Free Republic

Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time Mark 10:35-45 Friends, in today’s Gospel, James and John ask Jesus to place them in high places in his kingdom. They are asking for two of the classic four substitutes for God: wealth, pleasure, power, and honor, specifically for the last two. Power is not, in itself, a bad thing. And the same is true of honor. Thomas Aquinas said that honor is the flag of virtue. It’s a way of signaling to others something that’s worth noticing. So, what’s the problem? The problem is that they are asking for these two things in the...

(National Review) [On October 8], I was scheduled to meet with officials at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Office for Management and Budget (OMB) to discuss the profound legal and policy defects in a proposed rule governing the Title X family-planning program. But instead of keeping their commitment and hearing my presentation, they canceled the meeting and officially published the rule [on October 7]. Hearing from members of the public with expertise in agency matters has been a routine practice of both Republican and Democrat administrations for decades. Yet it is clear that HHS under...

Alleging that “Americans need more government to protect them from a systemic climate crisis,” President Biden announced “a new battle line will be formed across all financial institutions. This battle line will require these institutions to scrutinize customer accounts to determine if the investments and expenditures are sufficiently environmentally friendly to be permitted.” “Those holding investments that seek to profit from environmentally dangerous products like fossil fuels will be ordered to divest these assets,” Biden proclaimed. “Those seeking to purchase environmentally dangerous products like gasoline, natural gas, or heating oil will have their transactions blocked. While skeptics will say these...

Schism, scandal, or sideshow? What’s a bishop to do about ‘womenpriests’?In the Episcopalian cathedral of Albuquerque, New Mexico, a Catholic woman will undergo a ceremony Saturday that will declare her a priest — a Catholic priest, specifically, and a member of the Roman Catholic Womenpriests movement.The ceremony will get some attention — the woman, Anne Tropeano, has been featured in both secular and Catholic press.A protest for the ordination of woman as Catholic priests. Credit: Sally and Richard Greenhill / Alamy Stock Photo.ShareThe ceremony will not validly confer ordination — Tropeano will not be regarded by the Church as a...

This is great… highly effective

As Democrats continue to feud internally over the content and price tag of President Biden's proposed $3.5 trillion reconciliation package, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said on Sunday he hopes the disagreements eventually result in the legislation's defeat. "I hope for Democrat gridlock," Johnson said on Fox News’s "Sunday Morning Futures." "Oftentimes, in Washington, D.C., gridlock is the better alternative, but when it's Democrat gridlock, pray for it. I hope that's exactly what happens."

Allison Williams is out at ESPN due to the company’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The college football and basketball sideline reporter, who announced last month she was opting out of the season because she had not received the vaccine as she and her husband tried for a second child, said Friday night that her “request for accommodation” had been denied.

Devolution of COVID vaccine efficacy. pic.twitter.com/Tlm3SAG0OT— Kelly Bee 🐝 (@ke11ybender) October 15, 2021

Key Points The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF, which will give exposure to bitcoin futures contracts but not the spot market, will trade under the ticker “BITO.” The Securities and Exchange Commission had not formally approved the creation of bitcoin futures ETF as of Friday afternoon and the agency may never make a formal declaration of approval for it. The proposed date for the listing is Monday, according to the new filing, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s when it will begin trading. That could come later in the week.

The madness of vaccine mandates is spreading across the country. In Washington where radical leftists control much of the government, law enforcement officers are being fired over not complying with Governor Jay Inslee’s vaccine mandates. One cop had a message for Inslee as he signed off for the final time after 22 years:

Liberal partisans who want to crush any shred of fairness in reporting are latching on to a Friday column in the Los Angeles Times by Jackie Calmes, who was an “objective” reporter for decades. The headline was "Why journalists are failing the public with ‘both-siderism’ in political coverage."Jay Rosen, the academic guru of unabashed socialism in the news columns and newscasts, tweeted "I have been waiting for this column — by a former political reporter — for a very long time." This was the theme:

Dr. Stella Immanuel, a COVID-19 frontline doctor from Houston believes that the whole “pandemic” is a Trojan Horse for vaccines designed by Bill Gates to depopulate the earth. Dr. Stella went viral for speaking the truth about the life-saving COVID-19 treatment Hydroxychloroquine and her ongoing bravery in this fight against the establishment.

If a public school teacher had done this to a child, he would have been removed from the classroom and possibly brought up on charges. Something is clearly wrong with President Biden. This man is not well. What the fresh hell is this pic.twitter.com/OQl0tGRfJr — Ian Miles Cheong @ stillgray.substack.com (@stillgray) October 17, 2021 This is so creepy pic.twitter.com/t2QMCXz6Gh — Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) October 17, 2021

Biden Taps Heterodox Catholic to Represent US at Vatican Joe Donnelly is Biden’s idea of a sound Catholic. In early October, Joe Biden nominated Joe Donnelly, a former Indiana Senator, to serve as his ambassador to the Vatican. News coverage of the nomination has been misleading. “Biden nominates pro-life Democrat Donnelly as new Vatican ambassador,” says National Catholic Reporter. Donnelly is not pro-life, at least not in any consistent sense. “He has voted with Planned Parenthood Action Fund 67 percent of the time since he’s been in Congress,” reported the Indianapolis Star in 2018.Like Biden, Donnelly is a Democrat first...

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson argued on Sunday that former President Donald Trump’s allegations of voter fraud during the 2020 election could spell disaster for Republicans in the upcoming midterms. Mr. Hutchinson, who has not ruled out a run for the GOP nomination in 2024, made the comments during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Re-litigating 2020 is a recipe for disaster in 2022,” he said. “The election is passed, it’s been certified, the states have made decisions on the integrity of each of their elections and made improvements where need be.” Mr. Hutchinson urged Republicans to focus on the...

The Modern Survivalist LIVE STREAM NOTIFICATION - Matt Bracken and Host Fernando Aguirre Broadcast from Spain and Florida, U.S.A. Join us today as we talk with Matt Bracken about current events and how to be better prepared! Make sure to join early and leave your questions in the chat section. Always a fast-moving show. Wide-ranging discussions include emerging global issues, US military degradation, national cultural instability, attacks on freedom from the left and recent news stories. A good resource for ideas to prepare for possible events and for equipment evaluations and suggestions. Subscribed listeners can ask questions in the comments...

More than 300 black churches across Virginia are expected to desecrate their sanctuaries by broadcasting a video message from Vice President Kamala Harris. The video, which you can watch below, urges black voters to support Democrat gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe. CNN first reported that the video message that will air during morning services from now until election day as part of an outreach effort aimed to boost McAuliffe. Harris said her time growing up in Oakland’s 23rd Avenue Church of God taught her it was a “sacred responsibility” to “lift up the voices of our community.” “I believe that my...

There’s no way ignoring the gang problem in Haiti anymore. The armed bandits, who since 2004 have sprouted under the watch of United Nations peace missions, now control most activities in the country. So, finally, there’s great concern by members of the international community about what’s happening in the Caribbean-island nation. ---SNIP--- The U.S. is committed to strengthening the Haitian National Police’s institutional capacity, including basic training, defending human rights, and countering impunity.”

Feel the pain:https://twitter.com/i/status/1449564583878922242

And even all that spending isn’t enough: Social Security’s “unfunded liabilities” — how much money the government would need today to make up the difference between the money that will be paid into Social Security in the future and the benefits that have been promised — is about $40 trillion. How much is $40 trillion? It is all the money in the world — literally: All the cash in circulation, plus all the deposits in checking accounts and savings accounts, adds up to about $40 trillion. That is a big hole to climb out of. Just as inflation can cause...