Free Republic

File this under “things that should be obvious,” but immigration control isn’t slavery. Nor is breaking a just federal law consistent with Christian ethics. Nonetheless, a network of “progressive” Christians is preparing to fight the Trump administration’s immigration efforts with an “underground railroad” for illegals. A recent story at The New York Times details how a network of 450 churches across the country are planning to break federal law and defy the will of the American people by sheltering criminal illegal immigrants against deportation.

(CNN) -- Russian authorities have ordered the Anglo-American School of Moscow to close, as part of retaliation for US sanctions imposed Thursday, a US official briefed on the matter said. The order from the Russian government closes the school, which serves children of US, British and Canadian embassy personnel, to US and foreign nationals. The order also closes access to the US embassy vacation house in Serebryany Bor, near Moscow. Earlier Thursday, the Obama administration, condemning Russia's alleged interference in the election, sanctioned four Russian individuals and five Russian entities. The administration also ordered 35 Russian diplomats to leave the...

Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert (R) told Kimberly Guilfoyle he is drafting a bill that will halt all U.S. funds to the United Nations until they rescind a resolution condemning Israeli settlements. Gohmert said his bill will also prevent American money from assisting any foreign government that recognizes Palestine as an independent state. People have questioned Gohmert as to whether the U.N. would ever consider nullifying the resolution, he said.

A parish priest in the south of Italy enraged parishioners by dressing the Virgin Mary in a Muslim burqa for his church’s Christmas Nativity scene, adding a boatful of refugees and a rainbow flag in place of the star of Bethlehem. The pastor of the parish of Saints Joachim and Anne in Potenza, Father Franco Corbo, found himself face to face with an angry mob of demonstrators gathered outside his church on Wednesday to protest his provocative display.

A big-money group that included some of Hillary Clinton’s top allies tested the effectiveness of attacking her 2008 rival Barack Obama for his admitted use of cocaine and his connections to Islam, hacked documents released Friday show. In the early stages of the 2008 Democratic presidential primary, a group known as Progressive Media commissioned a poll that asked more than 800 likely swing state voters about a number of possible lines of attack against Obama, but also against Clinton and the eventual Republican nominee, John McCain. The poll results and emails discussing the questions were among a batch of documents...

I keep hearing people say that 97% of climate scientists are on the same side of the issue. Critics point out that the number is inflated, but we don’t know by how much. Persuasion-wise, the “first offer” of 97% is so close to 100% that our minds assume the real number is very high even if not exactly 97%. That’s good persuasion. Trump uses this method all the time. The 97% anchor is so strong that it is hard to hear anything else after that. Even the people who think the number is bogus probably think the real figure is...

Will they ever be out of our hair? At the State Department on Wednesday, John Kerry tried to emulate the late Fidel Castro with a tedious, whiny, self-absorbed and self-serving 72-minute marathon of musings about Israeli-Palestinian peace. Contrary to the event’s title and hype, Kerry’s homily was light on “vision.” That part of the speech was summarized, an hour into the thing, in a sketchy, six-point plan only a political theoretician could like, which will soon join numerous other peace plans now collecting dust in forgotten archives. Most of the speech was a defense of President Obama’s decision to allow...

University of Kansas students are being offered buttons through the school's library system meant to make their preferred gender pronouns clear. Various University of Kansas Libraries employees now sport the square-shaped pins, with extra ones also doled out to interested students, the Lawrence Journal-World reports. Library leaders say the buttons are part of the library system's 'You Belong Here' marketing effort meant to lure undergraduates and ensure that they feel welcome, including transgender students. The buttons come in three versions: 'He him his,' ''She her hers' and, for people who don't identify themselves as male or female, 'They them theirs.'...

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#BREAKING: A US official says Russian authorities ordered the Anglo-American School of Moscow to close as retaliation for US sanctions

I wish I could draw...if I could, I would draw a cartoon of Obama & Putin with Putin turning his head toward Obama and yelling "BOOH!" AND Obama jumping out of his skin......

“In [Christ] all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him” (Colossians 1:16). Christ created everyone and everything. The sheer size of the universe is staggering. The sun, for example, could hold 1.3 million planets the size of Earth inside it. The galaxy to which our sun belongs, the Milky Way, contains hundreds of billions of stars. And astronomers estimate there are millions, or even billions, of galaxies. Who created this awesome universe? According to the false teachers...

"Both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, 'I will proclaim Thy name to My brethren, in the midst of the congregation I will sing Thy praise.' And again, 'I will put My trust in Him.' And again, 'Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me'" (Heb. 2:11-13). Our holy Christ has made us holy; thus He can now call us His brothers. From our own perspective and experience, it is difficult to think of ourselves as holy. Sin simply...

Nine million Catholics have left the Church in two years Statistics of a pastoral disaster in Brazil: a survey by Datafolha revealed that adults who declare themselves to be Catholic have gone from 60% in 2014 to 50% in December 2016. This means that in two years about nine million people have decided to leave the Church. A fact that is certainly disturbing; more so when you consider that for the first time in history a Pontiff who comes from Latin America sits on the throne of Peter. Datafolha showed that over the same period there had been a significant...

President Barack Obama dined out with his family and friends at hip Honolulu Asian fusion restaurant Nobu on Wednesday night Obama received a round of applause from other guests as he walked through the restaurant, a video posted to Instagram shows The first family has been in Hawaii for nearly two weeks - they're parked there until after the New Year holiday A report published this afternoon puts the price tag of their travel over the last eight years at $96 million; report includes travel White House says was official The Obamas pay for their food and lodging out of...

White House officials predicted Thursday that new sanctions being levied against Russia in retaliation for that country’s apparent hacking during the 2016 election would not be reversed by President-elect Donald Trump, despite Trump’s call for warmer relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. After he takes the oath of office in late January, Trump could unilaterally act to roll back the sanctions, which include expelling 35 Russian operatives and closing down two Russian facilities in the United States. But White House officials argued that if he did so, Trump would risk looking like he had caved to Russian interests. “If a...

The passing of the legendary actress, Debbie Reynolds, coming one day after she lost her lovely daughter, Carrie Fisher, prompted me to watch the Youtube clip of Gene Kelly's "Singin' in the Rain." The scene is one of the all-time Hollywood classics, maybe the best song-and-dance take in cinema history. But the scene calls to mind a far more primary and significant idea to me than the genius of Gene Kelly and his emotional outpouring at finding his true love in the character played by Debbie Reynolds. The scene absolutely epitomizes the optimism and forward-looking nature of the historic American...

Arkansassuspended tight end Jeremy Sprinkle for Thursday's Belk Bowl for what head coach Bret Bielema deemed, "conduct detrimental to the team," and it appears we now have the reason why. Sources confirmed to Jason Kersey of SEC Country that Sprinkle's suspension stems from an accusation of shoplifting during a Tuesday trip to the local Belk department store in Charlotte, N.C.

Actress, comedian, author, and political activist Roseanne Barr, who is Jewish, strongly criticized President Barack Obama and his decision to not veto the U.N. resolution denouncing Israeli "settlements" in East Jerusalem, tweeting that Obama's actions on the eve of Hanukkah mirrored those of the Nazis. The United States refused to veto the U.N. resolution on Dec. 23, one day before the start of the Jewish holiday Hanukkah. On Dec. 24, Roseanne Barr tweeted, "Nazis enacted anti jewish laws on the eve of jewish holidays -- exactly as @POTUS has done on eve of Hanukkah. Don't light candles 2night, BHO!"

Confined to a California prison since 1971, former Manson family member and convicted murderer Patricia Krenwinkel is now the longest-serving female inmate in the state’s correctional system. On Thursday, the 69-year-old will have a chance at freedom when a review board considers whether to recommend her for parole. Krenwinkel was sent to death row after a Los Angeles jury convicted her of killing actress Sharon Tate and six others in a two-day rampage intended to trigger a race war. The killings were done at the behest of Charles Manson, leader of a cult-like group living on an old movie ranch...