Free Republic

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, a conglomeration of Lutheran denominations, had over five million members when it was launched in 1988, joining three independent Lutheran confessions with nearly 10,000 congregations and 65 synods. But now, in spite of the word “Evangelical,” this union is in decline. One of its churches, in Edina, Minnesota, throws a pagan sparkle into the deep meaning of “decline.”[1] This June, Anna Helgen, an LGBT Lutheran “minister,” stood in her Lutheran pulpit, dressed in pastoral robes, and recited what she called a “Sparkle Creed” as part of the church service. This liturgy was riddled with...

Let's check in on the depths of evil and totalitarian privacy violations being carried out by everybody's favorite social media mogul, shall we? Oh, looks like Zuck is buying all your tax return info so he can run even more manipulative and targeted ads to Facebook and Instagram users. A new report brought by Senate Democrats shows that Meta purchased personal financial information gathered from individuals' tax returns from three MAJOR tax prep software companies. If you got your taxes done with H&R Block, TaxAct, or TaxSlayer, there's a VERY good chance that Mark Zuckerberg now owns the info you...

A group of congressional Democrats reported Wednesday that three large tax preparation firms — H&R Block, TaxAct and Tax Slayer — sent “extraordinarily sensitive” information on tens of millions of taxpayers to Facebook parent company Meta over the course of at least two years. Their report urges federal agencies to investigate and potentially go to court over the wealth of information that the three company shared with the social media giant. In a letter to the heads of the IRS, the Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission and the IRS watchdog, seven lawmakers say their findings “reveal a shocking breach...

Former President Trump is taking a risk in targeting Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R), picking a fight with an influential and well-liked figure in the first state on next year’s GOP presidential primary calendar. Trump narrowly finished second in the Iowa caucuses in 2016 but went on to win the GOP nomination, something he could easily repeat this cycle. However, an underwhelming performance in the Hawkeye State in 2024 could open the door to a viable challenger building momentum early in the primary calendar... Some in the state found the criticism of Reynolds to be uncalled for and the type...

The FBI colluded with a Russian-infiltrated intelligence agency in Ukraine to censor American speech, according to a new document out Monday. In an interim report published by the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, House investigators exposed the FBI’s cooperation with foreign agents to orchestrate online censorship. “The Committee’s analysis of these ‘disinformation’ registries revealed that the FBI, at the request of the [Security Service of Ukraine (SBU)], flagged for social media companies the authentic accounts of Americans, including a verified U.S. State Department account and those belonging to American journalists,” the report reads. “At times, the...

'Voters are going to get behind us in ways that are probably bigger than we've seen in the last 20 or 25 years as Republicans.' Florida’s Governor is looking to a former California Governor as an antecedent for his current presidential run. During an interview on Wisconsin’s Mark Belling Show, Ron DeSantis suggested his candidacy could be the modern version of the 1980 election that saw Ronald Reagan defeat Democrat Jimmy Carter. “What I would just tell folks out there listening is Biden is kind of like Jimmy Carter. When Reagan came on the scene, the country lost confidence in...

California’s State Water Resources Control Board has proposed new regulations allowing toilet wastewater to be turned into drinking water. The new “toilet-to-tap” program aims to tackle the state’s water shortages. In a statement, the board said: [T]he State Water Resources Control Board announced today proposed regulations that would allow for water systems to add wastewater that has been treated to levels meeting or exceeding all drinking water standards to their potable supplies. The process, known as direct potable reuse, will enable systems to generate a climate-resilient water source while reducing the amount of wastewater they release to rivers and the...

PM 4Liberty, if you want On/Off this listhttps://pluto.tv/live-tv/americas-voicehttps://americasvoice.news/Tune in via Roku/AppleTV/AmazonFire with the America’s Voice App https://americasvoice.appLIVE STREAM all Bannon shows & find past episodes here: https://rumble.com/c/BannonsWarRoom | https://americasvoice.news/playlists/the-war-room/

No Labels, an organization advocating for a third-party candidate, announced that Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) will be joining its New Hampshire town hall as speculation grows over whether the senator will make a third-party bid for the White House. Amid polling showing a potential rematch between President Biden and former President Trump, No Labels has been pushing to create a separate “unity ticket” as a third option for voters in 2024.

On Tuesday’s broadcast of NewsNation’s “Cuomo,” Twitter Files journalist Matt Taibbi discussed the newest Twitter Files and pointed to one email exchange where Twitter “immediately” suspended accounts flagged by the FBI without investigation on Twitter’s part that Twitter later couldn’t point to solid proof to back the FBI’s allegations. Taibbi said, “In one shot, you can see the FBI asks to remove three accounts, that gets forwarded to Twitter, Twitter immediately suspends them, the accounts. But more importantly, when there’s a glitch, and the accounts remain up, the FBI immediately writes back and says, what’s the deal? We just wrote...

The Bible In Paintings The Best of LOUIS COMFORT TIFFANY “LOUIS COMFORT TIFFANY (1848 – 1933) was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his work in stained glass. He is the American artist most associated with the Art Nouveau and Aesthetic movements. “In the beginning of his career, Tiffany used cheap jelly jars and bottles because they had the mineral impurities that finer glass lacked. He began making his own glass. Tiffany used opalescent glass in a variety of colors and textures to create a unique style of stained...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California lawmakers in the Assembly Public Safety Committee on Tuesday blocked a measure that would have classified human trafficking of a minor as a serious felony under state law, an effort that attempted to keep repeat offenders behind bars and make them ineligible to be released from prison early.

At a press conference, Biden falsely claimed that Al Qaeda was no longer operating in Afghanistan. “I said al Qaeda would not be there. I said it wouldn’t be there. I said we’d get help from the Taliban. What’s happening now? What’s going on? Read your press. I was right.” In reality, Al Qaeda is operating training camps in six provinces, including Helmand, which hundreds of Marines had been killed and wounded trying to secure during Obama’s surge. The 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment lost 25 marines, including the son of former Chief of Staff John Kelly, and suffered 34...

Dylan Mulvaney had sought a change of scenery in Peru Monday “to feel safe” as the blowback from her partnership with Bud Light continues to unravel. The transgender influencer said she no longer felt safe at home in the US after raising ire among critics over becoming a rep for the beer brand in a March Madness contest. After finally returning to social media in April following a tight-lipped hiatus, Mulvaney is seemingly doing some solo travel around the world to get her mind off things back home. Alongside a video of herself interacting with llamas, the 26-year-old said she...

When three years ago we were told that if we stayed inside for 15 days we could flatten the curve of COVID-19 cases, there was no real effort to respond with civil disobedience. It was a profound mistake, one we paid dearly for and will again, if we don’t stand up to the tyranny. Yes, we know it was President Donald Trump who issued in March 2020 a set of guidelines that called for 15 days to slow the spread by limiting our travel and staying away from social settings. At the end of March, under more pressure from “experts”...

Just a buncha funny stuff.This is long but too good for me not to share. My apologies if this is bad etiquette.

As M2 Money growth has stalled, we are seeing inflation cool a bit. Core inflation YoY is now down to 4.8% (still >2x Fed target). The good news? REAL average hourly earnings YoY is finally positive for the second time under Bidenomics. It is now 1.2% YoY. Too bad rent CPI, typically the largest expense for Americans, is still up 8% YoY. The Taylor Rule, given 4.8% core inflation, gives us a Fed Funds Target rate of 10.42%. So, yes, it looks like Powell and the Gang have more work to do.

DENVER — Xcel Energy customers are sweating the possibility of another rate hike. They're making their opposition known to the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) as the agency considers a $45 million electric rate increase. “They make more than enough money. They don’t need to gouge their customers any further,” said Loren Meaux, an Xcel customer, in a public comment hearing Tuesday. Xcel originally filed for a $312 million increase to pay for investments in transmission projects and its commitment to meet Colorado greenhouse gas emissions goals. After negotiations with state regulators and consumer advocates, the company dropped the increase to...

VILNIUS, Lithuania — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday that it was “logical” that some NATO leaders fear sparking World War III by admitting his country while it’s at war with Russia — striking a conciliatory tone one day after he blasted the alliance for not offering Ukraine membership. Zelensky, however, did argue at a press conference with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg that an invitation to join still was appropriate immediately because of the “signals” it would send. “We understand that someone is afraid of talking about our membership now because nobody is willing to have a world war, which...

Jan. 11 was a typical day for Isaac VanWasshenova, a trash collector for Waste Management. The 35-year-old from Barnesville, Ohio, got in a truck at the depot and headed to the streets of Mt. Lebanon. While picking up trash, he looked forward to seeing people he knew and talking with the children who sometimes ran outside to see him. “I always want to do my job 100%, but I also want to be kind to people,” he said recently. “You never know what people are going through. If they need something, I tell them, ‘Just ask.’” About an hour into...