Free Republic

For a long time, I sympathized with Dr. Anthony Fauci. There he was, trying to deal with a pandemic caused by a virus no one knew much about. Sure, he was often wrong about pandemic-related matters, but so were plenty of others, on both sides of the political spectrum and in between, who opined on these subjects. Everyone was shooting in the dark.But at some point — possibly because of all the attacks on him, some of which were over-the-top, possibly because of a personality flaw or maybe old age — Fauci decided to cast himself as Mr. Science. Criticize...

It’s a lie. Donald Trump is flat-out lying to manipulate the political process. I get sick and tired of people on the Left who refuse to believe things that contradict what they prefer to believe, but it is no better when people on the Right do it. It is as plain as day what happens when a people accept as true statements they have every reason to know are lies, and accept them because it suits their political preferences. The corruption of the truth is far worse than ordinary corruption, like stealing money. It makes it impossible to know what...

[Catholic Caucus] The day Anne Soupa decided, "I want to become a bishop"Just a family joke at first, a French female theologian's declared candidacy to become Archbishop of Lyon has furthered debate on the place of women in Church governance Anne Soupa remembers it like yesterday.It was May 21, 2020, a day promised to be happy and peaceful. The first coronavirus lockdown in France had been lifted only ten days earlier and the spring weather on this Ascension Thursday made the Alpine peaks shine.In the family chalet, everyone was getting restless.Anne, who is a Catholic theologian, and her husband had...

Biden's Catholicism is all about healing. Now, he will lead a suffering AmericaPitching himself as president, Joe Biden promised to heal America’s hurting soul. His experiences with suffering and healing were well known, including the deaths of his wife and two of his children, his struggle against stuttering and many political losses. On a bigger stage than ever, Biden was trying to show the country how he did it.Through his Catholic faith.“For me, faith, it’s all about hope and purpose and strength,” Biden said in a February video ad. “Faith sees best in the dark.”“Weeping may endure for the night,...

Joe Biden rarely misses Sunday Mass. So it was notable when the President-elect didn't attend church on November 29, the first Sunday of Advent and the beginning of the season when Roman Catholics like Biden prepare for Christmas. Biden's absence was understandable, since just a day earlier he had broken his foot. But the following weekend, Biden was back at his home parish in Wilmington, Delaware -- St. Joseph on the Brandywine -- for Saturday's vigil Mass. He was there again on Tuesday on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, a holy day of obligation. That's a level of devotion...

Lou Holtz, former football coach at Notre Dame University, spoke at the Republican National Convention, slamming Democratic nominee Joe Biden as “Catholic in name only” for his radical pro-abortion policies. Notre Dame, a supposedly Roman Catholic university run by catholic clergy, issued a statement disavowing his comments. Over the years, Notre Dame has shown a decidedly radical liberal bent in its teachings and actions. It has taken an agnostic view toward abortion, despite the Vatican’s strong condemnation of the practice. And when it comes to political candidates who profess their catholicism, who run on their religious affiliation and support unfettered...

Texas Republican congressional candidate Pierce Bush, 33, said Wednesday that he believes President Trump deserves to be re-elected. Appearing on "Fox & Friends" with host Steve Doocy, Bush -- who is a grandson of the late President George H.W. Bush -- said that upon examination of the president's results during his first term in office, they're "hard to argue with." He cited record-low unemployment numbers and the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) Trade Deal. "He is a strong fighter for our nation's national security," said Bush. "You know, the most important job a president has is keeping our country safe and...

Democratic Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard took a shot at the media’s usage of the Democratic debates and compared the debates to “political reality TV” on a podcast Tuesday. Gabbard spoke on “The Joe Rogan Experience” with Rogan and Jocko Willink and discussed attacks from her fellow candidates, her presidential bid and her thoughts on the debates. Gabbard called the format of the debates “frustrating.” “You’ve got 60 to 75 seconds to get your point across, to talk about hey here’s my position, here’s what I would do with North Korea, here’s what I would deal with immigration reform in 60...

U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is currently polling at just 1% nationally among the Democrats running for president, although she fares better in Iowa and New Hampshire. Who exactly are her supporters? According to the opinion poll analyses website FiveThirtyEight, the Hawaii Democrat’s support is “predominantly male” (her support among women is “practically nonexistent”) and “likely to fall outside of traditional Democratic circles.”

Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) said on Monday that he will oppose President Trump's attorney general nominee, becoming the first Republican to come out as a "no" vote on William Barr. Paul told Politico that he had concerns about Barr's record on privacy, calling him a "chief advocate for warrantless surveillance of U.S. citizens." A spokesman for Paul didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. The libertarian-leaning GOP senator had previously raised concerns about Barr, who also served as attorney general to President George H.W. Bush.

Alex Jones — conspiracy peddler, provocateur, Texan — lost easy access to millions upon millions of followers this week when Facebook, YouTube, Apple and Spotify banned much, if not all, of his content. Thinking of Jones’ empire — built on provably false theories and predictably wrong predictions — I wondered about those followers. Who are they? What brings them to his pages? Why do they seem willing to accept fantasy and conjecture over fact? Do they, as Jones’ lawyers have suggested, think the whole thing is a bit for entertainment? Would they tell me — a longtime member of the...

Next week, the House of Representatives will consider two immigration bills, a bill sponsored by Rep. Goodlatte, R-Va., that conservatives are supporting and a more moderate bill with a special pathway to U.S. citizenship for DACA recipients. In an interview on “Fox & Friends” Friday morning, President Donald Trump announced that he will not sign a moderate immigration bill. @realDonaldTrump: "I need a bill that gives this country tremendous boarder security... we have to have the wall, if we don't have the wall there is no bill" Conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus have pressured House leadership for months to...

The Resurgent’s Erick Erickson, a conservative commentator who has been a Fox News contributor since 2013, is leaving the network, according to Politico’s Jake Sherman. Erickson, whose commentary has been both fiercely critical of President Donald Trump and his opponents, said he is leaving the network because his views don’t fit into any typical box. “After five years at Fox News, I am leaving the network,” he said, per Sherman. “I am neither needed nor useful to the network and they know it too. I neither fit solidly as a Republican Trump supporter nor as an anti-Trump Democrat.”

“It wasn’t [Obama]!” Boehner said. “It was modern-day media, and social media, that kept pushing people further right and further left. People started to figure out … they could choose where to get their news. And so what do people do? They choose places they agree with, reinforcing the divide,” added Boehner, who resigned in September 2015 after facing several GOP protests. He then raised his accusing finger at Levin and said: “I always liked Rush [Limbaugh]. When I went to Palm Beach I would always meet with Rush and we’d go play golf. But you know, who was that...

Former House Speaker John Boehner said at an event in Las Vegas last week that he used to “sneak into” the White House to see President Barack Obama to avoid scrutiny from the “right-wing press”.... ...Boehner also lamented the fact that Americans now have too many choices of where to go for news and information. “What’s making everything even worse today is because we have so much news, people get to choose where they get their news,” Boehner said, according to the Post. “It used to be we had three big TV networks, five big newspapers, and five big radio...

Rob Bell, who once enraged many evangelicals by questioning hell, is back with a new book that could re-ignite their fury. It’s called “What is the Bible?” And in it, Bell calls for the Bible to be read “literately, not literally.” In these polarized times, many Christians who claim to read the Bible are really more interested in cherry-picking verses to support their political or social points of view, Bell said in a phone interview with the Observer. “You can pull a verse out to justify almost anything,” he said. “When you read the Bible fuller and in-depth, suddenly you...

Catholics always have been taught that the word “catholic” means “universal,” and arguably one of the hallmarks of the Catholic faith is that it recognizes no borders; while there are many rites, of which the Latin is the predominant one, there is one truth, one set of dogma.As I consider this from St. Louis, Missouri, where my family and I have lived since 2000, I realize something must be askew with Catholic pretenders who crave independence over universality.Several years ago, to greatly simplify a convoluted local history, a St. Louis parish operated for the benefit of the local Polish...

Bishop-elect John Dolan of San Diego is an LGBT supporter. WARNING: This article begins with a graphic clinical statement because all Catholics need to know the truth and not remain oblivious to it. June 22, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) — When a man and a woman make love, the miracles of conception and birth are possible. When two men attempt the same, the most glorious result possible is an anal discharge of semen mixed with fecal matter.   Despite the striking contrast, high-profile Catholics in positions of power and influence in North America are no longer able to detect any important difference...

According to the Chicago Tribune (not fake news), more than 700 people have been killed in gang and drug-related violence this year in Chicago. So who's Father Michael Pfleger choosing to ridicule? President-elect Donald Trump. From Father Pfleger's public Facebook page: (see comment below to view the page) (He's also accused the police of genocide, mind you.) You see, in Father Pfleger's world, it's play a little basketball with gang members who have turned the streets of Chicago into a war zone, but blame the GOP and police for America's problems. And the Trump street sign – horror of horrors!...

Washington D.C., Nov 25, 2016 / 03:59 am (CNA).- When the Democratic Party makes its decisions about leadership at the end of the month, the House Minority Leader will be a self-proclaimed “pro-choice Catholic.”Both current House minority leader, Nancy Pelosi, and her challenger, Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), profess to be Catholic but also support legalized abortion.Pelosi (D-Calif.) has been a member of the U.S. House of Representatives since 1987. She has consistently advocated in favor of legal abortion, and has earned high ratings from pro-abortion groups including Planned Parenthood Action Fund and NARAL.Ryan represents a district in Northeast Ohio...