Free Republic

Botlikh, September 12, Interfax - The common moral and ethical values of all religions represented in Russia guarantee the stability of the Russian state, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. "We have a multi-religious country, but if you look closely, all our religions have the same values. As regards the moral and ethical component, they are practically the same," Putin said in the village of Botlikh on Thursday during a meeting with the Dagestani militia who fought against terrorists in August-September 1999. "The fact that our peoples retain such an attitude to those values is the main guarantee of our state...

To get a sense of just how out of "the shadows" the vast illegal alien smuggling pipeline to America is, consider the little mention that migrants can now offer Yelp-style reviews for attaining the finest in illegal alien–enabling services, not just in one's choice of smuggling coyote, but in all the vast numbers of choices in NGOs offering shelters and services, according to Michelle Malkin, whose new book, Open Borders: Who's Funding America's Destruction, comes out tomorrow.

Sen. Ted Cruz will oppose President Donald Trump’s nominee for the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, Halil Suleyman “Sul” Ozerden, a major setback for the embattled nomination. Cruz (R-Texas) has informed the White House and colleagues this week that he will oppose Ozerden, according to three people familiar with the Judiciary Committee’s internal dynamics. That conservative opposition places in doubt the future of Ozerden, who is a close friend of acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, and whose nomination Mulvaney pushed over the objections of the White House Counsel's office.

Christian politician speaks out on LGBT agendaA politician in Finland is being investigated by police for quoting the Bible. Päivi Räsänen is a member of Finland's parliament and former party chairwoman of the Christian Democrats. In June, she took to social media expressing outrage about the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland supporting gay pride month. Quoting St. Paul to the Romans, she said, "God gave them up to degrading passions. ... Men committed shameless acts with men," adding, "How can the church's doctrinal foundation, the Bible, be compatible with the lifting up of shame and sin as a subject of...

A CATHOLIC priest has told how he prayed in the middle of the night at a shrine on the Gold Coast hinterland surrounded by fire, and fearing for the safety of dozens of pilgrims staying in nearby cabins. “I was on my knees with the rosary beads in the chapel and praying for protection from Heaven,” Pauline Father Albert Wasniowski said. More than 25 visitors slept in cabins at the Shrine of Our Lady Help of Christians, in the Marian Valley bushland, as firefighters arrived to warn Fr Wasniowski to prepare to evacuate. It was 2am on September 7, and...

Florida Supreme Court justices Barbara Lagoa and Robert Luck, who’ve only served on the bench for eight months, could be headed to the federal 11th Circuit Court of Appeals after President Trump nominated them to that powerful court Thursday. The move is the latest of the president’s efforts to remake the federal court system with conservatives, such as U.S. Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. It also highlights Trump’s close ties with Gov. Ron DeSantis, who narrowly won the governor’s race last fall with the support of the president. If Lagoa and Luck are confirmed by the Republican-controlled...

Great comedy, especially if you have a background in economics.

Popeyes might have a solution for customers who want to try their sold-out chicken sandwiches. The fast food chain shared a new marketing video on Thursday informing customers that they will be able to enjoy the sandwich so long as they BYOB — Bring Your Own Bun. The popular item from the New Orleans-style restaurant sold out two weeks after it was added to the menu nationwide, prompting Popeyes to create a way to ease customer’s “sorrows and cravings,” the eatery told PEOPLE in a statement. “Popeyes still has the best fried chicken in the game, so bring your own...

When divinity and the world are confused and there is no otherness, any type of prayer is useless'Spain's Catholic bishops have warned that the increasingly popular use of Mindfulness is incompatible with "Christian prayer practices", and cautioned Catholics they risk "effectively abandoning the faith" if they engage in it. "Our pace of life, marked by activism, competitiveness and consumerism, generates emptiness, stress and anguish", said the Bishops Conference's Commission for Doctrine of the Faith. "In this situation, many people are resorting to methods of meditation and prayer that originate in religious traditions outside Christianity in response to a growing demand...

A federal jury found two longtime Democratic operatives guilty Thursday of funneling illegal corporate campaign contributions into Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes’ 2014 U.S. Senate campaign, delivering another blow to a significantly weakened Kentucky Democratic Party. The jury convicted former Kentucky Democratic Party Chairman Jerry Lundergan, the father of Grimes, on 10 charges and Democratic political consultant Dale Emmons on 6 charges after federal prosecutors alleged they had a “concerted scheme” to funnel more than $200,000 into Grimes’ election efforts without seeking reimbursement from the campaign. The most serious charges could each carry a maximum of 20 years in...

Broadway pianist Justin Brown, age 26, has been arrested for trying to have sex with a minor, according to the New York Post. Brown has worked as a rehearsal pianist for Dear Evan Hansen and King Kong. Brown began talking to someone who he assumed to be a 14-year-old boy on the dating app Grindr, when he was really talking to an undercover NYPD cop. He was arrested when he showed up to the Queens address with a backpack full of lubricant and condoms. His bail was set for $20,000 at Queens Criminal Court. Queens Acting District Attorney John M....

~Favorite Country or City song in title or Lyrics~ Blake Shelton - God's Country (Official Music Video) *Video* Arlo Guthrie - City of New Orleans *Video*

But the black rectangle, which measures about 7 inches (18 centimeters) long and around 4 inches (9 cm) wide, is no electronics accessory; it's an ancient belt buckle made of jet — a gemstone made from pressurized wood — inlaid with small beads of mother-of-pearl, carnelian and turquoise, The Siberian Times reported. Scientists with the Institute for the History of Material Culture at the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) found the object in a woman's grave, where it lay upon the skeleton's pelvis. The researchers nicknamed the woman "Natasha" and dubbed the artifact "Natasha's iPhone," according to The Siberian Times....

[Jesuit Barf Alert] Why do some Catholics oppose Pope Francis? It is neither unusual nor surprising to encounter discord and opposition in the Catholic Church. Such disagreement stretches back from the present day to the time of St. Paul, who stood up to Cephas in Antioch (Gal 2:14).Opposition was manifest in the first ecumenical councils as well as the last two. At the First Vatican Council (1870), a group of bishops and theologians opposed the proposed definition of papal infallibility. Some did not accept the council and separated from Rome, giving rise to the so-called Old Catholic Church. Others did...

COLUMBUS (WCMH) — Two Worthington Learning Center employees are under arrest after a video surfaced allegedly showing them allow a 5-year-old girl to be bullied right in front of them while they did nothing to stop it. According to Columbus Police, Emma Dietrich, 31, of Columbus, and Joshua Tennant, 27, of Columbus, are facing child endangerment charges in connection with an incident from Aug. 13. Police said a video recorded that day show Dietrich and Tennant sitting at a table in a classroom when a student is brought into the room by one of Dietrich’s older students. The video shows...

Twitter refused a judge’s request to reveal the identities of the two people running parody accounts that are being sued by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.). Nunes asked for the names of the anonymous users behind the accounts critical of him in a lawsuit he filed in Virginia. A judge asked Twitter to disclose the information in a confidential filing, according to the Sacramento Bee. The social media company refused to identify the people behind the Twitter accounts known as Devin Nunes’ Cow and Devin Nunes’ Mom. Nunes is suing the two individuals, Twitter and Republican political strategist Liz Mair. Twitter...

[Catholic Caucus] A Pope who doesn’t fear schism may cause one “I am not afraid of schisms,” Pope Francis told reporters during his latest airplane press conference. Well, I am. And I’m afraid of any Roman Pontiff who isn’t afraid of splitting the universal Church. Which means that, yes, I’m afraid of Pope Francis. As we head into the Amazon Synod, there are numerous indications that the Pope and his allies will use the meeting to ram through another set of dramatic changes in Church teaching and discipline. He is willing to break with our fathers in faith; he is...

"This bizarrely conflicted view was even more pronounced in Hitler’s attitude towards the U.S. In World War I, Corporal Hitler had been given two captured American soldiers to escort back to his brigade HQ and he was appalled by the fact that the pair were of German descent. From that moment on, Hitler was transfixed by the notion that the best of Germans had emigrated to the U.S. (attracted by the potential for self-realisation in its vastness) and that Germany should prove itself to be a mighty state that would persuade its ‘children’ to return. Hitler would constantly complain that...

WASHINGTON – Federal prosecutors recommended seeking criminal charges against Andrew McCabe, the former deputy director of the FBI and a frequent target of criticism by President Donald Trump, according to people familiar with the decision Thursday.

This is the time for President Trump to deprive his enemies of the last weapon that could be employed against him that could cause him any harm: the largely false, but still troublesome, issue of his personality and routine behavior. Other lines of attack have come to naught: Collusion with Russia, accusations of racism provoking outbursts of mass murder (by uttering “racially charged statements,” in the inadvertently Orwellian words of CNN’s most witless talking head, Don Lemon), the verbal recession confected by the world-renowned economists of CNN and MSNBC, all of it has collapsed. Illegal border crossings are in sharp...