Free Republic

Father Frank Pavone, a well-known pro-life activist and national director of the organization Priests for Life, has been dismissed from the clerical state for “blasphemous communications on social media” and “persistent disobedience of the lawful instructions of his diocesan bishop,” CNA has learned. In a Dec. 13 letter to U.S. bishops obtained by CNA and confirmed by multiple sources as authentic, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, wrote that the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy issued the decision on Nov. 9, adding that there was “no possibility of appeal.” “Father Pavone was given ample...

LUSAIL, Qatar (AP) — Lionel Messi finally won the biggest prize in soccer as Argentina beat France 4-2 in a penalty shootout Sunday to claim a third World Cup title despite Kylian Mbappé scoring the first hat trick in a final in 56 years. Gonzalo Montiel scored the clinching penalty kick as Argentina won after a 3-3 draw.

Outgoing Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R-AR) said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) should not try and relegate the COVID vaccine. Anchor Chuck Todd said, “You spent a lot of 2021 trying to get some skeptics to take the backseat in Arkansas, so I’m curious what you think of this.” Discussing requesting his state’s Supreme Court convene a grand jury to probe wrongdoing related to the coronavirus vaccine on Fox News, DeSantis said, “Like anything, you take an MRNA shot, the way to view it is what are the benefits and the drawbacks? It seems like...

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Part Six of the Twitter Files was released by journalist Matt Taibbi on Twitter Dec. 16, revealing just how closely the platform worked with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to censor Americans prior to Elon Musk’s purchase of the platform. “Twitter’s contact with the FBI was constant and pervasive, as if it were a subsidiary,” Taibbi tweeted.As PJ Media’s Chris Queen reported, most FBI emails to the platform “consisted of requests for Twitter to review and take action on” election content that supposedly qualified as “misinformation.” However, the FBI seems distinctly unrepentant about its “master-canine” relationship with Twitter, where...

There is a particularly American Hanukah story that occurred when Washington and his troops were at Valley Forge during Christmas of 1777. Dan Adler’s article “Hanukkah at the White House” recounts this tale of George Washington’s encounter with a Jewish soldier: “In December, 1778, General George Washington had supper at the home of Michael Hart, a Jewish merchant in Easton, Pennsylvania. It was during the Hanukkah celebration, and Hart began to explain the customs of the holiday to his guest. Washington replied that he already knew about Hanukkah. He told Hart and his family of meeting the Jewish soldier at...

I read an AT piece about Italy's new prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, and she was talking about illegal immigration coming into Europe. After cheering her, I paused and had to think. I and others in the U.S. have been very focused on the illegal migrant surge through the Mexican border into the U.S. I have not given much thought to the possibility that this is a global issue. The AT blog post (below) seems to demonstrate there is also an illegal immigration problem in Europe that parallels the problem in the U.S. There is an element I ask you to...

Despite my support for Elon Musk’s continuing efforts to reduce censorship and restore free speech protections on Twitter, I have been critical of some of his moves from his use of polls on restoring certain posters to the suspensions of media figures this week. However, this morning, I was struck by the European Union (EU) rushing into the controversy to threaten, again, sanctions against Musk. The EU is apparently aghast that Twitter could suspend media even temporarily after ignoring the bans on conservative media for years under the old management. I understand Musk’s view of such tracking as a form...

Democratic New York state Sen. Zellnor Myrie recently proposed legislation that, if passed, would allow Empire State residents to file lawsuits against oil companies accused of "climate negligence," according to the New York Post. Myrie’s proposal currently awaits review by the Senate Rules Committee.Myrie bizarrely claimed that he modeled his proposed bill after Texas’ heartbeat law, which bans abortion after six weeks' gestation, though he referred to the Texas law as "odious" and "dangerous.” Nonetheless, he argued that private citizens should be able to bring legal action against oil and gas companies for damages related to fossil fuels.That the two...

Kansas universities may soon dispense with their algebra graduation requirement because too many students fail the courses.NPR Kansas recently reported: “About one in three Kansas students fails college algebra the first time around. Some take it several times before they pass. Others get so frustrated that they drop out altogether. And that cuts into university graduation rates.” NPR added that this prompted the Kansas Board of Regents to consider alternative requirements under what’s called “Math Pathways program.”Regent Wint Winter (yes, that's his name) said the new Pathways program is critical as a way to fight declining enrollment.He stated: “It’s incumbent...

Blue states are pursuing new gun control measures in the wake of a Supreme Court decision this year that upended the way courts may look at gun laws in the future. In New Jersey, lawmakers in the state are advancing a bill that would severely restrict where lawful gun owners could carry their firearms with a permit that, under the new law, would cost significantly more money to obtain. In Illinois, lawmakers on Monday debated a proposal that would ban assault-style weapons, outlaw higher capacity magazines, and raise the minimum age for gun ownership from 18 to 21 years old....

Fresh from a court victory granting her the right to examine a random sample of Arizona's ballots from its skeezy midterm election, Kari Lake has managed to notch another advance in her quest to halt the obviously fraudulent election of her Democrat rival, Katie Hobbs. According to Just The News, citing the results of a public records request from America First Legal Foundation:Recently disclosed internal communications between top election officials in Arizona's Maricopa County in the immediate aftermath of Election Day reveal that they struggled to reconcile a discrepancy of almost 16,000 in outstanding ballot totals. ...Prior to a Maricopa...

England, once the bastion of Western liberty, is rapidly becoming a Muslim-dominated nation, which bodes ill for all who live there. The seeds for this, believe it or not, began with America’s revolution when Parliament rejected inherent rights. Beginning in the 1760s, as the British began to clamp down on Colonial America, Americans complained that it was denying them their rights under the Magna Carta and the English Bill of Rights of 1689, which contains ideas many will find familiar (separation of the executive and the legislative, the right to bear arms, free elections, etc.). Parliament, however, was so intent...

Gregg is joined by Carl Szabo, NetChoice Vice President and General Counsel, and a well known free speech advocate. Holden Caulfield quipped, “I’m the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life.” But Twitter has him beat by a country mile. Twitter executives long insisted they never rigged their platform to censor conservatives. It was a lie. Former CEO Jack Dorsey was asked point-blank under oath by Congress if his social media company “shadow-banned prominent Republicans.” “No,” he replied with a straight face. Another lie. He doubled-down when he told Sean Hannity, “We do not shadow-ban according to political...

This week Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla) petitioned for a grand jury investigation into "any crimes and wrongdoing related to the development, promotion and distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines." He also called for the establishment of a state Public Health Integrity Committee, saying "the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has lost the public's trust. Withholding data on the scope of the damage done by the covid vaccines and censoring scientific research into potential alternative therapies for dealing with the disease harm public health. True science requires freedom to pursue different hypotheses. The health of our people needs a more...

Americans want honest, straightforward and fair elections that they can trust. Regardless of whether candidates win or lose, voters deserve far better than the incompetence, mismanagement and multi-week delays in counting votes that we’re seeing in so many states today. So, at a time when trust in elections is at an all-time low, why are some establishment Republicans teaming up with Democrats to push a complex, confusing and painfully slow method of voting in America? Simply stated, supporters of ranked-choice voting (RCV) believe it will produce a new era of pastel campaigns and a greater public acceptance of final results...

a jury has now awarded the families of both men $80 million each because the club did not have enough security. --In a civil lawsuit against Sony, a jury awarded the families a total of $160 million for the wrongful deaths of Ynoa and Diaz. The families don’t think they will ever see the money because they say Sony never showed up to any of the court hearings. “It just shows that some people don’t really care,” Frailan Ynoa said.

Miss Wisconsin has won the title of Miss America 2023. Wausau native Grace Stanke, a 20-year-old nuclear engineering student at UW-Madison, became the third woman from Wisconsin to be crowned as Miss America on Thursday night. The others are Laura Koeppeler of Kenosha, who was Miss America in 2012, and Terry Meeuwsen of De Pere, who was Miss America in 1973. Stanke shared her passion for nuclear engineering and performed “Storm,” a selection from the Summer movement of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons,” on violin during Thursday's competition. A graduate of Wausau West High School, Stanke is the daughter of Darrin and...

One of the great ironies of the Sam Bankman-Fried debacle is that while SBF was a generous donor to Democrats (and a few RINOs) and President Biden, it was Biden’s green energy policies that were part of the nail in SBF’s crypto empire. As inflation exploded upon Biden taking office (and massive overspending by Congress), The Federal Reserve jumped in to cool inflation leading to the downfall of cryptos in terms of price. M2 Money YoY (green line) shows the massive growth money with the Covid economic shutdowns in 2020. Cryptos skyrocketed after that much money was printed by The...

What could be worse than an unmasked and normal Christmas?The ancients had a word for it, winter, and it’s eliciting trembles of horror from the Cassandras over at the New York Times. New Yorkers, the Times recently croaked, “are living not just among the coronavirus and its seemingly endless variants, but a bunch of other viruses too.” This “bunch” includes such baffling ailments as the common cold and the flu. One man interviewed by the Times “has been walking around town with a stuffy nose and a mysterious cough that keeps clattering in his lungs.”Why any of this would suddenly...