Free Republic

Lent is drawing to a close. This week we celebrate the last Sunday of Lent before the beginning of Passion Week. This Sunday is period of “quiet” between Laetare Sunday and Passion/Palm Sunday, our last opportunity to meditate on the ‘ordinary’ struggle of Lent before the intensity of the events in the last week of Our Lord’s life. Let’s use it well! The Readings for this week focus on the theme of a “New Exodus.” Just as Moses was a savior figure who lead Israel to freedom through the Red Sea, so Jesus leads us to freedom through the waters...

National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) director Dr. Anthony Fauci is stonewalling Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on his questions for the record regarding the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) gain-of-function research funding, the senator says. Paul sent 11 "yes or no" questions for the record after Fauci’s explosive Jan. 11 testimony to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. The Kentucky Republican has seen no response from Fauci since sending the questions almost three months ago, according to his office. "While Dr. Fauci has been MIA for the past few months, he still owes the American...

In the best of times, the Internal Revenue Service is tough to deal with, and tax season is never fun. But the past few years have seen the IRS lurch from one crisis to another. And things are about to get much worse for millions of taxpayers. In 2021 Congress expanded the reporting requirements of the obscure Form 1099-K. This information-reporting form tracks business transactions done with a credit or debit card or such peer-to-peer services as Venmo and Paypal. Prior to the change, taxpayers received a 1099-K only if they processed more than 200 business transactions, amounting to more...

Senators have cut a deal with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) aimed at breaking the logjam over legislation to limit trade with Russia. The agreement — confirmed by Paul and Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the No. 2 Senate Republican — would clarify what qualifies as a violation of human rights under a U.S. law named after Sergei Magnitsky, a Ukrainian-born Russia who died in police custody more than a decade ago in Moscow. Senators are using the House-passed bill ending normal trade relations with Russia to reauthorize the Magnitsky Act sanctions. “They will include specific language defining what human rights abuses...

[Catholic Caucus] "In black and white": Archbishop Aguer on tradition versus relativism"In black and white": Archbishop Aguer on tradition versus relativismPublished at InfoCatólica on March 30, 2022. Translated for Rorate.The title that heads this note does not refer to the cinema before the invention of technicolor, but to the astonishing criticism of current ecclesiastical officialdom that is directed against the members of the Church who love the great Catholic Tradition, and who recognize that homogeneity is what should characterize the development of ecclesial realities: dogma, liturgy, law, institutions. I have often quoted St. Vincent of Lerins and the formulas...

On Wednesday (March 30, 2022), at a meeting of the U.S. Senate Committee on Budget, Sanders raised an issue that’s been a regular part of his political platform for many years: wealth distribution. “Anyone who thinks we do not have an oligarchy right here in America is sorely mistaken,” he said. “Today in America, multibillionaires like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson are off taking joy rides on their rocket ships to outer space.” Sanders appeared to be citing the three billionaires’ spaceflight companies: SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, respectively. All three U.S.-based businesses have played a large part...

Japan's economy minister has reiterated that the country will not withdraw from oil and natural gas projects in Russia's Far East. Hagiuda Koichi says they are essential to securing energy supplies. He told reporters on Friday "Japan has stakes in both projects and has secured long-term supplies. The projects provide our country with energy at below-market prices, and soaring energy costs are making the projects more important." Hagiuda also said that Japan imports about 90 percent of its crude oil from the Middle East, and that the Sakhalin-1 project is an important energy source outside that region. He adds that...

Once-bustling highways on the outskirts of Kyiv have now become a graveyard for scores of Vladimir Putin's tanks as the Ukrainians continue their successful counterattacks around the capital. Columns of Russian armoured vehicles have been reduced to rubble as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's troops continue to repel Russian forces, and in some instances recapture roads and settlements near to Kyiv. As Ukrainian units advance, they're met with burned-out tanks and heavily-armoured personnel transport vehicles that line the roads once populated by commuters that would have been heading in or out of the capital. But far more grisly finds are being discovered...

VIDEO"WORSE THAN WATERGATE!!!"Oh how the media loves to blurt out that worn phrase out every time there is a supposed conservative or Republican scandal. And among those was CNN's John Avlon who loudly proclaimed this to his dozens of viewers on March 30 in regards to a supposed gap in President Trump's phone log on January 6, 2021. Avlon and the rest of the media had already declared Trump guilty of something when just two days later Avlon's own network made a fool out of him and the others when on April Fools Day they issued a report that declared...

MIAMI The tennis world reacted with shock after favorites Paula Badosa and Jannik Sinner had to retire during the quarterfinals of the Miami Open. Badosa, soon to be the number three in the world, became unwell during her match against Jessica Pegula and left the court in tears. Badosa, who was comforted by her American opponent, decided to stop after consultation with her physiotherapist. Pegula reached the semifinals of the Miami tennis tournament for the first time in her career after Badosa’s resignation, reported Yahoo Sports. In the men’s tournament, the Italian phenomenon Jannik Sinner was forced to withdraw. He...

More than 400 Yale Law School students — over 60 percent of the school’s student body — signed an open letter against free speech and a police presence on campus after hysterical woke students shouted down a bipartisan panel about civil liberties featuring the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). Last month, nearly 120 woke Yale Law School students disrupted a bipartisan panel by trying to shout down and intimidate the speakers, who later had to be escorted out of the building by police. One of America’s best and brightest future Ivy League graduates screeched at the ADF representative: “I will literally...

Accused Bully Journalist Taylor Lorenz Breaks Down In Tears Claiming To Have PTSD Over Mean Tweets

U.S. District Judge Mark Walker wrote a 288-page decision justifying his ruling that Florida’s recently enacted election integrity reforms are unconstitutional. The chief offending sections of the law included provisions to ensure the security of drop boxes, provisions to restrict bribing voters waiting in line at the polls, and regulations imposed on voter registration groups. Walker contends that “limiting the placement of drop boxes to locations where the chain-of-custody can be continuously maintained is racist. Many racial minorities fear entering public buildings because of prior negative interactions with police, incarceration, or the slavery suffered by their forebears. To offset these...

As PJM’s Matt Margolis noted Thursday, “During her confirmation hearings, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s despicable record on sentencing child porn offenders became a key issue. Republicans pointed out that she had a pattern of giving these perverts lenient sentences, while Democrats made excuses for her and kept gushing over her status as a black woman.” And it’s even worse than we thought: investigative journalist Paul Sperry revealed Saturday that Jackson “heard horrifying details of ‘sadomasochistic’ torture of young kids — including ‘infants and toddlers’ — yet challenged the disturbing evidence presented by prosecutors and disregarded their prison recommendations to give...

Dear friends, in light of our EXPONENTIALLY imploding society; all that is now left to do is to continue to petition our Heavenly Father for our nation in light of our current dire national situation and dilemma that engulfs our land and media; and to call for a Divine RIGHTEOUS REPENTANCE back to the God of our Founders (Psalm 64, Phil. 4:6-7). Without a sincere Divine RIGHTEOUS REPENTANCE we are truly done here in America! Without a sincere Divine RIGHTEOUS REPENTANCE we are truly done here in America! I truly believe Almighty God has now allowed the full EXPONENTIAL weight...

The Russian military targeted the major oil refinery in the central Ukrainian city in a series of strikes, including "high-precision long-range and sea-based weapons," Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told CNN. The strikes destroyed storage facilities holding gasoline and diesel fuels for Ukrainian troops in the country's eastern and central regions.

Biden promised full transparency and accessibility in his administration. Yet, there is zero transparency or accessibility to this president. Every time Biden opens his mouth, he puts two feet in it, and his White House handlers have to clean up the mess, either by re-interpreting what he said or by lying even more. The dishonesty exhibited by Biden, his administration, and Democrats is so obscene that only diehard supporters believe them at this juncture.Unlike Trumps’ openness and full engagement with reporters and the media, to minimize Biden’s gaffes, his handlers, as he asserted on numerous occasions, would not allow reporters...

Viktor Orban has now served twelve years as prime minister of Hungary, emerging as one of the most exemplary conservative leaders of our time. On Sunday, he once again faces re-election as he seeks to lead Hungary for a fourth term as prime minister. Although this is a pivotal election for Hungary and for Europe, it is also vital for American conservatives to hope and pray for an Orban victory. For one, Orban has shown what populist conservatives can do when given sufficient time and political capital to succeed. While it is true that the system of government in Hungary...

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo hit Albany’s ethics watchdog with a lawsuit Friday, accusing it of “extraordinary bias” against him as he seeks to hold onto proceeds from his $5.1 million book deal. The Joint Commission on Public Ethics voted overwhelmingly in November to rescind its decision that allowed Cuomo to write “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic,” arguing state resources were used to write the book, which it said contained “serial omissions and misrepresentations” about New York’s pandemic response. ... The former governor claimed that staff members who worked on the book did so on their...

Ukrainian farmers have been stealing tanks and other Russian military equipment with their tractors. Videos have surfaced online in recent weeks, and the question many have asked is what happens with all the captured war machines? It just so happens that the Ukrainian parliament (also known as Rada) passed a new measure rewarding anyone, even Russian soldiers, to turn over equipment to Ukraine for a reward. “For a helicopter – 500 thousand dollars, a tank – 100 thousand, respectively. If, for example, someone is ready to come to us by plane – it’s a million dollars,” the first vice-speaker of...