Free Republic

NEW YORK — Connor Tomasko grew up wary of credit cards. As she taught herself more about managing money, she realized that many people also have bad habits when it comes to payment apps. Tomasko, 31, a freelance software consultant in Chicago, understands why people appreciate the ease of the apps, which typically only require you to know someone's username in order to send money. But she realized that keeping money in the apps could be risky and means losing out on the interest from a high yield savings account. She now immediately transfers any payments out of the apps...

Comedian Jim Gaffigan’s blistering swipes at Vice President Kamala Harris and fellow Democrats at the Al Smith Dinner have spread like wildfire on social media — with some calling his takedown jokes the “murder of an entire political party.” Gaffigan repeatedly took shots at the Democratic nominee during Thursday night’s glitzy event in Manhattan after Harris became the first presidential candidate in 40 years to skip the light-hearted Catholic charity bash. “You know, this event has been referred to as the Catholic Met Gala. Twenty-two percent of Americans identify as Catholic. Catholics will be a key demographic in every battleground...

fter becoming the first presidential candidate in 40 years to miss the charity event put on by the Archdiocese of New York, the Democratic nominee tried to make up for her absence by sending in a pre-recorded “comedy” skit with former “Saturday Night Live” actress Molly Shannon. In the video, Shannon, 60, resurrected her schoolgirl alter ego Mary Katherine Gallagher to “interrupt” Harris’ formal dinner remarks and warn her not to make fun of Catholics. In one attempt at humor, Harris, 59, said that making fun of Catholics at the Al Smith Dinner would be like “criticizing Detroit in Detroit,”...

The U.S., Israel, and the world are “better” and “safer” without Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, according to Israeli Knesset Member Simcha Rothman who criticized the Biden-Harris administration for delaying Israel’s entry into Rafah, arguing that if the terror chief had been eliminated five months earlier the suffering in Gaza could have been reduced and hostages might already be home, as he urged for a greater respect toward Israel’s strategy. In an exclusive interview with Breitbart News on Thursday, Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee Chairman Simcha Rothman of Israel’s Religious Zionist party hailed the death of Yahya Sinwar, the October...

On the first day of early voting, residents of western North Carolina weighed which candidates would most help their yearslong recovery.Carolyn Burgess, 71, drove on cracked and crooked roads in Black Mountain, N.C., to get to her polling place on Thursday, the state’s first day of early voting. Hurricane Helene had devastated her town, and its 8,500 residents were divided on the government response. Ms. Burgess agreed with the Republican she was supporting for president: “Trump is right,” she said, standing in line to vote at the Black Mountain Public Library. “FEMA isn’t doing enough.” Toward the back of the...

This relaxed, sensitive masterpiece is full of lyricism and warmth.On October 16, 1957, one of the great studio sessions of the decade took place in Capitol’s famous studios in Hollywood. The brilliant tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins spent much of the day and evening in the studios recording two separate albums with producer Norman Granz for Verve Records: The Genius Of Coleman Hawkins and Coleman Hawkins Encounters Ben Webster. The 52-year-old Hawkins was there, working with pianist Oscar Peterson’s regular trio of Herb Ellis (guitar), Ray Brown (bass), and drummer Alvin Stoller. The musicians recorded twelve songs that were released...

Residents of Illinois will be able to renew their driver’s licenses and get new vehicle stickers while they are grocery shopping following the installation of several “fast lane” Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) kiosks in stores, officials announced Thursday. Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias (D) began rolling out the pilot program this week by deploying 12 kiosks in the Chicago area and three downstate, his office said in a press release. The locations of the kiosks include Mariano’s, Jewel-Osco, Kroger, and Meijer grocery stores.

People working in Washington, DC, are spending a lot of money on lunches as inflation continues to batter Americans in the Biden-Harris (D) administration’s economy. A recent study found that employees in the nation’s capital are spending $350 on work lunches per month, Fox 5 reported on Thursday: The information is found in ezCater’s 2024 Lunch Report. “Washingtonians spend $350 on work lunches per month, including lunch from restaurants and groceries for making lunch,” it states. The study also noted that “79% of Washingtonians’ lunch habits are affected by inflation, with 35% opting for cheaper lunch options and 39% buying...

The world's second-largest economy posted its slowest growth since early 2023 in the third quarter, according to data released on Friday.China’s lacklustre economic growth underscores the urgent need for policymakers to move quickly with aggressive stimulus measures to reignite its economy, said analysts at the FutureChina Global Forum held in Singapore on Friday (Oct 18). The world's second-largest economy posted its slowest growth in one-and-a-half years, according to data released on Friday. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said the economy expanded 4.6 per cent year on year in the third quarter, below the 4.7 per cent pace in the...

There were three training sessions held this week for Detroit’s Democrat poll challengers. Reporter Shane Trejo, Big League Politics journalist and Michigan election integrity activist, sat in on one of the online training sessions and recorded it. According to VoteBeat Michigan, “poll challengers” — distinct from poll workers and watchers—are individuals stationed at polling places and vote-counting centers who have unique powers under Michigan law to challenge a voter’s eligibility or question the way officials are doing their jobs. Poll challengers are meant to ensure that election workers do their jobs correctly and only count legal votes. Michigan has new...

Some African Americans – traditionally supporters of the Democratic Party – seem to be gravitating towards the Republicans, experts say.The poultry producing city of Gainesville in the southeastern US state of Georgia is not a typical Democrat-voting district. Its population of about 42,000 is predominantly white and overwhelmingly conservative. Yet, it has become one of the focal points as the race to the White House enters the home stretch. With mere weeks to go before voters head to the ballot box on Nov 5, a new coordinated campaign office for the Democratic Party just opened its doors in the city....

House Democrats on Friday accused former President Donald J. Trump of accepting “hundreds of unconstitutional and ethically suspect payments” through the Trump International Hotel in 2017 and 2018, moving weeks before the election to remind voters of the ethical issues raised by his refusal to divest from his businesses while in office. The 58-page report from Democrats on the Oversight Committee includes their final findings in a yearslong investigation digging into the Trump Organization’s management of the hotel. It accuses Mr. Trump of ripping off the Secret Service by charging the agency exorbitant rates and of inappropriately accepting payments from...

The three most right-wing groups of the European Parliament and their members are all known as "far-right" — but they have some crucial differences. The members of Patriots for Europe met in Brussels for the first time on Thursday, convening on the sidelines of the European summit. The group is one of three at the right-wing end of the European Parliament, joined by Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN) and the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR). The parties making up these three parliamentary groups are generally nationalist, sovereigntist, conservative and Eurosceptic, thoguh their positions differ on Russia and Ukraine and on...

Hollywood star Morgan Freeman appeared on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Thursday where the conversation turned political, leading the Oscar-winning star to say “it’s time we moved on from old white men running the country.” Morgan Freeman didn’t mention any candidates by name during the interview though it was abundantly clear to whom he was referring. “I don’t think I’m, you know, racist or anything like that — well maybe to a point — but I think you know, it’s time we moved on from old white men running the country,” he said. Kimmel’s studio audience cheered its enthusiastic approval.

Ashwin Ramaswami, a Democrat running for a Georgia State Senate seat, grew up in a wealthy stretch of Atlanta suburbs transformed by the tech industry and waves of Indian American immigrants, like his parents, who have settled there. It is a part of the American South where the percentage of adults with a bachelor’s degree is significantly higher than the national average. Mr. Ramaswami, 25, fits right in, with a computer science degree from Stanford and a law degree from Georgetown. He was still in law school when he realized that the state senator for his hometown, Johns Creek, was...

MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski said Friday on “Morning Joe” that Fox News was covering up former President Donald Trump’s “clear fascism.” Brzezinski said, “This is not a time for jokes, and this is not a time to dance around topics, because this is coming at all of us. Republicans too, your freedoms are at risk too. Don’t know what you’re doing supporting this man right now with what he has said. But there are efforts to sidestep, dance around things that he’s saying that are clear fascism. Let’s start with this. I mentioned Donald Trump being on “Fox & Friends.”...

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that the war in the Gaza Strip must end with the establishment of a "full-fledged" Palestinian state, urging the Middle East Quartet to be reactivated in order to resume mediation efforts in the region. "The primary solution to the Palestinian problem is the establishment of a fully-fledged Palestinian state. The Russian side has upheld this position since the Soviet era," he remarked during a meeting with BRICS media managers in Moscow.

Explanation: On October 14 it was hard to capture a full view of Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS. Taken after the comet's closest approach to our fair planet, this evening skyview almost does though. With two telephoto frames combined, the image stretches about 26 degrees across the sky from top to bottom, looking west from Gates Pass, Tucson, Arizona. Comet watchers that night could even identify globular star cluster M5 and the faint apparition of periodic comet 13P Olbers near the long the path of Tsuchinshan-ATLAS's whitish dust tail above the bright comet's coma. Due to perspective as the Earth is...

On Oct. 16, 1978, the cardinal electors of the Roman Catholic Church elected Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtyla to sit on the Chair of St. Peter. Wojtyla took the name Pope John Paul II, having succeeded John Paul I, who died suddenly after serving as Roman pontiff for only 33 days. Though few recognized it at the time, the papal election of Karol Wojtyla was the beginning of the end of the Soviet empire. As George Weigel explained in The End and the Beginning, John Paul II, only eight months after his election, “ignited a revolution of conscience in his native...

Why we shouldn’t waste our time on the Nobel committee's Newspeak.. Last week nominations for the Noble Peace Prize were announced, and the nominees were typical of the Prize’s history. A perusal of past winners reveals that the majority of prizes are for good intention, moralizing internationalism and its institutions, short-lived peace treaties, feckless disarmament, and any choice that gratifies global anti-Americanism. And let’s not forget terrorists and their enablers included in this year’s nominees: the United Nations’ Palestinian refugee agency, the International Court of Justice, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. All three reflect the Prize’s long history of promulgating...