Free Republic

New York City mayor Bill de Blasio's 2020 presidential campaign, if it could be called that, came to an end Friday. "I feel like I've contributed all I can to this primary election and it's clearly not my time," he told MSNBC's Morning Joe. "So I'm going to end my presidential campaign, continue my work as mayor of New York City, and I'm going to keep speaking up for working people and for a Democrat party that stands for working people." The far-left mayor's candidacy began and ended with a thud. When he announced his White House run in May,...

THE GREAT WHITE NORTH—A new development may provide some context in the controversy over recently surfaced photos showing Canada’s prime minister in brown skin, according to sources close to Justin Trudeau. While the progressive prime minister “deeply regrets” many of the choices he made during the time those photos were taken, some new details may help critics come to an understanding. According to childhood friend “Smokey,” Trudeau used to be known as “Corn Pop,” and was a “bad dude” who ran around with “a bunch of bad boys.” One day, Corn Pop and Smokey were hanging at the community pool/hockey...

TiVo isn't wasting much time implementing pre-roll ads before recorded shows. The company told Light Reading in a follow-up statement that these promos will reach "all eligible" retail DVRs within 90 days. This marketing will be a "permanent part of the service," a spokesperson said. TiVo reiterated that you'll have the ability to skip these ads, although an early tester said he had to fast forward to get to the show.

The bishop’s 2,100-word teaching document, titled “The Real Presence,” was released Sept. 16, six weeks after the publication of a Pew Research Center study showing that a majority of Catholics in the United States do not believe that the bread and wine used at Mass become the body and blood of Christ.

President Donald Trump may become the first Republican to win Minnesota since Richard Nixon took the state in 1972. The typically left-leaning state almost chose Trump over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race. Trump only lost the state by about 44,000 votes — and leftists are starting to sweat with 2020 right around the corner. Trump’s support is growing so much in the state that even CNN has taken notice. The left-leaning network ran a piece this week diving into just how and why the state is “turning to Trump.” “Many voters we talked to here say they align...

South Bend, Ind., mayor and Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg compared the fight against climate change to such pivotal moments in American history as the American Revolution and the civil rights movement. "I actually think this is one of those moments that, like many moments in American history, really pivotal ones like maybe the American Revolution itself, the struggle for civil rights, it may be that of all the things we are doing right now, the thing we are going to be remembered for will boil down to where we were on this issue," Buttigieg said during MSNBC's climate forum...

MACKINAC ISLAND, MI -- Vice President Mike Pence said there’s no doubt President Donald Trump earned the vote of Michiganders for a second time. Pence visited Mackinac Island Saturday for the biennial Michigan Republican Party leadership conference at the Grand Hotel, becoming the first sitting vice president to attend the event. Pence stumped for Trump’s reelection campaign, saying the president kept his promises to Michigan voters and it’s up to Republicans to spread that message in 2020. “It’s been two and half years of promises made and promises kept, but we are just getting started and that’s why we need...

President Donald Trump challenged the establishment media on Saturday about the importance of former Vice President Joe Biden’s Ukraine scandal story. Trump shared a campaign video on Twitter, highlighting the story in which Biden threatened to pull aid from Ukraine if it did not fire a prosecutor who was currently investigating an energy company where his son, Hunter Biden, was serving on the board. “The real and only story!” he wrote.

Democrats are having a wonkish but important debate right now as they pick their next standard-bearer: Should they try to persuade voters who supported President Barack Obama for two terms and then left them in 2016? Or should they mobilize the tens of millions of Americans who stayed home in 2016 and would seem to have a natural home in the Democratic Party in 2020, including people of color and single women? The debate tends to track along ideological lines. Progressives pushing socialized medical insurance are ready to forgo any attempt to win back Trump voters. Doing so allows them...

Property records obtained through the Lorain County Auditor’s office reveal that the Gibson family, who recently won a $25 million judgement in the lawsuit they filed against Oberlin College and Vice President and Dean of Students Meredith Raimondo, own property within Oberlin city limits worth approximately $1.7 million, a sum figure not previously discussed in the media. The value assessments are calculated by the auditor’s office using tax information and in-person assessments. The figure does not include properties owned outside of Oberlin or controlled through Off Street Parking, Inc. — a corporation in which David Gibson owns a majority stake....

Almost two years ago, in 2017, I wrote you pleading for Oberlin College to seek an out-of-court settlement with the Gibson family (“Gibson’s Links Black People to Anti-Semitism,” The Oberlin Review, Dec. 1, 2017). But nothing seemed to take place until it was announced in April that efforts had failed and that the case was going to trial this past May. It did, and the jury ruled in favor of the Gibson family. Last week, I wrote again hoping that Oberlin College would appeal the local jury’s decision to award millions of dollars to the Gibson family (“College Should Respect...

I examine Surah XXV of the Koran, and explore the differences between Muslim and Christian eschatology and soteriology.

KIEV (Reuters) – Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko on Saturday denied suggestions U.S. President Donald Trump had put pressure on Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy during a phone call in July. In an interview with media outlet Hromadske, Prystaiko said Ukraine was an independent state and would not take sides in U.S. politics even if “in theory” the country was in a position to do so. He added that Kiev appreciated the assistance it received from Washington. On Friday reports by U.S. media outlets said Trump repeatedly pressured Ukraine’s president to investigate Joe Biden, one of Trump’s chief political rivals, in...

In a bid to outflank his Democratic presidential rivals, entrepreneur Andrew Yang vowed to “severely curtail the consumption of meat” and “do away with privately owned and operated automobiles.” Yang contrasted “my honesty with the deceptive presentations of the other Democrats running for president. Their implication that all it will take to battle climate doom is to tax the rich and tout this as the height of virtue won’t cut it. There isn’t enough money in the hands of rich people to pay for the kind of gut-wrenching changes in behavior that are required. Ninety-nine percent of the population is...

The media has spent the last three days in a frenzy over what they hope will become the next Trump administration scandal. And Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani has found himself right at the center of it after his unfortunate interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo. The Hill’s John Solomon, a long-time investigative reporter with extensive connections inside the intelligence community, has revealed new information about Rudy Giuliani’s engagement with Ukrainian officials. His sources have also provided a timeline of all communication between them. Contrary to what the media is reporting, Giuliani did not initiate contact with Ukrainian officials. Instead, Solomon reports...

[Catholic Caucus] Francis Packs the Court Pope appointing key leftist allies to College of Cardinals Pope Francis is packing the court ahead of the next papal conclave. In a surprise move, Francis announced last week that 13 clerics will be added to the College of Cardinals next month — among them, several of the pontiff's key leftist allies. Gung-ho globalist Abp. Jean-Claude Höllerich has blasted the rise of populism in Europe, calling it a catalyst for "totalitarianisms" that will "eventually devour Christianity." Pro-migration activist Fr. Michael Czerny has slammed conservatives for backing border security, accusing them of "xenophobia and isolationism."...

President Trump on Saturday defended his reported push for Ukraine's president to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, maintaining his discussion with Ukraine's leader earlier this summer was "perfectly fine and routine." In a pair of tweets Saturday morning, Trump argued that the news media was avoiding coverage of Biden's past ties to Ukraine and continued to highlight the former vice president's efforts to convince the country to fire a top prosecutor in 2016. "The Fake News Media and their partner, the Democrat Party, want to stay as far away as possible from the Joe Biden demand that the Ukrainian...

Police working in the notorious no-go Stockholm suburb of Rinkeby have decried the situation in the area, claiming criminals laugh at Swedish laws. Hanif Azizi, a member of the regional police in Rinkeby, expressed his frustration with the situation in the suburb, which has become notorious for its riots and high levels of crime, Swedish broadcaster SVT reports. He told the broadcaster: “If you have worked for a long time to prosecute people and see that there are no consequences, that the criminals even laugh at us. It is frustrating.” ——— Policing the area, which also has a high population...

President Trump on Twitter: "The Fake News Media and their partner, the Democrat Party, want to stay as far away as possible from the Joe Biden demand that the Ukrainian Government fire a prosecutor who was investigating his son, or they won’t get a very large amount of U.S. money, so they fabricate a..... "....story about me and a perfectly fine and routine conversation I had with the new President of the Ukraine. Nothing was said that was in any way wrong, but Biden’s demand, on the other hand, was a complete and total disaster. The Fake News knows this...

A manager for a prominent private security firm that provides bodyguards to Silicon Valley executives received a concealed-gun permit from the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office months after he made a $45,000 contribution to an independent committee supporting Sheriff Laurie Smith’s 2018 re-election, newly disclosed records show. The campaign contribution is one focus of an investigation by the Santa Clara County district attorney’s office into whether the sheriff gave out the coveted gun permits in exchange for campaign support, sources familiar with the probe have told The Chronicle. Prosecutors have served at least three search warrants in the investigation, raiding...