Free Republic

Subtitle: The corporate, tech, and media elites will not allow the president to come between them and Chinese money ------------------------------------------------------ Chances are that by the time you get to the end of this article, there will be news of another information operation targeting Donald Trump. There’s one a day now—each trumpeting a new mortal threat to the republic or some dastardly revelation based on sources that are usually anonymous. Whatever it is, it will serve the same purpose as the hundreds of similar sallies launched over the last four years—namely, to preserve and protect the position and privileges of America’s...

Nervous managers of the scheduled 2020 presidential debates are shuffling the logistics and locations to deal with the threat of the coronavirus. But here’s a better idea: Scrap them altogether. And not for health reasons. The debates have never made sense as a test for presidential leadership. In fact, one could argue that they reward precisely the opposite of what we want in a president. When we were serious about the presidency, we wanted intelligence, thoughtfulness, knowledge, empathy and, to be sure, likability. It should also go without saying, dignity. Yet the debates play an outsize role in campaigns and...

A viral video out of Mexico shows an army of uniformed drug cartel members standing beside a long line of armored vehicles which have been outfitted for war, the men flaunting military-grade weaponry as they cheer Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes — the leader of the brutal Jalisco New Generation Cartel who is known as El Mencho.

BALTIMORE - U.S. Catholic bishops elected their first ever Latino leader in a vote on Tuesday, elevating Archbishop Jose Gomez as president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Gomez, the Archbishop of Los Angeles, succeeds Cardinal Daniel DiNardo for whom he served as vice-president over the past three years. He was elected by an overwhelming majority of 176 votes during the first ballot and received an immediate standing ovation from the bishops present in the grand ballroom of the Marriot Waterfront Hotel. Archbishop Allen Vigneron of Detroit will serve as Gomez’s vice-president for the three-year term. He...

Until a week ago, I had generally been in total agreement with pretty much everything Cardinal Sarah says. But his remark last week gave me pause: “Perhaps it is very practical to pray the breviary with my own mobile phone or tablet, but it is not worthy: it desacralizes prayer.” The cardinal also suggested that priests should not use electronic devices even for praying the liturgy of the hours. With the greatest respect for His Eminence, it’s worth considering why many Catholics, clerical and lay, find these prayer apps indispensable. . . . (More at link)

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints now owns the printer’s manuscript of the Book of Mormon — for $35 million, the sellers say. The Community of Christ, formerly known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, announced the sale, and the price tag, on Wednesday. The Independence, Missouri-based church has owned the manuscript since 1903. Steven E. Snow, LDS Church historian and recorder, confirmed the acquisition, calling the document both a spiritual and historic treasure. Church officials did not immediately confirm, but also did not challenge, the stated sales price when contacted Thursday.

Amid growing concern/speculation/hysteria that Kaspersky Lab products could be tied to the Russian government, retailer Best Buy has stopped selling its antivirus. Minnesota's StarTribune first reported the move, citing a source who said that the company felt there are "too many unanswered questions" after conducting its own investigation. There's no word on what those questions are, or why Kaspersky's offer to share its source code isn't enough to prove there's no backdoor, and the company hasn't spoken about the move beyond confirming the report. In a tweet, Kaspersky noted its products are available through other retailers and said that while...

Over the last thirty days my own criticism of Pope Francis has been more pronounced than usual. Given last week’s extensive criticism of the Pope’s suggestion regarding the works of mercy by both myself and Phil Lawler, it may seem that CatholicCulture.org is in the midst of a crescendo of criticism. I know from feedback that our readers tend to reflect seriously about the wisdom of criticizing the successors of Peter, and I want to emphasize that our writers do as well, pretty much all the time. This does not mean that we always strike the perfect balance when it...

OPEN MEMO TO DONALD TRUMP: The media is filled with speculation that your campaign is sinking. But I believe that inherent in Hillary’s rise are the seeds of her own destruction and of your eventual election. As Hillary — with the aid of a hopelessly biased media — struggles to convince people that you cannot win and that your candidacy is unworthy of serious consideration, she will swing the focus away from you and onto herself. If Donald Trump cannot win and won’t be the next president, who cares what his shortcomings are? How does he pose a danger? On...

As we approach the great Feast of the Assumption of Mary, and having written a post on the biblical evidence for the Assumption of Mary this time last year, I thought I would change gears and consider the historical evidence for the Assumption in honor of this year's Feast Day. In summary, the doctrine of the Assumption of Mary began with an historical event that is alluded to in Scripture and has been believed in the Church for 2,000 years. It was passed down in the Oral Tradition of the Church and developed over the centuries, but it was always...

When I first upgraded to Windows 7 back in 2009, I was shocked. Microsoft had somehow recovered from the mediocrity of Windows Vista and built an operating system that felt like the natural progression from Windows XP. It was clean, it ran better and most importantly, it didn’t try to fix what wasn’t broken. Then Windows 8 happened. I was smart/fortunate enough to avoid Windows 8 altogether, but as a fan of new technology, I couldn’t help but feel a little left out. I wanted the latest and greatest, and now, nearly three years later, it has arrived in the...

IT has been on my heart for several months now to summarize for my readers the personal “words” and “warnings” I feel the Lord has communicated to me in the past decade, and that have shaped and inspired these writings. Everyday, there are several new subscribers coming on board who have no history with the over one thousand writings here. Before I summarize these “inspirations”, it is helpful to repeat what the Church says about “private” revelation: Throughout the ages, there have been so-called “private” revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church. They do...

THERE is a crisis coming—and it is already here—for our Protestant brothers and sisters in Christ. It was foretold by Jesus when He said, …everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined. (Matt 7:26-27) That is, whatever is built on sand : those interpretations of Scripture that depart from the Apostolic faith, those heresies and subjective errors that have divided Christ’s Church...

The mother of a man who tried to launch a firework off the top of his head for July Fourth and was killed instantly said Monday she's advocating for stricter controls about who can use the explosives. Devon Staples, 22, and his friends had been drinking and setting off fireworks Saturday night in a backyard in Staples' eastern Maine hometown, Calais, when the accident happened with a reloadable fireworks mortar tube, police have said.

The CWR Blog Michael Coren goes Anglican, denounces Catholic moral teaching "I could not remain in a church that effectively excluded gay people," says the Canadian author and apologist, "I felt that the circle of love had to be broadened, not reduced." May 02, 2015 02:35 EST Carl E. Olson This past Monday, I received an e-mail with the news that Michael Coren had left the Catholic Church and recently entered the Anglican communion. Coren, the Canadian author and apologist who has written a monthly CWR column ("Controversies with Coren") since September 2013, had apparently been attending an Anglican church...

The author of Why Catholics Are Right has ditched the Catholic Church. Michael Coren is a well-known writer and talk show host from Canada. He's perhaps best known for The Michael Coren Show and The Arena with Michael Coren on Canadian television, where he earned the reputation of being an unapologetic conservative. He's appeared on Church Militant's Mic'd Up program as recently as 2013, and Michael Voris was once a guest on The Michael Coren Show in 2011. When he first became a Christian in his twenties, he joined the Catholic Church. Soon afterward, though, he left Catholicism in favor...

Until his recent conversion to Anglicanism, the broadcaster and author Michael Coren was one of Canada’s best known Catholics. He has a Catholic wife and four Catholic children and is the author of books that include “Why Catholics Are Right.” So when he was formally welcomed into an Anglican congregation in Toronto the other day, after worshipping with them privately for a year, the news caused a stir in the Catholic world. False rumours were circulated about his motives. Old scandals from a career in punditry were dredged up. The uproar cost him several speeches to conservative American Catholic groups,...

St. George who was a martyr and one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers has a feast day on April 23rd, the anniversary of his death by beheading. In 1969, Saint George's feast was reduced to an optional memorial in the Roman Catholic calendar so the solemnity of his commemoration depends purely on local observance. However, St. George Day is celebrated by several nations and cities of which Saint George is patron saint. These include, England, Portugal, Georgia, Bulgaria, Bosnia and the Republic of Macedonia, and the cities of Moscow in Russia, Genova in Italy and Beirut in Lebanon. In Palestine...

Over the past decade, especially in the struggle over same-sex marriage, some of my friends and allies among social and religious conservatives have called me a defeatist for my culture-war pessimism. I believe that pessimism today is simply realism, and that it is better for us to retreat strategically to a position that we are capable of defending. The cultural battlefield has changed far more than many of us realize.

Tradition has it that the church at Antioch was founded by St. Peter himself, who served as its bishop for seven years before moving on to found the church at Rome. (Robert Spencer writes that “Gregory III Laham, the Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch of Antioch, has joked that if the Apostle Peter had just stayed put, he himself would be the earthly head of the Catholic Church today.”) Only decades later, during the reign of Trajan (98-117), another bishop of Antioch would also make the journey to Rome. This was St. Ignatius, who had succeeded St. Evodius as Antioch’s third...