Free Republic

Two Democratic governors are calling for Congress to investigate the Trump administration’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, which they allege was politicized and impeded the U.S. response. Govs. Andrew Cuomo of New York and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, both of whom have been criticized for their own responses to the crisis, allege that the U.S. has “the worst response to the COVID-19 virus of any nation in the world” and that it is “a direct result of President Trump and the federal government’s deceit, political self-dealing and incompetence.” “Rather than turning to the advice and direction of public health experts...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi criticized President Trump after he refused to commit to ensuring a peaceful transfer of power, saying he is trying to “have the Constitution swallow Clorox.” When asked if Trump would accept a peaceful transfer of power, Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters, “It’s really sad you even have to ask that question.” “We know who he admires. [Vladimir] Putin. Kim Jong-un. [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan,” she continued. “You are not in Russia. He is not in North Korea. He is not in Turkey.

<p>B&G FOODS Inc said on Thursday it would drop an image of a Black chef from the packaging of its Cream of Wheat porridge mix, the latest company to make branding changes widely considered as racially insensitive.</p> <p>Companies including Mars Inc and PepsiCo Inc are changing names and branding of some of their products that are rooted in racist imagery amid a wider national debate over racial inequality in the United States.</p>

There was a widespread blackout of television coverage surrounding the damning revelations from the GOP-led Senate report on Hunter Biden's foreign financial ties. The Senate Homeland Security and Finance committees on Wednesday released an interim report on their monthslong joint investigation into Hunter Biden’s role on the board of Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings and his alleged “extensive and complex financial transactions.” However, in addition to new findings regarding Biden's ties to Burisma, the report states that Senate investigators found millions of dollars in “questionable financial transactions” between Hunter Biden, who is a son of Democrat presidential candidate Joe...

The Senate Commerce Committee is planning to subpoena the executives of Google, Facebook and Twitter to testify at an Oct. 1 hearing on the law that gives tech companies a legal liability shield if they do not agree to appear voluntarily by Thursday night. A spokesperson for the committee confirmed to The Hill that Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) intends to issue the subpoenas and believes their testimony to be crucial. Politico first reported on the subpoena threat. Spokespeople for Twitter and Facebook declined to comment. A spokesperson for Google did not immediately return a request for comment. The hearing is...

Fox News host Mark Levin disputed the notion the novel coronavirus killed 200,000 people in the U.S., referring to the grim figure from health officials as “the biggest lie this century.” The conservative commentator rejected the death toll during Wednesday’s episode of his syndicated radio program and podcast fresh on the heels of having interviewed President Trump on his Fox show days earlier. “We’ve hit — they say — an ominous number, ladies and gentlemen. Two hundred thousand people have died from the coronavirus. That is the biggest lie this century,” he told listeners of “The Mark Levin Show.” “Two...

The 2020 college football season rolls into Week 4 and the schedule is getting even better with SEC teams finally set to join this week’s action. As we look ahead to the top games across the country in Week 4, it’s evident college football will enjoy Saturday. We couldn’t ask for a better game to begin Saturday’s college football slate with Lane Kiffin making his coaching debut for the Ole Miss Rebels against the Florida Gators. While the Gators will be massive favorites in this one, Kiffin is always capable of surprising us.

Marines fire rounds downrange during Combat Pistol Program qualification training and firing at the Puuloa Range Training Facility in Ewa Beach, Hawaii, April 30. The new pistol program will replace annual pistol training and is more combat-oriented than the pistol qualification previously implemented. (U.S. Marine Corps Photo by Lance Cpl. Nathan Knapke/Released)The Marine Corps has fielded its first new service pistol in 35 years, Pentagon officials announced Tuesday, with M18s now being issued across the service. Marine Corps leaders said the M18 Modular Handgun System will replace all other sidearms, including the M9, M9A1, M45A1 and M007. The transition, which...

German carmaker Volkswagen (VW) says it will pay $6.4m (£5m) in compensation to former workers at a Brazilian factory who sued the company for collaborating with the country's military during the 1964-1985 dictatorship. Workers and their families sued the carmaker five years ago over human rights violations. A 2016 review found that VW agents gave employees' names to police hunting for people described as "subversives". They were then detained and tortured. "We regret the violations that occurred in the past. For Volkswagen, it is important to deal responsibly with this negative chapter in Brazil's history and promote transparency," VW...

As the decision in Kentucky to bring charges against only one of three police officers involved in a raid that killed Breonna Taylor sparks renewed protests nationwide, a new survey finds support has fallen for demonstrations against systemic racism. The poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that 44% of Americans disapprove of protests in response to police violence against Black Americans, while 39% approve. In June, 54% approved. The new survey was conducted Sept. 11-14, before Wednesday's announcement that a lone Louisville police officer would be charged in the Taylor case, but not for her...

New York Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is urging Empire State lawmakers to raise taxes, despite opposition from Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Ocasio-Cortez called on Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to increase rates as the state battles a massive coronavirus-induced multi-billion-dollar budget hole. “I’m calling on Mayor de Blasio and Gov. Cuomo to raise revenue to fund universal child-care programs, significantly increase staffing at schools and fund the infrastructure improvements, including ventilation, that our school buildings need to be safe,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement obtained by The New York Post on Wednesday.

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Only 29 percent of Americans have faith that the 2020 elections will be conducted in an honest and open way, according to a survey released on Thursday from the Public Affairs Council. Twenty-one percent of the survey respondents believe the elections will be neither honest nor open. The survey, conducted with Morning Consult, polled 2,199 adults on topics related to business, politics and government from Aug. 19 to 21. Eighteen percent of respondents said they think the elections will be open to everyone with a right to vote but won’t be run in an honest way. Meanwhile, 14 percent think...

The Department of Justice announced today that the Western Union Remission Fund began its second distribution of approximately $148 million in funds forfeited to the U.S. government from the Western Union Company (Western Union) to approximately 33,000 victims located in the United States and abroad. These victims, many of whom were elderly victims of consumer fraud and abuse, will be recovering the full amount of their losses.This is the second in a series of payment distributions to occur in the Western Union remission.  The first distribution paid approximately $153 million to over 109,000 victims in March of this year. ...

Aspects of U.S. Attorney John Huber’s investigation into the Clinton Foundation have been assumed by U.S. Attorney John Durham as part of his review into the origins of the Russia probe, Fox News has learned. A source familiar with Durham’s investigation told Fox News on Thursday that parts of what Huber was investigating in 2017 -- involving the Clinton Foundation -- have been incorporated in Durham’s investigation.

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room   6:16 P.M. EDT  THE PRESIDENT:  Hello.  Thank you very much.  Thank you.  Today, Johnson & Johnson announced that their vaccine candidate has reached the final stage of clinical trials.  This is record time.  This is the fourth vaccine candidate in the United States to reach the final stage of trial.  So we have four candidates already at a very late date.  “Late” being a very positive word, in this case.Earlier this year, Johnson & Johnson anticipated that they would reach phase one trials by September.  But due to our support under Operation Warp...

Chicago’s “Dread Head Cowboy” rode his horse to exhaustion — and narrowly close to death — while protesting gun violence against children on the Dan Ryan Expressway earlier this week, Cook County prosecutors said. The horse will never ride again and may need to be euthanized, Assistant State’s Attorney Kevin Deboni said Wednesday, adding that one veterinarian compared Adam Hollingsworth’s actions to “forcing an 80-year-old woman to run a full marathon.” Authorities found the horse collapsed on the pavement near 95th Street Monday, overheated, dehydrated, bleeding from the hooves, and with eyes so dilated they resembled “cartoon eyes,” Deboni said....

After all these years I am seriously considering switching stores. I've been shopping at Fry's for more than 15 years, and my experience has always been positive. Recently, however, I noticed a cashier wearing gay rights buttons. I looked into it and discovered that it is the policy of Kroger to encourage this practice. I shop at Fry's for the prices, the selection, the quality and the service. I do not shop there to be enlightened about my political views. There is a Walmart Marketplace location that is actually closer to me than Fry's. Their prices are lower than Fry's,...

FBI Director Christopher Wray testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee where he is asked if voting by mail is secure. Wray says the FBI has "not seen, historically, any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election, whether it's by mail or otherwise."

Bishop contrasts pro-abortion Biden with pro-life Trump to help voters decide h2 class="art-title">Abortion is 'the preeminent issue of our time,' Bishop Thomas Paprocki said. SPRINGFIELD, Illinois, September 23, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Bishop Thomas Paprocki last Sunday informed the faithful of his diocese that abortion is “the preeminent issue of our time” while also calling out Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden by name for being pro-abortion. Arguing that he “cannot endorse candidates for office,” the bishop of Springfield, Illinois, explicitly contrasted the pro-abortion platform of the Democratic Party and its candidate for President with the pro-life platform of the Republican Party...