Free Republic

The Vatican and President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed on Monday that Pope Leo XIV had spoken with the Ukrainian head of state, offering support to find an end to the ongoing invasion of his country. Vatican News, the official news outlet of the Holy See, offered few details on the conversation, reinforcing Zelensky’s public comments on the matter. Zelensky published an image on social media of himself apparently taking the pontiff’s phone call, praising Pope Leo for a “very warm and truly substantive” conversation. “I thanked His Holiness for his support of Ukraine and all our people. We deeply value his...

The U.S. labor market held steady in February, with job openings, hires, and separations showing little month-over-month movement despite rising anticipation of new tariffs from the Trump administration. Job openings slipped to 7.6 million from 7.8 million in January, according to the Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). The decline was led by notable drops in retail, finance, and leisure and hospitality. Even so, the job openings rate only edged down to 4.5 percent, and hiring held firm at 5.4 million with a stable 3.4 percent rate. Economists had expected 7.6 million openings. Before rounding, openings declined...

President Donald Trump urged voters in Florida’s Sixth Congressional District to get out and vote for Republican Randy Fine in a critical special House election during a tele-rally with the candidate on Thursday. Trump urged those on the call to support Fine via early voting or in person on election day Tuesday, as Democrats try to flip the district in hopes of cutting into House Republicans’ already thin, 218-213-seat majority. “We’re just a few days away from an all-important special election taking place in your state on Tuesday, April 1, and I’m asking you to get out and vote for...

President Trump holds a 52 percent approval rating in after his first month back in the Oval Office, polling shows. A Harvard CAPS/Harris survey found that 33 percent strongly approved of the president’s job performance, and 19 percent somewhat approved. Roughly 43 percent disapproved, with most expressing strong disapproval, and another 5 percent were undecided. Trump’s numbers differed starkly across party lines; about 9 in 10 Republicans approved of his handling, and nearly 8 in 10 Democrats disapproved. Independents were almost exactly split. “This is a good start for Trump, though many of his policy initiatives are more popular [than]...

Some national news outlets worry — without irony — that President Volodymyr Zelensky could be voted out of office if Ukraine holds elections. Uhm… “Donald Trump is demanding Volodymyr Zelensky hold elections that could oust him from office as the price of peace,” laments the Telegraph. “There are concerns that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky could be ousted from office after President Donald Trump said that Kyiv should hold elections,” writes Newsweek. What? Back in late 2023, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told his people that the very idea of holding a presidential election the following year was “absolutely irresponsible” while fighting...

Former President Donald Trump still holds a one-point lead over Kamala Harris in the all-important swing state of Pennsylvania. This is pretty amazing. Despite billions and billions of dollars in free propaganda from the corporate media, Harris has not been able to close the deal in the very state that is expected to decide the 2024 presidential election. An On Point/Red Eagle Politics/SoCal Strategies Pennsylvania poll of 713 likely voters taken on August 23, the day after Vice President CacklyMcNeverBorderCzar gave her empty, policy-free speech at the Democratic National Convention, found Trump holding a stubborn lead, 48 to 47 percent....

WASHINGTON — Air Force Gen. CQ Brown, president Joe Biden’s nominee to serve as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned today that Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s high-profile blockade of military appointments will force the US military to “lose talent.” Speaking before the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing for his impending role, Brown said in response to questions from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., that officials are “working to mitigate the challenges associated with the holds,” on hundreds of military nominations, highlighting impacts on readiness, leadership transitions and military families. Brown also underscored concerns...

Incirlik Air Base in Turkey has been placed on lockdown. The base is used by US, UK, Saudi and Turkish forces to run airstrikes against ISIS. The power at the base was reportedly cut off after the coup attempt Saturday morning in Ankara and Istanbul. And flights are grounded.The Erdogan government believes the air base was used to launch attacks during the coup attempt last night.Now this….Turkey is holding the US military hostage at Incirlik.  

The other day it was announced that a well known, mega-company discovered a new way to destroy antibiotic resistant bacteria, such as MRSA. Using nanoparticle technology – which is 50,000 times smaller than a hair’s width – the company’s researchers were able to target an electrical charge on the bacteria’s surface, bursting the membrane open to bring about its demise. According to the Wall Street Journal, “if successful, [the discovery] would offer a fresh strategy against a worrisome public-health problem of possibly deadly bacteria evolving to become impervious to antibiotics.” Nearly 19,000 people in the U.S. each year die from...

(CNSNews.com) – On Tuesday, the office of First Lady Michelle Obama sponsored several conference calls featuring administration officials discussing Mrs. Obama's “Let’s Move!” campaign to combat childhood obesity but “with listen-only lines for the media,” according to The Washington Daybook. On Wednesday, Mrs. Obama personally conducted a conference call for “online media” that was “by invitation only,” according to the Daybook. Traditionally, conference calls that public figures in Washington, D.C. hold for the media--which, obviously, are designed to get media attention for the public figure--allow the reporters who join the call to ask at least a few questions.

President Obama on Wednesday blasted Senate Republicans for using "holds," a tactic that delays considering nominees -- even though as a senator he used the technique to block several of President George W. Bush's appointments. Speaking to Senate Democrats at their annual retreat, Mr. Obama complained that Republican objections have created "a huge backlog of folks who are unanimously viewed as well qualified" but who get held up because a senator is trying to force the administration's hand on an issue. As an example, Mr. Obama said his nominee to head the General Services Administration, Martha Johnson, is being held...

WASHINGTON (AP) - A Republican senator is blocking the nomination of a top Environmental Protection Agency official over what he calls a flawed study of the climate bill recently passed in the House. Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, said Wednesday that the hold is unrelated to the qualifications of Robert Perciasepe, nominated to become the EPA's deputy administrator. Voinovich said the EPA analysis of the House climate bill fails to thoroughly review its impact on the economy.

NAIROBI, Kenya – The government of Kenya is holding WND senior staff reporter Jerome Corsi incommunicado at the airport until he departs the country after police shut down a scheduled news conference in which he planned to announce the findings of his investigation into Barack Obama's connections in the country. Corsi, the author of the No. 1 best-selling book "The Obama Nation," was picked up by authorities at his hotel at 9:45 a.m. and detained at Nyayo House, the provincial headquarters for Nairobi. "Just as we were about to start the 10 a.m. press conference at the Grand Regency Hotel...

...A senator can frustrate the will of the Senate by using a "hold," which allows any senator to block a vote on a nominee or piece of legislation. The practice is indefensible even when asserted on behalf of a worthy cause, and even when a senator is open, as Brownback was, about his obstructionism. Rooted in tradition and Senate rules that often require unanimous consent for business to proceed, the hold undermines the principle of majority rule even more than its procedural kissing cousin, the filibuster. Brownback's hold on Michigan Appeals Court Judge Janet Neff, who was nominated for a...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2006 – The northwestern suburbs of Chicago will hold a Freedom Walk on Sept. 9 to remember the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and to honor the nation's veterans, past and present. "We just really feel that on this five-year anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, it's extremely important that we honor, in a very visible way, the victims of 9/11, … our military and our police and firefighters," Dirk Beveridge, the event's lead organizer, said. The walk will begin at 2:30 p.m. at the Metra train station in downtown Barrington. The walk will be...

Lebanon holds train bomb suspect German police released security camera footage last week A second suspect in last month's alleged plot to blow up German trains has been arrested in Lebanon, prosecutors in Germany say. They say Jihad Hamad, 19, turned himself in to police in the northern city of Tripoli. The other suspect, a 21-year-old Lebanese student, was arrested in the German city of Kiel last week. Two bombs were found on trains in Dortmund and Koblenz in late July. The devices failed to go off, police said. The bombers had intended to kill large numbers of people, police...

JERUSALEM - Israel said Tuesday that it holds the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority responsible for the deadliest suicide bombing in nearly two years and debated whether to target it directly as an "enemy entity" — even though the attack was carried out by a different militant group. Monday's blast outside a packed Tel Aviv fast-food restaurant killed nine civilians and wounded dozens during the Jewish Passover holiday, and troop reinforcements were deployed across Israel for fear of more attacks. The 21-year-old bomber, a West Bank university dropout, was sent by the Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad group. Israel's U.N. ambassador, Dan Gillerman, warned...

France holds human bird flu drill The bird flu drill in Lyons tested the response of medical teams Authorities in France have staged an exercise to test the ability of the emergency services to cope with an outbreak of bird flu in humans. At least 10 EU countries, including France, have reported cases of the deadly H5N1 strain in wild birds. The French drill in Lyons came as the EU agreed to launch a public awareness campaign to ease fears about the virus. French PM Dominique de Villepin says France has "one of the most sophisticated plans in Europe". In...

Hill near Evros holds story of PlotinopolisDig suggests ancient settlement Part of a building excavated at Plotinopolis, the city founded by Trajan to honor his wife Plotina. Mathaios Koutsoumanis of the 19th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities will discuss the excavation on Monday. Ever since the 1960s, the site where the hill of Aghia Petra rises between the Evros and Erythrpotamos rivers has been identified with the city of Plotinopolis. The Roman Emperor Trajan (AD 98-117) founded the city 2 kilometers from the Evros in honor of his wife Plotina. In 1965, soldiers digging a trench in the area...

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Federal court appointments are being held hostage by the abortion issue, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said Friday in advocating a briefer, less intrusive confirmation process. Speaking to law students at the University of Alabama, Thomas said former clerks and other lawyers often tell him they're not interested in federal judgeships because of the potential for bruising confirmation battles. "I think that's a problem when the stars are beginning to say, `Thank you, but no thanks,'" said Thomas. Thomas, who opposes the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, said the fight he faced during his own confirmation...