Free Republic

In the Readings for this Sunday, texts from the Old and New Testaments remind us that human happiness is not to be found in the accumulation of material goods. Riches are fleeting and empty. We are called instead to “store up treasure in heaven, where neither rust nor moth destroy, where thieves cannot break in and steal.” 1. Our First Reading is Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23: Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth, vanity of vanities! All things are vanity! Here is one who has labored with wisdom and knowledge and skill, and yet to another who has not labored over it, he...

The Cornell University Library has removed a bust of President Abraham Lincoln and a bronze plaque of the Gettysburg Address after reportedly receiving a complaint. Randy Wayne, a professor of biology at Cornell, said the library had removed the display, which had been there since 2013, after "someone complained," the College Fix reported . In a statement to the Washington Examiner, university spokeswoman Rebecca Valli said the bust of Lincoln "was part of a temporary exhibit on the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address" and that it had been on display from 2013-2021. With the display gone, only an empty...

Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke by phone to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday in the highest-level known contact between the two sides since Russia invaded Ukraine, with Blinken urging Russia to accept a deal to win the release of American detainees Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan.Russian officials gave no public hint whether Blinken had made any headway, only issuing a chiding statement afterward urging the U.S. to pursue the Americans' freedom through “quiet diplomacy, without releases of speculative information."...Blinken did not provide details of Lavrov’s response to what he had previously called a “substantial proposal" for Russia...

Footage has emerged appearing to show the aftermath of a Ukrainian strike against a key bridge that has further cut off Russian troops in Kherson. Social media users said that the video circulated on Saturday showed the remains of the Antonovsky railway bridge over the Dnipro River, which is near the scene of a Ukrainian counter-offensive by the southwestern city. On Tuesday, the Antonovsky road bridge was heavily damaged following Ukrainian rocket fire from the U.S.-supplied M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems or HIMARS. The inability for vehicles to use the bridge dealt a blow to Russian forces as it...

The Tavistock Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS), England’s hub for child gender reassignment which has been ordered to close down, is said to have left “thousands of damaged children” in its wake. Currently subject to an investigation as a result of whistleblowers, parents, and patients accusing it of rushing children, particularly girls, into medical treatment for supposed gender dysphoria, the Tavistock is now set to be shut down by Spring 2023 after the paediatrician leading the investigation announced some of her recommendations early — most notably that GIDS is “not a safe or viable long-term option” for its patients and...

Billboard’s top 5 songs from July 31, 1982. This is my favorite top 5 from any week.These are Billboard’s top 5 songs from July 31, 1982. This is my favorite top 5 from any week.https://top40weekly.com/1982-all-charts/1 Survivor – Eye of the Tigerhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btPJPFnesV42 Toto – Rosannahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmOLtTGvsbM3 John Cougar – Hurts So Goodhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dOsbsuhYGQ4 Fleetwood Mac – Hold Mehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0sha1XfHxw5 The Steve Miller Band – Abracadabrahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tY8B0uQpwZs

A 23-year-old man who “exited” a plane Friday afternoon before it made an emergency landing at Raleigh-Durham International Airport was found dead around 7 p.m. in Fuquay-Varina, authorities said. ...Crooks was the plane’s co-pilot That was the tragic ending to a confusing emergency at RDU Friday. Around 3 p.m., a twin-engine turbo prop aircraft reported landing gear issues as it approached the airport, according to the airport. The plane landed on Runway 5R-23L and veered into the grass, according to the airport. The pilot, the only passenger on the plane when it reached the ground, was taken to a Duke...

A new study claims that air emissions from farms kill 17,000 Americans per year. It’s the first shot in a second try by the Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency to control American farms through junk science-fueled air pollution regulations. The study is funded by a $10 million grant awarded by the Obama administration’s EPA, and pretends to examine fine dust and soot emissions (called “PM2.5”) from all farm operations — including machinery, tilling, fertilizer use, field burning, livestock movement, waste management and more.

Since 2013, Rubenstein, 72, who co-founded the private equity giant the Carlyle Group, has given millions to entities that repair and upgrade historical monuments and landmarks like the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument as well as Monticello and Montpelier, the homes of US presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. But some say the restoration at the presidential homes has recast the presidents as sinister racists while downplaying their accomplishments... But a quick dive into Rubenstein’s backstory shows he’s not so pure himself. He made his initial fortune in the 1980s by exploiting a tax loophole in Alaska allowing him...

The nation of Andorra will be the 33rd country to recognize marriage rights for same-sex couples. Lawmakers in the tiny nation – which has a population of about 77,000 and is smaller than the city of Chicago in land mass – voted unanimously to allow same-sex couples access to civil marriage. “Today we vote for a law for all, which includes us all, a law of a modern country that ensures the free development of citizenship and bases its success on the most important nucleus of organization, the family, with all its diversity,” said Carles Enseñat, president of the Democratic...

A federal appeals court ruled Thursday the Archdiocese of Indianapolis acted within the law when it fired a long-time counselor because she is in a same-sex marriage. The Chicago-based Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the former counselor was employed as a minister at the Catholic faith-based Roncalli High School, and she was expected to support the school’s religious mission and follow church teachings in her personal life to remain employed. The Catholic Church does not support gay marriage. The court affirmed a district court’s year-old decision in a 27-page ruling and barred discrimination, retaliation and hostile work environment claims...

European Union policymakers have started to prepare the public for siege conditions this winter if gas supplies from Russia are completely cut, an effort to demonstrate diplomatic resolve as well as avoid panic later in the year. In recent weeks, officials from Germany and other EU member states have begun to talk openly and urgently about the need for immediate reductions in consumption in advance of the peak winter heating season. They have also started to plan publicly for compulsory allocation, including rationing and prioritization among industrial users, as well as sharing among member states in the event there is...

Every time Abdou's mother hears of a homophobic attack in the streets of Senegal's capital Dakar, she locks him in her bedroom. Abdou -- who, like other LGBTQ people AFP interviewed, asked not to be identified by his real name -- is used to hiding. He has been concealing his sexuality most of his life. But lately the 20-year-old has felt even more in danger. "The situation is becoming more and more serious," said the soft-spoken unemployed tailor. "Before they would say you were gay, but they didn't hit you. Today you are beaten and it's posted on social media."...

The Biden administration has signed contracts indicating over $500 million could be spent to house illegal alien migrant children at a luxury private school campus in Greensboro, North Carolina for the next five years (with an additional five-year option). The site is the 100-acre former American Hebrew Academy that closed in 2019 but was saved with millions of dollars in loans from a Chinese company that effectively took over the school. The campus has been renamed the Greensboro Piedmont Academy Influx Care Facility for UC. UC stands for unaccompanied children, meaning Biden is incentivizing families to send their children alone...

There is no one in the Democrat party or Democrat media axis fit to shine this man’s boots. Meet Ron Desantis. Born on September 14, 1978, in Jacksonville, Florida. [1] He is of Italian descent. 2] His family moved to Orlando, Florida, before relocating to Dunedin, Florida, when he was six years old. [3] In 1991, he was a member of the Little League team from Dunedin National that made it to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. [4] After graduating from Dunedin High School in 1997, he attended Yale University. He was Captain of Yale varsity baseball...

Editor's Note: We received the Bishop Burbidge's press release and the following letter in our inbox simultaneously. We are reproducing both here in order to put a face to the Catholics who are being persecuted by the Woke Church of Francis and Co. MJMYour Excellency, Though I am certain you will never read or see this email I must express my sadness and anger regarding your cowardly decision to suppress the traditional Mass in your diocese. I have been a long term member of Holy Trinity parish in Gainesville, VA. Our 12:30 Mass attendance ranges from 500-700 people every Sunday....

WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s been more than a year in the making and has seen plenty of ups and downs. Now, a Democratic economic package focused on climate and health care faces hurdles but seems headed toward party-line passage by Congress next month. Approval would let President Joe Biden and his party claim a triumph on top priorities as November’s elections approach. They have not forgotten that they came close to approving a far grander version of the bill last year, only to see Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., one of their most conservative and contrarian members, torpedo it at the...

The damaging revelations of the Jan. 6 committee hearings are fueling skepticism among Senate Republicans that former President Trump can win the GOP nomination in 2024 or even run for another term in the White House. One Republican senator, who requested anonymity to comment on the former president, said the “cascade” of embarrassing details about Trump’s conduct in the weeks before Jan. 6, 2021, and during the attack on the U.S. Capitol will seriously damage his political viability ahead of the 2024 election.

The Netherlands has been in the throes of a pitched battle between the government and its farmers. The government there declared that it wanted to reduce nitrogen oxide and ammonia, which come from the waste of livestock. This decision was based on climate dogma and not on what is actually practical for the farmers and the Netherlands as a whole. The farmers’ first salvo was on June 22, when 40,000 of them clogged the roadways to form a protest convoy. Then the Dutch farmers took to their tractors and trucks and parked them outside supermarkets and other stores that sell...

The corrupt Biden gang is creating a division in the U.S. Postal Service for handling delivering and returning mail-in ballots during elections. What could possibly go wrong? The USPS was in the middle of corruption and suspected criminal activities in the 2020 Election. In one instance a USPS contractor reported dropping off a trailer full of tens of thousands of ballots from New York to Pennsylvania. After a thorough investigation was done, and crimes were identified, US AG Bill Barr screamed at the messenger of this event and told them to drop it. To this day we haven’t seen a...