Free Republic

Reports: Vatican-ordered investigation targets Bishop Strickland of Tyler, Texashe Vatican’s Dicastery of Bishops has completed a formal investigation of Bishop Joseph E. Strickland and the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, according to multiple media reports.What prompted the inquiry, known as an apostolic visitation, remains unclear, but it marks a rare though not unprecedented intervention by Rome into a U.S. diocese and points to possible disciplinary action against Strickland, a widely popular though polarizing Texas firebrand viewed as a culture war champion by many U.S. conservatives for his staunch defense of the unborn, marriage, the traditional Latin liturgy, and Catholic orthodoxy.The leader...

The Bible In Paintings ~ Encouragement for Applying and Appreciating God's Word ~ •Drawings•Engravings•Facades•Frescoes•Illuminations•Miniatures•Mosaics•Photographs•Reliefs•Statues•Tapestries•Windows• The Best of H O W A R D D A V I D J O H N S O N “HOWARD DAVID JOHNSON (born 1954) is an American photorealist illustrator (drawer, painter, digital artist) of portrait, historical, mythological/religious art. He combines traditional style and methods with digital techniques.” excerpted from WikipediaLink to Johnson’s website and Galleries 1 HOWARD DAVID JOHNSON "Cherubim at the Garden of Eden" 2 HOWARD DAVID JOHNSON "The Sacrifice of Noah" 3 HOWARD DAVID JOHNSON "Abraham and the Angels" 4 HOWARD...

Ukraine has “de-occupied” 130 square kilometres (50 square miles) of national territory in its southern region since the start of the counter-offensive, real progress but a statement that perhaps underlines recent admissions that things are not moving as quickly as initially hoped. Kyiv’s deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar put the previous week’s fighting into context in a statement published early Monday morning, saying in Ukraine’s military eastern region of operations the Russian lines had been pushed back one-to-two kilometres (up to a mile-and-a-quarter) in battles pushing eastwards towards Donetsk and Bakhmut. Ukrainian soldiers are now entrenched at the new forward...

During the chaos in Russia this weekend, much of the nation’s leadership effectively disappeared. It remains unclear if Vladimir Putin is even in Moscow, though state spokesmen insist that he has remained “working inside the Kremlin.” The target of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s aborted coup attempt, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, similarly pulled a vanishing act on Saturday. But today he finally reappeared, showing up in Ukraine to perform an inspection of some of Russia’s troops, making sure that the media was there to cover his performance. The Defense Ministry published a video showing Shoigu meeting with high-ranking Russian Army officers at a...

VIDEOHunter Biden, on the heels of receiving a tap on the wrist from the DOJ due to his corrupt Democrat white privilege, attended the White House State Dinner for Indian Prime Minister Modi. Not only did he enthusiastically shmooze with the guests but he even provided narration for the event in which he lays out his moral belief system. Theologians will be quite interested in Hunter's views on the nature of God.

Pray For The Peace of JerusalemLuke 17 Sin, Faith, Duty 17 Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. 2 It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. 3 So watch yourselves. “If your brother or sister[a] sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. 4 Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come...

If you want to visit some of Italy’s stellar attractions – the Pantheon, St Peter’s Basilica, Florence’s Duomo – you’ll need to be dressed appropriately. As religious sites, there are strict rules surrounding clothing and covering up. While these regulations are long-standing, some communities in Italy have also recently introduced strict dress codes when walking around town. Here’s everything you need to know about what to wear as a tourist in Italy. What to wear to visit churches in Italy Many of Italy’s top attractions are churches, cathedrals or religious complexes. If you want to ensure you’re not turned away...

An overwhelming majority of Americans think it is vital to US interests that Ukraine beats back Russia’s invasion, while over half think providing military aid to the cause is worth it, a new survey shows. A Reagan Institute survey on national security issues found that 76% percent of Americans believe Kyiv’s victory is important to the United States, with a staggering number of Democrats (86%) and Republicans (71%) sharing this sentiment. Fewer Americans, however, are as excited about propping up Ukraine’s wartime efforts, with 59% believing that Washington should continue to provide weapons and additional support. The most common justification...

In 2022 Norway’s third richest man, Kjell Inge Røkke, announced in an open letter to shareholders he was moving to Lugano, Switzerland. “My capital will continue working in Norway,” wrote the fishing magnate turned industrialist who launched his empire four decades ago with a 69-foot trawler he bought while saving money working on ships off the coast of Alaska. Røkke, who Forbes estimates has a fortune of $5.1 billion, will cost the Norwegian government an estimated 175,000,000 kroner annually (roughly $16 million) with his departure. That might not sound like a lot of money, but Røkke is not the only...

Box office analyst and YouTuber Valliant Renegade has estimated that the Walt Disney Co. has lost $890 million on the last eight studio releases, including the woke Little Mermaid remake and Elemental, an anti-racism animated film featuring a non-binary character. The films contributing to the losses include “Lightyear,” “Thor: Love and Thunder,” “Strange World,” “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” “The Little Mermaid,” and “Elemental.” Valliant Renegade said that the eight films cost roughly $2.75 billion but only brought in $1.86 billion. “That can’t go on forever. It’s just simple numbers,...

In 2024, there is an opportunity to out-compute the left. Here's what it may look like. Ninety percent of current election fraud comes in two buckets: election commissions jacking with voter rolls like Arizona and Wisconsin and mail-in ballots collected and illegally voted like everywhere. Neither fraud bucket is thwarted by organizational solutions — both can be stopped with real-time compute power.

26 June 2023Monday of week 12 in Ordinary TimeOur Lady of Peace: The Prelatic Church of Opus Dei (the tomb of St. Josemaria at front>Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: A(I).First readingGenesis 12:1-9 ©'Leave your country, your family, and your father's house'The Lord said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your family and your father’s house, for the land I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name so famous that it will be used as a blessing.‘I will bless those who bless you:I will curse those who slight you.All the...

It would not be difficult to alter the software to summon only registered Democrats. At this writing it appears that the trial of President Trump will take place in the Fort Pierce Courthouse in Florida, and the NY Times noted that the jury pool will politically favor President Trump. Although there is some truth to that statement which acknowledges the political nature of the trial, the real question is: “What is the NYT’s narrative?” Is it to blunt the fallout from the dreaded acquittal or to amplify the public impact of their desired guilty verdict? It is too early for...

The size of the brain is frequently associated with intellect. A new study has revealed a surprising correlation between climate change and the size of the human brain. As PsyPost reports, this study delves into the hypothesis that the environmental strain induced by climate change is responsible for the observed decline in brain size. These discoveries provide insights into the evolutionary challenges encountered by contemporary humans over the last 15,000 years and raise concerns regarding the potential consequences of ongoing global warming on our cognitive capacities. The study, led by Jeff Morgan Stibel, a cognitive scientist, represents a notable advancement...

Republican senators are leaning on Chief Justice John Roberts to do something about the Supreme Court’s appearance problem in the wake of reports that conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito accepted luxury vacations from conservative donors. While Republicans don’t support Supreme Court ethics reform legislation sponsored by Democrats, they think the reports that Thomas and Alito accepted expensive vacations funded by wealthy donors has created a real public relations problem for the court. These lawmakers want Roberts to take the issue of legislation out of Congress’s hands by issuing a judicial code of ethics or some other updated statement...

Every taxpayer who dutifully hands over their hard-earned cash every year to the government should be enraged by IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley’s testimony about how senior leaders at the DOJ, the FBI and the IRS sabotaged the five-year investigation into Hunter Biden and allowed him to walk away with a laughably lenient plea deal and unpaid taxes. Shapley is a hero, as is the second IRS whistleblower who came forward to the House Ways and Means Committee over the last month to tell the truth about an egregious abuse of power at the highest level of the federal government to...

The U.S. Department of Transportation announced Monday it is releasing some $1.7 billion in grants to fund new electric and low-emission buses across the country. The taxpayer dollars come from the 2021 infrastructure bill signed into law by President Joe Biden, AP reports, with the money going to transit projects in 46 states and territories. “Every day, millions of Americans climb aboard over 60,000 buses to get to work, to school, doctor’s appointments, everywhere they need to be,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a call with reporters. “These are unprecedented levels of investment when it comes to putting modern...

Why are so many major companies going woke and stiffing shareholders? Because their biggest shareholders are massive funds that push wokeness under the guise of formulas like ESG. (snip) Fink’s latest dispatch deemphasizes ESG investing — increasingly a politically fraught topic — compared to his most recent annual letters. In fact, the term ESG does not appear anywhere in the letter.The energy transition concerns are not raised until paragraph 18, and the word “climate” doesn’t appear until the eighth page of the lengthy letter. Even when it does, climate is only used five times.

When the current occupant of the White House openly asserts that white supremacy is the greatest threat to America, it shows that demonizing whites is now an acceptable part of American life. Conservative writer Ed Brodow dubs this phenomenon the “new national sport” in the subtitle of his book The War on Whites. In a Townhall article, he says hating whites is a disease of epidemic proportions that must be called out for what it is – racism. He explains how, in the woke-perverted world of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), white people – by dint of pigment alone –...

Make no mistake, the mounting evidence of bribery surrounding President Joe Biden and his family can only be buried one way: an admission of his major cognitive decline, necessitating his dropping out of the 2024 race. The only factors keeping him in the White House are the need to keep up the charade (else Biden prematurely become a lame duck), the fear of Vice President Kamala Harris’ utter lack of qualification or disposition for the job of president, and the desire of Biden’s staff to extract every last drop of grift — like ticks burrowed into presidential power. When Biden’s...