Free Republic

Naïve, Corrupt—or Both? As the ancient Chinese proverb warns, a bad beginning makes for a bad ending. In June of 2013, Pope Francis dispatched to China the infamous Theodore McCarrick to begin deliberations with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to normalize relations with the Chinese Catholic Church. Those negotiations resulted in a secret pact signed by the parties on September 22, 2018. The result of this two-year agreement made for a bad ending for all religious believers in China.Nevertheless, all signs point to a renewal of the disastrous Vatican-China secret deal. Both China and the Vatican indicate that the pact...

We moved to GA a month ago. We are still unable to get GA retailers to accept our new address. Every GA retailer still claims we are at our old MA address and denies us our new address. This is driving us bat$hit. We have changed our Address with our credit card but no deal.

Gov. Greg Abbott proposed legislation Thursday that, if approved, could make certain actions during protests a felony, including destroying property and aiding or abetting an organization that takes part in a riot. Abbott made the proposals after a volatile summer in many cities across the country and in Texas which led to major demonstrations and destruction of businesses, including in Downtown Dallas, following the death of George Floyd. “The Constitution does not provide the right to riot, to rob, to loot, to set fires, to physically harm anyone or anything,” Abbott said at a noon news conference in Dallas. Protestors...

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has found a number of mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania discarded in the trash. They were ballots cast for President Donald Trump. "On Monday, September 21, 2020, at the request of Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis, the Office of the United States Attorney along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Scranton Resident Office, began an inquiry into reports of potential issues with a small number of mail-in ballots at the

Judge Amy Coney Barrett, a top contender on President Donald Trump’s short list for the Supreme Court, has drawn widespread media attention for her reported membership in People of Praise, a largely Catholic, charismatic religious group. Another shortlister, Judge Barbara Lagoa, is a longtime member of the Federalist Society, a conservative legal group. Her husband, Paul Huck, is an attorney at Jones Day, a law firm with close ties to the White House and throughout the Trump administration. Those details — readily found in numerous news stories about the potential SCOTUS nominees — could become illegal for media outlets or...

The editor of China's state-backed Global Times newspaper has taken aim at an article published in the professional journal of the U.S. army which calls for a return of American forces to Taiwan. Hu Xijn tweeted his disdain at the piece written by Capt. Walker D. Mills, from the U.S. Marine Corps in the latest edition of Military Review. In the piece, Mills says that the regional balance of power in East Asia is shifting away from the United States and Taiwan and towards mainland China. In his view, this meant that the U.S. needed to consider basing ground forces...

The U.S. Attorney’s Office Middle District of Pennsylvania said in a Thursday statement: On Monday, September 21, 2020, at the request of Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis, the Office of the United States Attorney along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Scranton Resident Office, began an inquiry into reports of potential issues with a small number of mail-in ballots at the Luzerne County Board of Elections. Since Monday, FBI personnel working together with the Pennsylvania State Police have conducted numerous interviews and recovered and reviewed certain physical evidence. Election officials in Luzerne County have been cooperative. At this point...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., now says she’s not considering a fresh round of impeachment charges against President Trump as a tool to delay a Supreme Court confirmation vote. “I don’t think he’s worth the trouble at this point,” she told reporters Thursday, which also marked the one-year anniversary of the speaker announcing the first impeachment inquiry.

The Bail Project, whose employee Holly Zoller drove the U-Haul in Louisville that gave supplies to antifa, received up to $1M in federal COVID relief funds. National File reported yesterday that Holly Zoller, a professional “Bail Disruptor” for the Bail Project, was caught driving a U-Haul truck that gave out supplies to Antifa rioters in Louisville, including what looked like shields. The rioters were protesting the result of the investigation into the death of Breonna Taylor, and the lack of murder charges that resulted. The Bail Project has ties to a number of famous faces. The board of advisors include...

U.S. Attorney John Durham is investigating the handling of the FBI’s investigation of possible bribery and pay-to-play at the Clinton Foundation as part of his broader inquiry of the Trump-Russia investigators, according to a new report. The New York Times reported Thursday that Durham “has sought documents and interviews about how federal law enforcement officials handled an investigation … into allegations of political corruption” at the Clinton Foundation, founded by former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Durham was picked by Attorney General William Barr in 2019 to investigate the origins and conduct of the Trump-Russia...

Joe Biden’s wife Jill will hit the campaign trail today, Friday, this weekend and Monday to stump for her feeble husband. Jill Biden is literally campaigning harder than her own husband is. Jill Biden’s schedule is as follows:

Sen. Rand Paul said he will send the report on the GOP-led investigation into Joe and Hunter Biden to the Justice Department on Thursday. "I think the only way to determine the actual legality of this is to have it referred to the Department of Justice, so I'm going to send the report over," Paul told Fox News host Martha MacCallum on Wednesday. "I don't know if the whole committee will vote for it, but I'm sending the report tomorrow to the Department of Justice, and we're asking for a criminal referral." The Kentucky Republican's announcement came after the release...

The Justice Department announced Thursday the DOJ and FBI are investigating discarded mail-in votes in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. A statement issued by U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania David Freed states that nine mail-in military ballots were discovered discarded and that all nine were for President Trump.

State health leaders listed him as the youngest Oregonian to die from COVID-19, but it turns out 26-year-old Matthew Irvin of Yamhill County didn’t have the virus when he died in July. Family members of Irvin told FOX 12 they’ve been fighting for answers since their son died in his home. New testing conducted by the CDC confirmed Irvin did not have the coronavirus when he died, according to his parents. The Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office said Irvin’s sample sent to the CDC tested negative for COVID-19. The family said back in July, Irvin became very sick and went...

Joe Biden is running against Donald Trump’s character and supposed corruption, so a Senate report documenting the Biden family’s ethical swampiness certainly counts as news. Senate committee Chairmen Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley on Wednesday released the findings of their year-long investigation into the problems that the business dealings of Hunter Biden, Joe’s son, presented to the Obama-Biden administration. The report makes clear Hunter was profiting off his father’s position—in Ukraine, and notably in China. Foreigners knew they were buying influence by association. The Ukrainian gas company Burisma hired Hunter to “consult” on corporate governance in May 2014, only weeks...

It was 1952, and Alan Turing was about to reshape humanity's understanding of biology. Fairy circles in Namibia. (pum_eva/Getty Images) ============================================================================== In a landmark paper, the English mathematician introduced what became known as the Turing pattern – the notion that the dynamics of certain uniform systems could give rise to stable patterns when disturbed. Such 'order from disturbance' has become the theoretical basis for all sorts of strange, repeated motifs seen in the natural world. It was a good theory. So good, in fact, that decades later, scientists are still discovering stunning examples of it in unusual and exotic places:...

<p>The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, in a massive fuckup, mistakenly sent out an email to an unknown number of people who'd signed up to be poll workers on Nov. 3, saying that their services were not required.</p> <p>"If you are receiving this email," the message read, "it’s because we have received your application but do not currently have a poll worker position available for you in the election. This may change at any time, however. Workers who are currently planning to work the election may choose not to, at which point we will turn to our new applicants. Over the next two weeks, we will be looking to fill spots that become available with new applicants, such as yourself."</p>

MSNBC’s Chuck Todd said on Thursday’s broadcast of “MTP Daily” that President Donald Trump was “gaslighting the country” with his many assertions that assertions that mail-in voting is fraught with fraud. Todd said, “With just 40 days until the election, the president of the United States is openly signaling he could take drastic action to attempt to hold on to power. With Biden maintaining his durable lead in the polls, the president ramped up his attacks on the integrity of the election. Now he’s publicly stating that he will not commit to a peaceful transfer of power.”

The Riot Party Comes for the Court If they can’t have their way, they want to burn it down. We now have a Supreme Court vacancy, and President Trump and Senate Republicans are moving to fill it before the 117th Congress begins.According to the White House, we’ll learn the nominee’s name Saturday. But whomever is chosen, we know they will apply the law and interpret the Constitution as written.The Left is apoplectic, threatening all forms of retaliation. They’ve launched a second campaign to impeach the president, another campaign to pack the Court, and still a third campaign to get rid...

An investigation of internal bank records by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has provided a detailed look at the illicit methods employed by Ukrainian oligarchs who, during the course of a massive alleged money laundering scheme from 2006-2016, became the owners of the most commercial real estate in Cleveland. Published yesterday, the ICIJ piece not only exposes the impropriety of Deutsche Bank's American arm as it funneled hundreds of millions of laundered dollars from shell companies to U.S. properties; it also charts the devastation in heartland communities where Igor Kolomoisky and Gennadiy Bogolyubov purchased real estate. The hallmarks of...