Free Republic

(Daily readings from the USCCB)“Do you not yet understand or comprehend? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear?” Mark 8:17–18How would you answer these questions that Jesus posed to His disciples if He had posed them to you? It takes humility to admit that you do not yet understand or comprehend, that your heart is in fact hardened, and that you fail to see and hear all that God has revealed. Of course there are various levels to these struggles, so hopefully you do not struggle with them to a grave degree....

The American political community is in a brief hiatus between the Democrats’ surprisingly good midterm results and the opening of the launch season for the presidential aspirants of both parties. There is a good deal of agitation among the Democrats that the president should not seek reelection and a number of recent developments, including the ludicrous imbroglio over improper retention of classified documents, indicate that the powers behind the scenes in that party are scheming to ease their leader out. In this context it was hard to know what to make of the lachrymose and almost incoherent retirement address of...

Mark Steyn continues his comeback after two heart attacks. He is using 'Steyn Online' for his platform. In the latest episode he discusses what is wrong with GBN news and answers several questions from his email bag. He also muses over the reaction of the British press to his show. Unlike most outlets, he points to the prosecution of J6 protestors as the cause of general complacency in the American public... very well worth watching. I hope he goes back on radio here in the States.

An apologist is a person who argues in defense of someone who is under attack and can't defend himself. Every defense lawyer in civil and criminal law is one, preserving the fundamental right to a fair trial that is otherwise impossible when only the prosecution is allowed to speak, such as in the case of Vladimir Putin. But I don't defend Putin only because he, like every other human being, deserves the fair hearing he has so far been denied. I do it because I am trained in Christian Apologetics to defend the far more important biblical mandate of truth-telling.Based...

WASHINGTON, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Former American ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Tuesday kicked off her campaign for the 2024 Republican U.S. presidential nomination, a tough challenge in a race in which a new Reuters/Ipsos poll shows her former boss Donald Trump holding a strong lead. "I'm Nikki Haley and I'm running for president," Haley said in a video that her team sent out by email as she joined Trump as the only announced 2024 candidates. Haley, a former South Carolina governor who served as the U.N. ambassador under Trump from 2017 to 2018, is set to...

Feb. 13 (UPI) -- A Harley-Davidson motorcycle dating from 1908 sold for $935,000, making it the most expensive bike ever sold at an auction. Mecum Auction in Las Vegas said the motorcycle, known as the Strap Tank due to the nickel-plated steel bands that suspend the fuel and oil tanks from its frame, sold for $935,000 after fees in a late-January auction. Vintagent, a website that tracks auctions of vintage motorcycles, said the sale represented the highest price ever paid for a motorcycle at an auction. "We marketed the bike well, and Harley is by far the most famous American...

Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador, announced her candidacy for president on TuesdayNikki Haley announces run for president, challenging TrumpBy MEG KINNARDAssociated PressThe Associated PressCHARLESTON, S.C.CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador, announced her candidacy for president on Tuesday, becoming the first major challenger to former President Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican nomination.The announcement, delivered in a tweeted video, marks an about-face for the ex-Trump Cabinet official, who said two years ago that she wouldn’t challenge her former boss for the White House in 2024. But...

Missouri US Senator Eric Schmitt joined Ohio US Senator JD Vance and announced he’s backing President Trump in 2024.Yesterday, The Gateway Pundit reported that Vance was getting on the Trump train and backing President Trump in 2024.“His Policies Were Incredibly Good for This Country” – Senator J.D. Vance Endorses President Donald Trump in 2024 GOP Primary““His Policies Were Incredibly Good for This Country” – Senator J.D. Vance Endorses President Donald Trump in 2024 GOP Primary” — The Gateway PunditMissouri’s newest US Senator Eric Schmitt also announced that he is backing President Trump in 2024. Schmitt is a warm welcome after...

Where's the best place to go to set up a web site? Nothing fancy. I just want to place some stories and speeches there. Hopefully with little or no cost. I set up a couple many years ago. One business on some server and others on places like geocities or myspace. I used microsoft frontpage and macromedia to make some fancy ones back then.

Feb. 12: Lake Huron Location and altitude: The object was around 20,000 feet, soaring near the eastern portion of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It was shot down over Lake Huron, "about 15 nautical miles east of the Upper Peninsula," VanHerck said. Size and shape: "It presented as an octagonal structure with strings hanging off but no discernable payload," a senior Biden administration official said. What shot it down: An F-16, firing an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile. Reason given: "We did not assess it to be a kinetic military threat to anything on the ground," the North American Aerospace Defense Command said, "but...

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile had to make a pit stop on Friday after thieves targeted the iconic vehicle. The catalytic converter on the 27-foot-long hot dog on wheels was stolen, according to Joseph Rodriguez with Penske Trucks. According to Rodriguez, his team at Penske helped give the vehicle a temporary repair so it could get back on the road. Rodriguez said staff at Penske near West Hacienda Avenue and South Decatur Boulevard sealed up where the catalytic converter had been cut. The iconic vehicle was back on the road and able to make it to...

What the hell? While everybody was focused on Super Bowl Weekend (and understandably so), there was a ton of college basketball that was going on, but there was one game in particular that stood out — and for all of the wrong reasons. During a Feb. 11 SWAC conference game between Alabama A&M and Mississippi Valley State, a MVSU cheerleader was ejected after walking on the court after a play and shoving a player, and before that incident, she attempted to kick an A&M player. With around three minutes left in the game, the cheerleader did a “routine” that would...

Moldova’s president outlined Monday what she described as a plot by Moscow to overthrow her country’s government using external saboteurs, put the nation “at the disposal of Russia” and derail its aspirations to one day join the European Union. President Maia Sandu’s briefing comes a week after neighboring Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country had intercepted plans by Russian secret services to destroy Moldova, claims that were later confirmed by Moldovan intelligence officials. “The plan for the next period involves actions with the involvement of diversionists with military training, camouflaged in civilian clothes, who will undertake violent actions, attack...

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said during a Monday event that too many construction crews “don’t look like” the neighborhoods they work in.

Austin Majors, who made his mark as a child star on the hugely successful "NYPD Blue" has died ... TMZ has learned. Austin died Saturday night while staying at a homeless housing facility in Los Angeles. A source with direct knowledge of the circumstances surrounding his death tells us there's no foul play suspected ... but it is believed he may have ingested a fatal amount of fentanyl. We're told an autopsy is set to be completed Monday, with final toxicology results expected in the next few months. Austin's family issued a statement on his death, telling us he, “Was...

Former Vice President Mike Pence plans to challenge a subpoena issued by the special counsel overseeing the investigations into former President Donald Trump, according to two people familiar with his plans. The sources confirmed that he intends to claim legislative privilege, mounting the argument that because he was president of the Senate as vice president, he was a member of the legislative branch and should be shielded from Justice Department questioning under the Constitution's "speech or debate" clause. Under the clause, members shall "be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going...

Republican lawmakers criticized Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for his response to the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, which marks the most recent of several high-profile infrastructure disasters during his two-year tenure. The derailment, which occurred on February 3, caused a fire that lasted several days. Officials decided to evacuate all residents within one mile of the crash and initiated a controlled burn of the chemicals to mitigate the risk of an explosion; five train cars of vinyl chloride, a carcinogen that can contaminate water supplies, was released into the atmosphere in the form of massive plumes of dark smoke...

UCLA’s SETI group will launch a new project on Tuesday that allows the public to assist scientists in classifying radio signals that could be signs of extraterrestrial life, a news release said. Participants will then be asked to select an image, provided by researchers, that closely resembles the radio signal they previously saw. The goal is to match the signals to the “common classes of radio frequency interference,” a news release said. Scientists with the group have observed about 42,000 stars and over 64 million radio signals and have technology that discards about 99.5% of the signals that are either...

Numerous red balloons floating off the coast of Florida's panhandle this week may be an unwelcome and alarming sight for some residents amid recent reports of American fighter jets shooting down unfamiliar flying objects. But, according to Eglin Air Force Base, it's just part of a planned weather experiment by the Naval Postgraduate School. The base said a little over a dozen red balloons will be set free in the winter sky. "Each day, balloons will be released between 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. to collect weather data for a Naval Postgraduate School research project to understand the physical interaction...

Speaking to reporters at the White House Monday afternoon, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre assured Americans a number of "objects" that were shot down by the U.S. in recent days are not aliens or extraterrestrial beings. The clarification comes after United States Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command General Glen VanHerck refused to rule out the possibility the objects could be aliens. And while the White House claims they know unknown objects were not aliens, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby told reporters the objects still cannot be identified and cannot be classified as balloons. When...