Free Republic

Munich Resistance: German Catholics Must Stop Paying Church Tax Traditionalists rally a 'terrible army with banners' to combat synodal path MUNICH (ChurchMilitant.com) - Catholics protesting in Munich are accusing the German Bishops' Conference of deploying their multi-billion-euro income from the state-imposed "Church tax" to subvert traditional Catholicism in Germany and across the globe.  At a silent prayer rally in the center of the Bavarian city on Saturday, an international coalition of more than 130 prominent lay Catholics called on the German bishops to end the "dissimulation and deception" being introduced into the worldwide Catholic Church by the Trojan horse of the so-called "synodal path." Critics say the two-year German "synodal path," which began on...

Snickers bigwigs just went nuts. On Thursday in Waco, Texas, confectioner Mars, Inc. unveiled the largest Snickers bar ever created. Tipping the scales at a gargantuan 4,700 pounds and measuring two feet high and 26 inches wide, the Guinness Book of World Records declared it a world champ. “This is incredibly impressive,” Guinesses judge Michael Empiric told Waco TV station KWKT. “Some of my favorite record categories are big food because it has to be edible and it is also an engineering feat, so to get a 5,000-pound bar of chocolate to stay together is really challenging.”

Sepsis kills more than twice as many people worldwide as once believed, and children in poor regions account for an excessive number of such deaths, researchers say. Sepsis is an out-of-control immune response to infection that harms organs. People who survive sepsis can have lifelong disabilities. In 2017, there were 48.9 million cases of sepsis and 11 million sepsis deaths worldwide -- that's one in five deaths that year. "We are alarmed to find sepsis deaths are much higher than previously estimated, especially as the condition is both preventable and treatable," said senior author Dr. Mohsen Naghavi, a professor of...

As I get older, I’m finding out there’s less and less room for error in how I eat… and my tolerance for animal fat has shrunk. I’ve discussed meat eating and veganism HERE and HERE, and even Kosher Bodybuilding, which holds much promise for eating meat successfully (without blood and with lower fat). I’ve eaten red meat my whole life, starting when I was young when my dad would take us to Sizzler on many a Sunday evening. This is back when they had sawdust on the floor, so you know I’m talking old school! My favorite meal was always...

There Is Already A Schism: Two Religions In One Church There is already a practical, but not yet formal schism in the Church, said Italian historian Professor Roberto de Mattei.Talking at the January 18 "Acies Ordinata" presser in Munich (English video here), De Mattei stated that "there are two different religions within the same Church."He distinguished between the religion of the German bishops around Cardinal Marx on one side, and the Catholic religion on the other side.De Mattei stressed that Francis has also to decide whether he wants to be the Vicar of Christ or "the head of the German-Amazonic...

Department of Justice appointed federal prosecutor John Durham’s expanded criminal probe into the FBI’s investigation into President Donald Trump’s campaign is focusing on a slew of government documents that surfaced during the first several months of Trump’s presidency. The documents, which are being kept close hold, were hinted at by Attorney General William Barr in an interview he did with NBC in December and reported on by CBS News Friday. On Friday, Catherine Herridge senior national security reporter with CBS first reported that a ‘strong paper trail’ of documents is being reviewed by Durham. Those documents span a time period...

Joliet Police Officer Erin Zilka, 35, was driving on Interstate 55 early Sunday in Will County when her vehicle slammed into the back of a truck that had been involved in a traffic collision a short time earlier. Riding with Zilka was 33-year-old Berwyn Police Officer Charles Schauer. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

A New Yorker toting a massive, military-grade sniper rifle may have been the biggest star of Monday’s pro-gun rally in Richmond, Va. The enthusiast — identified by The Washington Post as Brandon Lewis, the owner of a shooting range in upstate Bergen, NY — drew stares and compliments with his .50-caliber Barrett M82A1 rifle, a semiautomatic piece that saw use by the American military beginning in the Gulf War. “This sends a strong visual message,” Lewis told the paper, cradling the firearm and decked out in a helmet and bulletproof vest. “The government is not above us. They are us.”...

he younger brother of former Democratic Rep. Katie Hill has been found dead in his Southern California home. Hill — who resigned from Congress last year — remembered her brother Daniel Brett Bennett on Sunday as a young man with “so much promise.” “Yesterday my brother Danny – a young man who overcame so much in his short life with so much promise ahead – passed away,” Hill wrote. “My heart is breaking & I’ll miss him forever. Prayers for our family in this impossibly difficult time would be appreciated.” Bennett, 20, was found unresponsive at his home in Santa...

PORTLAND, Ore. – A woman is facing several charges, accused of hopping over the pharmacy counter at the Downtown Target store, started pushing over shelves of medicine, and then further damaging property by swinging around a large metal pole. Police arrived and took the suspect, identified as 21-year-old Ashley Daniel, into custody. A spokesperson from the Target store on Southwest Morrison Street told police that nearly all the medications, medical supplies, and shelves were destroyed in the incident. They estimate damages at more than $100,000. The incident started at about 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday (Nov. 27) when employees said Daniel...

"""BREAKING: Jim Jordan, John Ratcliffe, Mark Meadows, Debbie Lesko, Elise Stefanik, Lee Zeldin and Doug Collins Join President Trump’s Legal Team""" Breaking— Joining President Trump’s Legal Team:Jim Jordan Lee Zeldin Elise Stefanik Debbie Lesko Mark Meadows John Ratcliffe Doug Collins Mike Johnson

Ander Mendez and his friends were hoping they'd struck it rich when they came up with the idea of selling alcohol-infused gummy bears -- until they found themselves in the sights of sweet giant Haribo. Now, these three Spaniards say they're afraid of being shut down by the German confectionery king, which is famed for its vast array of jelly sweets and was founded 100 years ago in the western city of Bonn. In a not-so-sweetly worded legal letter, Haribo has accused their startup of infringing its trademarked little bear. But these graduates from the northern Spanish port city of...

World War III was a nothingburger. Thus far, Civil War II is similarly underwhelming. Call it the Rubber-Glue Effect. Everything the left has tried lately has ultimately boomeranged and stuck to them in comical fashion. Insults and insinuations returning to visit harm on the heads of the accusers. In Richmond, the “violent white supremacists” even picked up their own garbage. For a white supremacy march, they were awfully diverse. What do you call it when whites, blacks, gays, straights, Latinos, etc.–in other words, Americans–turn up at the alleged “celebration of hate”? A: you call it what it is, a rally...

Wow, this is quite a contrast. The number one policy initiative that helped President Trump win election in 2016 was his promise to build a southern border wall. Several hundred miles of the new border security barrier have been completed with several hundred more in various stages of construction. During the VICE News Brown & Black Democrat Presidential Forum today, 2020 candidate Bernie Sanders said he would “look at” tearing it all down.

Frank Biden, the youngest brother of former Vice President Joe Biden, saw his business interests benefit from millions of dollars in taxpayer loans to Caribbean nations during the Obama years. The extensive overlap in Frank Biden’s dealings and Obama-Biden foreign policy in Central America is exposed in Peter Schweizer’s new book—Profiles in Corruption: Abuse of Power by America’s Progressive Elite. Frank Biden first set his sights on the region in 2009, as the Obama administration began to repair the U.S. relationship with Costa Rica. Tensions between the two countries flared under President George W. Bush, most notably on how to...

Former Vice President Joe Biden warned the liberal mainstream media today against reports on his son Hunter Biden’s pay-for-play scandals. Joe Biden insisted the several scandals involving his son have all be “debunked” which is complete nonsense. This happened on the same day that five members of Joe Biden’s family were accused of enriching themselves thanks to Joe Biden’s lifelong ‘career’ in politics. Author Peter Schweizer described the findings in his new book in a New York Post article shortly before its launch date. Politico reported: Joe Biden’s campaign issued a memo to media outlets on Monday warning them against...

The Iran deal was never meant to stop Iran from building a bomb—it was supposed to delay it until disaster happened on someone else’s watchIn the wake of the targeted killing of Iranian terror master Qassem Soleimani, an interesting fight has broken out—after Donald Trump failed to brief them in advance of the strike, Democrats began fulsomely criticizing the president. This led Republican lawmakers to accuse their counterparts across the aisle of pro-terrorist sympathies. Maybe Republicans are still sore that Barack Obama compared them to Iranian hardliners like Soleimani for denouncing his signature foreign policy initiative, the Iran nuclear deal,...

During Monday’s broadcast of Sean Hannity’s nationally syndicated radio show, author Peter Schweizer explained how 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) funneled what he deemed to be “taxpayer money” and “school money” to members of his family. While discussing his new book, Profiles in Corruption: Abuse of Power by America’s Progressive Elite, Schweizer said, “Bernie over the course of his 30-plus years in public office has final huge sums of money to his family. That includes hiring family members even when it was not justified in the Burlington city governments. But more specifically, the 2016 campaign, there was...

In the name of ending the patriarchy, New York’s governor wants to make sure that women don’t drink too much while keeping a close watch over our sex livesI had a bad night a couple of months ago. It started out superfun, my buddy and me drinking one, two, and then the ill-advised third Manhattan at this sweet little amber-lit bar in Fort Greene. We probably should have called it a night, but my place was so close. I vaguely remember some wrestling around, and then I was waking up, with a crushing headache and little recollection of what had...

America’s elite - that is, the 30% of adults with at least a college degree - enjoy one very particular privilege that enhances their life and nearly guarantees their success. And too many of them refuse to share it. The privilege isn’t a college education. That merely correlates with what really matters. And the greatest privilege isn’t material wealth. That sure makes life easier, but wealth mostly correlates with the real privilege I'm referring to. America’s elite have a secret weapon that steers them and their children away from drugs, early death, violence, dropping out of high school, dropping out...