Free Republic

For the past few weeks, the weekly survey of the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) has offered unique insights into emotions and investor sentiment. To say the least, individual investors are nervous. Every week since 1987, AAII conducts a survey. There’s just one question in the survey: Are you bullish, bearish or neutral about the next six months? The results provide useful insights into the current market environment. Over the long run, investor sentiment tends to be more bullish than bearish. This can be seen in the long-term average of the results. In a typical week, 38% of individuals...

A priest currently suspended by Opus Dei has published an open letter to Pope Francis and all the faithful of goodwill expressing his deep concerns about the Pope’s support for same-sex civil unions which he says is just one example of situational ethics that has crept into this pontificate’s teaching. Father Jesusmary Missigbètò, a 41-year-old Benin native currently living in Ivory Coast, has released the letter (see below) on the first anniversary of the showing of a documentary called Francesco by Evgeny Afineevsky in which the Pope’s remarks were reported. Father Jesusmary considers the Pope’s remarks, which have never been...

Abortion is one of the thorniest political issues in America, and it’s been that way for years. But it’s also an area where Americans’ views are complex and often contradictory. What people really think about abortion access is notoriously difficult to capture in a poll. And how people feel about the issue is influenced by all kinds of hard-to-quantify factors — their own personal experiences, the political landscape and more. So we want to capture some of that complexity by talking to you. Think you have a perspective on abortion that’s not represented in the news? Believe we should be...

The parents of a 13-year-old student at McNeel Intermediate School in Beloit, Wisconsin say that a special needs teacher taped a mask around his face on Tuesday and the police are refusing to file charges. The teacher, Mrs. Jessica Quinodda Scott, previously tried to force the 8th grade student to wear a mask featuring a Pride flag, but he refused. Scott, who uses the fake name “Berry Johnson” on Facebook, has Black Lives Matter and far-left politics all over her profile.

The reality of the “communist paradise on earth” is brutal persecution and social ghettos, says the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. His Holiness Patriarch Kirill addressed the issue in his new interview with Forbes France. Asked about altruism as “a third way between hyper-materialistic capitalism and revolutionary Marxism,” the Patriarch state firmly: “The desire for self-enrichment as the highest goal of life, as well as self-satisfied social egoism, are repugnant to the Christian worldview.” Moreover, the quasi-religiosity ascribed to both capitalism and Marxism is equally unacceptable. For all its talk of creating a paradise on earth, communism and aggressive...

Fauci and his wife to receive award from Catholic charity for ‘significant contributions’ to the churchDr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Christine Grady will receive the Saint Katherine Drexel Award from the Support Our Aging Religious organization on November 5.(LifeSiteNews) – Dr. Anthony Fauci and his wife, Dr. Christine Grady, will receive an award from a Catholic charity for their “significant contributions to the Catholic Church and particularly to America’s men and women religious.”The couple are to be presented the Saint Katherine Drexel award from the non-profit group Support Our Aging Religious! (SOAR!) in a virtual event on November 5. The...

Christians rejoice as parliament uses secret ballot to block Zan legislation ROME (ChurchMilitant.com) - Faithful Italian Catholics and evangelical Christians are rejoicing after the Zan bill against transhomophobia, which threatened to criminalize the Church's teaching on sexuality, was shot down on the floor of Italy's senate Wednesday afternoon. The motion to halt the bill, named for the Democratic Party lawmaker and gay rights activist Alessandro Zan, was blocked by a secret ballot in Italy's Upper House with 154 senators voting in favor of canceling the draft legislation, 131 against and two abstentions. Matteo Salvini's Lega (League) and Giorgia Meloni's Fratelli...

Liberty Counsel has filed a class action lawsuit along with a motion for a temporary restraining order and injunction in the federal Northern District Court of Illinois against NorthShore University HealthSystem on behalf of 14 health care workers and numerous others who have been unlawfully discriminated against and denied religious exemptions from the COVID shot mandate. As of last Friday, NorthShore had already started purging those employees with sincere religious objections to its “Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination Policy,” by removing many of those employees from the November work schedule, including those whose appeals were still pending. Unless this court intervenes and...

The Vatican has announced that Pope Francis is considering an invitation to visit Canada in light of the Canadian bishops’ "pastoral process of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples." A communique from the Holy See Press Office on Oct. 27 said that the pope has “indicated his willingness to visit” Canada on a future undetermined date. The Canadian bishops’ conference welcomed the Vatican announcement stating that “Pope Francis has accepted their invitation to visit Canada on a pilgrimage of healing and reconciliation.” “We pray that Pope Francis’ visit to Canada will be a significant milestone in the journey toward reconciliation and healing,”...

Immigration arrests inside the United States fell during the past year to their lowest number in more than a decade, it emerged on Tuesday, according to new data from U.S. Immigration and Enforcement. Almost 72,000 arrests were made in fiscal year 2021, which ended in September, a drop of almost one third since 2020 when 104,000 arrests made, the Washington Post reported. Chad Wolf, who led the Department of Homeland Security under President Trump, said: 'This is what abolishing ICE looks like. 'Disaster in the middle of a crisis.'. .... ...The Washington Post reported that the number of arrests made...

PORTLAND, Ore. — A decision by Portland city leaders is drawing attention from across the country. Portland is now the first to offer bereavement leave for employees after they have an abortion. City Council unanimously approved the changes earlier this month. Under the new policy, employees are able to take off three days of work after an abortion or any type of pregnancy loss.

Researchers have discovered nearly 500 ceremonial complexes in Mexico, and they are thought to have been of cosmic importance to Mesoamerican civilizations over 2,000 years ago. The hundreds of sites were discovered using publicly available LIDAR data collected by the Mexican government... ...It is thought they were constructed by diverse groups between 1,050 BC and 400 BC...and, and, based on they way they are facing, many seem to be aligned with the sunrise of a certain date....

This is the United States first ever gender 'X' passport - given to an intersex Navy veteran who has been campaigning for the option since 2015. Dana Zzyym, who uses they/them pronouns, received their document on Wednesday, with their law firm Lambda exclusively sharing a snap of the groundbreaking photo page with DailyMail.com Zzyym, from Colorado, was identified as the recipient by her law firm Lambda Legal on Wednesday, shortly after the State Department announced the document had been issued. Zzyym, who uses 'they/them' pronouns, first asked for the change while filling out their passport form in 2015, when the...

The scope of the fraud that Lori Ann Talens, 41, masterminded was so “staggering” that the massive sum of her theft was a “conservative estimate,” according to information released by the FBI last week. “She had coupons for $24.99 off a $25 box of diapers. And it would work,” said Postal Inspector Jason Thomasson. “And you’d have people walking out the door with those diapers for almost nothing.” Talens’ husband, Pacifico Talens Jr., 43, was also sentenced to seven months in prison, according to the release.

This afternoon, Attorney General Merrick Garland testified before a congressional hearing, and he wasn't prepared for the kind of metaphorical beating he was going to receive. Senator Ted Cruz gave one helluva performance, skull dragging Garland for every single person in the chamber to see. It made for very compelling television. It was magnificent. And before Garland could even begin to process anything, Cruz eviscerated him. He demonstrated just how the AG did, in fact, weaponize the DOJ against parents in an act of political persecution. Garland played stupid—which is never difficult for a leftist hack—as Cruz drilled into him...

~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~ ~ Remembering Our Troops!! ~ Wildcats With Guns! U.S. Army cadets assigned to Kansas State University Reserves Office Training Corps (ROTC) Wildcat Battalion represent their university by expressing the school’s wildcat mascot hand symbol at an M4 qualifying range, Oct. 23, 2021, at Fort Riley, Kansas. Cadets completed a three-day field training exercise at Fort Riley that included range qualifications, obstacle courses, land navigation, and tactical combat casualty care, to focus on individual basic Soldier skills, as well as to build confidence, teamwork, and leadership skills. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Alvin Conley,...

Italy’s senate has killed off a bill that would have made violence against LGBT people and disabled people, as well as misogyny, a hate crime. The 315-member senate voted by 154 to 131 on Wednesday to block the debate on the law, named after the gay centre-left Democratic party (PD) legislator Alessandro Zan and previously approved by the lower house of parliament in the face of months of protests from far-right and Catholic groups. Pina Picierno, a PD member of the European parliament, called the vote “one of the worst pages in the history of the Italian republic”. According to...

Huma Abedin has spoken publicly for the first time, breaking her silence to discuss being kissed by a senator against her will, and the collapse of her marriage to disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner. Abedin, who for 25 years has served as Hillary Clinton's most loyal aide, spoke to CBS's Norah O'Donnell for an interview that will air on Sunday. She recounted an incident from the 2000s, described in her new memoir, in which a senator invited her back to his apartment in Washington DC and surprised her by kissing her. 'I did go back to a senator's apartment -...

Houston Texans Chairman and CEO Cal McNair has apologized for referring to the coronavirus as the “China virus” at a charity event over the summer. McNair reportedly made the comments at the Houston Texans Foundation Charity Golf Classic in May. Bally Sports reported that McNair told the crowd, “I’m sorry that we couldn’t get together last year because of the China Virus.” According to the report, that line earned McNair gasps and looks of shock from the assembled crowd at the River Oaks Country Club in Houston. “My comments at the event last May included an inappropriate choice of words,”...