Free Republic

Construction of Europe’s Biggest Mosque (in France) Highlights Turkey’s Expansionist AimsThe project, undertaken by the radical Muslim organization Millî Gorüs in the French city of Strasbourg, headquarters of the Council of Europe, has generated concern up to the highest spheres of French politics. Political and Symbolic StakesPARIS — A national scandal erupted in France after the municipal council of Strasbourg (located in the northeastern region of Alsace) voted March 22 to grant 2.5-million euros in funding to the construction of a mosque led by Islamist movement Millî Görüş.By virtue of the 1918 Concordat, the Alsace-Moselle region is not subjected...

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) on Tuesday became the second Senate Republican to say she will support a House-passed bill to establish a bipartisan commission on the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, which could come to the floor for a vote this week. “I’m going to support it,” Murkowski told reporters when asked about whether she will vote for the bill that passed with 35 Republican votes in the House last week.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WJAC) — Republican lawmakers are introducing a bill that would ban Pennsylvania from requiring "vaccine passports."Senate Bill 618 was introduced by Senators Kristin Phillips-Hill (R-28), Michele Brooks (R-50) and Judy Ward (R-30) and would prevent the state, counties, municipalities or school districts from requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccinations.“Much like the COVID-19 vaccine is a choice for any Pennsylvanian to make based on their own personal decisions, the state or government at any level should not require every citizen to show proof of this vaccine,” Phillips-Hill said. “Our goal should be focused on getting the vaccine to those who...

Despite some hope that the pandemic might bring the country a baby boom, we had a bust. Total fertility in 2020 was the lowest rate on record since the government began tracking it in the 1930s, and total births were the lowest since 1979, well below the replacement rate of 2.1 births per woman. Economic and health concerns weighed on the minds of those who chose not to have a child this past year. But the plummeting numbers fit with a multi-year trend: American women are simply having fewer children and are waiting much longer to marry than women just...

New York City Mayor reportedly ordered the NYPD to refrain from protecting pro-Israel protesters in Times Square during a scheduled rally. This news comes from a claim made by Andrew Giuliani, son of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and candidate to be Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s replacement.According to Giuliani, members of the NYPD told him that de Blasio specifically and directly ordered them not to protect the pro-Israel rally, posting on Twitter: “We have been told by NYPD that they have been told by the @NYCMayor Office not to protect the pro-Israel rally in Times Square @3pm. We will...

Today, United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, introduced the Restoring the IRS Act of 2021, which would provide the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) with the resources it needs to go after wealthy tax cheats and close the tax gap. The bill would rebuild and strengthen the IRS by permanently removing the IRS's base budget from the annual appropriations process and providing $31.5 billion in mandatory annual funding. This funding will allow the IRS to fairly enforce the tax code, modernize its IT systems, and improve taxpayer services. -snip- The bill would also improve...

EIGHTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME MARK 10:28–31 Friends, today’s Gospel exhorts us to see the radicality and rewards of Jesus’ call to discipleship, which cuts through so many of the social conventions of his time and ours. He urges us to see that everyone—rich and poor, men and women, those on the inside and those on the outs—is summoned to discipleship, and that this summons is the most important consideration of all. It is the better part, to use Jesus’ words; it is the one thing necessary. St. Augustine was right: "Lord, you have made us for yourself, and our...

Just another Tuesday in Liberal-run Minneapolis where a reporter and his news team ducked for cover after a hail of gunfire was heard near the intersection where George Floyd died. AP’s Philip Crowther was shooting live video from 38th and Chicago when as many as 30 gunshots were heard one block from the intersection where George Floyd was killed last year. Reporter Philip Crowther was interrupted by what are believed to be gunshots, as he was reporting on the anniversary of George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis for CGTN. Crowther reports 30 shots fired. No immediate injuries were reported on the...

A drive-by shooting appears to have been caught on live television at George Floyd's memorial Tuesday in Minneapolis, on the one-year anniversary of his death. NBC News cited at least one person was hospitalized for non-life-threatening injuries, according to authorities. The shooting occurred after 10 a.m. at the 3800 block of Elliot Avenue, Minneapolis Police said via a press statement. The suspected shooter was last seen driving away from the scene, according to police. “Shots fired at George Floyd Square in Minneapolis,” reported Fox News correspondent Garrett Tenney. “It sounded like an exchange of gunfire with around 10 shots. Our...

As a mom, the well-being and education of our children are top concerns. Even before the pandemic, our schools were falling behind. Now, we’ve seen a troubling pattern where Washington politics and special interest groups are placed above the needs of students.

The Washington Post’s editor and chief-writer for the fact-checking division, Glenn Kessler, is under fire for admitting he was absolutely wrong to claim the Wuhan Lab Theory regarding the origins of Covid-19 was “virtually impossible.” It wasn’t just that he was amazingly wrong. It’s how he went about waving “science” in the faces of people like Senator Ted Cruz and others who challenged the accepted narrative at the time.And therein lies the problem. It wasn’t science. It was absolutely, unambiguously a narrative driven by the Chinese Communist Party through their proxies at the World Health Organization, who then pushed the...

Sen. Anthony Bouchard says he is staying in the U.S. House race following the disclosure that he impregnated a 14-year-old when he was 18, striking a defiant tone at the possibility that he could face repercussions in the Wyoming Legislature. “They’re gonna censure me for (what I did) 37 years ago? That’d be great,” he said. “Do it. Bring it on.” Bouchard has faced a wave of criticism after he acknowledged late Thursday that he had impregnated the girl, whom he married a year later. But speaking to the Star-Tribune after a Monday legislative meeting in Gillette, Bouchard scoffed at...

Ever since the craze of trying to erase the nation’s history by tearing down monuments that some people find offensive got started, there have been repeated demands to “do something” about Stone Mountain Confederate monument in Georgia. Unlike some of the typical statues that cities erect that can be dragged down during a riot with some ropes and chains, however, this one isn’t so easy for protesters to tackle. For one thing, it’s gigantic. It takes up three acres of space and it’s literally carved into the side of a mountain, as the name suggests. It depicts Jefferson Davis, Robert...

After decades of whining about the evils of privatization, the same set of leftists who once cried “eat the rich” and “abolish billionaires” in 2020 embraced a billionaire’s efforts to partially privatize American elections. Anyone paying attention to election integrity efforts following serious questions some legislators raised after the 2020 general already know his name.Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg poured a shocking $350 million into a nonprofit called the Center for Technology and Civic Life (CTCL), massively inflating the organization’s revenues from only $1.4 million in 2018. The “Zuck bucks” were then distributed as CTCL grants to hundreds of county and...

While Sayragul Sauytbay was held in a government-run concentration camp in China’s Xinjiang province, she was forced to sign a paper mandating her own death if she spoke of the camp’s atrocities. Undeterred, since her escape she has raised awareness of the horrors perpetrated against the Uyghur people, receiving an International Woman of Courage Award from U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in 2020.Her book “The Chief Witness: Escape From China’s Modern-Day Concentration Camps,” written with journalist Alexandra Cavelius, came out earlier this month and is available from publisher Scribe. Excerpts published Saturday by the Daily Mail reveal stories of...

WOODLAWN, Md. (AP) — Baltimore County police released body camera footage Friday that shows a fierce exchange of gunfire between officers and a man who killed three people and set his home on fire earlier this month. Footage from body cameras show officers arriving at a townhome community in Woodlawn where smoke is billowing from a home engulfed in flames. A shot is heard immediately after an officer gets out of his SUV and the video shows him taking cover. He fires one shot toward the burning house and a figure in black drops to the ground. Other officers arrive...

The first man in the world to receive a Covid-19 vaccination has died, aged 81. Bill Shakespeare was only the second person in the world to get the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in December at University Hospital Coventry. Coventry councillor Jayne Innes said that Mr Shakespeare had died and said the “best tribute to Bill is to have the jab”. In a Facebook post, she added: “Bill will be remembered for many things, including a taste for mischief.” West Midlands Labour group said on Twitter: “Bill made global headlines as the first man to have Covid vaccine. “His decades of service to...

Source: Greg Burton, the head of Westrock Rescue Squad, teaches local first responder volunteers how to quickly and safely extract crash victims after an accident. Photo credit Salena ZitoHOT SPRINGS, Virginia -- Where the tidy brick sidewalks end at the edge of the business district, the carnage was jarring. Two cars had their roofs sheared off. Shattered glass was strewn everywhere. In the distance, an older van was upturned, on its roof, alongside two vehicles on their sides and another car in a ditch, completely upside down and touching the creek. Known colloquially as Sam Snead Highway, the winding road...

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) condemned Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) Tuesday for equating wearing masks and receiving coronavirus vaccines to the holocaust. Marjorie is wrong, and her intentional decision to compare the horrors of the Holocaust with wearing masks is appalling. The Holocaust is the greatest atrocity committed in history. The fact that this needs to be stated today is deeply troubling

Virginia’s Democrats know a bad thing happened to them on May 8. They know more than 53,000 Republicans signed up for the unassembled convention to select candidates for statewide office when only 5,000 were expected. They know that Republicans will have the more diverse ticket, Republicans who have the resources and momentum and Republicans who have on their side what are shaping up as the issues in this campaign. They know Republicans selected a transformational ticket, led by businessman Glenn Youngkin, who lives in Great Falls but grew up in Virginia Beach, giving him links to two of the state’s...