Free Republic

[Catholic Caucus] The Level of Francis' Appointments: Missing Cardinal Speaks of "Stupid Prank"Spanish-born Cardinal José Luis Lacunza, 79, of David, Panama, has described his mysterious two-day disappearance in Panama as a "stupid prank"."It was a stupid prank, something I didn't do when I was 15 years old, and I did it now when I'm about to turn 80. The older I get, the more stupid I get," the Cardinal told parishioners at a Eucharist on Sunday.This is the shocking level of the cardinals named by Francis. "I want to apologise and ask for your forgiveness for the displeasure I have...

Steve Bannon: In Three Weeks MAGA Has Taken Out Twelve Years Of DC Cartel Leadership In The House

GOP Rep. Tom Emmer has dropped out of speaker race – a move that comes just hours after he won his party’s nomination, the latest sign that Republicans are no closer to electing a new speaker. Earlier in the day, Emmer’s bid to be speaker appeared on the verge of collapse amid opposition from the right flank of his conference and fresh attacks waged by former President Donald Trump – just hours after the Minnesota Republican was picked as the party’s nominee. Several Republicans who oppose Emmer say they will not move off their opposition and are calling for a...

House Republicans nominated House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) for Speaker on Tuesday, making him the third GOP lawmaker who will attempt to get 217 votes to secure the gavel. The conference selected Emmer — the No. 3 House Republican — for the position in a secret ballot during an internal election that lasted three hours, choosing him over six other candidates vying for the job. Two Republicans withdrew their names from the race before voting began. Emmer, 62, will now take his nomination to the House floor, where he will have to muster enough votes to win the gavel...

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan weighed in on the current struggle for the Republican conference to elect a new speaker of the House following the historic ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). Of the publicly fractured House Republicans, he said the conference is "basically a bifurcated coalition government,” referencing the growing division and significantly differing factions within the party. “This is a political-leaning conference right now, not a policy-leaning conference,” he said in an interview with Politico. He explained this resulted because “our party is a populist-leaning party right now, not a policy-leaning party.” During his time in office,...

Republican infighting in the House of Representatives since the ouster of Speaker Kevin McCarthy two weeks ago isn't so much creating dysfunction as it is exposing dysfunction. Over the past 10 months, strange coalitions have been built and dispersed, candidates have risen and fallen, and private animosities have burst into public view. While the D.C. legacy media press has proven itself incapable of explaining any of the above (see: its description for the "hard right coalition" of Reps. Matt Gaetz, Nancy Mace and Ken Buck), the squabbling has clarified just how cracked up the Republican Party truly is.

The House of Representatives has voted for a third time on Republican Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan for speaker, and for a third time, Jordan has not obtained the necessary votes. Jordan obtained 194 votes from Republicans, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries had 210 votes from Democrats, and 25 Republicans opted to vote for candidates other than Jordan.

The House will continue voting in the House Speaker election to replace former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was removed from the position on October 3rd.

The Pentagon is accelerating the delivery of Abrams tanks to Ukraine by sending refurbished older models, cutting the timeline for when they could reach the battlefield from two years to several months, according to reports on Tuesday. The Biden administration pledged in January to send 31 advanced new M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, reversing months of reluctance to supply Kyiv with the armored vehicles because they are hard to operate and maintain. But the new tanks would have taken a year or more to build and ship. Officials then opted for using older versions that will be taken from Army...

A Democrat who was elected to U.S. Congress in 2020 will be sworn in on various documents, including a copy of the first "Superman" comic book, which is worth about $5.3 million. A journalist spotted the classic comic book among the many religious books and other documents over which members of Congress had chosen to take their oaths

In a huge setback to Ukraine's fight against the Russian offensive, most NATO members have run out of weapons. According to a report published in the New York Times, at least 20 of the alliance's 30 members are "pretty tapped out." A NATO official also said that smaller countries have exhausted their potential. Even the U.S. military is rushing to replenish the arms stock it has supplied to Kyiv. ...

Comedian Dave Chappelle found himself in hot water once again Monday night after he was seen opposing an affordable housing project in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Chappelle, 48, addressed the town council and threatened to pull his money from the community if they approved plans to develop 53 acres of residential housing. The town voted on the plan Wednesday after the council meeting, where the public was invited to comment on the proposal. Now, Chappelle is clearing things up. His reps didn’t respond to The Post’s request for comment, but in a statement to Fox News, his spokeswoman Carla Sims said...

[This open letter is being published simultaneously by The Bulwark and the New Republic.]We are writers, academics, and political activists who have long disagreed about many things.Some of us are Democrats and others Republicans. Some identify with the left, some with the right, and some with neither. We have disagreed in the past, and we hope to be able to disagree, productively, for years to come. Because we believe in the pluralism that is at the heart of democracy.But right now we agree on a fundamental point: We need to join together to defend liberal democracy.Because liberal democracy itself is...

MSNBC “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough on Thursday went after Govs. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and Greg Abbott (R-TX) for their moves to ban local school boards from imposing mask mandates on students as the country deals with the Delta variant of the coronavirus. Scarborough called the GOP governors “clowns” for “trying to consolidate power in a centralized state.” He said what the two leaders are doing is “the antithesis of being conservative.”

Jill Biden joined Joe Biden in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington as he signed a bill to designate the National Pulse Memorial in Orlando. Joe also delivered remarks on LGBTQ+ Pride month, and the liberal media said that should explain Jill’s decision to opt for her Dolce & Gabbana patchwork dress from the Spring 2021 collection. Officially this dress was designed to reflect the colours and ambiences of Sicily with an abundance of patterns, and colours, but for Jill it represented the coming together of all communities which is what the LGBTQ+ stands...

Following Biden’s cancellation of the Keystone XL Pipeline, former President Donald Trump released a statement attacking the unions representing many pipeline workers. The statement reads, “The union representing the great workers building the Keystone XL Pipeline endorsed Biden. Now their workers have no jobs and the pipeline, which was well under construction (like the Southern Border Wall), has been shut down, with thousands of jobs lost and the company announcing yesterday that they are “permanently puling out.” You should vote those people out of office immediately, and stop paying your union dues. A total waste of money. And I said...

California's Ban on 'In-Home Bible Studies' Sparks Lawsuit by Church. At issue are prohibitions by Gov. Gavin Newsom and state officials on “in-person religious gatherings” in 30 counties, as well as bans on corporate singing statewide.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Luke Logan missed a 35-yard extra point after Mississippi receiver Elijah Moore was penalized for celebrating a touchdown by crawling and pretending to urinate like a dog, and Mississippi State ended up with a 21-20 victory Thursday night in the 116th Egg Bowl. Ole Miss (4-8, 2-6 Southeastern Conference) pulled within a point with 4 seconds remaining on Matt Corral's 2-yard pass to Moore, but Logan hooked the extra point after Moore cost the Rebels 15 yards. "That's not who we are. We've been a disciplined team all year, and so just disappointed that happened," coach Matt...

Our record Economy would CRASH, just like in 1929, if any of those clowns became President!

**SNIP** Iowans treasure the national attention that shines on them every four years when presidential candidates descend on the state, whose caucuses mark the beginning of an election year. But as virtually every Democratic contender swings through Iowa this weekend to participate in the famed state fair, even some die-hard Democratic activists are getting restless. They're worried the historically massive field isn't shrinking fast enough and the debate stages - plural - are too crowded. The concern isn't limited to Iowa. Recent interviews with dozens of Democrats in other early-voting states registered a fresh anxiety among the most diligent deciders:...