Free Republic

Amid misleading reports and accusations of academic freedom violations, Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati Andrello of Santiago, Chile, sent a strong message last month in support of Catholic teaching and identity by effectively banning the dissident theologian Father Jorge Costadoat, S.J., from teaching theology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (PCUC). The Cardinal Newman Society spoke with Ryan Thomas, director of operations for Catholic News Agency and former South American bureau chief for its sister agency, ACI Prensa, to clear up conflicting reports and better understand the situation. In a letter dated March 24, Cardinal Ezzati Andrello withdrew his stamp of...

Two dissident candidates conceded defeat Sunday in Cuban local elections that offered them a chance to become the first officials elected from outside the Communist Party in 40 years. Hildebrando Chaviano and Yuniel Lopez had been chosen as candidates by a show of hands in Havana neighborhood nominating meetings and hoped to win two of the 12,589 seats at stake in 168 municipal councils. Both acknowledged they had no chance of winning after preliminary results showed Chaviano in last place of four candidates and one of Lopez’s pro-government opponent with twice his vote. Chaviano, 65, is a government attorney-turned-independent journalist...

The roster move the Eagles are expected to make Monday shot straight to the top of the publicity charts. A lot of people might have been Tebowing that it was not true, but it is. The Eagles are adding a Heisman Trophy winner to their crowded quarterback depth chart. Oregon's Marcus Mariota remains a long shot to be in Eagles green after the NFL draft. Tim Tebow, on the other hand, will be on the practice fields at the NovaCare Complex after he signs a one-year deal with the team Monday. He'll be one of five quarterbacks on the roster,...

Vanity post. My first, and probably only, as I am not prone to doing so. I read FR mostly on my Android phone. Recently the thread comments are showing up in an impossibly small font height. The initial post, the plea for donations, as well as some comments are in a legible size, but most comments are unreadable. Is anyone else experiencing this? Is it a recent Android bug? I am logged in, and am going to take a shower while I wait to try and read the impossibly small replies from fellow FReepers.

A “Mujahid Guide” is circulating that teaches Muslims in Western countries how to blend in: This book is a guide for the Muslims who are living in a majority non Muslim land, or a country where the rulers are harsh towards the believers. It will explain to you the different scenarios you may get into and how to react. It will teach you how to be a secret Agent who lives a double life, something Muslims will have to do to survive in the coming years. The book categorizes Muslims into three groups: Converts to Islam, born Muslims, and practicing...

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren recently appeared on one of the late night talk shows, beating the class warfare drum and arguing for billions of dollars in new social programs paid for with higher taxes on millionaires and billionaires. In recent years, though, blue states such as California, Illinois, Delaware, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland and Minnesota adopted this very strategy, and they raised taxes on their wealthy residents. How did it work out? Almost all of these states lag behind the national average in growth of jobs and incomes. So, if income redistribution policies are the solution to shrinking the gap between rich...

Oklahoma City bombing remembered 20 years later as Bill Clinton, officials join hundreds of survivors, victims’ families BY SASHA GOLDSTEIN Former President Bill Clinton wiped tears from his eyes as he became emotional Sunday remembering the day horror struck the homeland two decades ago in Oklahoma City, the site of the nation’s deadliest domestic terror attack. Clinton, in his first term the day of the blast, joined current FBI director James Comey and 1,000 other officials, survivors and victims’ families for the 20th commemoration at the bombing memorial dedicated to the 168 people killed in the explosion at the Alfred...

Clarity needed amid cacophony of tired clichés Finally, thanks to Hillary Clinton, we “average” and “ordinary” Americans are getting our day in the sun. Folks, this is a big responsibility. The only viable Democrat so far in the 2016 presidential sweepstakes is depending on our telling her what it is we really, really want. We have to get this right.The first thing she did after issuing her “I am running” video, which did not exactly give us any reason to vote for her but made her look pleasant, was to head in a van dubbed Scooby to Iowa, via Chipotle,...

http://www.aleteia.org/en/video/on-trial-for-being-catholic-5836428944605184 Watch the video. It says it all.

The book does not hit shelves until May 5, but already the Republican Rand Paul has called its findings “big news” that will “shock people” and make voters “question” the candidacy of Hillary Rodham Clinton. “Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich,” by Peter Schweizer — a 186-page investigation of donations made to the Clinton Foundation by foreign entities — is proving the most anticipated and feared book of a presidential cycle still in its infancy. The book, a copy of which was obtained by The New York...

As debate intensifies around the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed carbon dioxide rule, EPA’s supporters are pushing back against claims that the economic costs of the rule outweigh the climate benefits. For instance, in a recent opinion piece for the Arizona Republic, University of Arizona law professor Kris Mayes claims that a widely cited study by NERA Economic Consulting fails to account for “energy efficiency investments that save money for consumers.” This criticism of NERA is unfounded. In fact, as NERA and others explain, it is EPA who has failed to accurately calculate energy efficiency and other impacts, resulting in...

The White House Sunday evening condemned a video purportedly showing a mass execution of Ethiopian Christians in Libya by terrorists affiliated with Islamic State. "We express our condolences to the families of the victims and our support to the Ethiopian government and people as they grieve for their fellow citizens," National Security Council spokesperson Bernadette Meehan said in a statement. "That these terrorists killed these men solely because of their faith lays bare the terrorists' vicious, senseless brutality."

On Friday, the New York Times stated, in a blaring headline, that my support for Second Amendment rights is “strange.” In particular, the writer took issue with my statement that “”the Second Amendment to the Constitution isn’t for just protecting hunting rights, and it’s not only to safeguard your right to target practice. It is a constitutional right to protect your children, your family, your home, our lives, and to serve as the ultimate check against governmental tyranny — for the protection of liberty.” In addition to “strange,” the NYT described this view as “ridiculous,” “silly,” and “absurd” (methinks the...

Anyone here watching Mark Burnett's AD? (Story about apostles and early church) What are your impressions of the series so far?

Bernie Sanders couldn’t have said it better: “There’s a group of folks in our party who would have troops in six countries right now — maybe more,” the Kentucky senator told hundreds of activists at a GOP cattle call that has drawn every major presidential aspirant. “This is something, if you watch closely, that will separate me from many other Republicans. The other Republicans will criticize Hillary Clinton and the president for their foreign policy, but they would have done the same thing – just 10 times over!” “Six countries – maybe more”? Which countries, Senator? And how many of...

This winter, Bellini plans to travel to the west coast of Greenland, select an iceberg, and survive on it for an entire year. As a message on his website explains, "Clinging to that piece of drifting ice, Alex will spend up to 12 months to witness the last phase of its long life, while managing with a constantly changing environment. As the iceberg will get smaller and less stable Alex Bellini will have to adapt himself to the new situation." ... Bellini won't be out there on that slowly shrinking hunk of ice in a store-bought tent. Instead, he'll be...

Some politicos are born servile, others have servility thrust upon them.The Pantone Color Institute, which normally finds itself in the news exactly once a year, when it proclaims the “color of the year” — 2015’s is marsala — last week heralded the christening of a new color: “Minion Yellow,” named for the rascally henchmen who assist Gru in the “Despicable Me” films. Apparently, the proprietary-color world is trolling the political world. This is the Age of Minions. Practically all colors have symbolic associations, and yellow’s baggage is ugly and complicated: The yellow-bellied are cowards; yellow journalism is dishonest and irresponsible;...

Jon S. Corzine, the embattled former MF Global Holdings Ltd. chief executive and ex-chairman of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., has discussed plans to start his own hedge fund in recent months, according to people familiar with the matter. The fund would start with cash from Mr. Corzine’s personal wealth and a handful of outside investors. Mr. Corzine said he had been speaking with about a half-dozen potential investors, and projected around $150 million in assets under management, one of the people said. The plans are tentative and could evolve or fall apart in coming months. But a launch would mark...

Now let's set the record straight. There's no argument over the choice between peace and war, but there's only one guaranteed way you can have peace—and you can have it in the next second—surrender. Admittedly, there's a risk in any course we follow other than this, but every lesson of history tells us that the greater risk lies in appeasement, and this is the specter our well-meaning liberal friends refuse to face—that their policy of accommodation is appeasement, and it gives no choice between peace and war, only between fight or surrender. If we continue to accommodate, continue to back...

DURHAM The conference at Epworth United Methodist Church on Saturday was one participants said they couldn’t have even imagined happening not so long ago. In speeches, panels and small groups, 80 people gathered to discuss how to fully welcome the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community into the United Methodist Church. “It’s a conversation that we couldn’t have had,” said Jimmy Creech, a former Methodist pastor who lost his position at Fairmont United Methodist Church in Raleigh in the wake of his outspoken support for gays and lesbians in the late 1980s. Years later, as a pastor in Nebraska, he...