Free Republic

Renowned political pollster and consultant Doug Schoen unveiled his thoughts on former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton while describing his 40-year career on Fox Nation's "Tucker Carlson Today." "My sense of Obama was just a great speechwriter, a great author who had a persona that was far more substantial than the...leader he proved to be," Schoen told host Tucker Carlson. "I had no problems with him as a person. My problems were that I don't think he was a particularly successful president." During the episode of "Tucker Carlson Today," Schoen detailed stories and lessons from...

Special Counsel John Durham is revealing new smoking gun evidence, a text message that shows a Clinton campaign lawyer lied to the FBI, while putting the courts on notice he is prepared to show the effort to smear Donald Trump with now-disproven Russia collusion allegations was a “conspiracy.” In a bombshell court filing late Monday night, Durham for the first time suggested Hillary Clinton’s campaign, her researchers and others formed a “joint venture or conspiracy” for the purpose of weaving the collusion story to harm Trump’s election chances and then the start of his presidency. “These parties acted as ‘joint...

Proponents of the BILL: Geoffery Farr Chief of Police of Blue Island Mitchell Soto Rodriguez Officer of Blue Island

The former president has again defined the territory over which an upcoming national election will be fought. And in so doing, he’s done the nation a great service.Political observers and partisan activists debate whether Donald Trump or some other Republican candidate has the best chance of beating a Democratic rival in the 2024 presidential election. But earlier this month, Trump demonstrated that just as he did in 2016, he is raising campaign issues central to America’s future, issues that no other candidate is talking about. The latest flare-ups of what have been nearly eight years of relentless, orchestrated prosecution of...

Van Gogh Museum @vangoghmuseum 🎈 Hurray! Today is the birthday of Vincent. He was born 170 years ago, in 1853. In honor of his birthday, we call on all creatives to make flowers for Vincent in any way, shape or form.

(Daily readings from the USCCB)Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.” So they picked up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid and went out of the temple area. John 8:58–59When Moses encountered God in the burning bush, God revealed His name: I AM. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that this revelation of God’s name “​​is at once a name revealed and something like the refusal of a name.” It expresses that God is “infinitely above everything that we can understand or say.” He is the “hidden...

In a distant galaxy, a supermassive black hole spewing radiation at near light speed has shifted its angle by a whopping 90 degrees to point directly toward Earth — a sharp turn that's puzzling physicists. Active galactic nuclei (AGN) are the hungry black holes at the cores of many other galaxies, and they accrete matter and spew powerful jets of high-energy particles known as relativistic jets. AGN are classified according to what part of the AGN is pointed toward Earth. The researchers also observed two lobes — areas where an AGN's jets interact with surrounding gas — where some jets...

The death has been announced today of Keith Reid, the lyricist of every original song recorded by Procol Harum. Keith was 76.

The federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) this week advised users and administrators to update their Apple software due to security vulnerabilities. “Apple has released security updates to address vulnerabilities in multiple products. An attacker could exploit some of these vulnerabilities to take control of an affected device,” the notice, dated March 28, reads. “CISA encourages users and administrators to review the following advisories and apply the necessary updates.” Security updates were included in the iOS 15.7.4 and iPadOS 15.7.4, iOS 16.4 and iPadOS 16.4, Safari 16.4, Studio Display Firmware Update 16.4, watchOS 9.4, tvOS 16.4, macOS Big Sur...

The city of Denver is facing criticism from homeless advocates after removing encampments near Coors Field ahead of the Colorado Rockies' opening day. "It’s disgraceful, and they’re not trying to solve the problem," Grant Francis, with the homeless advocacy group Mutual Aid Monday, told Denver7. "They’re just trying to provide some optics that make it look like they’re trying to do something." The Colorado Rockies will play their home opener next Thursday, April 6. The city started sweeps this week on Larimer Street near Coors Field, according to Denver7. Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, a Democrat, has been criticized for sweeps...

[Catholic Caucus] Vatican cardinal highlights contradiction between Pope Francis’ remarks on confession, Catholic doctrineThe Vatican's prefect of the Apostolic Penitentiary warned that ‘it is not mercy to lie about sin.’VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — In yet further evidence of the tumult of Pope Francis’ Vatican, a rift in teaching on confession was recently highlighted when the head of the Vatican’s Apostolic Penitentiary warned against false “mercy” with regard to forgiving sins, indirectly condemning a rhetoric of “mercy” commonly espoused by Francis.The comments were delivered by Cardinal Mauro Piacenza last week, as part of the 33rd Course on the Internal Forum promoted...

This list only includes destroyed vehicles and equipment of which photo or videographic evidence is available. Therefore, the amount of equipment destroyed is significantly higher than recorded here. Small arms, ATGMs, MANPADS, loitering munitions, drones used as unmanned bait, civilian vehicles, trailers and derelict equipment are not included in this list. All possible effort has gone into avoiding duplicate entries and discerning the status of equipment between captured or abandoned. Many of the entries listed as 'abandoned' will likely end up captured or destroyed. Similarly, some of the captured equipment might be destroyed if it can't be recovered. When the...

Cable-cord cutters in the New York area can now stream Yankees games — but it’ll be expensive. The YES Network on Wednesday announced the launch of a direct-to-consumer subscription streaming service with which users who don’t get local cable TV can watch its live sports broadcasts, including Yankees, Brooklyn Nets and New York Liberty games. The service will cost $24.99 a month, or $239.99 a year, with a special offer of $19.99 a month or $199.99 a year for those who sign up by April 30. YES’s traditional TV customers will be able to access the streaming service for free.

Sen. Joe Manchin​ accused the Biden administration of not implementing the Inflation Reduction Act as intended, arguing it is “ignoring” the law’s provisions to expand fossil fuels for purely partisan purposes and undermining its ability to reduce the national debt. “​{​​I]​nstead of implementing the law as intended, unelected ideologues, bureaucrats and appointees seem determined to violate and subvert the law to advance a partisan agenda that ignores both energy and fiscal security​,” the West Virginia Democrat wrote in an op-ed published Wednesday in the Wall Street Journal. “​Specifically, they are ignoring the law’s intent to support and expand fossil energy...

The Walt Disney Co. has laid off multiple high-ranking employees during the first round of its planned job cuts, a move that will reduce the company’s workforce by 7,000 jobs or 3%.So far, Disney has laid off:Isaac Perlmutter, the former Marvel Entertainment chairman. The New York Times reported that Perlmutter’s departure comes after he unsuccessfully tried to help Nelson Peltz, an activist, investor and personal friend, join the Disney board. Perlmutter sold Marvel to Disney for $4 billion in 2009. Rob Steffens, the former co-president of Marvel Entertainment, was also laid off, Variety reported. John Turitzin, the former chief counsel...

[Catholic / Orthodox Caucus] Cdl. Hollerich falsely claims Pope can reverse teaching against women priests ‘with time’The top Vatican cardinal denied that Catholic teaching on the impossibility of female ordination is infallible.VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Close papal advisor Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, S.J., has once again suggested that the Catholic Church could open its doors to a female priesthood. He also argued that when “Church teaching was made” there was no concept of homosexuality, in an attack on Catholic teaching against about sodomy. Hollerich: ‘With time’ female ordination could occurThe lengthy interview Hollerich granted to the Croatian news outlet Glas Koncila...

The hot Big Bang is often touted as the beginning of the Universe. But there's one piece of evidence we can't ignore that shows otherwise. The notion of the Big Bang goes back nearly 100 years, when the first evidence for the expanding Universe appeared. If the Universe is expanding and cooling today, that implies a past that was smaller, denser, and hotter. In our imaginations, we can extrapolate back to arbitrarily small sizes, high densities, and hot temperatures: all the way to a singularity, where all of the Universe’s matter and energy was condensed in a single point. For...

The executive director of the San Jose Police Officers’ Association (SJPOA) has been charged with attempting to illegally import a controlled substance, according to the United States Department of Justice. Joanne Marian Segovia, 64, is accused of ordering thousands of opioids to her home and agreeing to distribute them in the United States. A federal criminal complaint states that Segovia used her personal and office computers to order the drugs between October 2015 and January 2023, including fentanyl. At least 61 shipments were mailed to her home from countries including Hong Kong, Hungary, and India, the DOJ said. “This is...

Turnaround Jay! Fed Funds Futures are pointing to one more rate hike at the May FOMC meeting, then a turnaround with The Fed cutting its target rate. Too bad the Taylor Rule is calling for a target rate of 10.29%. Like the film, “He Never Died”, The Fed never died. And neither did quantitative easing.

The Department of Justice appears to have discouraged the U.S. Marshals Service from arresting protesters illegally demonstrating at the homes of the Supreme Court justices, according to internal materials obtained by a United States senator. During a hearing Tuesday, Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., revealed training slides reportedly from a “whistleblower in DOJ who was concerned about the attorney general’s misleading testimony before the Judiciary Committee.” Those slides were used to prepare U.S. Marshals personnel for their protective details outside of justices’ homes, according to the senator. Britt said the DOJ explicitly discouraged U.S. Marshals from enforcing the law against the...