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The Vatican has fired a who came out gay on the eve of a major meeting of church leaders to discuss homosexu senior priests. In a statement on Saturday, a spokesman for Pope Francis said Polish priest Krzysztof Charamsa's action had been "very serious and irresponsible". Krzysztof will be replaced "by a theologian" in the Vatican.

In the American liberal compass, the needle is always pointing to places like Denmark. Everything they most fervently hope for here has already happened there. So: Why does no one seem particularly interested in visiting Denmark? (“Honey, on our European trip, I want to see Tuscany, Paris, Berlin and . . . Jutland!”) Visitors say Danes are joyless to be around. Denmark suffers from high rates of alcoholism. In its use of antidepressants it ranks fourth in the world. (Its fellow Nordics the Icelanders are in front by a wide margin.) Some 5% of Danish men have had sex with...

THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 26, 2014 Statement from the President and the First Lady on Kwanzaa Michelle and I extend our warmest wishes to those celebrating Kwanzaa this holiday season. Today begins a celebration highlighting the rich African American heritage and culture through the seven principles of Kwanzaa—unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith. During this season, families come together to reflect on blessings of the past year and look forward to the promises in the year ahead. As we remain committed to building a country that...

Over the years I've seen other articles like this before... Conservatives don’t normally pay much attention to fancy psychobabble, but this is a worthy exception. Some nerdlinger social scientists in America have discovered that people with Right-wing views tend to be happier than those with Left-wing views – even if the party that best represents them is out of power...Why are conservatives happier? The research found that Right-wingers tend not to blame their problems on other people – so they refuse to be depressed by victimhood. This makes a lot of sense. When you accept that you are your own master, then...

Young Iranians Arrested For Dancing In 'Happy' Pharrell Video Crime: Happiness

-excerpt- On September 9, as reported by the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (ICHRI), seven young Iranians went on trial. Their supposed crime? Producing a dance video of the Pharrell Williams’s pop hit “Happy” and uploading it to YouTube. You might think Iran’s rulers would be pleased at expressions of felicity by their citizens. In Tehran, however, cheerful enthusiasm outside a narrow religious context is illegal. -excerpt- ...(they) were detained on May 19 of this year and held for two days at the Vozara Complex of the Tehran Morality Police, until they posted bail of $10,000-$16,600 each. "While...

So I’m at an observance of Constitution Day last week and in a contest, testing our knowledge of the constitution. Now, I’m gonna win and I’m one question away. The moderator asks: “Besides Constitution Day, what other day is celebrated concurrently? “. “My Birthday!” I yelled. “Wrong Answer” replied the Mod. “You call my Mom on Wednesday and tell her that!” I protested. The Mod says “Anyone know the answer?”. So I’m looking around and . . . Nothing. No one answered. I turned to the gal behind me and whispered “Citizenship Day” and she yelled out the same. Afterward,...

Interesting observation about happy people live. Me? I pretty much could care less what most people say about me. It's a Great Life if you Don't Weaken. Don't Take Life so Seriously, No is Getting Out of This Thing Alive. To be sure, there are serious moments in the course kf a day but, so what? Deal with it and be greatful for the rest of the day and find gratitude for the smallest of things. Some people see rain and go "Ugh! ". I see rain and imagine greener pastures, flower and if it's winter I definitely think "Rain?...

New York is America's most unhappy region, a new study has found - while Richmond tops the table as American's most contented place. The study from the U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research relies on a large survey that asks respondents about their satisfaction with life.

http://www.nerdist.com/vepisode/weird-al-yankovic-gets-tacky-with-pharrells-happy/ It was only a matter of time.

We wonder if Pharrell Williams has gotten wind of this... "Weird Al" Yankovic debuted the music video for his first single from his upcoming album, Mandatory Fun, on Monday, and, in anticipation of the record's release, the 54-year-old celeb will be sharing eight new videos over the next eight days. The first of which is a parody of the Pharrell's hit jam "Happy" and has been cleverly renamed "Tacky" in an effort to poke fun at the tackiest folks in our society with a little help from Aisha Tyler, Margaret Cho, Eric Stonestreet, Kristen Schaal and Jack Black, who are...

On Wednesday, President Barack said that he was "happy to consider" deploying National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to help local law enforcement officials stem the tide of illegal immigrant children flooding across it. After meeting with Texas Governor Rick Perry in Dallas, Texas, Obama said sending National Guard troops, though, would be a "temporary solution." Obama said if Republicans wanted some National Guard troops to be sent to the border as a condition for approving the $3.7 billion in funding Obama requested, he "would be happy to consider it."

A North Carolina woman died Thursday in a car wreck, apparently moments after posting on Facebook how much she liked "the happy song." Courney Ann Sanford, 32, of Clemmons, N.C. was driving on Business Route 85 in High Point, N.C., when her car crossed the median and hit a truck, the Winston-Salem Journal reported. Sanford's car ran off the road and caught fire. She died at the scene. The truck also went off the road and hit a tree but its driver was unhurt. Sanford had been wearing a seat belt but it wasn't on properly, police said. Investigators ruled...

Best Full Title: FR Exclusive / Breaking: April 1st Good News!: The Woman Named "Gay" Was Found and Rescued; Her Name Will No Longer Be Used To Promote Sexual Perversion! How many years, how many generations has it been, that the woman named "Gay" was kidnapped? And all of these years that she has been held hostage, and has had her name abused, and used as a euphemism, and as a political and sexual buzzword / codeword for sex perversion. The exact details of her rescue have not yet been released. Gay will naturally need some time for recovery and...

WHAT percent of American men are gay? This question is notoriously difficult to answer. Historical estimates range from about 2 percent to 10 percent. But somewhere in the exabytes of data that human beings create every day are answers to even the most challenging questions. Using surveys, social networks, pornographic searches and dating sites, I recently studied evidence on the number of gay men. The data used in this analysis is available in highly aggregated form only and can be downloaded from publicly accessible sites. While none of these data sources are ideal, they combine to tell a consistent story....

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Americans may insist on the right to pursue happiness, but Venezuela now has a formal government agency in charge of enforcing it. President Nicolas Maduro says the new Vice Ministry of Supreme Social Happiness will coordinate all the "mission" programs created by the late President Hugo Chavez to alleviate poverty. Wags had a field day Friday, waxing sarcastic on Twitter about how happy they felt less than 24 hours after the announcement.

A man apparently speeding in Norfolk, Va., accidentally shot himself in the groin after he waved a firearm at bystanders who told him to slow down, police told FoxNews.com Rhonney Jacobs was speeding through the neighborhood when he was flagged down by two men, Norfolk police said. He made a U-turn and confronted one of the men, police said. There was a struggle and Jacobs pulled out his .45-caliber gun and it accidentally discharged into his groin, police said. One witness told WTKR.com that he pulled his gun out “trying to shoot one of them but he shot himself." She...

I apologize in advance for the vanity. After perusing the various news sites this morning, I can find very little good, inspirational, or optimistic news. I'm starving for such stories. So, I offer this thread for other members of FRee Republic to post links to "good news" stories for early August. The regular news stories (from children being strangled by pythons in their sleep to Yemenese being offed by our unmanned drones and Americans being forced to flee the country in terror) is so darned depressing that I hunger for stories of kindness and hope. Let's see how long we...

The founding fathers knew that a government that was all powerful and not under the authority of its people would be a tyrannical government. They threw one off and formed a new country with all the rights and benefits they believed a free people should have and agreed to what the rules were.

Despite the obstacles to liberty which we face today, I choose happiness and joy. Of these three - life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness - the pursuit of happiness is the one which can never be stolen from me. I choose to hold tightly to life and liberty, all the while being strengthened by the pursuit of happiness. This pursuit, no matter the opposition, is available directly from God and within myself, and can never be taken from me without my consent.