Free Republic

The leftist publication The Nation often publishes very interesting analysis pieces. One such piece ran on Friday. Titled “‘This Was a Grift’: Bloomberg Staffers Explain Campaign’s Demise,” the piece written by Ken Klippenstein makes for some very fascinating reading. Klippenstein had access to several Bloomberg staffers who confirm the thesis that I laid out in the Campaign Update of February 22: That Bloomberg’s decision to enter the Las Vegas debate despite the fact he was not participating in the Nevada Caucuses was a strategic blunder that ultimately proved fatal. Klippenstein not only traces the implosion of Mini-Mike’s failed effort to...

There was a record increase in the number of infections detected in the past 24 hours, while 589 patients have recovered, Italian health officials stated on Saturday. Here's the latest news. The death toll from the outbreak of coronavirus in Italy rose to 233 on Saturday, up from 197 on Friday. The increase of 35 was lower than in the previous two days, marking a slight slowdown in the number of fatalities being reported in the country. The number of cases in the country however shows no sign of slowing, with more than 1,000 new cases confirmed in the past...

Vice President Mike Pence, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and hundreds of members of Congress attended a conference last month along with at least two people who have tested positive for a novel strain of coronavirus that has killed more than 3,000 people across the globe. “We have confirmed that at least two Policy Conference attendees from New York have tested positive for the Coronavirus,” the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, known as AIPAC, said in a statement on Twitter. This year’s AIPAC conference featured a who’s who of high-profile politicians, both from the U.S. and Israel. In addition to...

Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on Saturday declared a state of emergency in New York as officials seek to combat the spreading coronavirus. Officials have reported 76 cases of coronavirus in New York, including 10 people who are currently hospitalized, the governor said. New York has commissioned "hundreds" of tests for coronavirus and plans to push for many more, Cuomo said. "I would test as many people as you can test, because you want to know," he said. New York had previously reported 44 cases of coronavirus as of Friday, with 35 of those cases in Westchester County. Dozens of people...

Reports out of Iran indicate that police apprehended an unnamed man this week after a video surfaced showing piles of corpses, presumably of Chinese coronavirus victims, at a mortuary in Qom, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the country. Following the publication of the video on social media, multiple reports have corroborated evidence that Iran is experiencing an extremely high coronavirus death rate, potentially much higher than the official government numbers. CNN published a report Thursday similarly relaying the dire images of piles of bodies too large for government health workers to know what to do with and confirming...

Monthly sales up 60 percent from 2019 Gun sales soared in Virginia as Democrats passed several new gun-control measures during February, according to an industry report. Nearly 66,000 background checks were performed in Virginia in February as the state's Democratic-controlled legislature weighs a number of strict background checks—a steep increase from the 40,381 checks performed in February 2019. Virginia experienced one of the most dramatic upticks in background checks—a strong indicator of total sales—in the nation, according to data released by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF). Gun sales are up nationwide with average growth rates of 16.7 percent, according...

An illegal alien has been arrested after being on the run from law enforcement for alleged child abuse and child sex crime charges. Jose Bulmaro Cruz-Guillen, an illegal alien from Mexico, was arrested evading child abuse and child sex crime charges for incidents that occurred in 2014 and 2019, according to WBRC.com. The illegal alien had been twice arrested last year for crossing illegally through the United States-Mexico border. According to law enforcement officials, Cruz-Guillen was investigated in 2014 for allegedly repeatedly punching his four-year-old stepson in the face and on his body. Then, years later in 2019, Cruz-Guillen was...

An illegal alien has been charged with allegedly raping a 14-year-old girl in Caldwell, Idaho, after providing her with alcohol, according to law enforcement officials. Jaime Galvan, a 31-year-old illegal alien with an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer, was charged with raping the 14-year-old girl after the two met up and he served her two pre-mixed alcoholic cocktails, the Idaho Press reported. The girl told police that Galvan told her to lay down after she became dizzy from the drinks. That’s when Galvan allegedly started touching the girl and raped her. Galvan was asked to stop by the girl...

The government is sending 160 soldiers to help border agents (in Califrnia) block the migrant surge that is expected if the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals strikes down the Migrant Protection Protocols. The MPP program has sent roughly 60,000 migrants back into Mexico, prior to their eventual asylum hearings in the United States. The return policy deters migration by preventing migrants from getting the U.S. jobs they need to repay their smuggling loans — unless they eventually win their backlogged courtroom claims. The MPP program has played a crucial role in blocking the rush of Central Americans through the “Flores”...

Vice President Biden knows that to catch up he must talk about his strengths. So he aims to fight Sanders, Warren, and the rest of the Democratic contenders with cold, hard, facts about his sun-bleached, hairy legs, setting the tone for the tough battle ahead on the road to Election 2020.

Virginia lawmakers have passed a bill that would see insulin prices capped at $50 per month, potentially making the state the third to set limits on the cost of the life-saving medication.

Amtrak announced Friday it would temporarily suspend its Acela Nonstop trains between Washington and New York beginning March 10 amid concerns about the coronavirus. The company said in a statement that demand for direct routes between the cities has decreased and that nonstop service will be suspended through May 26. "As we are experiencing some reduced demand for our service, we are making temporary adjustments to our schedule, such as removing train cars or cancelling trains when there is a convenient alternative with a similar schedule that will have minimal impact to customers," Amtrak said in a statement. The statement...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a list Tuesday of qualified disinfectants to use for protection against the coronavirus. “The EPA-registered disinfectant products on our Disinfectants for Use Against SARS-CoV-2 list have qualified under EPA’s emerging viral pathogen program for use against SARS-CoV-2, a coronavirus that causes COVID-19,” the website stated. Coronaviruses are enveloped viruses, which means they are among the easiest types to kill with the appropriate disinfectant, according to the EPA. There may be additional disinfectants that meet the criteria for use against SARS-CoV-2. EPA will update this list with additional products as needed,” the agency stated....

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) on March 5 effectively barred FBI and Justice Department officials involved in the infamous application to surveil former Trump campaign associate Carter Page. The chief justice of the secret court, James Boasberg, ordered the ban in a 19-page opinion, the latest in a series of developments triggered by the release of the condemning report by the Office of Inspector General (OIG), which examined the four Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) applications the FBI used to spy on Page. Boasberg wrote, “No DOJ or FBI personnel under disciplinary or criminal review relating to their work...

A man who was arrested last year for throwing a glass of water on Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) was sentenced this week in a federal court to two years probation. Blake Gibbins, 27 of Lafayette, Colo., pleaded guilty in September to one misdemeanor count of assaulting a member of Congress, The Des Moines Register reported. Gibbins was arrested in March 2019 for throwing water at the lawmaker at the Mineral City Mill and Grill in Fort Dodge, Iowa. King was reportedly eating a group lunch when Gibbins approached the table and threw the water, hitting King and those at lunch....

Former first lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggested current first lady Melania Trump “should look closer to home” regarding her cyberbullying campaign. Appearing on Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen” on Thursday night, Clinton was asked, “What do you honestly think of first lady Melania Trump’s cyberbullying initiative?” “I think she should look closer to home,” Clinton replied, in an obvious dig at her former 2016 presidential campaign rival President Donald Trump’s penchant for tweeting. The three pillars of Melania Trump’s Be Best initiative are well-being, online safety and opioid abuse. According to the official White...

During a portion of an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria released on Friday, former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton reiterated her claim that 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) isn’t the strongest person to take on President Trump and stated that 2020 Democrat former Vice President Joe Biden is building “a broad-based coalition.” Clinton said, “As I’ve said many times, I do not think he’s our strongest nominee against Donald Trump.” Zakaria then asked if this was an endorsement of Biden, and Clinton responded that she isn’t endorsing. Zakaria then countered, “There’s nobody left.” Clinton conceded that there...

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[Barf Alert] Pope Francis announces a 2022 synod on synodality Vatican City, Mar 7, 2020 / 05:00 am (CNA).- The next ordinary Synod of Bishops will be a synod on synodality, the Vatican announced March 7.In October 2022, bishops from around the world will meet in Rome to discuss the theme: “For a synodal Church: communion, participation and mission.”The concept of “synodality” has been a topic of frequent discussion by Pope Francis, particularly during the previous ordinary Synod of Bishops on young people, the faith, and vocational discernment in October 2018.Synodality, as defined by the International Theological Commission in 2018,...

Former Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Charles Edwards and his former aide Murali Yamazula Venkata were indicted Friday on charges of stealing government property to defraud the U.S. government. Yamazula was also charged with destroying records. The indictments handed down by the Justice Department allege that Edwards and Venkata were working with others within the inspector general’s office to orchestrate a scheme to steal confidential and proprietary software that includes sensitive information on government employees. Prosecutors say Edwards was attempting to resell a revamped package of the software as a product of his firm, Delta Business Solutions to the...