Free Republic

The U.S. Justice Department is preparing an investigation of Alphabet Inc's Google to determine whether the tech giant broke antitrust law in operating its sprawling online businesses, two sources familiar with the matter said. Officials from the Justice Department's Antitrust Division and Federal Trade Commission, which both enforce antitrust law, met in recent weeks to give Justice jurisdiction over Google, said the sources, who sought anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record. The potential investigation represents the latest attack on a tech company by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has accused social media...

The US Navy acknowledged Friday that a request had been made regarding the USS John S. McCain in relation to President Donald Trump's visit to Japan, but said the ship ended up remaining in its normal configuration. The statement continues a saga stemming from emails exchanged between the White House and lower-level US Navy officials about keeping a warship named for the late Sen. John McCain's father and grandfather out of sight ahead of the President's trip. "A request was made to the U.S. Navy to minimize the visibility of USS John S. McCain, however, all ships remained in their...

Barack Obama asserted that the United States was founded on inequality, despite the Constitution enshrining equality into the law. Obama said: You know Brazil just thinks the United States was founded on inequality and we have to admit that even though the United States has a Constitution that says, ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,’ At that time not only were blacks excluded, but women were excluded, and people who didn’t own property were excluded. Obama commented on his understanding of the founding of the United States during the VTEXDAY 2019 conference in...

My wife was going through her late aunt's things and found a military pin for the 128th Overseas Batallion from Moose Jaw, Canada. Do any FReepers know the history of this unit? My wife's aunt was in the Home guard in WWII but it could have been her father's or a friend's from WWI.

[GCC=Gulf Cooperation Council] Makkah: The GCC Summit in Makkah has condemned the recent sabotage operations, which targeted four tankers in UAE’s regional waters and drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities. The GCC leaders discussed the exceptional circumstances and dangerous challenges the region is undergoing following the recent attacks on the UAE and Saudi Arabia and their ramifications and direct threat to the regional security and peace, to freedom of global marine navigation and trade as well as to world oil markets as a result of attempts by some countries to undermine security and stability of the region, support terrorism and...

Trump responded, "I didn't know that she was nasty. I hope she is OK. ..." He seemed to bury the hatchet saying, "I am sure she will go excellently (as a royal). She will be very good."

May 31, 2019 by Msgr. Charles Pope The Importance of the Communal Life As Seen in Two Cartoons 1 There is a line from scripture that says, Woe to the solitary man. If he falls he has no one to lift him up (Ecclesiastes 4:10). Scripture also says, And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near (Heb 10:24-25). The teaching is clear: we must come together each...

Our patience has been rewarded because the solution to the border crisis that we’ve been waiting for has finally arrived.Despite all of the obstruction and dismissal by the Democrats of the worst humanitarian crisis to ever hit our border, Donald Trump has found perhaps the most effective way to solve this crisis.The madness at the border will end. The flood of human traffickers, drug smugglers, and gang members will be stopped. The mockery that these criminal invaders have made of our immigration laws and our generous asylum system will be rectified.And Mexico is going to step up and help...

Scientists have launched a bid to observe and understand mysterious flashes of light on the surface of the moon. The ‘transient luminous lunar phenomena’ occur several times a week and illuminate parts of the moon’s landscape for a brief period of time before disappearing. Sometimes, a reverse effect which causes the lunar surface to darken has also been observed. Although there are several theories about the lunar mystery lights’ origins, they have not yet been fully explained. Now astronomers from Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU) in Bavaria, Germany have set up a telescope which will use artificial intelligence to automatically detect the...

VIDEO Teddy the Golden Retriever is less than a year old but he has already learned how to steal your stuff which he loves to do. Nothing is safe from Teddy. If he thinks you have something you value in any way, he will try to steal it from you. For example, he once stole my selfie-stick and hid it under the dining table. Another time he grabbed a plastic bag containing a bottle of Pepsi from me and stole that as well. Teddy also goes on "havoc runs" in which he runs upstairs and quickly grabs things at random...

A rally is planned Monday in front of the Sacramento Field Office of US Citizenship and Immigration Services to protest the death of a transgender woman in custody.

“The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel. To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding” (Proverbs 1:1-2 KJV).

WASHINGTON — Speaker Nancy Pelosi likes to talk about the numbers to defend her go-slow approach to launching a formal impeachment process against President Donald Trump. "I think it's like 35 of them out of 238, maybe its 38 out of 238, have said they wanted to be outspoken on impeachment and many of them are reflecting their views as well as those of their constituents," Pelosi said at a Commonwealth Club of California Wednesday. "Yes, there are some, and the press makes more of a fuss about the 38 than the 200." But there are strong signs that the...

Last week, the House Budget Committee explored establishing a single-payer health care system—a proposal commonly referred to as Medicare for All. The idea enjoys considerable support—including from most Democratic 2020 presidential hopefuls.While various versions of the program have been floated, the schemes have at least one commonality: They aim to remove market-based mechanisms from the equation and replace them with government planning. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ plan even openly acknowledges his proposal will largely eliminate the private health insurance industry.The desire to improve the health care system is not misplaced. The current framework is in much need of reform.For instance, rules...

Chicago's top prosecutor again shifted her explanation for why she recused herself from an investigation into Jussie Smollett's claim that he'd been the target of a hate crime, saying she stepped aside because of false rumors she was related to the "Empire" actor. Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx offered the new public explanation in a statement issued along with the release of 2,000 pages of documents in the case, which also refer to the rumors arising as suspicions grew that Smollett, who is black and gay, staged the attack against himself. Her statement and the documents, which included internal...

Prosecutors just released a lot of the evidence from their investigation that led to 16 criminal charges against Jussie Smollett, the gay black actor and former "Empire" star. Instead of explaining why all 16 of those charges were abruptly dropped all it does is make you go “huh?”A brief recap in case you’ve dropped this gnat from your radar: Jussie staged a phony hate crime attack on himself in order to advance his pitiful career. He claimed two white guys wearing MAGA hats attacked him, tied a rope around his neck, poured bleach on him and then left yelling "This...

In an interview aired Friday on "CBS This Morning," Attorney General William Barr explains why he opened an investigation into the origins of the Russia investigation. He doesn't say what the evidence is, but Barr tells CBS News legal correspondent Jan Crawford that there is evidence that makes him believe senior government officials may have acted improperly to authorize surveillance of President Trump's 2016 campaign. He says that led to "spying" on the campaign. He said the hyper-politicized nature of politics today is a danger to longstanding institutions and he took the job of attorney general because he is at...

A record-breaking number of spellers — 562 — competed their hearts and minds out during this week’s 2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. And a record-breaking number beat the bee, with eight contestants crowned “co-champions” at the conclusion of Thursday night’s finale. For the rest though, a word (or words) got the better of them. Whether their elimination was controversial or incontrovertible (both knockout words in round No. 3), whether it left them feeling dubitative, stolid, or even, say, inured (round No. 3 again), these unlucky competitors made a typo, and got dinged for it — literally dinged,...

DeWayne Craddock: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know DeWayne Craddock, a public utilities engineer whose name frequently appeared on city notices, was named as the mass shooter who opened fire “indiscriminately” at the Virginia Beach Municipal Center, killing 12 people and wounding others, in the nation’s latest horrific active shooter event. The Wall Street Journal and CNN reported that Craddock was the shooter; Heavy confirmed the name through police scanner audio, which you can listen to later in this article (be forewarned that it is very disturbing). Officers named DeWayne Craddock as the shooter to dispatchers early on in...

“Pope Francis warned against a rise of intolerance and racism as far-right nationalists and eurosceptic parties made historic gains in European elections…"The signs of meanness we see around us heighten our fear of 'the other', the unknown, the marginalised, the foreigner," he said in a message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees,” France24.com reports.“Pope won’t meet with Italy’s Salvini because of his position on migration— Two Italian publications reported that Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini “has attempted to secure a papal audience and been rebuffed each time…Salvini had been told ‘a meeting could not occur if Salvini continues...