Free Republic

[Catholic Caucus] FULL TEXT: Pope Francis’ Letter to New Doctrine Chief Archbishop FernándezThe pope says in the letter that the dicastery at times has promoted pursuing “doctrinal errors” over “promoting theological knowledge.”The announcement on July 1 that Pope Francis has named Archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández to lead the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith was accompanied by a letter the Holy Father addressed to the Argentine theologian.While Fernández’s appointment came as a surprise to many, the pope’s letter also has attracted attention because of what it reveals about Francis’ vision for the dicastery, one of the most important and...

Lomborg has spent the last 20 years consulting with experts from the United Nations, nongovernmental organizations, and 60 teams of economists, seeking consensus on how to address the world’s biggest problems. “The point is not that climate change is not an issue,” says Lomborg, “but we just need to have a sense of proportion.” SNIP Twenty years ago, the United Nations issued development goals. Surprisingly, Lomberg says they actually helped people. But a Bank of America report estimates that fighting climate change alone would cost trillions.

In his first year as Florida governor in 2019, Ron DeSantis paid a somber visit to the memorial for the 49 people who lost their lives when a man opened fire at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando. His wife, Casey, clutched a bouquet of white flowers as DeSantis took in the faces of those who died on that June night in 2016. Most were Latino. Many were gay. Before leaving, DeSantis signed a wall with the words: “Florida will always remember these precious lives.” For Florida’s LGBTQ community, the day brought a glimmer of optimism that this new Republican...

Openly gay Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Sunday accused Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis of using “oiled-up shirtless bodybuilders’’ to try to prove his masculinity in an ad attacking Donald Trump. The controversial clip features Trump, who is vying against DeSantis for the GOP presidential nomination, crowing in 2016 that he would “do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens” — as multiple images of DeSantis and shredded bare-chested men are interspersed between the perceived dig and others targeting the former president. “I’m going to leave aside the strangeness of trying to prove your manhood by putting up a...

[Catholic Caucus] Full Text: “The Art of Kissing” by Pope Francis’ Ghostwriter Archbishop “Tucho” FernandezFor the first time, now you can read in a new English translation the complete text of Heal Me With Your Mouth. The Art of Kissing (1995) by Archbishop Víctor Manuel “Tucho” Fernández, rector of the the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina in Buenos Aires. This book, filled with erotic poetry and images, and written by a priest, now an archbishop, who took a vow of celibacy, provides disconcerting insights into the bizarre mind of one of the world’s most powerful theologians. Fernandez serves as the...

PASADENA, Texas – An 18-year-old Pasadena Taco Bell employee has been arrested after allegedly pulling a gun on a customer in the drive-thru after the customer decided to cancel their order, according to the Pasadena Police Department. Bryan Alexander Carranza, who, according to court records, is a shift lead at Taco Bell, is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and unlawful carrying of a weapon. He’s being held on a $20,000 bond but prosecutors asked for his bond to be set at $40,000. The incident happened Saturday evening at the Taco Bell located at 302 Southmore Ave. “The...

Colleen Loud, 68, had been sitting at her home in New Hampton eating a bowl of ice cream waiting for a Yankees game to start last October when officers knocked on her door and eventually took her into custody. Police say that they arrested for being intoxicated with a breath alcohol test reading of just over .08, which is below the legal limit for driving, as well over concern for the condition of her home, in documents one officer accused her of being a 'hoarder. Loud later shot back in an interview saying: 'My house is a mess, which is...

Bidenomics is based on massive Federal spending and massive Fed monetary stimulus. But like all stimulus, it wears off. Such is the case with bank lending as The Fed raises interest rates. US bank credit year-over-year (YoY) has stalled to a lowly 0.7% rate as M2 Money growth YoY increases slightly to -4%. White House report signals openness to manipulating sunlight to prevent climate change. Its figures. With the Socialist Federal Reserve manipulating interest rates and Biden/Congress spending like drunken sailors trying to manipuate economic growth, it makes sense that Biden wants to explore Bill Gate’s idiotic idea of blotting...

Geraldo Rivera signed off at Fox News for good last week, and during his final appearance on the network, he praised the effects that affirmative action had on his career days after the Supreme Court struck down the college admissions policy. Appearing during a festive sendoff on “Fox and Friends” Friday, in which his colleagues at the conservative news network donned fake mustaches with balloons in the background, Rivera noted that he was a “product of affirmative action” when one of his co-hosts asked him to reflect on how his career in broadcast news has touched the Hispanic community. “I...

On or very near this date in 1350,* the plague-ravaged city of Visby burned a man remembered as Tidericus (Diderik) the organist. The Gotland capital at this point stood at the fore of the Hanseatic league; the medieval maritime Laws of Wisbuy reflect its influence. The arrival in this year of the Black Death would begin Visby’s passage from merchant power to its present-day station as the “City of Ruins”. (The beautiful remains of its medieval grandeur make Visby a UNESCO heritage site.) Small wonder that the city took its abrupt fall from greatness as an infernal conspiracy, the dimensions...

Paris protests spread to Switzerland and Belgium but streets of France are eerily quiet: Emmanuel Macron holds crisis talks to assess the situation after teen's 'execution' during traffic stop fuels five days of widespread unrest

[Catholic Caucus] A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing Has Been Set to Guard the Lord's Flock. By Father Brian Harrison.Today July 1st, 2023, Francis took one of the most revolutionary steps so far in his decade-long novelty-studded pontificate.He has appointed his fellow-Argentinian, Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernández, the main theologian behind Amoris Laetitia, as the new Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.Fernández has a long track record of promoting the modernist idea of the evolution of doctrine, claiming (wrongly) that the magisterium has contradicted itself on religious liberty and slavery, and that this sets a precedent for further...

A natural gas explosion destroyed a west suburban home on Saturday afternoon, police said. The explosion happened in the 4500 block of Ivanhoe Avenue in Lisle. No one was inside the home at the time, and no injuries have been reported, the DuPage County Sheriff's Office said. Police said the DuPage County Arson Task Force is investigating the explosion, and there is no evidence of foul play.

'Thank you so much for sharing,' says a member of an online forum, discussing tips on how to create your own version of artificial intelligence 'chatbot' ChatGPT. Are there any plans to share your previous models?' It sounds innocent enough, but this is just one of dozens of dark web pedophile groups exchanging advice on how to build 'uncensored' chatbots that can produce reams of child porn. Chatbots are computer programs that use artificial intelligence (AI) to interact with humans. They have become increasingly sophisticated in recent years, with users able to ask them to generate lengthy pieces of text,...

California’s statewide teachers’ union sent a letter June 27 to the Chino Valley Unified School board criticizing its recent decision to allow only government flags on school property—and threatening to take legal action against the board if the policy is not reversed. The board voted 4–1 June 15 to allow only the California and U.S. flags on school property. The California Teachers Association—with more than 300,000 members—in partnership with local union Associated Chino Teachers alleges in the letter the decision violates teachers’ right to free speech under the First Amendment as well as a state employment law. The union also...

Facing Suicide. "The world breaks everyone and afterwards many are strong at the broken places." So wrote Ernest Hemingway in Farewell To Arms (1929) Hemingway lived most of his life as an outstanding outdoorsman whose understated economical literary style was male to the core. Like his physician father before him, Hemingway died by suicide on July 2nd, 1961. "What is the sense of ruining my head" he said of the ECT treatment in his final year that left him a wreck, "and erasing my memory, which is capital, and putting me out of business? It was a brilliant cure, but...

Attorneys general from 10 states, including New York, plan to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, saying its failure to review and ensure emissions standards for residential wood-burning stoves has allowed the continued sale of appliances that could worsen pollution. That means programs that encourage people to trade in older stoves and other wood-burning appliances, such as forced-air furnaces, haven’t necessarily improved air quality, the states say. “If newer wood heaters do not meet cleaner standards, then programs to change out old wood heaters may provide little health benefits at significant public cost,” the states wrote Thursday in a 60-day...

South Carolina’s heavily Republican Upstate is a popular stop for presidential candidates trying to attract support for the first-in-the-South primary in 2024 Trump’s South Carolina rally attracted crowd in range of 50,000 to 55,000, police chief estimates PICKENS, S.C. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump marked a return to the large-scale rallies of his previous presidential campaigns, speaking to a massive crowd gathered in the streets of a small South Carolina city on a blazing summer weekend. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be to kick off the Fourth of July weekend than right here on Main Street, with thousands of...

Former President Donald Trump committed to cutting federal funding for schools pushing Critical Race Theory and gender ideology if elected president while speaking at the Moms for Liberty Joyful Warriors Summit Friday evening in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.“On day one, I will sign a new executive order to cut federal funding for any school pushing Critical Race Theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content on our children,” Trump pledged before advocating for moving the “education system back to the states.”He added:Under my leadership, the 1619 project, you remember that beauty, climate change extremists that are destroying our country…...

Ian "Frank" Tortorici grew up in Lake Forest and volunteered to join Ukraine's International Legion 15 months ago. (This restaurant meetup of Mercenaries was hit after a Canadian Merc posted a geolocated pic from inside restaurant to instagram)