr. Walker has released a new video message with a close focus on the Iran nuclear accord. “I refuse to live with a deal that threatens our safety and that...

As Gov. Scott Walker faced ridicule Monday for calling the building of a wall on the Canadian border a “legitimate issue,” his presidential campaign said he isn’t pushing for the idea. “Despite the attempts of some to put words in his mouth, Gov. Walker wasn’t advocating for a wall along our northern border,” Walker spokeswoman AshLee Strong said in a statement. The campaign responded after Walker’s comment was widely mocked, from a Democratic senator calling it one of the “craziest” ideas of the campaign so far to fellow GOP presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, saying building a Canadian wall...

A person may not have to "see color" to be racist. Some blind people, just like sighted people, make judgments about others based on their race, according to a new study. The findings come from interviews conducted in person and over the phone with 25 people who were either born blind or severely visually impaired, or who lost their sight as children or adults. A researcher asked the participants, most of whom lived in the northeast United States, about whether they thought about race and also how it affected their feelings about a person. The study found that blind people...

Ora.TV host Jesse Ventura ripped Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) for signing an extreme anti-abortion bill into law last year, sarcastically saying it did not go far enough. “If he believes that if a doctor performs this it’s murder, then charge the doctor with murder. And it’s premeditated so it would be first-degree murder, wouldn’t it?” he said. “These guys, if they truly want to stand up for it, then they gotta go all the way with it.” The bill bans the procedure after the 20-week mark of any pregnancy, and does not contain exceptions for rape and incest victims....

A man who was shot and killed by police in a confrontation near Lake Merritt last week had previously been arrested on suspicion of stalking a woman and decapitating a goose, according to court documents. Officers identified the man as 30-year-old Yonas Alehegne. He was arrested earlier this year on suspicion of cruelly wounding an animal and resisting arrest on July 14, 2015, according to court documents. In a police report, Officer Terryl Smith wrote that he responded to the 600 block of Bellevue Avenue at Lake Merritt to investigate a report of someone mutilating a goose. Smith found a...

Submerged countries, abandoned cities and floods of refugees await the world barring urgent action on climate change, President Barack Obama warned Monday, painting a doomsday scenario as he opened a historic visit to Alaska. In a bid to further his environmental legacy, Obama brought the power of the presidential pulpit to Anchorage and called on other nations to take swift action as negotiations for a global climate treaty near a close. His speech to an Arctic climate summit set the tone for a three-day tour of Alaska that will put the state’s liquefying glaciers and sinking villages on graphic display....

Since a 32-year-old woman was killed along Pier 14 in San Francisco, allegedly by an illegal immigrant with a criminal record, four Bay Area counties -- Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Marin -- have agreed to notify ICE when inmates flagged by the agency for possible deportation are about to be released, the Mercury News reported. And on Monday, a Santa Clara County advisory committee met to discuss whether to be more helpful to the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and cooperate in a limited fashion. The committee will prepare a report which supervisors will discuss at a Sept....

Mayor de Blasio got an earful from disgruntled New Yorkers on Monday when he took to Twitter for a rare unscripted chat with constituents. The live 34-minute exchange elicited more than 100 questions and comments, including many critical of his performance. “You can’t seriously think that a few unruly topless performers in Times Square is a pressing issue, right??” wrote Brian Boucher, one of several users who blasted de Blasio’s handling of nuisance complaints at Times Square.

A super PAC supporting Auditor Adam Edelen’s re-election bid has released a Web ad using audio of an MSNBC segment lauding the incumbent Democrat’s speech at Fancy Farm this year. The two-minute video, titled “Big, Important Things,” features MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, on her Aug. 21 program, calling Edelen “the best southern Democratic politician I have seen speak at an event like this (Fancy Farm) since (former Texas Gov.) Ann Richards, since Bill Clinton in his prime.” The ad also includes portions of Edelen’s speech and footage of him at Fancy Farm events. Kentuckians for Honesty in Government released the video...

ST. PAUL -- Black Lives Matter St. Paul plans a march Tuesday outside the Minnesota Governor’s Residence in response to Gov. Mark Dayton’s remarks at the Minnesota State Fair last week before the group’s Saturday protest to the Fairgrounds. Dayton said that Black Lives Matter has valid concerns but that the Fair protest was inappropriate. The group plans to gather outside the governor’s Summit Avenue residence at 5 p.m. Tuesday. Demonstrators plan to march on the streets and disrupt traffic if Dayton does not come out to “make sure he gets our message somehow, some way,” said Black Lives Matter...

"They say its exclusive-I don't think its published" Trump 29% Carson 15% Bush 9% Firorina 8% Rubio 7% Kasich 6% Ted Cruz 5% (?) -I think but not sure Cristie 2% Santorum 2% Rand Paul 1% (Wow) Rick Perry 1% Jim Gilmore 1% Is Obama a Christian 14% Is Obama a Muslim 54% "Only 29% think Obama was born in the US" "40% think Ted Cruz was even though born in Canada"

Hillary Clinton is a very accessible human being, at least according to a woman who paid $1,000 for the chance to eat rubber chicken and rub elbows in the Hamptons with the Democratic Presidential candidate. Hillary, herself, is in East Hampton for a much-needed vacation away from the filthy masses, and while there, she's raising money from her rich neighbors. The fundraiser in question was held on the grounds of the Patricof estate, owned by venture capitalist Alan Patricof, chairman of Apex Partners. Guest feasted on incredibly expensive chocolate chip pancakes, as their precious little hooligans played in a private...

GAINESVILLE — Florida and Alaska are about as far apart as two states can be from be from each other physically, geographically and climate-wise. But U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D- Fla., on Monday said he’s witnessed the devastating effects global warming is already having on both states. “I walked to the edge of the glacier and saw that it’s really melting,” Nelson said of his mid-August visit to a US Coast Guard base in Kodiak, Alaska. He also recalled how Alton Road in Miami Beach was flooded during high tide before million-dollar pumps were installed. Nelson visited University of Florida...

The accountant for a U.S. company recently received an e-mail from her chief executive, who was on vacation out of the country, requesting a transfer of funds on a time-sensitive acquisition that required completion by the end of the day. The CEO said a lawyer would contact the accountant to provide further details. “It was not unusual for me to receive e-mails requesting a transfer of funds,” the accountant later wrote, and when she was contacted by the lawyer via e-mail, she noted the appropriate letter of authorization—including her CEO’s signature over the company’s seal—and followed the instructions to wire...

The political 501(c )(4) group Americans for Prosperity is jumping into the fall election cycle with an ad attempting to tie Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jack Conway to President Barack Obama and the Affordable Care Act. The ad, first reported by the Lexington Herald-Leader, launched Monday in what AFP told the newspaper is a “hefty” six-figure ad buy. AFP is supported by the billionaire ultra-conservative Koch brothers. “Jack Conway chose Washington insiders over Kentucky families when he decided not to take Obamacare to court — now we are yolked with double-digit premium increases and thousands of lost jobs,” Julia Crigler, state...

Angry parents sending death threats on social media to their children's teachers, shocking survey reveals [ Full title ]. Parents are sending death threats to their children's teachers on social media, a shocking new survey has revealed. Three out of four teachers in in the U.K. have said parents’ behavior toward them has become more obnoxious in the last five years. The poll of 796 teachers in England and Wales also revealed that the parents of younger pupils tend to be more verbally aggressive to teachers. And teachers have been subjected to nasty comments about their appearance, weight and sexuality...

A federal judge has ordered the IRS to reveal all requests the White House made for private taxpayer data. It is a potentially explosive line of inquiry, and the IRS fought the court ruling hard. But now, the IRS must hand them over. It could mean another bombshell in the long simmering IRS scandal that has dogged the Obama administration for over two years. Recently, the IRS revealed–two years late–that firebrand Lois Lerner had a secret email account under her dog’s name for IRS business. There have been multiple federal investigations for several years, and Ms. Lerner has refused to...