Free Republic

A shocking video shows San Francisco school children having to pick their way through a filthy, open-air drug den of homeless addicts after getting off a school bus at the end of the day. The video, posed by Ricci Wynne, shows the elementary school kids filing off the 14 transit line in the Golden Gate City at 8th Street and Mission by the Pacific Gas and Electric Company building past dozens of sickly users nodding out on the sidewalk. 'This is no back ally,' he says in the tweet. 'This is the main artery of the city that has been...

The Irish president has signed two abortion bills into effect in Ireland, as well as laws allowing same-sex 'marriage' and easier access to divorce.VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) – Pope Francis said Friday he thanks God “that Ireland has such a wise man as its Head (of State)”, despite Irish President Michael D. Higgins’ support for a range of anti-life and anti-family laws that run contrary to the Catholic faith. The Roman Pontiff was meeting with Higgins in the Vatican this morning when, during their formal photocall, he told those gathered that “today, I did not just meet a man, a president;...

In King v. New York, (ND NY, Feb. 26, 2021), a New York federal district court rejected a wife's contention that New York's no-fault divorce law violates the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses by infringing her Christian religious belief that marriage is permanent and cannot be dissolved by the state. The court said in part: ... [A] finding that H. King must remain married against his will because of L. King’s religious convictions would defy all logic and reason, and create a much larger Establishment Clause issue than the one L. King argues exists today....

FULL TITLE: Missing fathers and America's broken boys - the vast majority of mass shooters come from broken homes My most recent article about the Parkland school shooting and its connection to fatherlessness prompted a tsunami of emails. In one of those emails, a man named Fritz asked what I considered to be the root of fatherlessness. I decided to write a follow-up article to answer that question. The subject of “The Desperate Cry of America’s Boys” is a difficult one. To point out that boys need their fathers is to shine a spotlight on divorce and single mothers; and...

Father Karol Wojtyła, who later became Pope John Paul II, is pictured in the early 1950s surrounded by young people. Father Wojtyła would regularly go on mountain excursions with a group of young married couples and students that called itself Środowisko, meaning environment or milieu. (Archival Collection of Adam Bujak)Karol Wojtyła, the man who became St. John Paul II, regularly escaped from two of the worst totalitarian regimes in history: German Nazism, and later, Soviet Communism. By “escaped,” I do not mean that he ran away. Rather, as a priest and bishop, he escaped only by going deeper.As the...

Cardinal Cupich has been holding seminars on implementing Amoris Laetitia. These “New Momentum Conferences” will “provide formative pastoral programs.” I wonder whether these seminars will include anything for reluctantly divorced persons. No one else seems to be doing anything for abandoned spouses. Perhaps Cardinal Cupich and his friends will step up to the plate.The public, including many Catholics, has the impression that no-fault divorce allows two sensible and mature adult people to agree to end their marriage. We imagine that the state must not interfere in this mutual decision. No one should cry over the spilt milk of a “dead...

CHELSEA, MICH. — Kristi and Michael Burns have a lot in common. They love crossword puzzles, football, going to museums and reading five or six books at a time. They describe themselves as mild-mannered introverts who suffer from an array of chronic medical problems. The two share similar marital résumés, too. On their wedding day in 2011, the groom was 43 years old and the bride 39, yet it was marriage No. 3 for both. Today, their blended family is a sprawling, sometimes uneasy ensemble of two sharp-eyed sons from her two previous husbands, a daughter and son from his...

There is much debate and much concern today about redefining marriage. Where it hasn’t happened already, it seems very nearly inevitable that the definition will soon be expanded to include homosexual unions. And once marriage has been redefined away from the union of one man to one woman, it seems almost impossible not to see it also expand to include polygamous relationships. Already books and media and reality television are attempting to convince us of the goodness, normalcy and health of polygamy; this is just the advance guard the portends a coming all-out attack. Of course this is not the...

It's no secret that marriage has been in decline in America, but most people don't realize how quickly it has been crumbling. The numbers are staggering and the sea change in attitude that has gone along with them would shock previous generations of Americans. "In 1960, two-thirds (68%) of all twenty-somethings were married. In 2008, just 26% were." "To get a sense of how different attitudes were in the 1960s, perhaps this will do it. (M)arried women were asked, ‘In your opinion, do you think it is all right for a woman to have sexual relations before marriage with a...

Seven Republicans in the Iowa House are pushing a bill to prohibit parents of minor children from getting a “no fault” divorce and the proposal could be debated in a House committee this week. A three-member subcommittee debated the bill today. Representative Tedd Gassman, a Republican from Scarville, said he’s concerned about the negative impact divorce has on children. “In my opinion, it’s time to look out for the children instead of constantly worrying about the adults,” Gassman said. Daren Clark of Forest City — one of Gassman’s constituents — spoke about his recent divorce and the ongoing conflict with...

In every large-scale military conflict, there is the macro war and the micro war. While the macro war fought strategically by the generals has a great influence on the micro war fought tactically by the individual soldiers, the two wars are nevertheless distinct from one another and must be contemplated separately. In this second column in the series related to the war against men, I am focused solely on the micro war that is fought in the houses, classrooms, churches and night clubs of America. In the prelude to a battle, the local commander always considers four things. His resources,...

The No Blame Game America is in revolt over marriage. Some 30 states have now passed amendments to protect the definition of marriage, and more will follow. Same-sex marriage has also shaken the decades-long loyalty of African-Americans to the Democratic Party. Only a short time ago, few would have predicted such a public uprising in defense of marriage and the family. And this may be only the beginning. Bill Cosby's celebrated 2004 remarks on family morality -- and the largely positive response -- has placed a once-taboo subject at the top of the African-American agenda. And another ballot result has...

As a general rule, plaintiffs who file for "no-fault" divorce should be found unfit to gain custody of their children. This should be done for the protection of the children involved. But most importantly it should be done to restrain the growth rate of the scourge known as "no-fault" divorce. Radical homosexual activists have been bold in their attempt to redefine the basic make-up of the family by assaulting the God ordained institution of marriage with whatever creative sexual union could be devised. Yet the damage they've inflicted upon children to date is miniscule compared to the arrogance, selfishness, and...

RENO, Nev. (AP) — A judge has been shot at a courthouse in Reno, a police spokesman says.

How America can end its divorce epidemic Posted: April 7, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern By David Kupelian © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com When 32-year-old Paul and his 17-year-old fiancee Anna walked into the Norristown, Pa., courthouse to apply for a marriage license, the justice turned them down flat when he learned they had known each other for only one day. Yet after much pleading and persuasion, the judge reluctantly granted them their license, and Anna and Paul were married three days later. The wedding, held at Paul's brother's house, wasn't much – only four people in attendance, no wedding gown, no flowers,...

As posted half-way down the front page of www.NoDNC.com To those who are concerned at Focus On The Family and Focus On The Family Action  Dear Concerned, In spite of all the good that Focus On The Family has done in the area of family rescue, I believe you have missed seeing the major enemy: No-Fault Divorce. It is true that divorce came as a result of feminism and hearts drawn away by self-centered, and selfish actions, but the major enemy, Easy Divorce, came as a result of uncontested changes in divorce laws in all 50 states. All of us have done much...

NEW YORK -- "Protection of marriage" is now the watchword for many activists fighting to prevent gays and lesbians from marrying. Some conservatives, however, say marriage in America began unraveling long before the latest gay-rights push and are pleading for a fresh, soul-searching look at the institution. "When you talk about protecting marriage, you need to talk about divorce," said Bryce Christensen, a Southern Utah University professor who writes frequently about family issues. While Christensen doesn't oppose the campaign to enact state and federal bans on gay marriage, he worries it's distracting from immediate threats to marriage's place in society....

One may ask, against whom or what must we defend matrimony? There has been much publicity about defending matrimony against those who want to recognize same sex unions, but there is another force which, as yet, is not being properly challenged. This web log is about the other challenge: DIVORCE. Pope John Paul II, stated in Novo Millennio, ".. this fundamental institution [the family] is experiencing a radical and widespread crisis. In the Christian view of marriage, the relationship between a man and a woman — a mutual and total bond, unique and indissoluble — is part of God's...

Quick – more federal funding! I say that because it’s more fun than “America has a problem,” but the meaning is the same. Everyone, by now, has heard of the lawsuits being filed against McDonalds on behalf of overweight people eager to find someone to blame for their problems. Americans were too dumb to realize that eating a constant stream of super-sized Big Macs and Sausage and Egg McMuffins and McApple McPies with McIce-cream Cones might cause some weight gain and so now, we have problems with McObesity.Yes, America was a fish – a nice plump fish – swimming through...

To rescue marriage, address divorce The federal government has recently claimed an interest in encouraging marriage on the grounds that children who are raised in a two-parent home seem to do better emotionally, intellectually and socially than those who are not. There are a number of reasons, however, why marriage won't become more attractive until the rules and regulations pertaining to divorce are revised. The administration will have little success with one until it properly considers the other. The White House has chosen to emphasize the advantages of marriage in a kind of splendid isolation. In its proposal to...