Free Republic

The three kings have risen and just in time for Good Friday. From the bowels of Manhattan's iconic Radio City Music Hall, President Joe Biden – flanked by his Democratic, ambulatory predecessors – was winched up on a platform from below the stage to roaring applause from New York's finest (not the NYPD, we'll get to that) on Thursday night. Like an animatronic Disney character, stiff Old Joe waved and grinned and turned to acknowledge ex-presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama beside him. The wealthy donors – paying up to $500,000 a ticket – gobbled it up. However, to me,...

A Utah widow who penned a grief book for children in the wake of her husband’s death has been charged with his murder, authorities said. Mom of three Kouri Darden Richins, 33, of Summit County, was arrested Monday for allegedly poisoning her husband, Eric Richins, at their home on Willow Court in Kamas on March 4, 2022, KUTV reported, She is charged with first-degree aggravated murder and three counts of second-degree possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, officials said. Police arrived at their home about 3:20 a.m. on the night of Eric’s death to find him lying...

Hunter Biden desperately insisted his brother’s widow, Hallie Biden, get screened for HIV as their torrid affair cooled off in the summer of 2018, emails show. Biden, 52, implored Hallie to be tested for HIV in an email sent to Beau Biden’s widow on July 27, 2018, about a month before he fathered an out-of-wedlock child with former stripper Lunden Roberts.

After a spate of bad publicity over winning a Goliath-versus-David lawsuit, Eric Clapton’s management has announced it does not intend to collect the money owed by a German woman who was sued for putting a bootleg CD of a 1980s Clapton concert up for sale on eBay.The woman had been ordered to pay approximately $4,000 after a judge ruled she had infringed Clapton’s copyright by trying to sell the more than 30-year-old CD, which her late husband had purchased at a department store, for 9.95 euros, or roughly $11.20. The illicit disc was removed from the site after a day...

Widowed congresswoman Debbie Dingell on Thursday responded to comments by President Trump at a rally about her late husband, Rep. John Dingell, whom the President implied is “looking up” from hell and said her family “are still hurting” from the loss of her husband. Trump said on Wednesday that he gave the family of the late Michigan representative “A-plus treatment” after John Dingell, the longest serving congressman and a WWII veteran, died. Trump also claimed that his wife, Debbie Dingell, who now holds her husband’s Michigan seat in the House, told Trump that her late husband would have been “thrilled”...

John Ray is best known for his work in botany, with his thorough Catalogus Plantarum Angliae serving as the basis for subsequent british plant encyclopedias, and for his work defining the concept of species. However, like most of his era, his prosperity was gained from his pen, and he published works on Religion, as would be expected, as well as this collection of english proverbs (with a section on Scotch proverbs as well.) Evidently some took offence at the contents, given the following passage from the preface to this edition: “Now whereas I understand that some Proverbs Admitted in the...

Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, the widow of Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), on Thursday said in a statement that her late husband “worked until his last breath.” “Congressman Cummings was an honorable man who proudly served his district and the nation with dignity, integrity, compassion and humility. He worked until his last breath because he believed our democracy was the highest and best expression of our collective humanity and that our nation’s diversity was our promise, not our problem,” she said. “It’s been an honor to walk by his side on this incredible journey. I loved him deeply and will miss him...

Michelle Rodriguez attested that her “Widows” co-star Liam Neeson is not a racist because of how he kissed Viola Davis during the movie. The actress came to Neeson’s defense Wednesday night at the amfAR gala in the wake of Neeson’s racially charged comments that he wanted to kill a “black bastard” to avenge a friend who had been raped. The actor later apologized and contended that his comments were taken out of context. “It’s all f—in’ bulls—. Liam Neeson is not a racist,” Rodriguez told Vanity Fair at the New York event. “Dude, have you watched ‘Widows’? His tongue was...

White Semidouble AT THE BEGINNING OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY, the plateau of Upper Asia poured down a fresh torrent of barbarians, more terrible than all their predecessors. The one fragile barrier, which the Græco-Slavonian civilization could oppose to the Mongols had been swept away by the first wave of the invasion; not one of the States formed under the protection of the Byzantine Church had any prospect for the future. But beyond this Ruthania, which had fallen into dissolution before being conquered, the Roman Church had had time to form a brave and generous people: when the hour arrived,...

White Double “WHO, O LORD, has treated Thee thus?” “They that despise Me and forget My love.” This was the first revelation of the Son of God to Bridget of Sweden. Francis of Assisi, raising before the world the standard of the cross, had announced that Christ was about to recommence the dolorous way; not now in His own Person, but in the Church, who is flesh of His flesh. The truth of this declaration Bridget experienced from the very opening of that fatal fourteenth century, during which such innumerable disasters, the results of crime, fell at once upon...

White Double ALTHOUGH MARY’S GLORY is within her, beauty appears also in the garment wherewith she is clad: a mysterious robe woven of the virtues of the Saints, who owe to her both their justice and their reward. As every grace comes to us through our Mother, so all the glory of heaven converges towards that of the Queen. Now among the blessed souls there are some more immediately connected with the holy Virgin. Prevented by the peculiarly tender love of the Mother of grace, they left all things, when on earth, to run after the odor of the...

White Double IN THE COMPANY OF OUR RISEN LORD there are two women, two mothers, of whom we have often had to speak during the last few weeks: they are Mary, mother of James the Less and Thaddeus, and Salome, mother of James the Greater and John the beloved disciple. They went, with Magdalene, to the Sepulcher on the Resurrection morning; they carried spices to anoint the Body of Jesus; they were spoken to by Angels; and as they returned to Jerusalem, our Lord appeared to them, greeted them, and allowed them to kiss his sacred feet. Since that...

White Double THE PERIOD INTERVENING between the Purification of our blessed Lady and Ash Wednesday (when it occurs at its latest date) gives us thirty-six days; and these offer us feasts of every order of saint. The apostles have given us St. Mathias, and St. Peter’s Chair at Antioch; the martyrs have sent us, from their countless choir, Simeon, Blase, Valentine, Faustinus and Jovita, Perpetua and Felicitas, and the forty soldiers of Sebaste, whose feast is kept tomorrow; the holy pontiffs have been represented by Andrew Corsini, and Peter Damnian, who, like Thomas of Aquin, is one of the...

Nazire Terzi, the widow of Brig. Gen. Semih Terzi, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Monday, has said the night of a failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016 and the killing of her husband for being a coup plotter are shrouded in mystery and that the only thing she wants is for the facts to come out.Semih Terzi was killed by noncommissioned officer Ömer Halisdemir at the Special Forces Command in the Gölbaşı district of Ankara during the coup attempt. Reportedly, Terzi would take over the Special Forces Command with the putschist soldiers accompanying him...

Gold star widow Natasha De Alencar released the audio of a phone conversation she had with President Donald Trump in April about the death of her husband who was killed in Afghanistan. “I am so sorry to hear about the whole situation. What a horrible thing, except that he’s an unbelievable hero,” Trump told her in the call about her husband Army Staff Sgt. Mark R. De Alencar, which The Washington Post released. “Thank you. I really, really appreciated it,” she said. “I really do, sir.” Trump also told the widow if she is ever in Washington D.C. that she...

White Semidouble AT the beginning of the thirteenth century, the plateau of Upper Asia poured down a fresh torrent of barbarians, more terrible than all their predecessors. The one fragile barrier, which the Græco-Slavonian civilization could oppose to the Mongols had been swept away by the first wave of the invasion; not one of the States formed under the protection of the Byzantine Church had any prospect for the future. But beyond this Ruthania, which had fallen into dissolution before being conquered, the Roman Church had had time to form a brave and generous people: when the hour arrived,...

White Double “WHO, O Lord, has treated Thee thus?” “They that despise Me and forget My love.” This was the first revelation of the Son of God to Bridget of Sweden. Francis of Assisi, raising before the world the standard of the cross, had announced that Christ was about to recommence the dolorous way; not now in His own Person, but in the Church, who is flesh of His flesh. The truth of this declaration Bridget experienced from the very opening of that fatal fourteenth century, during which such innumerable disasters, the results of crime, fell at once upon...

While widely regarded as the most powerful moment of the night, Grilo was not impressed. Responding to a tweet from L.A. Times reporter Matt Pearce, who noted that Owens was crying and overwhelmed, Grilo tweeted: “Sorry, Owens' wife, you’re not helping yourself or your husband’s memory by standing there and clapping like an idiot. Trump just used you.” ... Grilo’s LinkedIn page says he works as a principal for the Chicago-based Liberty Advisor Group. But as of Wednesday morning, Grilo’s profile page on the site had been deleted, and the company later confirmed that an employee had sent what they...

Liberal filmmaker Michael Moore on Tuesday slammed President Trump’s address to Congress, saying the president "used" the widow of a slain Navy SEAL as an “f-you” to those criticizing the raid on an al Qaeda base in Yemen that killed him. Carryn Owens, the widow of Chief Petty Officer William "Ryan" Owens, was in the audience during Trump’s speech and received a standing ovation from the chamber as she fought back tears. Moore said Trump invited Owens as a prop to deflect criticism of the mission. “That’s why she’s there, as sort of an ‘f-you’ to the people who are...

Of all the moments from President Trump’s first address to Congress, the most riveting piece of political theater was his tribute to the widow of fallen Navy SEAL William “Ryan” Owens. The president’s critics and supporters alike admired it. Midway through his speech, the president gestured to Owens‘ widow, Carryn, who was a guest in the balcony seated with presidential daughter Ivanka Trump. “We are blessed to be joined tonight by Carryn Owens,” Mr. Trump said. “Ryan died as he lived: a warrior, and a hero –- battling against terrorism and securing our nation. Ryan’s legacy is etched into eternity....