Free Republic

The Jewish community in Azerbaijan has expressed deep satisfaction with the exceptional dialogue that took place at the international summit at the European Parliament, which dealt with Iran’s conduct towards minority groups residing in the country, primarily towards the Azeri community. “The Jews were persecuted for many years and we know well how it feels,” stated Rabbi Zamir Isayev, rabbi of the Georgian Sephardic community in Azerbaijan. We, specifically, are obligated more than anyone towards the Azeri nation that suffers from ongoing oppression.” Rabbi Isayev added, “We will raise the matter at every international forum, if we can. The matter...

Donning a T-shirt with the message “Say NO to child support #ProChoiceMen,” pro-life advocate AJ Hurley trolled the Women’s March on Saturday in Washington, D.C. to expose abortion activists’ hypocrisy. Hurley posed as a male abortion activist at the march, using a megaphone to shout phrases like “Your body, your problem!” and “Keep your womb off my wallet” at the crowd. His stunt was part of Live Action’s new satirical video series #ProChoiceMen. The Women’s March supposedly focuses on rights and protections for women, but Hurley’s protest exposed how its support for abortion does the opposite. According to Live Action,...

The battle over reparations is growing across the United States, as local, state and federal officials weigh everything up to seven-figure direct payments to Black Americans. While some advocates call it a long-overdue policy addressing a history of oppression, its foes call it a misguided, divisive and harmful approach that exacerbates issues rather than solving them. Polls show it is broadly unpopular with Americans, but it nevertheless has received serious attention in both Washington and municipalities around the country. Rep. Cori Bush D-Mo., alongside several other progressive lawmakers, unveiled the Reparations NOW resolution last week, calling for $14 trillion in...

Alyssa Farah Griffin told her co-host Wednesday on ABC’s “The View” said the Republican Party had a moral obligation to “walk away” former President Donald Trump after a Manhattan jury found he sexually abused and defamed columnist E. Jean Carroll. Griffin said, “I credit Asa Hutchinson for being one of the few Republicans with a backbone in this because a GOP frontrunner running for president was found liable for sexual battery and defamation. We have a moral obligation as a party to walk away from this man. And I remember, I was coming up as a kid in the ’90s...

ROME — President Joe Biden urged Americans in a press briefing Tuesday to all get vaccinated, insisting Pope Francis has called receiving the shot a “moral obligation.” “People are coming together across the different faiths to serve those most in need, with a special focus on vaccinating seniors from all races, backgrounds, and walks of life,” Biden said. “It’s an example of America at its finest.”

[Catholic Caucus] US bishop tells Catholic flock they’re obliged to return to Sunday Mass The South Dakota bishop is thought to be the first in U.S. to reinstate Sunday Mass obligation. SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota, August 11, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — A South Dakota bishop is changing his COVID-related order dispensing Catholics from their obligation to attend Sunday Mass, citing “pastoral concern for the souls entrusted to my spiritual care.” Bishop Donald DeGrood announced in an August 10 pastoral letter that effective next Sunday, the dispensation will “apply only to those at increased risk for severe illness and those responsible for...

Besides the stunning political upsets of 2016, the U.S and the U.K have something else in common: a foreign aid budget that is unpopular, unhelpful and doesn’t actually do much good for anyone. With billions of dollars being used as “soft diplomacy” (bribes) to both friendly and unfriendly nations, the aid budget has taken the place of proper foreign policy and real diplomatic measures. Should you choose to type “US foreign aid budget” into Google, your top two responses will be articles by the Washington Post and NPR, delightfully telling you how racist and ignorant people are when questioned on...

WASHINGTON — The Latest on the U.S. presidential campaign (all times EDT): 10:30 p.m. FBI Director James Comey says he felt an "obligation" to send a letter to Congress advising lawmakers that the bureau is looking into more emails connected to Hillary Clinton after he had testified repeatedly that the investigation was completed. Comey tells FBI employees in an internal email, obtained by The Associated Press, that he also thinks "it would be misleading to the American people were we not to supplement the record." The FBI is investigating whether there is classified information in new emails uncovered during the...

New York City policemen are under no obligation to protect the city’s denizens from harm. So says the city in response to a lawsuit by a man who was attacked on the subway by a man with a knife. Joseph Lozito said police officers Terrance Howell and Tamara Taylor, who were on the subway at the same time, ignored Maksim Gelman as he stormed about the subway in a drug-fueled rage. They even dismissed other passengers who tried to warn them about Gelman’s actions. Lozito identified Gelman as the man who approached him telling him he was going to die...

As Detroit Goes, So Goes the Nation Rachel Greszler and Alison Acosta Fraser Detroit is the poster child for economic decline. The city’s policies and politics over the past half-century should serve as a “do not” guide for policymakers across the country.There’s a great deal lawmakers in Washington can learn. The first is understanding that Detroit’s demise was the result of big-government, liberal policies promoted by self-interested politicians and coercive public employee unions.>>> New Report: Detroit’s Bankruptcy Marks the Tip of the IcebergIn the wake of America’s manufacturing decline, Detroit enacted policies that drove out businesses and residents. Rather...

Via Greg Hengler, we’re a little late on the “ending the slaughter” part, no? As of last month, the death toll stood at 70,000 and counting. He says we’ve been “active.” What sort of body count would “inactive” have produced? Needless to say, this is sonorous nonsense. We had no “moral obligation” to end the slaughter in Congo, even though the death toll is many, many, many times greater there than it is in Syria. O’s careful here too to lard up his “moral obligation” pronouncement with lots of qualifiers, from emphasizing that western intel has only perceived, not verified,...

With at least 14 United States senators (all Republicans), including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), having vowed to filibuster any proposed unconstitutional gun legislation (and given the Constitution's clear statement that the right to keep and bear arms is one that shall not be infringed, that would seem to indicate that all proposed gun legislation would be subject to filibuster), the forcible citizen disarmament advocates are growing louder and louder in their outrage. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), for example, speaking on the Senate floor Monday, said, "Shame on them," in reference to the senators planning a filibuster. From...

For one of the nation’s most famous billionaires, Steve Jobs kept a low profile as a charitable donor. Unlike fellow tech leaders Bill Gates of Microsoft and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, he did not sign the Giving Pledge, the effort under which the nation’s richest individuals commit to giving at least half of their wealth to philanthropy. His name is absent from the list of gifts of $1 million or more maintained by Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy. And it wasn’t until after an unflattering media report aboutJobs on the subject over the summer that Apple in September initiated a...

Blue Dog Democrat Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) said that most Americans do not understand that federal entitlements are not “bank account” programs that hold their money, adding that Social Security is not even a legal guarantee -- "Legally, they're not even promises." Cooper, asked about potential reforms to Medicare and Medicaid, said that the core problem was that the public does not understand the true nature of entitlements. “Many Americans don’t really realize that Medicare is a government program,” Cooper said at a press conference with fellow Blue Dogs on Wednesday.

Why is it Racist to Disagree? Was a black person considered racist for expressing opposition to President Bush because he was white? Why is a white person considered racist for expressing opposition to President Obama because he is black?

"The greatest good we can do our country is to heal its party divisions and make them one people." -- Thomas Jefferson (letter to John Dickinson, 23 July 1801) Reference: The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Ford Edition, vol. 8 (76)

Holy Days of Obligation, Or Holy Days of Opportunity Holy days are usually regarded in terms of obligation and imposition. But should they not be considered even more as graced times of opportunity to mark a special mystery of our faith? In recent years, holy days have come in for a good deal of discussion, evaluation and renewal. As early as the fourth century, St. John Chrysostom was concerned about the celebration of holy days in Constantinople. This Father and Doctor of the Church commented in a homily that "many people celebrate the holy days and know their names: but...

A lawyer defending al Qaida-linked suspects standing trial for the 2003 suicide bombings in Istanbul told a court that jihad, or holy war, was an obligation for Muslims and his clients should not be prosecuted. "If you punish them for this, tomorrow, will you punish them for fasting or for praying?" Osman Karahan -- a lawyer representing 14 of the 72 suspects -- asked during a nearly four-hour speech in which he read religious texts from an encyclopedia of Islam. The November 2003 blasts targeted two synagogues, the British Consulate and the local headquarters of the London-based HSBC bank, killing...

1962 Sunday Missal Mass Readings/Propers for the Sixth Sunday After Pentecost   Colors:  Green   INTROIT  Psalms 27: 8,9 The Lord is the strength of His people, and the protector of the salvation of His anointed: save, O Lord, Thy people, and bless Thine inheritance, and rule them for ever. -- (Ps. 27. 1). Unto Thee will I cry, O Lord: O my God, be not Thou silent to me, lest if Thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit. V.: Glory to the Father . . . -- The Lord is...

What to do I conclude from all of the above that we cannot rely on "moderate" Muslims to oppose jihadism. If the job is to be done, we have to do it. On the domestic front (as I have outlined previously at FrontPage), this means ceasing all mass immigration of Muslims, deporting all Muslim illegal aliens, deporting all Muslims associated with Islamic radicalism, and renouncing the leftist ideology of multiculturalism, which has led Muslims and other non-European immigrants to feel they have the right to remake America in their own image. The totality of these steps would result in a...