Free Republic

VATICAN CITY — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrives in Rome Wednesday morning for talks with his Italian and Holy See counterparts — but unlike his visit to the Vatican last year, he won’t be meeting Pope Francis. The Vatican has reportedly told U.S. diplomats the Holy Father preferred not to meet the Trump administration’s top diplomat in order not to be seen influencing the U.S. presidential election. Although Pompeo met Pope Francis in a private audience last October, it is usually rare for foreign ministers to be granted the privilege. Instead, they meet their Vatican counterparts, and on...

The Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) announced on Monday afternoon that it is “looking into” explosive “allegations of voter fraud” following a video that was released yesterday by Project Veritas that involves a campaign worker for Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN). An investigation from Project Veritas purports to show that “Omar is engaging in illegal ballot harvesting and a cash-for-ballots scheme in her district in Minneapolis,” Newsweek reported. “The group, which has targeted mainly liberal groups with ‘sting’ operations, posted a video late on Sunday showing what it claims is evidence of an illegal effort to harvest absentee ballots.” President Trump...

After months of often violent, destructive protests in Seattle, when the local ABC affiliate—KOMO, a Sinclair Broadcasting-owned company—posted a poll on Twitter asking what steps people would take to protect their business or neighborhood, more than half of the respondents say they would arm themselves. As this report was published, the survey result showed 23.4 percent saying they would rely on police and 25.1 percent said they would work with their neighbors. But being armed outpaced those choices more than 2-to-1, in an ultra-liberal city at the heart of a state that votes blue.The survey came 2 ½ months after...

By nominating Federal Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, Donald Trump kept his word, and more than that. Should she be confirmed, he will have made history. Even his enemies would have to concede that Trump triumphed where his Republican predecessors -- even Ronald Reagan, who filled three court vacancies -- fell short. Trump's achievement -- victory in the Supreme Court wars that have lasted for half a century -- is a triumph that will affect the nation and the law for years, perhaps decades. Trump's remaking of the Supreme Court for constitutionalism may well be the crown...

Kamala Harris referred to the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg as 'Notorious BIG' instead of her moniker 'Notorious RBG' 'She was part of our culture. Yes, we wear those Notorious BIG T-shirts with a lot of pride,' she said It's not clear why she made the careless mistake during prepared remarks Last week, Harris named Tupac the 'best rapper alive' - 24 years after he was shot dead in Las Vegas drive-by ======================================================================= Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris ended up mistakenly referring to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as the 'Notorious B.I.G.' during a speech on Monday. 'She...

It’s just the flu, bro. Based on yesterday’s thread and what one would expect, we are seeing that some businesses are being slow to follow Desantis’ lead in Florida. They are keeping the old rules. Someone correct me if I am wrong...I assume that businesses that are slow to open up are small businesses owned by libs or big businesses with nation-wide rules and they are just waiting for direction from the head office. The government and its laws affect people’s behavior and attitudes, but it is often a lagged affect as it takes time for people to change their...

September 29, 2020 Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, archangels Reading 1 DN 7:9-10, 13-14 As I watched: Thrones were set up and the Ancient One took his throne. His clothing was bright as snow, and the hair on his head as white as wool; His throne was flames of fire, with wheels of burning fire. A surging stream of fire flowed out from where he sat; Thousands upon thousands were ministering to him, and myriads upon myriads attended him. The court was convened, and the books were opened. As the visions during the night continued, I saw One...

Section 6103. Confidentiality and disclosure of returns and return information 26 U.S. Code § 6103 - Confidentiality and disclosure of returns and return information (a) General ruleReturns and return information shall be confidential, and except as authorized by this title— (1) no officer or employee of the United States, (2) no officer or employee of any State, any local law enforcement agency receiving information under subsection (i)(1)(C) or (7)(A), any local child support enforcement agency, or any local agency administering a program listed in subsection (l)(7)(D) who has or had access to returns or return information under this section or...

Hi, I am trying to install Linux-Zorin on ThinkPad T520 to an internal Caddy SSD (2nd HD). I set my Bios(?) to UEFI to boot from my USB Flash Drive. Everything is dandy until I start partitioning the primary partition of the disk. Should I delete the partitions and leave just fat32? I do the /boot, /home, /, /var, but then it doesn't show me the /swap in the drop menu. I pick something and then is say UFI is missing. Does it make sense and if yes, what am I doing wrong? Thanks a lot...

Mass inoculation against the novel coronavirus infection with the Sputnik V vaccine may begin in Russia in late October, Fyodor Lisitsyn of the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Russian Health Ministry, said on September 28. “The third phase of the vaccine’s trials is scheduled to be over in late October. Mass vaccination will begin as soon as the third phase is over. I hope it will be successful,” he said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 television channel. (Please see full article at the link)

Tuesday’s presidential debate provides an opportunity for the American public to finally get answers from Joe Biden, who has largely been absent from the campaign trail. Vice President Biden should be asked the following 25 questions. This list is by no means exhaustive. Many of these questions were suggested by this author last month, but because they remain unanswered, I offer them again in the hope that 1. A Senate investigative report issued this month found that your son, Hunter Biden, and his family and business partners “received millions of dollars from foreign nationals with questionable backgrounds.” Among the sums...

I saw a commercial late last night for those COVID head shields; I give them credit, making a hunk of plastic glued to a foam ring that goes around your head into a legitimate consumer product that people are willing to exchange a goodly amount of money for is no mean feat; especially since its efficaciousness against the viruses it portents to protect you from is at best questionable. But that’s neither here nor there, the face shields meet our (D) Governor’s mandate that we remain masked at all times while in public or suffer the (State imposed) consequences. I...

The New York Times has spun out 10,000 words claiming that Donald Trump paid little or no income tax for many years. The Times says it can’t release the actual tax documents lest this compromise its sources, and Mr. Trump denies paying so little but won’t release his returns. Voters can decide whom to believe, but one fact to note is that the story doesn’t assert illegal behavior. The IRS presumably signed off on the Trump returns, except in one case in which it is disputing a $72.9 million deduction claimed by Mr. Trump. This is a fight rich people...

Some Cleveland businesses aren't taking any chances ahead of Tuesday's first presidential debate and have started boarding up storefronts and offices over concerns of possible unrest coupled with a contentious election season. President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden are set to square off at the Health Education Campus at Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic in the first of three debates before the Nov. 3 election. Griffin represents Ward 6, the Fairfax neighborhood where the event will be held. Given the unrest that has gripped the country in recent months, it has some businesses in the...

Even before the official announcement at the White House on Saturday afternoon that Amy Coney Barrett would be tabbed as President Trump’s selection to replace Ruth Bader Ginsberg on the Supreme Court we knew the hits on the judge would be coming. What was surprising, however, was the level of insipid subjects the Democrats, leftists, and media figures would dredge to come up with their outrage at her selection.  They also seemed intent on criticizing her over issues they normally support, and in so doing are undermining a few of Joe Biden’s positions during the campaign. But first they had...

Fighting raged again between Armenia and Azerbaijan last night as the two ex-Soviet nations battle over a disputed region in a conflict which could erupt into a proxy war between Russia and Turkey. Azerbaijan aired footage of two Armenian tanks being blown up on the battlefield while Armenia claimed to have taken out 80 armoured vehicles, 49 drones and four Azerbaijani helicopters as of Monday night. Armenia warned today that it would deploy more destructive weapons in the conflict because of what it described as an Azerbaijani offensive, saying the fighting had been 'elevated to a new level'.

An eye-opening documentary into female sex tourism in the Gambia left viewers cringing last night. Sex on the Beach is an hour-long documentary which sees Channel 4 Dispatches reporter Seyi Rhodes travel to the Gambia to investigate the country’s reputation as a destination for British sex tourists. In the documentary, which aired on Channel 4 last night, a woman tells Seyi the country is 'paradise' because 'you can have a different man every night'.

BETHEL PARK, Pennsylvania -- Just a few short months ago, if you had driven down Baptist Road in this middle-class southern suburb of Pittsburgh, it would have been hard to miss the Bernie Sanders shrine filling the yard of a tidy, yellow-brick ranch home. There was the life-size cutout of the former presidential candidate, a large, homemade "FEEL THE BERN" sign along the berm of the road, a few "Bernie 2020" and "Get Berned" signs, as well as a lively decorated mailbox plastered with Bernie bumper stickers. Sometime between the Pennsylvania primary in June (when Democratic voters gave Joe Biden...

Yesterday was Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. It is meant to be a time of intense self-examination. In light of that, I offer this column. The question I receive more than any other from non-Jews is: Why are so many Jews on the left? Before addressing it, I should note that the same question could be asked of Christians and other non-Jews. Why have so many mainstream Protestants and Catholics (up to and including the pope) embraced the left? Why have nearly all blacks, the majority of Hispanics and Asian Americans, the most successful ethnic group...

The first debate showdown between Donald Trump and Joe Biden will animate reporters and fact-checkers across the country, who have grown accustomed to prosecuting claims by a president known for questionable assertions and outright falsehoods. Democrats are sending millions of “unsolicited” ballots to Americans, which will result in widespread voter fraud. A coronavirus vaccine will be ready “within a matter of weeks,” and Biden will “delay the vaccine” if elected. America will descend into lawlessness if Biden is elected, because Biden is insufficiently tough on violent agitators and will defund the police. He opposed the Iraq War from its earliest...