Free Republic

In many ways, communities have never felt lonelier. While many of us recognize this, we’re so busy juggling jobs, kids and life, that we often don’t know our neighbours beyond a simple wave from the front door. We might chat with them on social media groups or see them at a store or two, but what they’re dealing with behind closed doors remains a mystery. Six years ago, when we pulled up into our home’s driveway for the first time and started unloading boxes from the car, our new neighbours had no idea just how much our family would change...

Residents of Ottawa's Trump Avenue could soon have a new address, but unlike the erstwhile U.S. president, they're not going anywhere. Trump Avenue is a quiet street of brown brick single-family homes fronted by wide driveways, nestled in the city's Central Park neighbourhood, just off Merivale Road. On Saturday, the city began consulting with residents "to ascertain their level of support to rename their street," according to an email from the office of their city councillor, Riley Brockington, who also delivered notices to each home on the street. According to Brockington, the consultation "follows a number of recent and some...

Helena Duke says she publicly identified her mother, aunt and uncle from a crowd of Trump supporters in Washington, D.C., because it was "the right thing to do." Duke, an 18-year-old Massachusetts high school student, spotted her relatives in a viral video of an altercation between Trump supporters and a Black woman in D.C. one day before the deadly siege on the U.S. Capitol building. On Twitter, she posted: "hi mom remember the time you told me I shouldn't go to BLM protests bc they could get violent...this you?" In a followup tweet, she identified her mom, aunt and uncle...

Fight for Trump!

VANCOUVER -- Vancouver Canucks goalie Braden Holtby is apologizing after the artwork on his new custom-painted mask was criticized for appropriating First Nations art. “I wanted to make sure I apologize to anyone I offended. It was definitely not my intent and I definitely learned a valuable lesson through this all and will make sure I’m better moving forward,” Holtby said in an interview with CTV News. Pictures of Holtby’s custom-designed hockey mask were posted by artist David Gunnarsson on Instagram, but taken offline the next day after comments on social media began describing it as appropriating First Nations cultures....

No matter how many recounts lame-duck U.S. president Donald Trump finagles, he'll never win Georgia. He'll keep losing at the ballot box, where president-elect Joe Biden garnered 49.5 per cent of the vote, compared with 49.3 per cent for Trump. And he won't win in the courtroom, where judges have rejected Team Trump's legal challenges with the fervour of a prime Dikembe Mutombo. We could attribute Biden's margin of victory to several Georgia municipalities, densely populated blue islands in a largely red state, but let's focus on Fulton County, which encompasses downtown Atlanta, and where locals could vote early at...

Kids play dress-up. Boys and girls might slip into their mother's heels, and laugh as they try to awkwardly walk a few steps. They also might sneak into their mother's makeup and put lipstick all over their faces. The act of playing dress-up is so normal — many people probably have some story, whether it's pulling on your grandfather's old suit or throwing on a sparkly dress because it made you feel amazing, or maybe just made you laugh. And that's what the parents of nine-year-olds Queen Lactatia and Laddy Gaga, and 11-year-olds Bracken and Suzan Bee Anthony, say their...

Caspian Richard had only a moment to react when he was faced with a worst-case scenario during his first class back in school. The 13-year-old student who transitioned earlier this year was taking part in virtual schooling at Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) when he heard a familiar name. But it wasn't Caspian. It was his legal name. His "dead name." His heart raced and butterflies filled his stomach. "It was a nervous feeling," Caspian said in a phone interview on Wednesday. "I was really worried about it." It's unclear if the other student meant to use the wrong name....

Donald Trump's victory in the 2016 U.S. presidential election defied long odds and the widespread assumption that Hillary Clinton had the contest in the bag. That experience led many to suspect that — no matter how big Joe Biden's lead is this time — it's inevitable that Trump will prove the polls wrong again. That's a possibility, of course. But a lot has changed since 2016. The CBC's Presidential Poll Tracker gave Clinton a 3.4-point lead in national polls over Trump on election day. She was projected to win North Carolina and Florida by narrow margins, with Michigan, Pennsylvania and...

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Supreme Court justice who was as pioneering as she was brash, died on Friday, the court said. She was 87. The court said Ginsburg, a lifelong champion of women's rights and a fierce advocate for gender equality, died "surrounded by her family at her home in Washington, D.C., due to complications of metastatic pancreas cancer." Chief Justice John Roberts said: "Our Nation has lost a jurist of historic stature. We at the Supreme Court have lost a cherished colleague. Today we mourn, but with confidence that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we knew...

It is two years this week since Germany invaded Poland. That European conflict soon became a global one. Japan's invasion of China began two years before that, but with Japan allied to the Axis Powers, they are now the same conflict. Those Axis are all fighting together now to try and defeat the Soviet Union, but the war has grown not just in the scale of the armies fighting, but also in the scale of man's inhumanity to man. We see that this week in German occupied territory.

We knew from the very beginning that our child didn't fit the mould. Ryder preferred dresses and pink sparkly clothing from the moment he could crawl to the cupboard and pull out his own clothes. They belonged to his sister but he wanted to wear them and so he did. His sister wasn't impressed at first but as long as they weren't her favourite outfits, she soon adjusted. At three, he wanted to grow his hair out. He went to preschool with dresses and pigtails. When the other kids were confused, Ryder just shrugged. He didn't feel the need to...

Facebook has removed a video posted by Breitbart News earlier today, which was the top-performing Facebook post in the world Monday afternoon, of a press conference in D.C. held by the group America’s Frontline Doctors and organized and sponsored by the Tea Party Patriots. The press conference featured Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) and frontline doctors sharing their views and opinions on coronavirus and the medical response to the pandemic. YouTube (which is owned by Google) and Twitter subsequently removed footage of the press conference as well.

FLORIDA SHERIFF: "The people in Polk County like guns, they have guns, I encourage them to own guns. — And if you try to break into their homes to steal, to set fires, I'm highly recommending they blow you back out of the house with their guns."

Fred Willard, the prolific and beloved comic actor and master of the mockumentary genre who stood out in ensemble comedies like Best in Show, For Your Consideration and This Is Spinal Tap, died Friday at the age of 86. Willard’s rep Glenn Schwartz confirmed his death to Rolling Stone, adding that the cause of death was natural causes. Willard’s daughter Hope Mulbarger said in a statement, “My father passed away very peacefully last night at the fantastic age of 86 years old. He kept moving, working and making us happy until the very end.We loved him so very much! We...

X/Shutterstock Little Richard, a founding father of rock and roll whose fervent shrieks, flamboyant garb, and joyful, gender-bending persona embodied the spirit and sound of that new art form, died Saturday. He was 87. The musician’s son, Danny Penniman, confirmed the pioneer’s death to Rolling Stone, but said the cause of death was unknown. Starting with “Tutti Frutti” in 1956, Little Richard cut a series of unstoppable hits – “Long Tall Sally” and “Rip It Up” that same year, “Lucille” in 1957, and “Good Golly Miss Molly” in 1958 – driven by his simple, pumping piano, gospel-influenced vocal exclamations and...

Tanzania has suspended the head of its national health laboratory in charge of testing for the coronavirus and ordered an investigation, a day after President John Magufuli questioned the tests’ accuracy. Magufuli said on Sunday the imported test kits were faulty as they had returned positive results on a goat and a pawpaw — among several non-human samples submitted for testing, with technicians left deliberately unaware of their origins. He did not say where the kits had been imported from or why the authorities had been suspicious of the results. Catherine Sungura, acting head of communications at the ministry of...

TAMPA — Even winning six Super Bowls and joining the Bucs didn’t help Tom Brady get special treatment. Like the rest of us, the 42-year-old former Patriots quarterback has had trouble finding a place to work out. Brady was spotted at a city park and told to leave by a Tampa Parks and Recreation staffer, according to Tampa Mayor Jane Castor. The city’s parks are closed in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19. “I got to tell you this story, too. I always tell people, ‘Now I’m not one to gossip so you didn’t hear this from me,'”...

From Europe to South America, U.S. allies are complaining about the superpower's "Wild West" tactics in outbidding or blocking shipments to buyers who have already signed deals for vital medical supplies. In France and Germany, senior officials said the United States was paying far above the market price for medical-grade masks, on occasion winning contracts through higher bids even after European buyers believed a deal was done, and Brazil's health minister reported a similar incident. "Money is irrelevant. They pay any price because they are desperate," one high-level official in German Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling CDU/CSU group told Reuters. A...

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