Free Republic

ROME – Not only would it be a “disaster” if Pope Francis visits Russia before going to Ukraine, as the pontiff has said he’d like to do, but should that happen, Ukrainian borders actually could be closed to the pope, according to the Latin Archbishop of Lviv. “Not only the Greek Catholic faithful, but also we do not agree with all the gestures of the Holy Father towards Russia; but perhaps we do not understand his intentions and policy well,” said Archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki, who leads the 1.5-million Latin rite community in Ukraine. “Let’s hope that the pope has good...

The HIV Prevention Policy Project of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law and amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, have jointly released a new brief on monkeypox and meningococcal disease, Monkeypox and Meningococcal Disease Outbreaks Signal New Health Threats for Communities Heavily Impacted by HIV and Demand Immediate Action. There is also an accompanying one-page summary. This brief adds to growing calls for more urgent action and estimates that U.S. monkeypox diagnoses will approach or top 11,000 by the time the first group of people in the United States are fully vaccinated under current two-dose guidelines that...

The owner of a New York-based venue that was scheduled to host the Trump-inspired "ReAwaken America" tour next month has announced his plan to cancel the upcoming event. On Monday, July 18, Scott Donaldson — the owner of Main Street Armory — sent an email to announce his decision to cancel the event. According to Business Insider, Donaldson wrote that he "made his decision after 'careful thought' and in response to an outpouring 'of concern from our community, both good and bad.'" I'd like to say that the Main Street Armory is an equal opportunity and non-political venue," Donaldson's statement...

Ari Fleischer is wrong. In promoting his new book Suppression, Deception, Snobbery, and Bias: Why the Press Gets So Much Wrong — And Just Doesn’t Care, the former White House Press Secretary writes the following: “The press is not the enemy of the people, but they are their own worst enemy. And they’ve done this to themselves.”Sorry, Ari.The media are, in fact, your enemy. And mine. And ours....As I will argue in a forthcoming book, the American media is now the equivalent of the Stasi, the diabolical East German secret police who acted like a violent criminal gang under communism....

Local news in Maryland is reporting that some precincts weren’t ready this morning because the voting machines weren’t ready. Reportedly because of polling issues, the results of today’s election aren’t expected until tomorrow. Local News ABC7 reported at 7 a.m. — Officials tell 7News that in at least two locations, voting machines were not working as long as an hour after the polls opened. The sites affected were Charles Carrol Middles School in New Carrollton and Hoyer Early Childhood Learning Center in Cheverly. It’s not clear how many residents were waiting in line at the time of the issue. The...

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.