Free Republic

Hakeem Jeffries seems poised to replace Nancy Pelosi as leader of the House Democrats. A Black political moderate, the Brooklyn congressman is often likened to Barack Obama. Even-tempered, he is known to “play” with most of the children in Washington. And at 52, he represents generational change from the 82-year-old Pelosi. Who among Democrats would have a problem with him? Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would have a problem. She also has problems with President Joe Biden and, frankly, the mainstream Democratic Party off which she feeds. A preening socialist princess, she has done much to entertain Fox News and cost the...

27 November 2022 1st Sunday of Advent Parish Church of Saint Virgil, Rattenberg, Austria Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Violet. Year: A(I).First readingIsaiah 2:1-5 ©The Lord gathers all nations together into the eternal peace of God's kingdomThe vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, concerning Judah and Jerusalem.In the days to comethe mountain of the Temple of the Lordshall tower above the mountainsand be lifted higher than the hills.All the nations will stream to it,peoples without number will come to it; and they will say: ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the Temple of the God...

There was no U.S. statesman who advocated for Ukraine more than John McCain. He was right about Putin’s nefarious intentions. Today we are driven by Sen. McCain’s legacy in Ukraine and we stand behind the Ukrainians who are fighting for freedom and democracy. From the 2022 Sedona Forum, watch Stand Up & Fight: The Story of John McCain and Ukraine. Video: https://www.mccaininstitute.org/resources/in-the-news/stand-up-fight-the-story-of-john-mccain-and-ukraine/

The tight labor market is prompting more employers to eliminate one of the biggest requirements for many higher-paying jobs: the need for a college degree. Companies such as Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Delta Air Lines Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. have reduced educational requirements for certain positions and shifted hiring to focus more on skills and experience. Maryland this year cut college-degree requirements for many state jobs—leading to a surge in hiring—and incoming Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro campaigned on a similar initiative. U.S. job postings requiring at least a bachelor’s degree were 41% in November, down from 46% at the...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed Friday it is now tracking a new COVID-19 variant of concern around the U.S. known as XBB, which has grown to make up an estimated 3.1% of new infections nationwide. The strain's prevalence has grown furthest so far in the Northeast, according to the agency's weekly estimates. More than 5% of infections in the regions spanning New Jersey through Maine are linked to XBB, in this week's "Nowcast" from the CDC.

“People would mention this guy ‘Khan Tusion’—they would call him the ‘boogeyman of porn,’ ‘the Freddie Krueger of porn’,” said Lucas Heyne, whose prior film Mope premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2019. “He was known for being one of the most verbally abusive and physically abusive porn directors that’s ever existed.”

The House Republican leadership has rejected 6 out of the 8 House Freedom Caucus rules changes that have been considered so far, Just the News has learned. The amendments that failed included a requirement that spending bills must pass before the fiscal year officially begins on Oct. 1. If not, other legislation would not be able to be considered on the floor. An amendment that would ensure all members of the Republican Conference are able to participate in conference meetings was rejected, and a rule change to allow one member, with the support of 25 others, to request having one...

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) slammed former President Trump’s “awful lack of judgement” for his meeting with Nick Fuentes, a white supremacist who has previously espoused antisemitic and racist rhetoric. Trump had dinner with Fuentes, a livestreamer who has previously denied the Holocaust, and the rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, on Tuesday at his Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Beach, Fla.

Documents in the failed crypto exchange FTX’s bankruptcy recently revealed that the firm–through its sister hedge fund Alameda–infused $11.5 million into Moonstone Bank, formerly Farmington State Bank. As more questions are raised than answers, the bank’s chief digital officer Janvier Chalopin attempted to clear the air about the curious stake. The investment, according to Chalopin, was a “seed funding… to execute [their] new plan of being a tech focused bank.” He added that the investment was for 10% of the bank, valuing Moonstone at $115 million – a considerable boost in value considering the bank had just $10 million in...

Armenia has asked the French president, Emmanuel Macron, to chair peace talks with Azerbaijan in a fresh challenge to Vladimir Putin’s increasingly loose grip on Russia’s regional allies in the wake of the war in Ukraine. The snub from a traditional ally to Putin, who had hosted an inconsequential meeting of the warring countries’ leaders last month, comes immediately on the back of his disastrous summit with six former Soviet states. During a “family” photograph of leaders of countries in the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) in Yerevan on Wednesday, Armenia’s prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, stepped away from Putin, who...

The Big Apple’s jet-setting chief executive, Mayor Eric Adams, is heading to Athens, Greece for a conference on anti-Semitism and Doha, Qatar, to “learn more” about co-hosting the World Cup. According to a copy of Adams’ public schedule released Friday, Hizzoner will head to Athens on Nov. 30 to attend the 2022 Mayors Summit Against Antisemitism. The trip comes soon after the NYPD and federal law enforcement prevented an attempted attack on city synagogues by would-be terrorists Matthew Mahrer and Christopher Brown. Adams will then head to Doha, Qatar on Dec. 1 and stay until Dec. 4 — to “learn...

The proposed amendments still pending include the reimplementation of the Holman Rule, which would permit the targeted slashing of specific federal programs or individual federal employee salaries. ... The House Republican leadership has rejected 6 out of the 8 House Freedom Caucus rules changes that have been considered so far, .. The amendments that failed included a requirement that spending bills must pass before the fiscal year officially begins on Oct. 1. If not, other legislation would not be able to be considered on the floor. An amendment that would ensure all members of the Republican Conference are able to...

Just how unstable have things become inside of the Kremlin, as domestic opposition to the war in Ukraine continues to grow? According to one memo reportedly leaked from inside the Russian government, concerns have been raised about members of the Federal Protective Service (FSO) in the event of a coup or other military conflict inside of Moscow. The FSO is charged with protecting the safety of both VIP visitors and some of the country’s top officials, including Vladimir Putin. Some of Russia’s upper-echelon officials are apparently worried that FSO agents may be “compromised” by hypnosis or other “psychologically infecting techniques.”...

A big US furniture company this week fired all of its 2,700 employees while they were sleeping, telling them in texts and emails not to come to work the next day, according to reports. The mass firing on Tuesday by United Furniture Industries, which makes budget-friendly sofas and recliners for Simmons Upholstery, left thousands of employees including truck drivers and factory workers in North Carolina, Mississippi and California unemployed just two days before Thanksgiving.

On Sunday, loud cheers from Sharm el-Sheikh greeted the announcement of a new initiative – the global loss and damage fund – to right historical wrongs by compensating climate-hit developing countries. This breakthrough brought back memories of another, the £100bn a year agreed at the 2009 Copenhagen climate summit to help poor countries mitigate the effects of the climate crisis. That money has never fully materialised. If our 13 years’ experience of the £100bn fund that never was is anything to go by, eulogies of praise will soon turn into allegations of betrayal. But there is a way forward if...

Annabella Rockwell led a life of privilege even before she entered posh Mount Holyoke College in rural South Hadley, Mass. in 2011. The heiress to a pharmaceutical fortune, she grew up on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, summered in Newport, RI, and later moved with her family to Palm Beach, Fla. A competitive figure skater who lived abroad for a time in Germany as well as Hong Kong, Rockwell chose Mount Holyoke for its academic rigor and prestige. At the time, she said, she’d grown up in a home with “traditional” values but considered herself open-minded. “I was so excited about...

Irene Cara, the iconic ’80s singer and actress best known for the soundtrack hits to the films “Flashdance” and “Fame” has died. She was 63. Her publicist announced Cara’s death Saturday morning, saying in a statement Cara died in her Florida home. The cause of death is unknown and will be released when more information is available, the spokeswoman added.

The Biden administration had had quite the penchant of not just promoting the latest COVID-19 booster shots, but of doing so through fear-mongering and partisan talking points. The administration even threatened people's jobs and livelihoods if they didn't get the vaccine. Earlier this week, Dr. Anthony Fauci was present at Tuesday's White House press briefing where he also promoted the vaccine, which as Spencer highlighted at the time. erupted in chaos. That's not the most recent or even necessarily memorable way that the White House has harangued people into getting vaccinated. On Friday morning, as part of a Black Friday...

The Bible In Paintings ~ Encouragement for Appreciating and Applying God's Word ~ JESUS PREACHES IN NAZARETH'S SYNAGOGUE ֎ Featuring 18 Paintings and 5 Photographs ֎ L U K E CHAPTER 3 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to...

In his March 21 press briefing, State Department spokesman Ned Price told the gathered reporters that “President Zelenskyy has also made it very clear that he is open to a diplomatic solution that does not compromise the core principles at the heart of the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine.” A reporter asked Price, “What are you saying about your support for a negotiated settlement à la Zelenskyy, but on whose principles?” In what still may be the most remarkable statement of the war, Price responded, “this is a war that is in many ways bigger than Russia, it’s bigger than Ukraine.”The...