Free Republic

The Holy Father warned that smears seriously damage the Christian community.VATICAN CITY— Pope Francis said Wednesday that slander is a “diabolical cancer” that seriously damages the Church. “We know that slander always kills. This ‘diabolical cancer,’ which arises from the desire to destroy a person’s reputation, also attacks the rest of the ecclesial body,” Pope Francis said Sept. 25 in his general audience in St. Peter’s Square. The Pope warned that slander seriously damages the Church when “there is a coalition to smear someone” due to “petty interests or to cover up their own inadequacies.” The Catholic Church teaches that...

Kiev officials are scrambling to make amends with the president-elect after quietly working to boost Clinton. Donald Trump wasn’t the only presidential candidate whose campaign was boosted by officials of a former Soviet bloc country. Ukrainian government officials tried to help Hillary Clinton and undermine Trump by publicly questioning his fitness for office. They also disseminated documents implicating a top Trump aide in corruption and suggested they were investigating the matter, only to back away after the election. And they helped Clinton’s allies research damaging information on Trump and his advisers, a Politico investigation found. A Ukrainian-American operative who was...

NEW YORK, September 19 (C-Fam) A UN expert charged with promoting LGBT rights around the world called on governments to take action against religions that don’t embrace LGBT rights. In his latest report to the General Assembly, Victor Madrigal-Borloz said, “States should adopt decisive action when religious authorities, leaders or agents infringe on the rights of LGBT persons through violence and discrimination, including hate speech.” In his report Madrigal-Borloz, the UN Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, equates any kind of religious or political narrative that does not endorse LGBT rights...

Media attention will intensify on Hillary Clinton on Tuesday. The former first lady, senator, secretary of state and Democratic presidential candidate is ready for another round in the public arena. She has a new book arriving, written with the help of a very close relative. Behold. Here comes “The Book of Gutsy Women: Favorite Stories of Courage and Resilience” — all 464 pages of it. Indeed, the new book of essays now landing on the shelves is written by Mrs. Clinton and her daughter Chelsea Clinton, is published by Simon & Schuster. Some informed observers speculate the book could be...

Denver, Colo., Sep 23, 2019 / 05:30 pm (CNA).- A new study has found that six percent of U.S. seminarians have experienced some form of sexual harassment, abuse or misconduct; another four percent said they might have experienced misconduct but were not sure; while 89% report none. The survey comes amid heightened scrutiny of seminary culture in the wake of revelations of grooming behavior and years of sexual harassment by high-profile Church figures such as former cardinal Theodore McCarrick and Bishop Michael Bransfield. Of those surveyed, 84% of seminarians believe their administration and faculty take reports of such misconduct very...

Peak Trump Derangement Syndrome hysteria in full swing among mainstream media Economist and New York Times op-ed columnist Paul Krugman suggested Friday evening that “thousands of journalists” will end up imprisoned because of the administration or President Donald Trump goes to jail.A formal impeachment inquiry was launched Tuesday after news that Trump had asked Ukrainian officials to look into Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter regarding business dealings in the country. The transcript of this phone call was held in a special computer system for sensitive calls, according to the NYT.The White House restricted access to other phone calls between...

U.S. government officials on Monday announced charges accusing an American citizen living in California with acting as a spy for China.

The view from a luxe office on the seventy-third floor of Houston’s tallest building might give anyone visions of dominance, and it’s easy to understand why Tony Buzbee wouldn’t be immune. He grew up wearing cheap jeans and off-brand shoes in tiny Atlanta, Texas, in the state’s northeast corner. Through brains and grit and sharp elbows, he transformed himself into one of the country’s richest and most famous personal injury lawyers, defending, so he likes to say, working people against greedy corporations. Nowadays Buzbee can look down on some of those companies’ headquarters from his aerie in the Chase Tower....

When the alarm went off at Jennifer Hrobuchak's work, the 22-year-old district manager didn't think twice. She got in her car in the early morning hours and headed off to the store to investigate. The new college graduate, who had hoped to have a career saving people from drugs, never saw the man run through the red light straight at her. At 82 miles per hour, he slammed Jennifer's car across the road into a building that crushed and killed her. After seven years of telling the story, her mom, Corinne, still gets emotional. And it's no wonder. The man...

President Trump continued to escalate his scorched-earth campaign against a whistleblower who accused him of pressuring Ukraine to investigate his political rivals, even as new evidence emerged Monday that he and his administration are urging other governments to provide assistance to a related Justice Department inquiry that has been pushed by the president. Trump said he was trying to “find out about” the whistleblower Monday, the latest move in an increasingly frenetic counterassault targeting the anonymous intelligence officer and top Democrats leading the impeachment inquiry. The comments came as his allies struggled to coalesce around a clear strategy to respond...

The leader of the Roman Catholic Church met with a group of Jesuits from Mozambique, Portugal, and Zimbabwe in early September to discuss political and religious issues. The conversation occurred on September 5, but a transcript of the discussion was released on Thursday. During the talk, Pope Francis warned of xenophobia and populism. "Xenophobia and aporophobia today are part of a populist mentality that leaves no sovereignty to the people. Xenophobia destroys the unity of a people, even that of the people of God," the pope said.

It was a glorious spring morning in New York, and sunlight streamed through the windows of 115 West 18th Street. This is the global headquarters of The We Company, and I was there to meet with its CEO and cofounder Adam Neumann. He greets me warmly as I am ushered to his office, and he gestures for me to follow him to a small room in the back of his workspace. He said he wanted to show me something. He looked happy, smiling confidently, the way a guy sitting on top of company valued at $47 billion might. The room...

ashington (CNN)The intelligence community inspector general is forcefully pushing back against assertions made by President Donald Trump and several Republican lawmakers about the whistleblower complaint that has rocked Washington in recent weeks. In a rare statement released Monday, the inspector general addressed a false claim pushed by Trump and some of his allies on Capitol Hill, including House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy of California and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, that the whistleblower lacked firsthand knowledge of the conduct outlined in the complaint and therefore the allegations were based on "hearsay." But the statement from the inspector general made...

President Trump will hold a campaign rally in Dallas next month seeking to solidify support in Texas as several Republican members of the state's congressional delegation retire. The Trump campaign announced Monday that Trump will hold an Oct. 17 rally at the American Airlines Center, home to the Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars. The event will come one week after Trump's scheduled rally in Minneapolis, where he is attempting to flip the state after narrowly losing it in 2016. Rep. Mac Thornberry (Texas), the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, announced earlier Monday that he will not seek...

A Justice Department official told Fox News on Monday that Attorney General Bill Barr asked President Trump to make introductions to foreign countries that might have had information pertinent to U.S. Attorney John Durham's ongoing probe into possible misconduct by the intelligence community at the outset of the Russia investigation.

The Biden clan still needs to explain why a vice president’s son was enjoying a $50,000-per-month gig for which his principal qualification appears to have been his last name. But Joe Biden isn’t the only pillar of the Democratic establishment who won’t enjoy the new spotlight on American relations with Ukraine. And President Donald Trump isn’t the only one who wants a fuller accounting of that country’s role in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. In a letter released on Monday morning, Republican senators Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin ask U.S. Attorney General William Barr if he’s...

    ~The FReeper Canteen Presents~ Road Trip: U. S. Coast Guard Aviation Training Center,  AlabamaMobile Coast Guard Aviation Training Center is an air base of the United States Coast Guard located at Mobile, Alabama, where it shares an airfield with the Mobile Regional Airport. The Alabama Army National Guard's 1st Battalion, 131st Aviation Regiment's "B" Company is also located at the airfield. The base is also home to the Coast Guard National Strike Force's Gulf Strike Team.It is a multi-mission unit, for the Coast Guard's aviation and capabilities development center. Training is conducted to qualify pilots in the...

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on Sunday called on President Donald Trump to continue working with Congress on gun control measures despite Democrats' official impeachment inquiry over a call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Specifically, Schumer wants Trump to consider backing universal background checks, a bill known as HR 8 that passed in the House earlier this year. “Amidst the impeachment inquiry the gears of government can still move. Anyone who suggests otherwise is advancing a false narrative,” Schumer said at his Manhattan office on Sunday, the New York Post reported. “In fact, the best example of...

Sybrina Fulton has earned another big-time national endorsement in her Miami-Dade County Commission race, as U.S. Sen. Cory Booker says he’ll be backing Fulton’s bid. Booker, who is currently running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, joins former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in supporting Fulton. Clinton announced her support late last week. Fulton is the mother of Trayvon Martin, who was shot and killed in an altercation with George Zimmerman back in 2012. She’s competing against Miami Gardens Mayor Oliver Gilbert III for the District 1 Commission seat. Booker referenced the 2012 shooting in his announcement supporting Fulton’s campaign....

Dish has just dropped Fox channels, including FS1, FS2, and BTN. Dish customers were quick to jump on social media to share the news that their Fox channels have gone dark as of this afternoon. Fox channels are also removed from Sling TV. Channels currently unavailable include FS1, FS2, Big 10 Network, Fox Soccer Plus and Fox Deportes. Fox. Local channels in 17 markets across 23 states have been affected. A full list of those markets can be found here.