Free Republic

Strife and Betrayal in Sacramento Diocese The conspiracy of silence in the Catholic Church over scandals involving sex, homosexuality, cover-ups, payouts, betrayal, and corruption have left many Catholics disillusioned and even angry. Corruption wears many disguises, including liturgical garments. There is a cancer in the Catholic Church that needs to be eradicated. The cancer is not Catholicism, rather it is about the dangerous, corrupt behavior in too many of the Bishops. The traditional role of a bishop is as head of a diocese—the buck stops with the Bishop.

This time they’ve surely got him. Pack your bags, Mr. President. The game is up. Because this week we learned that . . . that . . . well, there’s this tape, see, recorded by Donald Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen in September of 2016, during which the then-presidential candidate discussed setting up a company for the purpose of paying off alleged former paramour Karen McDougal to make her go away. Did Trump and Cohen actually pay her off? No, but . . . but . . . c’mon, it would have been a campaign-finance violation! If it had happened. Or it was sort of a campaign-finance violation once...

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has denied that he groped a female reporter 18 years ago, saying he doesn't remember any 'negative interactions' from that day. Trudeau publicly addressed the groping allegations when he was hit with questions about it at a public event in Regina, Saskatchewan on Sunday as part of Canada Day festivities. The alleged incident took place back in 2000 at a music festival in Creston, B.C. to raise money for an avalanche safety charity that Trudeau was involved in following the death of his brother two years earlier. Trudeau, who was 28 at the time and...

Rep. Yvette Clarke’s deputy chief of staff came into the office on a Saturday in December 2015 and caught the New York Democrat’s part-time IT aide, Abid Awan, rummaging through the congresswoman’s work area with new iPods and other equipment strewn around the room, according to a House document and interviews with Hill staff. Wendy Anderson told Abid to get out of the office, the document said. She told Capitol Hill investigators that she soon suspected Clarke’s chief of staff, Shelley Davis, was working with Abid on a theft scheme, multiple House staffers with knowledge of the situation told The...

Throughout Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s massive report on the Hillary Clinton email investigation are lots of strange things. One of the weirdest is the extent to which the FBI went to make up words and phrases to disguise reality.An early draft of the 2016 FBI report on the email scandal was reportedly subjected to linguistic surgery to exonerate Mrs. Clinton, who at the time was secretary of State. Mrs. Clinton was originally found to be “grossly negligent” in using an illegal email server. That legalistic phrase is used by prosecutors to indict for violation of laws governing the...

Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz, an Obama administration appointee, is scheduled to deliver a report this week on DOJ and FBI abuses during the 2016 campaign cycle. Remember: His last investigation of FBI misconduct advised a criminal referral for fired former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, who allegedly lied to federal investigators. McCabe and at least a half-dozen other FBI employees quit, retired, were fired or were reassigned as a result of fallout from the politicization of the FBI. Yet, as Barack Obama left office, his chief of staff, Denis McDonough, strangely boasted that the Obama administration "has...

Mario Batali’s three Las Vegas Strip restaurants will shut down July 27, officials said Friday, as the celebrity chef faces sexual misconduct allegations from multiple women. Batali & Bastianich Hospitality Group partner Joe Bastianich sent a letter to nearly 300 workers about the closures of Carnevino Italian Steakhouse, B&B Ristorante and Otto Enoteca e Pizzeria at The Venetian and Palazzo resorts. He promised to visit the restaurants to speak to employees.

Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein and AG Jeff Sessions are working hand-in-hand on dismantling the Deep State. Deep State corruption is deep and embedded. No normal investigation is going to cut it. Enter The Donald. Critics of Sessions need to understand that Sessions is a prosecutor in the traditional, Wyatt Earp sense. He doesn't camera hog He rarely gives press releases, media interviews, or conferences. He does the work diligently behind the scenes. Why (Nicolas Cage from the movie "The Rock" here) IN ZEUS' BUTTHOLE! is Sessions all of a sudden a Deep State mole, when for years he's been a...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) in-laws have ordered 10 massive cargo ships from the Chinese government since the senator’s wife Elaine Chao became Secretary of Transportation. The deep financial ties between the Chao family’s shipping business Foremost Group and the Chinese regime were first revealed in the #1 New York Times bestseller Secret Empires.

NBC won’t be launching a full internal investigation into new sex harassment allegations against former news anchor Tom Brokaw, network sources told Page Six on Friday. “She’s given her side, and he’s responded. They don’t feel there’s anything left to investigate in the case,’’ an NBC source said, adding, “We may make further inquiries if more information emerges.” A Message from DIRECTV NOW Former NBC News war correspondent Linda Vester accused Brokaw in an article in Variety on Thursday of groping her and trying to kiss her against her will in the 1990s. She said she finally came forward because...

Was former President Obama the “scandal free,” top 10 greatest president he claimed to be as he exited the White House? To his aides and most in the media, the answer has been a hearty “yes.” The View’s Joy Behar said, “President Obama, for eight years, was completely scandal-free.” NBC’s Tom Brokaw said, “He’s been scandal free, frankly, in the White House. We haven’t had that what for a while.” But now, to counter that legacy campaign, biographer Matt Margolis has penned a book detailing some 29 “scandals” under Obama in, “The Scandalous Presidency of Barack Obama.” It reviews some...

JEFFERSON CITY Leaders in Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens’ own party plan to call for a special session to weigh whether to impeach the governor following a bombshell report detailing allegations of sexual coercion and blackmail that has both Republicans and Democrats calling for his resignation. House Speaker Todd Richardson, R-Poplar Bluff, held a press conference Wednesday on the heels of a report detailing allegations he called "beyond disturbing" that were made by the woman at the center of the scandal. He said a special House committee investigating allegations against Greitens would need to continue its work beyond the May 18...

The Charismatic-Pentecostal movement finds itself at a critical juncture. On the one hand, our movement is arguably responsible for the greatest ingathering souls in Church history, with well over 500 million new converts in the last 50 years. On the other hand, abuses abound in our midst, from sexual scandals to financial impropriety and from unaccountable prophecies to doctrinal deviances. It is high time that we do some self-policing. Better that we judge ourselves than be judged by the Lord (see 1 Peter 4:17; 1 Corinthians 11:31-32). I recently signed up to receive emails from a well-known "prophet," curious to...

You might expect Stan Lee, at age 95, to be enjoying the fruits of his many labors: Marvel Comics, the company he served as the former president and chairman of, dominates popular culture. Characters he co-created — among them Spider-Man, Iron Man, X-Men, and the Avengers — are household names. He’s a comics legend, with his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. When Marvel sold to Disney in 2010 for $4 billion, he personally pocketed a cool $10 million, and tours the world as its ambassador emeritus. And midway through his tenth decade, Black Panther, based on a...

MEMPHIS — A pastor accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl in Texas 20 years ago resigned from his ministerial post Tuesday at a Memphis megachurch. Andy Savage, teaching pastor at Highpoint Church and part of the church's senior leadership team, follows a leave of absence and lengthy investigation by Scott Fredricks, a Fort Worth lawyer whose specialties include assisting churches with child-abuse investigations. Savage's fall culminates more than two months of accusations and soul-searching over a case that became symbolic of the #churchtoo offshoot of the #metoo movement. While the investigation found no other instances of abuse, "the leadership...

Attorney General Jeff Sessions late Friday night fired former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, a little more than 24 hours before McCabe was set to retire. Sessions announced the decision in a statement just before 10 p.m., noting that both the Justice Department Inspector General and the FBI office that handles discipline had found “that Mr. McCabe had made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor — including under oath — on multiple occasions.” He said based on those findings and the recommendation of the department’s senior career official, “I have terminated the employment of Andrew McCabe...

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been attacked and belittled by President Donald Trump more than Vladimir Putin has. [SNIP] Sessions’ recusal in the Russian investigation set in motion events leading to the appointment of Robert Mueller, and Trump will probably never forgive him.

This is just sad. Fox News host Jesse Watters is reportedly divorcing his wife after an affair with a 25-year-old subordinate was uncovered. The New York Daily News has the exclusive report: The network’s prominent host Jesse Watters — who dined on Monday with President Trump — is in the midst of divorce due to an affair with a 25-year-old associate producer. Watters’ wife, Noelle Watters, filed for divorce in October. The couple has twin girls. Sources said the 39-year-old host informed the network of his adulterous relationship with Emma DiGiovine shortly after Noelle filed divorce papers.

DES MOINES, Iowa -- The top leader in the Iowa Senate resigned Monday after a website published video and photos allegedly showing the married lawmaker kissing a statehouse lobbyist. Senate Majority Leader Bill Dix's resignation from his leadership post and as a state senator was effective 2 p.m. Monday, according to a press release from Senate President Jack Whitver. Whitver added in a statement: "I believe he made the right decision for himself and for his district, but most importantly, I believe he made the decision in the best interest of his family." Republicans in the GOP-controlled chamber plan to...

Denver City Councilman Rafael Espinoza has asked for an independent investigation of Denver Mayor Michael Hancock following his video apology for sending inappropriate texts to Denver police officer Leslie Branch-Wise in 2011 and 2012, when she was on his security detail. But the controversy has also sparked renewed interest in stories from that same period suggesting that Hancock had been a client of the Denver Players/Denver Sugar prostitution ring, originally headed by former professional skier Scottie Ewing.