Free Republic

President Trump on Tuesday referred to the Middle East as a "nasty part of the world" while addressing both the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and human rights abuses committed by Iran. The president made the comments amid a growing crisis over the death of Khashoggi, who Turkish officials say was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul earlier in October. His death has led to calls from Republicans and Democrats alike to condemn Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and end a $110 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia. While discussing the crisis on Tuesday, he pointed to...

A lot has been said this year about North Korea and their highly eccentric leader. In the western world, government officials and mainstream media talking heads portray Kim Jong-un as a maniac who is one snap decision away from starting a nuclear war. However, the official narrative leaves out a few crucial details. Kim Jong-un is described as things like “crazy” or “unstable.” This creates the illusion that he is unstable enough to put his country in harm’s way with an unprovoked attack on the US. Kim is not as crazy as the media makes him appear, however. He learned...

Donald Trump’s secretary of defense James ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis appeared to suggest those who did not serve the country were “a bunch of pussies.” The retired general made the comments at an address to members of the U.S. Navy last week, and the transcript was made available by the Defense Department website this week. “You will have some of the best days of your life and some of the worst days of your life in the U.S. Navy, you know what I mean?" Mattis told the troops at an event at Naval Base Kitsap, Washington. "That means you're living. That...

After the Council, the Church thought it was better to 'redeem' abuser priests than to punish them, Mgr Peter Smith claimedA priest has told the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry that the reforms of the Second Vatican Council contributed to the Church’s “horrible mistakes” on abuse. According to the Scottish Catholic Observer, Mgr Peter Smith, former chancellor of Glasgow archdiocese, said the Church accepted conventional wisdom of the 1970s that it was “better to repair the [abuser], to fix them or to redeem them”, than punish them. In that era priests accused of abuse could be sent for therapy rather than...

Even if a guy has a great personality, a woman looking for a date still hopes he's at least a little cute, a new study suggests. Researchers asked young women (ages 15 to 29) to choose potential dates from a series of photographs and descriptions, while the women's mothers (ages 37 to 61) were asked to select possible boyfriends for their daughters using the same information. Results showed that a man's looks influenced both groups of women more strongly than his personality profile. This held true even if a man's profile was filled with highly desirable personal qualities, such as...

o casualties were reported but tents at the Moria camp were "almost entirely destroyed" and containers that provide additional accommodation and health and registration services were damaged, a police source in Athens told AFP. Firefighters were prevented from tackling the fire early on by clashes that broke out among rival nationalities in the camp, reports said. "Between 3,000 and 4,000 migrants fled the camp of Moria," to the surrounding fields, with strong winds fanning the flames also hampering firefighters, the police source said. However, once inside the firefighters were able to bring the fire under control. Police were sent out...

When Donald Trump first announced that he was running for president, many political pundits, myself included, wrote his campaign off as a joke. While it may have been a publicity stunt to begin with, it is becoming more and more apparent that Trump intends to become the GOP nominee and face off against Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton. Conventional wisdom was that Jeb Bush would represent the establishment GOP in the primaries, and that Ted Cruz would be the Tea Party insurgent candidate. Just a few months ago, many writers lamented the “dynasty” of the Bush and Clinton families in...

Barry Bennett, who resigned his role as campaign manager for Ben Carson a few days ago, just issued a somewhat shocking prediction on the winner of the Republican Party presidential primary - and it's not his former employer, but rather Donald Trump. "All you've got to do is compare the size of everyone's rallies," he said, during an interview with CNN. "Donald Trump is having ten-, twelve-thousand people show up at rallies, and a lot of these guys are having five or six people show up at their events in Iowa." Bennett said "unless something cataclysmic happens," Trump was slated...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Clashes erupted between Indian and Pakistani security forces Friday, killing at least 11 civilians and wounding scores more on both sides of the contested border, according to officials in both countries. The exchange of fire came as Indian and Pakistani leaders continued to bicker over the prospect of face-to-face talks. Indian and Pakistani security forces traded small-arms, artillery and mortar fire, which damaged several villages on both sides of the border, officials said. The violence coincided with the kickoff of India’s golden jubilee celebration marking the 1965 war between India and Pakistan, one of three major conflicts...

A Greek exit from the euro would see the euro collapse like a house of cards, Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis warned in comments that triggered a spat with Italy. "Greece's exit from the euro is not something that is part of our plans, simply because we believe it is like building a house of cards. If you take out the Greek card, the others will collapse," Varoufakis said in an interview with Italian public broadcaster RAI that was aired on Sunday. Varoufakis also incurred the wrath of his Italian counterpart Pier Carlo Padoan by comparing Italy's problem with its large...

It was one thing when the faithful at St. Edward the Confessor Catholic Church raised $8 million to build a new parish center, then heard little more about the project. But when they learned that the Diocese of Orange planned a $3 million renovation of their beloved church sanctuary – perched on a Dana Point precipice and designed to showcase spectacular ocean views – dozens balked, saying it seemed like a colossal waste of money. They sent a letter to church leadership, trying to stop the renovations and demanded a detailed accounting of money raised and spent. They didn’t get...

Four former members of the Teamsters union were in federal court today to answer charges they behaved like common thugs, committing multiple acts of extortion and racketeering while beating up and bullying their own brotherhood who tried to question their methods and leadership, authorities said. John Perry, 60, of Woburn, Joseph “Jo Jo” Burhoe, 44, of Braintree, James “Jimmy the Bull” Deamicis, 49, of Quincy, and Thomas Flaherty, 49, of Braintree, have been charged in a 30-count indictment with racketeering, conspiracy to extort, extortion, attempted extortion, mail fraud, prohibition against certain persons holding office and theft of government money. The...

All is well. Reuters declared that the US is experiencing a "sturdy recovery". This is the same phony news agency that used to choke on the word recovery when used by the Bush administration. Now some American conservatives are warning that Republicans are being dangerously bearish on the economy, that there are signs, weak as they are, that a recovery is underway. Matthew Continetti of the conservative Weekly Standard states that the "natural tendency of economies is to grow". Nevertheless, he seriously questions whether Obama would now benefit from a recovery. Unfortunately most conservatives remain as uninformed about economic history...

<p>Doctors may soon have a prescription for health that even children will like: more playtime. European and international health experts say a new study makes the most convincing case yet for the benefits of children being active. They say the research may lead to new guidelines saying youngsters between ages 5 and 16 need to be active up to 1 1/2 hours a day.</p>