Free Republic

LOS ANGELES—The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) announced it will end its indoor mask mandate for students and staff by March 23 after a week of negotiating an existing contract with its teachers’ union. “Los Angeles Unified is pleased to announce that we have reached agreement with labor groups to align with the guidance from the State of California and Los Angeles County Department of Public Health to make masking strongly recommended,” the district said in a March 18 statement. A March 18 agreement between the school district and the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) includes a requirement...

Jason Kenney's 'statement is completely false and, in fact, misinformation,' Nathaniel Pawlowski said in response to Kenney's justification for why Nathaniel's father has been locked up for more than a month. CALGARY, Alberta (LifeSiteNews) – The son of Canadian Christian Pastor Artur Pawlowski alleged that Alberta Premier Jason Kenney is lying about the reasons his dad is still behind bars. “The double standard and hypocrisy is clear as day. Artur is right now being presumed guilty, so we no longer have the presumption of innocence in Alberta. Thanks to Jason Kenney,” said Pawlowski’s son Nathaniel while speaking at a prayer...

"We can confirm an incident has occurred involving a Marine Corps MV-22B Osprey aircraft," Maj. Jim Stenger, a U.S. Marine Corps spokesperson said in a statement. "The aircraft was conducting training in Norway as part of Exercise COLD RESPONSE 22 at the time of the incident." Stenger said the incident remains under investigation. The Second Marine Expeditionary Force later issued a statement confirming it was aware of "a mishap" with an Osprey assigned to its command. Currently there are 3,000 U.S. Marines in northern Norway participating in the Cold Response 22 NATO exercise that is described as one of the...

We could all see this coming. The Ukraine-Russia conflict creates the opportunity for the Build Back Better initiatives to get triggered. None of this is happening organically. All of this is opportunism based on a series of dominos purposefully triggered. Three government solutions to rising oil prices surface simultaneously in an effort to exploit the crisis they created. Keep in mind, this economic roadmap was strategically outlined in the World Economic Forum “Build Back Better” initiative, and that was built upon the economic ‘climate change‘ opportunity that COVID-19 created. The U.S. version of BBB was called the Green New Deal....

NBC News national security contributor and former FBI Assistant Director Frank Figliuzzi said on Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Deadline” that Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), and Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) were not on “Team America.” Anchor Nicolle Wallace said, “I want to ask you what Vladimir Putin does when Republican candidate J.D. Vance, the author of ‘Hillbilly Elegy,’ a highly educated man says, quote, ‘I got to be honest with you, I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine, one way or the other.’ Madison Cawthorn, I can’t speak to his education because I don’t know,...

Lia Thomas, an NCAA athlete, appears to be quite tall in her photos, and her height is estimated to be around 6 feet 1 inch.

Alaska U.S. Rep. Don Young has died, former aides said on Friday. Details were not immediately available. Young, a Republican, had served in Congress since 1973, when he was sworn in after winning a special election. Young was the longest-serving member of the U.S. House, was in his 25th term and running for a 26th. He was his state’s sole member of the House for more than three-fourths of the time Alaska has been a state.

After a surge in COVID cases caused by the BA.2 Omicron sub-variant, Austria is set to re-impose mask mandates that were dropped just two weeks ago. And there you were thinking the technocrats had finally let it go. Mask mandates in every area of the country apart from the capital Vienna were lifted as part of the general continent-wide trend of finally learning to “live with COVID.” That included ending the requirement for Austrians to show proof of vaccination or a negative test to enter most premises. However, despite the BA.2 variant proving even less dangerous than the original Omicron...

On March 9, LGBTQ employees and allies at Pixar Animation Studios sent a joint statement to Walt Disney Company leadership claiming that Disney executives had actively censored “overtly gay affection” in its feature films. The stunning allegation — made as part of a larger protest over the company’s lack of public response to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill — did not include which Pixar films had weathered the censorship, nor which specific creative decisions were cut or altered. But in at least one case, the statement appears to have made a significant difference. According to a source close to the...

According to the poll, two-thirds of voters likely to participate in the recall election say they will vote “yes” to the question “Shall Chesa Boudin by recalled (removed) from the Office of District Attorney?”

Russian Catholics cautious about opinions but welcome consecration to MaryWARSAW, Poland — Although Russia’s Catholics hold different views about the conflict in Ukraine, a spokesman for the country’s bishops said all are united in welcoming Pope Francis’ plan to consecrate their country to the Immaculate Heart of Mary March 25 in a service at the Vatican.However, a Catholic professor in the country said the pope’s plan was likely to provoke a negative reaction from the Russian Orthodox Church, which could see it as infringing its “canonical territory.”“For Catholics, this gesture isn’t about faith, but about people and peace between two...

Evening meeting...

Evening meeting...

Valery Gerasimov: Russian General of the Army, the current Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, and first Deputy Defence Minister. Sergei Shoigu: General of the Army who has served as Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation since 2012. Shoigu has also served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Defense of the Commonwealth of Independent States since 2012. Nikolai Patrushev: Security officer and intelligence officer. He served as Director of the Russian Federal Security Service, which is the main successor organization to the Soviet KGB, from 1999 to 2008, and he...

Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) said Thursday on CNN’s “Newsroom” that if former President Donald Trump got the Republican nomination for president in 2024, “many” people would “move heaven and earth to ensure he doesn’t win.” Discussing Trump, Sciutto said, “Final question if I can? You are among the names mentioned who might challenge him for the nomination in 2024, should he decide to run. It looks more and more like he will run, maybe Liz Cheney, perhaps Mike Pence. Do you believe there will be a competitive GOP primary that you will get the opportunity to do so? We saw...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly approved a resolution Tuesday setting March 15 as the International Day to Combat Islamophobia. The resolution, adopted by consensus by the 193-member world body and cosponsored by 55 mainly Muslim countries, emphasizes the right to freedom of religion and belief and recalls a 1981 resolution calling for “the elimination of all forms of intolerance and of discrimination based on religion or belief.” It expresses deep concern at “the overall rise in instances of discrimination, intolerance and violence, regardless of the actors, directed against members of many religions and other communities in various...

Jesuit Cardinal Hollerich of Luxembourg and Bishop Bätzing of Limburg have both called for changes to the Church’s teaching on homosexuality in recent interviews.VATICAN CITY — Cardinal George Pell has called on the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) to publicly reprimand two of Europe’s most senior bishops for what he said was their “wholesale and explicit rejection” of the Church’s teaching on sexual ethics. In a statement released March 15, Cardinal Pell asked the Vatican’s doctrinal congregation to “intervene and pronounce judgment” on comments made by Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, the relator general of the Vatican Synod on...

Santiago (Agenzia Fides) - "Every day we are faced with the choice of being good Samaritans or indifferent travelers. Every day we are offered a new opportunity, a new stage. We should not expect everything from those who govern us, it would be childish. We benefit from a space of co-responsibility capable of initiating and generating new processes and transformations. Let us actively participate in the rehabilitation and rescue of our wounded society". This is a passage from the homily delivered by the President of the Episcopal Conference of Chile, Cardinal Celestino Aós, Archbishop of Santiago, during the traditional ecumenical...

Transgender University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas took first place today in the 500 freestyle, surprising no one. Lia Thomas just took first place at the 2022 NCAA Division 1 Women's Swimming & Diving Championships in the 500 freestyle. #SaveWomensSports pic.twitter.com/UWvDQMYHRJ — Colin Wright (@SwipeWright) March 17, 2022 Caitlyn Jenner has weighed in on Thomas; according to Pink News, Jenner said, “I don’t see how you can be happy beating other girls under these circumstances. You have to have a sense of personal responsibility. You can still enjoy sports but not play at a competitive level, right?” In its tweet...

"Tonight, I have a hard & honest conversation with my friend and fellow @BlazeTV host @RubinReport about his decision to have kids through surrogacy. He tells me "I get why the right has these often legitimate fears." But that CAN'T stop us from having respectful discussions."