Free Republic

Second Week of Advent Matthew 11:16–19Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus says, “The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they said, ‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’”The Passover meal was decisively important in salvation history. God commanded that his people share a meal to remember their liberation from slavery. This supper provides the context for the deepest theologizing of the Israelite community. Both the bitterness of their slavery and the sweetness of their liberation are acted out in this sacred meal.Jesus’ life and ministry can be interpreted in light of...

Around the world, the climate crisis is worsening the inequities surrounding who gets to have a healthy pregnancy and baby. Esther McCant, who works as a doula in the US state of Florida, knows that pregnant people need more than a birth plan. They also need information to plan for heat waves, especially for families that can’t afford running their air conditioning, and for extreme weather events such as hurricanes, storms, and floods, that are increasingly likely due to climate change. So McCant, a mother of four and a Black maternal health activist, includes climate health education and activism in...

MSNBC co-host Joe Scarborough said Friday on his show “Morning Joe” that Republicans are being too “harsh,” which will cause them to lose elections. The panel was discussing Republicans criticizing the circumstances surrounding the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner from Russia, including Griner refusing to stand for the national anthem in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death in 2020. Scarborough said, “Americans get it; Americans are smart enough to get it. There are people that care protesting during George Floyd. There are a lot of Americans that didn’t really get black athletes and some white athletes kneeling during the...

Researchers found that people taking statins had a 17% lower risk of having a stroke in the lobe areas of the brain. They had a 16% lower risk of stroke in the non-lobe areas of the brain. Photo by Tasique/Shutterstock Statins may do more than help your heart: New research shows the cholesterol-lowering drugs may also lower your risk for a bleeding stroke. An intracerebral hemorrhage, which involves bleeding in the brain, comprises about 15% to 30% of strokes, according to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. It is also the most deadly. With this type of stroke, arteries or...

Anthony Fauci in an interview with the BBC blasted the “cowardly” internet trolls who harass his wife and children, saying it’s a part of the backlash he’s experienced over the COVID-19 pandemic. “These people who troll about, they harass my wife and my children because they can figure out where they live and what their phone number is,” the immunologist told BBC’s “Americast” podcast. Fauci, the chief medical adviser to the White House, has been the public face of the government’s efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. He’s set to retire from government service at the end of the month....

Blackrock is saying to get ready for a recession like no other. We’ve been warned for some time. The world is facing recession, the IMF declared. The famous investor who made real money from the 2008 market disaster is warning about a recession in the US as well. Michael Burry saw the 2008 disaster coming and he is saying it again. Joe Biden told us we aren’t in a recession. He says that it so it must be true, right? So what really is going on? According to one of the largest investment firms in the world, the economic outlook...

The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis released its final report on Friday before Republicans take control of the House in the next upcoming Congress, providing new findings on how the Trump administration’s actions negatively impacted the U.S. response. The report from the Democratic-led subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Jim Clyburn (S.C.), highlighted the Trump White House’s “failed stewardship over the pandemic response and persistent pattern of political interference.”

This is old..but new to me. Love or hate Russell Brand, the dude is tough to keep up with. Here, he just shreds this MSNBC Morning news crew. Funny!

While there are currently no indications at Estonia's borders of an increase in the flow of war refugees arriving from Ukraine, as temperatures drop, larger numbers of people may end up on the move due to the widespread destruction of Ukraine's energy infrastructure, according to a Government Office press briefing. Martin Kutti, adviser at the National Security and Defense Coordination Unit of the Government Office, said that there are no signs indicating that Russian President Vladimir Putin's goals in Ukraine have changed: over the past few weeks, 50 percent of Ukraine's energy infrastructure has been destroyed. "These attacks are planned...

First a lot of bad news, but read on for a positive game-changer. If there’s one thing Republicans across Illinois should all be able to agree on at this point, it’s this: the Illinois Republican Party is dead. And I don’t mean dead like people said it was after the innumerable other disappointing elections for the GOP in Illinois over the past couple of decades. Let’s not kid ourselves, 2022 is far from the only year the Illinois Republican Party embarrassingly underperformed the GOP in states where the state party takes a serious approach. I mean dead, dead like the...

Nearly 400 South Koreans adopted as children by families in the West have requested South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission investigate their adoptions through Friday’s application deadline, as Seoul faces growing pressure to reckon with a child export frenzy driven by dictatorships that ruled the country until the 1980s. The commission on Thursday said it decided to investigate 34 cases among the 51 adoptees who first submitted their applications in August, which could possibly develop into the country’s most far-reaching inquiry into foreign adoptions yet. A total of 63 adoptees from the United States, Europe and Australia submitted applications to...

An eastern Massachusetts town’s library is being accused of depriving patrons of holiday cheer after it decided to skip its annual Christmas tree decoration, with one staffer claiming the display was nixed because it was making some residents “uncomfortable.” The Endicott Branch of the Dedham Public Library in Dedham has angered some residents with its decision to not install a public Christmas tree this year, Fox News’ Jesse Watters reported Thursday. “Instead of spreading holiday cheer, [the library is] going to keep the star in the box and leave the tree in storage, ending a tradition that’s been going on...

Owners whose cats have diabetes now have a new option to care for the condition in their otherwise healthy pets. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved the first pill to improve control of diabetes in some cats. The drug, called Bexacat (bexagliflozin tablets), is not insulin and is not meant for cats who have the type of diabetes that requires treatment with insulin. Rather, it is what is called a sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor. The active ingredient in this pill prevents the cat's kidneys from reabsorbing glucose into the blood. This excess glucose leaves the body...

If you do not embrace, with both arms, that Leftists and RINOs use a multi-faceted, 40 years-in-the-making, industrial-scale voter fraud system, centering on voter roll tampering and manipulation, aided by elected officials, NGOs, protected by the mainstream press and conservative controlled opposition, you cannot be part of its remediation. This week, we have a glaring example of the Republican money-gathering class demonstrating how clueless it is about this reality. Our friend Ned Ryun, from a conservative organization, said Republicans need to adopt an absentee ballot-chasing strategy. In Breitbart, of course. This nonsense is the popular position promoted by most of...

The same FBI Director in charge of the Michigan Whitmer kidnap and murder hoax and was then later moved to Washington DC prior to the January 6 protests at the Capitol has quietly announced he is retiring to spend more time with his family.

[Catholic Caucus] Traditionis Custodes: Is There Light on the Horizon?PaxLiturgique.fr has analysed the present situation of the Mass in France.• Francis’ rigidity as expressed in his anti-Mass Traditionis Custodes seems to mellow down.• Signs for this are: the decree for the FSSP and, de facto, for the other Roman Mass communities; the recent Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage in Rome; Parolin’s ambiguous letter to the French and Italian bishops.• The French bishops are showing indecision as they are losing money over Traditionis Custodes and face strong opposition from often young Catholics.• Paris Archbishop Ulrich has allowed Father de Labarre FSSP to celebrate...

Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s bombshell announcement Friday that she was leaving the Democratic Party to become an Independent sparked a fury among liberals who accused the iconoclastic lawmaker of being a self-serving traitor. The first-term senator argued in an op-ed published Friday by the Arizona Republic as well as several interviews that she has “never really fit into a box of any political party” — and she vowed not to caucus with Senate Republicans. Should she keep her promise, Democrats will still retain their narrow voting majority in the closely divided Senate. In a video explaining her decision, Sinema said:...

Shortly after Brittney Griner landed in Texas early Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said more prisoner exchanges are possible between the two countries. Putin said “everything is possible” when asked about future swaps, noting that “compromises have been found” to clear the exchange of the WNBA star for notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout. “We aren’t refusing to continue this work in the future,” the Russian strongman added after a summit in Kyrgyzstan. “Whether this could set stage for a dialogue with the U.S. is a separate issue,” the leader said. “We didn’t set the task to move from those talks...

Japan announced Friday that it will jointly develop its next-generation fighter jet with the U.K. and Italy as it looks to expand defense cooperation beyond its traditional ally, the United States. The Mitsubishi F-X fighter jet will replace the aging fleet of F-2s that Japan previously developed with the United States. The nations will merge their current plans for development of next-generation planes – the F-X and Britain’s Tempest, a successor to the Eurofighter Typhoon – to produce the new combat aircraft for deployment in 2035. The deal will give Japan greater support in countering China’s growing assertiveness and allow...

Leaving big-league politics is a lot like comedy: It’s all about timing. FBI master-blaster Steven D’Antuono, the top official at the Washington, D.C., FBI office, quietly announced via his LinkedIn page that he had left the Bureau the day before. ... D’Antuono claims he decided to end his career to “spend more time with family.” His decision comes — coincidentally — as the new, Republican-led House of Representatives has promised to give the FBI a much-needed enema. ... The letter also states that FBI Director Wray has not been forthcoming in regard to congressional hearings involving the FBI, and it...