Free Republic

More unsettling than the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Obergefell v. Hodges directing states to recognize same-sex marriage is the reasoning that went into the decision. It would be nice to believe that the men and women who wear black robes and occupy seats on America's highest court are serious people -- or that they are wise. But going forth, unfortunately, it should be clear that the real thought leaders of America are in Hollywood, and that our Supreme Court, save three conservatives, is just a ship that rides the wave of public opinion. A good deal of the court's...

Should salaried employees have to log their hours? President Obama thinks so. He just proposed regulations requiring salaried employees making less than $50,000 a year to track their work time. Most news coverage has not highlighted this aspect of the new overtime regulations. Unfortunately, they will reduce salaried workers’ flexibility — without raising pay. Federal law guarantees hourly workers overtime pay for working more than 40 hours a week. The regulations currently exempt many salaried employees. Executive, administrative, and professional employees frequently get paid for the work that is done, not the hours that are logged. These employees get a...

With a liberal court, we get the rulings we deserve. Or, in other words, elections have consequences. It's safe to say that without the election of Barack Obama, we would not have had to endure liberal Supreme Court justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor sitting in judgement of marriage. (Both appointed by Obama in his first term, and both voting to legally redefine marriage.) Of course, the election of a republican, especially the likes of John McCain, gives no guarantee of conservative appointments to the Supreme Court. However, justices Roberts and Alito, appointed by George W. Bush, both voted against...

<p>Homosexuals can attend a Catholic family congress in Philadelphia during Pope Francis' U.S. visit this year but won't be allowed to use it to attack Church teachings, the city's archbishop said on Thursday.</p> <p>"We don't want to provide a platform at the meeting for people to lobby for positions contrary to the life of our Church," said Archbishop Charles Chaput. The Catholic Church teaches homosexuality is not sinful but homosexual acts are.</p>

Editor's Note: A version of this column first appeared in 2004.I was swapping dad stories with a friend and laughing hard. Then my friend got quiet and said something that hit me hard. "God, I wish my father was still alive." I'm one of the luckiest sons on earth because my dad is healthy, and I pray he stays so for a good long while. But I wake in the middle of the night sometimes — for a few moments, I don't remember where I am in time. Am I 20? 30? 70? And I worry. I worry about my...

Aristotle once said, “Men start revolutionary changes for reasons connected with their private lives.” Is there a link to Karl Marx and his own abysmal failure as a family man and the all-out assault on the traditional family today? Yes, says New York Times bestselling author, Dr. Paul Kengor, in his brand new book called Takedown: From Communists to Progressives, How the Left Has Sabotaged Family and Marriage. If you saw Dinesh D’Souza’s first movie on Obama, then you have seen a cameo of Paul Kengor. He was discussing his book The Communist, which documents that President Obama as a...

I wrote my latest book, "Dear Father, Dear Son: Two Lives, Eight Hours," to personalize the biggest issue facing the country -- the growing number of fatherless homes, particularly in the black community, where over 70 percent of children are born to unwed mothers. Being raised without a father is hard. One is more likely to drop out, be unemployed or end up in jail. But it's not a death sentence. The book is about what my father faced and overcame: Only child; irresponsible, illiterate mother; never met his biological father; born in Jim Crow South; kicked out of his...

"Cardinal: "What Sister Lucia told me: Final Confrontation between the Lord and Satan will be over Family and Marriage."" A Cardinal tells: Sister Lucia wrote me… On Feburary 16, 2008, Cardinal Carlo Caffara (Archbishop of Bologna), after a Mass celebrated at the tomb of St. Pio of Pietrelcina, granted an interview to Tele Radio Padre Pio, which was subsequently reported in the monthly magazine “Voce di Padre Pio” March, 2008 . Here are some significant excerpts. Q. Your Eminence, recently in Corriere della Sera you said that you had always had a great devotion to Padre Pio. Please tell us...

There was a time not too long ago that parents could let their kids walk to school alone, take a solo bike ride around the neighborhood, and, once reasonably old enough, stay home alone. Those days are gone, and gone with a vengeance. This type of parenting, which was once considered the norm, is now getting kids taken away from their guardians, and parents locked up and treated as negligent criminals. The latest story comes out of Florida, where an 11-year-old boy, whose parents were delayed in traffic, hung out in his own backyard for an hour and a half...

The breakdown of the family has been one of the most dispiriting changes over the past 50 years, and conservatives have rightly sought to combat it at almost every turn. That being said, in their efforts to encourage family formation and to keep families strong, conservatives have often focused on laws rather than economic policies. But it’s not an either-or. It’s a both-and. Arthur Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute, has rightly argued that human flourishing requires more than simply economic flourishing. He has pointed out that the conclusion from the majority of studies that have been done on...

FR CANTEEN MISSION STATEMENT Showing support and boosting the morale of our military and our allied military and the family members of the above.Honoring those who have served before. FReeper Canteen Just Hangin' Cafe Come on in, we're open Need a place just to hang out? This is it. We serve coffee, tea,or maybe a tall brew? Topped off with great conversation and music. No worries in the FReeper Canteen Just Hangin' Cafe. Grab a glass and start a conversation. You never know who you might meet in the Cafe. Glad you could join us. Enjoy your stay. Our...

May 29, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In the wake of revelations that Josh Duggar allegedly sexually molested five minor girls – four of them his younger sisters – when in his early teens, many familiar with the evangelical Christian Duggar family and their ten-season-long TLC hit reality show “19 Kids and Counting” are inevitably putting themselves in Jim Bob and Michelle’s shoes and asking: What would I do if faced with a similar situation? What should I do? Many parents and families are ill-equipped to respond when faced with such circumstances, leaving them frightened and uncertain about their responsibilities both to...

I appreciate it when leftists get off script, dispatch with the propagandist talking points and say what’s really on their minds. “Progressives” hate natural marriage. And they hate the natural family. But they do so love big government. In an article for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation titled, “Is having a loving family an unfair advantage?” Joe Gelonesi, host of “The Philosopher’s Zone” radio program, calls the natural mom-dad biological family a “weathered institution ever more in need of a rationale for existing.” While he admits that it may be premature to “abolish the family and put children into care of...

WASHINGTON -- Before he passed away recently, John M. Templeton, the distinguished physician and philanthropist, questioned: "Should we tolerate a public educational system with its entrenched self-interest which virtually every inner-city parent knows is destroying any hope or possibility of their children achieving meaningful opportunity in a 21st-century economy?" A growing number of parents say no. Now critics of the public school system are coming forward with alternatives to it, and many of them are parents, often parents of disadvantaged students, usually parents that fear for the fate of their children in schools in the inner city. Stephen Moore, an...

As the calendar slips toward the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer, there’s a storm cloud hanging over America that will release its thunder in late June. That’s when the U.S. Supreme Court is widely expected to declare a constitutional right to same-sex “marriage.” We are at a moral precipice. America’s Founders could scarcely have imagined a handful of people in black robes becoming so powerful and arrogant that they could defy natural law with the stroke of a pen. The question is: Will they do it? The drive to radically redefine marriage didn’t happen overnight. It’s the rotten fruit...

It's been a troubling semester, but not because many of my students passively and/or actively resist the knowledge that I try to pass on to them.  It's been frustrating not merely because government regulations and mandates have made me into a secretary filling out a myriad of online forms.  It's been disheartening not only because leftist propaganda surrounds me and I am but one small voice in the academic desert trying to teach true American core values. No, it's been a sad and sometimes heartbreaking semester because many college students' assorted troubles are related to the fact that they are...

A new report released by the Family Research Council’s Marriage and Religion Research Institute (MARRI) says that only 16 percent of 15- to 17-year-old teens in Baltimore have been raised in an intact, married family. The report, released Wednesday and compiled in light of the recent Baltimore riots, cites Census Bureau statistics showing that, in terms of family units, Baltimore is “one of the five least intact counties of America,” along with Cuyahoga, Ohio; the Bronx, N.Y.; the District of Columbia; and Shelby County, Tenn. The report cites studies indicating that children who grow up in intact, married families are...

BOSTON (AP) -- For the first time in court, Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev dropped his blank, impassive demeanor and cried as his sobbing aunt briefly took the stand Monday in his federal death penalty trial. Tsarnaev, 21, wiped tears from his eyes quickly and fidgeted in his chair as his mother's sister sobbed uncontrollably. He had maintained a disinterested expression since his trial began in January. The aunt, Patimat Suleimanova, cried as she sat down about 10 feet from Tsarnaev. The tears began falling before she began to testify, and she was only able to answer questions about her...

Police Chief Tim Styka identified the dead as 33-year-old Jonathan Stoffel, of Neenah, his 11-year-old daughter, Olivia, and Adam Bentdahl, 31, of Appleton. Stoffel's wife, Erin, was shot three times but survived and is hospitalized in critical condition. The chief said the 27-year-old gunman, Sergio Valencia del Toro, fatally shot himself after randomly shooting the others near a pavilion on the bridge Sunday. Styka said del Toro and his fiancee had recently called off their wedding and had argued before the shooting.

The Family in God’s Plan The Commandment to Honor One’s Father and Mother Reflects the Family’s Role in Church and Society By: Most Reverend William E. Lori, Archbishop of BaltimoreArticle Tools The fourth commandment instructs us to “Honor your father and your mother.” How many times as youngsters did we confess that we had disobeyed our parents in ways great and small? Yet we can understand this commandment more fully by considering how it encompasses God’s entire plan for marriage and family life.The fourth commandment instructs us to “Honor your father and your mother.” How many times as youngsters...