Free Republic

The former Minnesota cop convicted of fatally shooting an unarmed Australian bride-to-be has proposed a bizarre sentence to “honor” her. Mohamed Noor, 33, filed a motion Wednesday asking a judge to lock him up for weeklong stints that overlap with 40-year-old Justine Ruszczyk Damond’s birthday and the anniversary of her death, according to news station KSTP.

Under a new agreement, uniformed police officers will be allowed to participate in Sacramento PRIDE events this weekend, and a new set of police department policies will be enacted to build trust with the LGBTQ community. The move, announced in a Thursday news release by the Sacramento Police Department and Sacramento LGBT Community Center, reversed a decision the center announced last week that uniformed officers would not be allowed to participate in order to protect LGBTQ people, especially transgender people and LGBTQ people of color who “experience fear and anxiety provoked by the uniform.”

Former vice president and 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden reversed his support for the Hyde Amendment on Thursday at a gala hosted by the Democratic National Committee in Atlanta. Biden said that recent extreme abortion restrictions in various states prompted him to change his stance. “I can’t justify leaving millions of women without the health care they need... If I believe health care is a right, as I do, I can no longer support [the amendment],” he said.

The Catholic Church spent more than half a million dollars trying to stop lawmakers from extending the statute of limitations on sex abuse cases, a new report reveals. From 2011 to 2018, the church spent $633,000 on lobbying efforts in the Garden State alone. They spent more in neighboring states: $5.32 million in Pennsylvania, $2.9 million in New York and $875,000 in Connecticut. The lobbying expenses could pale in comparison to what the church might pay if more victims of clergy sex abuse come forward and seek compensation. The report commissioned by the law firms of Seeger Weiss, Williams Cedar,...

California police are reminding drivers to lock their car doors after a bear let itself inside an unlocked vehicle near Lake Tahoe and destroyed the interior. The bear couldn't escape as easily as it had entered the vehicle and became trapped inside, the Placer County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday. "The bear had somehow locked the doors and broke the handles off, so they couldn’t open it from the outside," Sgt. Dave Hunt told FOX40 Sacramento. While trapped inside, the bear apparently ripped the seats apart, tore open the glove compartment and pulled down part of the ceiling. The animal also urinated, defecated and spit all over the destroyed...

In a part of America that is rich with historic Orthodox churches, a new one, faithful to the local architectural tradition, is now under construction. In the spring of 2018 I travelled to Spruce Island, where St. Herman of Alaska lived from 1808 until his death in 1837. I had come to design a new chapel for Saint Michael’s Skete. This small monastic brotherhood (a dependency of the monastery at Platina in California) occupies a remote site high up a mountainside. Founded in 1983, the skete has several monastic buildings able to host a handful of monks and summer visitors,...

Do the Democrats who talk about impeaching President Donald Trump know that we are in a shooting war in which the enemy has attacked our homeland causing significant property damage and civilian deaths? Those who want to remove our Commander in Chief are saying they don't appreciate the efforts of thousands of brave American men and women who are willing to risk "trading all of their tomorrows so we can have today." There is an ancient proverb that says "the enemy of my enemy is my friend". By treating President Trump as their enemy, Congressional Democrats are implying they are...

GRANITE CITY, ILL. Twenty-seven abortions were scheduled last Thursday at the Hope Clinic, and the license plates on cars parked in front of the low-rise building with bulletproof doors tell the story: Missouri. Missouri. Illinois. Illinois. Missouri. The 45-year-old Granite City, Ill. clinic, located 10 minutes from downtown St. Louis, draws about half of its patients from Missouri. With the state’s new ban on abortions after eight weeks of pregnancy scheduled to take effect Aug. 28, and its lone provider — Planned Parenthood of St. Louis — fighting in court to keep its license, Hope Clinic is poised to play...

Cardinal John Dew said the change would help combat clericalismNew Zealand Cardinal John Dew has said it is time to stop calling priests “father.” In an April newsletter, Dew said that ending the use of the title “father” could be “the beginning of the reform in the Church” in the wake of the sexual abuse scandal. Since then, Dew told New Zealand media outlet Stuff that he would no longer like to be referred to by his title and encouraged priests to do the same. Dew suggested that this could be one way to respond to Pope Francis’ call to...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A priest is asking parishioners not to leave his church over a tweet by Rhode Island’s bishop urging Roman Catholics to not support or attend LGBTQ Pride Month events. The Rev. Edward L. Pieroni begged gay and lesbian parishioners not to leave the church during Sunday services at St. Raymond’s Roman Catholic Church in Providence, The Boston Globe reported. “A lot of people have hung in there, but it’s like, ‘One more slap and we are done.’ I am here to beg you — and I will get on my hands and knees and beg you...

Hackers may soon be able to discern information from the sounds of typing. A 2019 study of the budding phenomenon, obtained by Cornell University and not yet published in a peer-reviewed journal, found that Android phones and tablets are able to pick up sound waves of typing through their microphones. In theory, these sound waves can dictate where on a screen a person was tapping, meaning hackers could have access to pins, logins, text messages and other sensitive and private content, the Wall Street Journal reports. So, if hackers were able to access a device’s microphone — they could be privy to messages sent...

Here is a YouTube Video we just put up telling some personal war stories. Thought you veterans and vet lovers would like it.. Hope you enjoy it and please like, comment, subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IE6ht8-0DfI&feature=youtu.be

The Kremlin earlier confirmed that Putin was expected to make a visit to ItalyMOSCOW, June 6. /TASS/. Pope Francis will receive Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Vatican on July 4, Agence France-Presse reported on Thursday, citing a statement by Vatican Spokesman Alessandro Gisotti. "I can confirm that the Holy Father will receive Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Vatican on July 4," Gisotti said. The Kremlin earlier confirmed that Putin was expected to make a visit to Italy but said nothing about the date of the visit and the president’s plans to meet with Pope Francis.

[Catholic Caucus] Excusing Priestly Sexual Misconduct as ‘Consensual’ Houston's Cdl. Daniel DiNardo downplaying monsignor's abuse of trust and power The Catholic hierarchy's use of the "consensual sex" card to justify priestly misconduct has been thrown on the table once again, this time after a Texas woman was taken advantage of emotionally, spiritually and physically by a priest serving as her spiritual counselor.  Msgr. Frank Rossi Laura Pontikes, a 55-year-old construction executive in Texas, had been suffering from long-term depression and problems in her marriage when she sought help from Msgr. Frank Rossi, then-vicar general and deputy to Cdl. Daniel DiNardo in the Galveston-Houston Archdiocese....

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has remained firm in her opposition to seeking President Donald Trump’s impeachment, but she’s walked a careful rhetorical line — at times channeling the left’s anger to accuse Trump of crimes worthy of impeachment, at others urging her most hot-blooded colleagues to slow down and wait for more facts. POLITICO has collected Pelosi’s shifting rhetoric on impeachment over time, beginning just before special counsel Robert Mueller finished compiling damning evidence that Trump may have obstructed justice. Her evolving language has accompanied a slow succession of Democrats who have embraced impeachment proceedings despite her opposition.

So, is anyone watching/renting it on this 75th anniversary of the greatest invasion in world history? My family and I are watching it.

WASHINGTON — The world’s largest automakers warned President Trump on Thursday that one of his most sweeping deregulatory efforts — his plan to weaken tailpipe pollution standards — threatens to cut their profits and produce “untenable” instability in a crucial manufacturing sector. In a letter signed by 17 companies including Ford, General Motors, Toyota and Volvo, the automakers asked Mr. Trump to go back to the negotiating table on the planned rollback of one of President Barack Obama’s signature policies to fight climate change. The carmakers are addressing a crisis that is partly of their own making. They had sought...

In a key finding of the Mueller report, Ukrainian businessman Konstantin Kilimnik, who worked for Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, is tied to Russian intelligence. But hundreds of pages of government documents — which Mueller possessed since 2018 — describe Kilimnik as a “sensitive” intelligence source for the U.S. State Department who informed on Ukrainian and Russian matters. Why special counsel Robert Mueller’s team omitted that part of the Kilimnik narrative from their report and related court filings is not known. But the revelation of it comes as the accuracy of Mueller’s Russia conclusions face increased scrutiny. The incomplete portrayal...

U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar must personally pay a $500 civil fine to the State of Minnesota for violating a campaign finance law, the state Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board ordered Thursday. According to the complaint, Omar must also reimburse her political campaign $3,469 for improperly used campaign funds. In five occasions, the Omar campaign improperly paid hotel or travel expenses for Omar to attend out-of-state events, the board found. In three other cases, the Omar campaign either failed to note required campaign finance information or lacked documentation to prove the legitimacy of expenses. The findings are a result of...

**SNIP** Nadler’s comments at the Tuesday meeting were his clearest remarks to date on the possibility of compelling Mueller’s attendance at a public hearing. The committee is still negotiating with Mueller, who, according to Nadler, is thus far only willing to answer lawmakers’ questions in private — a nonstarter for most House Democrats. The sources cautioned that the committee has not settled on a timetable for a potential subpoena to Mueller. Speaker Nancy Pelosi hosted the meeting, and four other committee chairs were in attendance. On Wednesday, Nadler told reporters that he was “confident” Mueller will appear before his panel,...