Free Republic

Sen. Chris Murphy confirmed The Federalist’s reporting that he privately met with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif without State Department knowledge or approval in Munich last week. After Mollie Hemingway first reported the meeting Monday, Murphy did not respond to any media inquiries. Tuesday, he published an account of his trip on Medium, sharing details of his meetings and describing his “mission” to meet with officials of Iran, which he described as “our adversary, responsible for the killing of thousands of Americans.” Murphy also described his “goals” for meeting with Zarif, but admitted that he “cannot conduct diplomacy on behalf...

President Trump accused former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg of trying to buy the presidency and claimed the billionaire was guilty of illegal campaign spending. "What Mini Mike is doing is nothing less than a large scale illegal campaign contribution," Trump tweeted Tuesday. "He is 'spreading' money all over the place, only to have recipients of his cash payments, many former opponents, happily joining or supporting his campaign. Isn’t that called a payoff?" "Mini is illegally buying the Democrat Nomination. They are taking it away from Bernie again. Mini Mike, Major Party Nominations are not for sale! Good luck...

Hospital and health care workers are launching union drives and protests across the country to demand higher wages and improved working conditions. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) chapter covering Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Kansas told The Guardian that it is putting together a campaign to organize workers advocating to extend a $15 minimum wage beyond Chicago. The group said there are roughly 50,000 low-wage hospital workers in the Chicago metropolitan area, with about 10,000 of those workers represented by the union. “We’re trying to make sure every hospital worker across the city has a voice when it comes to...

To date, almost 750,000 people have watched a TikTok video showing a Trump supporter's house festooned with Trump signs and paraphernalia while explaining how that exuberant show came to be. The video's narrator, Harper Lee (@harper334036), pans over the property as she explains what happened, picking up her narrative in midsentence:

The ex-con accused of slitting a French tourist’s throat in a random attack in Harlem is a neighborhood “neck slasher” who’s ducked justice at least twice — infuriating one of his alleged victims, The Post has learned. Khalief Young — who is charged in Friday’s horrific attack on Gabriel Bascou — was busted in June for a Harlem deli slashing, and in October for allegedly pummeling a woman inside his apartment building, according to police sources and court records obtained by The Post.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex must drop their 'Sussex Royal' label after deciding to step down as working royals. Following lengthy and complex talks, the Queen and senior officials are believed to have agreed it is no longer tenable for the couple to keep the word 'royal' in their 'branding'. Harry and Meghan have spent tens of thousands of pounds on a new Sussex Royal website to complement their hugely popular Instagram feed. They have also sought to register Sussex Royal as a global trademark for a range of items and activities, including clothing, stationery, books and teaching materials....

The next superhero movie made by Marvel, called The Eternals, will feature a kiss between two men. Actor Haaz Sleiman mentioned that it is important “to show how loving and beautiful a queer family can be.” Sleiman, who came to the United States from Lebanon when he was 21, boasted of the kiss between two men: “It’s a beautiful, very moving kiss. Everyone cried on set.” “I just shot a Marvel film with the first openly gay superhero, The Eternals. I’m married to the gay superhero Phastos, played by Atlanta’s Brian Tyree Henry, and we represent a gay family and...

A Cedar Rapids man who was arrested Monday is accused of holding a woman captive and forcing her to watch “Roots” — a nine-hour miniseries that chronicles author Alex Haley’s family line from the capture and enslavement of his ancestor Kunta Kinte to the liberation of Kinte’s descendants. Robert Lee Noye, 52, forced the woman to sit with him, at a residence in the 700 block of Second Avenue SW and watch the series “so she could better understand her racism,” according to a criminal complaint. When she tried to move, Noye told her to “remain seated and watch the...

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said on Tuesday that SWAT-like teams would not be needed to back up Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) efforts in so-called sanctuary cities if local officials there would help with immigration enforcement. “What we found in these sanctuary jurisdictions is that local law enforcement does not work with the department,” Wolf told Fox News’s “Fox & Friends.” “So what used to take one or two officers going into a jail setting and picking up an individual that's on a final order of removal, we now have to go into communities with many, many officers.”...

Massive primary turnout when there's no contest is one of those ambiguous and inexplicable things. Who can know what it portends except the, you know, massive turnout part.

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Top Democrats on the House Judiciary and Homeland Security committees are demanding documents from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regarding plans to send elite law enforcement units typically assigned to the southern border to take part in arrest operations in sanctuary cities across the country. In a letter to acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf on Monday, the Democratic lawmakers demanded a "full briefing" within a week as well as documents by March 2 listing details such as the cities where the specially trained officers are expected to be deployed and the duration of their assignment. "The committees have...

Vatican authorities have seized documents and computers belonging to a senior curial official as part of an investigation into financial misconduct, the Holy See announced on Tuesday. In a statement issued on February 18, the Vatican press office confirmed that investigators had raided the office and home of Msgr. Alberto Perlasca, the former head of the administrative office at the First Section of the Secretariat of State. The raid is part of an ongoing investigation into financial misconduct by officials at the secretariat. “This morning, as part of a search ordered by the Promoter of Justice, Gian Piero Milano, and...

When he dissented in Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court ruling that legalized same sex marriage, Chief Justice John Roberts predicted that the decision could eventually lead to the legalization of polygamy. For HGTV, that would be just fine. On its February 12 episode of House Hunters, the network featured a "throuple" –– a polyamorous threesome –– looking for a home in Colorado. The episode, titled "Three's Not a Crowd in Colorado Springs," celebrated a married couple who had added a second woman to the relationship. The original man-woman couple, who have two children, held a "commitment ceremony" with the...

Xia Baolong is a long-time ally of Xi Jinping who represents a sign Beijing wants to exert more control over the cityA hardliner notorious for the demolition of thousands of Christian crosses on churches has been appointed the new head of China’s office in Hong Kong, a sign that Beijing aims to further tighten control over the semi-autonomous city, analysts say. Xia Baolong, an ally of president Xi Jinping, has been appointed director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office under the State Council, replacing Zhang Xiaoming, State media reported on Thursday. His appointment came amid a purge of...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who shocked the political world in 2018 when she upset former Democratic Caucus Chairman Joseph Crowley, has inspired six candidates who are looking to follow her example and defeat longtime House Democrats. The effort again put Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, New York Democrat, at odds with party leaders. The leadership’s campaign arm, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, moved to put the kibosh on insurgent candidacies last year by blacklisting vendors that do business with primary challengers. “Well, 70% of Americans live in a safe seat. They live in a safe Democratic seat or they live in a safe Republican...

House delegate: 'It felt like condemnation'RICHMOND, Va. (ChurchMilitant.com) - Virginia Democrats stormed out of the state's House of Delegates when a local pastor condemned abortion and so-called gay marriage. Invited to give the opening prayer, Rev. Robert M. Grant Jr. last week warned state lawmakers of God's wrath on those who reject biblical principles and greenlight abortion and sodomy. "The unborn have rights and those rights need to be protected. They should never be denied the right to exist, the right to develop or the right to have a family. The word of God has given us a warning: woe...

Toward the end of his life, the legendary criminal defense attorney Clarence Darrow gazed back on his long career and sadly observed to a reporter: “There is no such thing as justice – in or out of court.” ~snip~ Stone was found guilty by a Washington jury of making false statements, obstruction and witness tampering in a case that arose from former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. The four trial prosecutors, two of whom worked for Mueller, requested a seven- to nine-year prison sentence for Stone. Barr and other senior Justice Department officials felt the recommended sentence was “excessive”...

...The financial impact of the Gibson’s Bakery loss is not yet clear. It will be interesting to see if the negative publicity impacts the incoming class, and how much in grant money needs to be spent to maintain quality and quantity. But clearly Oberlin College has suffered a public relations body blow from the case. The seriousness of the situation is further revealed in a campus announcement that Oberlin College will seek to replace UAW union workers in the dining hall and custodial services with outsourced contractors...

SEA ISLE CITY, N.J. (CBS) — A historic church at the Jersey Shore is facing the wrecking ball despite efforts by thousands of parishioners who want it saved. Churchgoers at a Sea Isle City parish are doing battle with church officials in an effort to keep their century-old church building open. “We were married here. Our children were baptized here,” Tom Henry said. For more than 75 years, Henry has attended and served St. Joseph’s Catholic Church parish in Sea Isle. Next to the current sanctuary that was built in 2011 is the original 135-year-old church building, which is now...