Free Republic

DHS will no longer let New Yorkers enroll in several programs intended to expedite international travel, in response to a recently-enacted state "sanctuary" law which limits DHS' access to state driver's license records. The unprecedented suspension, which will shutter several programs that allow people to breeze through security lines in exchange for having their information pre-vetted, comes a day after President Donald Trump used his State of the Union address in part to blast sanctuary cities, saying "there are many cities in America where radical politicians have chosen to provide sanctuary for these criminal illegal aliens," and suggesting that localities...

The rising tide of local governments in Virginia declaring themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries "is entirely unlawful" because "state law prohibits local governments from enacting ordinances or resolutions that are inconsistent with state laws," according to a Washington Post editorial authored by Mary McCord. "Allowing local governments to act in defiance of state laws imposing gun control will lead to anarchy," she wrote. "Permitting disobedience in this matter would be a dereliction of government's duty to see that its laws are faithfully enforced." McCord sought to differentiate illegal Second Amendment sanctuaries from illegal immigrant sanctuaries that have been declared by local...

Overblown alarm over reasonable gun-control laws proposed in statehouses across the country has led to a movement by various local governments declaring themselves Second Amendment “sanctuaries” — vowing to establish local jurisdictions where state gun laws that they view as unconstitutional will not be enforced. These resolutions, to the extent they conflict with state law, lack legal effect: In Tazewell County, Va., for example, the “Sanctuary Resolution” approved by the board of supervisors purports to prohibit any county employee from enforcing, and any county funds from being used for the enforcement of, new state gun laws the county deems unconstitutional....

Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie thinks some local law enforcement leaders will be willing to go to jail rather than comply with state gun control laws they deem unconstitutional. "Attended my first 2A sanctuary meeting today in Lewis County (where I live). Standing room only. Friends and neighbors spoke passionately and articulately. County officials unanimously passed a resolution," Massie tweeted on Dec. 30. "This grassroots movement feels even stronger than the Tea Party in 2010." Second Amendment sanctuary municipalities last year sprouted up in Illinois, a state with some of the strictest gun control laws. They then spread to Colorado,...

Jessica Swietoniowski of TheRebel.media reports: Immigration is one of the hot button issues for the upcoming federal election. So, I hit the streets of Toronto to ask citizens a few simple questions for their thoughts about bringing in refugees in particular.

The U.S. Border Patrol says an agent has been wounded in a shooting in southern Arizona near the U.S.-Mexico border. A Border Patrol statement says the agent was taken to a hospital Tuesday morning for treatment but provides no information on the agent's injuries or the circumstances of the shooting. The statement says the shooting happened south of the community Arivaca (ayr-uh-VAH'-kuh) at 4:30 a.m. and that several people referred to as subjects of the investigation were taken into custody.

Nearly 500 jurisdictions are now sanctuary cities, according to a group that’s tracked the issue for more than a decade, and who said there’s been a massive surge in the number of places trying to thwart federal immigration agents since President Trump’s election. The Ohio Jobs & Justice Political Action Committee (http://www.ojjpac.org/sanctuary.asp) has added more than three dozen new cities and counties to its list in 2017 alone, as jurisdictions rush to try to shield illegal immigrants from what they expect to be a new push for deportations under Mr. Trump. “More will be coming,” said Steve Salvi, founder of...

For your Brick By Brick file.More great news from the Extraordinary Ordinary of Madison, His Excellency Most Reverend Robert C Morlino.This comes by way of the liberal (for Madison a tautology), secular newspaper the WSJ. My emphases and comments. At area Catholic churches, the tabernacle, ‘Christ’s dwelling place,’ moves to center stageASHTON -- Like centuries of Catholic priests before him, the Rev. Tait Schroeder consecrated the communion bread at a midday Mass last week, turning it into what the denomination's faithful believe is the actual body of Jesus Christ.After offering the sacramental bread -- referred to as the Eucharistic host...

Now the Democrats who booed God want to use the Pope’s words to refill their Voter Plantations with Syrian “refugees.” Last week brought news that Chicago’s government school system has experienced a sharp drop in enrollment numbers. This means trouble for the Democrat overseers who run the Windy City Voter Plantation. Like Democrats who run other Voter Plantations, to stay in power they need to fill their barracks with greedy voters who will perpetually vote Democrat. These cities are emptying out and that means fewer fraudulent and even occasionally honest Democrat voters. The solution the Voter Plantation overseers in Chicago...

Days after Mexican illegal alien Francisco Sanchez confessed to murdering Kathryn Steinle in San Francisco, the Center for Immigration studies published a highly-detailed map revealing the counties, cities, and even entire states where officials defy U.S. immigration law.

Have you noticed that nobody loves modern churches? Nobody. I mean NOBODY.Seriously. Have you ever met anyone who sees a church like this and and heard them whisper, “I just love that church! It is so inspiring!”.No. Never.Have you ever gone into a “worship space” like this and heard someone say how awed they were to be in the presence of God? I doubt it.  That’s because these buildings were not designed to inspire awe or to remind you about the presence of God. They are people centered, not God centered. They are auditoria not temples.There is a gut level...

From The Wall Street Journal: Americans aren’t building churches like they used to anymore.Construction of religious buildings in the U.S. has fallen to the lowest level at any time since private records began in 1967. Religious groups will build an estimated 10.3 million square feet this year, down 6% from 2013 and 80% since construction peaked in 2002, according to Dodge Data & Analytics. In terms of dollars, spending on houses of worship totaled $3.15 billion last year, down by half from a decade earlier, according to Commerce Department figures.As the economy heals, churches, synagogues, mosques and temples may move...

Maturen, 22, had been a volunteer at the sanctuary for more than three years. She recalls the events of Feb. 12 [2010] in great detail. [snip -- she relates the horror in detail next] No one from the sanctuary called 911...Just before 11:30 a.m., someone else did call. A man told the dispatcher..."Something's happening over there," he said. "I don't know if one of those apes got loose, but we had to run out of there real fast, and there were women screaming over there." Deputy Gregory Mason arrived at 11:37 a.m. and found the gates locked.... [snip -- she...

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) – Pakistani fighter jets Tuesday killed six suspected militants in fresh strikes on Taliban strongholds in the northwest, the target of an expected ground operation, officials said. The strikes in South Waziristan come after a militant hostage siege at army headquarters near Islamabad left 23 people dead at the weekend, the latest in a surge in suicide blasts and attacks blamed on the Taliban. The government and military have vowed to launch an all-out offensive in South Waziristan to hunt down the militant leadership, but the timing of the offensive remains unclear. Air strikes have been ongoing...