Free Republic

Eternal and Just Lord, You raise up leaders in every age, and permit even flawed vessels to bear great weight. Receive the soul of Your servant, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who walked a path both revered and contested, and whose words shaped many, though not all in peace. In the quiet where truth stands uncloaked, may he now see clearly what once was dim. Where zeal was misplaced, may Your mercy abound. Where compassion blurred boundaries, may Your justice now restore what was unsettled. For those he shepherded, and those he unsettled— for every soul stirred by his charge— let Your...

The Department of Government Efficiency announced Monday evening that it had purged roughly 7 million Social Security number-holders listed as at least 120 years old. Earlier this month, the DOGE revealed that the Social Security Administration's database had listed 1.3 million people as alive who were 150 to 159 years old, over 3.5 million 140 to 149, nearly 4 million 130 to 139, and almost 3.5 million 120 to 129. During President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress on March 6, he warned about some of the issues already discovered at the SSA. “The Government Accountability Office, a federal government...

ABC News is making the wrong kind of headlines. The network caught a storm of flack Tuesday over a post on the social media platform X about the latest expected return of hostages taken by the terrorist group Hamas during its Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in Israel. The ABC post labeled some of the hostages “deceased,” a choice of words that ignited the internet. “BREAKING: Hamas will release the bodies of four deceased hostages on Thursday and six living hostages on Saturday, Hamas and Israel confirmed,” the post said. “Four more dead hostages will be released next week, according to...

Three people were found dead from gunshot wounds inside a $2 million home in Andover, Massachusetts, early Thursday, as authorities continue to disclose more details. The Andover Police Department received a 911 call around 3 a.m. Officers responded to the address at 48 Porter Road, where three people were found deceased and suffering from gunshot wounds, Essex District Attorney Paul F. Tucker told reporters at the scene. The three victims were a 56-year-old father, a 55-year-old mother and their 12-year-old son, Andover Police Chief Patrick Keefe added. Police said the 911 call came from inside the home and officers had...

After holding office for more than thirty years, Tony DeLuca was always the odds-on favorite to win another term representing Pennsylvania’s 30th legislative district. The Republicans didn’t even put anyone up to run against him and the Green Party candidate he was facing hadn’t gained any sort of traction. There was just one small fly in the ointment for this race, however. Tony DeLuca died last month after a prolonged battle with lymphoma. But his now noncorporeal status clearly didn’t impact his popularity in the community. The deceased DeLuca easily cruised to victory yesterday. But at the age of 85,...

WI HAS 4.5 MILLION RESIDENTS OVER THE AGE OF 18. THE WISCONSIN ELECTION COMMISSION HAS MORE THAN 7 MILLION VOTERS ON THE ROLL. WI VOTER ROLL HAS OVER 120,000 ACTIVE VOTERS WHO HAVE BEEN REGISTERED TO VOTE FOR MORE THAN 100 YEARS. THE MARGIN OF VICTORY IS 20,000.

what to do with it? i have younger siblings (some no longer friendly) i have not peeked more than reasonably needed. tia

Illinois clearly is the pioneer in the not yet existent deceased rights movement, which I have heard is having trouble with turnout for its rallies.  But if the dead ever do rise from their graves in a zombie apocalypse, as so often dramatized on cable television, they will no doubt demand that other states follow the lead of  Illinois. They're not dead, they're a constituency: Illinois Policy reveals that the state has spent $4.6 million on Medicaid for dead people: An audit by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services' Office of Inspector General, or OIG, found Illinois spent $4.6 million on Medicaid...

A woman “slapped” the back of a police car moments before Australian-born bride-to-be Justine Damond was shot to death by a Minnesota cop, according to a new search warrant. The warrant, filed by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which is investigating the fatal shooting, doesn’t explicitly say that woman was Damond, Minnesota Public Radio reported. It says, “Upon police arrival, a female ‘slaps’ the back of the patrol squad … After that, it is unknown to BCA agents what exactly happened, but the female became deceased in the alley.”

With a heavy heart I report that MarkBsnr has gone to his reward. He was learned, intelligent, devout, and a good friend. Please pray for the repose of his soul and for all who mourn at his passing.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has paid at least 1,546 dead people $31 million, with some of the deceased receiving benefits for 20 years. According to a June 21 audit by the Inspector General for the Social Security Administration, 2,475 beneficiaries had a recorded date of death in Social Security’s own database. The IG determined that “at least” 1,546 of these individuals were in fact dead and still receiving benefits, totaling $30,956,695 through May 2012. Among those 1,546 deceased, some were receiving benefits for up to 20 years. …

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US Treasury mistakenly sent more than 20 million dollars in stimulus payments to dead people and prisoners as part of an effort to jolt the US economy out of recession, an investigation has found. The 2009 American Recovery and Investment Act authorized one-time 250 dollar payments to about 52 million people, totalling 13 billion dollars. But an inspector general's investigation found that more than 71,000 of the checks -- worth 18 million dollars -- went out to people who had died. ... "Inaccurate payments are unacceptable," said Mark Lassiter, a spokesman for the Social Security Administration,...

A critic of the U.S. military policy is suing the federal government because a letter that she wrote to her serviceman son stationed in Iraq was returned with "DECEASED" errantly stamped on it in red letters. The lawsuit filed last month in Minneapolis federal court by Joan Najbar, of Duluth, claims that "as a result of receiving the letter indicating that her son was dead, Ms. Najbar suffered emotional distress with physical manifestations." Najbar, whose son Sam Eininger was serving with the National Guard when the letter was returned in 2006, is seeking relief from damages including emotional distress, loss...

Regardless of how lively an election season might be, a new study shows that more 3.3 million voters on current registration rolls across the country are dead. Another 12.9 million remain on voter registration lists in an area where they no longer live. The analysis was conducted by the Aristotle International Inc., a technology company specializing in political campaigns, developing software and databases for politicians. In total that means about 8.9 percent of all registered voters fall under the category of “deadwood” voters on the rolls, the term for voters who should no longer be eligible to vote in a...

The US Army has said that it will apologise to the families of deceased and wounded officers that it mistakenly encouraged to re-enlist via letters sent out in late December. About 75 families of deceased officers and 200 families of wounded officers received such letters sent to more than 5100 officers between Dec. 26 and 28, the Army said. "Unfortunately, the database used to address those letters contained names of officers who were killed in action or wounded," the Army said. "Army personnel officials are contacting those officers' families now to personally apologise for erroneously sending the letters." The names...

Former US president who entered the White House after the Watergate scandal without receiving a single electoral vote. Gerald Ford, who has died aged 93, will be remembered for exposing an extraordinary constitutional weakness unforeseen by the founding fathers of the United States. Having been a notoriously mediocre congressman, he went on to fill the country's two principal executive posts without the benefit of a single electoral vote. When voters were eventually given a chance to legitimise his presidency in 1976, he became the first White House incumbent in 44 years to be thrown out of office. Opinion polls showed...

PRESIDENT Jacques Chirac ordered an investigation last night into the leaking of a French intelligence report that suggested Osama Bin Laden, the Al-Qaeda leader, may have died from typhoid in Pakistan last month.The eight-line document, which was published yesterday in a French provincial newspaper, L’Est Républicain, was greeted with scepticism by security and government officials from the United States to Pakistan itself. Yet the DGSE, the French secret service, had judged the report significant enough to send it on September 21 to the offices of Chirac and the prime minister, Dominique de Villepin. The report claimed that “a usually trustworthy...

John Whyte commanded three companies, including a rifle company in Iraq. John was killed in an accident after returning from combat, when a car struck him while he was standing on the side of a Kansas City highway. There is a proverb that reads, "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." Those who knew John might change it to read, "As iron sharpens iron, so John Whyte sharpens those around him." He was on a self-imposed mission to be the most effective leader that he could be, and even better, he was on a self-imposed mission to help...

SIERRA VISTA - A Mexican man died in Cochise County on Wednesday after illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, authorities said Thursday. Marco Hugo Hernandez-Tellez, 26, of Michoacan, Mexico, was found dead after a group asked for help. The Cochise County Sheriff's Department received a 911 call from a man at about 3 p.m. Wednesday, said Carol Capas, a department spokeswoman. "Stating that he needed help, and he was with a group of seven people," she said. "One of the members of the group was apparently down." The caller told dispatch that his group was near some railroad tracks and a...

<p>"The Pilgrim Pope" - Since Thursday, March 31 and the announcement of the Pope?s critical condition, high fever, and urinary tract infection, and subsequent septic shock there has been a constant vigil of the faithful while media coverage has been continually providing updates along with stories, and historical information on this holiest of holy men.</p>