Free Republic

Most members of the US women’s soccer team stayed silent during the national anthem before its World Cup opener Friday against newcomers Vietnam — who passionately belted their nation’s tune. The majority of the reigning women’s World Cup champion team stared stoically ahead as the “Star Spangled Banner” blasted across New Zealand’s Eden Park arena. Only five of the 11 players who stood on the field for the anthem — with young, aspiring players standing before them — placed their hands over their hearts, while their six teammates kept their digits clasped behind their backs ... Only three USWNT players...

On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s “Cavuto: Coast to Coast,” New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli (D) discussed the state’s projected $36 billion budget shortfall over three years and stated that taxpayers leaving the state is part of the issue along with the fact that the economy is slowing down. DiNapoli stated, “I think there are a couple of factors happening: There’s no doubt the economy certainly is slowing and we are feeling the effects in the current year collections of the slowdown, as far as financial services, Wall Street’s a very important part of the economy in...

The FBI demanded the House Oversight Committee keep the bureau’s unclassified FD-1023 form confidential before its release by Republicans on Thursday (snip) The form contains FBI informant allegations of wrongdoing by then-Vice President Joe Biden. Specifically, it alleges that Joe Biden and Hunter Biden each received $5 million from Mykola Zlochevsky, the founder of Burisma Holdings, after Joe Biden threatened to withhold aid to Ukraine until then-President Petro Poroshenko fired a prosecutor investigating Burisma. (snip) “The safeguards the FBI placed on the production of this information are necessary to protect the safety of confidential sources and the integrity of sensitive...

Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said that Hunter Biden “wanted everyone to see” the pornographic photos of him she displayed during a House hearing — hours after the first son’s lawyer filed an ethics complaint against her for publicly flashing the X-rated images. Hunter wanted the world to see his lurid acts because the president’s son himself “uploaded them to several foreign amateur porn sites and Porn Hub,” Greene tweeted Saturday. On Friday, attorney Abbe Lowell wrote to the Office of Congressional Ethics, demanding a formal review of Greene after she showed sexually explicit but censored photos of Hunter Biden...

WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT A young Texas woman is suing the doctors who put her on testosterone at age 17 and botched her double breast removal the next year, saying they should have treated her for depression and anxiety instead. Soren Aldaco, 21, says she was confused, autistic, depressed and anxious when doctors in Fort Worth and Austin encouraged her to become a boy, take cross-sex hormones and later have both breasts removed. In her 29-page complaint, she says doctors acted more like 'ideologues', pushing her to transition, not discussing alternatives, and 'irreversibly disfiguring and disabling' her with a shoddy mastectomy....

I am trying to get PublicSq (Public square) on my phone. I went to the website to download it-It went to Google play store, but then it said my device is not compatible with it?Has anyone else had this problem?

The grandson of former President John F. Kennedy on Friday ripped his cousin Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s 2024 White House bid and threw his support behind President Joe Biden, The Hill reported. “President John F. Kennedy is my grandfather. And his legacy is important,” Jack Schlossberg, the 30-year-old son of US Ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy, said in a video he posted to his Instagram account. “It’s about a lot more than Camelot and conspiracy theories. It’s about public service and courage,” Schlossberg continued. He endorsed Biden’s reelection campaign and said Biden “shares my grandfather’s vision for America: That we...

Hopes were high throughout the spring, as a Ukrainian military equipped with Western weapons prepared to launch a counteroffensive that would reclaim land seized by Russia, which had invaded its much smaller neighbor for the second time in early 2022.“We are getting ready for the counteroffensive, so that we can finally end this war,” one Ukrainian soldier said in late May. The counteroffensive began about three weeks later, with Ukraine making initial gains in Donetsk and Luhansk, two regions in eastern Ukraine that were illegally annexed by Russia last year.Since then, however, the pace of progress has slowed considerably, leading...

Pope: Changes in Argentine church reflect vision of its architectPeople pray outside the closed Saint Cajetan church in Buenos Aires on August 7, 2020, amid the new coronavirus pandemic.Argentina's Catholic Church is undergoing major changes, with a new archbishop for the Buenos Aires capital and three cardinals-designate. The changes have created a new landscape in Pope Francis' homeland -- a landscape designed in Rome.Archbishop Jorge García Cuerva, 55, took the helm of Buenos Aires on July 15, while the Archbishop Ángel Rossi of Córdoba, a 64-year-old Jesuit, will be created a cardinal at the upcoming consistory Sept. 30. A Capuchin...

This week in hearings at the House Weaponization Subcommittee, Congressional Delegate Stacey Plaskett (D-VI) rejected Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s complaint against being censored, saying that "certain views should not enjoy the First Amendment free speech protections. These include views that undermine public health and government authority. Mr. Kennedy's opposition to making covid vaccination mandatory both endangered public health and undermined the government's authority to compel people to participate in this life-saving medication." Plaskett went on to contend that "Republicans aren't interested in protecting legitimate freedom of speech. They just want to force social media companies to promote...

Heres another good one. Elise Stefanik questions Emma Jo Morris, a politics editor at Breitbart, who just made devastating testimony about her investigative journalism into the Laptop From Hell.

A transgender woman is suing a Manhattan yoga studio for $5 million because she was forced to use the men’s locker room. It’s the third gender-identity discrimination lawsuit Ali Miles, who also goes by the name Dylan Miles, has filed in the city in 13 months — and could be part of a coming tsunami of trans-rights lawsuits targeting small businesses. Miles claims to be in “the process of transitioning into [a] woman,” wearing women’s clothing and undergoing hormone therapies, according to court papers. The Arizona native turned up at Hot Yoga Chelsea on West 27th Street on May 4...

Jimmy Dore on stage. Serious topic but funny. Also probably a liberal audience. Enjoy... [5 mins] * SOME STRONG LANGUAGE *

Our Readings for this upcoming Lord’s Day involve a meditation on both God’s mercy and his justice, and the complex way both virtues of God are expressed in his government of human affairs in general and his people in particular. We see that God’s apparent tolerance of evil in the short-term is an expression of his mercy and desire that all should repent; yet ultimately God can and will establish justice. 1. Reading 1: Wisdom 12:13, 16-19:There is no god besides you who have the care of all, that you need show you have not unjustly condemned. For your might...

A pint-sized 26-year-old Nebraska man posed as teenage student to “blend in” at two high schools last year — and now he’s been nabbed on sexual assault and sex trafficking charges, officials alleged. Using the alias Zak Hess, Zachary Scheich pretended to be a 17-year-old junior to enroll at Northwest High School in Lincoln and then transferred to Southeast High School to commit the alleged crimes, the Journal Star reported, citing local police. “I’ve been in the district for 10 years, and this is the first time that I can remember something like this happening,” Lincoln public schools security chief...

A Russian war reporter was killed and three were wounded in Ukraine on Saturday in what the defence ministry said was a Ukrainian attack using cluster munitions, prompting outrage from Moscow. In a separate incident, German broadcaster Deutsche Welle said one of its journalists, Yevgeny Shilko, had been wounded elsewhere in Ukraine in a Russian attack with cluster munitions that killed a Ukrainian soldier. It said his life was not in danger. Cluster bombs are in the spotlight after Ukraine received supplies of them from the United States this month. Many countries ban them because they rain shrapnel over a...

Texas A&M University on Friday announced the resignation of its president in the fallout over a Black journalist who said her celebrated hiring at one of the nation’s largest campuses quickly unraveled due to pushback over her past work promoting diversity.

Former President Donald Trump has pulled ahead in the Utah Republican primary race, a recent Deseret News/Hinkley Institute poll found.The survey noted that Trump has “struggled to win the trust of voters in Utah,” despite leading in national polls as well as several other state-level surveys, leading in DeSantis’s home state of Florida, as well as New Hampshire and South Carolina.“DeSantis has shown signs of strength in the state, but the latest Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll shows him falling behind,” the survey reported.Previously, DeSantis stood as the frontrunner in the state with a one-point edge, 27 percent to...

A majority of Republican primary voters support former President Donald Trump, while Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has fallen to a virtual tie for second place with anti-woke businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, the latest Harvard poll forum.With 52 percent support, Trump has a 40-point lead over DeSantis, who polled at 12 percent. DeSantis’s 12 percent brings him to a virtual tie with Ramaswamy, who received 10 percent support.2024 National Republican Primary Trump — 52% (+40)DeSantis — 12%Ramaswamy — 10%Pence — 7%Haley — 4%Scott — 2%Christie — 2%Burgum — 1%Hutchinson — 1%2 Way: Trump — 63% (+26)DeSantis — 37%Harvard/Harris | RVs | 07/19-20https://t.co/BbGbKXin6b...

Huge explosions rocked Russian-occupied Crimea after suspected Ukrainian drones targeted an ammunition depot. It is the third daring attack believed to have been masterminded by Ukraine on the annexed region this week in a humiliating blow to Vladimir Putin. Sergei Aksyonov, the Moscow-installed leader of the region, reported the drone attack had succeeded in hitting an ammunition depot and there were no known casualties. On telegram, he wrote: "As a result of an enemy drone on the Krasnogvardeisky district, there was a detonation at an ammunition depot. "A decision was taken to evacuate people [living] within five kilometres" of the...