Free Republic

Neo-Cardinals Remind Viganò of Caligula’s HorsePreviously, Cardinals were chosen for their virtues, personal holiness, erudition, wisdom, and fidelity, Archbishop Viganò wrote in a June 2 statement.But for Francis, he said, appointing cardinals is like filling civil positions. Francis’ selection criteria are “corruptibility, blackmailing, and belonging to a political group.”Viganò explains that corrupt leaders require corrupt subordinates because their collaboration is based on complicity and lack of moral concerns when carrying out orders.“An authority based on blackmailing surrounds itself with blackmailable people” with the goal that next conclave will not elect a pope but “a vaccine salesman or a propagandist for...

This week the Associated Press (AP) published a dire warning that white Cristian nationalists "may drastically alter the composition of the American government this November by voting against Democrats. By cunningly confining their tactics to the completely legal option of voting against those in power they could force changes that would upset the unity President Biden has arduously struggled to achieve." MSNBC talking head Joy Reid hailed the AP warning, calling it "a timely and desperately needed alert. We in the mainstream media need to take a stronger stand against these enemies of democracy. We can't afford to keep pretending...

Across France, more than 300 people have reported being pricked out of the blue with needles at nightclubs or concerts in recent months. Doctors and multiple prosecutors are on the case, but no one knows who’s doing it or why, and whether the victims have been injected with drugs — or indeed any substance at all. Club owners and police are trying to raise awareness, and a rapper even interrupted his recent show to warn concert-goers about the risk of surprise needle attacks. It’s not just France: Britain’s government is studying a spate of “needle spiking” there, and police in...

President Biden on Friday declined to rule out Ukraine having to cede part of its territory to Russia in order to end Moscow’s more than three-month-old invasion.“Does Ukraine have to cede territory to achieve peace?” a reporter asked Biden after his remarks on the May jobs report.“But it appears to me that at some point along the line, there’s going to have to be a negotiated settlement

During an interview aired on Friday’s broadcast of Bloomberg’s “Wall Street Week,” Steve Rattner, who served as counselor to the Treasury Secretary in the Obama administration, stated that a lack of workers due to stricter immigration policies is not driving the problems with inflation and that changing immigration policy wouldn’t make “that much of a material difference” in the immediate or medium terms After playing a clip of BlackRock CEO Larry Fink blaming economic problems on policy, host David Westin asked, “Steve, what he’s talking about there in terms of policy-generated are things like some of our trade policies, some...

During portions of an interview with ABC News released on Friday, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm argued that the release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is “doing its job.” Because the point of the release “is to stabilize the global market” for oil and warned that gas prices will increase over the summer and gas prices will be “rough” “from now through the end of the year, really.” Granholm stated, “The point of this — it’s doing its job. Because it is to stabilize the global market. I mean, we happen to have the largest tool of any country...

<p>One person died and eight others were injured after a shooting at a strip mall near 10th Avenue and Hatcher overnight, according to Phoenix police.</p><p>About 100 people had reportedly gathered for some kind of party when police say a fight broke out between multiple groups just after 1 a.m. on June 4.</p>

Have a look at the shock on people’s faces as they leave the grocery stores these days, or the look as they stand filling up their tanks at the gas station. Their jaws drop and they wonder what is happening to the world. The answer is the policy disasters of the last two years. The bill is coming due and everyone but the masters of the universe is paying it. The value of the dollar is sinking rapidly, more rapidly than in our lifetimes. Nor is it coming back. The people who hold power today seem completely clueless about why...

Hillary Clinton lavished praise on Britain’s Queen Elizabeth during a visit marking the 96-year-old monarch’s Platinum Jubilee, calling her a “unifier” who was “very funny” and “quite smart.” “It is not only what she has done, it is how she has done it. She has been a remarkable unifier and symbol for a long time in your country’s history,” the former Secretary of State and Democratic presidential nominee told an audience in South Shields, England, the BBC reported.

Aerobic exercise reprograms the immune system to reduce pancreatic tumor growth and amplify the effects of immunotherapy, a study finds. The study provides new insight into how the mammalian immune system, designed to attack foreign invaders like bacteria, can also recognize cancer cells as abnormal. Exercise-induced increases in levels of the hormone adrenalin cause changes to the immune system, say the study authors, including in the activity of cells that respond to signaling protein interleukin-15 (IL-15). Biological systems that fight disease and repair tissue are intertwined, the researchers say, with IL-15 signaling, based on the context, either encouraging the recovery...

“‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also’” (Matthew 6:19–21). The focus of Jesus’ teaching here is this: “Do not lay up treasures for yourself.” The Greek word for “lay up” connotes the idea of stockpiling or hoarding—it pictures wealth that isn’t being used, things kept mainly to show off one’s plenty. Be...

President Biden’s Secret Service detail rushed him to a safe house in Rehoboth Beach, Del., Saturday when a private plane violated the airspace above the vacation home he owns in the small seaside town. Local resident Susan Lillard spotted a small white aircraft flying over Biden’s neighborhood around 12:45 p.m. — a violation of the FAA airspace restrictions that are always called when the president is away from the White House. Minutes later, Lillard told CBS News, she saw two military-style jets scramble over the town.

The buck isn’t stopping with President Biden. As his domestic and international problems multiply, he has found boogeymen to blame everywhere — except the White House. There’s Afghanistan, where a botched withdrawal left Americans stranded, a terrorist attack at Kabul airport killed 13 Americans, and fleeing Afghans fell to their deaths from the wheel wells of planes in flight. Biden blamed Trump for the chaos. Inflation? Take it up with Vladimir Putin. Rising gas prices are the work of greedy oil companies, while surging meat prices are caused by greedy meatpacking companies.

On Friday’s “CNN Newsroom,” Labor Secretary Marty Walsh said that he’s not sure that we necessarily need the job market to cool down in order for inflation to come down and that “we have to continue to tackle the inflation issues. But we’ve also got to continue to push to get people into good-paying jobs as we move forward here as an economy.” Co-host Poppy Harlow asked, “It’s a fact, is it not, that we actually need this job market to cool off to bring down inflation?”

Just something trivial for an interlude of amusement. Enjoy the video!

Seventh Week of Easter John 21:20-25 Friends, in today’s Gospel, when Peter asks about the destiny of the beloved disciple, Jesus says: "What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours? You follow me." Here at the close of John’s Gospel we can take this command to heart. What does following Jesus involve? True conversion—the metanoia that Jesus talks about—is so much more than moral reform, though it includes that. It has to do with a complete shift in consciousness, a whole new way of looking at one’s life. Jesus offered a teaching...

Our lives are inevitably bound by and shaped by the structures around us. We live in them, calling them homes; we go through them, calling them tunnels; we move on them or thanks to them, calling them roads, or bridges. Salginatobelbrücke designed by Robert Maillart, 1930The bridge has a particularly interesting function: it connects two places in a more complex way than a road does. The bridge helps to elevate the passenger, allowing them to move above a body of water, a valley, or a three-dimensional urban labyrinth of roads and crossings. But apart from being a beacon of utility,...

A climate change protester interrupted the French Open semifinal match between Casper Ruud and Marin Čilić by rushing the court and tying herself to the net on Friday. “We’ve got an interloper on the court,” the commentator said as the protester stormed the court. “Security in black sport coats is out to protect.” The woman reportedly used a necklace to tie herself onto the net while donning a shirt that read “We have 1028 days left.” Her shirt also referenced a website that reportedly provided more insight into the reason for her protest. “Today, I entered the field because I...

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"If, God forbid, these weapons are used against Russian territory then our armed forces will have no other choice but to strike decision-making centres."