Free Republic

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Police say 16 Antifa protesters were arrested on Saturday after clashing with officers in Center City. Organizers of the protest rallied dozens to meet at City Hall to oppose the Blue Lives Matter March being held at the Liberty Bell. Philadelphia police say 75 Antifa protesters were in the area of Broad and Arch Streets around 11:30 a.m. During the protest, police say, several members started to fight with police. Sixteen Antifa protesters were arrested. Nine of those protesters were issued citations and seven were charged with disorderly conduct. The Blue Lives Matter March, organized by a...

Philadelphia police made several arrests as police clashed with Antifa protesters at a "Blue Lives Matter" rally on Saturday. Hundreds of protesters and counter-protesters gathered downtown to demonstrate support for law enforcement and against police brutality, stop-and-frisk policies and mass incarceration, according to CBS News. Pictures and video posted to social media showed police arresting several people and overturned bikes blocking a street while onlookers chanted slogans. Some chanted "Who do you serve?" and other messages directed at officers making the arrests, which began after some demonstrators were blocking traffic. It was unclear from the video how many people were...

Video shows animals being slaughtered in an open lot in Southwest Philadelphia. Neighbors say it took place in front of young children. Many neighbors tell FOX 29 this is just plain bizarre but they also say they had no idea it was going to take place beforehand. Viral social media video shows sheep slaughtered in an apparent religious sacrifice on a lot at 55th and Paschall in Southwest Philadelphia.

A Hazleton man died Thursday morning after trying to drive his motorcycle between two trucks on Route 61 in Schuylkill County, according to state police. Rafael Mateo, 29, was pronounced dead at the scene of the 7:53 a.m. crash in New Castle Township, police said. According to state police, Mateo was driving south in the passing lane when he approached a tractor trailer that was passing a dump truck. He shifted into the right lane, cutting off another motorist, before heading toward the center line and trying to "thread the needle" between the tractor trailer and dump truck, police said....

President Trump has a lot on the line in this fall’s midterm elections. So, he’s decided to turn for help to the man he trusts the most — himself. In the remaining 75 days until ballots are counted, Trump will invest at least 40 of them in campaigning for Republicans in both House and Senate races. He will spend additional time on fundraising for candidates and the party .And you may have noticed, this president is quite comfortable with spur-of-the-moment decisions. So, it’s likely he will add even more campaign days along the way as races and political needs develop....

A new poll released today from Commonwealth Leaders Fund, a conservative group, shows GOP candidates for Governor and Senate are each trailing by less than 3 points to the Democratic incumbents. The polling showed Gov. Tom Wolf leading Scott Wagner 46% to 43%. Sen. Bob Casey leads Rep. Lou Barletta 47% to 45%. The polling, conducted via IVR interviews from Aug. 13-15, included 2,012 likely voters. It’s CLF’s first ever publicly-released poll and it predicts a more conservative electorate than public polls. 53% of those polled identified as either very conservative or somewhat conservative. Only20% polled considered themselves very liberal...

A Roman Catholic high school will shed the name of Washington's archbishop after he was cited in a sweeping grand jury report as having allowed priests accused of sexually abusing children to be reassigned or reinstated while he was Pittsburgh's bishop. The Diocese of Pittsburgh said Wednesday that Washington Cardinal Donald Wuerl made the request to remove his name from Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School, and that school and diocese officials accepted it. The sign out front of the suburban Pittsburgh school was discovered vandalized Monday, with red spray paint obscuring Wuerl's name as some conservative Catholics called for...

Authorities are looking for a Pennsylvania man who is believed to have threatened to shoot President Trump. CNN reported that the U.S. Marshals Service is offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Shawn Richard Christy, who was least seen Sunday night driving a stolen car in Cumberland, Md. The FBI said in a warrant on its website that Christy allegedly made threats against Trump and Northampton County (Pa.) District Attorney John Morganelli on Facebook between June 3 and 12. In the posts, Christy, 27, claimed he is going to shoot Trump in the head and use...

Rep. Lou Barletta (R-PA) and Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) are in a dead heat in the Pennsylvania Senate race, according to a poll released on Monday. A Commonwealth Leaders Fund poll found that Sen. Bob Casey leads by only two points, with Casey at 47 percent, Barletta at 45 percent, and 6.1 percent of Pennsylvania voters undecided. The poll had a 3.6-point margin of error, making the Pennsylvania Senate race a virtual toss-up. The poll also weighted heavily for a significant Democrat turnout that outpaces previous “Democratic waves.” The poll suggested that Democrats will have a five-point turnout advantage over...

Thousands of guns recovered in Maryland last year traced back to 49 states, but the largest portion of firearms was bought locally… ATF agents were able to determine where nearly 5,900 of the firearms were sold, according to a new analysis by the ATF, which publishes the findings of its gun traces each year. Some 47 percent were bought in Maryland, the ATF found. Virginia ranked second and supplied about 15 percent of the guns. Pennsylvania came third with nearly 7 percent. Some firearms were bought as far away as Texas (101 guns) and California (46 guns).

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro is accusing Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the archbishop of Washington, of "not telling the truth" as he attempts to defend himself amid criticism and calls for his resignation over the release of a Pennsylvania grand jury report detailing allegations of widespread predatory behavior by more than 300 priests against more than 1,000 children. The report is critical of Wuerl, who served as the bishop of Pittsburgh for 18 years, from 1988 to 2006, and describes him as one of the bishops who helped cover up abusive behavior. The cardinal's defenders note that he acted to discipline...

After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 2015, Esperanza Franco headed south to the border, where she worked defending immigrants who faced deportation. Now she’s the one who might get kicked out of the country. Franco says her former employer’s mishandling of a work-visa application — she came here from Spain five years ago — has put her in danger of losing her legal status. She fears that in less than a month, she could end up being jailed in the same Arizona detention center where she has gone to visit clients. “I’m going through so much...

Pennsylvania is one of America's most populous when it comes to gun owners. Almost one in three Pennsylvanians owns a firearm, or 31 percent. So where do they learn how to shoot? (Legally, that is.) I'm under-educated on the gun-owner side of our national debate. So, I persuaded my editors to let me take a gun class, learn gun safety, and understand more about gun culture. --SNIP-- First, the thrill. It's for real. I'm holding a firearm in my hands. It's horrifying and exhilarating at the same time. Later, I'll shoot "dry-fire" — essentially, blanks — and then real bullets....

... “In 2016, a lot of us assumed we knew what would happen in Michigan and Wisconsin,” Salvanto told The Post. “It was a great lesson for us pollsters: Even if you think you know what will happen, poll it if you can.” Blame it on the Blue Wall. Since 1992, in six consecutive presidential elections, a solid block of 18 states had voted for the Democrat every single time. They would have given Clinton 239 electoral votes — 89 percent of the way to victory — if she had held on to them all.Few bothered to ask those states’...

A Cardinal who was heavily criticised for his handling of child sexual abuse allegations in the Pennsylvania grand jury report has withdrawn from a scheduled appearance at the World Meeting of Families in Dublin next week, it has been confirmed. Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the Archbishop of Washington, was due to give the keynote address, entitled “The Welfare of the Family is Decisive for the Future of the World,” in the RDS at 2.30pm next Wednesday. No reason has been provided for the decision. Cardinal Wuerl was bishop of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1988 to 2006. The report of the grand jury,...

Two days after Cardinal Donald Wuerl sat down exclusively with FOX 5, others are coming forward to refute the Archbishop of Washington’s claims that he did everything he could to protect victims within the Catholic Church.A growing number of people are also calling for Wuerl’s resignation, including David Lorenz, the Maryland director for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP.Lorenz tells FOX 5 he had direct and one-on-one interactions with Cardinal Wuerl, who was not receptive to Lorenz’s requests on handling victims in the church.“I wanted him to develop a support group that survivors could come...

Cardinal Raymond Burke has called for “open recognition” of the Catholic church’s homosexual culture in light of recent revelations of sexual abuse. “I believe that there needs to be an open recognition that we have a very grave problem of a homosexual culture in the Church,” Burke said in an interview Thursday, “especially among the clergy and the hierarchy, that needs to be addressed honestly and efficaciously.” he former head of the church’s equivalent of the Supreme Court said it was already “clear after the studies following the 2002 sexual abuse crisis that most of the acts of abuse were...

Philadelphia mom, 44, who shelled out $25k on Arabian themed prom send-off for her son complete with camel and three dates is charged with fraud for collecting disability and faces 140 years behind bars Saudia Shuler, the mom who dropped $25,000 for her son's 2017 prom, has been charged with wire fraud, theft of government funds and Social Security fraud The 44-year-old was said to have applied for benefits, describing herself as disabled and unable to work, but continued working She even operated a restaurant called Country Cookin' - costing the government close to $37,000 Shuler could face a staggering...

A shooting at a Walmart north of Philadelphia wounded at least five people including a customer Tuesday evening before the shooter apparently escaped from the store -- and crashed a getaway car into a police SUV, reports said. Police took the 30-year-old suspect, who has not been named publicly, into custody after workers at the Walmart in Cheltenham Township identified him, Fox 29 News Philadelphia reported. A woman was also reportedly apprehended. The incident initially erupted as a disagreement at the register, during which a man took a firearm from a woman and opened fire, police told the outlet. A...

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — The long-awaited state grand jury report into sexual abuse in six Pennsylvania dioceses, including Pittsburgh and Greensburg, has finally been released. The 884-page document, two years in the making, shines a light into the dark corners of these dioceses going back seven decades, exposing the predators and the efforts of their bishops to protect them. “Today, the most comprehensive report on child sexual abuse within the church ever produced in our country was released,” Attorney General Josh Shapiro said. “Pennsylvanians can finally learn the extent of sexual abuse in these dioceses. For the first time, we can...