Free Republic

Mitch McConnell, the U.S. Senate Republican leader, said on Monday he would agree to a power-sharing agreement with Democrats, dropping demands that had held up the basic organization and daily work of the 50-50 chamber for days. Democrat Chuck Schumer, now the majority leader thanks to Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote, and McConnell had been at odds over the Republican’s request that Democrats promise to protect the filibuster, which requires a 60-vote supermajority to advance most legislation. Schumer has refused to guarantee the filibuster would stay. But in a statement, McConnell cited comments from moderate Democratic Senators Joe Manchin...

One of the most invoked pearls of wisdom of the Internet era, Godwin's Law, states that in any discussion, regardless of topic, the probability of introducing a Nazi argument or counterargument approaches 100%. As a rule, it marks the end of a discussion. Of course, the Nazi theme used in the original Godwin adage is just a particular case of a more general principle: whoever of whatever at present personifies evil the best could be used as a discussion-stopper. Whoever or whatever is perceived now as the ultimate bogeyman will do. There are numerous examples of such phenomena. Reductio ad...

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts will not preside over former President Trump’s Senate impeachment trial, which is scheduled to begin in earnest on Feb. 8. Instead, Senate President Pro Tempore Patrick Leahy (Vt.), the most senior member of the Senate Democratic Conference, will preside over the trial. Leahy on Monday confirmed he would wield the gavel and promised to administer “impartial justice.” Republicans say Roberts’s absence undermines the legitimacy of the trial. “The Constitution requires that the chief justice preside over the impeachment trial of a president but that’s not what we’re doing. To me that’s indicative of the...

Experts recently told Fox News there is little to no evidence behind 'double masking' ---- Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical adviser on COVID-19, said two face masks are likely more effective than one against the novel coronavirus, despite significant uncertainty on the subject. "If you have a physical covering with one layer, you put another layer on it just makes common sense that it likely would be more effective," Fauci told NBC News on Monday. Infectious disease experts from Stanford Health Care, Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins University recently told Fox News there is little to no evidence...

Concerning the Eucharist and how what was supposed to be the exception to the rule after Vatican II goes against previous councils, and against popes in agreement with those councils both during, before and after each, etc: 1.) St. Sixtus 1 (circa 115): "The Sacred Vessels are not to be handled by others than those consecrated to the Lord." 2.) St. Basil the Great, Doctor of the Church (330-379): "The right to receive Holy Communion in the hand is permitted only in times of persecution." St. Basil the Great considered Communion in the hand so irregular that he did not...

New video post by Jon Voight about hope. Sorry it's on Twitter.

The DOJ Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is initiating an investigation into whether any former or current DOJ official engaged in an improper attempt to have DOJ seek to alter the outcome of the 2020 Presidential Election. The investigation will encompass all relevant allegations that may arise that are within the scope of the OIG’s jurisdiction. The OIG has jurisdiction to investigate allegations concerning the conduct of former and current DOJ employees. The OIG's jurisdiction does not extend to allegations against other government officials. The OIG is making this statement, consistent with DOJ policy, to reassure the public that...

President Joe Biden said Monday that Americans could expect to continue dealing with the coronavirus pandemic into the early fall. The president responded to a question from Fox News reporter Peter Doocy, who asked whether Biden was fulfilling his campaign promise to “shut down” the virus. “I’m going to shut down the virus, but I never said I’d do it in two months,” Biden said and added, “It’s going to take a heck of a lot of time.” The president spoke to reporters about the battle against the virus after signing an executive order promoting federal purchasing from companies making...

Impeachment Farce, the Second (Benny Hill Style)

Paul Sperry: WARNING: If you think vote fraud can't get worse, think again. Democrat Congress set to pass "HR.1" bill to make vote fraud radically easier across nation rather than just in Dem-controlled counties like Fulton. Dems to also pass Stacey Abrams-backed Voting Rights Advancement Act

People Who Got What They Deserve

Wheeler was with former Portland mayor Sam Adams when a man confronted them outside McMenamins Hillsdale Brewery & Public House, according to a police report obtained by The Oregonian. The man reportedly complained that Wheeler and Adams were not wearing face masks while dining. The two had been inside the restaurant’s tent, and Wheeler explained to the man that masks are not required while eating, KOIN reported. Recording with his cellphone, the man, who was maskless, then followed Wheeler to his car. “I became imminently concerned for my personal safety,” Wheeler later told authorities, as detailed in the police report....

Update (8:45 a.m.): Crews early Monday are working on setting up signs and traffic controls in the corridors leading into the work zone, ODOT says. They will be closing ramps and narrowing lanes later Monday once those are in place, according to spokeswoman Kenna Mitchell. ----- A “massive” $90 million project on Interstate 44 and U.S. 75 in west Tulsa will begin Monday. The project will include: - Widening and reconstructing all pavement on I-44 from four lanes to six between the west side of the Arkansas River bridge and Union Avenue. - Replacing five bridges; one at Union Avenue...

President Joe Biden threw aside his inaugural pledge to seek “unity,” declaring Monday evening that the Senate impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump “has to happen.” Biden had previously been ambivalent about a trial, hinting that he opposed it, but saying he would let Congress decide. President Joe Biden on Monday offered his most extensive comments since taking office on former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, telling CNN, “I think it has to happen.” Biden made the comment during a brief one-on-one interview with CNN in the halls of the West Wing. He acknowledged the effect it could have...

A Freedom of Information Request shows that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Director of the National Institute for Health’s National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases and current Chief Medical Advisor to the President, is the highest paid US government employee. Data from the latest year for which federal salaries are available reveal that Fauci made $417,608 in 2019. That salary gave him the dubious distinction of being the highest paid individual out of all four million federal employees. In contrast, the President of the United States has a legislated salary of $400,000 annually. The salary data was collected by the...

The Bishop of Palakkad, Jacob Manathodath, has courted controversy after recommending a Catholic as a candidate for the Communist Party of India (CPI) for an election in Kerala. In his letter, dated 11th January, to Kanam Rajendram, the CPI State secretary, the bishop demanded the candidature of Isaac Varghese, a local industrialist for the upcoming elections for Kerala’s 140-seat legislative assembly. “Mr Isaac Varghesse who has applied to you for animation to contend the election for the Legislative Assembly constituency of Mannarkkad is a prominent and respected member of our community,” he wrote. “He will therefore get our support. He...

In Moscow, the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation handed over several early-18th-century icons to Metropolitan Tikhon of Pskov and Porkhov, the abbot of the Pskov Caves Monastery. At the request of His Eminence Metropolitan Tikhon (Shevkunov) of Pskov and Porkhov, a search was undertaken for a number of unique icons that were taken to Germany from the Pskov Diocese during the Nazi occupation in WWII. After an extensive search by the Russian Special Services together with their German counterparts, 12 icons were found in a private collection abroad. The icons are a Menaion series, depicting the...

Tony Blinken, the Biden administration’s nominee for Secretary of State, managed a Joe Biden project that received millions of anonymous Chinese donor dollars. Blinken appeared a handful of times in emails found on Hunter Biden’s laptop agreeing to advise Hunter Biden when Hunter worked at the scandal-plagued firm Rosemont Seneca Partners. The Obama State Department set up a meeting between Hunter and Blinken which was postponed, and the two met two months later in 2015.Hunter Biden coordinated introductions between Blinken and his associates, and Blinken was named in an email in connection to a shady prospective deal involving the federal...

ROSARIO, Argentina — On Sunday, the Catholic Church in Latin America launched a consultation process that involves not only the hierarchy but also the laity, and Pope Francis reminded those taking part that “an elite illumined by one ideology or another” is not the Church. “This Ecclesial Assembly [cannot] be an elite, separated from the holy faithful People of God,” said Francis in a video message sent to the online presentation of the Ecclesial Assembly of Latin America and the Caribbean. An assembly, the pope says, is a sign of a Church that doesn’t exclude anyone. The pope’s words were...

A 28-year-old Tennessee man has been arrested and charged for creating a “disrespectful Photoshopped image.” He is accused of manipulating a photograph of a deceased officer’s grave and posting it on social media.Joshua Andrew Garton was arrested and charged with one count of harassment after he reportedly Photoshopped a fake photo that depicted two people desecrating the grave of deceased officer Sergeant Daniel Baker. Baker was killed in the line of duty in 2018.According to NBC News, the image apparently depicted two men urinating on the grave, with the accompanying text reading, “Just showing my respect to deputy Daniel Baker.”...