Free Republic

Washington — The commission that oversees the general election presidential debates said Wednesday it will be making changes to the format of the remaining two debates. One key change it plans to implement: Cutting off the microphones of President Trump and Joe Biden if they break the rules, according to a source familiar with the commission's deliberations. The plans have not been finalized and the commission is still considering how it would carry out the plan.

Positive coronavirus tests in New York City recently went above 3%, causing Mayor Bill de Blasio to impose fines for those who do not wear masks in public. Nine zip codes have seen a rise in coronavirus cases, including Brooklyn, Queens, and Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods....De Blasio said the city does “not want to fine people.” City workers will provide free masks for people. If the person refuses the mask, then the city will issue them a fine of up to $1,000. De Blasio also threatened private schools with closure if they “don’t follow rules such as mask use and maintaining...

SACRAMENTO — With Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature, California became the first state government in the country on Wednesday to adopt a law to study and develop proposals for potential reparations to descendants of enslaved people and those impacted by slavery. Newsom said the new law and bipartisan support for its passage is proving “a paradigm that we hope will be resonant all across the United States.” In a year of national protests against racial injustice, state lawmakers approved Assembly Bill 3121 to force the state to begin to confront its racist history and systemic disparities that persist today. Although California...

The University of North Carolina’s “Anti-Racist Graduate Worker Collective” is calling for the redistribution of administrators’ salaries for “worker relief.” According to the Daily Tar Heel, a memo from the UNC System’s former interim president Bill Roper stated that chancellors in the System can issue salary reductions for certain employees, including faculty and senior administrators in an attempt to help mitigate COVID-19 losses. The Anti-Racist Graduate Worker Collective is asking that this authority be exercised to fund programs and departments low on resources....The group demanded that the “University administration accept a pay cut of 10%, and that the funds freed...

For decades, the Iranian government has avoided judicial accountability as the No. 1 nation-state sponsor of international terrorism. This will end on November 27, 2020 in Antwerp, when Belgium’s criminal court commences proceedings against senior Iranian diplomat, Assadollah Assadi. In June 2018, as third secretary in the Iranian Embassy in Vienna, Assadi delivered over half a kilo of Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP) to Iranian sleeper agents in Luxembourg. TATP is a high explosive used in bombs, suicide attacks, and improvised explosive devices.The target was a major international gathering near Paris, in support of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)....

SEDALIA, Mo. (KMIZ) The Pettis County Clerk announced Wednesday morning about 1,200 absentee ballots were lost in the mail recently. A post on the Pettis County Elections Office Facebook page said more ballots were sent out and voters should receive a new ballot on Wednesday. Pettis County Clerk Nick La Strada said his office delivered the ballots to the post office on Sept. 21. Absentee voting started in Missouri last week. County clerks in Cole and Boone counties have already received many ballots. Some ballots were submitted on Thursday and Friday, however, La Strada said his workers received calls over...

CLEVELAND, OH—Some are questioning Chris Wallace's neutrality in the debate tonight. Many say he constantly interrupted Trump and refused to challenge Biden. But others are pointing to more obvious clues, like the giant foam finger he wore that read "Biden 2020." "I just don't feel like this guy is being totally unbiased," said one viewer. "But, to be frank, I can't really put my finger on the reason. He just really seems to be thumbing his nose at the idea of impartiality." "I wish I could point to the reason I suspect him of bias. His questions just didn't quite...

Huffington Post is on the chopping block as Verizon seeks to sell the controversial media company. According to a report in the New York Post, Verizon is shopping around, hoping to find another media conglomerate that is interested in the property. Thus far, there are no takers. Verizon acquired Huffington Post as part of its acquisition of AOL in 2015. The $4.4 billion purchase included AOL’s internet service and its online video services, which was the acquisition target. As a side bonus, the telecom giant also obtained news sites such as TechCrunch, Engadget, and The Huffington Post. Though TechCrunch and...

LONDON — A British zoo has separated five foul-mouthed parrots who keepers say have been encouraging one another to swear. Billy, Eric, Tyson, Jade and Elsie joined Lincolnshire Wildlife Centre’s colony of 200 gray parrots in August, and soon revealed a penchant for blue language. “We are quite used to parrots swearing, but we’ve never had five at the same time,” said the zoo’s chief executive, Steve Nichols. “Most parrots clam up outside, but for some reason these five relish it.”

Matt Drudge is the latest media mogul rumored to be looking for a cash infusion in the form of a partial sale of his popular news website Drudge Report. The juicy tidbit bounced around this week from the financial world to the publishing world, reaching both high-level executives and humble reporters and editors, including this columnist. Matthew Lysiak, author of “The Drudge Revolution,” says he, too, has heard the rumors, but brushed them off as just that. “I think the rumor that Matt would sell or has already sold the Drudge Report is completely unfounded. I know he is continuing...

Amongst the many incredulous, remarkable, and possibly perjurious statements made by former FBI Director James Comey today before the Senate Judiciary Committee, this is probably the most dumbfounding exchange:  Sen. Lindsey Graham: "You don’t remember getting an investigatory lead from the intelligence community? Sept. 7, 2016, U.S. intelligence officials forwarded an investigative referral to James Comey and Strzok regarding Clinton’s approval of a plan [about] Trump…as a means of distraction?” Comey: “That doesn’t ring any bells with me.” Graham: “That’s a pretty stunning thing that it doesn’t ring a bell. You get this inquiry from the intelligence community to look at the Clinton...

Most of these interstellar spacecraft carry messages intended to introduce ourselves to any aliens that find them along the way. In 1972, NASA hadn't even finished sending Apollo astronauts to the Moon yet when it started launching the first missions that would ultimately wind up in interstellar space. That wasn't the end goal though. Pioneer 10 and 11 were primarily intended to do humanity's first major reconnaisance of other planets in our solar system. Pioneer 10 achieved the first flyby of Mars, the first trip through the asteroid belt, and the first flyby of Jupiter. And the secret to its...

The Minneapolis Police Department is “looking into” alleged ballot harvesting following reports that involved accusations against the campaign of Rep. Ilhan Omar. “Allegations of voter fraud being evaluated,” the department tweeted Monday evening in all capital letters. “The MPD is aware of the allegations of vote harvesting,” they continued. “We are in the process of looking into the validity of those statements.”

Should being an active Christian bar you from public service? Yes, say many pundits today. It would seem that the left wants to impose a religious test to bar anyone who truly believes in Jesus from serving in government. The death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg left a vacancy on the Supreme Court. In the days following her death, all of the candidates on President Trump’s shortlist to replace her were dedicated Christians, and the left once again bared their anti-Christian bigotry. The Constitution says there can be no religious test applied to those seeking office at the federal level...

Put Beijing on Notice The importance of the Holding China Accountable Act The Communist regime in China is a dishonest trade partner, a malign actor in global geopolitics, a predatory lender, and a singularly minded threat to the combined economic and national security of the free world.China continues a well-orchestrated campaign to dominate key sectors of the global economy. To this end, the full power of the Chinese state is exercised to gain market share for state-controlled companies, including through seemingly philanthropic investments in infrastructure that become debt traps for developing nations. Beijing exploits this dominance to advance Chinese geopolitical...

Several Fox News anchors criticized their colleague, Chris Wallace, for the way he handled the first presidential debate as a moderator. The debate was contentious from beginning to end with Wallace struggling to stop President Trump and Joe Biden from interrupting each other, launching personal attacks, and getting off-topic. Wallace repeatedly asked the candidates to let each other speak and at one point, Wallace raised his voice to end a clash between the president and Joe Biden. “Why should I be different from the two of you?” he said.

Well, the debate is over, but not before some more news about the Russian collusion myth dropped prior to Biden and Trump taking their respective places on the stage. Granted, it was more like Thunderdome, with people noting that Trump interrupted Biden a lot, but the former VP was spewing tons of lies and conspiracy theories. And there was no pushback on that from moderator Chris Wallace, who should sign up as Biden's national spokesperson. It was a disgrace. Trump was debating essentially two people last night, but I digress. Newly declassified documents show that former President Barack Obama was...

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump "So weird to watch @FoxNews interviewing only failed Dems, like Represenative Tim Ryan of Ohio, who got zero percent in his recent presidential run, and following Sleepy Joe’s train to wherever. What a difference from the past - But we will win anyway!!! https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1311402331934605312 1:27 PM · Sep 30, 2020·Twitter for iPhone

The Common Application is scrapping a question that asks applicants to reveal whether they have been subject to disciplinary action in high school, aiming to eliminate what it says could be an obstacle for Black students considering college. For more than a decade, the application—submitted by more than 1 million students to more than 900 colleges and universities—requested that students disclose whether they’d been found responsible for a “disciplinary violation.” That could be academic or behavioral misconduct, and would have led to probation, suspension or expulsion.

Ireland’s highest court isn’t sweet on tax breaks for footlongs. The country’s Supreme Court ruled that the starch used in Subway sandwiches is too sugary to meet the definition of “bread” — a legal distinction that would have saved the firm some dough. In deciding whether to give the fast-food chain a tax break for serving a “staple” food item, the five-judge panel ruled that the bread’s sugar-to-flour content is roughly five times too high to qualify, according to the Irish Independent.