Free Republic

Having forced myself to listen to most of the Republican National Convention (RNC) orations in late August, I was struck by what my daughter, who had done such work professionally, characterized as the program’s “underlying marketing strategy.” The GOP’s advisers seem to have pitched their message at the demographics among whom Trump has had the least support in the polls, namely suburban, college-educated women, and blacks. Trump, according to the polls, was losing the former group until recently by about 20 percentage points, and may be winning the votes of no more than 8 percent of blacks. The overall size...

QINGYANG, China (Reuters) - Red coal trucks zip up and down narrow dirt tracks, churning up clouds of dust in China's remote Gansu province. Nearby, the towering stanchions of a new railway bridge rise out of a muddy river winding through the hills. The Huaneng Group, one of five big Chinese state utilities, is building a $1.9 billion 4 gigawatt coal and power project in the northwestern region near the city of Qingyang, with the aim of delivering its electricity to the east of the country.... ...[China] added 11.4 gigawatts of coal-fired capacity in the first six months of 2020,...

UK bishops double down: COVID vaccine derived from aborted baby can be used in ‘good conscience’ MANCHESTER, England, September 25, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — The bishops of England and Wales have walked back their controversial July statement declaring Catholics “have a prima facie duty to be vaccinated.” In a September 24 statement, the bishops now say it is a matter of individual conscience, while at the same time defending Catholics who choose to take a vaccine derived from an aborted baby as acting in “good conscience.” However, this position appears at odds with recent statements by several high-ranking prelates and lay...

The swarm happening now south of the Salton Sea, near Westmoreland is over 30 km south of the end of the San Andreas. It is in the Brawley seismic zone, a common source of swarms. So far largest is M4.4. Too far from the San Andreas to change the probability of a quake on it.

~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~ ~ Remembering Our Troops!! ~ DANGLING FROM 350 FEET Marines are being lifted to a height of over 350 feet in the air to avoid any possible obstacles before flying around the area during insertion and extraction rigging training on Camp Pendleton, Calif., Nov. 19, 2015. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Briauna Birl Canteen Mission Statement Showing support and boosting the morale ofour military and our allies' militaryand family members of the above.Honoring those who have served before. WELDING SHOP Navy Seaman Quinton Mems welds a handrail in the machinery shop aboard...

The day after the shouting heard around the world, we of course have all the armchair commentators telling you who won, who lost, and why it matters. Yet in the age of Facebook and Twitter pulling the FACT CHECKER card on anything being posted ( when they go after the Babylon Bee it is always a hoot) who is to check the fact-checkers and their fact-checking?Luckily, you have me. When a good friend of mine who happens to be an elected official dropped this Business Insider story entitled Fact-checking the first Trump-Biden debate of the 2020 election on a Facebook...

As a mother of four children, I’ve done A LOT of school shopping. I don’t mean the autumn ritual of purchasing school supplies. I mean shopping for schools – pouring over promotional materials, combing through websites, asking friends and community members for referrals to their favorite schools, attending open houses and orientations, comparing curriculums and educational philosophies, meeting teachers and principals and students who all claim that their school is the best. But keep in mind – I’m not just a mom of four children. I’m a mom of four Black children, and I’m also a psychologist who is very...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Shortlisted for Trump's Supreme Court appointment, Judge Amy Coney Barrett held a press conference today where she wore a Handmaid's Tale costume just to freak the Left out. Barrett walked out in the red cloak and white bonnet, causing most of the reporters gathered to pass out instantly. "If selected to serve on the Supreme Court, I look forward to forcing women to have babies and ushering in a Catholic theocracy," she said, holding back laughter. "In fact, the first decision I want to hand down is that women who don't have at least seven babies will be executed."

Because the question puts Joe Biden and Kamala Harris between a rock and a hard place, and everyone knows it. Members of their own party in the Senate have floated the idea of packing the court if Democrats win the election and take control of Washington. That would require a bill to pass Congress and a president to sign the bill, and it would dramatically remake the Article III branch of government. That makes it a top-tier presidential-election issue, and Joe Biden knows it.Last night, though, Biden refused to answer the question lest voters take that answer into consideration...

Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott and President Jay Wallace congratulate presidential debate moderator Chris Wallace for “professionalism, skill and fortitude” during last night’s debate between President Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

The National Park Service cited public safety concerns for its decision this week to prohibit access to a sacred Tohono O’odham site, a move that comes amid rising tensions between border wall protestors and federal agents. Park service officials said the decision to shut down roads to the Quitobaquito Springs, posted Monday on a website for nearby Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, was made at the request of Customs and Border Protection, and referred questions to the border agency... The order comes a week after protestors and federal agents clashed during a demonstration at the site of border wall construction...

As you might expect, the source of the anxiety is different for each party. For the GOP, it’s a simple numbers game. A lot of mail-in ballots have come in already and it’s widely understood that Democrats are far more prone to vote by mail than Republicans are. The Quinnipiac poll of South Carolina that I wrote about earlier contained this eye-popping number in response to a question about whether voters there plan to vote in person or by mail:If you’re a Republican and you’re hearing reports of an avalanche of mail ballots pouring in early, you’re left with...

A woman in upstate New York was arrested Sunday for allegedly using six children to steal Trump campaign signs from people’s homes, according to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office. Deana Algarin, 45, is charged with six counts of endangering the welfare of a child, criminal possession of stolen property, petit larceny, marijuana possession, as well as two citations for seatbelt violations involving children less than 15 years old. Algarin’s arrest followed an investigation into stolen Trump campaign signs from locations in Montgomery and Schenectady County. A New York State police officer pulled over Algarin on Highway 103 after Montgomery County...

SACRAMENTO, CA—In a move to prevent Californians from fleeing by the millions, Gavin Newsom announced a ban on gasoline automobiles this week. The law will make it so that Californians can't drive away and escape the state in a matter of hours, forcing them to instead form migrant caravans and make the treacherous trek across the blistering deserts of the Southwest. "Now, they'll have to cross the desert on foot," Newsom said as he handed down the order. "I'll show them, trying to flee my progressive utopia! Ha ha ha ha ha!"

Bishop Seitz: Single-issue voting has corrupted Christian political witness One day last year, I found myself waiting motionless, jammed in a confined space between concrete barriers, razor wire and armed border guards. I stood tensely under the burning desert summer sun in a dusty no man’s land on the international border between the United States and Mexico. I was holding the hand of a young, dark-skinned girl with brown hair, and my anxiety grew as we looked toward the United States, just feet away, and at the guards barring our entry.Back in her home country, the girl’s aunts and uncles...

So declared Joe Biden at Tuesday night’s debate as he tried to parry President Trump’s charge that he will be a false front man for the Democratic Party’s increasingly dominant left. But for a man who says he’s in charge, the former Vice President sure is reluctant to say what he believes in. His first duck and cover came early in the debate when moderator Chris Wallace asked if he’d support the party’s increasingly vocal demands to eliminate the Senate’s legislative filibuster and then pack the Supreme Court. Mr. Biden: “Whatever position I take on that, that’ll become the issue....

Sturm, Ruger and Company, Inc. (NYSE: RGR) announced today that its offer to purchase substantially all of the Marlin Firearms assets was accepted by Remington Outdoor Company, Inc. and approved by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Alabama. The Company will pay the $30 million purchase price from cash on hand at the time of closing, which is expected to occur in October. "The value of Marlin and its 150-year legacy was too great of an opportunity for us to pass up," said Ruger President and CEO Chris Killoy. "The brand aligns perfectly with ours and...

Recently it was reported that creepy Andrew Weissmann, the kingpin behind the Mueller investigation, and a large group of Mueller gang members all destroyed the information on their phones after the Strzok and Page text messages were uncovered. Today a report has been uncovered where Weissmann reported on a ‘wiped’ Special Counsel phone that the government’s iPhones are backed up and no data will be lost....

Pompeo Shames Francis Citing John Paul II Vatican mute on China at religious freedom symposium ROME (ChurchMilitant.com) - In a feat of consummate diplomatic éclat, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo chastened Pope Francis on China, referring repeatedly to the "bold moral witness" of Pope John Paul II against communism.  Pompeo meets Italy's prime minister Giuseppe Conte in Rome "Every serious scholar of the Cold War now acknowledges that Pope John Paul II played a pivotal role in igniting the revolution that brought down the Iron Curtain," Pompeo declared, addressing the symposium on Advancing and Defending International Religious Freedom Through...

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced on Thursday, Sept. 24, that it had settled charges against BMW for disclosing inaccurate and misleading information about the automaker’s retail sales volume here in the United States as it raised around $18 billion from investors. BMW — the German-based automaker BMW AG and two U.S. subsidiaries including BMW of North America and BMW US Capital — inflated its reported sales, which then helped the company decrease the gap between its actual sales and internal targets, according to a release by the SEC. The inflated sales also kept BMW in a “leading sales position”...