Free Republic

10 July 2023Monday of week 14 in Ordinary TimeSt. Canute's Cathedral, Odense, DenmarkReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: A(I).First readingGenesis 28:10-22 ©Jacob's dream of the ladder at BethelJacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. When he had reached a certain place he passed the night there, since the sun had set. Taking one of the stones to be found at that place, he made it his pillow and lay down where he was. He had a dream: a ladder was there, standing on the ground with its top reaching to heaven; and there were angels of God going up...

If you receive a call from someone asking if you remember them, Alabama Securities Commission is urging you to immediately hang up. It said it could be part of a cryptocurrency scam responsible for robbing nearly a hundred people out of 23 million dollars. It’s called the pig butchering scam, and the director of the Alabama Securities Commission, Amanda Senn said it’s on the rise around the state, especially in the Tennessee Valley. “We’ve had several in the Madison County area. About half of these that have come are North Alabama victims,” said Senn, “We’ve just had several more cases...

Everybody loves the story of God bringing the Israelites out of Egypt. We’ve got all of the plagues and these dramatic signs of God’s power, then nearly two million slaves are set free. The pharaoh of Egypt changes his mind about letting them go at the last minute and chases them to the Red Sea, then God splits the sea in half, and his people escape through it only to have these walls of water smash in on the Egyptian army pursuing them. There’s an important verse before all of that, though, which we often miss. “Now there arose a...

"Offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. 2:5). Praise consists of reciting God’s attributes and mighty works. "Praise the Lord" is a common expression today. Some see it as a catchy slogan, others commercialize it, still others reduce it to nothing more than "P.T.L." But despite such attempts to trivialize it, praising the Lord remains the believer's expression of love and gratitude to a God who has been abundantly gracious to him. That was the cry of David's heart when he said, "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be...

VIDEO AT LINK............... CRABSTICKS are adored by seafood lovers across the nation, but people have vowed never to eat them again after learning what they're actually made from. A social media user shared a video of the process on Reddit, which shows how a Thailand-based factory creates the fishy sticks. People are only just realising what crab sticks are madeCredit: Reddit/rco888 Crabsticks go through a whole host of processes before arriving on supermarket shelvesCredit: Reddit/rco888 And many have been left horrified by the reality - with people branding them "fish hot dogs." The savoury snack begins its journey as a...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy collected five previously imprisoned Azov battalion commanders in a recent trip to Turkey, prompting confusion from Russia, which accused Ankara of walking back an agreement to keep them until the war's end. In a Saturday video posted by Zelenskyy, commanding members of the battalion — a white nationalist paramilitary force within the Ukrainian National Guard — can be seen hugging the Ukrainian president before they board a plane. The commanders had been captured in the port city of Mariupol. "We are returning home from Turkey and bringing our heroes home," a post on Zelenskyy's Twitter read.

LONDON (Reuters) - The Church of England will work towards drafting new pastoral guidance and other material needed to allow same-sex couples to receive blessings from priests over the next few months, it said on Saturday. The Church's governing body, called the General Synod, held a four-hour debate on the matter, which has revealed divisions within the institution after the synod voted in February to let gay couples have a prayer service after a civil marriage. "It has been good to hear their (synod members') reflections, and we will take these away to feed into the concentrated drafting work that...

Republican 2024 presidential nominee and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is giving out "Jeb Bush vibes" while on the campaign trail, former GOP communications director Tara Setmayer said on Saturday. "The idea of Ron DeSantis was what attracted people to him until he went on the campaign trail and people realized that he's actually whiny. He got snippy with a high school student for asking him a basic question. He can't answer a question about January 6, [2021], for goodness' sake. So even though he's raised all this money, it's giving me Jeb Bush vibes all over again," Setmayer said to...

Rikkie Valerie Kolle, 22, will be the second trans woman to go for Miss Universe A transgender woman has been crowned Miss Netherlands for the first time in the beauty pageant's history and is now set to compete for the Miss Universe title. Rikkie Valerie Kolle, 22, made history after she won the competition on Sunday. The new Miss Netherlands wore a red gown as she was overcome by emotion while receiving her crown from her predecessor Ona Moody and reigning Miss Universe R'Bonney Gabriel from the USA. The model stood victorious with a bouquet of flowers while her competitors...

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum has said he would vote for Donald Trump again as president, but draws the line at ever conducting business with the man he's now running against for the Republican presidential nomination. Burgum, a former business owner who turned a small software company into a $1.1 billion deal with Microsoft, was asked by "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd in an interview that aired Sunday if he would do business with Trump. "I don't think so," Burgum responded. Asked why, he said, "I just think that it’s important that you’re judged by the company you keep."...

Rapper 50 Cent says LA is about to get outta control — thanks to so-called bail reform. The hip-hop “Outta Control” icon took to Instagram to bemoan the ongoing crime crisis in the City of Angels — and said it’s about to get even worse after a judge recently reinstated a controversial no-bail policy there. “LA is finished,” wrote the 48-year-old rapper, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, on Thursday. “Watch how bad it gets out there. SMH [shaking my head].” The rapper included video of a TV segment about the ruling, which eliminates bail for anyone charged with a...

Washington, DC – The New Civil Liberties Alliance is challenging the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) in federal court for coordinating with Google to automatically install spyware on the smartphones of more than one million Commonwealth residents, without their knowledge or consent, in a misguided effort to combat Covid-19. A newly-released video details how DPH’s actions have violated fundamental constitutional rights. ... Thousands of people do not know DPH’s Covid-19 tracking app is on their phone, as it does not appear on their home screens like other apps. NCLA client Robert Wright, who commutes to Massachusetts for work, was...

U.S. President Joe Biden flew into the United Kingdom on Sunday night, a stop-off on his way to the NATO summit in Lithuania tomorrow, and is due to meet with PM Sunak and take tea with King Charles III at Windsor Castle. Biden is on a three-nation tour of Europe, starting with the United Kingdom, followed by the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, and then to Helsinki, Finland, the newest member of NATO. He stayed the night at the American Embassy overnight and will travel to Windsor Castle today.

MOSCOW, July 10. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin had a nearly three-hour-long meeting with Yevgeny Prigozhin and PMC Wagner commanding officers in the Kremlin on June 29, Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Monday. Commenting on a piece by the Liberation newspaper about Putin’s meeting with Prigozhin after what happened on June 24, the Kremlin spokesman said, "The president did hold such a meeting." "He invited 35 people - all the squad commanders and the leadership of the [private military] company, including Prigozhin," he said. "The meeting took place in the Kremlin on June 29 and lasted for nearly...

There is no doubt in my mind that if General George Washington were alive to see how the permanent political class had defiled his good name, he would raze D.C. to the ground. "But George," I imagine Martha pleading, "there surely are some good people in the nation's capital who still serve the Republic." "I don't think so. They celebrate baby murder, educate children inside brothels, tax the people to death, corruptly enrich themselves, and send the poorest to fight foreign wars for vague reasons." "In that case, wait here; I'll go grab the torches." Martha was a patriotic and...

Six people were killed and one wounded in an attack at a kindergarten in southern China's Guangdong province on Monday, a spokeswoman for the city government said. 'The victims include one teacher, two parents and three students,' she said, in the rampage which unfolded around 7:40am (2340 GMT on Sunday). She did not offer details about the identities or ages of the victims, nor the weapon used in the attack in the city of Lianjiang, but reports suggested the victims were stabbed. .....

Pray For The Peace of JerusalemLuke 20 Paying Taxes to Caesar 20 Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be sincere. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said, so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor. 21 So the spies questioned him: “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. 22 Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” 23 He...

Britain’s ageing population poses a long-term threat to the economy and will affect interest rates for decades to come, Andrew Bailey has said. The Governor of the Bank of England identified changing demographics as one of two biggest problems facing the UK and similar countries in the years ahead, along with stagnant productivity since the financial crisis. He suggested that these challenges would have more of an impact in the long run than the war in Ukraine and the Covid crisis, which have combined to drive inflation to its highest level in decades. Setting out the challenge from these two...

The 90 minutes or so I spent listening to Tucker Carlson’s Friday interview with Russell Brand was time well spent. Tucker was open and relaxed, and Brand was a generous host, making sure that Tucker had all the time he needed to make his points. I’ve transcribed a few of the key takeaways below, but I urge you to listen to the interview yourself, if for no other reason than the pleasure of hearing Tucker’s voice again. [Video link at article] Tucker, who always seems like a happy person, disavows anger at being fired: You know, it’s not the first...

For the most part, the American media aren’t much interested in the riots consuming France. But since images of burning cars and buildings are too dramatic to ignore, and because it is the height of the tourist season in a European destination favored by American travelers, they have had to acknowledge them now and then. Mostly, the death of a youth at the hands of police is cited as the cause, and comparisons are drawn to the George Floyd riots that began in Minneapolis and spread throughout our country. More sophisticated American commentators mentioned the word “jihad,” acknowledging what the...