Free Republic

Posted on September 22, 2019September 22, 2019 by Msgr. Charles Pope On the Connection Between Sound Doctrine and Civility A key theme of St. Paul’s Letters to Timothy and Titus, bishops he appointed to oversee the churches of Ephesus and Crete respectively, is their insistence on sound doctrine. He writes to Titus, “As for you, speak the things that are consistent with sound doctrine …” (Titus 2:1). He tells Timothy that if he passes on this doctrine to others, he “… will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished by the words of faith and sound doctrine that...

Fans who expected Sylvester Stallone's returns as John Rambo to dominate the box office are in for a surprise. Rambo: Last Blood opens in third place. Instead, the Downton Abbey movie makes a surprise debut in the top spot with a record-setting opening for studio Focus Features. James Gray’s sci-fi film Ad Astra will take the second-place spot. Downton Abbey earned $13.8 million on Friday. The film will earn $30.5 million in its opening weekend. The movie is a continuation of the popular television drama about a noble British family in the early 20th century and their servants. Creator Julian...

When the Bronze Age hit ancient Israel, the copper-rich region was able to quickly source seven of the eight ingredients needed to produce the alloy at Timna and other mines. But where tin -- another one-eighth of the metal's recipe -- came from has been a lingering mystery for scholars. A new paper from an international team of researchers proposes a surprisingly faraway source -- Cornwall. In a paper published in June on the open-access, peer-reviewed scientific journal PLOS One, the authors analyze 27 tin ingots, or blocks, from five sites bordering the eastern Mediterranean Sea. For decades, researchers have...

Former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld, who is challenging President Trump for the Republican nomination next year, on Monday accused him of “treason” for pressing the leader of Ukraine to investigate former vice president Joe Biden and his son. Weld’s comments came in response to reports that Trump repeatedly brought up investigating Biden, who is seeking the 2020 Democratic nomination, and his younger son, Hunter, in a July call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “Talk about pressuring a foreign country to interfere with and control a U.S. election,” Weld said during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “It couldn’t be clearer,...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a top ally of President Donald Trump, said that the Department of Justice (DOJ) should look into what happened with former Vice President Joe Biden and Ukraine. Biden in March 2016 pressured Ukraine to fire a prosecutor who was looking into alleged wrongdoing by Burisma, a company for which Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, was a board member. The 2020 presidential candidate denied talking to his son about business dealings in Ukraine. His son previously said he did discuss the dealings with his father once. Biden also said no evidence has connected him to any wrongdoing.

Sunday night’s hostless Emmys on Fox was likely hoping to emulate the Oscars ratings success in cutting out an emcee. However, according to preliminary Nielsen figures, the 2019 Emmys have gone the way of seemingly all awards shows in declining year on year. Fox’s broadcast posted a 5.7 rating and a 10 share in the overnight metered market ratings, which is down 23% on last year’s Monday night show on NBC and 30% below the preliminary rating for the 2017 ceremony which also aired on a Sunday night on CBS. The total viewership for TV’s big night, as well as...

Tech moguls Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos all scored on the bottom half of the scale for trustworthiness, according to analysis conducted by global brand consultancy Landor. The CEOs of major tech companies face an interesting and challenging public perception. They can sometimes seem like celebrities, generating a certain buzz and excitement among people. But business scandals and other issues can prompt that same public to see them as untrustworthy. A study by consultancy group Landor looks at some top tech moguls and their companies to learn how consumers view them. . . . Among the tech moguls...

This week marks Climate Week 2019. Climate change affects all of us, and each of us can make a difference in our own way, big or small. To show how we can take Climate Action into our own hands, a poster has been hung on the cafeteria wall. Each student and staff member can show commitment to combatting climate change by writing on the poster something they did that day or week to make a positive difference for our planet. We are aiming for 100% participation by the XYZ High School Community. Thank you for your support, and let’s make...

CHICAGO -- At least 26 people were shot, five of them fatally, in citywide gun violence over the weekend. Saturday, a man wanted for shooting a woman in the Fulton River District earlier in the week was shot by police during a prolonged manhunt that began after he shot a Chicago police officer in Englewood on the South Side. Michael Blackman, 45, was shot about 3:35 p.m. following an "armed encounter" with officers near 64th Street and Bell Avenue, Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a tweet. Blackman was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in critical...

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - After failing to secure a clear election victory twice in six months, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister now seems to be calculating that he can stay in power only by sharing it.Following a deadlocked parliamentary election last week, a weakened Netanyahu reissued an offer on Monday to his centrist rival Benny Gantz for a unity government, saying that neither had enough support from respective allies for a majority of 61 seats in the 120-member parliament. There was no sign Gantz, head of the Blue and White Party, would agree to a coalition with Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud. Gantz cited...

Are There As Many Stars as Sand Grains? September 22, 2019 | David F. Coppedge A video clip from Illustra Media attempts to answer a common question: How many stars are there? Lord willing, the Editor will soon be back from travel and speaking. Till then, enjoy this amazing video from Illustra Media! HOW MANY STARS? The question is timeless. Pondered, throughout history, by human beings of every culture, age, and nationality: how many stars are there in the universe? This fascinating film explores worlds gigantic and microscopic to reveal answers that challenge our perceptions of creation. Travel with us...

Because practically no one watches them or their POS network MSNBC, morning anchors and hubby-wife duo Mika Brzezinski and “Morning Joe” Scarborough have to do and say outrageous things to get noticed. Like practically beg Obama’s second secretary of state, John Kerry, to jump into the 2020 Democratic presidential race. Because, apparently, even clown ‘journalists’ recognize a train wreck when they see one, and that perfectly sums up the class of idiots running for the 2020 Donkey Party crown.

Nasty Mitt Romney continues to take his lead from the lying mainstream media. The liberal media this week attacked President Trump in screaming headlines for a conversation he had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The media claimed Trump pressured the Ukrainian government to investigate the Biden Crime family.

Climate activists blocked major intersections in Washington, D.C. early Monday morning in a show of protest ahead of this week's United Nation's climate summit in New York City. More than 60 countries will attend the summit, which begins today, and activists are seeking to pressure U.S. lawmakers and other world leaders to create legislation that will address climate change. The protest, called Shut Down DC, is loosely associated with the Metro D.C. chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America and Black Lives Matter D.C. According to Reuters, nearly 1,150 people had signed up for the protests on a dedicated web...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem (Old Testament) Daniel 12 The End Times 12 “At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. 2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 Those who are wise[a] will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many...

President Trump asking Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden would be “troubling in the extreme,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) said Sunday. Romney’s comments come after a report published Saturday by the Wall Street Journal which said a whistleblower claimed that the president urged Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky during a July phone call to look into Biden’s son Hunter’s business dealings with the eastern European country. The report stated: ‘He told him that he should work with [Mr. Giuliani] on Biden, and that people in Washington wanted to know’ whether allegations were true or not, one of the people said. Mr. Trump...

New York Times opinion columnist Farhad Manjoo claims Tucker Carlson could the future of right-wing populism in America. It’s hard to imagine a national political figure that could possibly derange the progressive left more than Donald J. Trump. But New York Times writer Farhad Manjoo already has done exactly that, admitting in a Times opinion piece that populist commentator and Fox News primetime host Tucker Carlson would in fact be “worse” than Trump as President. According to Manjoo, Carlson would be poised to deliver on the economic, nationalist populism most prominently proposed in Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and frequently featured...

Morning "Accepted in the beloved." Ephesians 1:6 What a state of privilege! It includes our justification before God, but the term "acceptance" in the Greek means more than that. It signifies that we are the objects of divine complacence, nay, even of divine delight. How marvellous that we, worms, mortals, sinners, should be the objects of divine love! But it is only "in the beloved." Some Christians seem to be accepted in their own experience, at least, that is their apprehension. When their spirit is lively, and their hopes bright, they think God accepts them, for they feel so high,...

A Dutch lawyer in a major gangland case has been shot dead outside his Amsterdam home - a crime described by police as exceptionally brutal. Derk Wiersum, 44, was the lawyer for a state witness in a case against members of a violent drug gang, who are accused of five murders between 2015 and 2017. A hoodie-wearing suspect fled on foot. Police chief Erik Akerboom said "with this brutal murder, a new limit has been crossed: now even people simply doing their work no longer seem safe". Jan Struijs of the NPB police union said "organised crime has got totally...

Sunday on CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” network political analyst Carl Bernstein said if President Donald Trump asked Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate 2020 presidential hopeful former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden, it is echoed of “Watergate.” Bernstein said, “Well, I think the first thing is to find out exactly what has happened here. And if the reporting of Shane Harris and The Wall Street Journal is accurate and it seems to be it clearly moves toward a grievance abuse of power by the president of the United States.”