Free Republic

Canada’s Finance Minister resigned Monday but claimed his decision had nothing to do with an ongoing charity scandal that has engulfed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Amid calls from political opponents for his resignation, Canada’s finance minister did just that on Monday night. But the minister, Bill Morneau, insisted his decision to step down was not related to a conflict-of-interest scandal that has embroiled Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government…Mr. Morneau and Mr. Trudeau have been under political fire for not removing themselves from the cabinet discussion when a substantial no-bid contract was awarded to a charity that had connections to...

Carmen Best will step down as Seattle’s Police Chief—a decision that comes after the City Council voted to cut the police department’s budget by nearly $4 million. "I want to thank Mayor Durkan for her continuous support through good times and tough times," Best said in a letter sent to members of the department Monday night. "I am confident the department will make it through these difficult times. You truly are the best police department in the country, and please trust me when I say, the vast majority of people in Seattle support you and appreciate you." The funding reduction...

What’s it like behind the scenes at MSNBC? Ratings and politics were at the core of every editorial decision, according to one former producer, forcing “skilled journalists to make bad decisions on a daily basis.” In a letter about her July 24 departure from MSNBC, Ariana Pekary explains why she left. “It’s possible that I’m more sensitive to the editorial process due to my background in public radio, where no decision I ever witnessed was predicated on how a topic or guest would 'rate.' The longer I was at MSNBC, the more I saw such choices — it’s practically baked...

n a stunning plot twist, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman issued a statement Friday night asserting that he will not, in fact, resign — in direct contradiction to an announcement that he was stepping down made hours earlier from Attorney General William Barr. “I learned in a press release from the Attorney General tonight that I was ‘stepping down’ as United States Attorney,” Berman, said in a statement posted to the Southern District of New York Twitter account. “I have not resigned, and have no intention of resigning, my position, to which I was appointed by the Judges of the...

Almost a dozen South Florida police officers resigned from their city's SWAT unit this week, claiming that they did not feel safe and that "the politicalization of our tactics" limited them in doing their jobs. The group of ten officers wrote to Hallandale Beach Police Chief Sonia Quinones on Tuesday to notify her of their resignations. In the letter, obtained by CNN, the officers claimed that they were "minimally equipped, under trained and often times restrained by the politicization of our tactics to the extent of placing the safety of dogs over the safety of the team members." They added:...

A Department of Defense adviser resigned, effective immediately, from the military's science board citing what he believed to be a violation of conduct from Defense Secretary Mark Esper. In his resignation letter, James Miller Jr., the former under secretary of defense for policy from 2012 to 2014, recalled that he swore an oath of office to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States ... and to bear true faith and allegiance to the same," similar to what the defense secretary had done before he took office. "On Monday, June 1, 2020, I believe that you violated that oath,"...

The head of the World Trade Organization said Thursday he will leave his post a year before his term expires, an unprecedented mid-term resignation at the WTO that he called a “personal decision.” Roberto Azevedo, a former diplomat from Brazil, said he will step down on Aug. 31, cutting short a seven-year tenure marked in recent years by intense pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, who accused the Geneva-based trade body of an anti-U.S. bias and other complaints. “This is a decision that I do not take lightly,” Azevedo told a special meeting of WTO delegations. “It is a personal...

May 6, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – In a new biography released on May 4, Pope Benedict makes some statements that highlight his own understanding of his resignation from the papacy. He speaks in this book about the “spiritual dimension...which is alone still my mandate.” He shows an understanding of his resignation from the papacy, according to which he gave up any “concrete legal powers” and any role of governance, but at the same time maintained a “spiritual mandate.” Pope Benedict XVI answered, in the autumn of 2018, several written questions by his biographer Peter Seewald, which then were included in Seewald's...

Some rando fanatic Lefty judge-geezer from Hawaii [75 years old] mouths off to the Supreme Court, after ignoring the ZeroBama administration cr@pping all over the law for eight years.

Most people hold that since former President Richard M. Nixon resigned from office as president before the full House of Representatives could vote on the articles of impeachment, he therefore was not impeached. But they omit the House vote 12 days after he resigned. There were two votes on impeachment by the full House of Representatives. The first, Feb. 6, 1974, was a vote 410 for and 4 against, authorizing impeachment proceedings against Nixon which allowed the House Judiciary Committee to begin the formal inquiry. Talk of such had preceded this vote for several months. Thereafter, following six months of...

MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Monday announced he is retiring effective immediately. Monday's episode of "Hardball" will be the last. "Let me start with my headline tonight. I'm retiring. This is the last 'Hardball' on MSNBC and, obviously, this isn't for a lack of interest in politics," Matthews explained. "As you can tell, I've loved every minute of my 20 years as host of 'Hardball.' Every morning I read the papers and I'm gung-ho to get to work. Not many people have had this privilege." According to the host, he has enjoyed his time working with producers to decide the angle...

MSNBC's Chris Matthews is under fire after comparing Sen. Bernie Sanders "I was reading last night about the fall of France in the summer of 1940," Matthews said during MSNBC's live coverage of the caucuses on Saturday. "And the general, Reynaud, calls up Churchill and says, 'It's over.' And Churchill says, 'How can that be? You've got the greatest army in Europe. How can it be over?' He said, 'It's over.'" MSNBC’s Chris Matthews likens Sanders victory in Nevada to Nazi Germany overrunning France in 1940: “It’s too late to stop him … it’s over” pic.twitter.com/6GJetLoDkq

“More than 1,100 former federal prosecutors and Justice Department officials called on Attorney General William P. Barr on Sunday to step down after he intervened last week to lower the Justice Department’s sentencing recommendation for President Trump’s longtime friend Roger J. Stone, Jr.,” The New York Times reported on Sunday—if you can call it reporting.Not once in the 800-word article did the Times address the overwhelming evidence that the thousand-plus signatories were politically motivated critics of President Donald Trump. In fact, to the contrary, the Times claimed “the former Justice Department lawyers” “came from across the political spectrum” to...

The Utah Republican Party is reportedly considering multiple resolutions following Sen. Mitt Romney’s vote to convict President Donald Trump in the impeachment trial, including a resolution calling for his resignation. According to local Salt Lake City news outlet 2KUTV, “the Utah Republican Party has pending resolutions on Romney: one that expresses support for Trump’s acquittal, another that supports legislation to recall a U.S Senator and a third that calls for Romney to ‘immediately resign’ from office.” The Utah GOP will possibly vote on these resolutions on Saturday, February 29, the report also states. It is unclear what kind of support...

More than 1,100 former Justice Department employees signed a public letter Sunday urging Attorney General William P. Barr to resign over his handling of the case of President Trump’s longtime friend Roger Stone — and exhorted current department employees to report any unethical conduct.... Signatures for the letter were gathered by Protect Democracy, a group that has been critical of Barr’s handling of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into Russian election interference and Trump. The letter acknowledges there is little chance the signatories’ criticism will lead to Barr’s departure, adding, “because we have little expectation he will do...

Russia's government has resigned, hours after President Vladimir Putin proposed sweeping constitutional changes that could prolong his stay in power. PM Dmitry Medvedev said the president's proposals would significantly change Russia's balance of power. Mr Putin asked Mr Medvedev to become deputy head of the National Security Council, which is chaired by Mr Putin. The president later nominated tax service chief Mikhail Mishustin to replace Mr Medvedev as prime minister. The unexpected announcement comes four years before Mr Putin's fourth term of office is due to end. Under the existing constitution, he would not be entitled to another term. The...

At least two Iranian journalists at a state-owned media outlet reportedly resigned from their jobs, with one of them apologizing to viewers for "the 13 years I told you lies." As Tehran continues to grapple with the fallout from protests stemming from a cover-up of its accidental downing of a Ukrainian airliner, TV anchor Gelare Jabbari addressed her viewers on an Instagram post that appears to have been deleted. “It was very hard for me to believe that our people have been killed," the post read, according to The Guardian. "Forgive me that I got to know this late. And...

<p>Eric Chewning, the chief of staff to Defense Secretary Mark Esper, is resigning and will be leaving his post at the end of January, the Defense Department announced Monday.</p> <p>Chewning has been in his role since January 2019, after starting with the Department in October 2017 as the deputy assistant secretary of defense for industrial policy. He now plans on returning to the private sector, according to Pentagon press secretary Alyssa Farah.</p>

Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin announced Tuesday they will be stepping down from the leadership of the search giant's parent company, Alphabet. Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who previously had been a member of the Alphabet board of directors, will head both companies moving forward. "With Alphabet now well-established, and Google and the Other Bets operating effectively as independent companies, it’s the natural time to simplify our management structure," Page and Brin wrote in a blog post. "We’ve never been ones to hold on to management roles when we think there’s a better way to run the company," they...

Nursultan Nazarbayev announces shock resignation in televised address, hands over power to speaker of upper house. Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev has abruptly announced his resignation, 29 years after taking office. In a televised address on Tuesday, the 78-year-old said he has taken the "difficult" decision to terminate his authority as president, but did not give a specific reason for the shock decision. "I have decided to end my duties as president," Nazarbayev said, before signing a decree terminating his powers from March 30. "This year I will have held the highest post for 30 years," he said. "As the founder...