Free Republic

[Catholic Caucus] Pope says Church must ‘confront forms of paganism’ in secularismIn his meeting with his brother Jesuits in Belgium, Pope Francis call secularization a “complex phenomenon” and noted sometimes the Church must “confront forms of paganism.”Speaking to 150 Jesuits in Brussels on Sep. 28, the pontiff answered a question from a member living in Amsterdam, one of the most secularized cities in the world.In his reply, Francis noted he didn’t mean a paganism like the one in the ancient world.“We do not need a statue of a pagan god to talk about paganism: The very environment, the air we...

Police in California say thieves surrounded Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Walker Buehler last month and stole a pricey watch off his wrist LOS ANGELES (AP) — Thieves surrounded Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Walker Buehler last month outside a horse racing track in a Los Angeles suburb and slipped an expensive watch off his wrist as he jostled through the crowd, police said Tuesday. It came weeks after another professional athlete in California was the victim of a brazen mugging. Buehler was not threatened during the theft Sept. 28 at the Santa Anita Park horse racing track in Arcadia,...

Fan-in-wing technology powers Aurora’s concept for unprecedented speed and stealth in a vertical lift platform. Aurora Flight Sciences, a Boeing company, is designing an X-plane that uses fan-in-wing technology to provide high-speed, runway-independent mobility for contested environments. Newly released renderings of the vertical lift concept depict a scalable technology for airborne logistics and personnel recovery missions in locations without a prepared runway. The design work is part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Speed and Runway Independent Technologies (SPRINT) program. The SPRINT program aims to design, build, and fly an X-plane to demonstrate the key technologies and integrated...

Former President Donald Trump has extended his lead in the Daily Mail's election model, which now gives him his highest probability yet of victory over Kamala Harris in November's election. A favorable poll in the critical swing state of Michigan, putting him one-point up over his Democratic opponent, helped nudge him to an almost 18-point lead, two points more than last week. But plenty can change in the final weeks of campaigning. And with Trump on a 58.8 percent of winning to Harris' 41.1 the result remains very much in tossup territory. However, the latest polling data now suggest that...

An Afghan man arrested on charges of planning a terrorist attack on Election Day worked as a security guard in Afghanistan for the CIA, two sources with knowledge of the matter told NBC News. Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, was arrested on Monday in Oklahoma and accused of plotting to kill Americans with an assault rifle on behalf of ISIS. Court documents said he had contributed to an ISIS charity in March and accessed online ISIS propaganda, but they did not say whether he was radicalized before or after he came to the U.S. in 2021. A senior law enforcement official...

A Florida man, who refused to leave his boat as Hurricane Milton approached the state, was rescued on Wednesday. Tampa Mayor Jane Castor revealed during a press conference that Joseph Malinowski, who is nicknamed “Lieutenant Dan,” had been rescued by the Tampa Police Department and was “now in a shelter,” according to WTSP News. “The Tampa Police Department, this morning, just saved Lieutenant Dan,” Castor said. “He has been rescued, and he is now in a shelter as well. If we can get Lieutenant Dan to go to a shelter, we can get anybody to do that.” Lieutenant Dan previously...

Of course she wouldn’t have done anything different than President Biden. She’s the empty replacement figurehead. In her appearance on “The View” this week, Vice President Kamala Harris was asked if she would have done anything differently than President Joe Biden over the past four years. She answered, incredibly, “There is not a thing that comes to mind.” Commentators were quick to note how disastrous an answer it was given Harris’ previous efforts to distinguish herself from Biden, whose tenure in office is widely seen as a failure. The problem for Harris of course is that she’s the current vice...

[Catholic Caucus] Many of Pope Francis’ new cardinals support his homosexual ‘blessings’ document Fiducia SupplicansAccording to the pro-LGBT group New Ways Ministry, at least nine of the 20 eligible voting cardinal-elects in the upcoming consistory are considered 'LGBTQ-positive.'With the announcement of yet another consistory under Pope Francis, attention is drawn to the credentials of the cardinal-elects, many of whom are notable for their openness to LGBT ideology.As noted by LifeSite, Francis announced a December 8 consistory to create 21 new cardinals, 20 of whom will be able to vote in a conclave.READ: Pope Francis names pro-LGBT Father Timothy Radcliffe among...

A Georgia environment boss collapsed suddenly on Tuesday and later died in the hospital - on the same day after testifying about the BioLab chemical explosion. Kenny Johnson, 62, was Rockdale's state representative supervisor for soil and water conservation. He testified about the BioLab chemical fire that spewed clouds of chlorine gas and smoke in Conyers - where Johnson lived with his family. He later collapsed near the state Capitol and was rushed to Grady Memorial Hospital where he died. During his recorded testimony, Johnson claimed this was the second time he had asked for a criminal investigation - the...

A weakened Hurricane Milton coming shore south of Tampa Bay... Israel attacking two targets in Syria late tonight... Joe Biden's decision to pull out of a major summit to support Ukraine...President Volodymyr Zelensky scrambling... Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office confirming that the Israeli Prime Minister spoke with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump... "Our attack will be deadly, precise and above all surprising" Some of what Israel's Defense Minister... A conversation between Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussing Israel's retaliation against Iran... The Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman says her country has evidence linking the United States and... A...

With less than a month until Election Day, a new poll from Quinnipiac University reveals that former President Donald Trump is gaining ground in the crucial swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin—collectively known as the “Blue Wall.” The results have surprised many, showing Trump with a significant advantage in Michigan and Wisconsin, while Vice President Kamala Harris holds only a narrow lead in Pennsylvania. The poll indicates that the race is now too close to call in all three battleground states, signaling a potential shakeup that could prove critical to the election outcome. In Pennsylvania, Harris leads with 49%...

The 21-year-old climate activist was invited to a pro-Palestinian protest camp in Dortmund after attending a similar protest in Berlin on Monday. Politicians in Germany think that climate activist Greta Thunberg should be banned from entering the country over her participation in pro-Palestinian protests, according to the domestic policy spokesman for Germany's biggest opposition party, the Christian Democratic Union. Alexander Throm told BILD newspaper that it would be "not only appropriate but even necessary that the Federal Minister of the Interior issues an entry ban against this anti-Semite in the future". Throm said of the climate activist, "Anyone who enters...

Democratic strategist James Carville said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “The Beat” that he was “scared to death” about the election and that the Harris-Walz campaign needed to be “much more aggressive.” Carville said, “The only thing I feel is the election is coming November 5, and I’m scared to death.” Host Ari Melber asked, “You’re not in a reflective mood?”

This is an artist’s concept of an early Mars with liquid water (blue areas) on its surface. Ancient regions on Mars bear signs of abundant water – such as features resembling valleys and deltas, and minerals that only form in the presence of liquid water. Scientists think that billions of years ago, the atmosphere of Mars was much denser and warm enough to form rivers, lakes, and perhaps even oceans of water. As the planet cooled and lost its global magnetic field, the solar wind and solar storms eroded away to space a significant amount of the planet’s atmosphere, turning...

Florida residents must feel like they have been taking a beating from major hurricanes in recent years, but what do the data show?The problem with human perception of such things is that the time scale of hurricane activity fluctuations is often longer than human experience. For example, a person born in the 1950s would have no memory of the beating Florida took in the 1940s from major hurricanes (a total of 5). But they would have many memories of the hurricane lull period of the 1970s and 1980s, each decade having only one major hurricane strike in Florida. Then, when...

DEI is ‘compatible with academic freedom,’ AAUP says.. American Association of University Professors condemns ‘attacks on DEI’ and defends ‘diversity goals’ in a new statement Diversity, equity, and inclusion statements and hiring practices at universities are “compatible with academic freedom,” the American Association of University Professors said in a statement Wednesday. “This committee rejects the notion that the use of DEI criteria for faculty evaluation is categorically incompatible with academic freedom,” the statement, drafted by the subcommittee of the Association’s Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure, reads. The left-leaning faculty union said DEI practices do not impose political or...

Old Papal Sourpuss – aka Pope Francis – strikes again. This time he fired off comments while traveling in the papal plane from Asia to Rome. Air travel, apparently, inspires this pontiff to unleash confusing and ambiguous statements that have many Catholics and others scratching their heads. At 10,000 feet he weighed in on Americans’ upcoming choice between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. He categorized both candidates as “against life” and urged Catholic voters to choose the “lesser of two evils.” “One must choose the lesser of two evils. Who is the lesser of two evils?...

~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~ ~ Remembering Our Troops!! ~ Meanwhile, in DC, They Could Use This! U.S. Air Force Chief Master Sgt. David Wolfe, command chief of Air Combat Command, briefs Airmen and Guardians during an all call at the Independence Theater on Beale Air Force Base, California, June 5, 2024. Wolfe’s brief focused on maintaining high professional standards, addressing concerns related to China, and emphasizing the importance of discipline. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Shaei Rodriguez) Canteen Mission StatementShowing support and boosting the morale ofour military and our allies' militaryand family members of the...

I remember watching this show as a kid in the 90s, it was a Christian-themed show for children hosted by Jodi Benson (Ariel from The Little Mermaid) where she teaches kids stories from the Bible and moral lessons in general. It really made an impression on me but it seems like few people remember it.

Turkish Airlines pilot died after collapsing mid-flight, forcing the Turkish national carrier to make an emergency landing in New York, the airline said Wednesday. The incident occurred after the plane took off from Seattle on Tuesday evening, airline spokesman Yahya Ustun wrote on social media. Pilot İlçehin Pehlivan, 59, lost consciousness at some point after Flight TK204 took off from Seattle Tuesday night, Üstün said. "The pilot of our Airbus 350... flight TK204 from Seattle to Istanbul collapsed during the flight," he wrote. "After an unsuccessful attempt to give first aid, the flight crew of another pilot and a co-pilot...