Free Republic

When U.S. Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd went on “NBC Nightly News” to tell his side of shooting and killing unarmed Jan. 6 rioter Ashli Babbitt, he made a point to note he’d been investigated by several agencies and exonerated for his actions that day. “There’s an investigative process [and] I was cleared by the DOJ [Department of Justice], and FBI and [the D.C.] Metropolitan Police,” he told NBC News anchor Lester Holt in August, adding that the Capitol Police also cleared him of wrongdoing and decided not to discipline or demote him for the shooting. Byrd then answered a...

Dionysios Boloubassis developed a reputation as a talented iconographer in Greece before he immigrated to the United States in 2013. Over the past ten years he built up a new portfolio of work in America, which together with his churches in Greece, demonstrates his experience and skill in carrying on the iconographic tradition. Christ, Pantocrator, by the hand of Dionysios BouloubassisORTHODOX ARTS JOURNAL: Let’s start by learning about where you are from. DIONYSIOS BOULOUBASSIS: My parents are from Greece, but they immigrated to the US and I was born in Maryland. When I was still young, however, my mother and...

U.S. Marine Corps Major Joseph Murphy wrote a letter in August of 2021 with important evidentiary attachments that have now been obtained by Project Veritas. The documents further verify previously released information, according to Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe. Murphy, formerly a fellow with DARPA, has exposed additional “incriminating documents…hidden in a top-secret shared drive” concerning the gain-of-function research on bat-borne coronaviruses and the link between NIH and EcoHealth Alliance to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. According to Murphy, the documents were placed in the folder in July 2021. To this day, Fauci denies involvement in gain-of-function research and/or contracts....

MANATÍ, Puerto Rico (LifeSiteNews) – An unvaccinated Catholic man was turned away from Mass on Christmas Eve in Puerto Rico due to his vaccine status, prompting an investigation by his local diocese. The man, a parishioner in the town of Manatí in the Diocese of Arecibo, gave his testimony in a video streamed by Nueva Vida 97.7 FM, a Puerto Rican media station. “I have been denied entry here in my chapel, the chapel in Barrio Cantito in Manatí,” the man said. “The priest told me that I could not enter because I do not have vaccination. The Antichrist is...

Access to the Eucharist is one of the motivating factors for keeping churches open.PORTLAND, Maine — The Diocese of Portland will continue to permit attendance at Mass, even as the state’s Council of Churches has urged all services to move online in light of a recent surge in coronavirus cases. “This isn’t about sending care packages or Hallmark cards (though those are certainly nice),” said Maine Council of Churches Executive Director Jane Field in a statement published Jan. 4. “For starters, it’s about making the difficult and necessary decision to return to virtual online worship services only and refrain from...

aramount+'s limited series The Offer is set to premiere on April 28, the streaming platform announced on Tuesday. The 10-episode series will base its plot on the making of The Godfather films, featuring never-before-heard "extraordinary" behind-the-scenes events throughout the films' creations. It all centers on the real-life story of Albert S. Ruddy, the Canadian film producer who spearheaded the Godfather trilogy. Miles Teller will portray Ruddy. (Teller was cast as Ruddy after Armie Hammer left the series.) The adjacent story of Francis Ford Coppola will also be chronicled. Dan Fogler will play Coppola, who directed and co-wrote the Godfather.

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media. I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ~ 1 Timothy 2:1-2 Religion Forum Threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 1 JOHN 5:14

Quaryatayn (Agenzia Fides) - The ancient Monastery of Mar Elian, located on the outskirts of the Syrian city of Quaryatayn, which in 2016 had been devastated and desecrated by jihadist militiamen, could soon return to being a place of prayer and peace for the Syrian Christians and also for their fellow Muslim destinies. It was announced with joy by Father Jacques Mourad, the monk of the community of Deir Mar Musa who was kidnapped in Mar Elian on May 21, 2015 by a commando of jihadists of the self-styled Islamic State, and lived long months of imprisonment, first in isolation...

Editor's Note: To mark the publication of a book on President Xi Jinping's discourse on respecting and protecting human rights, a convention was held in Beijing recently where officials from the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, the Institute of Party History and Literature of the CPC Central Committee, and some human rights experts and scholars held discussions with readers from home and abroad. Excerpts follow:Pursuit of a happy life best way to protect rights Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the CPC Central Committee with Xi Jinping as the core has attached great...

I'm working to elect a principled conservative and Christian for the House of Delegates in Maryland. We're designing campaign coasters for a fund raising Happy Hour and am looking for a funny, family-friendly, quote to put on the reverse side. Best one from our group is, "You're spending our money on what?!" But I think I can count on this group to help with something with a bit of a bite but more humorous. Thanks in advance! You all are the best!

Tiger-themed artworks are being made to welcome the Year of the Tiger in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu province. Traditional cultural masters in folk gourd painting, folk lantern crafting, folk cloth making and knotting are playing to their strengths to make innovative tiger products. These goods are not only commodities but also artworks that embody Chinese people's wisdom and diligence passing down from generation to generation.

Proving she’s equal parts dishonest and stupid, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) once again attempted to blame evil grocery store chains for inflation. During an appearance this week on far-left MSNBC, Warren argued in favor of using anti-trust laws against grocery store chains.

Appearing Wednesday on MSNBC, Al Sharpton reacted positively to President Joe Biden’s address on voting rights in Georgia, but said the president should have delivered such remarks months prior.

Former President Donald Trump heaped praise onto Rep. Elise Stefanik during a fundraiser in Florida Tuesday evening, saying the House GOP Conference boss could be commander-in-chief in 2028. Trump helped raise $3.2 million for the New York Republican, his political action committee and other GOP candidates on Capitol Hill with the event at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach. “I want to congratulate Elise on her success. Man is she moving fast. That means at this rate she’ll be President in about 6 years,” Trump said of the 37-year-old chair of the House Republican Conference.

Hunter Biden’s ex-wife plans to break her silence about how his cheating and substance abuse destroyed their marriage in a new memoir that’s set for release during the lead-up to November’s critical mid-term elections. Kathleen Buhle’s “If We Break: A Memoir of Marriage, Addiction, and Healing” is described by its publisher as a “page-turning and heartbreaking” account of “why she kept so much hidden — from her daughters and herself — for so many years.” “When my marriage ended, I felt like I’d lost my sense of who I was,” Buhle told People magazine, which on Wednesday was first to...

"The criminal cases against the student and parents for their alleged responsibility in the Nov. 30, 2021 Oxford High School shootings returned to court last Friday. "...Ethan Crumbley, 15, waived his right to a preliminary exam and his case moves to the Oakland County Circuit Court." "Parents Jennifer and James Crumbley appeared before Judge Julie Nicholson..." "James worked as a DoorDash delivery driver, while Jennifer’s employment was terminated." “The only ties these two individuals have — other than their son who is awaiting trial — are out of state,” McDonald said. “Both defendants’ families live in Florida. James Crumbley’s other...

On the local level, we have COVID passport laws being enacted. It's coming to Washington, DC, this week. It's already in effect in New York City. You cannot go to most public places unless you present your papers. It's insanity. It's un-American. I can see this stuff being enacted in Germany, France, and Australia—but not here. "Where are your papers?" is something I'd never thought I would hear or present if I wanted to eat a hamburger. If COVID was some aerosolized super-Ebola with a 50-80 percent mortality rate, I could understand the lockdown regime. If it were like the...

Former President Obama is throwing his support behind President Biden’s push to change the filibuster for voting rights legislation. Obama, in a Wednesday opinion piece for USA Today, said the filibuster is “the only thing standing in the way” of Congress passing federal voting rights reform.

House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) said Wednesday evening that he will not cooperate with the select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol, asserting the panel "is not conducting a legitimate investigation." McCarthy, in a statement released hours after the committee asked him to voluntarily cooperate with its probe, maintained that the panel was seeking to interview him about “private conversations not remotely related to the violence that unfolded at the Capitol.”

“Jack, in 2020, Donald Trump got 1.9 million votes in New Jersey. You left 600,000 votes on the table by only receiving 1.3 million votes.” New Jersey is not unique in that voter turnout for presidential races far exceeds governor races, which is unfortunate considering all that’s at stake in our state. Having said that, the 2021 governor’s race did see the greatest number of gubernatorial votes in state history. Still, as a state, we need to do better. As for the 2020 presidential election, receiving 1.9 million votes doesn’t really matter when your opponent receives 2.6 million to win...