Free Republic

When the Watergate scandal was roiling a half-century ago, we were told the cover-up was worse than the crime. There was no crime – that we currently know of – in keeping President Joe Biden’s cognitive infirmity hidden from the public. But the cover-up shows that the Democratic Party is made up of liars who have the chutzpah, though maybe not quite the skill, of Soviet propagandists. Up until the June 27 debate with Donald Trump, the Democrats and their media division kept assuring us that Biden was fine. While his inner circle insisted that he was fit right up...

Wall Street grew so frustrated with US President Joe Biden’s antitrust policies over the past three and a half years that many long-standing Democratic dealmakers considered switching their support to Donald Trump in the 2024 elections or even boycotting the ballot altogether. But two events have dramatically changed that stance in the past fortnight: Trump named JD Vance as his running mate and Biden dropped his re-election bid, endorsing his vice-president Kamala Harris for the Democratic nomination. Mergers and acquisitions practitioners are now reconsidering their electoral strategies. They consider Harris to be potentially more moderate than Vance, who is seen...

WASHINGTON — White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre insisted Wednesday that President Biden remains sharp as a tack and “absolutely” could serve another four-year term — stunning journalists at her first briefing since Biden dropped his re-election campaign over concerns about his mental acuity. “Look, he didn’t step down from campaigning or from running because he didn’t believe he can serve in a second term. That is not why,” Jean-Pierre claimed to the incredulity of the press corps. The press secretary said the 81-year-old president’s decision to drop out Sunday and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris, 59, was in the...

[snip] To be fair, some people who watched the speech thought that the first 10 minutes or so, in which Trump recounted being injured, were good, even thoughtful. I thought they were terrible; although Trump and his people have emphasized Trump’s defiance in the moment after he was hurt, his blow-by-blow account of the incident came across to me as creepy and solipsistic rather than brave. Contrast that with Ronald Reagan, the previous president injured in an attempt on his life. Karen Tumulty of The Washington Post reminded us today that Reagan appeared before Congress a month after he was...

Top Democrats are so alarmed about Joe Biden's ailing health some fear a shadowy cabal is keeping him in power so they can pull levers behind the scenes, it is claimed. The astonishing theory was detailed in the liberal New York magazine. Its reporter Olivia Nuzzi revealed that even Democrat elites are stumped as to how and why the fast-declining 81 year-old is being allowed to continue his re-election bid. Nuzzi said she had heard questions being posed by high-ranking Democrats on the east and west coasts about whether Biden is a puppet whose strings are being pulled by another...

Link: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/jun/27/tractor-supply-co-backs-woke-policies-after-backla/ Rather than go broke, a merchant isn’t going woke. One of America’s leading rural-supply merchants announced Thursday that it is ending all “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion” programs and will no longer support LGBTQ and global-warming causes. Tractor Supply Co. posted a statement on social media detailing its new direction after three weeks of social-media and other backlash over the previous attachments to left-wing causes that are not popular with its customer base. “We work hard to live up to our mission and values every day and represent the values of the communities and customers we serve. We have heard...

Russian President Vladimir Putin promised Friday to “immediately” order a ceasefire in Ukraine(opens in a new tab) and begin negotiations if Kyiv started withdrawing troops from the four regions annexed by Moscow in 2022 and renounced plans to join NATO. Such a deal appears a nonstarter for Kyiv, which wants to join the military alliance and has demanded that Russia withdraw its troops from all of its territory. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on Putin's proposal.

[Catholic Caucus] Papa Frociesco "Knows Many Good Holy Homosexual Seminarians and Priests”Francis received homosexual activist James Martin, a fellow Jesuit, at Casa Santa Marta on 12 June for an hour-long meeting.Afterwards, the homosexual activist wrote on Twitter.com: "With his permission to share this, the Holy Father said he has known many good, holy and celibate seminarians and priests with homosexual tendencies."According to Martin, Francis also "confirmed" his homosexual activism and "showed his openness and love" for those who practice homosexual sin without repentance.

Research has revealed concerning findings about AI systems known as large language models (LLMs) and their ability to deceive human observers intentionally. Two studies, one published in the journal PNAS and the other in Patterns, highlight the unsettling capabilities of LLMs. The PNAS paper, authored by German AI ethicist Thilo Hagendorff, suggests that advanced LLMs can exhibit “Machiavellianism,” or intentional and amoral manipulativeness, which can lead to deceptive behavior. Mr. Hagendorff notes that GPT-4, a model within OpenAI’s GPT family, demonstrated deceptive behavior in simple test scenarios 99.2% of the time.

Millions of Americans are struggling to afford necessities like food, rent, insurance, and a car payment. But if you’re one of them, don’t expect any understanding from the White House and its sycophants in the media. They say your financial pain is all in your head. As an MSNBC host put it, Americans need “an economic explainer,” since “people are confused” about their financial situation. They’re actually “doing quite well,” she laughably asserted. That will surprise the half of Americans who are struggling to make their rent or mortgage payments on time, especially the one-fifth of renters who are skipping...

Reclaiming ‘Pride Month’: June 2 is ‘Ex-Gay Visibility Day’Unpopular truth: There are more people today living as ‘ex-gays’ than there are those leading homosexual lives.“Pride Month” has just begun, a month when woke identity politics takes center stage for 30 days, relentlessly driving home the unfounded neo-Marxist claim that homosexual and transgender-identifying individuals are members of oppressed victim classes who, in the name of justice, must be elevated to prominence. Meanwhile, the rest of society — including children in school systems, corporate employees, government employees at every level, and even those in the military and the world of sports —...

On Wednesday’s edition of NBC’s “MTP Now,” Biden Campaign Co-Chair Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), who is also running for the U.S. Senate in Delaware, said that “A lot of people are going through a lot of struggles right now, coming out of the pandemic. And they are not even aware of the things that this administration has done to really uplift our communities.” Host Peter Alexander asked, “So, Congresswoman, let me ask you specifically, then, I think the question is, if the campaign was in such good shape with black voters, as President Biden has done in the past...

Joe Biden and his regime have had over 3 years to secure the border, which they intentionally chose not to do. After all, this is their future voting base. Democrat Senator Chris Murphy was on CBS’s “Face the Nation” with Margaret Brennan on Sunday to discuss the border. Being a typical Democrat politician, he gave excuses for the border and even blamed President Trump and the Republicans for the border crisis. “The President could take executive action and has been talking about it since back in February when Homeland Security Secretary mentioned it was being considered. Should he just get...

Vatican should not honor Shanghai's fake bishopThere are those who courageously put their faith and values first, and do not sell their souls to a brutal, atheist regime Earlier this week, the Vatican hosted a prominent mouthpiece for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s propaganda in the heart of Rome.Beijing-appointed Bishop Joseph Shen Bin of Shanghai, who was unilaterally installed a year ago by Chinese authorities without the pope’s approval at the time, in flagrant breach of the Vatican-China agreement on the appointment of bishops, was given a platform at a Vatican conference alongside Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin.Bishop Shen...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope Francis’ 60 Minutes interview is a classic exercise in Modernist deceptionIn issuing Fiducia Supplicans, Pope Francis has intentionally confused the faithful by attempting to draw a distinction between blessing an ‘official’ homosexual union and a homosexual couple.VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Francis’ recent interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes is notable for a variety of statements made by the Pontiff, among the most prominent being his seemingly contradictory and misleading claims on Fiducia Supplicans.In a now fully released CBS 60 Minutes interview, conducted by Norah O’Donnell, Pope Francis was questioned once more on the December 2023 text Fiducia...

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you” (1 Peter 4:12). We can be certain of God’s love for us, no matter how unexpected or difficult any trial might be. Reassuring words are vital as we strive to deal in a godly fashion with trials and sufferings in our Christian lives. In today’s verse, Peter opens with a pastoral term (“beloved”) that conveys tenderness, love, and concern for his audience. It reinforces in a single word the concepts of fervent love...

Pfizer reportedly withheld presence of cancer-linked DNA in COVID jabs from FDA, Health CanadaAccording to information released by the Epoch Times, Pfizer purposefully failed to advise drug regulators, including Health Canada, the U.S. FDA and the European Medicines Agency, that the cancer-linked SV40 DNA enhancer was present in their experimental COVID shot.U.S. citizens: Demand Congress investigate soaring excess death rates(LifeSiteNews) — Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer reportedly “chose not to” inform Health Canada, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory agencies that the cancer-linked Polyomavirus Simian Virus 40 (SV40) DNA sequence was in their widely distributed COVID-19 vaccine. According to...

Pope Francis: ‘Deniers of climate change’ are ‘foolish’Pope Francis, in a recent CBS interview, labeled skeptics of the climate change narrative as ‘foolish’ for not believing ‘research.’Pope Francis has stated that “deniers of climate change” are “foolish” as they don’t believe “research,” and insisting that “climate change exists.”In comments made to CBS Evening News and aired April 24, the 87-year-old Pontiff decried those whom CBS’s Norah O’Donnell described as “deniers of climate change.” “There are people who are foolish, and foolish even if you show them research, they don’t believe it,” responded Francis. “Why? Because they don’t understand the situation...

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft said Monday that he has “lost faith” in his alma mater, Columbia University, amid reports of antisemitism during campus protests against the Israel-Hamas war and said he’s “not comfortable supporting the university” until things change.

How liberals killed Earth DayOPINION:Earth Day used to be a celebration of our individual and collective responsibility to protect the planet and improve human health. It was about science and data. Unfortunately, today, Earth Day has little to do with the planet and more to do with far-left agendas meant to increase control over the population.The paint-throwing, street-blocking activists will be out in force pushing their narrative of climate doom, more than happy to ignore science in the process. The media will reflexively add credibility to the nonsense.President Biden will tout the importance of some patently unachievable electric vehicle or...