Free Republic

In the great Paschal Homily of St. John Chrysostom, we hear the golden-mouthed preacher say this about the encounter of Christ with Hades (or Hell): He embittered it when it tasted of His flesh. And Isaiah, foretelling this, did cry: Hell, said he, was embittered, when it encountered Thee in the lower regions. It was embittered, for it was abolished. It was embittered, for it was mocked. It was embittered, for it was slain. It was embittered, for it was overthrown. It was embittered, for it was fettered in chains. It took a body, and met God face to...

An Atlanta police officer has been relieved of her duties after investigators said she attacked a fellow officer and tried to run them over with her car. Investigators said an off-duty APD officer was helping with traffic flow at Wells Fargo bank along Camp Creek Parkway when Lt. Sharonne Steed refused to follow the officer’s directions. “Lt. Steed continued to defy the officer's orders and ultimately bumped her vehicle into him,” Atlanta police said in a news release Tuesday. Police said the off-duty officer tried get Steed out of the car and she resisted, ultimately biting the officer’s hand. Investigators...

As a nation the Wuhan Virus has framed a re-evaluation of priority: faith, family, community and freedom. Seeing totalitarian Blue state governors so easy dispatch liberty and individual rights reminds us to rekindle the flickering flame of freedom. Modern journalists, no more essential to life than scripted narrative engineers dancing as puppets on strings in boxes, are inconsequential. The true American story is not built upon celebrity; but rather grit, callouses and dirty fingernails. Farmers, truck drivers, stock clerks and supermarket cashiers are essential; …dancing puppets, not so much. Facing this reality a generation of pathetically soft and feeble sorts;...

The news media business was shaky before the coronavirus started spreading across the country last month. Since then, the economic downturn that put more than 22 million Americans out of work has led to pay cuts, layoffs and shutdowns at many news outlets, including weeklies like Seven Days in Burlington, Vt., and Gannett, the nation's largest newspaper chain. Finding a sizable audience has not been a problem for publishers. Hunger for news in a time of crisis has sent droves of readers to many publications. But with businesses paused or closed — and no longer willing or able to pay...

The fearsome knock on the door came after nightfall. Outside were two men in hazmat suits who told businessman Fang Bin they had come to take him into medical quarantine. But the textile trader, a gangly man in his early 40s, wasn’t ill and the men outside his Wuhan apartment weren’t doctors. They were police officers confronting a menace the Chinese Communist Party had been grappling with as ferociously as the coronavirus itself – ordinary people who bravely expose the truth about the outbreak and refuse to keep quiet. Mr Fang’s ‘crime’ was to post a video he had filmed...

A group of 44 suspected members of Boko Haram, arrested during a recent operation against the jihadist group, have been found dead in their prison cell, apparently poisoned, Chad’s chief prosecutor announced Saturday. Speaking on national television, Youssouf Tom said the 44 prisoners had been found dead in their cell on Thursday. An autopsy carried out on four of the dead prisoners revealed traces of a lethal substance that had caused heart attacks in some of the victims and severe asphyxiation in the others, he said.

Another offshore vessel attacked in Gulf of Mexico NIKOLAY TORKIN News April 17, 2020 8:16 am Offshore accommodation vessel TELFORD 28 was attacked in the evening Apr 14 at Cuidad Del Carmen Anchorage, Mexico, Gulf of Mexico, according to Offshore Engineer news website oedigital.com. Understood it was a robbery, pirates looting both staff and vessel’s valuable items, and escaped. One crew was injured and taken to hospital, his life is not in danger. Pirates attacks in this area have become regular. Offshore accommodation vessel TELFORD 28, IMO 8769638, GT 13062, built 2007, flag Gibraltar, owner Telford Offshore.

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said Friday that President Donald Trump’s comments about “liberating” parts of the country from coronavirus stay-at-home orders put millions of Americans at risk of contracting COVID-19. Trump on Friday via Twitter encouraged demonstrators in the Democratic states of Michigan, Virginia and Minnesota to protest social-distancing rules that experts say can help slow the spread of the virus. Inslee, a Democrat, said in a statement that Trump is encouraging “illegal and dangerous acts.”“His unhinged rantings and calls for people to ‘liberate’ states could also lead to violence. We’ve seen it before,” Inslee said....

Unusual piracy attack on container ship Mikhail Voytenko News April 16, 2020 6:24 am GISIS reported an unusual piracy attack on container ship FOUMA in Ecuador waters, which took place at 0330 UTC (2230 LT) Apr 9, when the ship was under way, en route from Manta Ecuador to Guayaquil. Eight armed robbers in two speed boats approached a container ship underway. Master raised the alarm and activated the SSAS. The robbers fired warning shots, managed to board the ship, and opened 15 containers. When the search lights were directed towards the robbers, they opened fire towards the bridge. Port...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump warned China on Saturday that it should face consequences if it was “knowingly responsible” for the coronavirus pandemic, as he ratcheted up criticism of Beijing over its handling of the outbreak. “It could have been stopped in China before it started and it wasn’t, and the whole world is suffering because of it,” Trump told a daily White House briefing. It was the latest U.S. volley in a war of words between the world’s two biggest economies, showing increased strains in relations at a time when experts say an unprecedented level of cooperation...

Investigators still don't have access to the area where the fire beganOne year ago today, the world watched in horror as a fire swept through Paris’s iconic Notre Dame Cathedral, sending its spire crumbling to the ground, caving in its ceiling, and setting alight its historic interior. And now, with the country on lockdown, restoration efforts on the Gothic building have been put on hold, forcing a team of 100 engineers, scientists, architects, and archeologists to cease their tireless work on the damaged structure. The target date for completing the complex and delicate restoration has always been 2024, in time...

...Trump also offered to Whitsett the use of White House doctors to treat her lyme disease after she said she had difficulty finding treatment for her condition in Detroit. “People don’t know about lyme disease. It’s a very bad thing… It can kill you. If you have a certain type of blood, if you get lyme disease, it’s over,” Trump said. Whitsett explained that she contracted lyme disease in her Detroit home as a five-year-old child, which came as somewhat of a surprise to Trump...

WARSAW, Poland (CNS) -- Although Catholics in most East European countries have backed measures to control the COVID-19 pandemic, for some it has also revived painful memories of communist rule. Sensitivities over church closures have also surfaced in Western Europe, where some Catholics have questioned the right of civil authorities to prohibit religious worship. "The terrifying vision of empty churches shows how it might have been if past anti-Catholic hostilities had prevailed," said Polish Radio presenter Malgorzata Glabisz-Pniewska. "There hasn't been any great resistance, since these measures have been ordered by a government seen as sympathetic to the faith, with...

Thousands of colleges across the country are being infused with billions of dollars in cash after they were forced to close their campuses and move classes online amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund is part of the $2 trillion CARES Act that was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump. The fund contains a total of about $14.2 billion for both private and public colleges and universities across the U.S. In a letter to college presidents dated April 9, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos wrote that "the most significant portion of that funding...

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is leading a bipartisan effort to wean the United States from its reliane on China for drugs and medical supplies by turning to Middle East ally Israel. Cruz and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., are seeking $12 million to enhance partnerships between companies in the U.S. and Israel "to develop innovative medical projects aimed at detecting, treating, and curing COVID-19," Breaking Israel News reported. "I've long said that China poses the most significant, long-term geopolitical threat to the United States," Cruz wrote on Twitter. "Our dependence on China for life-saving medications and treatments is deeply problematic. The...

Several more Orthodox clerics have come under fire this week for celebrating the Divine services and giving Holy Communion to the faithful—this time from the Greek and Cypriot Churches. Greek authorities have opened a criminal case against His Eminence Metropolitan Nektarios of Corfu, the Mayor of Corfu Merope Hydraiou, and Chairman of the Municipal Council Dimitrios Metallinos for violating the ban on holding religious services, for celebrating and attending Divine Liturgy for the Great Feast of Palm Sunday at the Church of St. Spyridon, report RIA-Novosti with reference to the Greek outlet Kerkya Simera. The hierarch explained to the Prosecutor...

Chinese investors who agreed to provide millions of dollars in funding for a series of North Texas land development deals are moving to put the projects in bankruptcy. The forced bankruptcy attempts involve suburban land developments in several locations. The developers of the projects say the Chapter 7 filings have no merit and are part of long-running legal disputes. The development projects — including WALL017 LLC, WALL012 LLC, WALL016 LLC, WALL009 LLC, WALL010 LLC and WALL011 LLC — were launched by companies organized by Dallas-based JMJ Development. Chinese investors agreed to provide millions of dollars in funding for the hundreds...

I gave up on Drudge (a really nice guy) long ago, as have many others. People are dropping off like flies!

BBC also broadcasts Imam's recitation of verses from the Holy Quran and quotes of Holy Prophet before delivering the sermon and leading the listeners in prayers. Every Friday the program 'Islamic Reflections' led by an Imam will be broadcasted.In a first, BBC begins the broadcast of Muslim prayers on its network as mosques shut down across Britain, part of the extensive measures against coronavirus. Hence, British-Muslims will hear the Friday prayers broadcast on BBC Radio for the first time. Different imams lead the 5:50 am broadcasts every week on Friday from 14 local radio stations of BBC. The imam recites...

As the president of the United States shelters in place with the White House press corps, and Joe Biden gibbers senselessly into the GoPro camera in his Delaware basement, this fall’s national election has been thrown into a cocked tricorn by the coronavirus. Many of Donald Trump’s retail-politicking strengths — the huge rallies, his command of crowds — have been neutralized, and while he still has control of the narrative from his bully pulpit in the West Wing, the national media remains dead set against him, and puts the worst possible spin on every word he speaks. Meanwhile, Biden and...