Free Republic

1. YOU HAVE THE POWER! Every once in a while I like to remind everyone of the power they hold to destroy the national news media and Hollywood. Simply put, there is a one-legged stool propping up both of these malevolent institutions, and it is called bundled cable and satellite television. And nothing is more damaging to either than you making the choice to cancel your television bundle. You see, ratings don't really matter much anymore. The television game has been so expertly rigged that eyeballs have almost nothing to do with revenue. CNN is an excellent example. Did you...

Calling the idea of reparations for slavery a “sham,” members of the Project 21 black leadership network say black Americans who take advantage of opportunities already available to all Americans can still achieve the American Dream. They also say an upcoming congressional hearing on reparations is a crass political move to shore up black support and will only hurt race relations. “Slavery ended more than 150 years ago. It doesn’t make sense to force people who didn’t own slaves to pay people who never were slaves. This reparations hearing is just another way to sow division and animosity among the...

The 2020 election is more than a year away, but Big Tech is already at work to silence conservative voices. Fox News contributor Sara Carter is among those being ‘shadow banned’ on Twitter. She’s also been hit hard on Facebook. “It’s incredible,” Carter said on The Todd Starnes Show. “I think the war has already begun as far as the company’s shadow-banning conservative websites or conservative thinkers.” Listen to the entire interview on the Todd Starnes Show Podcast. (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-todd-starnes-podcast/id1072469956) For those not yet aware, shadow banning is the act of blocking or partially blocking an individual or organization from being...

[Catholic Caucus] Poll: Cupich ‘Worst’ Bishop in the US Survey results include many disparaging comments CHICAGO (ChurchMilitant.com) - A recent survey ranks Cardinal Blase Cupich the worst bishop in the United States.  On Tuesday, Complicit Clergy published the results of a survey on the trustworthiness and orthodoxy of individual U.S. bishops. Participants were invited to rate their bishops with one ("Mostly Distrust") to five ("Completely Trust") stars for trustworthiness and one to five stars for orthodoxy (adherence to the teachings of the Catholic Church) with an option to comment. Cupich was ranked the worst bishop in the country and received 67...

A conservative nonprofit has filed a federal lawsuit accusing the Hillary Clinton campaign of violating election laws when it paid British citizen Christopher Steele to gather Kremlin-provided political dirt on candidate Donald Trump. Though not stated outright, the lawsuit argues that Democrats violated an admonition issued last week by Federal Election Commission Chairman Ellen L. Weintraub. She decreed that political campaigns cannot accept “anything of value” from foreign nationals. The lawsuit from The Coolidge Reagan Foundation says the Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee accepted something of a value from a foreign national, Mr. Steele, in the form of Kremlin...

Niger: Muslim mob torches Christian church, pastor’s car JUN 19, 2019 11:14 AM BY ROBERT SPENCER The persecution of Christians is ongoing, with increasing international indifference. Meanwhile, in Europe, Canada, and the U.S., earnest conferences about “Islamophobia” portray Muslims as being the victims of unique discrimination and harassment in the West, a false narrative that has been advanced with great effectiveness. “Muslim Mob Burns Christian Church,” by Jeff Katz, WRVA, June 18, 2019: A mob of Muslim activists ransacked and set fire to a Christian church in Niger this weekend to protest the arrest of an influential imam. On Saturday...

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A majority of Americans are concerned that a foreign government might interfere in some way in the 2020 presidential election, whether by tampering with election results, stealing information or by influencing candidates or voter opinion, a new poll shows. The poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds Democrats far more likely to express the highest level of concern, but Democrats and Republicans alike have at least some concerns about interference. Overall, half of Americans say they're extremely or very concerned about foreign interference in the form of altered election results or voting...

“‘Then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye’” (Matthew 7:5). Here is Jesus’ corrective to erroneous judgment: first of all we confess our own sin, which is often the sin of self-righteousness and of a condemning spirit toward others, and ask for God’s cleansing. When our sin is cleansed, when the log is removed from our eye, then we can see our brother’s sin clearly and be able to help him. We will also see everything more clearly—God, others, and ourselves. We will see God as the only Judge, others as needy sinners who...

The so-called "Bond King” Jeffrey Gundlach gave FOX Business a very bold prediction for the 2020 presidential race, suggesting there’s a possibility President Trump may not even run for re-election. “I am not even sure he’s going to really run,” Gundlach, the DoubleLine Capital co-founder and CEO, said during an exclusive interview with Neil Cavuto on Wednesday. Gundlach added the president’s second term will be determined by the success of the U.S. economy. “If the economy goes into recession and he can’t pullout by removing the tariffs, there’s very little for him to run on,” he said. Trump launched his...

Official: 50 Afghans Die Every Day Fighting Terrorism In-Depth Coverage By Ayaz Gul June 18, 2019 A top official in Afghanistan said Tuesday that at least 50 people die every day fighting terrorist forces in his country, underscoring the intensification in the 17-year-old Afghan conflict. The Afghan national security advisor, Hamdullah Mohib, while addressing an international security conference in Russia, called for coordinated joint action to tackle the menace of terrorism. Afghan security forces, together with American partners, have been battling Taliban insurgents and terrorists linked to Islamic State, which is trying to expand its influence in the turmoil-hit country....

Panel Says U.S. Military Recruitment Pool Must Broaden By: John Grady June 17, 2019 1:17 PM WASHINGTON, D.C. — Recruiting young men and women from military families has succeeded in attracting applicants, however doing so questions the services’ long-term ability to attract people from other backgrounds with new talents needed for the future, a panel of personnel experts said Friday. Focusing on military families for recruits worked into the 1960s when between 40 and 50 percent of the male population had served in the military, but since then that percentage has shrunk dramatically “down to 7 percent” now “who have...

Trump Withdraws Patrick Shanahan from Consideration for SECDEF Job By: Ben Werner June 18, 2019 1:23 PM • Updated: June 18, 2019 2:13 PM Acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Patrick M. Shanahan meets with Portuguese Minister of Defense João Titternigton Gomes Cravinho at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C. on June 14, 2019. DoD Photo This post has been updated with a statement from Patrick Shanahan said. Patrick Shanahan is stepping down as acting U.S. defense secretary and is no longer in contention to lead the Pentagon, according to a series of Tuesday tweets from President Trump. Instead, Secretary of the Army...

Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday ruled out censuring President Trump if the House doesn’t impeach him, downplaying a less drastic censure as ‘‘a day at the beach’’ for the president. Pelosi, a California Democrat, told reporters at a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor that censure would be ‘‘just a way out’’ of House Democrats’ efforts to see if Trump has committed impeachable offenses. ‘‘If you’re going to go, you ought to go. In other words, if the goods are there, you must impeach,’’ she said....

A second ex-aide to Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) has been charged in connection with the leaking of Republican senators’ personal information during Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings last year, according to Politico. Samantha Deforest Davis was charged Wednesday with evidence tampering and aiding and abetting computer fraud, according to the publication, and is expected to plead guilty to the two misdemeanors. Another former aide to Hassan, Jackson Cosko, is facing more than four years in prison after he pleaded guilty to felony charges involving copying sensitive data and publishing the home addresses and phone numbers of Sens. Lindsey...

WARNING: Graphic quotes throughout about the Central Park rape case. Last week, we reviewed the evidence of “innocence” of the "Central Park 5" presented in the court of Hollywood. This week, we’ll review the evidence of their guilt -- presented in courts of law and ruled on by actual judges and juries. The five accused rapists -- Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Raymond Santana, Yusef Salaam and Kharey Wise -- were duly convicted of the 1989 Central Park rape, as well as other assaults in the park that night; “exonerated” 13 years later; and, more than a decade after that, paid...

Spanish General Valeriano Weyler, according to the Progressive Broadcasting Service, is the first to set up concentration camps under the Spanish Reconcentration Policy. But Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez isn't Spanish! She's Puerto Rican! (I wish I didn't have to type this but you know its coming.) "As is the story of Puerto Rico, we are a people that are an amalgamation," she said. "We are no one thing. We are black; we are indigenous; we are Spanish; we are European.", she told the New York Times. That's right AOC. Your people invented these things. She is the last one that has any...

A former aide to Sen. Maggie Hassan and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee is headed to prison Wednesday for what prosecutors said was the largest known data theft in Senate history. The former aide, Jackson Cosko, pleaded guilty in April to crimes related to an unparalleled effort to ransack a Senate office, extorting a Democratic senator, illegally harming Republicans for their political views, and blackmailing a witness. Prosecutors asked for nearly five years in prison for Cosko, a onetime congressional IT aide to Hassan. Cosko admitted he stole the New Hampshire Democrat’s data out of revenge for being fired, then used...

Senate health committee leaders have introduced a bipartisan legislative package that protects patients from surprise medical bills by banning out-of-network deductibles in emergencies, establishing a benchmark for health plan-provider payment disputes and ending unexpected air ambulance expenses. The Lower Health Care Costs Act — formally introduced June 19 by Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and ranking member Patty Murray, D-Wash. — requires that patients only receive emergency healthcare charges that are counted toward their in-network deductible, according to the legislation. Under the act, insurance companies would reimburse providers based on the local median contracted commercial amount they pay...

A former Senate staffer was sentenced to four years in prison for stealing information from five Senate offices and posting personal details on Wikipedia. Jackson A. Cosko, 27, of Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty in April to charges of computer fraud, witness tampering, obstruction of justice and sharing restricted private information. In addition to his sentence, Cosko had to forfeit computers, cellphones, and other equipment used in the crimes, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia said Wednesday. According to officials, the U.S. Capitol Police began an investigation in September 2018 after Wikipedia pages of three U.S. senators were...

HOLLYWOOD, January 11, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – It doesn’t seem possible, but there’s an actor in Hollywood who won’t kiss his co-stars, let alone participate in steamy scenes. And, his principled stance has made trouble come his way. Neal McDonough, 52, has worked on-screen since his television debut in 1991. He’s appeared in such television shows as Quantum Leap, NYPD Blue, Band of Brothers, and Desperate Housewives, and in such films as Minority Report and Captain America: The First Avenger. McDonough has also done voice work in cartoon films: he played Bruce Banner in The Incredible Hulk, for example. But McDonough...