Free Republic

      LIVING PRAYER Brother Lawrence was a monk who lived almost 300 years ago and worked in the galley of his monastery. He wrote a book, The Practice of the Presence of God, which today is considered a classic in the area of Christian devotion. Brother Lawrence spent much of his time in the monastery scullery scrubbing pots and pans. He also had a collateral duty as the monastery cobbler. In these jobs, he said, he learned to glorify God in simple tasks and to pray with his hands. By bringing to each small job the best...

The death toll from an air strike by U.S.-led forces on the northern Syrian province of Aleppo has risen to 52 including seven children, a group monitoring the conflict said on Saturday.

Americans appear to be suspicious of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s honesty, and even many Democrats are only lukewarm about her presidential candidacy, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll. Is she strong and decisive? Yes, say a majority of people. But inspiring and likable? Only a minority think so. Clinton’s struggles to explain her email practices while in government, along with questions about the Clinton Foundation and Republican criticism of her openness, wealth and trustworthiness seem to have struck a nerve in the public’s perception of the dominant Democratic figure in the 2016 campaign. In the survey, 61 percent said “honest”...

Writing in Bloomberg View on Monday, journalist Eli Lake says US President Barack Obama has known for years that Iran needed only 2-3 months to produce enough fuel for a nuclear bomb, but purposely avoided saying so publicly, stressing instead that a full year was needed for Iran to build a nuclear bomb. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz on Monday acknowledged that the US has known for years that Iran is just two to three months form having enough fissile material for a nuclear bomb. When asked how long the Obama administration has known this, he responded, "Oh, quite some time....

It’s been a tough week for Hillary Clinton, with a flurry of bad news that is casting further doubt on her prospects for winning the Democratic Party nomination, let alone the White House. She did receive a celebrity endorsement, but, alas, it came from pornographer Larry Flynt, and as Bloomberg’s John Heilemann observes, it “beggars belief that she and her team will be issuing any press releases touting the latest bold-faced name to clamber aboard her bandwagon.” A new Associated Press-GfK poll finds Americans suspicious of Clinton’s honesty, and even many Democrats are only lukewarm about her presidential candidacy. Her...

US Secretary of State John Kerry has given his first interview to Israeli media since spearheading the controversial framework deal with Iran over its nuclear program. Speaking to Channel 10, Kerry sought to bypass Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's stern opposition to the deal by appealing directly to the Israeli people. Kerry sought repeatedly to reassure Israelis that despite the criticism from Netanyahu and many others, any deal with Iran would be watertight. "I say this again - we will not sign a deal that does not close off Iran's pathways to a bomb and that doesn't give us the confidence...

The world is "closer than ever" to reaching a comprehensive nuclear deal with Iran, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday, according to The Associated Press (AP). Speaking to a global gathering on nuclear disarmament, where he and Iran's foreign minister met on the sidelines, Kerry warned however that work on a deal is far from over and that key issues remain unresolved. "I know as well as anyone that we have a long way to go" on the path to a nuclear-free world, Kerry said at the conference, which Israel is attending as an observer. He acknowledged that...

Arguably the most important Republican presidential endorsement to precede the 2016 Iowa Caucuses will come from Bob Vander Plaats, who failed on three occasions to become governor of Iowa. And over here in the ‘nobody cares’ pile is Terry Branstad, Iowa’s current Republican head of state and the soon-to-be longest-serving governor in the history of this nation. How a man with that kind of stature can have zero impact on presidential politics is a solid lesson in pyrrhic victories. The reason for such a counter-intuitive reality is simple. It’s a matter of having convictions versus pursuing positions. Vander Plaats is...

Portland police used tear gas, flash bangs and what they called "noise distractionary devices" to try and disperse protesters in downtown Portland Friday evening. At least one officer was injured during the clashes. No arrests were made. The group Don't Shoot Portland, protesting excessive force by law enforcement, marched through downtown Portland Friday afternoon and joined an unrelated May Day rally for immigrant rights. Hundreds of marchers began winding their way through downtown Portland at 4:30 p.m., but some protesters disregarded the planned route and walked against traffic. TriMet buses and MAX trains were delayed.Streets in downtown Portland were blocked...

Donta Allen, a Baltimore man who was in police custody with Freddie Gray, denied police claims that Gray intentionally slammed his head in a police van, a local television reporter told MSNBC host Chris Hayes on Thursday. Police reportedly claimed that Allen told authorities he heard Gray "banging against the walls" of the van and believed he "was intentionally trying to injure himself." Allen, who is currently in prison and was listed as a source in a police document, refuted a police account of the night when Gray was taken into custody. He reportedly also denied giving police any information,...

On this forty-fifth birthday of the first annual Earthday, which was first commemorated on the one-hundredth birthday of our beloved Vladimir Lenin in 1970, let us revisit some of the predictions made on that glorious day. Remember comrades, it doesn't matter whether the prophecies came true, but whether they affected change that leads to the equality to be found in the Glorious Utopian World of Next Tuesday... ******* It is already too late to avoid mass starvation,” proclaimed Denis Hayes, Chief organizer for Earth Day. -"Demographers agree almost unanimously on the following grim timetable: by 1975 widespread famines will begin...

Republican gubernatorial candidate Hal Heiner has issued an apology after reports surfaced that the husband of his running mate had communicated with a blogger who promotes material against James Comer, one of Heiner’s GOP opponents in the May 19 primary. The Lexington Herald-Leader’s Sam Youngman reported the story on Wednesday. The newspaper obtained emails that showed Scott Crosbie, husband of Heiner’s lieutenant governor pick KC Crosbie, speaking in the fall with Lexington attorney Michael Adams, who operates a website dedicated solely to Comer. KC Crosbie was copied on some emails, according to the Herald-Leader. Comer, Kentucky’s agriculture commissioner, denied the...

The deadly Ebola virus may be transmitted through sex long after a person has been cured, a major finding that could change how the virus is combated. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention investigators looked into the case of a Monrovia, Liberia, woman who contracted the disease. The agency identified only one link to Ebola: unprotected sex with an Ebola survivor who was not presenting symptoms. Ebola can only be passed through contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person showing symptoms. But health officials have been aware of another problem: The virus can remain in semen for nearly...

Moody’s Investors Service on Friday announced it had reduced its rating on Chicago Board of Education debt to one level above junk bond status. Moody’s downgraded the rating to Baa3 from Baa1 on the board’s general obligation debt. That rating applies to a total of $6.3 billion in outstanding debt held by Chicago Public Schools. That lowered rating, according to Moody’s, “reflects CPS’s continued reliance” on its reserves to cover ongoing operating expenditures, “particularly pension contributions, which will steadily increase in the coming years.” ... the lowered CPS rating also takes into account the city’s own credit rating, which also...

WASHINGTON — Wisconsin's Scott Walker has emerged as a force in the 2016 White House contest. It's a position two other Republican governors from the Midwest, lesser known but similarly ambitious, undoubtedly would like to be in. Like Walker, John Kasich in Ohio and Rick Snyder in Michigan have strong resumes and political successes in states where the GOP often struggles. They offer a distinct form of pragmatic politics that differs sharply from that of their combative counterpart in Wisconsin. Kasich has taken steps toward a presidential bid, emboldened by the absence of a clear front-runner and by warm reviews...

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There’s a message here to politicians from marketers: Grow a spine, stand up for something sensible Martin Daubney on Breitbart describes a new form of internet-era marketing. Companies that put out provocative ads predictably get attacked by the holier-than-thou. But if they stand up to the thought police, they suddenly find themselves in the middle of a social media war and at the winning end. Because they didn’t cave in to the PC, they get thousands of passionate defenders online, lots of new customers, loads of free PR, and the “wave” breaches the social media world and spills into the...

Muslim agitation, attrition, the litigation jihad accompanies all counter terror programs in these United States. We are constantly being told, scolded, admonished and clubbed with the now well worn meme that “only a tiny minority” “a radical few” Muslims engage in jihad. And yet we never see Muslim organizations supporting, encouraging cooperation and applauding any counter terror efforts.Why is that? Based on everything we are constantly being told about moderate Muslims – this is an impossibility. And yet this impossibility is our constant companion.Is it any wonder there is a stream of young Muslims from these communities and mosques flocking...

Hollywood movie star Ben Affleck has two additional slaveholding ancestors. S.L. Speisseger, who owned 3 slaves in Chatham County Georgia in 1840, according to 1840 U.S. Census, and Georgia A. Speissegger Cole, who owned 1 slave in 1863 and 1864, according to Savannah and Chatham County, Georgia tax digests found by the Daily Beast. This brings the total number of Affleck’s known slaveholding ancestors to 14, and the number of slaves either owned or “held” as a trustee or on behalf of an estate by these ancestors to 242.

Prince will share his feelings on the unrest in Baltimore in the way he knows best -- in song. The legendary artist has recorded a “tribute to all of the people of the city of Baltimore,” a spokesperson tells Billboard. Though release plans haven’t been announced, it's understood the track will address Freddie Gray's death in Baltimore police custody, and the socio/political issues around the nation following a spate of killings of young black men.