Free Republic

[Catholic Caucus] Bishop says ‘homosexuality is not a sin’ at pro-LGBT conferenceBp. Raúl Vera López told a pro-LGBT Catholic gathering in Mexico that homosexuality is ‘a thing of nature’ and called for LGBT-identifying Catholics to 'exercise leadership' in the Church.TORREÓN, Mexico (LifeSiteNews) — A Mexican Catholic bishop told a pro-LGBT gathering that homosexuality “is not a sin” and declared that “without the LGBT community, the Church is not complete.”From July 30 to August 2, in Torreón, northern Mexico, the Fourth National Meeting of Red Católica Arcoíris México – a gathering of nearly 100 representatives from local pro-LGBT groups – took...

The costs of modern war are in the news this week. In congressional hearings, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth estimated that the current action against Iran is costing about $37.5 billion. That’s a staggering sum. The war has lasted about five months so far, and it’s not over yet. For those of us who hoped it would be quick, that sounds like a long time. But all numbers – both in money and in time – are meaningless in a vacuum. To determine whether it’s really a lot – relatively speaking – depends on the context. And context is everything,...

The brother of American Olympic legend Alysa Liu is a transgender athlete dominating California high school girls’ athletic events, reports say. Jaylin Liu was formerly named Joshua before transitioning and identifying as female, according to Reduxx. He now competes in track and field girls’ varsity basketball and ultimate frisbee for both Albany High School and El Cerrito High School in California. He’s reportedly made his biggest impact in track and field, taking home every first-place finish in 200-meter and 400-meter girls’ races that Albany High School has entered this year. Jaylin recently took home the top spot at the Tri-County...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Johnson County, Kansas, judge has issued an order that permanently blocks the state from enforcing certain abortion restrictions. In his opinion issued on Monday, Judge K. Christopher Jayaram – who was recently appointed to the Kansas Supreme Court – said the proposed restrictions violate a woman’s right to bodily autonomy, as guaranteed by the Kansas Constitution’s Bill of Rights: Because a woman’s right to bodily autonomy (including her right to decide whether to terminate or to continue a pregnancy) is fundamental, the Court concludes, given the overwhelming evidence adduced at trial, that the State’s rationale...

... On AI and distributism Vance starts the segment with a reference to the Catholic social doctrine of distributism (i.e. the ownership economy). ...there’s a Christian idea of political economy that’s actually been lost in American politics, where it’s like we think of it as libertarianism, the hardcore free market, versus socialism or communism. And there actually is a third way that has existed in pretty much all Christian economic thinking going back 2,000 years ago.Distributism has been around 140 years or so, and is typically traced back to Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum,5 which Vance references later...

Thanedar was unseated by Donavan McKinney, a state representative endorsed by Bernie Sanders and Abdul El-Sayed, NBC News projects. ============================================================== Rep. Shri Thanedar has lost his Democratic primary in Michigan to state Rep. Donavan McKinney, NBC News projects, in a victory for the party’s progressive wing. The 34-year-old McKinney won the backing of a number of prominent progressives across the state and country and secured the latest victory for the faction mounting an insurgency against the Democratic establishment. But the swirl of unique dynamics in the Detroit-area seat make the victory more complicated than some of the other progressive primary...

Anti-abortion activist Paul Vaughn was convicted in 2024 on a felony charge of conspiring to prevent access to a Mt. Juliet reproductive clinic, then pardoned the following year by President Donald Trump just days after he retook office for a second term. Last week, attorneys with the Thomas More Society, who represent Vaughn, announced they had reached a seven-figure settlement with the federal government. “With this settlement, the federal government has now affirmed the Biden DOJ’s and FBI’s actions were an abuse of government power,” a statement by the attorneys said. The Department of Justice did not respond to a...

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told faith leaders he is planning to roll back abortion access even in states that have laws protecting it. On a private call last week hosted by the White House Faith Office, Blanche told the religious group Intercessors for America that moves to undo the Biden administration’s efforts to protect abortion are “taking longer than we want.” But Blanche assured them that the Justice Department (DOJ) is “working hand-in-hand” with federal health agencies, the White House and President Trump’s team “to get permanent solutions so the Dobbs decision becomes permanent in every single state.” The...

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating a safety incident involving a commercial airplane and Marine One, the helicopter carrying President Donald Trump, according to multiple reports. Trump departed the White House in Marine One yesterday at 2:33 pm on his way to Joint Base Andrews. The president often helicopters from the White House to JBA, where he boards Air Force One for trips. One minute later, a commercial airplane took off from Reagan National Airport, Reuters reported. At the time of the president’s departure, air traffic control hadn’t halted flights at Reagan National Airport per policy, sources told Reuters....

The FBI opened a criminal probe specifically targeting Donald Trump in May 2017, alleging the newly elected president may have been acting as a Russian asset when he fired then-Director James Comey even though the bureau’s own evidence overwhelmingly showed at the time there was no collusion with the Kremlin.

A federal judge slammed the Justice Department as he “reluctantly” dismissed the seditious conspiracy case against leaders and members of the Oath Keepers in the final January 6 US Capitol riot case. “This is the last of the prosecutions seeking to hold accountable those responsible for the events of January 6,” Judge Amit Mehta wrote in his order dismissing cases against nine people in which he recounted the events of that day. “That book is now closed.” “Today’s epilogue diminishes the gravity of that day, denigrates the work of the prosecutors and law enforcement officers who secured these convictions, and...

Ex-Democrat Congresswoman Cori Bush gave a fiery concession speech on Tuesday after losing her congressional comeback bid, saying her loss "pisses me off" before screaming about her tragic defeat. Bush lost in a landslide last night. NBC's Steve Kornacki called the race early for Bush's Democrat opponent, Wesley Bell, as he trounced her by 35 points with only 26% of the vote counted. WATCH: Bush was obviously still living in the past when she conceded the race. "This is something, huh? So tonight, what we just walked through, what we just walked through, is an opportunity for the people to...

The total number of hate crimes across California decreased last year, but legislators, advocates and experts warned Tuesday that hostility against racial, ethnic, sexual and gender minorities is still flourishing in the state.

A big tent may end up being the death of what was once the Democrat Party. Scott Jennings made the case on Tuesday as the country waited to see whether five Democratic Socialists of America-backed candidates in Missouri, Michigan, Kansas, Virginia, and Washington state would topple Democrat incumbents and push the party even further toward the radical left. What’s unfolding now is not just a primary-season skirmish; it’s the visible advance of a hostile takeover. Establishment Democrats who refuse to condemn their ideological allies, along with the party’s progressive wing, have spent months celebrating the “big tent” chief among them...

Abdul El-Sayed's victory over moderate Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan's high-stakes Democratic Senate primary is a massive boost for the party's left-wing in its ideological battle with the center-left establishment. The win called Wednesday morning gives instant ammunition to Republicans aiming to flip a crucial battleground Senate seat the Democrats must hold as part of their midterm push to win back control of the chamber. Republican nominee former Rep. Mike Rogers, in a Fox News Digital interview ahead of the primary, argued that El-Sayed is "way too extreme for Michigan. I mean, Abdul, he has his own special sauce of...

A video showing Arabic text added to department signs inside a Home Depot store in Dearborn, Michigan, is going viral on X. The footage shows large hanging signs with standard English department names such as Appliances, Paint, Moving, Kitchen, Bath, Plumbing, and others, each with corresponding Arabic translations.

Collins: Do you still believe that Thanksgiving should be canceled? Hong: I'm a chef, and one of the first meals that I made was for the community when I was 16 was a Thanksgiving meal. But Thanksgiving is also a time that's incredibly painful for many people in our communities

The Colonel's Wife has finally agreed it's time for a rifle.

Bodegas are capitalism at its finest, and they will survive long after Mamdani’s grocery stores have empty shelves and angry taxpayers. As a little boy in Cuba, I remember walking with my mom to “la bodega.” As I recall, there was one down the street with a “cigar & coffee” corner for the fathers and lots of fresh fruits and seafood that my mother purchased. “El bodeguero,” or the owner, was usually a friendly guy who understood capitalism better than Milton Friedman and the old shopping principle that the “mother is always right.” In other words, everybody went home happy...

Here is the first look at the preppy NYU student from Connecticut accused of raising a flag bearing two swastikas next to a Star of David at a campus building dedicated to a Jewish donor.Alexander Stepnowsky, 23, wore a baby-blue button-down shirt and tan khakis to his routine preliminary Manhattan court hearing Tuesday in his hate-crimes case stemming from the disturbing May incident.The pupil hoisted the troubling banner — which also included a New York University logo and was designed to look like one of the prestigious school’s purple-and-white flags — during this year’s graduation festivities, prosecutors claim.Stepnowsky has pleaded...