Free Republic

Accompanied by marching music and tearing waves, a huge warship with the hull number 101 sailed into view out of heavy fog during the maritime parade on April 23 in Qingdao, East China's Shandong Province to celebrate the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy's 70th anniversary. Those not lucky enough to experience this at the scene and were eagerly waiting to see it on television were disappointed when state broadcaster China Central Television was unable to provide a live feed of the parade, possibly due to the bad weather and sea conditions. But that did not stop them from enjoying...

Introduction A controversy recently arose regarding a Martin Luther King Day event that was scheduled to take place at the facility of South City Church (SCC) on Sunday evening, January 20, 2019. One of the speakers at this event identified as transgendered and according to published material, was planning to “celebrate the lives and humanity” of the transgendered. One of the primary organizers of the event was an independent not-for-profit group called Faith for Justice, which is directed by Michelle Higgins, who is a staff member of South City. Her father, TE Mike Higgins, who is both the Senior Pastor...

Twitter began trending the topic of the Straight Pride Parade after a group of Boston fellows decided to take a jab at the polemics surrounding identity politics, and it’s absolutely degenerative stranglehold on today’s culture, which has led to nothing but turmoil and anguish for normal people. According to an article published on June 4th, 2019 by the Washington Examiner, organizer Mark Sahady had to file a discrimination complaint to get the parade approved in Boston, Massachusetts, and plan on hosting the parade on August 31st. The purpose of the parade? Well, according to John Hugo, President of Super Happy...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mexican officials will seek to persuade the White House in talks hosted by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday that their government has done enough to stem immigration and avoid looming tariffs. U.S. authorities at the southern border with Mexico have become overwhelmed in recent years by an increase in mostly Central American families and unaccompanied minors seeking asylum to escape violence back home.

For New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, the announcement merited a “BREAKING” tag in a barrage of Facebook ads. Former Housing and Urban Development secretary Julian Castro called it “astounding.” Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, who's 68, gave it no less than two siren emojis in a Facebook post. The news? The Democratic National Committee announced its plan last week to cull the unruly field of 24 candidates for president by setting a 130,000 donor threshold to qualify for its third and fourth debates this fall. That move set off a scramble for cash on Facebook, inundating voters with fundraising appeals and...

Betraying Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Espousing Abortion Bonhoeffer opposed abortion but the president of the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Institute argues for it by Michael Egnor Rob Schenck is an evangelical minister and president of the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Institute in Washington. He is author of Costly Grace, the title of which is taken from Bonhoeffer’s profound contemplation on suffering and the Cross. Schenck has a long and honorable career of fighting for the rights of children in the womb—he has been at the forefront of the pro-life movement. No longer. Writing in the New York Times, Schenck decries the new Alabama “heart-beat”...

If approved, it would have imposed a levy of 16 cents per square foot of building improvements on properties within the district. On a 1,700-square-foot home, that would have amounted to another $272 of tax per year. A parcel tax is not based on the assessed value of a property, but is generally a flat fee based on square footage. It requires a two-thirds margin for approval. LAUSD desperately needed the tax to pass in order to cover the increase in costs associated with the latest teachers’ union contract. In January, LAUSD’s 34,000 teachers went on a 9-day strike, the...

Traditionally, higher education introduced students to life’s most fundamental questions: “What is good?”; “What is true?”; “Do our lives have meaning beyond the material?”; and so on. The focus used to be on developing the whole person: To lift students morally and ethically, to pique their curiosity in all things, and to instill, as cardinal John Henry Newman wrote, certain “habits of mind” that produce a deeply thoughtful individual. However, over time, those questions have faded into the background due to an increasing focus on obtaining credentials for employment. Savvy students who actively search for something deeper than the next...

President Trump is the victim of widespread misinformation wherever he goes, but the nonsense surrounding his state visit to the United Kingdom is in another league.During the trip, the president had to contend not just with the American fake news media and the Democrats, but also with the famously savage British press and kook British leftist politicians trying to raise their own profiles by slamming Trump.Matters are made worse by the fact that Brexit — the shock to the British establishment that closely paralleled the election of Donald Trump — just got another decisive “yes” from the British people. Much...

Former IAEA official says Israel, Gulf states, 'need to be worried' about Iran's emerging nuclear abilities. Olli Heinonen, who headed the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) security team and served as the organizations' deputy director general, on Wednesday morning told Army Radio that Israelis on the whole are not aware of the severity of the Iranian threat. "Israelis need to be worried, and the Gulf states also have reason for concern," Heinonen said. "How will you be able to ensure your security if Iran achieves nuclear abilities?" In the full interview, which will be aired Thursday morning, Heinonen said that...

A while back I asked for prayers for my son Liam that he could work out problems that threatened his business. You came through and prayed with me for him; and the Lord heard us. Liam is back to where he should be.

<p>FOX NEWS - A woman popped the massive balloon depicting President Trump as a baby in London on Tuesday, berating protesters for disrespecting the "best president ever."</p> <p>"That's a disgrace," she told bystanders in a video posted by The Sun newspaper. "The president of the United States is the best president ever." It's unclear what she used to deflate the balloon but she prompted people to yell in response.</p>

SalesForce, a customer relationship management (CRM) technology company designed to help with commerce, recently updated their acceptable-use policy. The policy change essentially tells firearms manufacturers and gun store retailers that they're no longer allowed to utilize the service to collect payments because of products and goods that they sell. Specifically, they don't want their product being used for transactions involving "high capacity" magazines, unfinished lowers and firearms with a thumbhole or folding stock.

“What do you do when your college isn’t throwing condoms at you?” ask students at six Catholic universities in a GoFundMe page created for a new “reproductive justice” student alliance. Their answer? Hand out condoms themselves. On May 29, students at Georgetown, Notre Dame, Loyola Chicago, Fordham, Santa Clara and DePaul universities announced the formation of the Student Coalition for Reproductive Justice, a national organization of student groups that hand out condoms, lubricant, dental dams and Plan B at Catholic universities.

British woman stabs Trump baby balloon while shouting he ‘is the best president ever’ The Trump baby blimp, which took flight in London on Tuesday to protest the president’s U.K. visit, was stabbed by Trump supporter Amy Dalla Mura, also known as “Based Amy.” In a video posted to Twitter, Mura films herself walking up to the nearly 20-foot-tall orange, inflatable baby blimp and stabs it with a sharp object, prompting shouts from surrounding protesters. “That’s a disgrace. It’s a national disgrace. The president of the United States is the best president ever!” Shortly before police arrive, Mura films herself...

This past month's launch of Starlink satellites was a moment long planned Elon Musk and SpaceX. Known as a satellite constellation, the company has sent 60 of a planned 1,2000 satellites into orbit. What they did not expect, though, was backlash from International Astronomical Union and International Dark Sky Association. The Starlink constellations, it turns out, could be threatening the study of the night sky. The IAU has issued a statement saying it is "concerned" about satellite constellations and what they mean for the future of astronomy. "We do not yet understand the impact of thousands of these visible satellites...

The decision by former MI6 agent Christopher Steele, author of the infamous “Steele dossier” used by the Obama regime to ensnare the 2016 Trump campaign in a phony “Russian collusion” scandal, is a “strategic” one that ultimately will prove the FBI “lied to Congress,” the American people, and the FISA court, according to a former federal prosecutor. Joe diGenova told Fox News‘ Sean Hannity Tuesday night that Steele’s decision to talk to John “Bull” Durham, who was assigned to look into the origins of the collusion probe by Attorney General William Barr, no doubt was the result of an agreement...

Why So Many Mass Shootings? Ask the Right Questions and You Might Find Out By Dennis Prager Published on June 5, 2019 • Dennis Prager This past weekend, Americans learned of another mass shooting, this time by an employee who decided to murder as many of the people he had worked with for years as possible. As of this writing, the murder toll is 12 people.Every American asks why. What was the killer’s motive? When we read there is “no known motive,” we are frustrated. Human beings want to make sense of life, especially of evil.Liberals (in this regard, liberals’ views...

Color us surprised. The nightly news obsession over nonexistent Trump-Russia collusion isn't abating. It's actually growing! They cannot be shamed. They cannot be shaken by inconvenient facts. It's been established there was no collusion, no obstruction, no high crime that's impeachable, and so what? The media are hammering this collusion theme more than ever. In the months we were writing our new book, "Unmasked: Big Media's War Against Trump," the most troublesome chapter dealt with Russia. As we went to press, the Mueller report had not yet been released. What dramatic ending would it bring? Truth be told, we expected...

set term limits for members of Congress and Supreme Court justices and place sharp restrictions on political contributions from corporations and wealthy individuals. The former Texas congressman will highlight the proposal during a voting rights-focused town hall event in Atlanta, Ga., Wednesday night. The plan, O’Rourke’s third policy rollout since announcing his presidential bid in March, is made up of three parts: "Increase participation in our Democracy," "Remove barriers within our Democracy," and "Rebuild Confidence in Our Democracy.” “We’re facing some of the greatest challenges of our lifetimes, and we can’t solve them with half-measures or only half our people—it’s...