Free Republic

One of the left's favorite power games is extracting apologies. President Trump, to his credit, sees the scam and doesn't play. The “Apology-Cancellation Game” has long been one of the American political left’s favorite indoor sports – one that is increasingly dominating our political discourse in the wake of Trump committing the “crime” of nominating political conservative hard-liners to important cabinet positions. You only have to look at what they’re doing to Pete Hegseth over a totally bogus rape allegation from nearly a decade ago to see that the Apology-Cancellation game is alive and well. Here it is, along with...

3 December 2024 Saint Francis Xavier, Priest on Tuesday of the 1st week of Advent The Altar of St Francis Xavier in RomeReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: C(I).Readings for the feriaReadings for the memorialThese are the readings for the feriaFirst readingIsaiah 11:1-10A shoot springs from the stock of JesseA shoot springs from the stock of Jesse,a scion thrusts from his roots:on him the spirit of the Lord rests,a spirit of wisdom and insight,a spirit of counsel and power,a spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.(The fear of the Lord is his breath.)He does not judge...

Vladimir Putin will reject Donald Trump's proposed peace plan and would only end the conflict in Ukraine if he gives him huge concessions, a hardliner close to the Kremlin has warned. Russian tycoon Konstantin Malofeyev, who is sanctioned by the West, slammed Trump's recently picked envoy Keith Kellogg and his proposals on how to end the conflict with Kyiv. 'Kellogg comes to Moscow with his plan, we take it and then tell him to screw himself, because we don't like any of it. That'd be the whole negotiation,' Malofeyev said bluntly in an interview from a luxury Dubai resort. -snip-...

Did Joe Biden finally do something so egregious that even some CNN anchors won't defend it? In a surprising move, Brianna Keilar, who is typically not shy about showing her left-wing bent, put Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) on the spot about the president's recent pardon of his son. In a must-see moment, Keilar played a past clip of Goldman unequivocally proclaiming that there was no chance Joe Biden would ever issue a pardon to Hunter Biden. The Democrat congressman then started ranting about Donald Trump. CNN didn't just play the clip, though. They left Goldman on screen in a corner...

When a new President comes into office, there is quite properly a changing of the guard. The people have voted for new policies. The norm is that all the Cabinet Secretaries, and all other Cabinet-level officials (like the heads of EPA, NSA and NASA, and the UN Ambassador) leave office, to be replaced by appointees of the new guy. But there are exceptions. The two most notable are the Chairman of the Federal Reserve and the Director of the FBI. (See also, the Commissioners of the so-called “independent” agencies, like the FTC, SEC, CFTC, etc., etc., a more complex situation...

Irene Ryan in character as "Granny" singing a burlesque-style number as "Granny" for Roy Rogers and Dale Evans.

Elon Musk wants his pro-Trump America PAC to target progressive district attorneys across the country, and Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner appears likely to be on that list. Musk specifically wants his PAC to challenge DAs who have received money from billionaire George Soros — a prominent liberal donor and frequent target of right-wing conspiracy theories — or affiliated entities, The Washington Post reported last week. During his last run for district attorney, Krasner received support from a Soros-affiliated PAC. Musk’s potential plans come as Krasner — who reportedly intends to seek a third term — could face challenges from...

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Tuesday sidestepped questions about Ukraine’s possible membership of the military alliance, saying that the priority now must be to strengthen the country’s hand in any future peace talks with Russia by sending it more weapons. Rutte’s remarks, ahead of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers, came days after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that extending alliance membership to territory now under Kyiv’s control could end “the hot stage" of the almost 3-year war in Ukraine, where Russian forces are pressing deeper into their western neighbor. “The front is not moving eastwards. It is slowly moving westwards,”...

General Motors is selling its stake in a large-scale electric vehicle battery factory that company officials once promised would help make Michigan the “epicenter” of the EV industry. The Detroit automaker announced Monday that it has reached a non-binding agreement to sell its share of the nearly completed Ultium Cells LLC battery plant in Delta Township, just west of Lansing. When the deal concludes, the factory will be owned and operated by GM’s joint venture partner in the property, South Korea-based LG Energy Solution.

Writing four centuries ago, John Donne memorably opined, “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” He memorably concluded, “Never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” The “bells” in Donne’s era were rung by the church upon the death of parishioners. This all came to mind in the aftermath of the presidential election, one implication of which is that higher education, no “island entire of itself,” is in for some tough reckoning In this year’s elections, the woke majority dominating America’s...

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Elon Musk has issued one of his famous polls on X to ask his followers whether the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) should receive its budget request or be defunded. In recent years, Musk has become one of the most popular figures in the world. His alliance with President Donald Trump has now boosted him to levels even he probably couldn’t have imagined. A lot of that newfound popularity, especially with the base MAGA crowd and conservatives in general, is the fact that he’ll be heading up a new agency aimed at mitigating and eliminating government waste. Trump picked Musk to...

That the pardon goes back to 2014 is revealing and damning. . Joe Biden could have commuted the sentence of Hunter Biden. A commutation is less than a full pardon, it maintains the conviction but spares Hunter prison. That would have been the way to maintain respect for norms while playing the sentimentality card, and I'm sure the Bidens were advised to do this. The full pardon goes back to 2014. The statute of limitations for tax fraud is 6 years, and for most other federal offenses like money laundering, it's 5 years. More serious crimes like murder and underage...

Add religious persecution to the stain of political lawfare and double standards Joe Biden’s presidency will leave behind. As our taxpayer-funded universities became Jihadist boot camps and churned out aspiring Islamic terrorists for over a year, the Biden administration was too busy waging war on what they clearly believed to be a more dangerous threat: Christian institutions who refuse to transform their schools into woke re-education centers. While Christian institutions and career colleges make up less than 10 percent of America’s schools, a recent report conducted by the American Principles Project (APP) reveals they made up nearly 70 percent of...

White House watch: Hunter Got the Full Nixon “Hunter Biden’s pardon looks a lot like Richard Nixon’s,” notes Betsy Woodruff Swan at Politico. It “insulates his son from ever facing federal charges over any crimes he possibly could have committed over the past decade.” Just one other person “in generations” has “received a presidential pardon so sweeping”: Richard Nixon. And the “starting date of Jan. 1, 2014, in the Biden pardon was surely not chosen randomly: Hunter Biden joined the board of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian gas company, in April 2014, while his father was vice president.” Conservative: Prosecute the...

"Russia is preparing for a war with the West," Bruno Kahl, the head of Germany's foreign intelligence service, said in late November. But it's not likely to be a large-scale attack into NATO territory, the intelligence chief warned. Moscow could opt for a limited incursion or upping its hybrid warfare tactics to probe the alliance's conviction, Kahl said. NATO is trying to prepare for both scenarios: an all-out war, and less obvious techniques designed to undermine stability in the alliance's member countries. "There are multiple options for Russia to test the cohesion of the alliance," including limited land grabs, the...

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America occasionally puts its money where its mouth is, particularly when it comes to investing dollars in its deviltry and the values that are important to it. One example is the little-known fact that the denomination funds abortion services for its clergy through its health benefit plan, and another is that it also funds sex-changes for adults and children. Portico Benefit Services is a ministry of the ELCA that provides “comprehensive benefits to the rostered ministers and lay employees of the ELCA’s congregations, synods, and churchwide organization” to “help leaders strengthen their financial, emotional, and...

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An Ohio woman who ate a cat in a viral video that fueled rumors of Haitian migrants eating pets was sentenced to one year in prison on Monday, as a judge hit out at her for the gruesome act. Allexis Ferrell, 27, was arrested at a housing complex in Canton on August 16, when she was caught on police body camera footage crouching on all fours and biting into a cat. Police later determined that Ferrell had smashed the cat's head with her foot and then began to eat it, according to a police report obtained by the Canton Repository....

An aspiring actress was swallowed to death by a giant wave while doing cliffside yoga on her vacation in Thailand, local outlets report. Shocking footage captured Kamilla Belyatskaya, 24, as the wave swept her away at the island of Koh Samui, overlooking the Gulfside of Thailand, during a meditation session on a pink yoga mat, according to the Khaosad English. Belyatskaya, a Russian-born tourist vacationing in Thailand with her boyfriend, was unexpectedly struck by the wave Friday afternoon. The footage showed her struggling against the currents and succumbing to the frothing waters. A bystander went into the water to attempt...