Free Republic

Chinese history tells us: Never stop fighting till the fight is done Sun's fate shows that life atop the CCP can be nasty, brutish and short Observers of elite politics in China cannot miss a cruel paradox: Those closest to the apex of power are the most likely to fall. The latest example is that of Sun Zhengcai, a member of the Chinese Communist Party's politburo, and party chief in the large southwestern city of Chongqing. Before his recent detention on unspecified corruption charges, 53-year-old Sun was a high-flyer. Promoted to the politburo at the CCP's 18th congress in 2012,...

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, 5 U.S.C. 3345 et seq., it is hereby ordered that: Section 1. Order of Succession. Subject to the provisions of section 2 of this order, the following officers, in the order listed, shall act as and perform the functions and duties of the office of Attorney General during any period in which the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney General, the Associate Attorney General, and any officers designated by the Attorney General pursuant...

A growing number of Californians want to secede from the U.S., according to a new poll by Supporters of California Independence. Thirty-three percent of the people surveyed were in favor of the idea, the majority of them saying they are progressives or social Democrats.

On his way out the door, Obama also rewrote the line of succession in cases where the AG recuses himself. (I didn't know there was such a previously-planned chain of succession.) He specifically wrote one senior guy out of the succession, and re-routed the succession to go right to his friendlies. Amid Thursday;s over-hyped brouhaha about Jeff Sessions meeting with the Russian ambassador, a curious detail emerged. In Sessions's recusal memo, it was explained who at the Justice Department would be handling any investigations into the Trump campaign's alleged ties to Russia. "Consistent with the succession order for the Department...

The following is an example of Rome's claim of "unbroken succession" - provided by pope John Paul II:Nevertheless, the Roman Pontiffs have exercised their authority in Rome and, according to the conditions and opportunities of the times, have done so in wider and even universal areas, by virtue of their succeeding Peter. Written documents do not tell us how this succession occurred in the first link connecting Peter with the series of the bishops of Rome. It can be deduced, however, by considering everything that Pope Clement states in the letter cited above regarding the appointment of the first bishops...

Was The Papacy Established By Christ? (Part 2) Because neither the apostolic nor the earliest post-apostolic Christians refer to a jurisdictional primacy of the bishop of Rome, Catholics often cite references to any type of primacy of the Roman church. But a non-jurisdictional primacy of the Roman church doesn't prove a jurisdictional primacy of the Roman bishop. Even Peter himself isn't referred to as having papal authority among the early post-apostolic sources. Terence Smith explains: "there is an astonishing lack of reference to Peter among ecclesiastical authors of the first half of the second century. He is barely mentioned in...

Was The Papacy Established By Christ? (Part 1) For those who don't have much familiarity with the dispute between Protestants and Catholics over the doctrine of the papacy, I want to post two introductory articles on the subject today and tomorrow. The first article, this one, will be about the Biblical evidence, and tomorrow's article will be about the early post-Biblical evidence. Roman Catholicism claims the papacy as its foundation. According to the Catholic Church, the doctrine of the papacy was understood and universally accepted as early as the time of Peter: "At open variance with this clear doctrine of...

Thomas Hobbes said “The Papacy is not other than the Ghost of the deceased Roman Empire, sitting crowned upon the grave thereof”. History has borne out this statement. The question of “authority” is at the heart of every discussion between Protestants and Roman Catholics since the time of the Reformation, and yet the Church of Rome (“Roman Catholicism”) bases all of its claims to authority upon “apostolic succession” … the notion that there was an unbroken succession of “successors” from the time of the Apostles till now. Bryan Cross has said “The Church always had the concept of apostolic succession.”,...

(Note: This was written a month ago) With 91-year-old Abdullah’s hospitalization with pneumonia Jan. 2, all eyes in Saudi Arabia immediately turned to Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz, the defense minister and the king’s 79-year-old half-brother. Yet due to Salman’s own deteriorating health – those close to the palace say the crown prince is suffering from the early stages of dementia – a campaign is growing within Riyadh to bypass Salman and give the throne to Deputy Crown Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz, 69, another of the king’s half brothers, should Abdullah be deemed unfit to rule. Both the crown prince...

Analysis of DNA from Richard III has thrown up a surprise: evidence of infidelity in his family tree. Scientists who studied genetic material from remains found in a Leicester car park say the finding might have profound historical implications. Depending on where in the family tree it occurred, it could cast doubt on the Tudor claim to the English throne or, indeed, on Richard's. The study is published in the journal Nature Communications. But the scientists would not be drawn on what meaning it might have - if any - for the current Royal Family, as it was still unknown...

RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's appointment of Prince Muqrin as deputy crown prince is a first step towards addressing its biggest dynastic challenge for 50 years and forestalling a possible succession crisis in the world's top oil exporter. The ruling al-Saud family is fast approaching the moment when it must decide how to jump down a generation from a line of brothers born to the country's founder King Abdulaziz to their sons and nephews, a process fraught with difficulty. For a dynasty that now sees itself as governing a rare island of stability in a region aflame with conflict and...

I know many on this site will look at this and think it is one more crackpot talking nonsense.. That may not be entirely wrong, but I am not a crackpot, and my attitude is shared by too many intelligent folks that are entirely fed-up with the direction we are going.. Texas is suffering from our own success.. We are attracting the disaffected millions, from failed governments around the country, to our state because of our business friendly atmosphere, low taxation, low costs, great weather, and great opportunities.. All of that would be fine, if the newcomers would leave their...

Could we soon have 52 states? The succession movements in Colorado and Maryland are at full speed. Citizens in Alleghany, Carroll, Frederick, Garrett and Washington counties don’t feel that their interests are being represented in Annapolis any longer. Now they are looking to split off from the rest of the state to form Western Maryland. This effort is being called: A New State initiative. Scott Strzelczyk, leader of the Western Maryland initiative puts it bluntly, “people are fed up with the liberal majority and want an “amicable divorce.” The five counties make up about 11% of the entire state and...

In the last decade of the 20th century, as the Soviet Empire disintegrated, so, too, did that prison house of nations, the USSR. Out of the decomposing carcass came Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Moldova, all in Europe; Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Caucasus; and Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan in Central Asia. Transnistria then broke free of Moldova, and Abkhazia and South Ossetia fought free of Georgia. Yugoslavia dissolved far more violently into the nations of Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Kosovo. The Slovaks seceded from Czechoslovakia. Yet a Europe that plunged straight...

The UK's Queen Elizabeth II has unfortunately been ill with gastroenteritis recently. Understandably this has started speculations, I hope premature, about what could happen in case of her death. I like her, and I wish her a very long life. Who will succeed the Queen is a very worrisome question. I dread to think of her son and heir to the throne Prince Charles as the King, not only because of his, shall we say, lack of grasp of reality (Oriana Fallaci, the Italian best-selling author who, with her book The Rage and the Pride (Amazon USA) , (Amazon UK) ,...

The Baltimore Catechism Revised Edition (1941) Part One: The Creed   The Catholic Church Lesson 11 from the Baltimore Cathechism"I believe in ... the Holy Catholic Church ..."136. What is the Church? The Church is the congregation of all baptized persons united in the same true faith, the same sacrifice, and the same sacraments, under the authority of the Sovereign Pontiff and the bishops in communion with him.The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. (Matthew 13:24)137. Who founded the Church? Jesus Christ founded the Church.And I say to thee, thou art Peter,...

Neither Mission nor Prudence in Kim's Expression By Park Seong Guk [2012-02-09 11:12 ] Kim Jong Nam has revealed more about the rule of Kim Jong Eun and his view of the future of North Korea in previously unreleased e-mails between he and Tokyo Shimbun editor Yoji Komi . “In that young man’s expression I can see neither the mission nor the prudence of a man who has become the successor to a troubled country like North Korea, nor the expression of a man worrying about a future vision for the state,” Kim is quoted as saying in one of...

5 – North Korea Implosion or Explosion Don’t be fooled by stories of how smoothly the transition is proceeding in Pyongyang. The first rule of analyzing North Korea—it’s the world’s most opaque regime and no one really knows what’s going on inside—has not changed. Maybe things really are going smoothly. Maybe they’re already off the rails. We do know that North Korea is a nuclear power, that provocation is its traditional foreign policy tool of choice, and that North Korean collapse is the likeliest way to bring American and Chinese soldiers face to face in an unpredictable and dangerous security...

Kim Jong-nam Resurfaces in Beijing Former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's eldest son Kim Jong-nam has resurfaced in Beijing a month after his father's death. He was spotted by South Koreans including Park Seung-jun, a professor of Chinese Language and Literature at Incheon University, waiting at Terminal 3 of Beijing Capital International Airport for an Air China flight to Macau on Saturday afternoon. Kim Jong-nam was wearing a padded navy blue jacket, jeans and a light-blue baseball cap. He was alone. Witnesses spotted Kim in the Air China business lounge searching the Internet on a computer. Asked if he had...

Economic reform takes backseat in North Korea January 02, 2012 By YOSHIHIRO MAKINO / Correspondent SEOUL--A Politburo meeting may signal a change in the decision-making process in North Korea--but that's about all expected to be different in the short term under Kim Jong Un's rule. Kim has shown increased dependence on the military as he tries to secure his position as North Korea's new leader. This approach will make it difficult to reform the nation's anemic economy or implement an open-door policy that could help the people. Kim, who on Dec. 30 was named supreme commander of the military, inspected...