Free Republic

According to what we hear from the White House and from the television networks, the issues at stake in the Ukraine War are simple. They concern the evil of Vladimir Putin, who woke up one morning and chose, whether out of sadism or insanity, to wreak unspeakable violence on his neighbors. Putin’s actions are described as an “unprovoked invasion” of a noble democracy by a corrupt autocracy. How we ought to respond is assumed to be a no-brainer. The United States has pledged vast quantities of its deadliest weaponry, along with aid that is likely to run into the hundreds...

Memorial of Saint Charles Borromeo, Bishop Luke 16:1–8Friends, like the steward in today’s Gospel, we must regularly take a hard took at ourselves. What are our strengths and our weaknesses? Where do we need improvement? Where are we not in particularly good shape? Is our prayer life strong? Do we frequent the sacraments? Do we participate in the Mass? Are our lives focused around the corporal and spiritual works of mercy? Do we speak out against injustices and moral evils?And, like the steward, we must act with cleverness, firmness of purpose, and boldness. Enough wishy-washiness in the spiritual life! The...

The death of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II has set off a period of public mourning and celebrations of life. But even as many lauded Elizabeth for her 70-year reign, for some — including those from Britain’s former colonies — it was a fresh reminder of the country’s imperial past. In the last two years, two former British colonies in the Caribbean have made robust efforts to further separate themselves from Great Britain — moves that have been under consideration for decades before. Last year, Barbados officially removed Elizabeth as head of state, becoming a republic, in a move that was...

<p>AP Photo/Patrick Semansky Let’s be real, it’s not looking good for Democrats. Many of them are pretty much guaranteed to lose their respective races and others are feeling the heat of a competitive race with their opponent just at their back. The overtake could happen at any moment.</p>

he German navy is helping Norway to protect critical maritime infrastructure such as oil rigs, undersea cables and pipelines, is ready to do the same off the Danish and Swedish coasts, its head said on Thursday. Bordering Russia in the north, Norway is Europe's biggest producer of natural gas and oil and has an extremely long coast that is hard to protect. It operates an extensive network of pipelines that connect the country with Britain and Europe. NATO has pledged to boost the protection of critical infrastructure after the ruptures in September in the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream...

Foster v. Love, 522 U.S. 67, 71-72 is a 9-0 U.S. Supreme Court decision handed down in 1997. The court had agreed to take up the issue of federal statutes vs. states' regarding election for federal offices and state election dates, ruling that "Election Day" means what it says: a singular day. The case that started it: Murphy J. Foster Jr., Governor of Louisiana, et al., Petitioners v. G. Scott Love, Paul S. Bergeron, Kathleen B. Balhoff, and Bennie Baker-Bourgeois. (snip) Constitutional attorney Ren Jander's Nov. 18, 2020, piece, "Elections Undecided by Midnight are Void & Preempted by Federal Law...

The hosts of The View swooned over Pennsylvania Democratic Senate hopeful John Fetterman during a Friday interview, calling his debate performance 'courageous' and saying it was 'shocking' that his race against Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz was so close. It was the latest cakewalk for a Democratic guest compared to the interrogation Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas experienced during last Monday's show. 'I think it was an incredibly courageous and brave thing for you to show what healing from a stroke looks like. That's incredibly brave,' Hostin told Fetterman, who was appearing on the show remotely from Pennsylvania. 'On the...

Tom Barrack, Trump's longtime billionaire friend and 2016 fundraiser, has been acquitted on all charges related to accusations he lobbied Trump on behalf of the United Arab Emirates without registering as a foreign agent. He also stood accused of then lying to the FBI about those contacts. The jury deliberated for about two days at federal court in Brooklyn before finding Barrack not guilty. Prosecutors alleged Barrack had traded on his decades-long friendship with the then-president to give UAE officials access to and insider information on the Trump White House and 2016 campaign. Acting as a foreign agent without registering...

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The head of the European Central Bank underlined the bank’s determination to fight rampant inflation with more interest rate increases on top of record hikes, saying Friday that “our job is far from being completed” and that even a mild recession would not be enough to bring rising prices back under control. ECB President Christine Lagarde said in a lecture at the central bank of Estonia that “we will not let high inflation become entrenched” by allowing expectations of higher prices to become baked into wages and costs, creating a spiral of ever-higher inflation. She said...

Never Squat With Your Spurs on Will Rogers, who died in a 1935 plane crash, was one of the greatest political sages America has ever known. Some of his sayings: 1. Never slap a man who's chewing tobacco. 2. Never kick a cow chip on a hot day. 3. There are two theories to arguing with a woman. Neither works. ************ 4. Never miss a good chance to shut up. 5. Always drink upstream from the herd. 6. If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging. 7. The quickest way to double your money is to fold it and...

Is the American Community Survey legit?

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court looks more like America than it ever has. The lawyers who argue at the nation’s highest court? Not so much. The current two-week session of arguments features 25 men and just two women, an imbalance so stark that the Biden administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer made a point of it in her defense of race-conscious college admissions Monday. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar argued to the court that extreme racial or gender disparities between certain groups “can cause people to wonder whether the path to leadership is open.” Prelogar and Morgan Ratner, a lawyer in...

This week, Florida Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jimmy Patronis sent a letter to U.S. Transportation (DOT) Sec. Pete Buttigieg requesting the federal government work to mitigate the threat of electric vehicles (EVs) following Hurricane Ian, which caused salty storm surge waters to be shoved into the Southwest Florida coast. The CFO’s letter asks U.S. DOT to take a more proactive role in identifying storm impacted EVs and getting them off the roads, out of salvage yards and away from the general public to prevent fires. The State Fire Marshal’s Office has confirmed 16 EV fires occurred as a result of...

A 24-hour curfew has been imposed in the Russian-controlled Ukrainian city of Kherson, the Russian-installed deputy governor of the region said on Friday, amid what he said was a likely Ukrainian offensive. In video message posted on Telegram, Kirill Stremousov said that the curfew was necessary "in order to defend our city of Kherson" from what he referred to as "terrorist attacks". Stremousov repeated earlier calls for civilians to leave Kherson city, saying that columns of Ukrainian vehicles had been spotted on areas of the frontline and that an attack was possible. Earlier on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said...

Leftist internet traffic cop NewsGuard is in no position to be throwing around the “hoax” label when its own CEO tried to dismiss the Hunter Biden laptop scandal as a “hoax.” It's a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black. NewsGuard released a new self-serving report headlined: “Making YouTube Look Good: Rumble Becomes Hoax Central Ahead of the Midterms.” NewsGuard's primary complaint was that Rumble doesn’t abide by NewsGuard’s leftist ratings system like censorship-obsessed YouTube does: “In search results, Rumble pushes twice as many sites rated untrustworthy by NewsGuard as YouTube,” which is laughable in the face of...

PHOENIX — Former president Barack Obama used a rally here Wednesday night to deliver perhaps his bluntest warning yet about the stakes of next week’s midterm elections for America’s system of self-government. If the Republican candidates here are successful, Obama argued, “Democracy as we know it may not survive in Arizona.” “That’s not an exaggeration,” he added. “That is a fact.”

Masters up now 1.7%. Rich says that election day voting will be very heavy R, including all those who are dropping their ballots off. Now, all, we have been instructed at various GOP clubs if you bring in a ballot mailed to you to drop off, do NOT just drop it off, but have THEM mark "SPOILED" on it and vote in person, otherwise, your ballot won't be counted until after election day.

Many people believe that if a college or university is accredited, that’s the equivalent of a guarantee of quality. Just as the seal of approval from Underwriters Laboratories (UL) tells consumers that an electric appliance is going to be reliable, so too with college accreditation, which supposedly tells students that a college is of good quality. At least, that’s widely thought to be true. Like so many other things that are widely thought to be true, the belief that accreditation is a guarantee of educational quality is mistaken. Many Americans holding degrees from accredited colleges learned little or nothing of...

MSNBC has abruptly cut ties with weekend host Tiffany Cross, opting not to renew her contract after almost two years and severing ties, Mediaite has learned. Cross, whose Saturday show The Cross Connection was a source of controversy for the network, has not commented publicly on the cancellation. Her production team was told of the decision on Friday. They will remain at the network, a source familiar with the matter told Mediaite, as they currently work on MSNBC’s Sunday show in the same slot. A source familiar with the decision told Mediaite that comments and coverage from Cross did not...

MSNBC’s Morning Joe responded on Friday to Brooklyn Nets player Kyrie Irving’s apology for promoting an antisemitic film, condemning the NBA and Nike for their continued relationships with the point guard. Both Nike and the NBA “believe in social justice, just not for Jews,” said host Joe Scarborough of the situation. Irving tweeted last week in support of the documentary “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America,” which peddles conspiracy theories about Jews and uses antisemitic tropes and language. The basketball star and self-styled independent thinker posted an apology on Thursday following backlash over the tweet, saying that he agrees...