Free Republic

Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chief of Staffs, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, a retired general, held a press conference yesterday. The two managed to demonstrate one of two things. Either they are stupid or they believe the American public is stupid. Let’s start with Austin. He assured reporters that Milley “doesn’t have a political bone in his body.” But at the same conference, Milley could not deny that he compared Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler. That’s a political view, and an idiotic one. Austin also stated that he and Milley are committed to having a military...

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia celebrated the rite of consecration of the restored Cathedral of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God on the territory of the Theotokos Monastery in the capital city of Tatarstan today. The consecration coincides with the feast of the Appearance of the Kazan Icon in 1579. The cathedral was restored over the course of 5 years, nearly identical to the original form of the cathedral that was blown up by the godless authorities on May 4, 1932. The festivities began last night with the celebration of the All-Night Vigil at...

An electrical engineer from Los Angeles who plotted to steal missile technology and sell it to a Chinese company has been sentenced to more than five years in prison.U.S. District Judge John A. Kronstadt sentenced Yi-Chi Shih, 66, of Hollywood Hills, to 63 months—or more than five years—in prison for his role in the scheme. He was also ordered to pay $362,698 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the judge fined him $300,000.Shih was arrested in January 2019 after he was found to have been involved in an illegal scheme to obtain monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs)...

Former President Donald Trump blasted the Cleveland Indians Friday over their name change announcement.

New Yorkers under 18 will not be able to get married soon, even if they have permission from parents.Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill on Thursday that raises the age of consent to 18.A previous bill targeting child marriage, signed by Cuomo in 2017, raised the age of consent from 14 to 18 and barred anyone under 17 from getting married.Seventeen-year-olds were still able to get married with consent from parents and a judge. The new measure ends that exception.“Any marriage in which either party is under the age of eighteen years is hereby prohibited,” the bill states, replacing 17...

One of Joe Biden’s notable qualities as he becomes more senescent is his increasing crotchetiness. He can’t stand to be questioned, even by friendly reporters. His repeated snapping at reporters is strategically ill-advised since virtually all of them are on his side, but at this stage of his decline Biden can’t help himself. Also, like others entering their dotage, his pronouncements are often bizarre. Today’s case in point:...There is no point trying to make sense out of Biden’s response. He is a man, never intelligent, who is not in anywhere near full possession of his faculties. This doesn’t bother half...

In Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, (9th Cir., July 19, 2021), the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a sua sponte request for a rehearing en banc in the case of a high school football coach who insisted on prominently praying at the 50-yard line immediately after football games. A 3-judge panel upheld upheld a Washington state school board's dismissal of the coach. (See prior posting.) The denial of the rehearing however generated six concurring and dissenting opinions and statements spanning 92 pages, reflecting sharp differences. Judge Smith's opinion concurring in the denial of review says in part: Unlike...

A familiar battle is playing out in Marin County between a city and one of its homeless encampments. Novato officials say they’re fighting back after an advocacy group and residents of homeless encampment filed a lawsuit and a federal judge temporarily blocked enforcement of the city’s new limits on homeless camping. The rules would displace a tent encampment at Lee Gerner Park dubbed Camp Compassion by the some 35 people who have been living there during the pandemic.

A federal court on Friday ruled that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) overstepped its authority by halting evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.The Cincinnati-based U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously agreed (pdf) with a lower court ruling that said the CDC engaged in federal overreach with the eviction moratorium, which the agency has consistently extended for months. Several weeks ago, the CDC announced it would allow the policy, which was passed into law by Congress, to expire at the end of July.“It is not our job as judges to make legislative rules that favor one side...

I had an Ann at one time. Thanks Glen.

The Delta Variant of Covid-19 is a lie. No, I’m not suggesting it doesn’t exist. It’s real, and it’s just as dangerous as the previous variants of Covid-19. That means unless you’re elderly or have major preexisting conditions that make you extremely vulnerable to pulmonary infections of any sort, the Delta Variant has a 99.97% recovery rate. Depending on the study du jour, some will say it’s more transmissible but less deadly than the other variants. Why, then, is it be propped up as another existential threat to humanity that requires totalitarianism and other radical measures to fight? Our readers...

As we previously reported, Joe Biden’s CNN town hall was an acid bath.He was completely incoherent in clips like this one."And the question is whether or not we should be in a position where, you, uh, um, are why can't the, the, the experts say we know that this virus is, in fact, uh, um, is going to be, or, excuse me, we know why all the drugs approved are not temporarily approved…" https://t.co/I9IQvhH9i8— Zach Parkinson (@AZachParkinson) July 22, 2021He also ended up talking about aliens and lying his head off, including even saying that you couldn’t catch the Wuhan...

A Coptic Orthodox church in British Columbia was destroyed in a fire on Monday, July 19, just days after an attempted arson attack damaged the church’s door. Local police said they were alerted to a fire at St. George Coptic Orthodox Church in Surrey around 3:17 a.m. on Monday. By the time the fire was extinguished, the building was almost entirely demolished and only a single wall was left standing. No one was reported injured in the fire. “While today is a day of sadness, we will not be deterred and we will rebuild,” said Bishop Mina of the Coptic...

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – Los Angeles County is reporting 3,058 new COVID-19 cases, the first time since mid-February the daily number has topped 3,000. Another seven deaths are also being reported. With COVID-19 cases up 80% in LA County in the past week, health officials are urging continued vigilance. With the spike in numbers, Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Burbank is reconstructing its COVID unit to account for an influx of patients. The center will convert 30 ICU rooms into negative pressure rooms for increased demands. About 6 weeks ago, there were zero COVID patients at the Burbank hospital. But...

While most of the attention about nursing homes being ordered to take Wuhan coronavirus positive patients has focused on New York because of the cover-up by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, it wasn’t only going on in New York. It was also ordered in other Democratic-run states in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.Congress had asked for answers from the DOJ as to what was going on in the investigations into the matter.Now, the DOJ has finally responded to House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA), who is the Ranking Member on the Subcommittee for the Coronavirus Crisis.A terrible day for thousands of families....

A terrible day for thousands of families. In a letter to @SteveScalise , @TheJusticeDept wrote that they were dropping the nursing home investigations in all states including New York. There will be no justice for our loved ones, and it feels like we’ve lost them all over again.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis will skip a Mass on Sunday that he had been scheduled to say before his recent surgery, but the Vatican said there was no cause for alarm and that it was part of normal convalescence. The Vatican said the pope will go ahead with his Sunday noon prayer but that a Mass for the Catholic Church day to pay homage to the elderly and grandparents will be said instead by Archbishop Rino Fisichella. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said it was part of “normal convalescence.” Saying the Mass, which had been scheduled months ago, would...

[Catholic/Orthodox Caucus] TRADITION BETRAYED: Diane Montagna Interviews Bishop Schneider on “Traditionis Custodes”O'Kelly, Aloysius. (1883). Mass in a Connemara Cabin.In his first print interview since the release of Pope Francis’ new decree restricting the Traditional Latin Mass, Traditionis Custodes, Bishop Athanasius Schneider has said the document “demeans” a thousand-year-old liturgy of the Roman Rite, commits an “injustice” against Catholics who adhere to it, and creates a “two-class society” in the Church.“The privileged first-class are those who adhere to the reformed liturgy,” Bishop Schneider asserts, “and the second-class Catholics, who will now barely be tolerated, include a large number of Catholic families,...

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases head Dr. Anthony Fauci said Friday on Fox News Channel’s “Your World” that he was criticized because “loyalists” of former President Donald Trump get “annoyed” with him for telling the truth. Cavuto said, “Just now, Congressman Madison Cawthorn has said if Republicans gain control, he wants you investigated for being a pawn of the Chinese Communist Party. Rand Paul all but blamed the deaths of all these people worldwide on you. Even though he backed off on some of that. Think about what you got involved with President Trump in the beginning when...

The National Security Agency has reportedly conducted an internal investigation which found that the National Security Agency did nothing wrong when surveilling the communications of Fox News host Tucker Carlson. The NSA did admit that Carlson’s identity was “unmasked” by unidentified government officials, according to The Record. The Record reported on Friday that “two people familiar with the matter” told the publication that the Fox News host’s communications “were not targeted – as the NSA has previously stated publicly – nor intercepted through so-called ‘incidental collection,'” though the agency reportedly found that “Carlson was mentioned in communications between third parties...