Free Republic

A clear majority of the Supreme Court’s nine justices signaled Thursday that they would overturn a Colorado ruling barring former President Donald Trump from the state’s Republican presidential primary ballot. The former president, 77, and his lawyers were appealing the Dec. 19 decision by Colorado’s Supreme Court that found Trump ineligible for the March 5 GOP contest by virtue of violating the Constitution’s so-called “Insurrection Clause” during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Trump’s team argued separately that Congress — not the states — was tasked with enforcing the clause, that the provision did not apply to the office of...

A mother has been found legally responsible for her son's crimes. Jennifer Crumbley was found guilty of four counts of involuntary manslaughter after her son, Ethan, took a gun to school and shot up his classmates, killing four of them. This is the first time that a parent has been held directly responsible for the crimes of their minor child. Mrs. Crumbley may have been a bad mom, of which there are many across the US. She's the first mom ever in the US to be convicted for her child's crime in this way. Does the verdict against her spell...

[H/T Mewzilla]Allegations of Secrecy and High Mortality Rates Draw ScrutinyAn employee at a Pfizer branch in Kyiv has exposed a shocking clinical trial conducted by the pharmaceutical company, resulting in the tragic deaths of over 40 Ukrainian children at the time of this revelation. These trials have been marred by severe violations of medical and ethical standards, raising alarming concerns. Despite the discovery of these violations in the early stages of the trials and a distressingly high rate of hospitalizations and fatalities, Pfizer stubbornly persists in continuing these experiments.The disturbing revelations came to light through a series of videos that...

8 February 2024 Thursday of week 5 in Ordinary Time Sanctuary St. Girolamo Emiliani - Vercurago - Lecco - Italy Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: B(II).First reading1 Kings 11:4-13 ©For the sake of my servant David, I will leave you one tribeWhen Solomon grew old his wives swayed his heart to other gods; and his heart was not wholly with the Lord his God as his father David’s had been. Solomon became a follower of Astarte, the goddess of the Sidonians, and of Milcom, the Ammonite abomination. He did what was displeasing to the Lord, and was not...

Special counsel Robert Hur said he will not recommend charges against President Joe Biden for his handling of classified documents while out of office, despite finding evidence that Biden "willfully retained" materials. "We conclude that no criminal charges are warranted in this matter," said Hur's report summarizing his yearlong probe. "We would conclude the same even if there was no policy against charging a sitting president. Our investigation uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified information after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen."

LEESBURG, Va. — House Democratic leaders are vowing to make abortion their top issue on the campaign trail this year, betting that Republican efforts to roll back women’s reproductive rights will drive voters to the polls to the distinct advantage of President Biden and his allies in Congress. Gathered in Northern Virginia for their annual strategy retreat, the Democrats are hearing from experts — and honing their message — on a host of issues, from climate change and infrastructure to labor unions and the economy. But rising above them all, party leaders said, will be the fight to protect abortion...

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday appeared highly critical of a Colorado Supreme Court decision that would ban former President Donald Trump from the state's 2024 GOP primary ballot under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. During more than two hours of oral argument in the historic case Trump v. Anderson, each of the court's nine justices expressed skepticism that an individual state has the authority to deny a candidate for federal office from the ballot as an "insurrectionist." “It just doesn't seem like a state call,” Justice Amy Coney Barrett said. “Why should a single state have the ability...

Faced with a shortfall of more than 7,000 sailors, the head of Navy personnel is tapping into a new population of potential recruits: those who haven’t finished high school.Since 2000, the Navy has not permitted anyone who did not have a high school or GED diploma to enlist in the sea service. But on Jan. 26, the service opened bootcamp to these Americans with some caveats, the Navy announced.Vice Adm. Richard Cheeseman is aiming to enlist at least 500 people who did not finish high school or earn a GED diploma, he told USNI News this week. As of 2021,...

Mayor Tiffany Henyard (D) of Dolton, Illinois, got heated with officials Monday when they questioned her on issues that have brought a wave of criticism. Fox News reported Thursday that she was pelted with questions about her controversial spending habits and transparency. Dolton mayor to critics: ‘I’m the leader!’https://t.co/edgYdM3jLN — WGN TV News (@WGNNews) February 7, 2024 Video footage shows the meeting with Henyard speaking to fellow officials. She said, “Y’all should be ashamed of y’all selves. Y’all black. Y’all are black. And y’all sitting up here beating and attacking on a black woman that’s in power. You should be...

Human remains have once again been found in Austin's Lady Bird Lake. Members of the Austin Police Department responded to the 300 block of West Cesar Chavez Street around 1:30 p.m. local time after receiving an 911 call for an urgent welfare check, Officer Ariel Crumes said at a news conference. The 911 caller said he thought he found a dead body on the north side of the Texas lake, Crumes explained. In a statement obtained by PEOPLE, Austin-Travis County EMS says the adult patient was “obviously deceased” when crews arrived at the scene. Lady Bird Lake is the same...

America last! The U.S. Senate has cast a contentious vote, advancing a massive $95 billion foreign aid package that supports Ukraine, Israel, Gaza, and Taiwan, but notably omits any provisions for bolstering U.S. border infrastructure. In a 67-32 cloture vote, the Senate crossed party lines, with several RINO senators joining Democrats to move the foreign aid bill forward. Republicans who joined Democrats in voting in favor include: Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Bill Cassidy (R-LA) Roger Wicker (R-MS) Todd Young (R-IN) Susan Collins (R-ME) Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) John Kennedy (R-LA) John Thune (R-SD) Dan Sullivan (R-AK) Mitt Romney...

Special counsel Robert Hur has released to members of Congress his report summarizing his yearlong probe into President Joe Biden's handling of classified documents while out of office. It's one of the final steps before the report is made public. Ian Sams, a spokesperson for the White House counsel's office, said in a statement that the president's legal team had completed a review of the report and that "in keeping with his commitment to cooperation and transparency," the president would not assert executive privilege over any portion of the report.

Producing enough food for a growing world population is an urgent global challenge. And it’s complicated by the fact that climate change is warming the Earth and making farming harder in many places. Food production is a big contributor to climate change, so it’s critically important to be able to measure greenhouse gas emissions from the food sector accurately. In a new study, we show that the food system generates about 35% of total global man-made greenhouse gas emissions

Embattled former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani says the Trump 2020 campaign and the Republican National Committee still owe him $2 million in legal fees for challenging the former president’s election loss. Giuliani, 79, said during a bankruptcy court hearing Wednesday that the former president asked him to spearhead legal matters for the campaign in November 2020 — the same month Trump lost to President Biden. “Once I took over, it was my understanding that I would be paid by the campaign for my legal work and my expenses to be paid,” he told the Manhattan federal bankruptcy trustee...

Former chief White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci plans to release a memoir in June, reflecting on his long career as an infectious disease expert who served in multiple administrations. Book publisher Viking announced Thursday the release of “On Call: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service.” The 496-page book will be published June 18. Fauci served under seven presidents, beginning in the Reagan administration. He was the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health for almost four decades. He became a lightning rod for conservative criticism during the Trump administration over...

A breakthrough moment for sustainable aviation fuel / Depositphotos A simple, cheap pretreatment promises to radically cut the price of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) made from waste wood biomass – potentially making it cost-competitive with fossil-based jet fuel, while cutting down emissions by up to 80%. SAF isn't a perfect green solution to aviation – indeed, no perfect solution exists at this point. Running SAF instead of jet fuel still produces carbon dioxide – but it's a higher-purity fuel, producing up to 3% more energy while burning cleaner, with heavily reduced sulfur and particulate emissions. It eliminates the entire emissions...

By merely asking for examples, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas calmly destroyed respondents’ argument for disqualifying former President Donald Trump from Colorado’s 2024 presidential primary ballot. The moment came on Thursday morning, during oral arguments on Trump’s appeal to overturn the Colorado Supreme Court’s Dec. 19 decision to keep him off the Centennial State’s 2024 primary ballot. Colorado’s highest court claimed in its ruling that the former president can be “disqualified” from holding office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which stipulates that “[n]o person” who has previously sworn an oath as an officer of the United States...

The Senate advanced the national security supplemental delivering tens of billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel, putting the legislation on the potential path to passage in the coming days.After months of bipartisan handwringing, enough Republican senators voted to advance the bill to put it over the 60-vote threshold, after they rejected a version that included border policy changes on Wednesday. But there's a ways to go yet — senators are still negotiating the terms of eventual passage. (snip) The Republican senators who supported advancing the legislation were: GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Whip John Thune...

The U.S. House of Representatives narrowly voted against impeaching Alejandro Mayorkas, the Jewish homeland security secretary, after a process that a number of Jewish groups and the White House said was marred by antisemitism.The vote Tuesday evening was 216 against to 214 for impeachment, a stunning loss for House Speaker Mike Johnson, the Louisiana Republican. Four Republicans voted against impeachment in the narrowly-split chamber. Johnson had championed the impeachment even in the face of evidence that it might not pass. Right-wing Republicans have been agitating for a year to impeach Mayorkas, who they say is neglecting the migrant influx at...