Free Republic

U.S.—In an open letter addressed to state officials, Walmart leadership expressed gratefulness to the government for inflating their sales and stock price while completely pulverizing their small business competition. "Yeah, we know 2020 has been tough for the little people," said one board member while shoveling piles of cash into his vault. "But it's been super great for us! No longer do we have to worry about the baker down the street or the family-owned hardware store next door taking away some of our business. The government just blew them up! We didn't even ask them to! Can you believe...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope proposes three progressive candidates for conservative Swiss diocese, election body rejects them allThe Pope's list had three clearly progressivist candidates, all of whom were now rejected by the dome chapter.SWITZERLAND, November 23, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – In a historic move, the 22 members of the cathedral canons called to elect a new bishop of the Diocese of Chur in Grisons, Switzerland rejected with a majority the list of three candidates for the new bishop. Chur has been traditionally the last conservative diocese of the generally very liberal Catholic dioceses in Switzerland. The Pope's list had three clearly progressivist...

A grand jury in Santa Clara, California, has issued an indictment accusing Apple’s chief security officer, Thomas Moyer, of offering bribes to secure concealed carry permits for Apple employees. Moyer allegedly promised to donated 200 iPads worth $70,000 to the sheriff’s office in exchange for four concealed carry licenses “withheld from Apple employees,” according to a press release from the Santa Clara District Attorney Jeff Rosen. “Tom Moyer is innocent of the charges filed against him. He did nothing wrong and has acted with the highest integrity throughout his career. We have no doubt he will be acquitted at trial,”...

The presidential recount in Milwaukee and Dane counties is entering its fourth day. Unofficial results from Nov. 3 show President-elect Joe Biden ahead of President Donald Trump in Wisconsin by about 20,000 votes. Milwaukee County election officials say the recount is moving slowly because Trump’s attorneys have been constantly interrupting and challenging tens of thousands of ballots, alleging fraud and seeking to discount them. They say few votes have actually been counted and the process is falling far behind. The deadline for Wisconsin to certify its election results is Dec. 1.

General rule of thumb for when you stumble upon something weird: Don’t touch it. Especially if it’s a big-ass metal structure of unknown (though, okay, likely human) origin. But that’s exactly what the folks on a sheep-counting expedition (truly) in a remote area of southern Utah did over the weekend. As reported by local NBC affiliate KSL TV, a helicopter crew from the Utah Department Of Public Safety was assisting Division Of Wildlife officers on a mission to count bighorn sheep last week when a biologist spotted a large metal structure on the ground and told them to circle back....

“I have directed the special operations civilian leadership to report directly to me. It will put special operations command on par with the military services for the first time.” – Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller With his momentous statements delivered during a recent event at Fort Bragg, Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller significantly progressed a herculean effort some thirty years in the making. Elevating the assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict to a position equal to the Defense Department service secretaries might sound like bureaucratic reshuffling, but it will change the shape of American...

Alejandro Mayorkas will be the first Latino to run the Homeland Security Department and Avril Haines will be the first woman to serve as Director of National Intelligence, while former Secretary of State John Kerry has been tapped as climate czar and a member of the National Security Council, President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team announced Monday. Mayorkas and Haines mark the first cabinet announcements from the incoming commander-in-chief, and will require Senate approval in order to serve in the posts. Mayorkas served as deputy Homeland Security secretary from 2013 to 2016. He would also be the first immigrant to serve...

Former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen will serve as the 78th Treasury Secretary of the U.S., the Wall Street Journal reported Monday afternoon, citing people familiar with President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team. Yellen, 74, will have her work cut out for her, with the U.S. economy in the midst of the deepest economic crisis since the Great Depression. But Yellen’s deep experience with macroeconomics, in addition to her familiarity with the inner workings of Washington, could prove to be useful tools as the Biden administration takes a swing at a fiscal response to the crisis. If confirmed, Yellen will be...

Saying Pennsylvania is in a “precarious place” with the coronavirus, Gov. Tom Wolf is advising residents to stay home whenever possible and moving forward with other measures to limit the spread of COVID-19. Wolf and Pennsylvania Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine announced new measures in a news conference Monday. Under the new measures that were described as “targeted” steps, indoor events are limited to 500 people and outdoor gatherings are capped at 2,500, Levine said. In addition, schools in most Pennsylvania counties will have to file a certification form with the state if they want to continue to provide in-person...

Francis Makes Another “Secret Call” to ScalfariIn his Sunday editorial, Eugenio Scalfari, an ex-fascist and founder of the anti-Church newspaper La Repubblica revealed he received another "secret" phone call from Francis.Scalfari embarrassed Francis many times publicly.The atheist insists on calling Francis "His Holiness" and "a friend who has helped me rediscover my self and my questions", but reports almost nothing of the call.He rambles instead that Francis “re-interpretation” of “religion” has essentially created his "self," but he remained an atheist despite the many conversations with Francis.His relationship with Francis is fundamental for him to investigate questions that remained "unanswered" in...

President-elect Joe Biden plans to nominate former Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen, an economist at the forefront of policy-making for three decades, to become the next Treasury secretary, according to people familiar with the decision. If confirmed by the Senate, Ms. Yellen would become the first woman to hold the job. Biden’s selection positions the 74-year-old labor economist to lead his administration’s efforts to drive the recovery from the destruction caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Nearly a million people in China have taken an experimental coronavirus vaccine through the country's emergency use program as of Wednesday, according to vaccine developer China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm). China initiated the emergency use program in July. The program so far includes three vaccine candidates for essential workers and high-risk individuals, although clinical studies have not yet proved the vaccines' safety and efficacy, according to Reuters. Two vaccine candidates are developed by Sinopharm's subsidiary China National Biotec Group (CNBG), and the third is developed by Sinovac Biotech. All three vaccines have been used for China's emergency program. "In terms...

Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, Qantas has undertaken some of the most sweeping actions of any major airline – grounding much of its long-haul fleet and drastically reducing its route network. Now, the Australian carrier might have just set a new standard for travel in the post-COVID era as its C.E.O. declared in an interview with the television program, “A Current Affair,” that the airline is looking into options to change its terms and conditions. “For international travelers,” Joyce said, “we will ask people to have a vaccination before they can get on the aircraft.”

As all the world knows, the election of 2020 was destined to be messy, as the two nations inhabiting the territory of these United States geared up for battle: after four years of nonstop media abuse, in which the major news generators had long since abandoned any pretense to impartiality, both sides were spoiling for a fight. The two simply don’t inhabit the same mental universe. For the one faction, the four years of intolerable rule by the evil Orangeman threatened as nothing else had such natural rights as infanticide and sodomitical unions. For the other, the looming tyranny they...

New restrictions on public life in Pennsylvania will take effect this week, including a one-night shutdown on alcohol sales Wednesday evening, as COVID-19 cases continue to increase in the state. Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine announced the new restrictions and recommendations as she said "transmission of COVID-19 is reaching new heights." Among those restrictions will be a temporary shutdown of all alcohol sales on Thanksgiving Eve, which is traditionally a night that many people return to their hometowns and go out drinking with childhood friends.

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday granted an expedited review for Team Trump’s appeal in Pennsylvania. The Trump team’s legal brief must be filed on or before 4:00 PM today. US District Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania Matthew Brann on Saturday dismissed a Trump campaign lawsuit seeking to block Pennsylvania from certifying its election results. Judge Brann, an Obama appointee torched Trump’s legal team and accused them of asking the Court to “disenfranchise almost 7 million voters.” The Trump campaign argued the equal protection clause, however the Obama judge shot...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s capital is tightening its public COVID-19 restrictions in the face of spiraling virus numbers locally and around the country. Mayor Muriel Bowser said Monday that the District of Columbia will remain in Phase 2 of its reopening plan, but she announced a number of adjustments, “so that we can get the virus under control in our city until we get to the other side where a vaccine will be widely available.” Starting Wednesday, Nov. 25, the maximum limit for outdoor gatherings will be reduced from 50 to 25 people and indoor gatherings will be limited...

News AnalysisPresident Donald Trump’s latest executive order bars U.S. investors from holding ownership stakes in a list of 31 Chinese companies designated to have ties with various Chinese Communist Party (CCP) military apparatuses.This order, while somewhat limited in scope, ensnares several well-known Chinese companies, including non-public companies such as Huawei and publicly traded companies such as China Mobile and Hangzhou Hikvision. The 31 companies were previously designated by the Pentagon as being “owned or controlled” by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the official name of the Chinese military. (The list of companies can be found here and here.)The action could...

WASHINGTON — General Motors abandoned President Trump’s battle to nullify California’s fuel economy rules meant to curb global warming, the strongest sign yet that corporate America is moving on from Mr. Trump and adapting to an incoming Democratic administration. The company also signaled that it was ready to work with President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr., who has promised swift action to reduce climate-warming emissions in the auto sector. “President-elect Biden recently said, ‘I believe that we can own the 21st century car market again by moving to electric vehicles.’ We at General Motors couldn’t agree more,” Mary Barra, the General...

BEIJING — China on Monday lashed out at Washington over its withdrawal from the “Open Skies Treaty” with Russia, saying the move undermined military trust and transparency and imperiled future attempts at arms control. The treaty, to which China is not a signatory, had allowed each country overflight rights to inspect military facilities. That leaves only one arms-control pact still in force between the former Cold War foes, the New START treaty, which limits the number of nuclear warheads each may have. That treaty will expire in February and the Trump administration had said it wasn’t interested in extending it...