Free Republic

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Shanghai authorities battling an outbreak of COVID-19 have erected fences outside residential buildings, sparking fresh public outcry over a lockdown that has forced much of the city's 25 million people indoors. In Shanghai, images of workers in white hazmat suits sealing entrances of housing blocks and closing off entire streets with green fencing - roughly two metres tall - went viral on social media, prompting questions and complaints from residents. "This is so disrespectful of the rights of the people inside, using metal barriers to enclose them like domestic animals," said one user on social media platform...

Tina Descovich has been fighting for parental rights since she was elected to the Brevard County, Florida school board in 2016. But her mission is now shared by 85,000 other mothers in 34 states who joined Moms for Liberty and who now show up at school board meetings to hold officials accountable. They are also running for school board spots and other local offices — and winning. They’ve honed their skills by scouring websites and requesting public records to uncover the radical sexual and racial agenda being pushed in public schools across the land. “The sex ed curriculum their kids...

Prayers up. FR is funded solely by contributions made by the liberty loving patriots who love and use it. We are beholden to no political party. No advertisers, no outsiders, no sugar daddies, no corporate string pullers. Definitely no government subsidies or tax breaks. No 501c or other IRS non-profit status. This means no commercial ads. No annoying pop-ups. No ad tracking. No mail campaigns. No spam. No third-parties -- not even the IRS -- trying to control what we do or say. We are self-funded, fiercely independent and enjoy our freedom to speak plainly in the support of God,...

President Joe Biden on Friday signed an executive order intended to help restore national forests devastated by wildfires, drought and blight, using an Earth Day visit to Seattle to press for more action on the environment. Although Biden has struggled to make progress on his most ambitious climate goals, he drew a sharp contrast with his predecessor, former President Donald Trump, who unraveled the country's fight against global warming. "We've reached the point where the crisis on the environment has become so obvious, with the notable exception of the former president, that we really have an opportunity to do things...

When anything sacred must be debauched, there are no limits to the charade of liberating oneself from taboos. In 2019, a performance by a dance troupe at the Tanglefoot Building in Grand Rapids attracted controversy after the site’s owner canceled the event. The reason was that the troupe was composed of drag queens and kings, and all were adults with Down Syndrome. The event space owner was Peter Meijer, then a Republican candidate for the House of Representatives. After brief outrage, the story was forgotten, but Drag Syndrome has continued to market their “craft” through—what else?—TikTok. When I learned there...

A knifeman shouted 'we have to kill Macron' as he stabbed a priest and a nun multiple times in an unprovoked attack in France this morning. Father Krzysztof Rudzinski, 59, was stabbed 20 times with a 7cm knife before Sister Marie-Claude, 72, was cut in the hand as she reportedly snatched the knife from the attacker. French police arrested a 31-year-old French man from Fréjus, southeastern France, after the attack at 10am in the Saint Pierre d'Arène church, Nice. France began voting on Sunday in a presidential run-off election in a race between incumbent Emmanuel Macron and far-right politician Marine...

Paraguay is seeing a surge in German migrants, fleeing Islamic migrants in their own country and onerous coronavirus restrictions. “We have a problem in Germany with Muslims,” said one of the exiles, adding: “Islam and vaccinations are big, big problems in this world.” The German, named as Michael Schwartz and said to have arrived in Paraguay in November 2021, told the BBC that he had avoided taking coronavirus vaccinations — which the German health minister wants to make compulsory, although there is resistance to the policy in the federal legislature — because there are “many questions” around them, suggesting that...

There are around 175,000 white and orange U-Haul rental trucks in the United States and Canada for do-it-yourself movers. And they all have something strange in common: Arizona license plates with the word "apportioned" slapped on them. An esoteric agreement between the 48 continental US states, Washington DC and all 10 Canadian provinces determining how big-rigs and other commercial vehicles that travel across state lines divvy up billions of dollars of license plate registration fees.Such vehicles — known as "apportionable vehicles" — are registered and licensed under what's known as the International Registration Plan (IRP), an agreement created between states...

The Bible In Paintings 2 ENCOURAGEMENT FOR APPRECIATING AND APPLYING GOD'S MESSAGE J U D G E SCHAPTER 16 Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. 1 REMBRANDT "The Blinding of Samson" 2 Detail Source 3 "Samson's Blinding" 4 "Blind Samson" 5 GIOACCHINO ASSERETO "Philistines Gouging Out Samson's Eyes" 6 FRANZ HEINRICH LOUIS CORINTH "The Blinded Samson" Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding in the prison. But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved. 7 CARL BLOCH "Samson and the...

A climate activist who lit himself on fire on Earth Day outside the United States Supreme Court Building has died, according to reports. Wynn Bruce, 50, of Boulder, Colorado, died Saturday, a day after he set himself ablaze in Washington, D.C., the Metropolitan Police Department told Fox News. The incident happened around 6:30 p.m. on the plaza in front of the court building. He was airlifted to a local hospital, where he died. A Facebook page belonging to a person named Wynn Bruce said he was a Buddhist and a climate activist. In 2020, Bruce left a cryptic Facebook comment...

Standardized educational tests do not perfectly measure student aptitude or achievement, and no one argues that they do. But they can differ from all other available measures in two respects: their standardization and their independence of education insider control. To be truly standardized, the same content must be administered in the same manner to all students. To be independent of educator influence, they must be “externally” administered—that is test materials must be managed and tests administered by non-school personnel. External administration of a test systemwide to just one grade level of students requires both intensive and extensive logistical management. That...

IPray For The Peace of JerusalemRevelation 13The Beast out of the Sea 13 The dragon[a] stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. 2 The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. 3 One of the heads of the beast seemed to have...

It is fear of Marine Le Pen that will keep Emmanuel Macron in office. It is hope for change that may see him lose. In yet another example of the push for national sovereignty around the globe that has manifested in the last decade, the French presidential elections are about to run their course. The two-round election was introduced by General Charles De Gaulle as the Fifth Republic was installed in 1958. It will be the 11th such election since then. Americans would do well to pay attention. The first round enables the populace to vote with their hearts. They...

The exodus from Vice President Kamala Harris’s office saw its biggest departure yet, with her chief of staff leaving after 15 turbulent months. “West Wing aides had been annoyed for months about having to tend to Harris and what they saw as gaps in her operation," the New York Times's Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns reported. “West Wing aides had been annoyed for months about having to tend to Harris and what they saw as gaps in her operation," the New York Times's Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns reported. Tina Flournoy has played a key role in bridging ties between...

The federal student loan program has been back in the news lately. On April 6 the Biden Administration announced the extension of the “pause” on payments of principal or interest federal student loans through August 31. Does anybody believe that when August 31 comes the “pause” will not be then extended yet again at least through Election Day in November? Supposedly this is a matter of Covid “emergency.” Is this particular branch of the Covid “emergency” ever likely to end? Over in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party (and is there really any other wing today?), even the indefinite...

“‘But let your statement be, “Yes, yes” or “No, no”; anything beyond these is of evil’” (Matthew 5:37). Keeping your word is the mark of a genuine worshiper and demonstrates that you, as a child of God, hate lies. Everything in God’s kingdom is sacred and all truth is His truth, so truth has no degrees or shades. Thus even what seems to be the most minor false statement dishonors God’s name. The Lord has never had any standard other than absolute truthfulness. He wants every one of us to possess “truth in the innermost being” (Ps. 51:6). And it...

The nation anxiously awaits the upcoming decision from the Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. At issue is the constitutionality of Mississippi’s law that bans abortion after fifteen weeks of gestational age. It is expected that the high court will uphold the law and, in turn, either overturn Roe or seriously modify it. In panic mode, abortion proponents assert that the end of Roe will result in the victimization of women. However, those on the front lines of the fight for life know the truth. A ruling that ends Roe will usher in a new era of...

With a red wave coming, desperate Democrats are now embracing the politics of Hugo Chavez. And Iran's mullahs. And Vlad Putin. Instead of running for office, and trying to persuade voters that their ideas are the best ones, which would involve defending their execrable record in power, they're opting to go the dictator's way, by trying to disqualify opponents from office. Never mind what the voters think. Which brings us to the outrageous show trial of pro-Trump Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. According to NPR's account: (NPR excerpt in post #1)

A great woman died suddenly just after Easter Sunday. Vicki Thorn was the founder of Project Rachel, a post-abortion healing ministry. "She was a voice for us when we were not able to speak yet," said Theresa Bonapartis, who had an abortion and now works with women who have done the same. "She heard us when others did not want to listen and definitely opened the door of healing in the Church." Project Rachel and other ministries like Bonapartis's Lumina are internationally active now, but that's because Thorn started the essential work. Thorn's compassion for women who have had abortions...

Thanks for joining our study. Today we begin a two-part series on what the Bible says about Satan in the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) and next week in the New Testament. First, let's review the various names attributed to "the being" responsible for introducing evil into the world and who is the personification of evil. Most often, he is called Satan or the Devil. A deceiver whose goal is to separate you from God and trick you into sinning against others, yourself, and by default, the Almighty. In the commentary "What Are Some of the Different Titles of Satan?" author...