Free Republic

VATICAN CITY, Jan 25 (Reuters) - A cardinal who is a defendant in a Vatican corruption trial stayed away on Tuesday because he did not want to be in the room when lawyers spoke of rumours that he had an intimate relationship with a woman, which he has denied. The trial, in which 10 defendants are accused of fraud and other crimes related to the Vatican's 350 million euro ($400 million) purchase of a luxury building in London, resumed after a break of more than a month. All have denied wrongdoing. Lawyers for Cardinal Angelo Becciu on Tuesday contested the...

ROSARIO, Argentina – Two Mexican cardinals were found guilty of “proselytism” during last June’s election, with a court claiming they “pressured and/or induced” their religious community to vote for a particular candidate or party. The Superior Chamber of the Electoral Tribunal of the Judiciary of the Federation (TEPJF) of Mexico confirmed the sentence against Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes of Mexico City and Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iñiguez, the archbishop emeritus of Guadalajara. Two other priests were also found guilty. They were found guilty of transgressing the “principle of Church-State separation” recognized in Mexico’s constitution. They were charged after encouraging Catholics to...

President Joe Biden pledged to defend a so-called right to abortion and reaffirmed his commitment to the widespread availability of the procedure in a Jan. 22 statement marking the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide. “The constitutional right established in Roe v. Wade nearly 50 years ago today is under assault as never before,” reads the statement, which was co-signed by Vice President Kamala Harris. “It is a right we believe should be codified into law, and we pledge to defend it with every tool we possess.” “We are deeply committed to protecting...

I don’t care who you voted for, or your thoughts on the election. Joe Biden is the President and as much as I try to stay out of politics, his proposed tax plan is now the greatest threat to destroy family owned farms and ranches that America has ever seen. According to Farm Progress Magazine, “Biden has two features in his(estate tax) plan, and one is unfortunate, but the other is disastrous for farmers.” LAND RICH CASH POOR Over the past 20 years agriculture land prices have skyrocketed. In my neighborhood, (southwest Iowa) farm ground has went from around $900...

STORY AT-A-GLANCE Dr. Charles Hoffe, a family physician from Lytton, British Columbia, told health officials that his patients were suffering adverse effects from the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines Hoffe was quickly accused of causing “vaccine hesitancy” and local health authorities threatened to report him to the licensing body The spike protein in the vaccine can lead to the development of multiple, tiny blood clots because it becomes part of the cell wall of your vascular endothelium; these cells are supposed to be smooth so that your blood flows smoothly, but the spike protein means there are “spiky bits sticking out” Hoffe...

Pfizer has asked a federal court to let it intervene in a high-profile case that has seen U.S. drug regulators try to slow-walk disclosure of data on Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. Pfizer says it supports disclosing the data but wants to ensure that information exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is not “disclosed inappropriately.” Public Health and Medical Professionals for Transparency filed a lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last year after the agency, responding to a FOIA request, claiming it would take 20 years to produce the data on the vaccine. The FDA later...

The Oregon Court of Appeals for a second time Wednesday upheld a ruling by the state civil rights division that found that a Gresham bakery illegally discriminated against a same-sex couple by refusing to sell them a wedding cake in 2013.However, the court found that the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries did not exhibit religious neutrality in issuing an $135,000 fine to Sweet Cakes by Melissa for illegal discrimination and sent the case back to the civil rights division to reassess its fine. . . . But the court found Wednesday that the Supreme Court’s rulings didn’t change its...

Washington – A South Carolina man who traveled to Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021 and later assaulted officers outside the U.S. Capitol was sentenced to 44 months in jail on Wednesday. Nicholas Languerand, an avowed follower of the QAnon conspiracy, pleaded guilty in November to assaulting officers and faced a maximum of 20-years prison sentence. However, prosecutors asked the court to sentence Languerand to 51 months. While Languerand admitted he had participated in the assault on the Capitol, investigators say he showed little remorse and even indicated that he wanted to see more violence, alleging he had sent a...

On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “AC360,” House Majority Whip Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) said he thinks it would be a good thing for Republicans to not let Democrats be the only ones who vote to confirm a black woman to the Supreme Court to replace Justice Stephen Breyer. Host Anderson Cooper asked, “Do Republicans have an obligation in your mind to endorse a history-making choice and not let it be only Democrats who vote yes for such a nomination?”

WASHINGTON – The Mayor of Hyattsville, Maryland, Kevin Ward died Tuesday in an apparent suicide, officials said. He was 44-years-old. Ward’s body was reportedly found in a park in McLean, Virginia.

On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “AC360,” House Majority Whip Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) stated that during the 2020 Democratic primaries, he urged then-candidate Joe Biden to raise the issue of nominating a black woman to the Supreme Court because “he had lost three primary campaigns in New Hampshire, Iowa, and Nevada and everybody was saying that his campaign was over” and Clyburn thought “the South Carolina primary could be a turning point in the campaign and I thought that one way to do that was to address this issue, and he did and addressed it many, many times since.”

Los Angeles officials are preparing for thousands of fans to converge on SoFi Stadium in Inglewood for the Super Bowl LVI Feb. 13 by organizing COVID-19 testing sites. Although the city will not impose capacity restrictions for the mega event, fans will be required to wear masks, show proof of vaccination, or provide a negative virus test. “Straightforward public health measures including vaccinations, testing, masking and hand hygiene make it possible for so many to enjoy the Super Bowl Experience,” Barbara Ferrer, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, said in a press release. Anyone older than...

Steve Bannon, ex-adviser to Donald Trump, has claimed that President Joe Biden will be impeached in November over his administration's handling of the U.S.-Mexico border. "You have stood down ICE and you've stood down Border Patrol, and guess what? That's the impeachment hearing I want to hear," Bannon, the former White House chief strategist under former President Donald Trump, said during a recent episode of his War Room: Pandemic podcast. "You're going to sit there for day after day and week after week and we're going to bring the witnesses," Bannon continued, in an attack that appeared to be aimed...

The University of Chicago - UnCommon Core: The Causes and Consequences of the Ukraine Crisis.

Places with highest daily reported cases per capita Seven-day average of daily new reported cases per 100,000 residents

SEATTLE — A long-time Seattle business owner is sounding off after he said his business has been "hit" by crime seven times in the past three months alone. This past weekend, Jay Ashberg, the owner of Seattle Shirt Company, said there were back-to-back burglaries at his store. The Seattle Shirt Company is located on the corner of First Avenue and Pike Street. Ashberg is still in shock of how far he believes Seattle has fallen. "This city is unrecognizable to what it was even five years ago, between the homeless and the lack of police, the whole defund the police,...

Mayor Lori Lightfoot got the go-ahead Wednesday to sign emergency contracts valued at up to $1 million without City Council approval, but only until the end of the year. Last month, Lightfoot’s most outspoken Council critics used a parliamentary maneuver to delay the vote. That prompted the mayor to sign an executive order giving herself expanded emergency contracting authority to deal with supply chain disruptions and inflationary price increases that threaten to leave the city without the water purification chemicals and other products needed to protect public safety. Budget Committee Chairman Pat Dowell (3rd) used her own parliamentary maneuver at...

Yesterday morning I received a bleak text message. It was from the chairman of a local business association near my home in the Auckland suburb of Newmarket and contained a photograph of my local train station, usually a busy commuter route full of hustle and bustle. It was completely devoid of life. That snapshot spoke a thousand words: as we surpass the two-year anniversary of the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, something close to normality has finally resumed for many across the globe. But here in our far-flung corner of the Southern Hemisphere, isolated behind our still-sealed border, we endlessly...

~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~ ~ Remembering Our Troops!! ~ Birds Eye View! PACIFIC OCEAN (Jan. 21, 2022) Marines of Marine Wing Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 314 and sailors of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 133 link up with Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 147 and Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 136 to conduct integrated training missions to include suppression of enemy air defense. Abraham Lincoln Strike Group is on a scheduled deployment in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations to enhance interoperability through alliances and partnerships while serving as a ready-response force in support of a free and open...

Lawyers for Prince Andrew have written to a US judge to demand a jury trial in a civil lawsuit brought by a woman who has accused him of sexual assault. Virginia Giuffre, 38, alleges that he sexually assaulted her when she was a teenager at the homes of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. The Duke of York has consistently denied all the allegations against him. A US lawyer called the latest legal filings a "PR move", saying Ms Giuffre had already asked for a jury trial. Lisa Bloom, who represents a number of Maxwell's and Epstein's accusers, said Prince Andrew's...