Free Republic

First lady Jill Biden traveled to the Ukraine’s border with Slovakia on Sunday as part of her trip to Europe. The first lady visited the Vysne Nemecke border crossing, which is where Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion have entered Slovakia, according to the White House, which added that refugees have received basic services at the crossing before traveling to processing centers or transit hubs located further into Slovakia. The border crossing is one of two main transportation points between Ukraine and Slovakia, administration officials noted. Humanitarian actors are also utilizing the area.

Today’s gospel teaches us to pray always and not lose heart. This is a gospel about having tenacity in prayer and, even when the results seem discouraging, continuing to beseech the Lord. It is also a gospel about the Lord’s will to extend the gospel to all the nations and to make the Church truly catholic.Let’s look at this gospel in five stages.STAGE I. TRAVELS - The text says, At that time, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. Thus Jesus goes north of Israel into the territory we know today as Lebanon. Now Matthew is not just...

Nov. 13, 2009 - Premier Danny Williams is photographed at at the Newfoundland legislature in St. John's, Nl. Newfoundland Premier leaves province for undisclosed location south of the borderThe heart and soul of Newfoundland politics is in for repair – and it's not in his home province or even in Canada, for that matter. Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams is scheduled for heart surgery in the United States, a move that throws into question his province's and his nation's health-care system. A source confirmed to The Globe and Mail late Monday that Mr. Williams has left St. John's for an undisclosed...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 25, 2007 – You’ve heard of catnip, right? Well, somebody must have sprinkled “moosenip” around the VIP quarters where Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine Gen. Peter Pace and his wife Lynne stayed at Alaska’s Elmendorf Air Force Base last week. Three full-grown, female moose spent several hours, morning and evening, right outside the quarters, nibbling at low-hanging branches and nestling in the snow catching some rays. The 800- to 900-pound, lanky-legged animals ignored the ever-present security specialists and the comings and goings of SUVs and military vans. As for the chairman and his wife,...

LOS ANGELES - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been out of state all or part of 163 days since his inauguration in November 2003 — nearly one of every five days he's been in office. The celebrity governor always promised to promote California, and he's traveled as far as China to pitch everything from avocados to zinfandel. While many of Schwarzenegger's trips on official business are extensively publicized, he also can slip away on a private jet with an e-mail from his office: "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has left the state." Schwarzenegger's regular and sometimes unexplained jaunts expose him to criticism that...

San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales has taken 40 political and business trips in North America during the past four years, and every time he goes, San Jose taxpayers pick up an unusual cost: They pay for a city cop to accompany him. In a few cases, there are two. No other San Jose mayor has received such protection, a post-Sept. 11 precaution that Phoenix, San Antonio and Dallas -- all bigger than San Jose -- don't provide their mayors. The officers often leave a day in advance of Gonzales to set up logistics and have run up $60,000 in travel...

Taking a Deep Look Inside John Kerry's Character Written by Joan Swirsky Tuesday, October 19, 2004 Editor: This article was written in April, but its message is still highly relevant: During his primary campaign, John Kerry traveled on private jets, ate lavish dinners with his ever-present and presumably loving wife, was spared any criticsm from his competitors and was lionized by a leftist media. To recover from the extreme ''stress'' of this routine, the senator took a week's vacation at his wife's multimillion-dollar getaway in Idaho. Every eligible American voter must now ask: If simple campaigning made Kerry snap at...

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo gestures while addressing businessmen in Malacanang presidential palace in Manila June 28, 2002. Arroyo said the military had seized four camps of the Abu Sayyaf rebel group, linked by Washington to the al-Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden. 'We are now having a major battle in Patikul, right in the camp where the Abu Sayyaf was born way back in 1995,' Arroyo said in a television broadcast.