Free Republic

Priests and religious leaders face up to three years jail in Victoria if they don't report child physical and sexual abuse allegations, including misconduct disclosed during confession. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews declared no one was above the law after new legislation passed the state parliament on Tuesday night after getting the green light from the Legislative Assembly. “There’s been some controversy in recent weeks and months about churches, particularly the Catholic Church, we believe this is exactly what needed to happen,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “The seal of the confessional, no one, no politician, no priest … has any...

Full Title: Canada: Man who helped intelligence service track Islamic State supporters is being deported, they Priorities, priorities. Trudeau plans to “reintegrate” Islamic State jihadis into Canada. So to allow a foe of the Islamic State to remain in the country, well! That would just be “Islamophobic.” “Halifax man says he helped CSIS track ISIS supporters in Canada. Now he’s being deported,” by Alexander Quon and Stewart Bell, Global News, September 6, 2019: Canada’s intelligence service used fake Twitter accounts to monitor ISIS supporters in Canada and abroad, a man who says he was an undercover operative has told Global...

California lawmakers approved a statewide rent cap on Wednesday covering millions of tenants, the biggest step yet in a surge of initiatives to address an affordable-housing crunch nationwide. The bill limits annual rent increases to 5 percent after inflation and offers new barriers to eviction, providing a bit of housing security in a state with the nation’s highest housing prices and a swelling homeless population. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who has made tenant protection a priority in his first year in office, led negotiations to strengthen the legislation. He has said he would sign the bill, approved as part...

President Trump will delay an upcoming increase in tariffs on $250billion worth of goods from China as a 'gesture of good will'. Trump tweeted Wednesday that he would push back tariffs set to go into effect on October 1, by two weeks to October 15. He said he is doing so at the request of Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He because the People's Republic of China will be celebrating its 70th anniversary on October 1. 'At the request of the Vice Premier of China, Liu He, and due to the fact that the People's Republic of China will be celebrating their...

HOUSTON (KTRK/CNN) - Houston police are searching for a group of people who demanded Popeyes chicken sandwiches at gunpoint Monday night. Authorities say two women and three men stormed the front door of the restaurant with at least one weapon. They had just been told at the drive-through window that the store was sold out of the popular sandwiches. An employee was able to lock the doors before the five could get inside. The group left a baby inside their vehicle as they tried to enter the restaurant. There were no injuries reported. Police are trying to develop descriptions of...

~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~ ~ Remembering 9.11.2001 ~ ~ We Will Never Forget!! ~ Canteen Mission Statement Showing support and boosting the morale ofour military and our allies' militaryand family members of the above.Honoring those who have served before. John Phillip Sousa ~ Star Spangled Banner John Wayne ~ America, Why I Love Her John Phillip Sousa ~ Stars & Stripes Forever Toby Keith ~ Courtesy of The Red, White, & Blue (Angry American) Bobby Bare ~ God Bless America Again Charlie Daniels ~ My Beautiful America John Phillip Sousa ~ Armed Forces Salute John Wayne ~...

The family of a Georgia Tech student shot and killed by a campus police officer two years ago this month filed a wrongful death lawsuit Wednesday against the school, the officer and the state’s Board of Regents. *** Schultz had previously sought mental health counseling from Georgia Tech and with professionals off campus. The lawsuit also says Georgia Tech and the University System of Georgia failed to properly accommodate students having a mental health crisis. *** The lawsuit says Schultz’s death was “the result of Georgia Tech’s and the State of Georgia’s failure over time to properly train their personnel...

A former analyst for the FBI admitted Tuesday to copying the private emails of a conservative conspiracy theorist and sharing them with his superiors while his wife offered them to the press. Mark Tolson, 60, pleaded guilty in federal court in Alexandria, Va., to one misdemeanor count of accessing without authorization the email account of lobbyist Jack Burkman. Burkman is identified in the court documents by the initials “J.B.” Tolson’s wife, Sarah Gilbert Fox, worked for Burkman from October 2017 to early summer 2018 and had access to his email, according to a statement of facts. Tolson learned in October...

A comet first spotted by a Ukrainian amateur astronomer looks to be just the second known object to visit our cosmic neighborhood from beyond the solar system. What could be an even bigger deal is that this one was discovered as it's still approaching us. The comet was found by Gennady Borisov of Crimea on Aug. 30, and went by the temporary name GB00234 until very recently. After being watched by several other observatories over the past few weeks, it was given the official name of C/2019 Q4 (Borisov) by the Minor Planet Center on Wednesday. It appeared to follow...

The Supreme Court issued an unsigned order on Wednesday evening that effectively closes the United States’ southern border to nearly all Central American asylum seekers. The decision stays a lower court decision blocking a Trump administration policy that seeks to halt nearly all asylum applications from these migrants and allow the US government to require them to seek asylum in countries they travel through. The government will now be allowed to enforce the policy while legal challenges move ahead. The administration’s rule, issued on July 16, says that almost any foreign national who arrives at the southern border may not...

While most reconfigurable materials can toggle between two distinct states, the way a switch toggles on or off, the new material's shape can be finely tuned, adjusting its physical properties as desired. The material, which has potential applications in next-generation energy storage and bio-implantable micro-devices, was developed by a joint Caltech-Georgia Tech-ETH Zurich team in the lab of Julia R. Greer. Most materials that are designed to change shape require a persistent external stimulus to change from one shape to another and stay that way: for example, they may be one shape when wet and a different shape when dry—like...

As the Cleveland Browns took on — and lost 43-13 to — the Tennessee Titans at FirstEnergy Stadium, for instance, fans took to social media to express their shock at the number of empty seats: At EverBank Field, the Jacksonville Jaguars also found a horde of empty seats when the lost big to the Kansas City Chiefs 40-26: At Charlotte, North Carolina’s, Bank of America Stadium, as the Carolina Panthers geared up to lose a squeaker to the Los Angeles Rams 30-27, fans took to Twitter to remark on the empty seats:

Hong Kong activists announced on Wednesday that protests would be suspended to observe the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the United States. China’s state-run media accused the protesters of planning 9/11-style terrorist attacks themselves, complete with photos of the planes hitting the World Trade Center in 2001. “In solidarity against terrorism, all forms of protest in Hong Kong will be suspended on Sept. 11, apart from potential singing and chanting,” protest organizers said in a statement.The statement went on to denounce Beijing’s state-run China Daily for a Facebook post warning that “anti-government fanatics are planning massive terror attacks,...

Boris Johnson’s suspension of the UK Parliament is unlawful, Scotland’s highest civil court has ruled. A panel of three judges at the Court of Session found in favour of a cross-party group of politicians who were challenging the prime minister's move.

I visited the NY Historical Society today for the first (and probably last) time. When I paid to get in, I told the lady who took my money that I was embarrassed to say the I had never been there before and I asked some basic questions about the museum. I mostly knew that the museum housed the Thomas Cole Course of Empire paintings which was why I went there but I did expect a reasonable historical collection (deeds, letters, etc.*). But my first stop in one of these museums is usually their book store. Brace yourself! Here is part...

New Zealand firefighters performed a powerful haka in Auckland on Wednesday to honor the 9/11 first responders. The group were filmed in their service uniforms in two rows as they performed the Maori tradition. A crowd of dignitaries and other firefighters dressed in their operational gear and were seen watching on. Hakas are generally performed as a sign of great respect and are often presented at funerals, celebrations or sporting events. Over 200 firefighters climbed Auckland's Sky Tower as a tribute to those who died in the attacks on the World Trade Centre. Three chiefs from the New York Fire...

n a major win for the Trump administration, the Supreme Court issued an order late Wednesday ending all injunctions that had blocked the White House's ban on asylum for anyone trying to enter the U.S. by traveling through a third country, such as Mexico, without seeking protection there. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals – long a liberal bastion that has been aggressively reshaped into a more moderate court by the Trump administration – handed the White House a partial victory in the case on Monday by ending the nationwide injunction. But the 9th Circuit kept the injunction alive within...

Lockheed Martin has received State Department approval to sell 32 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters to the Polish military in an estimated $6.5 billion order, the Pentagon announced Wednesday. The pending sale is part of an expanded military partnership between the United States and Poland, a NATO ally that hosts a substantial U.S. troop presence designed to deter Russia. The deal should allow the U.S.-made fighter jets to gradually replace Poland’s fleet of Mikoyan MiG-29 and Sukhoi Su-22 jets, both Russian-made. It should help Lockheed compensate for a recent U.S. decision to cancel planned deliveries of 100 F-35 jets to Turkey....

DNC coordinated with activists to 'infiltrate' talk radio The Democratic party developed an elaborate, multi-year operation in the 1990s that deployed thousands of activists to covertly mold public opinion using talk radio, according to documents from the Clinton Presidential Library. The Democratic National Committee (DNC), with the blessing of the Clinton White House, launched the Talk Radio Initiative (TRI) ahead of the 1996 campaign. The program trained thousands of operatives to call in to radio shows, conduct surveillance of their contents, and secretly disseminate Democratic talking points while posing as ordinary listeners. "Volunteers must be able to keep the project...

In a case of wanting justice, a man wiped out his son's inheritance for his quest to win a legal battle. For a $100 speeding ticket, Richard Keedwell spent $30,000. Yes, that amount for a speeding ticket case that could've been solved by paying it. His battle for justice started at what he claims is a speed camera's disfunction, causing it to clock him traveling 35mph in a 30mph zone in Worcester. This took place three years ago and that is how long the court case went on. Instead of paying the speeding ticket, he instead challenged the fine and...