Free Republic

The Trump administration has told airline executives it is considering suspending all flights from China to the United States amid the escalating coronavirus outbreak. On Tuesday, White House officials called major airline executives to inform them that the administration is considering a temporary ban on all China-U.S. flights. Companies such as United Airlines have canceled dozens of flights next month to mainland China, while others, such as Delta and American Airlines, are waiving cancellation fees for travelers to China. CNBC reports the temporary travel ban from China was discussed at a White House senior staff meeting on Monday.

The Church of England has become a “laughing stock”, senior religious figures have warned Bishops, after they issued a decree that people in civil partnerships should not have intercourse. Following a landmark legal battle in 2018, the Supreme Court ruled that civil partnerships could be made available to heterosexual couples. However last week the House of Bishops issued pastoral guidance to clergy on how to deal with sex outside of marriage. It concluded that sex belongs only within heterosexual marriage, and that Christians who are in either gay or straight civil partnerships should conduct “sexually abstinent friendships” The guidance sparked...

I am away in The People's Republic of California until this weekend. Quotefall Puzzles will resume then.

Sandmann said he was 'proud of the way [Trump] stood for the pro-life movement' and that he 'thought it was one of his best speeches in the history of his presidency.'WASHINGTON, D.C., January 27, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – President Donald Trump thanked Nicholas Sandmann this weekend for the positive review the pro-life teen gave his speech at the 47th annual March for Life. Trump became the first president to address the national pro-life event in person Friday, thanking the crowd for providing a “voice for the voiceless” and assuring them “unborn children have never had a stronger defender in the White...

LA CROSSE, Wisconsin- For nearly a century and a half, the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration have said prayers every hour of every day in their chapel in La Crosse. But next month that practice will be coming to an end. The sisters have announced that after a dozen years of study and reflection, they will begin to cut back their prayer ritual, which began in 1878, to 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. daily. In 1997, prayer partners were invited to take the daytime hours while sisters living at St. Rose Convent continued the night hours. As demographics continued changing...

"You ought to go vote for someone else because you're not going to vote for me in the primary," Biden responded. "I'm going to vote you in the general if you treat me right," Fallon said. Biden told him he was looking for primary supporters, not general election supporters.

The Constitution gives the power of impeachment solely to the House of Representatives. It means that only the House can do the discovery phase of gathering evidence and then putting together Articles of Impeachment to then present to the Senate for the Senate to judge. The Senate can ONLY judge that which the House has constructed and presented. Any witnesses can ONLY be from the witnesses who are included in the Articles presented by the House.Asking the Senate to help the discovery phase by introducing new evidence at an impeachment trial is the same thing as asking a judge or...

A new documentary about the life of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas highlights the latent racism in the Senate confirmation hearings led by then-Senator Joe Biden (D-Del.). In the film, set for release on Friday, Thomas recounts the horrifying accusations leveled by Anita Hill and Biden's twisting of Natural Law in an attempt to trip him up on abortion. In the documentary, provided in an early screening to PJ Media, Thomas exposes the racism of political expectations. "You have to believe in affirmative action because we think you ought to believe in affirmative action. How is that different from slavery?...

You’ve probably been asked to do a performance review at some point in your career. It was probably anxiety-inducing, and it probably didn’t accomplish much. Worse: it was probably mandatory. Career experts have long advised managers to do away with these kinds of evaluations, backed by heaps of studies deeming the practice outdated, costly, and largely ineffective. Last month, researchers at Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania found another reason to give them the boot. Turns out, they’re also sexist.

Supposedly Bolton’s book says that Trump tied Ukraine aid to an investigation of Biden. If so, then I don’t see how that could be anything other than a violation of the President’s confidence and ergo the Executive Privilege. If that’s what it says then I think Bolton’s career is done. No President is going to hire him if he has no respect for the Executive Privilege. I suspect that when we finally find out what he said, it will be a great deal more nuanced than what the NYT reports.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — In what they acknowledged is a long-shot bid, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice and Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. urged unhappy Virginia counties Tuesday to secede and join a neighboring state where Democrats aren't in charge. Both Justice, a Republican in a state where the GOP dominates the legislature, and Falwell, whose university is in Lynchburg, Virginia, said the invitation to join West Virginia sends a valid message. “If you're not truly happy where you are, we stand with open arms to take you from Virginia or anywhere where you may be," said Justice, who's...

The Old Dominion is trending in an ominous direction, and it’s a problem for the whole country. On Monday, the Virginia General Assembly ratified the Equal Rights Amendment. Advocates of the ERA have argued that Virginia is the 38th and final state needed to add it to the Constitution, though the legal argument for that is dubious. Nevertheless, if the ERA were to become law, it would almost certainly provide the legal basis to enshrine left-wing social dogmas nationwide, among other negative consequences. Other states should take note: No matter how conservative your state has been in the past, you’re...

Excellent aerial video in the daytime of the line to get into the convention center.

The University of Missouri is expanding its Big Brother-like phone-tracking program Tuesday: Now, all new students on campus will be “required” to use an app that surveils their movements, the Kansas City Star reports. The app, called SpotterEDU, was developed by former Mizzou basketball coach Rick Carter and uses the campus’ Wi-Fi networks and short-range phone sensors to ensure students don’t cut class. Previously, the app was only required for freshman athletes and jocks who were struggling academically.

There was an unintended moment of levity during a break at the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump on Tuesday. Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal, one of the designated "spin doctors" sent to the microphones to clean up any damage to the Democrats' message caused by President Trump's impeachment attorneys, dropped an unintentional truth bomb during a media interview. C-SPAN broke away from the proceedings in time to hear Blumenthal say this about the Trump defense lawyers: It was a fact-free summation of a case bereft of evidence – we need the evidence. We need the witnesses and documents... They may...

In the month since New York enacted a sweeping series of changes to its bail laws that have set thousands of defendants free pending their trials, many law enforcement officials have urged lawmakers to reconsider the law. The roster of prominent critics includes Dermot Shea, the New York City police commissioner, as well as Richard P. Donoghue, the top federal law enforcement official in Brooklyn. Opponents have seized on defendants recently released under the new bail laws who were rearrested on suspicion of committing new crimes, including several anti-Semitic incidents. The most prominent of those instances involved Tiffany Harris, a...

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A bill that would require doctors and other health workers to provide life-sustaining care for an infant born alive after a failed abortion attempt was approved by the Kentucky Senate on Monday. The measure sailed through the Senate on a 32-0 vote and heads to the House next. It's the latest in a series of abortion-related bills to surface in the Republican-dominated legislature in recent years. The bill would require health-care workers to give “medically appropriate and reasonable life-saving and life-sustaining medical care and treatment” to protect the lives of newborns, including any infant born after...

...Ted Cruz GOES AFTER reporter after OUTRAGEOUS question

Senator Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) on Tuesday said he doesn’t have the votes to block a resolution to allow witnesses in the Senate impeachment trial, according to multiple reports. McConnell made the admission in talks with Senate Republicans after President Trump’s defense team concluded its arguments.

A Long Island judge intentionally ignored the state’s controversial bail-reform law and refused to release a “menace to society” accused of robbing two banks while awaiting sentencing in federal court, The Post has learned. But the principled stand taken by Nassau County District Court Judge David McAndrews was short-lived, as a higher-level judge promptly reversed his order and released Romell Nellis with an ankle monitor — only to have him cut it off and disappear. Nellis, 40, was busted Jan. 8 in a pair of bank heists in which he allegedly gave tellers notes that threatened, “I have a gun!”...