Free Republic

“They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless” (vv. 29–31). - Romans 1:24–31 Surely, we must rank the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector among the most well known of all of the parables of Jesus (Luke 18:9–14). Our Savior told this parable in order to illustrate the means by which we are declared righteous before God. We are not justified by appealing to our own...

School shootings are terrible events -- except for the left where they represent opportunities, as in Rahm Emanuel’s “Never let a crisis go to waste” ... After the shooting, other than some virtue signaling by the media, the story has left the front pages, as the narrative may be inconvenient for the leftist agenda. CNN and MSNBC have lived up to their reputation as “drive-by media” by quickly moving on. ... Speaking of violent behavior, the father of one of the shooters is a twice deported illegal from Mexico, jailed previously for domestic violence against the shooter’s mother. Illegals are...

Its Swingin' Monday and we have some swingin' mandolin with Dave Martini performing Panhandle Swing (1973). THE WESTERNER https://thewesterner.blogspot.com/

With all of the talk about socialism and expanding government entitlements by Democrat candidates, it's clear that many Americans have forgotten the key role free markets and capitalism have played in creating America's amazing success. In fact, there seems to be a cancerous cynicism about the economic engine that's been so critical in maintaining America's position in the world. Even more troubling are the calls for Medicare for all, guaranteed income, a higher national minimum wage, and the higher taxes such changes would require. Initially, our founding fathers created a government to protect individuals from an over controlling government. They...

Which is better for Self-Defense, Hunting or Plinking? The 9mm and the 22LR are two popular ammunition out in the market. They are different in respect to cartridge sizes. Comparing the two in a head to head is easy when you’re only viewing the size of the caliber. The 9mm is bigger than the 22 round. The .22 rounds have much less energy than 9mm rounds, the powder load is smaller. When fired has less acceleration and kinetic energy. Which means the penetration and knock down power is not in the same class as the 9mm caliber. However, that doesn’t...

A few months ago, Sen. Kamala Harris raised eyebrows when she nonchalantly proclaimed her desire to abolish private health insurance: “Let’s move on.” Today, Ms. Harris’s quip seems quaint. The latest liberal policy idea would effectively end all private health care for many Americans. The proposal, the Medicare for America Act, first appeared as a 2018 paper by the Center for American Progress. It was a plan to expand government-run health care. It’s been called “the Democratic establishment’s alternative” to Sen. Bernie Sanders’s single-payer scheme. In March, Democratic presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke endorsed Medicare for America in lieu of the...

Every morning, I walk my three youngest children to school before walking to the bus stop to hop on the bus to work. My daughters, Michelle and Lizbeth, are still in elementary school, and my youngest, Lizette, is in preschool. They all go to separate schools. That means Monday through Friday, I get up at 5 am to get my daughters ready, and I take one child to school, then I return to the apartment for the second and so on. To make sure they get to school safely and on time, I spend hours in my morning commute. This...

It seems a crazy idea that any president would actually want to be impeached. But Donald Trump has so subverted Washington logic with his wild, norm-crushing presidency that there is now a serious conversation -- at least among Democrats -- about whether he views the ultimate constitutional crisis as a weapon in his re-election campaign. The possibility is shaping the strategies of Democratic leaders as they weigh the political risks of impeachment and their duty to defend principles of American governance. Many Democrats fear that Trump may be laying an impeachment trap that could consume the House majority, distract them...

The gatekeepers of the American mortgage market are increasingly backing loans to borrowers who have heavy debt loads, highlighting questions about mortgage risk as policy makers debate ways to change the system. Almost 30% of loans that mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac packaged into bonds last year went to home buyers whose total debt payments amounted to more than 43% of their incomes, according to an analysis by industry research group Inside Mortgage Finance. The share has nearly doubled since 2015. Data on other government mortgage programs also show an increase. The backing of these loans opens up...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3cW3hMgY2w&feature=youtu.be Rep. Ratcliffe with Maria Bartiroma speaking on William Barr contempt vote and the Democrats' treasonous (my word) actions.

Today’s Campaign Update (Because The Campaign Never Ends) Today’s Public Service Announcement! – The “World’s Fastest Train” has been unveiled in Japan, y’all! Guess what? It is designed to sail along at speeds up to … wait for it… 224 miles per hour! Which is, lessee here…. almost half as fast as the average airliner. Almost. Oh, and it won’t be operational until the year 2030, which is coincidentally the year before Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tells us we’re all going to burn up and die if we don’t get rid of air travel and replace it millions of miles of rail...

The timing is perfect. I wrote a few weeks ago recommending a Trump version of the Green New Deal. Except President Donald Trump's Green New Deal would not be about green energy or global warming. It would be about the "green" that most Americans care about: money. Americans are overtaxed and can't keep up with the heavy federal tax burden. In short, Mr. President, "the taxes are too damn high." The little guy needs and deserves the same break you gave to American businesses. Now is the perfect time to make the announcement. Gallup polling announced this week that not...

Bitcoin climbed close to $7,600 on Sunday, according to industry website CoinDesk. The world’s most-valuable cryptocurrency is now up nearly 90% since the start of the year. One analyst says bitcoin could soar as high as ”$50,000 or $100,000,” as it’s only “in the early part of its cycle.” Bitcoin has jumped above $7,000, continuing a stunning comeback for the cryptocurrency in 2019. The virtual currency climbed close to $7,600 on Sunday, according to industry website CoinDesk. It’s since pared gains, but is still holding above that $7,000 level. It marks yet another move higher for the world’s most-valuable cryptocurrency,...

Optional Memorial of Our Lady of FatimaLectionary: 563A Below are the readings suggested for today's Memorial. However, readings for the Memorial may also be taken from the Common of the Blessed Virgin Mary, #707-712. Reading 1 Is 61:9-11 Thus says the LORD:Their descendants shall be renowned among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples;All who see them shall acknowledge them as a race the LORD has blessed. I rejoice heartily in the LORD, in my God is the joy of my soul;For he has clothed me with a robe of salvation, and wrapped me in a mantle of justice,Like...

What we are witnessing in the bubble of Washington, D.C. – that place where reality has been permanently suspended—has gone from raw politics to a total embarrassment. The 116th Congress is officially a clown show. It is one thing for these court jesters who call themselves politicians to subject the American people to this high school cafeteria food fight but a totally different thing to do this with China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea watching. First and most importantly, the previously mentioned countries are no doubt exploiting this Congressional sophomoric behavior. Second, it weakens President Trump’s position in dealing with...

How Thomas Sowell's new book turns the thinking of many politicians, academicians, legal experts and judges to mush. My previous column discussed Dr. Thomas Sowell's newest book Discrimination and Disparities, which is an enlarged and revised edition of an earlier version. In this review, I am going to focus on one of his richest chapters titled "Social Visions and Human Consequences." Sowell challenges the seemingly invincible fallacy "that group outcomes in human endeavors would tend to be equal, or at least comparable or random, if there were no biased interventions, on the one hand, nor genetic deficiencies, on the other."...

Rasha Mubarak believes Israel has no right to defend herself. Anti-Semitism is quickly on the rise within the Democratic Party, and the poster children for it are two high-profile freshmen US Representatives, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. Florida, too, has its own Democrat Islamist anti-Semite, anti-Israel activist Rasha Mubarak. Mubarak is on a mission to destroy the Jewish state, Israel, and she is taking the Florida Democratic Party with her. Elected in November 2018, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib are the first Muslim women to serve in the US Congress. Recently, both have been cited for making anti-Semitic statements, relative to the issue of Israel. And while no...

Monday of the Fourth Week of EasterLectionary: 279 Reading 1 Acts 11:1-18 The Apostles and the brothers who were in Judeaheard that the Gentiles too had accepted the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalemthe circumcised believers confronted him, saying,'You entered the house of uncircumcised people and ate with them." Peter began and explained it to them step by step, saying,"I was at prayer in the city of Joppawhen in a trance I had a vision,something resembling a large sheet coming down,lowered from the sky by its four corners, and it came to me. Looking intently into...

Wall Street was setting up for a tough start to the week on Monday, with Dow Jones Industrial Average futures down over 300 points as investors waited for countermeasures from China after trade talks with the U.S. appeared to end in a stalemate. How did the benchmark indexes fare? Dow futures YMM9, -1.28% fell 311 points, or 1.2%, to 25,653, while S&P 500 futures ES, +1.86% dropped 36.40 points, or 1.2%, to 2,850.50. Nasdaq-100 futures NQM9, -1.76% slid 127.75 points, or 1.7%, to 7,482.50. On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.44% rose 114.01 points, or 0.4%, to end...

Here’s a fact you may not have considered before: Women HAVE IT MADE. Granted, I’ve never been accused of having perfect timing, but truly, what better time IS there to publish a politically incorrect article about the ladies than the day after Mother’s Day, when we’ve all just justifiably celebrated the indispensable role women and mothers have in raising society’s next generation? There’s no better time, obviously, so let’s dive in!I’ll admit that, notwithstanding the title of this article, being a woman, particularly one with a leftist worldview, does come with its own unique set of challenges. Imagine what it must...