Free Republic

Senate officials say a Pennsylvania state lawmaker who is facing child pornography possession charges has resigned. Sen. Mike Folmer's apparent resignation Wednesday came hours after he was arrested by the state attorney general's office. Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati and Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman said in statement that they received Folmer's resignation letter after they spoke with him to insist on it. The state attorney general's office charged Folmer late Tuesday with possession of child pornography and criminal use of a communication facility, both felonies. Investigators allegedly found two images of child pornography on Folmer's cell phone after...

If I can produce someone who saw John Roberts’ penis in college, can we get the Obamacare opinion overturned? As all MSNBC viewers are well aware, last Sunday’s edition of The New York Times ran an excerpt of the book “The Education of Brett Kavanaugh: An Investigation,” by Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly, which revives Debbie Ramirez's accusations against the Supreme Court nominee. Quick reminder: This is NOT the Kavanaugh accuser with two front doors. It is NOT the Kavanaugh accuser whose own father warned that she had psychological problems. This is the one who didn’t remember what Kavanaugh did...

[Catholic Caucus] Viganò Vindicated by Vatican Indictment Request Holy See seeking charges in case spotlighted by whistleblower archbishop VATICAN CITY (ChurchMilitant.com) - A pending prosecution at the Vatican is vindicating Abp. Carlo Maria Viganò.  On Tuesday, the Holy See announced that the Vatican City State prosecutor is seeking to indict two Italian priests on charges relating to sexual abuse. Father Gabriele Martinelli is accused of assaulting minors at St. Piux X Pre-Seminary — inside Vatican walls — where young men are trained as altar servers for the Pope. Former seminary rector Fr. Enrico Radice is accused of "aiding and abetting" the abuse. WATCH...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — University of California President Janet Napolitano, who oversaw historic expansions of the 10-campus system and championed immigrant students but whose management structure faced criticism and embarrassing scrutiny, said Wednesday she will step down in August 2020. Napolitano, a former homeland security secretary and Democratic governor of Arizona, made the announcement at a meeting of the university system's Board of Regents in Los Angeles. "My time at UC has been deeply gratifying and rewarding. I have been honored and inspired every day to serve this institution alongside incredibly dedicated, passionate people," Napolitano said in a statement. "The...

A boy who has autism has become an overnight internet sensation, after his family shared a clip of him singing on social media. Justin Kiely from Dublin, Ireland, who was diagnosed with autism when he was three-years-old, had been hiding his vocal abilities from his parents until recently. The nine-year-old had a history of becoming hysterical whenever he heard loud noises, meaning his parents avoided bringing him to any birthday parties, crowds and large gatherings. His sensitivity to sound due to his autism made his parents apprehensive to expose him to loud music, or any noise that could trigger him....

State health officials have advised residents in eight counties to avoid being outdoors during evening hours after three people died of a mosquito-borne disease in Michigan amid what officials are calling the “worst outbreak” in more than a decade. How that advice might affect events planned in those communities is less clear, with local school districts and other institutions still discussing whether they will take advice to cancel or postpone evening outdoor activities. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, in a news release sent Tuesday, Sept. 17, warned the public to avoid outdoor activities at dusk and encouraged...

Federal Aviation Administrator Steve Dickson says he won’t allow the Boeing 737 Max jets return to the skies for service until he personally flies the plane himself. “I’m the final sign-off authority in the U.S., and I’m not going to sign off on the aircraft until I would fly it myself,” Dickson told NBC News during an interview in Las Vegas. NBC Correspondent Tom Costello pressed Dickson, a former pilot who is licensed to fly the 737, if he will actually pilot the plane on a short flight before officially approving the Max for commercial operation. “I will fly the...

I like to tell them how I like to fly and eat meat without remorse or guilt: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/specials/climate-confessions-share-solutions-climate-change-n1054791

On Wednesday Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) addressed Robert “Beto” O’Rourke’s confiscatory push on AR-15s and made clear, “[He’s] not taking my guns away from me.” Manchin then asked for someone to deliver that message to O’Rourke. Breitbart News reported that O’Rourke used the September 12, Democrat debate to tell AR-15 owners, “Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15.” Breitbart News reported that O’Rourke’s declaration was a game-changer which showed the Democrats’ intention to seize guns.

An editorial in the official Iranian Fars News today tacitly admits the goal of the Saudi attack this past weekend was to bring down Donald Trump’s 2020 Presidency. The title of the piece: The Iranian who Overthrew Carter Also Overthrows Trump Here is a translated version of the editorial from Fars News: Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, immediately accused Iran of seizing an attack on Saudi Arabia’s largest oil field, claiming that there was no evidence that the drones were fired from Yemen, Iranian soil had been fired. However, he did not provide any evidence for his allegations,...

Mike Patey and his wife Chandra are uninjured after Draco, the incredible turboprop STOL plane Mike Patey made, ground looped and was destroyed. Patey was taking off in very gusty conditions at Reno Stead, with winds registering to greater than 40 knots with a big crosswind component. The plane ground-looped as it was taking off, going off the side of the runway and spinning around, catching a wing and raising a cloud of dust. Patey in another video blamed the crash on his own mistake in attempting the takeoff in the conditions. Our hearts go out to Mike and his...

Twice failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton sympathized with failed 2018 Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams this week, claiming she too had her respective election stolen.But in Clinton's case - ignore the electoral votes.In Abrams' case, ignore the popular votes. Speaking at the Defense of Democracy Conference at Georgetown University on Tuesday explained why she lost.

The team used the Osiris instrument at the 10.4m Gran Telescopio Canarias in La Palma, Spain, to obtain visible spectra - measurements of sunlight reflected by Borisov. By studying these spectra, scientists can draw conclusions about its chemical composition, including how it might differ from comets that were "born" around the Sun. "The spectrum is the red side of the comet's total spectrum, so the only thing we can see in the spectrum is the slope," said Miquel Serra Ricart, from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) in Tenerife. In coming days, the team will obtain measurements of the...

The owners of a well-known butcher’s shop are refusing to kowtow to “political correctness” and are fighting the many complaints that allege “their sign’s wording and images amounted to a depiction that was inciting hatred or contempt of people based on their religious practices as Muslims.” Well, Americans are supporting the Aussie butcher’s right to post his sign. The Valley Butchers in Adelaide, South Australia (Photo Credit: Valley Butcher/Facebook) ================================================================= A butcher shop in Australia has refused to change signage that declares its products are “not halal-certified,” in defiance of advertising authorities alleging it was “inciting hatred” towards Islamic people...

My Firefox froze up and won't shut down on my computer. This has been going on for the past hour and a half.

Between 2011 and 2018, WHO tracked 1,483 epidemics worldwide, including Ebola and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), the report said. These epidemics and pandemics devastated many of their host countries -- the West Africa Ebola outbreak resulted in a loss of $53 billion in economic and social cost. These huge economic costs translate to severe real-life consequences -- lost jobs, forced displacement, inaccessible healthcare, and greater mortality. While disease, epidemics, and pandemics have always existed, greater population density and the ability to travel anywhere in the world within 36 hours means disease can spread rapidly through a country and then...

Prescribing metformin and vildagliptin to people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes reduced their long-term blood sugar levels more than single-drug therapy in a recent study. Sept. 18 (UPI) -- When it comes to controlling early symptoms of type 2 diabetes, two drugs are better than one, a new study says. Prescribing metformin and vildagliptin to people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes reduced their long-term blood sugar levels more than single-drug therapy, according to findings published Wednesday in The Lancet. The patients also had lower rates of treatment failure than those who only used Metformin, the current first-line drug...

LAREDO, Texas -- The white tents that sit here on the very edge of the U.S border, with Mexico a literal stone’s throw away, represent one of the jewels in the crown of the Trump administration’s recent efforts to get a grip on the immigration crisis. They are the temporary courtrooms set up as part of the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) -- known colloquially as the “Remain in Mexico” policy. That policy, established earlier this year, involves sending migrants who are trying to claim asylum back to Mexico during their proceedings -- instead of releasing them into the U.S. while...

AN FRANCISCO — A California appeals court has ruled that a transgender man can sue a Catholic hospital for cancelling his hysterectomy. The Sacramento Bee reports Wednesday that the decision by the 1st District Court of Appeal overturns a lower court ruling dismissing the discrimination lawsuit. Evan Minton sued Mercy San Juan Medical Center when it canceled his scheduled hysterectomy after he mentioned to a pre-op nurse two days before surgery that he is transgender.

Republican lawmakers had a rare opportunity to publicly question Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz Wednesday at a House Oversight Subcommittee on Government Operations hearing. The panel – focused mainly on the inspector generals – diverted during the hearing to questions regarding Horowitz’s recently completed report on alleged FISA abuse by the FBI and his recently released scathing report on former FBI Director James Comey. Further, Horowitz told the panel he has communicated with Connecticut Attorney John Durham, who was appointed by Attorney General William Barr to investigate the FBI’s handling of the probe into President Trump’s campaign. Under questioning...