Free Republic

Heather Artrip, an out-of-work single mother of two sons, is facing down the prospect of a high-risk pregnancy in the middle of a pandemic. The 30-year-old Austin woman lost her job as a server two weeks ago when city officials shuttered bars and restaurant dining rooms to limit the spread of the new coronavirus. She wants to look for a new job, but doctors have deemed her pregnancy high risk. “I have a grade two prolapse. My uterus could fall out,” Artrip said. “I'd have to be bedridden for the majority of my pregnancy.” Artrip's plans to end the pregnancy...

James Comey has gone from supremely smug to increasingly concerned as the long list of alleged crimes he committed during his tenure as FBI Director continues to grow. Perhaps most notable are his repeated leaks of classified information in what was a clearly politically-motivated attempt to do harm to a then-newly elected president. Watch the video below as Mr. Comey learned on live television of the legal noose tightening around his Deep State neck… Comey’s team is said to be considering shortening/ canceling his book tour and limiting all future media appearances. His publisher apparently wants the tour to continue,...

IT is one of the central political puzzles of our time: Parts of the country that depend on the safety-net programs supported by Democrats are increasingly voting for Republicans who favor shredding that net. From Our Advertisers In his successful bid for the Senate in 2010, the libertarian Rand Paul railed against “intergenerational welfare” and said that “the culture of dependency on government destroys people’s spirits,” yet racked up winning margins in eastern Kentucky, a former Democratic stronghold that is heavily dependent on public benefits. Last year, Paul R. LePage, the fiercely anti-welfare Republican governor of Maine, was re-elected despite...

From all of last week's headlines saying that the Pope wants to forget this nonsense about abortion and gays, you'd imagine that Germaine Greer had been elected to run the Catholic Church. Actually what the Pope was saying was that he wants the Church to talk more about what it's for than what it's against. But that doesn't mean it won't still be against those things that contradict its teachings and traditions. Just ask Greg Reynolds of Melbourne – a priest who appears to have been both defrocked and excommunicated because of his radical views on women clergy and gay...

Melbourne priest Greg Reynolds has not only been defrocked, but also excommunicated by the Catholic Church over his support for women priests and homosexuals. The order came directly from Vatican under the authority of Pope Francis, who just recently said that the Church focuses too much on gays and abortion. Fr. Greg Reynolds, inclusive congregation, and dog Mr Reynolds resigned as a parish priest in 2011, and has founded Inclusive Catholics in 2012. He said that although he was expecting to be laicised or defrocked for his views on ordination of women and homosexuality, he didn't know he was to...

Because of who he is and what he’s done, Jerry Sandusky could be in particular danger of sexual assault when he is sent off to prison this week. With thousands of inmates raped behind bars in the U.S. each year, statistics compiled by the federal government show that sex offenders are roughly two to four times more likely than other inmates to fall victim. Sandusky, the 68-year-old former Penn State assistant football coach, will be sentenced Tuesday for sexually abusing 10 boys in a scandal that rocked the university and brought down coach Joe Paterno. Sandusky is likely to spend...

Gingrich Calls Political System Stupid, Vows To Stay In The Race By NBC's Alex Moe PALATINE, Ill. – Hours after finishing a disappointing second place in both the Alabama and Mississippi primaries, Newt Gingrich marched his campaign onward, vowing he is “staying in the race.” Campaigning in Illinois on Wednesday, Gingrich made little mention of the two contests he had hoped to win in the South. He instead focused his speeches on the big ideas that drive his campaign, explaining that many people just don’t understand what needs to be done to help change the country. “The thing I find...

PALATINE, Ill.--Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich on late Wednesday expressed frustration with both the news media and the Republican establishment for failing to understand his “large ideas” for transforming American politics. As calls for Gingrich to bow out of the race grew louder after his second-place finishes in Mississippi and Alabama--two states he said he had a chance to win--the candidate seemed to be in low spirits and offered a grumpy analysis of the state of the GOP primary to a crowd that gathered for a Lincoln Day dinner in this northwestern suburb of Chicago. “The thing I find most disheartening...

THE VILLAGES — Each detail of Florida Gov. Rick Scott's first budget signing was painstakingly considered. From the location ­— a conservative retirement community in Central Florida — to the mini-red "veto" Sharpie pens Scott handed out as keepsakes. From the music that would announce Scott's arrival to the stage, to, it turns out, who could be there. At the urging of Scott officials, Sumter County sheriff's deputies escorted a group of more than a dozen Democrats — mainly retirees who live in The Villages — from Thursday's event at the town square. The reason? The $69 billion state budget...

Former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell and his wife of 40 years are calling it quits. In an e-mail sent out to friends on Monday, Rendell and wife, Judge Marjorie "Midge" Rendell, said that they will be "living separately.” The couple recently moved out of the governor's mansion in Harrisburg. "Dear friends, we wanted to let you know that we have decided to embark upon the next phase of our lives by living separately," the e-mail said, according to philly.com. "This has been a difficult decision, but we both believe it is the right thing to do. Our parting is amicable,...

Capital One Alabama vs. Michigan State Orlando, Fla. Florida Citrus Bowl Jan. 1 1 p.m. ESPN Gator Bowl Mississippi State vs. Michigan Jacksonville, Fla. Municipal Stadium Jan. 1 1:30 p.m. ESPN2 Rose Bowl Game presented by VIZIO Wisconsin vs. TCU Pasadena, Calif. Rose Bowl Jan. 1 5 p.m. ESPN Tostitos Fiesta Connecticut vs. Oklahoma Glendale, Ariz. U. of Phoenix Stadium Jan. 1 8:30 p.m. ESPN/ESPN3D Discover Orange Stanford vs. Virginia Tech Miami Sun Life Stadium Jan. 3 8:30 p.m. ESPN Allstate Sugar Ohio State vs. Arkansas New Orleans Louisiana Superdome Jan. 4 8:30 p.m. ESPN GoDaddy.com Middle Tennessee vs. Miami...

So you state that President Obama is depressed?  How did you come by this information?  From a direct source still working within the White House on a daily basis.  As I had stated previously, tensions at the White House have reached a critical stage.  The infighting among staff is off the charts.  More recently, the president has increasingly withdrawn emotionally from the day to day demands of his job – he has become what was described to me as “empty”.  Empty?  That is correct – empty.  ....   But still…(interrupting) I would also add what you well know.  I have...

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel was photographed as he appeared to shed a tear at the Kotel (Western Wall) Thursday (see photos below). President Shimon Peres hosted Emanuel with his wife Amy and their children, Zach (13), Ilana (11) and Leah (10) in the Presidential Residence Thursday. Peres gave presents to Emanuel's wife and children and taught Zach, who is in Israel to celebrate his Bar Mitzvah, a lesson about the weekly Torah portion.

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There is the dread of leaving the house that morning. People might stare, or worse, yell insults. Prayers are more intense, visits with family longer. Mosques become a refuge. Eight years after 9/11, many U.S. Muslims still struggle through the anniversary of the attacks. Yes, the sting has lessened. For the younger generation of Muslims, the tragedy can even seem like a distant memory. "Time marches on," said Souha Azmeh Al-Samkari, a 22-year-old student at the University of Dayton in Ohio. Yet, many American Muslims say Sept. 11 will never be routine, no matter how many anniversaries have passed.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- One of the teenagers responsible for beating a Holly Hill homeless man to death asked a judge to reduce his 22-year prison sentence Monday. Warren Messner and three other teens pled guilty to killing the man because they were bored, but Messner said prison is too hard. Messner is a big boy. He was 15 at the time he was brought into the woods to see the homeless man his friends had been beating. Even at that young age, he outweighed the victim, Michael Roberts, by 200 pounds when he jumped on his chest, crushing his...

The black crepe is out at [the Daily] Kos...I don't think I've ever seen such a look of misery and dejection on the face of my daughter as I just did a moment ago. She just couldn't understand why the President would be going to Iraq when so many things are wrong in this country. "Doesn’t Mr. Bush care about us anymore?" she asked pitifully. I sat down with her on the sofa and (as calmly as I could) tried to explain to her why the President seems to be abandoning his country. "Honey, I think his boss, Mr. Rove,...

SEATTLE - And now a word about the officiating in Super Bowl XL. Two words actually. It stunk. The interference call, a push-off on Darrell Jackson that cost the Seahawks a first-quarter touchdown, was hideous. If former Dallas Cowboy Michael Irvin hadn't been allowed to use his arm to get separation the innocent way Jackson did in Sunday's loss to Pittsburgh, Irvin would have caught maybe 20 balls in his career. And the fourth-quarter holding call on right tackle Sean Locklear that nullified a spectacular catch by tight end Jerramy Stevens at the Pittsburgh 1-yard line was equally egregious.

This is the space where I get to crow about the frightening precision of my Super Bowl prediction. Where I get to remind everyone that I guaranteed the Steelers would win the title after they beat the Colts. That they were the only championship-caliber team among the final four. That they would dismantle the Broncos in Denver and waylay whomever the NFC sent at them.snip I've never felt so empty being right. I feel dirty. I wish I'd been wrong. The Steelers did not deserve to win this game. They were not the better team. O'Connor was right. Seattle was...

A Louisiana shopping mall is featuring an unusual train exhibit, The Pelican Has learned. The above picture depicts the St. Bernard parish pump station, derisively referred to here as "Broussard Pump Station," named after the parish president Aaron Broussard. We are told that the photo is indeed authentic. As indicated by press reports, parish president Aaron Broussard took quite some flak for evacuating the station. Some people felt that if the stations had not been evacuated soon, there would not have been so much destruction... The mall display in the photo above seems to indirectly poke fun at Broussard.