Free Republic

Pope to Make History With ‘Devil Devotees’Francis will pray with Peacock-Angel-worshipping Yezidis in IraqVATICAN CITY (ChurchMilitant.com) - Pope Francis will be the first pontiff in history to pray with members of a syncretistic sect who worship a "fallen angel" depicted as a peacock and identified with the Devil.An Iraqi Catholic looks forward to welcoming Pope Francis The Yezidis — persecuted to the point of genocide by the Islamic State (ISIS) as "Devil worshippers" — will participate in the pope's Saturday interreligious service in Ur with Muslims, Mandaean-Sabeans and members of Iraq's other religious communities.While the mainstream media and some religious...

Micro-schools could be answer for low-income Black students | Commentary https://t.co/yoY6r4qsKe— Jeb Bush (@JebBush) February 28, 2021

After handing them their suicide capsules, Norwegian Royal Army Colonel Leif Tronstad informed his soldiers, “I cannot tell you why this mission is so important, but if you succeed, it will live in Norway’s memory for a hundred years.” These commandos did know, however, that an earlier attempt at the same mission by British soldiers had been a complete failure. Two gliders transporting the men had both crashed while en route to their target. The survivors were quickly captured by German soldiers, tortured, and executed. If similarly captured, these Norwegians could expect the same fate as their British counterparts, hence...

...In St. Louis County, Mo., Evita Tolu has filed a lawsuit against family court guardian ad litem (GAL) Elaine Pudlowski, psychologist James Reid, and clinical social worker Jennifer Webbe VanLuven, alleging that the trio conspired to use her custody dispute as an opportunity to get rich while sentencing her children to life with an abuser. The lawsuit alleges a scheme perpetrated by a group of professionals to drain parents involved in custody battles. At the end of the court process, parents are broke and kids are traumatized while GALs, court-appointed psychologists, and therapists are enriched. Tolu says the scheme kept...

Alibaba and Ant Group founder Jack Ma has lost the title of China’s richest man, a list published on Tuesday showed, as his peers prospered while his empire was put under heavy scrutiny by Chinese regulators. Ma and his family had held the top spot for China’s richest in the Hurun Global Rich List in 2020 and 2019 but now trail in fourth place behind bottled water maker Nongfu Spring’s Zhong Shanshan, Tencent Holding’s Pony Ma and e-commerce upstart Pinduoduo’s Collin Huang, the latest list showed.His fall out of the top three comes “after China’s regulators reined in Ant Group...

The Catholic Church and its social service agency Caritas in Bangladesh are stepping up a massive nationwide tree plantation campaign with an aim to make the country greener and safer amid threats of climate change impacts. Since last year, they have jointly planted about 400,000 saplings of various species of fruit trees. A total of 700,000 trees will be planted by the end of the year. The campaign is inspired by three significant events — the fifth anniversary of Pope Francis’s environmental encyclical Laudato Si', the golden jubilee of Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan, and the birth centenary of the nation’s...

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich urged the Supreme Court on March 2 to affirm that his state’s electoral integrity laws were consistent with the federal Voting Rights Act and should be upheld.The case Arizona’s top prosecutor argued is actually two consolidated cases: Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Arizona Republican Party v. DNC.Although the justices peppered counsel for Arizona and the state’s Republican Party with at-times hostile-sounding questions, members of the Supreme Court seemed receptive to their arguments. Except for the more liberal members, the justices did not seem convinced that Arizona’s election laws violated the Voting Rights Act.The...

Loosely translated from Diario de Cuba: Catholic priest Alberto Reyes Pías asked the Cuban Government this Sunday to hear the clamor of the people for a change and open the way to a spring on the island. “To you who hold the reins of the political power of this Island, don’t you see this people cry out for a change? Aren’t you going to have the courage and intelligence to initiate those changes, so that a peaceful and Can we all, in the end, reach an agreement from peace? “Reyes said on Facebook.“To you, who respond to the organs of...

Hours-long wait times were reported at Manhattan’s Jacob Javits Center vaccination hub on Tuesday — with a massive line at one point extending outside and around the block. Several people took to Twitter to share their experiences — with one woman flagging the situation to a city councilman who is running for Manhattan borough president. “Hey @MarkLevineNYC pls be aware of current situation at @javitscenter: 100s of people with comorbidities have been in line for several hours & are still not close to getting their shot,” Anne Summers wrote just before 5 p.m. “My partner arrived at 2.45 for his...

The small town of Moscow, Idaho, is continuing to live up to its name. This latest dust-up — the second in less than a year — centers on 18-year-old Rory Wilson, a college-aged student whose educational aspirations were sidelined by the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in him enrolling in classes at the close-to-home New St. Andrews College. Rory Wilson and his 14-year-old brother are now facing 13 criminal misdemeanors — charges that flow from an ordinance that has reportedly never been used to prosecute anyone in the city. The teenagers’ dad, Nate Wilson, who is also facing a charge for “aiding...

Washington D.C., Mar 1, 2021 / 12:20 pm MT (CNA).- The parish of St. Sabina in Chicago announced on Sunday that it would withhold its monthly contributions to the archdiocese until an abuse investigation into its longtime pastor is completed. Two brothers in January had accused Fr. Michael Pfleger of sexually abusing them when they were teens. Pfleger denies the allegations, but he stepped aside from ministry after the first accusation was made and the archdiocese first announced its investigation. Fr. Pfleger is known for his outspoken social justice activism. Almost two months after the first allegation was made against...

For the first time in the history of the United States, the former president delivered the State of the Union, not the current president. ... Trump, of course, devoted a significant portion of his speech to the 2020 elections. “Our electoral process is at the level of third world countries … and the Supreme Court did not have the courage to do anything about it.” Trump, being Trump, trolled his political opponents at an unprecedented level when he said, “I might even decide to beat them a third time.” Trump’s method of solving the problem could not be predicted by...

Manhattan's luxury condo frenzy petered out a few years ago. Owners are taking realized losses as they offload properties at steep losses. A prime example of this is the pending deal at 551 W. 21st St., where two units listed for a combined $26 million found a buyer after a couple of years on and off the market, according to Bloomberg, who cited data from brokerage Olshan Realty. The owner initially acquired the property in 2016 for $31.3 million and then attempted to flip it for $40 million the following year. With no success, the owner is expected to realize...

We may be witnessing a major realignment of the Middle East. I was Googling around the other day for a factoid: how many Israelis had visited the United Arab Emirates since the signing of their normalization agreement, known as the Abraham Accords. Answer: more than 130,000.Jumping Jehoshaphat, Batman! In the middle of a global pandemic, at least 130,000 Israeli tourists and investors have flown to Dubai and Abu Dhabi since commercial air travel was established in mid-October!I believed from the start that the openings between Israel and the U.A.E., Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan — forged by Jared Kushner and Donald...

A new petition from the grassroots, ecumenical, social-justice Christian organization Faithful America has already gathered more than 21,000 signatures, asking Pope Francis to investigate the partisan, pro-Trump behaviour of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). The Faithful America petition was launched on 5 February in support of an editorial entitled, "It's time for the Vatican to investigate the US bishops' conference." published in the American publication: National Catholic Reporter on 28 January. The first 21,026 signatures have been sent to the Pope's Apostolic Nunciature in DC, as well as to the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to...

One in three conservative academics has been threatened with disciplinary action for expressing their beliefs, according to a new study that quantifies academia's liberal bias. Research from the Center for the Study of Partnership and Ideology released Monday shows that conservative professors and graduate students are "guaranteed" to face discrimination in academia. University of London politics professor Eric Kaufmann conducted the study, which he says is the first to focus on how academic authoritarianism threatens conservatives on campus. Kaufmann analyzed eight surveys of graduate-level professors and doctoral students, the majority of whom said they would not oppose discriminating against their...

Failed Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams said Monday on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” that Democrats were “at war” with state Republicans lawmakers forwarding bills addressing voting and members of Congress who do not support the Democrats voting legislation. Abrams said, “We are seeing it play out in the most grotesque way possible because across the country, in 40 legislative bodies, we are watching attempts to roll back the right to vote. Because to put it simply, Republicans believe too many people voted. They believe too many eligible voters chose other than their candidates, and because of that, they’re going...

In light of newfound censorship of the children's author, some are flocking to eBay, and many purchasers are willing to dole out thousands of dollars to get their hands on what may be the last copies of some of Dr. Seuss's famous books. Following the announcement that Dr. Seuss Enterprises would stop publishing six of his titles due to claims of racist imagery, owners of the books are scoring potentially big sales on online retailers such as eBay and Amazon. One of the books, And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street, is going for $20,000 on the...

Actor Will Smith teased the idea of running for political office one day during an interview on "Pod Save America." On the episode released Monday, Smith joined hosts Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, Dan Pfeiffer and Tommy Vietor to promote his new Netflix docuseries "Amend: The Fight for America," but he also discussed his personal interest in politics. The podcast is hosted by a group of former aides to former President Barack Obama. The 52-year-old actor emphasized that he "absolutely" has an opinion when it comes to activism, systemic racism and ideas for the country's future. When asked whether he would...

My suggestion last week that perhaps the best way some of us who’ve been conservatives can now help the country is to help the Biden administration succeed, and help the Democratic party move to the center, seems to have stirred up a minor tempest in the conservative teapot. I asked whether one shouldn’t “consider allying oneself with the Biden wing of the Democratic party? Aren’t the Red Dogs worth at least a thought?” And the answer, from several reasonable and honest conservatives, was, “Not really.” That’s fine. I wrote the piece to stimulate debate and I’m glad it did. I...