Free Republic

Continuation from #2 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3819175/posts?q=1&;page=493#493

Americans who do not identify as either a man or a woman would be able to choose a third non-binary gender option on their passport under a bill proposed by a House Democrat on Monday. The Gender Inclusive Passport Act, introduced by Representative Ro Khanna, would require the State Department to create a gender-neutral option “in a passport, passport card, or Consular Report of Birth Abroad, and for other purposes.” “Respecting every American’s gender must extend to travel abroad,” Khanna, a California Democrat, said in a statement. “The freedom to move and express yourself no matter what should be guaranteed in this country. …...

It was our family dream, to live in America. It took three years of planning and paperwork, and winning a life lottery, but there it was: permission to come to the United States of America.  The year was 1991 and the Soviet Union was in the midst of a collapse. We were living in our government-issued apartment: two bedrooms, three families. My grandparents slept in the living room. (Themed, empty rooms and choice of your home is a capitalist concept found in America, not present in countries that endured years of socialism.) Food was sparse and the idea of a...

The nation’s top Marine, Commandant Gen. David Berger, took to social media Tuesday morning to stress the service’s “most important matters.” A series of eight tweets telegraphed a wide range of areas the officer wants his chain of command to focus on in 2020, which includes a push for more female infantry officers and and examination of the cost of one-year paid maternity leave. Gen. Berger wrote: “While I am aware of the good work already being done across the force in support of my planning guidance implementation, these are some of my most important matters for immediate execution. (1/8)”...

How did Xi Jinping—the general secretary of the Communist Party of China, who has been consolidating his power since taking over the post in 2012—let things get to this point? It might be that he didn’t fully know what was happening in his own country until it was too late. Xi would be far from the first authoritarian to have been blindsided. Ironically, for all the talk of the technological side of Chinese authoritarianism, China’s use of technology to ratchet up surveillance and censorship may have made things worse, by making it less likely that Xi would even know what...

Vatican Abp organizing Global Education Pact touts pope’s ‘new humanism’ where God ‘withdraws’ Vatican archbishop Vincenzo Zani said Pope Francis’s ‘new humanism’ centers on a God who ‘creates but then withdraws.’ Abp. Vincenzo Zani, secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education. ROME, February 25, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — The Vatican prelate tasked with organizing the Global Education Pact to be signed at the Vatican on May 14 has explained the theological vision at the heart of Pope Francis’s “new humanism,” in which God withdraws in order to allow for the possibility of human freedom. Speaking to LifeSite at a Global...

Bob Iger will step down as Disney CEO and assume the role of executive chairman, Disney announced on Tuesday. Bob Chapek, who most recently served as chairman of Disney parks, experiences and products, will assume the role of CEO, effective immediately, Disney announced. Shares of Disney fell about 2.5% after hours. Iger will remain executive chairman of Disney through the end of 2021, according to the company. He has been instrumental in making Disney a media powerhouse with key acquisitions and content plays. He launched Disney+, immediately making Disney a popular streaming service provider. Disney said the service had 26.5...

A woman was arrested after she allegedly assaulted a Federal Air Marshal on a flight from Frankfurt, Germany, to Virginia on Saturday. Dana Mustafa, 27, of North Carolina, was aboard a United Airlines flight bound for Dulles International Airport when flight attendants reportedly caught her smoking inside the lavatory, according to Fox 5. When they told her smoking was not allowed and asked her to return to her seat, Mustafa became upset and claimed she was going home to see her family but they had just been killed in a car accident. “A Federal Air Marshal then observed Mustafa leave...

As the report notes, the millennials (defined as individuals 18-37 in 2018) “demonstrate lower basic financial literacy levels while at the same time being more likely to overestimate their own financial knowledge.”

[Catholic Caucus] Archbishop Who Criticised Francis, Suspended Włocławek Bishop Wiesław Mering forbad the former Karaganda/Kazakhstan Archbishop Jan Lenga, 69, to preach and to say Mass in public. Lenga was secretly ordained a priest in 1980 in Soviet Union and has fought totalitarian regimes for many years. Since his retirement, he has been residing at the Licheń sanctuary, Włocławek diocese. Diocesan chancellor, Father Artur Niemira, told KAI that the ban also applies to contacts with the media. It will remain in place until further restrictions will be announced by the Vatican. Lenga describes Francis as an antichrist and heretic. During liturgies,...

If you've been watching Pete Buttigieg out on the stump, you might feel like you're experiencing a little déjà vu. The Recount went back and found numerous instances of the South Bend mayor imitating President Barack Obama's famous speeches.

Pete Buttigieg is Barack Obama's Mini Me, or, as one Twitter user put it, "Fauxbama." Buttigieg's speech cadence, his shirt sleeves and even the knot of his tie are the same as President Obama's. And now a political Twitter account called "The Recount" has found that former Mayor Buttigieg's words are exactly the same as Obama's. For years Barack Obama reused and recycled Deval Patrick's old "no red America, no blue America, just the United States of America" speech written by their mutual political spirit animal David Axelrod. Obama, ahem, borrowed Elizabeth Warren's "you didn't build that" trope to denigrate initiatives by business owners...

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday alerted Americans to begin preparing for the spread of coronavirus in the United States, after the flu-like virus surfaced in several more countries. The announcement signals a change in tone for the U.S. health agency, which had largely been focused on efforts to stop the virus from entering the country and quarantining individuals traveling from China.

A US appeals court has upheld Trump administration rules that prevent taxpayer money from being used for abortions. The rules forbid clinics that receive federal funds through the Title X program from making abortion referrals and from sharing space with abortion providers. In other words, the Title X money is only supposed to used for health care needs, not to promote abortion. In a 7-4 ruling, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed arguments that the rule forces doctors to violate medical morals by withholding information from patients, Court News reports. Title X funds are designed to help pay for...

In a 4 to 1 decision, the Alberta Court of Appeal became the first to declare the federal carbon tax unconstitutional. The main reasoning behind the decision is that the carbon tax is an overstep by the federal government. In the 269-page decision, Justices Catherine Fraser, Jack Watson and Elizabeth Hughes said, in part: "The division of powers remains key to our federal state. It is part of the fabric of Canada itself. The federal and provincial governments are co-equals, each level of government being supreme within its sphere. The federal government is not the parent; and the provincial governments...

A senior member of the International Olympic Committee said Tuesday that if it proves too dangerous to hold the Olympics in Tokyo this summer because of the coronavirus outbreak, organizers are more likely to cancel it altogether than to postpone or move it. Dick Pound, a former Canadian swimming champion who has been on the IOC since 1978, making him its longest-serving member, estimated there is a three-month window — perhaps a two-month one — to decide the fate of the Tokyo Olympics, meaning a decision could be put off until late May. ...

US markets plummeted for the second straight day Tuesday, adding to Monday's sharp losses as news about the spread of coronavirus gripped jittery investors. The Dow (INDU) finished 879 points, or about 3.2% lower, bringing the index's total loss over the past four days to about 2,267.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday seemed doubtful that a 1986 federal law that makes it a crime to “encourage” unauthorized immigrants to come to or stay in the United States could be squared with the First Amendment. “The statute isn’t aimed at speech,” said Eric J. Feigin, a lawyer for the federal government defending the law. But several justices appeared skeptical, saying that the ordinary meaning of the word “encourage” could subject countless people to criminal liability. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. asked about “a grandmother whose granddaughter is in the United States illegally.” Would it be...

Roy Lewis Norris one of the “Tool Box Killers” who preyed on teenage girls in Southern California more than 40 years ago has died, state corrections officials said Tuesday.

FRANK GAFFNEY, Executive Chairman of the Center for Security Policy, host of Secure Freedom Radio: Remembering the legacy of Philip Haney Philip's lasting impact on the national security community JOHN GUANDOLO, President and Founder of Understandingthethreat.com, Veteran of Desert Storm, Former commanding officer of an FBI SWAT team, Designated “Subject Matter Expert” by FBI Headquarters and created and implemented the FBI’s first Counterterrorism Training program focused on the Muslim Brotherhood and the global Islamic movement, Author of new book, Islam’s Deception: The Truth About Sharia: John and Philip's discovery of a Jihadist network within the United States How Philip was...