Free Republic

After Biden finished his speech, he turned around and tried to shake hands with thin air and then wandered around looking confused Joe Biden had been, for decades, a corrupt and incompetent pol. Today, he is either an extreme left-winger or an empty vessel through which the extreme left is exerting control over America But Biden isn’t the only one. Nancy Pelosi is gaga, a fact that she can’t hide with multiple plastic surgeries. A member of the U.S. Senate recently said–privately–that one-third of senators belong in nursing homes. In the New York Post, Maureen Callahan argues for age limits...

Thousands of Palestinians attempted to visit the site in Jerusalem for morning Ramadan prayers as tensions remain high. Clashes broke out between Palestinian worshipers and Israeli security forces on the Temple Mount on Friday morning after a small group of protesters gathered stones and wood chunks to throw at Jewish worshipers and Israeli security forces. According to the Red Crescent, 150 have been injured so far, as well as eight Israel Police officers. According to Palestinian reports, police used tear gas, stun grenades, and rubber bullets to break up the crowd that continued to protest after prayers ended. Some Palestinians...

Twitter’s board is reportedly considering using a poison pill in an attempt to stop Elon Musk’s ability to purchase the whole company. A poison pill is a shareholder rights plan that would limit a single shareholder from purchasing too many shares and forcing the company into a sale, according to The New York Times. Elon Musk said he had the means to buy Twitter, but investors were skeptical. The board was considering a “poison pill,” a defensive move.https://t.co/pMz9prWHH4 — The New York Times (@nytimes) April 14, 2022 The poison pill would allow Twitter’s board to either flood the market with...

Islanders legend Mike Bossy, whose scoring touch helped drive the franchise to four straight championships, died after a battle with terminal lung cancer. He was 65. Bossy’s diagnosis became public last October, when he stepped away from his job as an NHL analyst for the French language network TVA Sports. 1/3 "The New York Islanders organization mourns the loss of Mike Bossy, an icon not only on Long Island but across the entire hockey world. His drive to be the best every time he stepped on the ice was second to none." – Lou Lamoriello — New York Islanders (@NYIslanders)...

A massive fire at the Taylor Farms Processing Facility in Salinas that began late Wednesday night and prompted evacuations continued to smolder into Thursday afternoon. The Salinas Fire Department says that 85 to 90 percent of the 225,000 square foot building is a total loss. Taylor Farms is a major agriculture company that brings many of the salad kits seen in grocery stores and is a major employer. Most of the surrounding area is made up of other businesses, which were evacuated. Residential areas downwind of the fire were told to shelter in place and schools canceled classes because of...

Happy Friday, dear Kruiser Morning Briefing friends. Cranberries in a tophat are a delight known only to the people of the plains. Today we’re hitting some things that I’d rather not have to write about, yet feel that I must. The future of this great country is at stake, after all. We had a couple of “senior moment” stories yesterday involving people in the upper echelons of power in this country. It’s not pretty, but it can’t be ignored. Those of us here on the reality-based side of the aisle are duty-bound to acknowledge when things are amiss. The first...

France is no longer the country of Notre-Dame, nor the country of De Gaulle, where the Concorde was built and a broad middle-class prospered. To understand this moment of profound transition, you have to look past the results of last weekend’s Presidential election first round, and beyond the forthcoming run-off between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen. Election campaigns can only tell us so much. What is happening to France, as sociologist Jerôme Fourquet observed, is best understood as “the Great Metamorphosis”. Nobody has done more than Fourquet to peel away the misapprehensions that surround French society, and reveal what...

As you may know, I came to the U.S. with my parents from Cuba in 1964. In other words, I sympathize with Cubans who want to leave the failed communist state but it should be done in an orderly fashion. What we are seeing today is not orderly. In fact, it's reminiscent of the Mariel episode 42 years ago when Fidel Castro openly encouraged 100,000 to leave.Cuba is an economic mess today. So the government is once again sending people north, but using the Mexico corridor to do so. This is from Julio M. Shilling via Babalu in Miami. In...

'The push for transgender rights is no longer about equality, it’s now a cleverly crafted lie that comes at the expense of women,' said Égard Watches owner, Ilan Srulovicz. There is hope for corporate America after all. Égard Watches is bucking the politics of woke corporations and standing up against transgenders who are damaging the integrity of women’s sports. The Florida-based boutique timepiece and jewelry company launched a campaign celebrating women, and taking issue with transgender athletes in sports, the Washington Times’ Valerie Richardson reports. The digital advertising campaign, called “What is a Woman,” is a response to the woke...

The entertainment industry, particularly as represented by Hollywood, is a vast, virtue signaling, repository of frauds and hypocrites.In yet another recent example of this, Warner Bros. admitted to cutting scenes with gay dialogue out of its latest "Fantastic Beasts" movie in order to appease Chinese censors. The company released a statement to News.com.au confirming that it complied with the CCP’s censorship request. It read:As a studio, we’re committed to safeguarding the integrity of every film we release, and that extends to circumstances that necessitate making nuanced cuts in order to respond sensitively to a variety of in-market factors. Our hope...

Justice Department Punishes J6 Defendants for Obstruction but Not Democrats Why didn’t the Department of Justice hold the 2016 Democratic congressional obstructionists to the same standard as those now being charged with obstructing an official proceeding on January 6? It has been said that if not for the Left’s double standards, they would have no standards at all. That rings true for a whole host of reasons. How does one begin to describe the depth and breadth of Democratic Party hypocrisy? From ignoring their own mask mandates as they hobnob with celebrities and hopping on private jets as they lecture...

Sure enough, Elon Musk pulled the trigger, handed Twitter a fat offer of a buyout, and it's been nothing but bonkersville ever since.According to CBS News:Elon Musk is offering to buy Twitter for $43 billion, saying the social media company "needs to be transformed as a private company."The billionaire and founder of electric car maker Tesla, who earlier this month disclosed he owns a 9.2% stake in Twitter, proposed in a regulatory filing on Thursday to buy all of the company's outstanding common stock for $54.20 per share. "I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be...

Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, have visited Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle on their first joint visit to the U.K. since they gave up formal royal roles and moved to the U.S. more than two years ago. The couple's office says they visited the 95-year-old Queen, Harry's grandmother, Thursday on their way to the Netherlands to attend the Invictus Games. Harry is a founder and patron of the international sports competition for wounded military veterans. Harry and Meghan stepped down as senior working royals and moved to North America in 2020, citing the unbearable pressure of their roles and...

GOOD FRIDAY: FRIDAY OF THE PASSION OF THE LORD JOHN 18:1–19:42 Friends, today’s Gospel is John’s wonderful narrative of Christ’s Passion. On the cross, Jesus entered into close quarters with sin (because that’s where we sinners are found) and allowed the heat and fury of sin to destroy him, even as he protected us. We can see, with special clarity, why the first Christians associated the crucified Jesus with the suffering servant of Isaiah. By enduring the pain of the cross, Jesus did indeed bear our sins; by his stripes we were indeed healed. And this is why the sacrificial...

Progressives are defending their in-school manipulation of kids’ sexual development by smearing the worried parents as conspiracy theorists. The smear helps progressives to keep the large bloc of non-political, non-confrontational parents from recognizing the long-term damage caused by the progressives’ K-12 sexual re-education camps. The switch-and-smear defense is spotlighted by an Associated Press fact check, posted April 13. The AP article distorted the public’s strong support for Florida’s new law, which seeks to block teachers from pushing pro-transgender and other sexual claims on kids before the fourth grade.

It's unclear whether the relic — a piece of the "true cross" — was on board when the Moskva sank. The Russian Orthodox Church announced in February 2020 that the relic had been delivered to the then-commander of the Black Sea fleet, Vice Admiral Igor Osipov, and was at the fleet's headquarters in readiness for delivery to the ship "shortly," the state-run Tass news agency reported at the time. The Moskva had a chapel on board for sailors to pray in, Sergiy Khalyuta, archpriest of the Russian Orthodox Church's Sevastopol District, told Tass. He said the fragment was to be...

In March, inflation jumped 8.5%, the biggest spike since 1981. Economic growth is expected to slow. Voters are expected to be angry. Yesterday, press secretary Jen Psaki warned, "We expect March CPI (consumer price index) headline inflation to be extraordinarily elevated due to Putin's price hike." Today, her future employer, NBC, reported: "Inflation hits 40-year high of 8.5 percent due to war in Ukraine, rent hikes." The Washington Post says much the same. President Joe Biden's senior adviser for communications at the National Economic Council, Jesse Lee, went even further, accusing those who blame Biden for inflation woes of being...

...It pits... unapologetic progressive firebrand against a centrist... for now—the uber-liberal is running away with it. With a month to the... primary, Mr. Fetterman claims a significant fundraising advantage over Mr. Lamb and a substantial lead in the polls... The Lamb formula is a savvy combination of support for key party priorities and independence on issues that resonate with centrist Pennsylvanians. He’s pro-choice, favors Build Back Better and a federal voting takeover, and has even called for getting rid of the filibuster. At the same time, he’s in favor of fracking... has voted for more border security, and... voted for...

Pink moon to rise in April The full "pink moon" will be rising in the sky on Saturday, April 16, 2022. The moon will be 98% full on Friday night, April 15, and 99% full on Sunday night, April 17.Photo illustration | Pixabay Pink flowers. Pink Easter bonnets. And pink Peeps marshmallow candy. So why not have a pink moon? Well, there will be a “pink moon” shining in the sky — sort of — when the April moon of 2022 turns full this weekend. Although the moon won’t actually look pink, it carries that colorful nickname because of the...

President Biden’s new ambassador to the Holy See voted in favor of former President Obama’s legislative agenda supporting Planned Parenthood and gay marriage when he was a senator, despite previously speaking out against such measures. Joe Donnelly, who served as a Democratic senator from Indiana from 2013 to 2019, presented his credentials to Pope Francis at the apostolic palace in Vatican City on April 11. “I look forward to deepening our ties with the Holy See. My family and I are proud to be members of the Catholic faith,” Donnelly said in a video. “From my childhood, through my college...