Free Republic

The president of the Pontifical Council for the Family [Abp. Paglia] has confirmed that Pope Francis' post-synodal apostolic exhortation devoted to the family will be published by the end of March. ... [Abp. Paglia] said the much-anticipated document, which summarizes the Pope's conclusions of the two synods dedicated to the family, will be "a hymn to love, a love that wants to take care of the welfare of the young, to be close to wounded families to give them strength, a love that wants to be close to children as well as to all mankind in need. " Well informed...

Volvo has made a pretty bold statement this week. It says it wants to make things so that no one dies in a Volvo or because of a collision with one by the year 2020. "If you meet Swedish engineers, they're pretty genuine," said Lex Kerssemakers, CEO of Volvo Cars North America. "They don't say things when they don't believe in it." A pretty serious lot it seems. People who say what the mean and mean what they say. "With the development of full autonomy we are going to push the limits of automotive safety," says Volvo safety engineer Erik...

,a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/01/27/hundreds-dhs-badges-guns-cell-phones-lost-or-stolen-since-2012.html">Hundreds of DHS badges, guns, cell phones lost or stolen since 2012Hundreds of badges, credentials, cell phones and guns belonging to Department of Homeland Security employees have been lost or stolen in recent years -- raising serious security concerns about the potential damage these missing items could do in the wrong hands. Inventory reports, obtained by the news site Complete Colorado and shared with FoxNews.com, show that over 1,300 badges, 165 firearms and 589 cell phones were lost or stolen over the span of 31 months between 2012 and 2015. The majority of the credentials belonged to employees...

The chief executive of one of the nation's largest coal producers, Murray Energy, made an emotional call Wednesday for steep cuts in state mining taxes to support an industry in free fall. Raising his voice frequently during a 38-minute speech, Robert Murray blasted politicians for "platitudes and lip service" as the coal industry sheds thousands of jobs and producers go bankrupt. He called on state leaders to drop the coal severance tax from 5 to 2 percent, saying coal has paid more than its fair share to West Virginia already. "These government officials can no longer say that they support...

Mississippi's attorney general said Wednesday that he will ask lawmakers to approve the firing squad, electrocution or nitrogen gas as alternate methods of execution in case the state is prevented from giving lethal injections. States are struggling to obtain execution drugs since European pharmaceutical companies began blocking the use of their products for lethal injections. Executions are on hold in Mississippi because the state's supply of lethal-injection drugs expired. In October, Ohio delayed executions for a year while it searches for the drugs. ...

The United Nations says Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stands by every word of his criticism of Israeli settlement-building this week and rejects Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's comment that the remarks justify terrorism. The U.N. chief on Tuesday told the Security Council that settlement activities are "an affront to the Palestinian people," and he called for Israel to freeze them. He also said "it is human nature to react to occupation." ...

If you’re a leftist who believes other leftists, it’s probable you think guns (even fully automatic ones) can easily be purchased without a background check. You hold this notion for a simple reason: your leftist leaders in political circles reaching as high as the White House, say such silly things as “Guns are easier to buy than books.” A myth which is as true as receiving a college scholarship from the tooth fairy. To prove how wrong leftists are about guns, we took a hidden camera to gun shows and gun dealers. We tried weaseling through the “gun show loophole”...

After a Texas grand jury this week rejected criminal allegations against Planned Parenthood related to a series of controversial undercover videos released last year, House Democrats are accusing their Republican colleagues of being "all too eager to jump to conclusions at the risk of women's health." (snip) Representative Jan Schakowsky, the top Democrat on the House panel investigating the organization, has said Republicans now should admit they are wrong in the wake of the indictment. The DCCC hasn't yet called for the committee to be disbanded but "absolutely believes" it should be, says Meredith Kelly, DCCC national press secretary. "House...

Various videos on how to caucus. These apply to all candidates even if produced by a campaign Republican Party only (Democrat Party is different)

President Obama’s nominee to head U.S. Central Command recently penned a memo to Defense Secretary Ash Carter demanding that the Pentagon stop discussing the operations of elite American troops. Foreign Policy, which obtained an excerpt of the memo, reported that Gen. Joseph Votel, currently the chief of U.S. Special Operations Command, wrote the December 8 memo to express concern about the Obama administration’s exposure of special operations forces’ activities. “I am concerned with increased public exposure of SOF activities and operations, and I assess that it is time to get our forces back into the shadows,” Votel wrote to Carter....

**SNIP** There have also been concerns following the discovery that a prosecutor in the Harris County district attorney's Division of Criminal Family Law also serves as a director on the board of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast. According to reports, Lauren Reeder told District Attorney Devon Anderson earlier this year about her work with the abortion giant in order to be "transparent." However, she also said that she didn't see a conflict of interest in the situation. "I don't think there's any conflict in my dual roles in two separate organizations," Reeder told reporters.

Hillary Clinton's email excuses fell apart under public scrutiny many months ago, but that hasn't stopped her from repeating the same failed excuses over and over again on the campaign trail. When asked to explain her ever-changing email story during an editorial board interview with the Quad-City Times in Iowa yesterday, she floundered badly. One of the board members reminded her that last summer, she described her decision to use a private, insecure email system while secretary of state as "an error in judgment," but on Monday during CNN's town hall, she refused to call her home-brew server an "error...

Link to scribd copy of "US v. Bundy Complaint and Affidavit"

The federal government outlined its case Wednesday against Ammon Bundy and other militants charged with occupying an Oregon wildlife refuge. The criminal complaint was filed in federal court in Portland. It lists video and written evidence that shows Ammon Bundy, Ryan Bundy, Ryan Payne, Pete Santilli, Shawna Cox, Jon Ritzheimer and Joseph O'Shaughnessy all took part in an armed occupation at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Federal prosecutors have charged all of the defendants with felonies related to preventing federal workers from doing their jobs. All of the defendants except Ritzheimer, who turned himself in to Arizona law enforcement Tuesday,...

Fans of the Gloved One want the white actor cast to play Michael Jackson in a new British TV movie to "Beat It." "Because we aren't whitewashed enough in Hollywood, apparently," read a tweet posted on BET's Twitter page on Wednesday. "They seriously couldn't find a black actor to play Michael Jackson?," tweeted DeRay Mckesson, an American civil rights activist and leader in the "Black Lives Matter" movement. Imani Gandy wrote, "They cast a white guy to play Michael Jackson. I think we can admit that this whole 'planet earth' thing isn't working out."

The international wealth-redistribution schemes of the United Nations, justified under the guise of battling alleged man-made global warming, are really a massive subsidy to kleptocrats ruling poor countries paid for by the poor and middle classes of wealthier and freer nations, according to internationally renowned physicist Dr. Fred Singer.

Now, it's very simple, if you read The Art of the Deal or if you know Donald Trump at all, it's very simple: He had an unpleasant experience in the first debate, and in his mind, the question that he was asked was rigged. Don't forget, before that first debate, remember all of the news stories that were floating around saying that that debate, somebody at Fox had been given orders by the Republican establishment to take Trump out. Remember that? There were any number of so-called sources for this. Some said it was the donors demanding it. Some said...

Yitro is one of the most enigmatic figures in the entire Torah. He is introduced to us as an adviser to Pharaoh (Sotah 11a) who was told about a plan to enslave and kill members of the Hebrew nation living in Egypt. In that meeting, Yitro counseled the Egyptian monarch not to harm the Hebrews. His first appearance in the lines of the written Torah occurs in parashat Shemos, as the father of Tziporah, who would marry Moshe Rabbeinu. In this week's parshah, Yitro comes with his daughter and grandsons and meets up with Moshe in the wilderness. Though warmly...

President Barack Obama speaks at the Israeli embassy in Washington... Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXHzHVTURs4