Free Republic

The Pan-American highway was cleared after heavy clashes between crowd control units and protesters keeping the highway closed. The National Police (PN) reopened the Pan-American highway on Tuesday, on the Santiago bridge, Veraguas province, to guarantee movement of the humanitarian corridor to the capital. The road was cleared after heavy clashes between crowd control units and protesters who have kept the road closed for more than two weeks. The demonstrators confronted the police units with stones. The police fired tear gas, managing to clear the road. Once the road was cleared, the circulation of trucks with supplies and food began...

The leading cause of line of duty deaths amongst police was COVID-19 in 2021.States with a large number of unvaccinated first responders “may face major workforce disruptions due to COVID-19 illness,” according to a study released Tuesday by researchers at the University of Miami. First responders are more likely to contract COVID-19 than another population of individuals, but less likely to trust vaccines, the study says. Last year, the leading cause of line of duty deaths amongst law enforcement was COVID-19, with 301 COVID deaths in 2021, according to the Office Down Memorial Page end of year report. This year...

CTH cannot overestimate what is more likely than not, as the Biden administration is now reportedly going to declare a national climate emergency in order to take their Green New Deal policy to the next level via executive fiat. [The Hill Story Here] Any possibility of the Biden administration creating an even deeper economic collapse under the auspices of climate change regulation, has essentially been stalled by congressional opposition to further Green New Deal (Build Back Better) spending and regulatory legislation. Some, albeit not enough, congressional representatives, can see what lies at the end of this fundamental energy change, a...

After the Supreme Court ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade, numerous states have started instituting strict abortion laws which caused many women in those states to seek abortions in Florida, CBS News reported Monday. Florida currently has a 15-week abortion ban, but as its law is still less restrictive than surrounding states, women who want abortions have traveled to Florida, according to CBS News. Planned Parenthood facilities in the state have had to turn some women away due to the influx. “We had to increase our staffing. We had to increase our appointments,” Samantha Deans, associate medical director of Planned...

Claes Oldenburg, whose oversized sculptures of everyday objects made him one of the leading artists of the Pop art movement, died in his home on Monday at 93. He had been recovering from a fractured hip. Representatives for Paula Cooper Gallery and Pace Gallery, both of which represent Oldenburg, confirmed the news. Oldenburg, who often worked in collaboration with his late wife Coosje van Bruggen, made sculptures that raised objects as diverse as a nondescript light switch, a hamburger with a pickle on top, and a shuttlecock stood on its end to the status of high art. If spotted in...

Lourdes Grobet, the multifaceted Mexican artist who immortalized lucha libre legends with her camera lens, has died at 81. Over four decades, she carried out experiments in video, performance, and photography that explored the social reality of Mexico’s working class of the 20th century. Her most lauded images feature heroes and villains of the spectacular sport of lucha libre in humble settings: beside the stovetop, retouching makeup, or nursing children. Over the weekend fellow artists and fans from Mexico and beyond praised Grobet’s curious, rebellious vein of photography. “She leaves behind an extraordinary body of work about social class and...

Lily Safra, a major art collector who bought what was at one point the most expensive sculpture in the world, has died of pancreatic cancer at 87. News of her death was first reported by the Edmond J. Safra Foundation, where she served as chair. Safra, who was featured in ARTnews Top 200 Collectors list each year between 2004 and 2018, accrued her wealth and status via several high-profile marriages, the fourth and final of which was to the banker Edmond Safra. He founded the Republic National Bank of New York, which sold to HSBC before his death in 1999....

Andrew Wiggins made his first All-Star team this year and was a crucial part of the Golden State Warriors' run to the NBA title, but he still regrets one thing he did this season. "I still wish I didn't get [vaccinated], to be honest with you," Wiggins told FanSided. At the start of the season, Wiggins said he was torn over the decision to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Had Wiggins not gotten vaccinated, he would've been in the same boat as Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving in only being able to play in some of his team's games due to...

“‘I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth’” (Matthew 8:11–12). Jesus’ words to the Jews in Capernaum shattered their proud spiritual worldview, contradicting everything the rabbis had taught about salvation. Their apocryphal literature pictured a great heavenly feast in which only Jews would be present in the end. Jesus, however, drastically revised that scene and declared...

[Catholic Caucus] “To go back is to go forward, to be propelled by the river of the great Tradition”: Archbishop Aguer against Papal Progressivism Progressivism, which established itself a decade ago in Rome, decries a kind of reverse populism.The populist handbook indicates that one must win the trust and adhesion of young people. But it happens that young people nowadays are suspicious of deviations and progressive adventures; they prefer and love Tradition. Rome, then, scourges them by scornfully branding them as ones who would "go back to the past"; they look "back" and long to get "behind" [what came...

I want this to encourage those who need an answer to prayer, who need help in a time of trouble and who are ready and willing to move God’s heart according to his Word. First, lay hold of this covenant promise in the book of Psalms. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1, NKJV). The phrase ‘very present’ means always available and immediate. Faith must rest in the assurance that God’s Spirit is abiding in you at all hours of the day and night. Because he took up a habitation in you, he...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has bequeathed a healthy legacy to the virus-beleaguered nation. He showed the way to a post-shutdown America. He’s a prime reason millions of Americans got their jobs back. He had the courage to break with the spell of Dr. Anthony Fauci who demanded a society of shut-ins. The Republican governor decreed that Florida was a free and open state. The COVID-19 disease would no longer rule, no longer destroy businesses, create drug addicts and disrupt school children. The DeSantis Declaration of Freedom was all the bolder because it came in late 2020, early 2021, bumping up...

No one has ever accused Joe Biden of being a genius—evil or otherwise. But, at least as of this morning, the same cannot be said of Ron DeSantis. On today's Morning Joe, Mike Barnicle, with Claire McCaskill concurring, conferred the "evil genius" sobriquet upon the Florida governor.Get the rest of the story and view the video here.

[Catholic Caucus] Corrupt Cardinal, Corrupt PontificateThe hierarchical structure of the Catholic Church is partially responsible for why bishops, including the pope, are not investigated or accountable to any external oversight body. As a consequence, one should not be surprised that only 7 out of 150 bishops credibly accused of abusing minors or vulnerable adults have actually been laicized. In the United States, with less than 200 dioceses, “more than 130 U.S. bishops” have been accused of “failing to adequately respond to sexual misconduct in their dioceses.”The question of holding bishops accountable who engage in or cover up abuse has become...

Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to travel to the Middle East this week, a rare trip abroad intended to signal that the protracted and costly war in Ukraine hasn’t diminished Moscow’s place on the world stage. In only his second trip outside Russia since the country invaded Ukraine in February, Mr. Putin is set to travel to Tehran on Tuesday, where he will meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. The visit reflects the importance Mr. Putin places in maintaining the leverage Russia gained from years of military and diplomatic intervention in the Middle East.

(snip) At least part of Trump’s reported interest in getting in the race before the 2022 midterms are over is to stake his claim and dare anyone else to challenge him. McConnell knows this – and is working to counteract it. Whether any major candidates – DeSantis, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence – ultimately jump in is, of course, outside of the control of both Trump and McConnell. And whether anyone who does run can actually beat Trump is a question no one can answer right now. The Point: McConnell clearly prefers someone other than...

United Nations announces Klaus Schwab of the World Economic Forum and UN General Secretary Antonio Guterres have signed an agreement to ‘accelerate’ Agenda 2030 https://twitter.com/CaelorumAngelus/status/1549123326244798466

WMAL's Annual Free Speech Forum has been announced. It'll take place on Saturday, October 1, 2022 at the Birchmere in Alexandria, VA. Tickets go on sale this Friday, July 22nd at Noon. Last year they sold out within 5 hours, so get your tickets soon!

Mike Pence is looking more and more like a 2024 presidential candidate every day. That includes an Aug. 17 appearance at the Politics & Eggs series at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at St. Anselm College. 2020 was packed with presidential hopefuls who hit up the traditional breakfast that serves as an appetizer to the first-in-the-nation primary. The breakfast guests included Deval Patrick, he stopped there, Andrew Yang, Sen. Cory Booker, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Rep. Seth Moulton, Bill Weld, Kamala Harris … you get the picture.

'This repeal will uniformly recognize all marriages within the Navajo Nation'Same-sex marriage is recognized across the United States, but that’s not the case on the Navajo Nation, where the Diné LGBTQ and two-spirit communities are fighting to get the same recognition on their homeland. Lawmakers on the Navajo Nation are considering a bill that would repeal a ban on same-sex marriage, expand spousal rights to same-sex couples and strengthen families. In 2005, the Navajo Nation implemented the Diné Marriage Act, which states that marriage between persons of the same sex is void and prohibited. “This legislation corrects that history and...