Free Republic

[Catholic Caucus] Belgian bishops pushing same-sex ‘blessings’ praise ‘impressive’ meeting with Pope Francis'I could say freely what I wanted, in an atmosphere of fraternity and respect.'VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Belgium’s Catholic bishops have spent a week in Rome for their ad limina visit, where it seems they received no reprimand for their recent publication of a text for same-sex “blessings.” From November 21 through 26, the Bishops Conference of Belgium (BCB) was present in Rome for their ad limina visit, which saw them follow in the heels of bishops from the Netherlands and Germany who have also been making the...

The news ahead is so dire, we had to cram it into a single article. #1. Statewide gun sales stop. The newly passed Measure 114 requires a new complicated process to obtain a firearm that goes way beyond the two different processes of current backgroudn checks and Concealed License Permits. The Democrat Herald’s Hasso Herring explains, “Unless a court intervenes before Measure 114 takes effect on Dec. 8, it looks like after that date private citizens will no longer be allowed to buy a firearm in Oregon for a good long while. But the promoters of the initiative didn’t mention...

They were treated for dehydration and hypothermia after their perilous trip, officials said. Txema Santana, a migration adviser to the local government, said in a tweet: “It is not the first and it will not be the last. Stowaways do not always have the same luck.” In 2020, a 14-year-old Nigerian boy was interviewed by Spain’s El País after lasting 15 days on a ship’s rudder after a trip from Lagos. Thousands of African migrants and refugees have reached the Canary Islands in recent years by making the dangerous voyage on crowded boats after departing from the coast of Morocco,...

Pele’s Hair, a byproduct of volcano eruptions, are thin glass fibers “named after the volcanic deity Pele,” according to the National Park Service. Piles of the long, hair-like fibers can be found near volcanic summits in Hawaii. The fibers resemble “golden mats of hair,” the park service says on a page about the phenomena. Strands of Pele’s Hair can stretch up to 2 feet in length but are less than a micron, or .001 millimeters, wide. They are light enough to be picked up and carried by the wind. Pele’s Hair can form mats up to several inches deep. The...

West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz is a popular 2.5-mile stretch along the ocean. Tourists, locals, and dogs walk and bike along the stretch by the thousands every week. But visitors on Sunday had to walk in the street to avoid an area of sidewalk that caved in, off of Columbia Street, early Friday morning. “I think it’s a natural phenomenon. This is something that happens all the time. It just happens to be close to a way that we built and but it’s been happening for millions of years,” says Laurine, a Santa Cruz resident. Advertisement Concerned residents hope...

Dollar Tree is known for its great prices on holiday decorations and party supplies, but as food prices continue to hit budgets hard, shoppers are turning to this discount store to get their groceries. According to Winsight, Dollar Tree’s same-store sales of consumables outpaced discretionary sales for the second straight quarter, the retailer reported, with a 9.3% comparable in food and beverage, snacks and cookies, and candy. Same-store sales of food and beverages grew by 4.7% and the chain saw overall same-store sales growth of 4.1%, Winsight noted. The company’s overall same-store sales increased by 8.6%. “We are increasing our...

A Black NPR writer named Eric Deggans wrote a review of Dave Chappelle’s monologue from this past week’s Saturday Night Live and Chappelle fans responded by placing him on the Bar-b-Que grill and grilling him on the socials leaving him charged and crispy sans seasoning. Deggans’ feelings were obviously hurt by the attacks but they kept coming. Deggans said he was disappointed in Chappelle’s performance and as a result was called everything from a “Biscuit-eating sellout” to an Uncle Tom and Sambo who was allowing his paymasters to dictate his writing. They even suggested that he picked the “ugliest white...

Twitter searches for the widespread Covid-19-related protests in China are returning a flood of spam, pornography and gibberish that some disinformation researchers say at first glance appear to be a deliberate attempt by the Chinese government or its allies to drown out images of the demonstrations. Beginning late last week and into Monday, searches in Chinese for major protest hotspots, including Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, and Guangzhou, produced a nonstop stream of solicitations, images of scantily clad women in suggestive poses and seemingly random word- and sentence fragments. Many of the tweets reviewed by CNN on Monday came from accounts that...

A “superbug” known as Candida auris (C. auris) has caused 774 cases in Nevada hospitals and other care facilities, according to the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). A total of 63 Nevada deaths have been linked to C. auris, according to DHHS. The deaths were not necessarily caused by the fungus, KTLA sister station KLAS added. C. auris is a fungus that can cause severe illness in hospitalized patients. If it’s introduced into the bloodstream, the fungus can spread throughout the body and cause serious invasive infections. It was listed in 2019 as one of five “urgent”...

Used by humans as a stimulant and anesthetic for thousands of years, the drug commonly known as cocaine has been carefully shaped by species of the coca plant (Erythroxylum) over tens of millions of years in an arms race against hungry insects. Knowing just how the plants pull off this feat of chemical engineering would be a big win for the pharmaceutical industry while helping biologists better understand the evolution of similar pesticides across the plant kingdom. Yet the sheer complexity of the chemical's production has been one of nature's best-kept secrets, one that scientists have spent the better part...

CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — An employee who survived the mass shooting at a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia, last week has filed a $50 million lawsuit against the company. The lawsuit, filed by Donya Prioleau, claims she submitted a complaint about the gunman two months prior to the shooting that took the lives of six Walmart employees. Store supervisor Andre Bing, 31, fatally shot six employees and wounded several others before he died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot, police said.

“‘Behold, My Servant whom I have chosen; My Beloved in whom My soul is well-pleased’” (Matthew 12:18). Jesus Christ is God’s ultimate Servant, the one and only Son chosen by the Father to die for fallen sinners. The divine commendation here is a modified quotation of Isaiah 42:1–4, one of the most beautiful descriptions of our Lord anywhere in the Bible. The Father’s choice of Jesus to be His Servant was decisive and irrevocable—Christ was the one and only person perfectly qualified for the work of redemption. As the perfect choice of God, Jesus is also completely pleasing in His...

Most of us could use a little more fiber in our diets, and adding it without compromising on a recipe's appeal might soon be much easier. Scientists from RMIT University in Australia have developed a modified starch product that can be added to food without affecting its taste, color, or texture. It's called FiberX, and it's been produced from native starches including wheat, corn, and cassava. Like actual fiber, it resists digestion in the human gut, allowing microorganisms in our colon to ferment it and potentially improving the digestive process. The team behind FiberX says it can be added to...

Moses was a man touched by God, supernaturally called and full of revelation about who God was. He had a passion to honor God and grieved deeply over the sins of the people. Because of his humility, he was permitted to commune with the Lord and receive his guidance in ways that few other men have. Despite this, Moses, like all men and women, still had a sinful, diseased nature, and God used a creative way to reveal it: “Furthermore the Lord said to him, ‘Now put your hand in your bosom.’ And he put his hand in his bosom,...

McConnell: "There is no room in the Republican Party for anti-Semitism or white supremacy And anyone meeting with people advocating that point of view in my judgment are highly unlikely to ever be elected president of the United States.”

Here's something that we didn't know, but now do. In the winter of 2020, Tony Fauci wanted to know how the Chinese Communist Party was responding to COVID. They had COVID. We had COVID. He'd want to see what they were doing, so we sent one of his deputies, a man called Clifford Lane, to China to find out, and Lane seemed stunned by what he saw there. Entire Chinese cities had been quarantined, the whole city. Huge numbers of people were forcibly locked inside their own homes, in some cases to starve to death. Secret police cruised the streets...

For thousands of years people have gazed into the sky and wondered ‘What lies beyond the heavens? What could possibly be among the stars?’ And for a select few, the answer is ‘my ashes.’For thousands of years, people have gazed into the sky and wondered "What lies beyond the heavens? What could possibly be among the stars?" And for a select few, the answer is "My ashes." A company called Celestis sends cremated remains of loved ones, and DNA of the living, into space. The company takes between one and seven grams of human ashes, places them inside a capsule...

The researchers anticipate that the study’s success will have positive implications for clinical treatment. The treatment caused neurological changes, including a decrease in inflammation and an increase in functionality, according to the researchers. A recent Tel Aviv University study found that pressure chamber therapy greatly improved social skills and the condition of the autistic brain. The research was carried out on autism animal models. The researchers discovered changes in the brain, including a decrease in neuroinflammation, which has been linked to autism. Furthermore, the social functioning of the animal models treated in the pressure chamber improved significantly. The success of...

Maria Kolesnikova has been moved to an intensive care unit, former presidential candidate Babariko's Telegram account has announced. She was arrested in 2020 after leading protests against Alexander Lukashenko. Leading Belarusian opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova has been transferred to the intensive care unit of a hospital in the southeastern city of Gomel, jailed opposition politician Viktor Babariko's Telegram account said on Tuesday. The account added that Kolesnikova's lawyer confirmed her hospitalization on Monday. She was first admitted into the surgical ward before being transferred to the intensive care unit. A leading Belarus opposition figure, Kolesnikova has been held behind bars...

President Biden has asked Congress to intervene in a labor dispute between rail workers and their employers, hoping to quell an impending strike with the potential to upend the American economy. SMART Transportation Division, SMART-TD for short, a union representing conductors in the rail industry has rejected a deal brokered by the Biden Administration, upending the White House's efforts to avoid a strike before the holidays. With 51% of SMART-TD's members voting in opposition of the deal, the workers are poised to either strike, or be locked out by rail companies on Dec. 9. A potential strike could have devastating...