Free Republic

At what point are we going to pick a target and volley on that target? So many personal projects that are conflicting with each other and causing everything to be unproductive. At what point are we going to start taking out issues in mass one at a time? We can only blame ourselves for what we are dealing with. So many personal issues, no time to collaborate, and no care beyond our own personal pet issues. We are losing for this reason alone. We are too concerned and selfish about our own pet issues to see the bigger picture... Anyone?...

Derek Chauvin’s lawyers found a “speedball” pill with George Floyd’s DNA in the ex-cop’s Minneapolis squad car — months after it was seized and searched by police, testimony at Chauvin’s murder trial revealed Wednesday. Minnesota forensics scientists said the pill contained traces of fentanyl and methamphetamine when it was tested at the request of Chauvin’s defense team, which found it during a fresh search of the squad car in January. The car had been sealed since police first searched it on May 27 — two days after Floyd’s police custody death — and with the items inside photographed but not...

House Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced Wednesday that the House will vote on the D.C. statehood bill for the second time two weeks from now. Although it is certain to pass the Democrat-controlled House, its fate is uncertain in the tied Senate with GOP members opposing the measure.

Nude images of Katie Hill were in the “public interest” when they were published by The Daily Mail — a Los Angeles judge ruled on Wednesday, in dismissing the ex-congresswoman’s lawsuit against the media outlet. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Yolanda Orozco said the photos spoke to Hill’s “character” and “qualifications” for office, which she left in October 2019, less than one year into her first term, according to a ruling obtained by The Los Angeles Daily News. The Mail’s website published the pics days before the California Democrat resigned amid intense scrutiny over her three-way relationship with her husband...

“No man’s life, liberty or property are safe while the Legislature is in session.” That’s how Gideon Tucker — a New Yorker who knew Albany as a former legislator, secretary of state and judge — put it back in 1866. His wisdom, as demonstrated repeatedly over the ages, is timeless. Yet there is something different, and especially troubling, about this time. The possibility of permanent decline and the ultimate destruction of the New York we know is unmatched in modern memory. With Republicans reduced to hecklers, Albany Democrats, oblivious or reckless or both, are marching toward the cliff in an...

I previously wrote that the key to conviction in the Derek Chauvin trial (and avoiding a cascading failure in all four cases) is the autopsy findings and the role of drugs (including fentanyl) in the body of George Floyd. Prosecutors are now asking the jury to effectively dismiss the findings of the only official autopsy in the case and insist, contrary to those findings, that Floyd died from asphyxia, or, lack of oxygen. Some new disclosures may make that claim more difficult for the prosecution. Last week, special prosecutor Jerry Blackwell admitted to jurors that Hennepin County Chief Medical Examiner...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media. I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ~ 1 Timothy 2:1-2 Religion Forum Threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 1 JOHN 5:14

It is not known if the snake had escaped or was abandonedA member of the public found an eight foot python slithering around in the Welsh countryside. The serpent, later identified as a reticulated python, was found on a farm near woodlands in Troedyrhiw, Merthyr Tydfil. The RSPCA is now appealing for information after it was handed into the charity's Merthyr clinic. It is not known if the python had escaped or was abandoned. It has now been transferred to a specialist keeper after the discovery where it will be kept if the owner isn’t found. As snakes are not...

When Cowboys for Trump leader Couy Griffin was arrested for his alleged role in the riot at the U.S. Capitol, a federal judge revoked his right to have a firearm. However, on Wednesday a judge restored that right for Griffin with some limitations in place. Griffin, who is also a commissioner in Otero County, faces federal trespassing and disorderly conduct charges in connection to the breach of the U.S. Capitol. He was arrested back in January and held for weeks until a judge released him under the condition that he was not allowed to have any firearms. On Wednesday, Griffin...

The Coeur d’Alene Fire Department, Area Agency on Aging of North Idaho and Panhandle Health District are working together to begin an in-home COVID-19 vaccination program. The program starts today, April 7 and will continue over the next three weeks. Those who are homebound in the Panhandle Health District can call to make an appointment. There will not be a cost for the service. The crew consists of an EMT from the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department along with a volunteer with the Area Agency on Aging of North Idaho. If you are homebound and looking to get vaccinated, Area Agency...

A week into the fiasco over Georgia's election law, most Americans want to know: just who are these woke CEOs listening to? Not to their shareholders, who can't make a profit when their companies alienate half of the country. Not to lawyers or legislators, who could set them straight on what the policy actually does. And certainly not to U.S. consumers, who are sending a resounding message that they're done with businesses who can't check their radicalism at the door long enough to read a 98-page piece of legislation. "It's insanity," Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) agreed on "Washington Watch." Like...

Way back in 1959 legendary science fiction author and political libertarian Robert Heinlein was quite clairvoyant in predicting the demise of our culture due to misguided progressive policies and beliefs. Much of Troopers’ “future history” is told via high school teacher and former infantryman Colonel Jean DuBois to protagonist Juan Rico (by the way, how is that for diversity — a novel from the 1950s in which the main character is Filipino and whose family speaks Tagalog?). In one scene, students in DuBois’ class are horrified that children couldn’t play in city parks in the 20th and early 21st centuries...

he 2021 Anthem Film Festival — the annual screening of the latest libertarian films and documentaries — will be held in the shadow of Mount Rushmore in Rapid City, South Dakota, July 21-24, 2021. It is part of the larger FreedomFest event. You may purchase registration here. The festival is currently seeking libertarian films for its 2021 event. “We seek movies and documentaries about self-reliance, innovation, entrepreneurship, individual rights, and the triumph of persuasion over force. Libertarian films often point out the unintended consequences of government intervention, but they’re just as likely to be about a protagonist’s personal struggle for...

The Chinese regime sent more fighter jets into Taiwan’s air defense zone on April 7 in a stepped-up show of force around the island that Beijing claims as its own, as Taiwan’s foreign minister said it would fight to the end if the communist regime attacks. The democratic self-governed island has complained of repeated military activities by Beijing in recent months, with China’s air force making almost daily forays in Taiwan’s air defense identification zone. On April 5, the Chinese regime said an aircraft carrier group was operating close to the island. Taiwan’s defense ministry said 15 Chinese aircraft including...

The world has averted a systemic debt crisis amid the pandemic. However, the poorest developing countries continue to face significant debt problems, raising global worries over multiplying debt traps by creditors like China. Addressing the rising risk of a systemic debt crisis in developing countries is one of the key themes at this week’s virtual spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Economists believe tackling debt vulnerabilities in poor nations is critical for preventing divergent recoveries around the world. Hence, IMF and World Bank officials are calling for extending debt relief for the most vulnerable...

Iran knows they can do what they want with Obama/Biden in charge again. ..... Snip..... With Obama/Biden back in charge, Iran will do what it wants. Now with the help of the European Union, the US and Iran will hold indirect talks to get the Iran deal back on the table. Per ABC: The U.S. and Iran are holding indirect talks on Tuesday in what could be the first step toward reviving the 2015 deal that constrains Tehran’s nuclear facilities in exchange for sanctions relief. The meetings, hosted by the European Union, will work toward two separate agreements — on...

It was said of the late actress Sylvia Miles, who spent her nights going from event to event in New York, that she would “attend the opening of an envelope.” US government virus guru Anthony Fauci has very little in common with Sylvia Miles: He wasn’t nominated twice for an Oscar, for example, and he has never, to my knowledge, appeared in the nude. But he has become as ubiquitous a public presence over the past year in all media as Miles was at every party. Every day, and it seems for hours a day, Fauci pops up on cable...

Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met with Chinese government officials in Alaska. On our own soil, they made it very plain that the U.S. officials should sit down and shut up. The Chinese pointed out that we have the Black Lives Matter, Antifa and riots going on in our country so we have no business saying anything about Hong Kong and their "treatment of their own people (Uyghurs)". With regard to the Uyghurs, Joe Biden said it is "just a cultural difference". That was helpful. Russia is watching all this along...

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Easter Vigil, when the Gospel readings tell of the discovery of Christ’s empty tomb, is one of the most dramatic liturgies on the Christian calendar, and Pope Francis used the service Saturday (April 3) to invite faithful to “begin anew” — follow Jesus by letting go of the nostalgia for the past. According to the Gospels, the women who had been following Christ before his death go to his sepulcher to find an angel who tells them that their leader “is going ahead of you to Galilee.” In his homily, Francis said going to Galilee means...

The most insightful critics of Marxism said that socialism’s greatest failure comes not from economics but anthropology and theology. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., put that reality on display on Easter Sunday, when he tweeted that collective social action “is more transcendent than the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” On the holiest holiday on the liturgical calendar, Warnock wrote: The meaning of Easter is more transcendent than the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Whether you are Christian or not, through a commitment to helping others we are able to save ourselves.Warnock had previously asserted from the pulpit that “the early church was a...