Free Republic

Senate Republicans on Wednesday voted to block debate on the $1.2 trillion infrastructure proposal that was previously touted as bipartisan.A group of 22 Democratic and Republican senators issued a statement to media outlets after the vote that they are “close to a final agreement” and are hopeful that a package will be finalized.“We will continue working hard to ensure we get this critical legislation right—and are optimistic that we will finalize, and be prepared to advance, this historic bipartisan proposal to strengthen America’s infrastructure and create good-paying jobs in the coming days,” they said in a statement.It came weeks after...

Remember the old adage “my body, my choice”? Apparently that’s valid only if you want to murder your baby, for everything else, it would seem, the government has the right to tell you what you can and can not do with your body. This is what GOP Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was alluding to today when he threatened another nationwide lockdown if you refuse to be jabbed. Yet as Americans are threatened with lockdown, one thing that remains wide open is our southern border through which flow thousands of COVID-positive illegals. I was talking with my buddy Craig about this...

In yet another example of California’s decline under Democratic leadership, two men were caught on film casually walking out of a suburban Los Angeles TJ Maxx store while carrying armfulls of merchandise – just seven months after LA District Attorney George Gascón announced his office would no longer prosecute misdemeanor crimes such as shoplifting. Thanks to Prop 47 thefts under $950 will not be prosecuted, so cops will not bother showing up. Just a reminder that you get what you voted for, California! pic.twitter.com/jWUPdJzy0A — Adam Carolla (@adamcarolla) July 20, 2021 The incident occurred at the TJ Maxx in Granada...

Great Britain’s women’s soccer team has taken the knee before their Tokyo 2020 Olympic soccer match against Chile, the first time the protest to highlight racial injustice has been performed at the Games. The women’s team had previously confirmed that it would be taking the knee before its matches in Tokyo after England’s men’s soccer team also did before every game at the Euro 2020 competition this summer. Chile’s players responded by also taking the knee in the Sapporo Dome in Japan’s capital, which is being played without fans in attendance as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. […] New...

Alabama quarterback Bryce Young has already made almost $1 million in sponsorship and endorsement money, according to Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban, Yahoo Sports has reported. Saban’s statement comes as college athletes nationwide have been permitted since July 1 to make money off their name and image rights after the NCAA rescinded its restrictive rules limiting the rights of athletes due to state laws superseding NCAA rules. Saban made his comments at the Texas High School Coaches Association convention, saying that Young “already has approached ungodly numbers. I’m not going to say what they are. He hasn’t even played yet....

The story of the young Russian Orthodox boy who was repeatedly beaten by Muslim children at a summer camp in Kyrgyzstan caused an outcry in both Russia and Kyrgyzstan. After the story became known, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia wrote a letter to the boy and his family to commend him for his strength of faith and to invite him to Moscow. The Patriarch wrote: I learned with great concern about the incident that happened to you at the sports camp. I would like to express to you my sincere sympathy.Having shown fortitude and courage, you...

The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association board of directors praised Harsha Walia for stepping down despite her tweet that supported violent acts.July 20, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – The head of a Canadian civil group who called for Catholic churches to be burned “down” in late June resigned from her job after an outcry. In a statement posted last Friday, the board of directors for the British Columbia (B.C.) Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) announced they accepted the resignation of Harsha Walia, who served as its executive director. The BCCLA Board heavily praised Walia for “her bold, skillful, and compassionate leadership” at the...

By Annie Linskey , Dan Diamond , Tyler Pager and Lena H. Sun Today at 8:03 p.m. EDT Top White House aides and Biden administration officials are debating whether they should urge vaccinated Americans to wear masks in more settings as the delta variant causes spikes in coronavirus infections across the country, according to six people familiar with the discussions. The talks are in a preliminary phase and their result could be as simple as new messaging from top White House officials. But some of the talks include officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who are separately...

Anthony Fauci continues to lecture America about vaccinations. Joe Biden bizarrely accuses Facebook of “killing people” with COVID “misinformation.” Meanwhile, the number of COVID-positive illegal aliens streaming across the border continues to explode — including a 900 percent increase in July, alone. Forty Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents have tested positive, including five who were hospitalized.Democrat priorities, America.As Fox News reported on Wednesday, Rio Grande Valley Sector Chief Patrol Agent Brian Hastings told KURV radio in McAllen, Texas, that just during the first two weeks in July, 135 migrants being detained tested positive for the coronavirus — marking...

In a troubling pattern, Los Angeles County has reported another day of sharply increased coronavirus cases. On Wednesday, 2,551 new COVID-19 cases were recorded, the biggest total in months, underscoring of how the Delta variant is rapidly spreading among those who have not been vaccinated. Officials have expressed growing alarm over the spread. The positivity rate now stands at 5.2% in Los Angeles County; a month ago it was only 0.7%. With Wednesday’s tally, county health officials report that cases have increased twentyfold over the last month.

HASTINGS, Mich. (WOOD) — Authorities are investigating what caused a fire at a church in Hastings early Tuesday morning. Hastings Fire Department and four other agencies responded shortly before 4 a.m. to a report of a fire at the St. Rose Catholic Church on Jefferson Street near the intersection of Bond Street in Hastings. Freeport Township Fire Department Lt. Lani Forbes told News 8 that when authorities arrived at the scene, flames and smoke were seen billowing from the front door. Fire crews were able to put out the flames. Officials told News 8 that firefighter was taken to the...

The prospect of private parties using national security-style surveillance technology to track the movements and activities of bishops, priests, and other Church personnel is raising concerns about civil liberties, privacy rights and what means are ethical to use in Church reform efforts. The issue was first raised in 2018, when a person concerned with reforming the Catholic clergy approached some Church individuals and organizations, including Catholic News Agency. This party claimed to have access to technology capable of identifying clergy and others who download popular “hook-up” apps, such as Grindr and Tinder, and to pinpoint their locations using the internet...

It controls the greatest nuclear weapons arsenal, in the world — a total of 6,185 nuclear warheads. From this hand-carried black leather satchel, comes armageddon … the end of everything, as you and I know it. According to a report by Oriana Pawlyk at Military.com, during the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol, then-Vice President Mike Pence and his Secret Service team were seen on security camera footage fleeing down a flight of stairs as rioters broke into the building. Also seen, was a military officer holding the backup “Nuclear Football” (the President also has one) accompanied the vice...

<p>One year ago, the word pandemic was synonymous with quarantine and lockdown. Now, thanks to science, the first word I think of when I hear pandemic is vaccine. The first vaccines to reach the general public from Pfizer and Moderna truly changed the tide of the pandemic in the U.S.—they gave us hope and a sense of something approaching normal.</p>

Pope Francis has seldom addressed any other group this harshly. To others such as unbelievers, dissenters and wayward politicians there is to be mercy, understanding and tolerance. He speaks of “going to the margins” and of compassion for the poor and morally lost. But to those attached to the Latin Mass comes this strong rebuke, with almost no room to maneuver in the Church they love. It is very shocking and saddening to me as a pastor of souls that such vitriol be directed at the flock I have long cared for.

Vice President Kamala Harris told a reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle Wednesday that she is planning to campaign for California Gov. Gavin Newsom ahead of his recall election this fall. Why it matters: Harris' support in the campaign would be a "significant step" from Democratic Party leaders to aid Newsom in the recall fight and could also prove to be a "strong fundraising draw," per the Chronicle. State of play: Newsom's recall election is set for Sept. 14 and will be the second time in California history that a gubernatorial recall campaign has succeeded in getting on the ballot....

In the current political climate, arguing against free college and student-loan cancellation doesn’t make you very popular among a particular crowd.But one thing that’s clear is that many people are upset about loans but don’t know how they work. Multiple misconceptions surround student debt and college finance that make people more upset than they need to be, which can lead to poor decision-making when it comes to education or finances.So let’s clear up a few things.Student debt isn’t an inescapable life sentence.The political discourse surrounding student debt would have you believe that unaffordable student loans are inescapable, but that’s pretty...

Under the Biden administration the US continued escalating the economic and geopolitical frictions with China. At the recent G7 Summit in Carbis Bay, President Biden sought to rally a “united front” against China with traditional G7 allies and new ones such as Australia, India, South Korea, and South Africa and rebuked China on economic policies, human rights, and tensions in the East and South China Seas. The US also persuaded its G7 allies to back a massive infrastructure support package for developing countries. The so-called Build Back Better World Partnership (B3W) is a de facto rival to China’s Belt and...

Dr. Li-meng Yan has made her rounds across international media. Most won’t interview her; CNN and MSNBC pretend she doesn’t exist. But in the last year she has appeared on Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s show, several podcasts, and a handful of international shows. Despite all this, she has had a hard time getting an audience with American politicians.Congressman Mo Brooks changed that. He met with Dr. Li-meng Yan and was so impressed, he released a statement condemning the Chinese Communist Party and accusing them of having “NEGLIGENTLY, RECKLESSLY OR INTENTIONALLY RELEASED COVID-19” (yes, in all caps).Most of our readers...

Having captured key districts and border posts with Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, the Taliban are now hunting for women in these areas. “All imams and mullahs in captured areas should provide the Taliban with a list of girls above 15 and widows under 45 to be married to Taliban fighters,” read a letter issued in the name of the Taliban’s Cultural Commission for Islamic preachers in the region. The Taliban has promised to marry these women to their fighters and take them to Pakistan’s Waziristan. There, these women will be converted to Islam and reintegrated. Is anyone talking about...