Free Republic

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is spending $84,000 to study how churches can be used to combat climate change. A taxpayer-funded graduate fellowship at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor is examining 17 faith-based institutions that have implemented "sustainability initiatives" in the hopes of developing workshops to teach pastors and other religious leaders how to change the behaviors of their congregants. "Climate change-which affects traditional faith-based efforts to improve human health, mitigate poverty and redress social inequity-is inspiring religious organizations to advocate for clean air and water, restore ecosystems, and conserve resources," a grant for the project, which began...

The day before the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in a historic same-sex marriage case, a Kentucky court has ruled that a Christian T-shirt company has the right not to print gay pride festival shirts. Hands on Originals (HOO), a Christian T-shirt company in Lexington, Ky., was asked to print shirts by Gay and Lesbian Services Organization (GLSO) for a 2012 pride festival. When the company turned down the order, the GLSO filed a complaint with the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Human Rights Commission. Though the commission found in favor of the GLSO, Judge James D. Ishmael of the Fayette Circuit...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRlmCf1Kj2o

Video shows infiltrator beating a man in plain daylight, as Left continues to prevent deportations. A video uploaded to Youtube and Facebook Monday shows an African infiltrator – one of the tens of thousands who currently reside in southern Tel Aviv – beating a man in plain daylight. It is not clear what the man is saying but he is obviously terrorized, and possibly suffering from mental problems. The infiltrator barks at him, in Hebrew, to sit, then proceeds to beat him with a plank. Residents of southern Tel Aviv have complained for years that the infiltrator population has made...

The Democratic front-runner has largely ignored journalists in the first two weeks of her presidential run, instead speaking directly to voters When the press corps comically sprinted across an Iowa lawn in pursuit of Hillary Clinton's van, they weren't just hoping to catch a glimpse of the most-likely Democratic presidential nominee. They were hoping to ask Clinton questions, and—in the dream scenario—get an answer. Those answers, however, have been few and far between. Despite being bombarded with press questions at every chance, Clinton has only personally answered seven inquiries since formally launching her campaign April 12. Instead, she has spoken...

Eugene School Board incumbent Mary Walston, who is up for re-election next month, urged neighborhood organizers of a school board candidates’ debate next week to either reschedule the debate or prevent her opponent from participating because she will be out of town. Organizers of the debate agreed to honor Walston’s request to bar her opponent from the debate — which, in turn, prompted the opponent, Colin Farnsworth, to cry foul. A substitute teacher in the Bethel, Eugene, Springfield and South Lane school districts, Farnsworth said it is “extremely unfair and undemocratic that my participation and perspective will be censored during...

Even if the Supreme Court rules for gay marriage, Cruz proves that much still needs to be done for LGBT rights. Today’s oral arguments in the Supreme Court marriage equality case may or may not be exciting, but the importance of the outcome cannot be overstated. We are witnessing before us one of the greatest expansions of civil rights in decades, and if the high court decides to be part of the future instead of the past, this advance will codify into law the basic human right of marriage for gays and lesbians throughout America. This country has come a...

The headline is already gone from the Associated Press's national site, but it's still present elsewhere. In the context of events in Ferguson and elsewhere since August of last year, one could argue that it contains more truth than the wire service and the headline's accidental creators will ever admit.

The Baltimore mayor's office says there were 144 vehicle fires, 15 structures fires and nearly 200 arrests in the unrest that broke out in the city. Spokesman Howard Libit gave the updated numbers Tuesday morning.

The news media is at its best when risking the wrath of powerful interests by telling an underdog’s side of a story. When those rare instances arise, the news media stand tall. What seems to increasingly be occurring, however, features the news media misidentifying some entities as underdogs and failing to realize that a charade is being acted out. Examples of this circumstance are too numerous to list, but one of the most intriguing involves so-called alternative energy (which is almost exclusively wind energy) and the fossil fuel (or petroleum) industry. It seems evident that most of what is commonly...

Rawlings-Blake says she's thinking 'long and hard' about whether to run for U.S. Senate By Yvonne Wenger The Baltimore Sun As she weighs a decision to run for U.S. Senate, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said Wednesday she’s considering whether she can serve Baltimore better in her current job or in Congress. Rawlings-Blake, who is in her first full term, declined to say how soon she would decide whether to run for the seat that will be vacated by longtime Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski. Mikulski announced this week that she will retire at the end of her term after nearly half a...

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has signed a pledge opposing all tax increases as he jockeys for the White House, the third presidential candidate to make the oath to the popular conservative group Americans for Tax Reform. “Senator Rubio is a longtime leader in the taxpayer movement. He signed and kept the Pledge as a Florida state House representative and as a United States Senator. By signing the Taxpayer Protection Pledge to the American people, Senator Rubio continues to protect American taxpayers against higher taxes,” Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, said in a statement. “Senator Rubio understands that...

Governor Haslam has reluctantly signed HB0995, which reduces the number of gun free zones in the state.  Previous legislation had allowed local governments to ban guns from locally administered parks, if they posted prominent signs saying that guns were banned.    HB 0995 removed that exception in the law, thereby allowing a limited ability to exercise second amendment rights on the public lands of locally administered parks. The history of the bill is rather interesting, in that Governor Haslam was against the bill before he was for it.   He likely only signed the bill to avoid the embarrassment of a...

8:25 a.m. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is temporarily moving his office from the state capital, Annapolis, to Baltimore on Tuesday after rioting and fires broke out in the city.

Hillary Clinton has been struggling to interact with everyday Americans on her campaign listening tour, not least because she has a hard time relating to people who have never met a sultan or run a mining business in an authoritarian country. However, she has displayed considerable political and physical skill throughout these interactions, and her opponents would be wise to take note. In addition to her soothing, naturally human laugh, Hillary’s ability to deploy what is commonly known as the “head nod” at crucial moments while pretending to care about normal Americans is nothing short of impressive. Her arsenal of...

Our story begins in 711 AD — Dark Ages Spain, when Muslims from North Africa have invaded the entire Iberian Peninsula. No one can withstand their terrible onslaught, with the exception of a few hundred Christian men, women and children in this lonely mountain valley, where they make their desperate last stand. Blessed be the Queen of our mountain, whose throne is the cradle of Spain… She is Mother and is Queen! Come, pilgrims, before Her we inhale loves divine. And in Her is the soul of the Spanish people.With the inspiring words of this popular song, dedicated to the...

Pope Francis plans to visit the Basilica of Our Lady of Fatima in 2017, on the 100th anniversary of the apparitions of the Virgin Mary to three children, according to the diocese in Portugal. “Pope Francis confirmed to Bishop Antonio Marto that, ‘if God gives him life and health’, he wants to be in Cova di Iria to celebrate the centenary of the Apparitions of Fatima,” the diocese of Leiria-Fátima said in a press release. Three shepherd children, Lucia dos Santos, Jacinta Marto and Francisco Marto, had a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary on May 13 1917. St John...

Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was done in by his uncontrollable lust for human flesh, the man who whacked him in prison 20 years ago told The Post, revealing for the first time why the cannibal had to die. Christopher Scarver — who fatally beat the serial killer and another inmate in 1994 — said he grew to despise Dahmer because he would fashion severed limbs out of prison food to taunt the other inmates.

Watching the city of Baltimore burn, hearing the lame mayor there talk about giving thugs "space"....recalling the riots of Ferguson, as well as the violence seen over Eric Garner and the attacker of George Zimmerman..... My mind was brought back to the time when Bush was President....New Orleans was the primary catalyst, but it sure seems to me WHENEVER there was domestic unrest or unhappiness on the streets of America, GEORGE W BUSH was being blamed. The man child Obama is getting a FREE PASS AGAIN. I just heard a local media report assure us Loretta Lynch was going to...

One Baltimore mother was caught on video dragging out her son who was taking part in the Baltimore riots. The unnamed mother was shown on television smacking her son — who was dressed all in black — for taking part in the riots against police and businesses Monday afternoon and dragging him away. Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts even acknowledged the mother’s actions during a press conference early Tuesday morning. “And if you saw in one scene, you had one a mother who grabbed their child who had a hood on his head and she started smacking him on the...