Free Republic

3 October 2024 Thursday of week 26 in Ordinary Time Chapel dedicated to the martyrs of Natal, São Gonçalo do Amarante, BrazilReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: B(II).First readingJob 19:21-27My Avenger lives and will set me close to him when I awakeJob said:Pity me, pity me, you, my friends, for the hand of God has struck me.Why do you hound me down like God, will you never have enough of my flesh?Ah, would that these words of mine were written down, inscribed on some monumentwith iron chisel and engraving tool, cut into the rock for ever.This I know: that...

The Biden administration's approach to Iran destabilized the Middle East and led to the October 7 Hamas attack and subsequent regional chaos. When Joe Biden became president, the Middle East was calm. Now it is in the midst of a multifront war. So quiet was the inheritance from the prior Trump administration that nearly three years later, on September 29, 2023—and just eight days before the October 7 Hamas massacre of Israelis—Biden’s national security advisor Jack Sullivan could still brag that “The Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades.” So, what exactly happened to...

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, learned the limits of his foreign policy strategy this week: Even well-armed and well-trained surrogate forces can prove unreliable if a determined modern army disables them. After the death of Hassan Nasrallah and many of the other members of the upper echelons of the Lebanese Hezbollah, the clerical regime’s thwarted ballistic-missile attack on Israel on Tuesday was an attempt to diminish the humiliation that Tehran has felt after Israel rapidly deconstructed Iran’s most cherished protégé. With Hezbollah as a model and partner, Tehran had perfected Islamist imperialism on the cheap: Proxies spread the faith...

The UN’s bureaucracy thinks of itself as more than a forum for international politics. It wants to set a global agenda as a prototype world government. The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) opened its 79th session on September 24 with a week of speeches by representatives of 134 nations (out of a total of 193 members states, with another 118 observer entities and organizations). The UN is officially a member state organization, so it was appropriate to provide a forum for national leaders to express their points of view. The problem is that the UN’s bureaucracy thinks of itself as...

Growing lines of container ships continued to line up outside major U.S. ports on Thursday as the biggest dockworker strike in nearly 50 years entered its third day. The choke points are threatening shortages of everything from bananas to auto parts and are anticipated to grow in coming days if no resolution is forthcoming. Reuters reports no negotiations were scheduled between the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and employers, but the port owners, under pressure from the White House to hike their pay offer to land a deal, signaled they were open to new talks.

Federal prosecutors requested an indefinite delay Wednesday in scheduling the trial for Ryan Routh, the suspect in the second assassination attempt on former President Trump, citing an enormous amount of evidence gathered since his arrest. In a filing on Wednesday, prosecutors asked Florida District Judge Aileen Cannon to officially designate Routh’s case as “complex.” Prosecutors revealed the scope of the investigation, which spanned multiple states, involved hundreds of interviews and included hundreds of digital media for review. “The government has worked diligently since September 15 to investigate the incident. Over the past two weeks, the United States has interviewed hundreds...

VIDEOJen Psaki recently interviewed the husband of Kamala Harris, Doug Emhoff, on MSNBC. Here you see the interview replayed in the alternate Humorverse where the people being interviewed are subjected to a Truth Ray to make the interviews even more interesting.

A look at the Biden administration’s key players show shocking antipathy for the United States and one of our greatest allies. In a formal introduction of his newly chosen Cabinet, President Biden proudly declared: “This is the first [time] in American history that the cabinet looks like America.” Scrutinizing the actual appointments and not just the sex, skin color, and ethnic origins of the Biden team reveals a group that may look like America but doesn’t think like America. In fact, it is a team whose outlook is transparently anti-American. Take Biden’s vice president, Kamala Harris, whose antipathy for America...

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Harold Daggett — the union boss who has vowed to “cripple” the US economy if ports don’t ban automation and raise dockworkers’ wages sharply — had a Bentley convertible parked outside his sprawling mansion in New Jersey this week, exclusive photos obtained by The Post reveal. Photos taken by drone on Tuesday show the British luxury car parked with its top up outside what appears to be a five-car garage that’s connected to his 7,136-square-foot, Tudor-style home by a covered skyway. ---SNIP--- He described himself as a target of the mob – though a turncoat Mafia member had testified Daggett...

A shrinking and rapidly aging population has forced Japan, which for centuries was mostly closed off to immigrants, to allow foreign workers to enter the country and potentially stay for good. Most come from other parts of Asia, including China, Vietnam and the Philippines. ... These are areas of the country where few speak languages other than Japanese, and communities tend to be more wary of integrating newcomers. Whether companies can persuade foreigners to stay may dictate their survival. For small and medium-size businesses, the backbone of Japan’s regional economies, “foreign workers are indispensable,” said Yuki Hashimoto, a senior fellow...

Mark Halperin used to be a top political journalist at ABC, MSNBC, and Bloomberg News. Now his "Morning Meetings" and 2Ways on Zoom and YouTube are the best source I've discovered for intelligent, well-sourced, fair takes on the election. [snip] The YouTube of his post-debate 2Way is available here. Excerpts of Halperin's comments: "Without a doubt, a total mismatch [in favor of Vance.]" Abortion and J6 are tough issues for Republicans, but Vance "handled them as well as I've heard any Republican handle them." "[Vance] was obviously extremely well prepared, but didn't seem rehearsed." Walz' answer about lying about being...

A lot of people started their working lives at McDonald’s. Weirdly, it’s one of the few places I haven’t worked, but millions upon millions of Americans have. It’s an easy claim because it’s plausible – they’re everywhere and always hiring. And there is no more iconic job there than making the fries, which Harris claims she did. But she has never offered a single shred of evidence to prove she did. This wouldn’t matter much if she didn’t make it the cornerstone of her professional life, a claim she repeatedly made in an attempt to identify with voters who otherwise...

Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz is coming under fire for supporting a U.S. research institute with connections to China. The University of Minnesota's Hormel Institute has published research and worked with scientists from China's infamous Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), the same lab the FBI concluded was likely the birthplace of COVID. ... 'I write to you today with growing concern regarding the Hormel Institute’s longstanding partnership with China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV),' Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, wrote in a letter to the research group's leader David Clarke exclusively obtained by DailyMail.com. 'It is critical to understand the...

...Judge Trevor McFadden sided with two ranchers from Arizona—a border state that's a battleground in the presidential race—who claimed that the Biden administration's halt on the border wall, which violated laws requiring an environmental review, caused concrete damage to the environment. The case centers around whether the Biden administration violated the National Environmental Policy Act by not reviewing the potential environmental impact of halting construction.. The ruling came from the case Massachusetts Coalition for Immigration Reform et al. v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security... "In sum, the Court finds that Smith suffered tangible harms that were caused by an influx...

(The Center Square) - A new Sacramento unrestricted cash welfare pilot program that will distribute $725 per month to selected low-income parents or guardians of black or indigenous children allows individuals to apply regardless of immigration status. The program does not provide an option for parents of white, Asian, or Hispanic children, leading critics to wonder why the county adopted racial restrictions when a needs-based program would be more fair and less subject to legal scrutiny.... The Sacramento Family First Economic Support Pilot will provide $725 per month for 12 months to 200 randomly selected parents or legal guardians of...

We can feel it, and we’re sure you can, too: The 2024 election just feels different than previous ones. It’s not just the issues at stake. Yes, one of our two major political parties is hard at work trying to erase the very difference between male and female that makes it possible to be fruitful and multiply, and seeking — through mass, unvetted “immigration” — to establish a one-party state without even the pretense of competition. It’s easy to imagine how November 2024 could be the last meaningful free election in history. Of course, people have been saying this or...

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Heather Snookal of Phantom Lake Elementary in Bellevue first sent out a text Monday alerting parents that a painted swastika — which she initially called a “symbol of hate” — was found by a fifth-grader on a a campus wall, according to KOMO News and other sources. But a few hours later — after apparently getting a complaint from a parent — she sent out a follow-up email apologizing and walking back her condemnation of the symbol. “In Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and other ancient cultures, the swastika is a symbol of peace, prosperity, and good fortune. We recognize that for...

A special set of stamps have been issued to mark the 60th anniversary of British rock band The Who. The Royal Mail revealed details of 12 stamps which feature images of some of the rock band's most popular album covers and group shots from their live performances. The album covers are My Generation from 1965; Tommy from 1969; Who's Next from 1971; Quadrophenia from 1973; Who Are You from 1978; Face Dances from 1981; Endless Wire from 2006; and Who from 2019. Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, John Entwistle and Keith Moon formed The Who in 1964. A miniatures sheet features...