Free Republic

Gov. Kathy Hochul said she’ll make no-questions-asked mail voting a top priority in 2022 – even though voters rejected that proposal just last month. “I want New York State to be a leader, we have not been a leader in the past. We have made it too hard to vote…I believe that everyone should be able to vote by mail,” she told reporters in Albany Thursday. “I’ll be working with all my partners to come up with a very bold and ambitious plan to make sure New Yorkers have the right.” Voters rejected a constitutional amendment on the November election...

A federal judge in Manhattan overturned a roughly $4.5 billion settlement between OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP and members of the Sackler family who own the drugmaker, a surprising decision that raises questions about the future of the company and its owners, who have been accused of fueling the nation’s opioid crisis. Judge Colleen McMahon of the Southern District of New York ruled late Thursday that legal releases that would shield members of the Sackler family from civil opioid lawsuits are not permitted under the bankruptcy.

Photos displayed during Ms. Maxwell’s sex-trafficking trial show her in an apparently happy relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, her notorious former companion. Follow our live coverage of the Ghislaine Maxwell trial on federal sex trafficking charges. The images could have come from the scrapbook of any relatively affluent couple: a graying man and slightly younger woman in casual, unrehearsed moments — standing on a wooden footbridge, astride a motorcycle, at a table with a drink. What sets them apart are the people they depict: Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier who killed himself in a federal jail cell in 2019 while he...

… Amtrak President Stephen Gardner told a House Transportation subcommittee that roughly 95% of its 17,000 employees have been fully vaccinated ahead of a Jan. 4 deadline. “We anticipate proactively needing to temporarily reduce some train frequencies across our network in January to avoid staffing-related cancellations, with our plan to fully restore all frequencies by March or as soon as we have qualified employees available,” he said. Gardner said in written testimony he expects the reductions to be in long-distance services “because of the relatively small crew bases at intermediate points along multi-day long-distance routes where conductors and engineers report...

Covid could be a man-made, genetically engineered virus, MPs have been told. Dr Alina Chan, a specialist in gene therapy and cell engineering at MIT and Harvard, made the claim as she said it is now 'more likely than not' that the virus leaked from a Wuhan lab in China. She made the claims in evidence to the UK Parliament's Science and Technology Select Committee.

The sham January 6 Committee on Thursday subpoenaed retired Colonel Phil Waldron for records and testimony. Last November Rudy Giuliani’s first witness at the Arizona election hearing was information warfare officer Retired Army Colonel Phil Waldron. The Marxists on the J-6 panel are targeting Waldron because he worked with Trump’s lawyers and testified before state lawmakers on the rampant Democrat 2020 election fraud. “According to public reporting, you claim to have visited the White House on multiple occasions after the election, spoken to Mark Meadows “maybe 8 to 10 times” and briefed several members of Congress on election fraud theories,”...

A group of American senators has introduced legislation to provide additional military support to Ukraine, proposing to designate Russia as a “state sponsor of terrorism” if Moscow aggressively strikes at its neighbor. Eight Republican party legislators submitted the bill on Wednesday, naming it the GUARD Act, which stands for Guaranteeing Ukraine’s Autonomy by Reinforcing its Defense. The proposed legislation includes a range of measures designed to support Kiev, including authorizing $450 million in foreign military financing in 2022 and promising to designate Russia as a “state sponsor of terrorism” in the event of perceived aggression. According to John Barrasso (R-Wyoming),...

State commissioners unanimously approved a design-build contract that will not exceed $162 million for a total of eight miles of border wall that will fill gaps between portions of the federal border wall. The contract was awarded to Posillico Civil, Inc., a 75-year-old New York-based engineering firm that has worked on other border projects. Commissioners said the first portion of the wall will be constructed on state-owned land in Starr County, with a 1.2-mile extension on private land. Commissioners said the program manager, Michael Baker Huitt-Zollars Joint Venture, is pursuing agreements with private landowners to allow construction of other portions...

This May, I’ll graduate from law school and start my career as a public interest lawyer — a dream come true. At 28, after 10 years of college and multiple graduate schools, in many ways, it feels like my life is just about to begin. It would be a terrible time to have a baby. Don’t get me wrong — I’ve always wanted to have kids. I love the relationship I have with my parents and can't imagine not getting to experience fatherhood. I think I’d be good at it. That said, I’m not in a relationship. I haven’t built...

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 2:1-2Religion Forum threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind. Most important prayers every prayed in American history beginning with George Washington... Prayers That Changed America's History LORD my God, I take refuge in You; save and...

Lookalike duo Joleen Diaz and her daughter, Meilani Parks, are both single and ready to mingle. A 44-year-old California mother dubbed “the hottest mom in the world” is now going on double dates with her daughter. The age-defying woman, Joleen Diaz, 44, went viral last year after Instagram fans noticed she and her 21-year-old daughter, Meilani Parks, bore a striking resemblance. The lookalike duo, who are often mistaken for sisters, now have accounts on dating apps and occasionally join forces on their romantic outings in order to approve each other’s prospective partners.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said members of Congress and their spouses should not be barred from trading individual stocks as part of the STOCK Act, citing a “free market economy.” During a press briefing on Wednesday, in response to a report from Insider showing that 49 members of Congress (Democrats and Republicans) have failed to disclose their transactions in accordance with Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act of 2012, Pelosi was asked if members of Congress and their spouses should be banned from trading individual stocks, thereby preventing insider trading, “We’re a free-market economy,” Pelosi explained. “They should be...

“If the Senate follows the House of Representatives lead and passes the Immunization Infrastructure Modernization Act (HR 550), Americans who do not get the recommended number of covid vaccines can look forward to receiving a text like this: ‘This is Dr. Anthony Fauci. According to government records you have not yet received your monthly covid booster shot. Until you prove you are following vaccine protocols, your vaccine passport will be revoked, resulting in loss of your privilege to work, worship, and visit your family.’” That was the warning former congressman from Texas and Republican and Libertarian presidential candidate Ron Paul...

Fentanyl overdoses have surged to the leading cause of death for adults between the ages of 18 and 45, according to an analysis of U.S. government data. Between 2020 and 2021, nearly 79,000 people between 18 and 45 years old — 37,208 in 2020 and 41,587 in 2021 — died of fentanyl overdoses, the data analysis from opioid awareness organization Families Against Fentanyl shows. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that can be deadly even in very small amounts, and other drugs, including heroin, meth and marijuana, can be laced with the dangerous drug. Mexico and China are the primary sources...

The ruling applies to the entire 27-nation bloc, including 11 countries that do not recognize same-sex ‘marriage.’(LifeSiteNews) – The top court of the European Union ruled Tuesday that all EU countries must recognize homosexuals and their legal children as family members regardless of national laws on same-sex parenting or homosexual “marriage.” In a ruling that applies to the entire 27-nation bloc, the European Court of Justice (CJEU) in Luxembourg declared that member countries must allow a same-sex couple to move and reside freely with a child legally recognized as their son or daughter by another EU state. Eleven EU nations,...

The bishop of Fall River has directed a pastor on Cape Cod to stop commenting on the coronavirus vaccines. Father Michael Fitzpatrick, pastor of St. Francis Xavier Church in Hyannis, read a letter from the bishop at the end of Mass on Sunday, December 5. “… I have directed Father Fitzpatrick to refrain from speaking publicly or in writing on the Covid 19 vaccines, any treatment from the vaccine, or any preventative measures to avoid transmission of the virus,” Bishop Edgar da Cunha wrote in the letter, according to a video of the Mass.

Educators announced plans to increase security in response to TikTok posts warning of shooting and bomb threats at schools around the country Friday as officials assured parents the viral posts were not considered credible. The social media threats had many educators on edge as they circulated in the aftermath of a deadly school shooting in Michigan, which has been followed by numerous copycat threats to schools elsewhere. School officials in states including Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Montana, New York and Pennsylvania said Thursday there would be an increased police presence because of the threats. The vague, anonymous posts circulating online warned...

A spokesperson confirmed the painting, which uses an artistic style known as a Pietà to depict a Black Virgin Mary cradling Jesus’ body after his Crucifixion, was stolen on Sunday.WASHINGTON (RNS) — A second painting of Jesus and his mother, Mary, in which Jesus is widely thought to be depicted as George Floyd, has been stolen from the walls of the Catholic University of America’s law school. The painting, which sits outside the chapel at CUA’s Columbus Law School, replaced an identical, larger version of the same painting that was also stolen last month after it was highlighted in conservative...

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) -- Hospitals are slammed across Arizona. The state is asking the federal government for help with staffing, and Yavapai County is so inundated, it's running out of room at its morgue. Thursday, Yavapai County Community Health Services said it's requesting a refrigerated truck because so many people are dying from COVID. Their morgue is close to capacity, and they need to be prepared. In Maricopa County, public health leaders said it's not that bad here yet, although they are watching those numbers closely. "January marks two years from the first COVID-19 case in Maricopa County," said Marcy...