Free Republic

During 2019, many Catholic churches were closed down for refusing to join the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association. Even state-run churches are suppressed.Torn down as “illegal buildings”On December 29, 2019, the Religious Affairs Bureau of Qishan county, administered by the prefecture-level city of Baoji in the northwestern Shaanxi Province, ordered to demolish a Catholic church in Luojiazhuang village. The church refused to be registered by the state, and was therefore suppressed for “lacking proper permits.” A local believer told Bitter Winter that before Christmas, the church’s priest, having learned that the government wanted to demolish his church, went to negotiate with...

HARRISBURG — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg filed for bankruptcy Wednesday, becoming the first diocese in the state to seek protection from financial claims in the aftermath of a 2018 grand jury report that revealed decades of sexual abuse and cover-up by the church’s top leaders. And, said a lawyer for the diocese, it’s not likely to be the last. Citing the fallout from that probe and recent court decisions that opened new avenues for some victims with time-barred claims to sue, attorney Matt Haverstick said Harrisburg, like each of the state’s eight other Catholic dioceses, faces the prospect...

[Catholic Caucus] Austrian diocese sues father of six for refusing to pay Church tax The father opposes the promotion of homosexuality and gender ideology, which he says is running rampant in his diocese. FELDKIRCH, Austria, February 21, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — The Austrian diocese of Feldkirch is taking a father of six to court for refusing to pay the Church tax. The father, who remains anonymous, argued that he could not pay the tax in good conscience because of the diocese’s involvement in the promotion of homosexuality and gender ideology. As reported by faithful Catholic news website kath.net, the father...

Ignatius Youssef slams West's 'Machiavellian opportunism' on migrationROME (ChurchMilitant.com) - The Syrian patriarch of Antioch is calling on Muslim-majority countries to resettle Islamic refugees and is excoriating Western religious leaders for their "political correctness" on immigration and the persecution of Christians. "Since there are Arab countries — with a Muslim majority — that have financial resources in billions and vast uninhabited territories, why not settle the refugees from the Middle East, thereby giving them temporary accommodation pending a political solution which will facilitate their return home?" asks His Beatitude Ignatius Youssef III Younan. "These countries have the space, money and...

COSTA MESA (CBSLA) – Costa Mesa is trying to block as many as 70 confirmed coronavirus patients from being transferred to the city. Federal court papers filed Friday state that the federal government plans to transfer the patients from Travis Air Force Base near Sacramento to the former Fairview Development Center on Sunday.

Hillary Clinton Apologized to FBI Over Emails, But It Was Not Recorded on FBI Interview Document! CIA, DOJ Stonewall on Existence of Eric Ciaramella Records Soros-Tied Group Run by Dem Operatives Promotes Leftist Agenda Prosecutorial Misconduct, Clinton Connection in Duncan Hunter Case Hillary Clinton Apologized to FBI Over Emails, But It Was Not Recorded on FBI Interview Document! We keep digging into the chain of events surrounding the FBI’s non-investigation of Hillary Clinton and her email misconduct. The correspondence between Peter Strzok and his lover Lisa Page is proving to be a treasure trove. We have now received 191...

WASHINGTON — In October 1985, a few months after Bernie Sanders traveled to Nicaragua to celebrate the sixth anniversary of that country's socialist revolution, the Soviet-backed government suspended the civil liberties of its citizens, including the rights to free speech, free assembly and labor strikes. A few days later, Sanders, then the socialist mayor of Burlington, Vermont, received a pointed letter from a constituent. How, the letter-writer wanted to know, could Sanders continue to embrace a "another in a long line of dictatorships, whose only true concern is its length of stay in power"? In a written reply, Sanders —...

The Hollywood actor and director was staying at a hotel owned by Steve Wynn, the casino billionaire. "Steve called me up in the room and said, 'Do you want to go play golf? We're going out with Trump.' I said, 'Who?' and Steve said, 'Trump. You know Trump?' " So Messrs. Eastwood and Wynn ventured out for a morning on the course with Donald Trump. "It was funny," Mr. Eastwood says, "because every time I was together with Steve"—with the future president out of earshot—"he would say, 'You know, Trump is doing those damn casinos. He's going to lose his...

We have taken enforcement action on a group of accounts for violating our rules against platform manipulation and spam,” a Twitter spokesman said. Some of the suspensions will be permanent, while in other cases account owners will have to verify they have control of their accounts. As part of a far-reaching social media strategy, the Bloomberg campaign has hired hundreds of temporary employees to pump out campaign messages through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. These “deputy field organizers” receive $2,500 per month to promote the former New York mayor’s candidacy within their personal social circles, in addition to other, more conventional...

Washington Democrats are in full-blown panic over the highly possible nomination of Socialist Bernie Sanders. They ought to be: Sanders represents a relatively small portion of the Democrat voting base, is proposing ideas which are radical and destructive even for the fiscally-irresponsible Democrats, and when pitted against Donald Trump, could win fewer than two hundred electoral votes. Sanders represents everything that would destroy the United States from its very core, but his popularity and threat to Democrats’ viability for years to come rests at the Democrats’ very feet.

Another Friday Night classic! Enjoy FReepers.

A consultant for Burisma Holdings and associate of Hunter Biden reached out to the State Department to meet about "troubling events" in Ukraine. Emails released by the State Department show communications between Sally Painter, a consulting representative for the Ukrainian gas company, and William Russo, the top aide of former Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken in 2016. In one email in June, Painter requested a meeting with Blinker to discuss events in Ukraine. “Per my conversation with Tony at the Truman event, Karen Tramontano and I would like to have a brief coffee with Tony at his earliest convenience...

A consultant for Burisma with links to Hunter Biden approached a top State Department official in June 2016 to discuss “troubling events” in Ukraine, according to newly released State Department emails. Consultant Sally Painter of Blue Star Strategies was at the time working with Burisma, the Ukrainian natural gas company, to quash corruption investigations into the firm. Painter approached then-deputy secretary of state Tony Blinken at an event for the Truman National Security Project, and sent an email to Blinken’s top aide three days later requesting a second meeting with the deputy secretary. “Per my conversation with Tony at the...

Former Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday that he won’t promise to serve just one presidential term because of his advanced age but pledged that he would not seek a second if he loses “energy and mental acuity.” “Look, I guarantee you this: if anything changed in my health making incapable for me to fully exert all the energy and mental acuity that was needed to be done, I give you my word I would not run again,” Biden, 77, told a CNN town hall. “It’s totally legitimate for y’all to ask about my age or anybody else’s age up...

Vatican Priest Recruiting Freemasons in Curia Fr. Weninger's open Freemasonry confirms Taylor Marshall's 'Infiltration' VATICAN CITY (ChurchMilitant.com) - A clerical staff member of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue is using his position to recruit Freemasons in the Roman Curia, well-placed sources have revealed.Outraged Catholics called for Fr. Michael Weninger to be excommunicated, after Church Militant reported that the Vatican cleric, a Freemason, published a 500-page book defiantly claiming that Catholics could join a masonic lodge and "certainly not" be excommunicated.The Austrian priest, who was outed as a Freemason chaplain to three lodges, launched his 500-page doctoral dissertation in popular format Loge und...

Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, a key figure in the impeachment of President Trump, landed a book deal about her time as a career diplomat. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt told the Associated Press that it would publish Yovanovitch’s memoir, which is expected to be released in spring 2021. Two people familiar with the deal said it was worth seven figures. The book will reflect on her career from Mogadishu, Somalia, to Kyiv and “finally back to Washington, D.C. — where, to her dismay, she found a political system beset by many of the same challenges she had spent her...

“Damn those complicated drive-in orders,” muttered Peter Plant as he sat three cars back at the Dunkin’ Donuts drive-through waiting to get his one medium black coffee as the lime green Ford Fiesta up at the window had bag after bag handed through the window and now finally came the drinks on brown styrofoam trays. What looked like an excitable pre-teen girl was bouncing up and down in the shotgun seat while the head of a heavily panting golden retriever stuck out of the open window in the backseat. On the back window was one of those obnoxious yellow...

The Democrat debate on Wednesday was the undercard bout. The real Vegas fight — the one that matters — happens Saturday night. Undefeated WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder will face off against undefeated lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury in a rematch of their December 2018 fight, which ended in a thrilling draw. ...President Trump is not expected to attend the fight, though he is in Vegas this week on a four-day swing through the west. But the fight points to a fascinating story about his presidency. Tyson Fury, the “Gypsy King,” is a fan of Trump, and invited him to...

Top officials at the Department of Homeland Security will import 45,000 extra foreign workers for GOP-aligned small businesses, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. The newspaper reported February 20: The Department of Homeland Security plans to announce the additional seasonal-worker visas next week, an administration official said. They will become available in two waves: the first 20,000 will be immediately available, while employers can apply for the remainder for jobs beginning June 1. It wasn’t clear whether the White House has fully signed off on the numbers, and an administration official cautioned they could change. The additional...

When I have a little free time, I like to scan YouTube, as so many people do. And lately, I’ve been pulling up and binge-watching Larry Bird videos. What’s that all about? For those of you who don’t know, Larry Bird was one of the greatest basketball players in NBA history. He was also known as the bitter rival of Magic Johnson, with a number of legendary matchups to prove it. The two—who later became good friends—couldn’t be more different—personality-wise. Magic was “Showtime” in L.A. in the 80s. In contrast, Larry was “The Hick from French Lick” (Indiana). But their...