Free Republic

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) on Wednesday criticized the House impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas as a partisan detour from Congress’s important work. Asked about the merits of trying Mayorkas on impeachment charges in the Senate, Murkowski said lawmakers need to focus on funding the government instead. “Oh my goodness. We’re busy, right? To have to take a detour from the important work that’s going on,” she said. The Alaska senator, a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, cited an upcoming meeting on legislation to fund the government through 2024 and the need to fund national security needs...

Hong Kong leaders backed by Red China’s communist party (CCP) are planning to accelerate their crackdown on basic freedoms throughout the city, government officials announced on Tuesday. Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee revealed that the city would be expanding upon a national security law passed by Beijing in 2020 that effectively stripped Hong Kong of its status as a semi-autonomous region. The law criminalized many basic protest activities, such as classifying “groups speaking of potential independence” as guilty of “subversion.” Activities deemed to involve “secession,” “terrorism,” and “collusion with foreign forces” were also outlawed, all of which “carry a...

Addressing the controversy surrounding the Vatican's decision to allow blessings for same-sex couples, Pope Francis said the critics of the guidance, except for Africans, belong to "small ideological groups."The pontiff claimed that even in Africa, the resistance is more cultural, as homosexuality is generally not tolerated, Reuters quoted him as saying in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Stampa.Francis was referring to the December 2023 document "Fiducia Supplicans" issued by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, which has sparked widespread debate within the Catholic Church. The guidance stated that priests may bless same-sex couples that approach them...

Trans-identified swimmer Lia Thomas, formerly known as Will, has filed a complaint against World Aquatics over the international swimming organization’s policies prohibiting men from competing in women’s sports.In a lawsuit filed before the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland, Thomas is taking issue with the swimming organization’s 2022 decision to prohibit men from competing in competitions designated for women only.In a statement to The Guardian, World Aquatics Executive Director Brent Nowicki said the policy “was rigorously developed on the basis of advice from leading medical and legal experts, and in careful consultation with athletes.”“World Aquatics remains confident that its...

Chinese government hackers are busily targeting water treatment plants, the electrical grid, transportation systems and other critical infrastructure inside the United States, FBI Director Chris Wray will tell House lawmakers on Wednesday in a fresh warning from Washington about Beijing’s global ambitions. Wray will say that that there’s been “far too little public focus” on a cyber threat that affects “every American,” according to a copy of prepared remarks that he is to give before the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.

“We do not believe that the Applicant would be a competitive participant,” F1 said in a statement.After a tumultuous 10-month wait packed with enough drama to write a soap opera, Andretti Global finally has an answer to its Formula 1 aspirations. That answer is no. The Formula 1 World Championship, owned by Liberty Media, announced Wednesday morning that it will not approve Andretti Cadillac's application to become the 11th team on the grid come 2025."Our assessment process has established that the presence of an 11th team would not, on its own, provide value to the Championship," F1's press release read....

Just when you thought 2024 couldn't possibly get any weirder — yes, I know it's still only January — a secret Barack Obama memo could prove the undoing of special counsel Jack Smith's case against Donald Trump. America First Legal — whose suit against the DHS's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency "unearthed new docs showing that the deep state knew the risks of mass mail voting in 2020 but censored these criticisms as 'disinformation'" — has another bombshell today."A secret Obama memo, the Presidential Information Technology Committee (PITC), regarding control of Presidential records could change everything in the DOJ’s politicized...

A father and his teenage child were arrested after reports of a school shooting threat in San Diego led to the discovery of assault weapons and several untraceable guns at the family’s home, police said Tuesday. The teenager was arrested Friday after police were called to Rancho Bernardo High School “to investigate reports of a student making verbal threats of a school shooting,” the San Diego Police Department said Tuesday in news release. The student was booked into juvenile detention, police added. The student’s 45-year-old father was arrested and faces charges including possession of illegal firearms, manufacturing assault weapons and...

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston (D) sounded the alarm that his city is nearing a “breaking point” as it struggles to keep up with the flood of migrants. “I think our city is very close to its breaking point now,” Johnston said in an interview aired Wednesday on “Fox & Friends. “And we’ve been talking to leaders in D.C. around the country about why we need them to take action here. I think we have successfully welcomed almost 40,000 migrants in the last year and — and we know what it takes to do this successfully, we just need that help,”...

The Chinese Foreign Ministry was purportedly informed by the ambassador of Ukraine to Beijing that Kyiv is “committed to the one-China principle,” claiming that Taiwan is a province of China while rejecting the existence of the state of Taiwan. The remarks were allegedly made by Ambassador Pavlo Riabikin on Monday in a readout released by the Chinese Foreign Ministry at a meeting with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong in Beijing, China. However, some critics of China maintained on social media platforms that one cannot trust any material that is released by the Chinese government or press. The majority of...

The standoff at Eagle Park creates a special moment known in the ed biz as a “teachable moment” regarding the Constitution’s doctrine of federalism. The chief point to grasp here is that 13 independent sovereign states created and adopted the US Constitution. They were already associated as confederate sovereignties under the Articles of Confederation, and each was determined to retain its sovereignty notwithstanding the Constitution’s ratification. [SNIP] The Constitution’s federalism doctrine is briefly and somewhat awkwardly described in the Tenth Amendment: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are...

[Catholic Caucus] Fiducia Supplicans: A Crisis of TrustThe current reactions to Fiducia Supplicans constitute an outbreak of a crisis of trust toward the Holy See that has been lingering for years.I remain amazed and puzzled by how the publication of Fiducia Supplicans is affecting the Church—and by how the responses to it still seem to be under-perceived, downplayed, or ignored. Negative reactions to the document, and against specific contents of the document, have been strong, including those from entire bishops’ conferences and large numbers of priests and lay people. Ignoring the vehemence and the reasons behind these reactions is not...

President Joe Biden’s response to Sesame Street Muppet Elmo’s viral online wellness check backfired as Americans blamed the 46th president for their depression. “Elmo is just checking in! How is everybody doing?” Elmo asked in a Monday X/Twitter post. Elmo is just checking in! How is everybody doing? — Elmo (@elmo) January 29, 2024 The comment section of Elmo’s post received thousands of replies from X/Twitter users who expressed dread and despair while living under the Biden administration. Biden himself also replied to the Sesame Street Muppet, writing, “I know how hard it is some days to sweep the clouds...

In the shadows of economic prosperity, a quiet crisis brews as tens of millions of Americans succumb to “Doom Spending.” This phenomenon, where one spends beyond their means to cope with stress, is not just a financial dilemma but a reflection of broader societal shifts. Especially pronounced among the younger generation, this trend tells a story of forsaken dreams. Young Americans, instead of investing in homes or starting families, are opting for instant gratification like cruises, signaling a departure from traditional aspirations.

Peace breeds prosperity, and prosperity gives way to indulgence and decadence; there’s no greater display of that reality than the one seen when you observe the antics and behaviors of the Self-Imagined Elites of the American political class running our country into the ground.The idea that you live within your means and exercise fiscal responsibility, especially when you’re dealing with other people’s money, should not be controversial. And, it’s certainly not a lot to ask of people who masquerade as our representatives, ostensibly in service to the public, and claim to be looking out for the general welfare of the...

SACRAMENTO, CA — With a landmark piece of legislation, the state of California became the first state in the nation to ban heterosexual marriage. The historic law, which effectively makes it illegal for a man and woman to be joined in holy matrimony, now defines marriage as a union between anyone other than a male and a female. "This is a day that will be remembered forever," said Governor Gavin Newsom in a statement celebrating the ban. "The last vestiges of oppressive normalcy are gone, and we can all be gay as Satan intended." The law was met with celebration...

Among the prisoners exchanged today, there were no individuals who were allegedly on the Il-76 plane, according to the representative of the Defense Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Andrii Yusov. Russians claim that on January 24, the downed Il-76 plane had 65 Ukrainian prisoners on board who allegedly died in the plane crash. Russian propagandists have published a list of these individuals. However, the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, in turn, confirmed that people from this list were indeed planned to be exchanged on January 24. However, according to the representative of the...

FBI Director Christopher Wray is set to warn lawmakers on Capitol Hill Wednesday that Chinese hackers are preparing to "wreak havoc and cause real-world harm to American citizens and communities." Wray and other government officials are set to testify in front of the House Select Committee at 11 a.m. for a hearing titled "The Chinese Community Party Cyber Threat to the American Homeland and National Security."

The QAnon believer who allegedly decapitated his dad, showing off the federal employee’s severed head in an online video, had earlier waged an unhinged legal battle against the government over his student loans — claiming he should have been warned he still wouldn’t be able to get a job because he was an “overeducated white man.” Justin Mohn, 33, was taken into custody Tuesday night on suspicion of first-degree murder, abuse of a corpse and possessing an instrument of crime with intent in the killing of his 68-year-old father, Michael Mohn. The arrest came after he allegedly held up his...

Mark Zuckerberg stands and apologizes to families who’ve lost children after being harmed on social media