Free Republic

Vatican journalists are reporting Australia’s most senior Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, has died following complications from hip replacement surgery. The Herald Sun has sought confirmation from a number of Cardinal Pell’s representatives. He was 81. Since being acquitted of child sexual abuse offences by the High Court in 2020 Pell had spent time between Rome and Sydney. Despite having convictions on five child sexual abuse charges over the abuse of two choir boys quashed by the High Court, the Cardinal was being sued by the father of one of the boys. The boy died of a heroin overdose in 2014...

MONTERREY, Mexico – The director of country’s largest immigrant shelter worked himself into peak of outrage recalling the largesse of a UN program that, unknown to most Americans, has been showering millions of dollars in cash to help foreign nationals on their way to cross the U.S. southern border. Casa INDI shelter director Jose Jaime Salina Flores recounted the recent case of immigrant mother staying with three daughters at his facility demanding Flores help arrange a UN raise above the 6,000 pesos a month UN already gave her on a debit card (about US$300) and which she thought insufficient while...

Former President Donald Trump responded to the CBS News report claiming Attorney General Merrick Garland assigned a U.S. attorney to review roughly ten classified documents found in an office once used by President Joe Biden.“When is the FBI going to raid the many homes of Joe Biden, perhaps even the White House,” Trump questioned on his Truth Social Monday night, adding, “These documents were definitely not declassified.”Trump was referring to when his home in Florida, Mar-A-Lago, was raided by FBI agents mid last year. The FBI searched his residence for classified material that the former president could have removed from...

Gov. Ron DeSantis and President Joe Biden’s long-running fight over immigration moved on Monday from a battle of rhetoric to one of testimony and legal arguments. A federal judge in Pensacola heard opening arguments in DeSantis’ lawsuit against Biden, which claims the White House is neglecting current immigration policy. DeSantis alleges the Biden administration allowed thousands of migrants into the U.S. each month by ignoring policies to detain them — with many winding up in Florida. The governor’s administration contends the migrants threaten public safety and costs the state money as it needs to accommodate more people in prisons, schools...

France's government has proposed raising the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030 in a major reform to the pension system. But the details immediately triggered an angry response from the unions, with plans for strikes on 19 January. A recent poll suggests 80% of the population is opposed to pushing the retirement age back to 64. Some MPs even blame Mr Macron's policy for losing his party its parliamentary majority last year. The retirement age will be raised gradually by three months a year, starting in September, she explained. By 2027 it would reach 63 years and...

Not everything is sweeter the second time around. Take the 2023 Ford Maverick, for instance. It's probably one of the top-selling vehicle debuts in Ford's history, barring the iconic Ford Mustang and Ford Transit van. According to Motor Biscuit, the 2022 Ford Maverick became an instant best-seller upon its debut, accounting for about 73% of U.S. vehicle sales in 2022. However, the COVID-19 pandemic, burgeoning supply chain issues, and impending recession spell trouble for production, and Ford made that clear when it suspended orders for the Maverick in early 2022. Talk about dousing cold water on a rising bonfire. ..."Ford...

On this date in 1775, the Russian Empress Catherine the Great had Cossack rebel Yemelyan Pugachev chopped to pieces in Moscow for sustaining a major insurrection whose effects would haunt Russia for decades to come. Pugachev’s Rebellion was the most spectacular specimen in populous family tree of 18th century peasant uprisings. Most such disturbances were local and fundamentally unthreatening. Pugachev’s was neither. The Cossack commander raised a revolt in the Urals in 1773, styling himself the long-lost tsar Catherine had overthrown a decade before. Catherine was slow to see the import, but this hinterlands pretender set up a state-like bureaucracy...

A world-renowned oncologist and one of the architects of Obamacare will refuse any medication in 10 years' time - including antibiotics, chemotherapy and even pain meds The physician has dedicated large parts of his career to saving the lives of elderly Americans, but his personal belief is that old age is a burden on society and loved ones. Dr Emanuel, who served in both the Obama and Biden administrations, says there is also a lack of dignity when aging past 75.

New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, during her state of the state address Monday, announced plans to ban gas heating on the construction of new buildings over the next several years. Speaking to the state legislature in Albany, Hochul acknowledged soaring energy costs foot by homeowners and renters across the state, indirectly citing the Russia-Ukraine war in remarking on the "geopolitical forces outside our control but hitting our wallets right here at home." Arguing the homes in New York are some of the oldest in the nation, leaving them poorly insulated, the governor, elected to her first full term in...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida may soon fine some financial institutions that identify gun store purchases under a pending proposal ahead of the upcoming legislative session. The proposal — known as the “Florida Arms and Ammo Act” — seeks to thwart the emerging corporate practice of identifying and potentially flagging an individual’s financial data after a purchase at a gun retailer. Proponents, including Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, describe the proposal as a “first in the nation.” The effort comes as some credit card companies track and categorize gun store sales amid growing concerns of violence and mass shootings. “We are all...

An old photo of first lady Jill Biden cooking with a gas stove has gone viral this week as the Biden administration is weighing the ban of such appliances, according to a report. "Hey [Antoni Porowski], what are you cooking tonight?" Biden wrote on Twitter in September 2020, including the photo of herself using a gas stove top to cook and directing the question toward Canadian chef and TV personality Antoni Porowski. The photo resurfaced just days after Bloomberg first reported that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is considering a ban on gas stoves because of concerns about...

Last Father’s Day, I spent the morning watching the men of Millheim Harmonie Verein Hall baste and flip barbecue on large open pits. There were beef clods, pork shoulders, and whole mutton. That last one is something you don’t often see on barbecue joint menus in Texas, whole or not, but back in the days before barbecue restaurants it was nearly as ubiquitous on the pit as beef and pork

The number of seniors visiting emergency rooms in California for cannabis-related issues is growing, according to new research. From 2005 to 2019, the state’s emergency departments saw a 1,808 percent relative increase in the rate of cannabis-related trips among those aged 65 and older. Cannabis is currently legal for both medicinal and recreational use in California. The state became the first in the country to legalize medical marijuana in 1996, while the substance was not approved for recreational use there until November 2016. The study found that cannabis-related emergency department visits in California rose sharply among seniors from 2013 to...

More Lies: Biden Falsely Claimed in 2018: “I Don’t Have Access to Classified Information” – While Top-Secret Docs on Ukraine Were Illegally Stored in His Private Office (VIDEO)Joe Biden in 2018 told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell that he no longer has access to classified information like he once did as Vice President. Biden sat down for his interview with MSNBC from the Penn Biden Center – the same private office that illegally stored top secret materials from Joe Biden’s time as Obama’s VP. Top secret intelligence documents related to Ukraine, UK and Iran were found in Joe Biden’s private office, according...

The White House is turning the tables on House Republican lawmakers when it comes to conservative-led spending proposals that Democrats warn could mean cuts to crucial programs like Medicare and Social Security. The Biden administration is already building on a strategy it deployed during the midterm election season in which it highlighted talk from multiple GOP congressional lawmakers about how they plan to use their new House majority to consider cuts to entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare. It’s also putting a spotlight on the possibility of military spending cuts by Republicans in an effort to balance federal spending...

Bed Bath & Beyond confirmed Tuesday that it is closing more stores as it considers filing for bankruptcy protection. Driving the news: The retailer, which also operates buybuy Baby stores and Harmon, released a list of 120-plus closing stores, which includes 62 new Bed Bath & Beyond closings and the 56 closing stores announced in September. Six buybuy Baby and two Harmon stores were also included on the company's list and liquidation sales are underway. The latest: Bed Bath & Beyond shares jumped about 20% Tuesday morning after the company's earnings call, Axios' Kimberly Chin and Richard Collings report, noting...

According to sources, experts have been working tirelessly around the clock to try and get to the bottom of why so many seemingly perfectly healthy, athletic people are falling over suddenly. "I wish I could point to something in the past year or two that large groups of people were exposed to, or forced into, but nothing comes to mind," added Dr. Rufflinger. "If only there was one thing all these patients had in common." At publishing time, experts said they had narrowed down the list of what most likely was causing these sudden health issues down to: climate change,...

Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), the chair of the Senate’s Select Committee on Intelligence, demanded a briefing from President Joe Biden’s Justice Department on Tuesday about the stash of classified documents at UPenn reportedly related to Ukraine and Iran and dated between 2013 and 2016. Warner stated he wanted a briefing on Biden’s mishandling of classified documents related to congressional oversight powers. The requested briefing flies in the face of the media’s decision to downplay the national security breach.

Former Vice President Mike Pence slammed the “double standard” the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is showing former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden following the revelation that Biden had stashed classified documents from his time as vice president at his University of Pennsylvania office. During an appearance on the Hugh Hewitt Show, the former vice president criticized the “double standard” and the “massive overreach” the FBI displayed between Trump’s Florida home being raided to find out if there was any leftover classified material from his time in the White House and nothing happening when roughly ten classified documents...

Two men accidentally set themselves on fire while trying to burn down a building for immigration services in Bakersfield, California, RadarOnline.com has learned. The incident went down on January 2. In a shocking video, the arsonists are seen pouring accelerant outside of the building and setting fire to the fluid before becoming engulfed in flames. The moment was captured outside of Servicio de Inmigracion, which provides crucial resources that assist individuals through the immigration process. In the video, two men dressed in black can be seen approaching Servicio de Inmigracion, with their faces cloaked with masks. The men are pictured...