Free Republic

Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde’s sermon to President Trump during an inaugural prayer service, coupled with her church’s advocacy for humanitarian immigration programs, reveals a striking hypocrisy — one that could be seen as self-serving and even a conflict of interest. That’s because the federal contracting arm of the church, Episcopal Migration Ministry (EMM), is paid to bring in people on resettlement programs that Trump has temporarily paused and targeted for re-evaluation. EMM budget figures for 2024 are not available yet, but in 2023 it earned $53 million from various taxpayer-funded government programs to resettle 3,600 individuals. Unlike everyday immigrants, these...

Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont has filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission indicating that he may pursue another independent bid for the U.S. Senate when his current term expires in 2030. Sanders, born in 1941, would be 89 years old at the time of the election. Sanders filed an amended Statement of Candidacy with the Federal Election Commission on Monday. According to the document, he would run once more as an independent candidate. This is a shift from past remarks Sanders has made about running for another term, as he previously said that his current term would likely be...

National Institutes of Health director Francis Collins said the new Omicron variant of COVID-19 was a “great reason” for people in the United States to get their booster shot. Collins said, “The booster basically enlarges the capacity of your immune system to recognize all kinds of different spike proteins it’s never seen. This is a great day to go and get boosted or find out how to do so.”