Free Republic

An Illinois priest accused of patronizing a male prostitute in the 1990s and misappropriating $40,000 from a parish in 2005 has now been removed from ministry for “immoral activity” that could involve child pornography, and allegedly misspending up to $29,000 at two parishes he oversaw in the Diocese of Springfield. The Rev. Barry J. Harmon, 55, was removed from ministry and will apply for laicization, Springfield Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki wrote in a Sept. 5 email to diocesan priests. Harmon has agreed to make restitution for the misappropriated funds, Paprocki said. Harmon was initially placed on medical leave Oct. 30,...

**SNIP** And when President Obama tried to take credit for the current economic boom— "When you hear how great the economy's doing right now, let's just remember when this recovery started"— you could practically hear the heads exploding across Trump Country. Yes, it's true that the economy recovered after the Great Recession. What Trump supporters know but people who rarely consume conservative media content likely don't, is that the economic recovery under Barack Obama was the slowest since World War II. Obama's recovery was so awful that in August of 2011— two years after the $1 trillion stimulus was passed—the...

Illinois Democrat Sean Casten, who found himself in hot water after his belief that President Donald Trump has a "tremendous amount in common" with terrorist Osama bin Laden was revealed by the Free Beacon, has also told voters there are "Nazis" in the White House. Casten, the Democratic nominee in Illinois' sixth district, responded to the initial report by saying he regretted the bin Laden comparison and his words were "poorly chosen," but new video obtained by the Free Beacon indicates this type of language was used often by him on the campaign trail. On two separate instances during his...

At the woman’s feet, detectives found a curled strand of telephone wire. Draped over her right hand was a different kind of wire: thin and brown. The same brown wire was wrapped around each armrest of a wooden chair next to her. The following day, July 24, a pathologist in the Cook County medical examiner’s office noticed something else that had been obscured by rotting skin: a thin gag tied around the corpse’s mouth. Thanks to some still-visible tattoos, detectives soon identified this unfortunate woman: Tiara Groves, a 20-year-old from Austin. She was last seen walking alone in the wee...

Chicago’s rampant crime rate left Rahm Emanuel with little choice but to withdraw from the city’s mayoral race. One recent poll showed that only 31% would vote for his re-election, and 62% wanted to vote for someone else.

I believe that we should end abortion on demand, and at every opportunity I have translated this belief into votes in the House of Representatives. I am opposed to the use of federal funds to pay for elective abortions, and will continue to support amendments to prohibit the funding of elective abortions for federal employees and Medicaid recipients. Also, notwithstanding the result in Webster, I continue to believe that the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade should be reversed. Richard J. Durbin Member of Congress

Rahm Emanuel ducked out of City Hall alone on Tuesday, his usual security detail walking slightly ahead of him. Across the street at Daley Plaza, 150 activists had gathered to celebrate his vanquishing at an event called "Celebrate the End of Rahm Emanuel’s Reign of Terror". . . The calm, matter-of-fact way that Rahm's rule is coming to an ending is shocking—particularly so if you compare it to the mood of eight years ago. In 2010, Obama's former chief of staff returned to Chicago from the White House poised as a conquering hero ready to assume his rightful place on...

"Sixteen years ago, a colleague of mine on the staff of Senator Hatch discovered that Democrat staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee had negligently placed their documents on our shared server without protections. I admit that we exploited this to learn simple things about their plans to attack Bush judicial nominees at the behest of the left wing interest groups. I also did pursuant to my duty under the Code of Ethics for Government Service. The documents also revealed unlawful and unethical conduct by Senators. I reported this unethical conduct to the Senate Ethics Committee but never heard back. Among...

Yet another aging Democrat put on a nationally-televised demonstration of the need for Congressional term limits. Watch as 78-year-old Patrick Leahy makes reference to an email that doesn’t actually exist. Senator Leahy attempts to insinuate the email in question was stolen from him SIXTEEN YEARS AGO as nearly everyone in the hearing room, including Leahy’s own staff, look on increasingly confused as to what the senator is talking about. For his part, Judge Kavanaugh shows a remarkable degree of patience while also managing to entrap the senator in his own confused lie. From there a badly beaten Leahy makes a...

The Democratic makeover is in full swing. **SNIP** Those tensions could come to a head if Pelosi struggles to be elected speaker. Even if she wins, it could be difficult for her to preside over a more liberal caucus. James, of the Collective PAC, said that's exactly the idea. "The status quo to me doesn't mean getting rid of people who have been in office a long time," she said. "It means you can't have the same mentality, you can't have the same goals. You can't have the same playbook. You've got to switch it up."

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Tuesday announcement that he won’t seek a third term throws a big unknown into the city’s efforts to score Amazon’s second headquarters, which would be the crowning achievement in a line of corporate wins under his leadership. The city is one of 20 locations in the running for what Amazon has dubbed HQ2, which will bring up to 50,000 high-paying new jobs to the chosen North American location. Amazon has said it will pick a location by year’s end. Emanuel has been hands-on in trying to woo Amazon to Chicago, touting the city’s growing tech sector,...

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Tuesday morning he's not running for reelection. Emanuel made the announcement at a City Hall press conference that he will not seek reelection at the end of his term. The mayoral election will take place on Feb. 26, 2019. "Today, the time has come to make another tough choice. As much as I love this job, and will always love this city and its residents, I've decided not to seek reelection," he said.

It looks like Judge Bruce will not be hearing any more cases in the near future. Back in October of 2013 Judge Bruce was appointed by Barack Obama to the federal court. Judge Bruce was set to hear two of the most extreme profile cases in the region. Before he was in the federal court, he was an assistant US Attorney in the Central District. As an Obama-Appointed federal judge, he has finally been removed from his position. Recently, the judge admitted to being involved with illegal activity with the cases he had been hearing in the past. It was...

MIAMI BEACH (CBSMiami) — Two Chicago-area priests were charged Monday with Lewd and Lascivious behavior and Indecent Exposure after being caught performing a sexual act inside a car parked on a Miami Beach street. According to Miami Beach Police, 39-year-old Diego Berrio and 30-year-old Edwin Giraldo Cortez were in the front seat of a car performing oral sex. Police got a 911 call about a lewd and lascivious incident taking place in the 1300 block of Ocean Drive. When officers arrived, the police report states, the two were performing sex acts on each other “in full view of the public...

Protesters billing themselves as "anti-violence" will march along the Kennedy Expressway in Chicago to O'Hare airport where they say they plan to shut the facility down. Chicago police have offered the protesters alternatives, but it looks like some kind of confrontation is inevitable. USA Today: Any disruption could cause major headaches for travelers headed home from holiday weekends. Major David Byrd, spokesman for the Illinois State Police, said authorities will not allow the protest to interrupt traffic. Byrd said authorities had offered protesters alternative venues for the march, adding that he hoped no arrests would need to be made. But he...

Illinois State Police on Monday arrested a dozen anti-violence protesters who were trying to march onto the Kennedy Expressway near O’Hare International Airport. Eight men and four women were arrested, given $120 citations for being a “pedestrian on a highway,” and released, according to State Police Major David Byrd. Among those arrested was the Rev. Gregory Livingston, who organized the protest. Livingston and about 60 other protesters were met by dozens of state troopers who lined the Cumberland Avenue entrance ramp to Interstate 90. A trooper on a megaphone repeated: “This is the Illinois State Police. It is against the...

They got him. Just as I feared they would. My nephew Kyle came to live with us this summer after his freshman year of college. Apparently he’s now a deputized member of the cultural-appropriation police.

Barack Obama warned supporters that politicians had “monkeyed around” with elections, during a campaign speech at Kent State University in New Philadelphia, Ohio, on September 3, 2008. Then-Senator Obama (D-IL) said (0:29 in the video below): “I come from Chicago. It’s not as if it’s just Republicans who have monkeyed around with elections in the past. Sometimes Democrats have, too. You know, whenever people are in power, they have this tendency to try to tilt things in their direction.” Obama called for establishing a “voting rights division” within the Department of Justice (DOJ) to combat “voter fraud” and what he...

An Illinois candidate for congress is facing backlash after comparing President Donald Trump to al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden in a recording that was posted to an online news outlet. Sean Casten, who is running for Illinois’ 6th Congressional District, made the comments during the primary in February. The audio was posted on the Washington Free Beacon’s website on Thursday. In the audio clip, Casten can be heard saying, “I don’t mean to sound overly hyperbolic in this. Trump and Osama bin Laden have a tremendous amount in common because they both figured out how to use the bully pulpit...

--(snip)The vast majority of these guns were sold by gun dealers to “straw purchasers,” people who buy guns not for their own use, but to resell on the street to people who cannot legally buy them. Once the straw purchaser sells a gun, that same gun can trade hands dozens of times through additional illegal sales, lending and theft. The state should no longer tolerate these sales. They frustrate the police, of course, but also the more ethical gun store operators who can’t distinguish between a legitimate buyer and a straw purchaser. Senate Bill 337, awaiting action by Gov. Bruce...