Free Republic

While the world was watching the Academy Awards ceremony, the people of Mosul were watching a different show. They were horrified to see ISIS members burn the Mosul public library. Among the many thousands of books it housed, more than 8,000 rare old books and manuscripts were burned.

Iraqi officials in the northern city of Mosul said Saturday that militants with the Islamic State group have begun demolishing the ancient archaeological site of Hatra in northern Iraq in a push to rid its territory of symbols it says promote idolatry. An official with the ministry of tourism and antiquities' archaeological division in Mosul told The Associated Press that multiple residents living near Hatra heard two large explosions this morning, then reported seeing bulldozers begin demolishing the site. He spoke anonymously for fear of reprisal.

....A pair of Army captains who'd planned their wedding Sunday on the 16th tee box at the Kaneohe Klipper Golf Course had to relocate the ceremony on short notice because President Obama booked a tee time to play through, according to sources familiar with the episode.... In the end, the couple was happily married nearby on the lawn of the base commander’s home overlooking the tee. They also received a congratulatory call from [Hussein]. "Listen, congratulations on your wedding," Obama said in the call. "I feel terrible. Nobody told us and had they mentioned they were going to have a...

The last few days have proved to be a crashing reality for the idol worshipers who have left a trail of drool as they have followed Barack Obama since he announced he was the reincarnation of Abraham Lincoln and offered his brilliance for the world’s top job. He announced that he was smarter than his intelligence advisers, no matter what their speciality might be. Politics? Yes, I’m smarter he told us. National Security? Ditto. Economics? Yup, I’m the smartest guy in the room. He told the New Yorker Magazine he was the absolute champion of the smart people who surround...

....The graduates at Doral Academy came to their feet when "Mr. 305" himself, Pitbull, took a break from the world stage to take center stage at the ceremony. While Pitbull didn’t go to college, and hardly made it out of high school, he still soared to success. The popular artist tops many music charts and is internationally known. Pitbull, real name Armando Christian Perez, received an honorary degree from Doral College, which shared a ceremony with Doral Academy. “Because of everybody up here, I am you, you are me,” Pitbull said. “I understand your struggle and I understand what you...

They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger. They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not. Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee. And when the Lord saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters.(Deuteronomy 32:16-19)Man was made to worship, we were created with a need to adore something greater than we are, to open up our souls, and...

....The rapper and reality star were ,married by Pastor Rich Wilkerson Jr. from North Miami, according to the Sun-Sentinel.... Wilkerson runs a ministry out of Trinity Church which has locations in Miami Gardens and North Miami. He calls the couple his friends. On Sunday, CBS4 spoke with some of the church’s members about the big news.... “I want to say congratulations and they’re a role model to the church, “ said Andrew Dumas who also attends the church.

Singer-actress Jennifer Lopez will be given the Vanguard Award at the GLAAD Media Awards in April. The honour is given to "artists and media professionals who, through their work, have increased the visibility and understanding of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community". One of the reasons Lopez was chosen for the award by the gay rights organisation GLAAD is her role as producer on "The Fosters", a TV series about a lesbian couple raising a family of biological, adopted and foster children.

CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH SECOND EDITION PART ONE THE PROFESSION OF FAITH SECTION TWO THE PROFESSION OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH CHAPTER THREE I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT ARTICLE 9 "I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH" Paragraph 6. Mary - Mother of Christ, Mother of the Church 963 Since the Virgin Mary's role in the mystery of Christ and the Spirit has been treated, it is fitting now to consider her place in the mystery of the Church. "The Virgin Mary . . . is acknowledged and honored as being truly the Mother of God and of the...

Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision. (Psalm 2:1-4)Psalm one and Psalm two go together. Psalm one looks at an individual over against the world he lives in. The Individual is separated inwardly, he thinks differently because he has a different source, the Law of God. He meditates on...

...But if this people should be brought into bondage, as the Israelites were in ancient days, Zion must be led forth out of bondage, as Israel was at the first. In order to do this God has prophesied that he will raise up a man like unto Moses, who shall lead his people therefrom. Whether that man is now in existence, or whether it is someone yet to be born; or whether it is our present leader who has led us forth into these valleys of the mountains, whether God will grant unto us the great blessing to have his...

Definition of SmithEmphasisMas? Over-the-top renditions of Christmas themes applied to Joseph Smith! The most obvious example was the BYU Joseph Smith Nativity scene in 2005 Joseph Smith Nativity [A Virtual 'Merry Smithmas' 'Greeting Card' circa 2005] Here are three additional examples of SmithEmphasisMas: DATE 'SMITHEMPHASISMAS' WHO SAID/PUBLISHED IT/LINK 2011 (Dec. 18) (1) Headline by church-owned newspaper mentions "co-celebrants'" December birthdays: Joseph Smith gets same billing as Jesus Christ: Deseret News (owned by the Mormon Church): Two December Births to celebrate: Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith; (2) The article starts off so that you would think the writer is talking about...

Contrary to the impression that he has so assiduously worked to cultivate, Barack Obama is not a king of either the divine-right or impotent-figurehead variety, but instead the president of a republic. Having grown up in a country that still boasts the last vestiges of a once-potent monarchy, I am reasonably familiar with the role that incumbent sovereigns play in the world’s most popular constitutional arrangement, and aware too of what it takes for a modern potentate to be regarded as a success. In modern Britain, the Queen’s likeability and personality help her no end, whereas her political talent and...

At a White House Diwali celebration on Tuesday afternoon, First Lady Michelle Obama said that she and her husband wanted to celebrate all the faith and culture traditions “that make us who we are as Americans.” Even as she was saying this, there were 200 plaintiffs pursuing 77 lawsuits asking federal courts to protect their First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion from a regulation issued by the administration under Obamacare that requires health insurance plans to cover sterilizations, contraceptives and abortion inducing drugs and devices. …

The Gospel reading this weekend is the Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man from the Gospel according to Saint Luke. I suspect that throughout the world many homilies and sermons ended up saying something to the effect of, “Rich people bad. Poor people good.” This like all heresies is the result of a gross simplification of the Gospel, a deliberate misreading of the message of Jesus, and an imposition of a foreign ideology. The sin of the unnamed rich man was not that he had wealth. Rather it was that he did not pay attention to Moses and the...

In his 1835 book Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville noted that for Americans, "equality is their idol." Among such a democratic people, he reports, "there are certain epochs at which the passion they entertain for it swells to the height of fury." They prefer equality in freedom, he noted, but if "they cannot obtain that, they still call for equality in slavery." Even barbarism, servitude, and poverty are acceptable offerings to "this irresistible passion." The same-sex marriage debate might have focused on the purpose of sexuality, or the nature of homosexuality, or the etiology of marriage. Instead, the dominant...

It’s the curse—or maybe the blessing—of living in a place that doesn’t make or break presidential elections: The president and those running for the job just don’t come around very often. So President Barack Obama’s two-day bus tour this week through swaths of western and central New York, a state that reliably backs Democrats in presidential elections, set the region abuzz. … Bus tours have long been standard fare in presidential campaigns. But Obama has occasionally hit the open road outside of the campaign cycles, boarding his black Secret Service-approved motor coach in search of an escape from the insular...

I've got what I believe to be a spiritual insight into the "victimidation" phenomenon which is behind a lot of modern American political liberals' folly. I share it for discussion and refinement. I'd like to go into what I believe is the history here. Liberalism as we know it today began as a movement within Christianity to pay special attention to its call (and the call of the Judaic faith that led up to it) to raise up people who were down and out. At that time there was still a robust faith in God, and that He would glorify...

Dan Sandini at Daylight Disinfectant recently posted video from the “May Day” protests in Portland, Oregon, and one of them alarmingly shows a group of young individuals dancing around a golden calf. Sandini’s description of the video reads: Warning: Video can not be “unseen.” ”It is useless to resist it,” or so go the lyrics. On May 1 2013, Occupy Portland dragged an idol of a Golden Bull down to O’Bryant Square. Dressed as Egyptian belly dancers they then proceeded to sing and dance about it. You just can’t make this stuff up folks. About three minutes 34 seconds of...

(They)… changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.(Romans 1:25)The apostle Paul described the degeneration of Ancient society in a way that is prophetic of what we see happening in the decay of our own formerly Judeo Christian world. The downward trajectory goes like this, * The refusal to acknowledge God as creator…(Secularism) For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is...