Free Republic

At the Italian site Nuova Bussola, we find the observations of Oscar Card. Rodriguez Maradiaga about the possibility of Communion for the divorced and remarried. Impossible? “No!”, says the Cardinal. And if the upcoming Synod rejects the proposal, the Kasperite Solution, hey!… maybe there could be a third synod on the question! And His Eminence seems to be putting a great deal of stock in polls. I’m in my car in a parking lot, so I can’t do the translation at the time of this posting. In tutto il mondo, aggiunge Maradiaga, “i sondaggi dicono che la gente non vuole...

Speaking in Iowa Wednesday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that all her grandparents had immigrated to the United States, a story that conflicts with public census and other records related to her maternal and paternal grandparents. The story of her grandmother specifically immigrating is one Clinton has told before. Clinton’s sole foreign-born grandparent, Hugh Rodham Sr., immigrated as a child. “Her grandparents always spoke about the immigrant experience and, as a result she has always thought of them as immigrants,” a Clinton spokesman told BuzzFeed News. “As has been correctly pointed out, while her grandfather was an immigrant,...

A recent survey suggests that a significant proportion of doctors in the Netherlands are prepared to carry out assisted suicide for people with mental illness.The survey was undertaken in 2011-2012 by Dr. Eva Bolt and colleagues at the EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. They sent questionnaires to 2,269 randomly selected general practitioners (family doctors) and specialists in elderly care, cardiology, respiratory medicine, intensive care, neurology, and internal medicine. Of these, 1,456 completed the survey.Respondents were asked if they had ever helped a patient who was suffering with cancer, another physical disease, a mental illness, dementia,...

Have you heard about the brand new H3N2 dog flu sweeping through Chicago and sickening and killing dogs? It may actually be worse than you think: round-the-clock testing has unveiled that this heretofore unknown canine influenza was originally an avian flu that made a “mammalian adaptation” and has been infecting dogs and cats in Asia since 2007. Now it is here in the epicenter of the U.S. Will it sweep across the country and endanger dogs everywhere? Will this deadly flu become like the bird flu in Asia and the swine flu in England, both of which did transform into...

Speaking in Iowa Wednesday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that all her grandparents had immigrated to the United States, a story that conflicts with public census and other records related to her maternal and paternal grandparents. The story of her grandmother specifically immigrating is one Clinton has told before. Clinton’s sole foreign-born grandparent, Hugh Rodham Sr., immigrated as a child. “Her grandparents always spoke about the immigrant experience and, as a result she has always thought of them as immigrants,” a Clinton spokesman told BuzzFeed News. “As has been correctly pointed out, while her grandfather was an immigrant,...

MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts and Joy Reid noted that Hillary Clinton had undergone a politically convenient evolution on same-sex marriage on Wednesday’s “MSNBC Live.” Roberts pointed out that Clinton’s statement that she hopes the Supreme Court will rule that same-sex marriage is a constitutional right is “a different line” than Hillary’s position in an interview she conducted with NPR last year, where she said, “for me, marriage had always been a matter left to the states…I fully endorse the efforts by activists who work state-by-state,” and that after leaving the Secretary of State’s office she was able to “very quickly announce...

A bill that sets up a regulatory framework in Oklahoma for ridesharing programs such as Uber and Lyft passed the state Senate on Wednesday, but not before a provision protecting gay and transgender passengers from discrimination was removed. The version of the "Oklahoma Transportation Network Company Services Act" that passed the Republican-controlled Senate on a 35-11 vote defines such companies as those that use a digital network or software application to connect passengers and drivers. The House-passed version of the bill included language that prohibited the companies from discriminating against customers based on sexual orientation or gender identity. But Sen....

Could this be the answer to rocket launching terror cells in Gaza? The IDF is set receive a new model of a GPS-guided mortar shell, developed by Israel Military Industries. The weapon is designed to deliver a quick strike against terrorist cells, especially those in the Gaza Strip, and was given the original name "Morty" (Patzmi, a play on the Hebrew acronym for mortar). "Mortar shells were always considered an inaccurate weapon that hit only the target area and not the target itself," a security source told Ynet. "Turning the mortar shell into an accurate weapon with the help of...

Conspiracy theorists are busying themselves with the notion that Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is being somewhat less than truthful about the nature of the injuries he sustained at home during the holiday recess. Shrewd political actor that he is, perhaps Reid was planting a seed when he revealed to CNBC journalist John Harwood recently that his colleague, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), had at one point threatened to beat him up. “It wasn’t long ago he came to me on the Senate floor, and he said, ‘What you just did, I’m going to come to the floor and...

I know what you’re thinking. Didn’t she long ago hop aboard the gay-marriage bandwagon, knowing that it’s now an absolute litmus test for Democrats? Granted, she only formally expressed her support for SSM in 2013, but surely that support encompassed a Supreme Court ruling on equal protection legalizing gay marriage nationwide. The left might tolerate her being a Wall Street crony and a hawk and about 8,000 other things they profess to loathe, but they won’t tolerate her thwarting their “Selma envy” by hedging on gay marriage. They let Obama slide on that in 2008 because it was still...

A Maryland pedestrian bridge frequented by fishermen, dog walkers and families who go there to watch the trains passing below collapsed Wednesday after a Metro contractor’s excavator smashed into the 50- to 60-foot structure. The span was open, but empty, at the time, and nobody was hurt. The actions of the contractor, Skanska, are under review. A large section of the bridge’s concrete base and walkway — which traversed Green Line and MARC train tracks in Prince George’s County — crashed onto a construction vehicle below, leaving the bridge’s mangled chain-link safety fencing hanging awkwardly in the air.

Instead of spending money on a bullet train, California should build desalination plants. We cannot live without water or food. California supplies 70 percent of the food for the country and we have cut off water to the farmers to save the smelt fish. The legislatures are more interested in catering to their money backers than doing what is right for the citizens of California. Which sounds better, water or rain? Anyone with an ounce of common sense and a firm grasp on reality would say water is the only answer. We don’t need a bullet train that starts in...

Senate Republicans, it seems, want nothing to do with Mike Pence on gay rights. In a surprise procedural vote Monday night, the GOP-controlled Senate backed a pitch to give gay married couples equal access to certain entitlements and constitutional protections — suggesting Republicans want stay away from the same-sex drama plaguing the Indiana governor. The chamber gave voice vote approval — without a single conservative objection or request for a roll-call vote — to a motion that would asked budget conferees, currently hashing out a deal with the House, to add language to the deal ensuring “all legally married same-sex...

Because Hillary Clinton is white and no longer young, a strain of political thought holds that she might lack Barack Obama’s inherent appeal to new and minority voters and thus that she won’t be able to ride the Democratic party’s demographic advantages to easy victory in 2016. Writing for the Washington Examiner, Philip Klein ably sketches the nightmare scenario for liberals. “If Hillary's performance among black voters retreats to more typical Democratic levels,” he writes, “it will hinder her efforts in swing states such as Ohio and Florida, where Democrats need to rack up huge margins in urban areas to...

Organizers of a conservative conference in Denver this summer have told a gay Republican group it cannot have a booth at the event. The Western Conservative Summit is scheduled for June in Denver, where thousands of conservative activists will gather to hear Republican presidential hopefuls like Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and former Pennsylvania Sen Rick Santorum speak. The event is organized by The Centennial Institute, a think tank affiliated with Colorado Christian University. On Wednesday, the president of the Centennial Institute, John Andrews, said his group had returned a $250 registration fee that the Log Cabin Republicans had sent in...

Father Patrick Reardon, pastor of All Saints Antiochian Orthodox Church in Chicago, has just released the following statement: "Because the State of Illinois, through its legislature and governor’s office, have now re-defined marriage, marriage licenses issued by agencies of the State of Illinois will no longer be required (or signed) for weddings here at All Saints in Chicago. Those seeking marriage in this parish will be counseled on the point. Father Pat"

Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen told members of Congress Wednesday that taxpayers who call the IRS seeking help on their taxes this year face an average wait time of half an hour, and only about 40 percent of calls are actually answered. The situation, which Koskinen admitted is “abysmal,” is partly due to the agency’s forced role in implementing President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care and Patient Protection Act (ACA), or Obamacare, he explained. “At this point, when you get through—if you get through—it on average would have taken you about 28 to 30 minutes,” Koskinen told members of the...

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel is pleased at a compromise deal on Iran achieved between the United States Congress and the administration of President Barack Obama, Israeli Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz said on Wednesday. In what was seen as a setback for Obama, the U.S. president agreed on Tuesday that Congress should have the power to review a nuclear deal with Iran, reluctantly giving in to pressure from Republicans and some in his own party over the barbed issue. "We are certainly happy this morning. This is an achievement for Israeli policy," Steinitz told Israel Radio, citing a March 3 speech...

~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~ ~ Remembering Our Troops!! ~ HIGH-ALTITUDE JUMPS Philippine, Australian and U.S. special operations forces conduct high-altitude, low-opening jumps on Fort Magsaysay, Philippines, May 7, 2014. The forces will train together over the next three weeks during Balikatan 2014. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt. Pete Thibodeau Canteen Mission Statement Showing support and boosting the morale ofour military and our allies' militaryand family members of the above.Honoring those who have served before. GRENADE LAUNCHER A U.S. paratrooper engages a target with an AT4 anti-tank grenade launcher during exercise Rock Proof in Postonja, Slovenia,...

If Iran defies the Yemen arms embargo. it will have demonstrated its utter contempt for any international constraints, which should give Congress and Obama administration even more pause in expecting Iran to ever allow access The United Nations Security Council approved on April 14th a resolution regarding the situation in Yemen. The resolution, which was adopted by a vote of 14 in favor, with only Russia abstaining, strongly condemned the Iran-backed Houthi rebels and demanded that all Yemeni parties resume UN-brokered negotiations on a transition to democracy. The resolution, reaffirmed the Security Council’s support for the “legitimacy” of Abdo Rabbo...