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Then 30, Harris was dating 60-year-old Willie Brown, at the time the Democratic speaker of the California State Assembly, when he placed her on the California Medical Assistance Commission in 1994. The position paid over $70,000 per year, $120,700 in current money, and Harris served on the board until 199 Brown’s decision to appoint Harris raised eyebrows in political circles. “Both boards are reserved for political payback or occasionally for personal rewards for personal service,” said Brett Granlund, a former California Republican state assemblyman who worked closely with the commission while Harris was on the board. “The boards are considered...

Dirty little secrets are rarely this big. An eclectic car, motorcycle and parts collection discovered after the May 2018 death of a Michigan man who had amassed it over the years is heading to the auction block. According to VanDerBrink Auctions, Jeff Begg was an engineer who worked for Dana Corporation, founded several manufacturing companies of his own and fell under the spell of eBay when he was closing out his wife’s account following her passing in 2003.

Just days away, June 4th will be the 30th Anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre of 1989. With sharp trade disputes between the US and China, this year promises sharper public interest in the incident. In preparation for the Anniversary, Twitter has shut down 32,000 accounts critical of the Chinese Communist Party, accounts originating both in and outside China. Facebook is also said to have taken similar pre-June 4th action against 40,000 accounts. No explanation has been given. Most accounts of the incident acknowledge hundreds of deaths in Tiananmen Square, but some experts claim the actual figure runs into thousands....

Four women from Latin America whose lives were put at risk when they were not allowed abortions after being raped as girls are taking their cases to the UN human rights committee. The women, from Nicaragua, Ecuador and Guatemala, filed cases against their governments on Wednesday for failing to provide appropriate healthcare and denying them abortions, even when it was their legal right to have one. Now aged between 18 and 23, the women were 14 or younger when they were raped. All were attacked by older men and dropped out of school after discovering they were pregnant. Although each...

Today's Quotefall Puzzle features a quote by Viktor Orbán. Click image (or click here) for full size rendition, then use your browser's print command to print puzzle. Viktor Orbán is the Prime Minister of Hungary, and is a conservative nationalist. He has led the efforts for countries in the eastern European bloc to prevent unregulated mass migration into their sovereign nations, against the will of the neo-communist European Union. Later today, a bonus challenger puzzle will be posted. Watch for it! All hints, along with the answer, are provided in the first reply comment below, using filtered font to prevent accidential spoilers....

Key Senate Republicans are pushing back against President Donald Trump’s threat to impose new tariffs on Mexico to stem the flow of migrants, though it’s unclear whether lawmakers will take action. The president’s announcement Thursday surprised many Republicans who hoped to focus on passing a new trade deal with Mexico and Canada known as the USMCA. That deal now faces fresh peril, a number of GOP senators said Friday.

Italian Family Minister endorses procession of reparation for Gay Pride ROME, May 31, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) — Italy’s Minister for the Family has openly endorsed a “Procession of Reparation to the Sacred Heart” being held in the northern Italian city of Modena on Saturday, June 1. The aim of the procession is to atone for a “gay pride” event being held in the city the same day. Asked about the event in a recent video interview, Lorenzo Fontana, Minister for the Family and vice-secretary for Italy’s Northern League party, said he “absolutely agrees” with the procession.  “I am happy that you all are doing this,...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem (Old Testament) 1 Kings 7 The Temple’s Furnishings 13 King Solomon sent to Tyre and brought Huram,[g] 14 whose mother was a widow from the tribe of Naphtali and whose father was from Tyre and a skilled craftsman in bronze. Huram was filled with wisdom, with understanding and with knowledge to do all kinds of bronze work. He came to King Solomon and did all the work assigned to him. 15 He cast two bronze pillars, each eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference.[h] 16 He also made two capitals of cast bronze to set on...

As more than 130 dogs were taken out of an Orange home — in deplorable conditions — it appears the owners of the property were animal hoarding and lost control. Some close friends of the couple say they had no idea what was going on inside the home. Officials said conditions inside the home were so deplorable (feces, urine, fleas) that the residence had to be red-tagged. As the 136 dogs are being cared for, more details are emerging about Jo and Edward Reitkopp, the couple who owned the home. Edward Reitkopp works for a prominent law firm. Jo Reitkopp...

Heroes STILL walk among us...just a little slower, and there aren't many of them anymore. God bless the greatest generation

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...