Free Republic

[Catholic Caucus] Francis, Pontiff for Life. But Without a Successor “of His Own”“Still alive,” in his own words, after his latest hospital stay, Jorge Mario Bergoglio is doing all he can to discourage those who are counting on his imminent exit from the stage. But what is happening in the twilight of this pontificate does not at all foreshadow a succession congenial to him.A month before Easter, Francis brought five new cardinals onto the council of nine who are supposed to help him govern the universal Church. All close to him, one more so and another less, and at the...

A missing Texas woman was found alive last week in a Jeep that plunged into a lake and was almost entirely submerged, police said. The unidentified woman had been missing from Longview when she was found inside the black vehicle in Lake o’ the Pines on Friday, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said. Pictures from the scene show the hood of the Jeep just barely visible above the water about 40 feet from the shore. The sheriff’s office’s statement said that a fisherman alerted authorities to the vehicle in the morning. Police arrived at the scene about 18 minutes later,...

TUESDAY IN THE OCTAVE OF EASTER John 20:11–18Friends, in today’s Gospel, we find Mary Magdalene weeping by the tomb of the risen Lord. She then sees Jesus and doesn’t recognize him immediately.In a wonderful detail, she thinks he’s the gardener. In the book of Genesis, God, the gardener of Eden, walked with his creatures in easy friendship. Sin, the sundering of the loop of grace, put an end to those intimate associations.Throughout the history of salvation, God had been trying to reestablish friendship. Through the death of Jesus, through that tomb placed right in the garden, he accomplished his goal....

Explanation: Why is Polaris called the North Star? First, Polaris is the nearest bright star toward the north spin axis of the Earth. Therefore, as the Earth turns, stars appear to revolve around Polaris, but Polaris itself always stays in the same northerly direction -- making it the North Star. Since no bright star is near the south spin axis of the Earth, there is currently no bright South Star. Thousands of years ago, Earth's spin axis pointed in a slightly different direction so that Vega was the North Star. Although Polaris is not the brightest star on the sky,...

Russia is ready to introduce electronic military draft papers for the first time in its history in an effort to make it harder for men to avoid being drafted after the lower house of parliament gave its backing to the move. The State Duma, the lower chamber, gave its backing to the necessary legislation in two separate votes. Some lawmakers complained the changes were being rushed through without giving them enough time to scrutinise the changes. -snip- NO SECOND MOBILISATION Peskov dismissed suggestions that the digitalisation plans might spark a further wave of panic and emigration among young male Russians...

A Kentucky man is accused of using a cattle prod on his own children. Deputies said he did it to “discipline” them, but now defendant Anthony L. Jones, 32, faces four counts of criminal abuse in the third degree of a child 12 or under, and one count of criminal abuse in the third degree. “The perpetrator used an electric cattle prod multiple times on his two children for discipline,” deputies wrote in documents. “Both children were given a forensic interview at the CVAC center and both confirmed this. The perp used the cattle prod to shock the victims and...

President Joe Biden boarded a flight to Ireland on Tuesday with two integral members of the Biden family. Speaking with reporters before the flight, Joe Biden said the trip to Ireland was scheduled for “making sure the Irish accords and the Windsor Agreement stay in place – keep the peace.” The trip coincides with the 1998 signing of the Good Friday Agreement that ended the conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years. Images of the departure show Joe Biden’s sister, Valerie Biden Owens, and Hunter Biden also boarding the flight with the president to Ireland. Both Valerie...

It’s official: America is a Third World country. Don’t let the industrial prowess and atomic weapons fool you. Haiti and Honduras have nothing on the U.S. regarding a legal system that the ruling party hurls like a harpoon at its opponents and holsters on behalf of its friends. Masons should chisel quotation marks around the words in marble above the entrance to the U.S. Supreme Court. Equal Justice Under Law is now purely sarcastic. Consider the radically different treatment afforded 2016’s presidential nominees. Republican Donald Trump is in a heap of trouble, thanks to Democratic Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg....

One warm afternoon in May, Dwight Jackson was getting dressed for a visit to his favorite cigar lounge. He slipped his holstered SIG Sauer P320 pistol onto his belt, put on a button-down shirt and leaned across his bed for his wallet. Suddenly, he said, the gun fired, sending a bullet tearing through his right buttock and into his left ankle. "I heard 'bang!'" said Jackson, 47, a locomotive engineer who lives in Locust Grove, Ga. "I looked down and saw blood." His wife heard the shot from down the hall and screamed. She called an ambulance while Jackson hobbled...

Yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin, for the most part, listened to the recommendations of the attending physicians and rested almost all day. In the evening, Putin held a meeting with representatives of the leadership of the power and military blocs in video communication mode, but if the image of the meeting participants was present on the president's monitor, then on the monitors of the meeting participants themselves, the image of the president was absent, only a voice was heard. This format of communication happens in cases of poor health of the president. During the meeting, the president was informed about...

Former President Donald Trump's Sixth Amendment rights may have been violated when New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg refused to disclose the underlying crime the defendant intended to conceal through his alleged falsification of business records, legal experts opined Wednesday.The Sixth Amendment provides in part for the right of a criminal defendant to "be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor…"When questioned by a reporter as to what the underlying crime the indictment fails to name is, Bragg replied...

A 29-year-old mother in Texas will spend the rest of her days behind bars for killing her own infant daughter, beating the 4-month-old child to death. Harris County Judge Robert Johnson on Monday ordered Tradezsha Trenay Bibbs to serve a sentence of life in prison for the brutal slaying of young Brielle Robinson, authorities announced. According to a press release from the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, prosecutors at trial argued that Bibbs decided to kill her daughter “because the baby’s father no longer wanted a relationship” with her. Bibbs was convicted by a jury on one count of felony...

The announcement that came from the White House is spooky in its brevity. It was just one sentence announcing the end of the COVID emergency. The 15 Days announced on March 16, 2020, which implemented the national emergency declared a few days earlier, ended up lasting 1,135 days. What resulted? National ruin. We see it in every aspect of our lives: cultural, economic, educational, public health, familial, community, and trust in institutions. Life expectancy is in free fall, not from COVID but from the fallout of the response. Cities are wrecked. Millions have been professionally and demographically displaced. It’s not...

The semi-automatic rifle used to kill five people and injure nine at the Louisville bank shooting on Monday will likely be auctioned off and be “back on the streets,” Mayor Craig Greenberg said. Greenberg — who has called for an end to the gun violence plaguing his city — said current Kentucky law allows guns seized by the police to go to auction, including those used in violent crimes. “The assault rifle that killed five of our neighbors will one day be auctioned off,” the mayor said Tuesday. “That murder weapon will be back on the streets.” The Louisville Metro...

When the coronavirus first hit most western governments pushed the panic button and opted for a totalitarian approach--ordering businesses closed, people to isolate themselves at home, stay at least six feet apart, and wear masks over their nose and mouth and later, coerced injections of an experimental drug misleadingly characterized as a vaccine. Sweden took a more laissez-faire approach. People were free to take whatever precautions they wanted, but society stayed open. They reasoned that airborne viruses cannot be effectively contained and that the best policy would be to try to reach "herd immunity" as quickly as possible. Three years...

Classified documents from a Pentagon intelligence report have appeared on messaging app Discord since February with top Russian officials reportedly wanting to sabotage Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin plans to "throw" Vladimir Putin's Ukraine war while he's allegedly receiving chemotherapy, leaked Pentagon documents claim. -snip- According to the leaked documents, which have since been removed from the platforms, Russian National Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev and Russian Chief of the General Staff Valeriy Gerasimov want to "throw" the president's war while he's getting treatment for cancer. The memo says: "[The source] on 22 February indicated that Gerasimov reportedly planned to continue...

Howard Stern bashed singers Kid Rock and Travis Tritt in response to their outrage over transgender TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney’spartnership with Bud Light, saying he doesn’t understand why either cares so much. During SirusXM’s “The Howard Stern Show” Monday, Stern expressed shock over the backlash the influencer has received and questioned if there was something he was “missing.” … Stern on Monday said he wanted to speak with both Kid Rock and Tritt about their response, noting he is “coming from a place of, ‘Why do you care so much?'” … The radio host later noted that he didn’t get...

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit against Rep. Jim Jordan on Tuesday, alleging that the Republican lawmaker is trying to wage a campaign of intimidation over his prosecution of former President Donald Trump. In his lawsuit, the Democratic D.A. said he’s taking legal action “in response to an unprecedently brazen and unconstitutional attack by members of Congress on an ongoing New York State criminal prosecution and investigation of former President Donald J. Trump.” …

Two men are charged in Kentucky in a kidnapping case for allegedly terrorizing a 7-year-old boy because he was “cute.” Cops with the Winchester Police Department claim that Rahul Rahul, 21, and Arvind Arvind, 23, were taken into custody at a playground on Monday. In the citation for Rahul’s case, officers said they were dispatched to Legacy Grove Park regarding an allegation that two suspicious men were trying to get kids to come with them. “Upon arrival patrol officers made contact with the above [Rahul] and another male [Arvind] that was trying to leave,” cops said. Witnesses said these were...

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg filed a lawsuit Tuesday against House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, demanding that a federal court invalidate any subpoenas he might send for Bragg, and his current or former staff members in the wake of President Donald Trump’s recent indictment. Jordan subpoenaed former New York County Special District Attorney Mark Pomerantz last week, accusing him of politicizing the investigation into Trump and encouraging Bragg to charge the former president.