Free Republic

Under another entry here a commentator asked: Can absolution be granted where no purpose of amendment exists? If granted, with no purpose of amendment, does it even ‘take’? No. And No.In normal circumstances, when there isn’t danger or some other odd condition, in order to absolve a penitent who is sui compos (conscious, able to make a confession, etc.) the priest must be reasonably certain that the penitent 1) has actually confessed a sin (even a previously confessed and absolved sin is enough), 2) has, in that moment, at least imperfect sorrow for sin (attrition – fear of punishment), and...

US counterintelligence task force established by the CIA Director John Brennan in 2016 to investigate a recording was apparently passed by “one of the Baltic States” alleging Russian funding of President-elect Donald Trump's presidential campaign… The task force included the FBI, the Treasury and Justice Departments, the CIA, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the National Security Agency (NSA), “SNIPP” A “dossier” created by an opposition research project funded by anti-Trump Republicans teamed with Clinton Democrats circulated by Sen. John McCain of Arizona Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada and later presented by the intelligence community, to Trump,...

Last week, Lindsay Lohan shocked her millions of followers and fans when she deleted all her posts on Instagram and Twitter. This weekend, the “Mean Girls” star is sparking rumors that she may have already converted to Islam due to her Arabic greeting on the photo-sharing platform. Though Lohan has wiped her Instagram account clean, she noticeably left “Alaikum saam” as her shoutout to her followers on the platform. The Arabic words are the usual response to “As-salam alaikum,” which means “Peace be unto you” — the standard salutation used by people of the Nation of Islam. Due to the...

“A number of miracle stories turn out in the light of form criticism to be projections of the experiences of Easter back into the earthly life of Jesus, or anticipatory representations of the exalted Christ. Among these epiphany stories we should probably include the stilling of the storm, the transfiguration, Jesus’ walking on the lake, the feeding of the four (or five) thousand and the miraculous draught of fishes. The clear purpose of the stories of the raising from the dead of Jairus’s daughter, the widow’s son at Naim and Lazarus is to present Jesus as Lord over life and...

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has made it crystal clear: If Republicans repeal ObamaCare without immediately implementing a plan to replace it, Democrats will not help them out of a pickle down the road. Senate Democratic sources familiar with Schumer’s thinking say he will not engage in any negotiations to pass a watered-down version of the landmark healthcare reform law if Republicans unilaterally force its repeal first under special budgetary rules. “That’s not a close call. They’re doing something so extraordinary reckless. You cannot reward hostage taking,” a Democratic senator said. The Democratic senator said Republicans have refused to...

Full title.........................Packing up! Anti-Trump protesters plan demonstration outside the New York City home of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner to 'Help Ivanka Move' ..................Anti-Trump protesters are so excited for Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner moved to Washington D.C. that they are going to 'help' her move. The activists behind the Dear Ivanka Instagram have recently announced their plans to stage a protest outside the future First Daughter and her husband's home that they have dubbed 'Help Ivanka Move' on Monday, January 16. The Halt Action Group have put out a call online for protesters to come to the...

By the time students enter college, they want to focus on their specific area of study or proposed career. Educators should dictate what’s best for the curriculum, not legislators.

WARREN, Michigan — Sen. Bernie Sanders, while acknowledging that some Americans "don't like" the health care law and continuing to call for universal coverage, pledged before a crowd of thousands to fight Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. "There are differences of opinion about the Affordable Care Act — some like it, some don't like it. But very few Americans believe that we should repeal the ACA without a replacement program to make it better," Sanders, I-Vermont, said at a rally Sunday, one of several dozen gatherings across the country aimed at ginning up public support for the...

Incoming first lady Melania Trump has yet to publicly name her senior White House staff, raising questions about whether the positions have been filled amid uncertainty about the Trump family’s role in the administration. The lack of announcements from the president-elect’s transition team is notable given that Melania Trump is not moving to Washington, D.C., right away and speculation abounds about the role Ivanka Trump will play in her father’s White House. There has been no chief of staff, communications director or social secretary named for the East Wing. And the chief of staff and social secretary positions are particularly...

Just hours after John Brennan lashed out at the president-elect in an interview with Fox News, Donald Trump has responded by suggesting that the outgoing CIA Director may have been behind the publication last week of unverified and salacious intelligence connecting the president-elect to Russia.... Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump .@FoxNews "Outgoing CIA Chief, John Brennan, blasts Pres-Elect Trump on Russia threat. Does not fully understand." Oh really, couldn't do... 6:16 PM - 15 Jan 2017 4,518 Retweets 16,258 likes Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump much worse - just look at Syria (red line), Crimea, Ukraine and the build-up of...

Viet Cong veteran Vo Ban Tam remembers the first time he crossed paths with John Kerry on the banks on the Bay Hap river, a day that ended in bloodshed. Almost a half-century later, the now 70-year-old Mekong Delta shrimp farmer locked eyes with the US Secretary of State on Saturday and they warmly grasped hands in mutual respect. Kerry returned to the Vietnam waterway at the end of a visit to the Communist nation, less than a week before he was to leave office, searching for the spot where he won a Silver Star for bravery as a young...

In a practice that’s almost become routine, President-elect Donald Trump has fired back at NBC and “Saturday Night Live” after this weekend’s episode that parodied his Wednesday press conference. “.@NBCNews is bad but Saturday Night Live is the worst of NBC. Not funny, cast is terrible, always a complete hit job. Really bad television!,” Trump tweeted on Sunday afternoon. Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump. @NBCNews is bad but Saturday Night Live is the worst of NBC. Not funny, cast is terrible, always a complete hit job. Really bad television! 4:46 PM - 15 Jan 2017 - 10,381 Retweets 41,807 likes...

Frankfurt am Main (AFP) - President-elect Donald Trump, in remarks published on Sunday, described NATO as "obsolete" and suggested a deal with Russia that would reduce nuclear arsenals and ease sanctions on Moscow. He also hailed Britain's exit from the EU and backed a speedy trade deal with the UK, but condemned as "catastrophic" Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to open Germany's doors to a flood of refugees. "I said a long time ago that NATO had problems," Trump told The Times of London and Bild, Germany's biggest-selling daily. "Number one, it was obsolete, because it was designed many, many years...

Tokyo (AFP) - Every day is the same. He wakes at 6:45 am, eats breakfast 20 minutes later and reports for work at eight o'clock sharp. But this isn't your typical Japanese salaryman. This man is in his 80s and he is in prison -- a cage of structure and certainty that he is hesitant to ever leave. "I don't know what kind of life I should lead after I get out. I'll be worried about my health and financial situation once I leave," the inmate told AFP on condition of anonymity from Tokyo's Fuchu Prison, where he is serving...

In his first interview with foreign media, President-elect Donald Trump said he planned to offer a "fair" trade deal to Britain "within weeks" of his inauguration. In a joint interview published Sunday in The Times of London and Germany's Bild, Trump said that he planned to make Britain's departure from the European Union "a great thing" and that he would meet with British Prime Minister Theresa May shortly after he is sworn in Friday. "We're gonna work very hard to get it done quickly and done properly," he told the papers, adding: "I love the UK." The comments come as...

In 2010, days after returning from Selma, Ala., Mike Pence went on a GOP website and gushed about “my friend” John Lewis. Then a congressman from Indiana's 6th District, Pence said he was “honored” to walk beside a man personally recruited by Martin Luther King Jr. He talked about how an officer had bashed a younger Lewis in the head during the fight for voting rights. Lewis, he said, was “an integral part of the American story in our nation's unrelenting march toward a more perfect union.” Now Vice President-elect Pence is one of many leaders picking sides between Lewis...

US President-elect Donald Trump has said German Chancellor Angela Merkel made "one very catastrophic mistake" by admitting more than 1m migrants. He said Mrs Merkel was by far Europe's most important leader, and that the EU had become a vehicle for Germany. Mr Trump was giving details of his foreign policy goals in an interview with British and German newspapers. He told The Times and Bild his priority was to create fairer trade deals for the US and have strong borders. He said the US had to address its trade deficit with the rest of the world, particularly with China....

Eric Holder and Loretta E. Lynch have been perhaps the most flagrant partisans ever to hold the office of attorney general. Year after year, they rubber stamped whatever the Obama administration wanted to do, legally or otherwise. ... The attorney general, who heads the Justice Department, takes an oath to enforce federal laws and uphold the Constitution. We’re at the tail end of an administration in which the highest legal office in the land was weaponized along racial lines and openly attacked laws that the progressive left disliked, such as the federal Defense of Marriage Act and state voter ID...

President-elect Donald Trump said in a weekend interview that he is nearing completion of a plan to replace President Obama’s signature health-care law with the goal of “insurance for everybody,” while also vowing to force drug companies to negotiate directly with the government on prices in Medicare and Medicaid. Trump declined to reveal specifics in the telephone interview late Saturday with The Washington Post, but any proposals from the incoming president would almost certainly dominate the Republican effort to overhaul federal health policy as he prepares to work with his party’s congressional majorities. Trump’s plan is likely to face questions...

Lady Liberty will be depicted as a black women on a coin -- the first time in the nation’s history Lady Liberty has not been a white woman -- the U.S. Treasury Department announced on Thursday. The coin, worth about $100 face value, is part of a commemorative series to honor the 225th anniversary of the U.S. Mint. “The 2017 American Liberty 225th Anniversary Gold Coin is the first in a series of 24-karat gold coins that will feature designs which depict an allegorical Liberty in a variety of contemporary forms-including designs representing Asian-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, and Indian-Americans among others-to reflect...