Free Republic

Spain has selected a beauty queen for 2018 – and it's a man in disguise!  That's right: Spanish people think a man looks prettier than all the women in Spain!  What does this say about the Spanish culture? After winning Spain's national beauty contest last month, [Mr.] Ponce will become the first transgender woman [sic] to compete in the Miss Universe pageant. "Having a vagina doesn't make a woman," [he] said in an interview.  "Even if many people don't want to see me as a woman, I clearly belong among them.  There are women with a penis and men with a vagina, because...

Like you’re surprised? Planned Parenthood of New York City — claiming Big Apple residents “have more sex than anyone else in America. (Woo! We did it!)” — wants to “make sure that everyone has access to the sexual and reproductive health care services they need.” To that end, the organization launched a fundraising campaign this week aimed at millennials — and it broadcasts its intent in no uncertain terms: “Protect our freedom to f***.” ‘Proud to provide abortion services’ Planned Parenthood of New York City noted that in addition to being “proud to provide abortion services,” donations “will go toward...

The Proud Boys, a right-wing men’s group, is claiming a higher profile role in the region, with two members involved in a confrontation outside the Vancouver Mall that raised concerns for some about a miscarriage of justice. VANCOUVER, Clark County — Mykel Mosley walked out of the Vancouver Mall and saw something that made him angry: a pickup flying what he says was a Donald Trump flag. The African-American teenager yelled out an obscenity about Trump. Two men got out of the truck, and chased Mosley, one of them spinning him briefly to the ground. A video, posted online, shows...

Scarlett Johansson, who endured cries of whitewashing when she played the lead in last year’s Ghost in the Shell, this time has given in to public pressure. The actress today exited Rub & Tug, the Rupert Sanders-directed film in which she was to play the trans owner of a massage parlor. Johansson’s role in the project was met with immediate backlash from the transgender community and others who objected to her casting. Following the initial uproar, the actress responded with a statement to Bustle.com which read, “Tell them that they can be directed to Jeffrey Tambor, Jared Leto, and Felicity...

Hillary Clinton had strong words for the Trump administration and Republicans on Friday while addressing the American Federation of Teachers, saying the fundamental rights of Americans are what’s at stake this November. Speaking at the labor union’s conference in Pittsburgh, Mrs. Clinton slammed the administration’s separations of families at the border as inhumane and indecent. “I believe with all my heart that the test of any society is how we treat the most vulnerable among us, particularly our youngest, our oldest, our people with disabilities, and right now, my friends, our country is failing that test,” she said. “We have...

Wisconsin Supreme Court rules in favor of John McAdamsMADISON, Wisconsin (ChurchMilitant.com) - A professor won his lawsuit against a Jesuit university accused of censoring him for his Christian view of marriage. On July 6, the Wisconsin Supreme Court sided with political science professor John McAdams in his legal battle with Marquette University — overturning a previous ruling in a lower court. The Jesuit college pushed McAdams out of his position in 2014 after he made a blog post defending a student who got chewed out by an instructor for speaking up in favor of traditional marriage, suspending McAdams without pay....

(CNSNews.com) - House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) said in her weekly press briefing on Thursday that the Democratic Party is about “honoring the vows of our founders. “Our values are about supporting America’s working families, about honoring the vows of our Founders, about honoring the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform, honoring the aspirations of our children,” she said. “That is why we vote so much alike because we have shared values,” she said...

More than 210,000 people have signed a petition on the web site of the South Korean president’s office demanding that an “abominable” gay pride festival scheduled to take place in central Seoul this weekend be cancelled. The three-day Seoul Queer Culture Festival is marking its 19th anniversary this year and will include art exhibitions and a film festival. The highlight of the event will be the Seoul Queer Parade on Saturday afternoon around Seoul Plaza, the historic square in front of the city’s old City Hall that was the fulcrum of the March 1919 independence movement and the June 1987...

When Donald Trump started running for the Republican nomination for president in June 2015, he began by attacking the Republican establishment in Washington, and he began his attack by calling the establishment "the swamp." His real target was the permanent government and its enablers in the legal, financial, diplomatic and intelligence communities in Washington. These entities hover around power centers no matter which party is in power. Beneath the swamp, Trump argued, lies the deep state. This is a loose collection of career government officials who operate outside ordinary legal and constitutional frameworks and use the levers of government power...

Porn actress Stormy Daniels was arrested at an Ohio strip club and is accused of letting patrons touch her in violation of a state law, her attorney said early Thursday.

Avenatti is shown yucking up with CNN's Don Lemon and Errol Louis, as well as with CNN's "conservative" commentator Margaret Hoover. Twitter pic at link.

“It may be on the lips of many, but that equation is a foolish lie." This is how Pope Francis defined the equation that many make between Muslims and terrorists. He did so in the extensive interview with the director of the Echo of Bergamo newspaper, published today 24 May 2018, on the occasion of the arrival in the city of the urn with the remains of Saint John XXIII, who thus returns for the first time to his land.

On a sunny morning earlier this year, a camera crew entered a well-appointed apartment just outside the 9th-century gates of Vatican City. Pristinely dressed in the black robes and scarlet sash of the princes of the Roman Catholic Church, the Wisconsin-born Cardinal Raymond Burke sat in his elaborately upholstered armchair and appeared to issue a warning to Pope Francis. A staunch conservative and Vatican bureaucrat, Burke had been demoted by the pope a few months earlier, but it did not take the fight out of him. Francis had been backing a more inclusive era, giving space to progressive voices on...

In June, Pope Francis released his first independent encyclical. It merely served to highlight the indifference to the plight of persecuted Christians around the world. The Pope warned about issues dealing with the environment, but he did not once mention the plight of persecuted Christians — even though he is well acquainted with it, and even though previous popes mentioned it when Christians were experiencing far less persecution than they are today. Encyclicals are formal treatises written by popes and sent to bishops around the world. In turn, bishops are meant to disseminate the encyclical’s ideas to all the priests...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis' apostolic exhortation on the family is an example of the "ordinary magisterium" -- papal teaching -- to which Catholics are obliged to give "religious submission of will and intellect," said an article in the Vatican newspaper. Father Salvador Pie-Ninot, a well-known professor of ecclesiology, said that while Pope Francis did not invoke his teaching authority in a "definitive way" in the document, it meets all the criteria for being an example of the "ordinary magisterium" to which all members of the church should respond with "the basic attitude of sincere acceptance and practical implementation."...

'Married' in April, Fr. Giuliano Costalunga is yet to be laicized by his bishopItalian newspapers broke the news this week that a Venetian priest recently married his male partner in Spain, but remains a priest in his diocese. Father Giuliano Costalunga, a 48-year-old priest from the diocese of Verona, married his Spanish partner Pablo in April on one of the Canary Islands. Costalunga was in charge of the parishes of Selva di Progno e Giazza until three years ago. Old press reports show that he created controversy among his flock for being "too modern" and for "having divided the community."...

Fox News host Shepard Smith on Wednesday rapped President Trump for his criticisms of NATO members, saying that the comments could “turn back the global clock centuries.”

When The Naked Farmer came to town looking for people to get their kit off for a good cause, dairy farmer Kerry Wilson was approached to take part. He and his partner Paul Wilson agreed, though Kerry had reservations about not having the right body type. "Gee whiz, I'm 56. Does it matter?" Kerry asked. It didn't. The cause, which raises awareness about the mental health of Australian farmers, hit a personal chord with the couple. Kerry and Paul are fifth-generation farmers who live and work together near Nimbin in the northern rivers of New South Wales. "You carry a...

Polish people love America Poland wouldn't mind seeing Trump as the advocate of Eastern European interests in Brussels. It's not just about a stronger NATO presence, but also about history and shared values. Many Poles see it as a given that the US should be responsible for their security, as the country suffered at the hands of neighboring Germany and Russia in the past and feels cheated by other European states. The PiS government agrees wholeheartedly with Trump's climate and migration policies, as well as criticism of the German-Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project. And there are concrete economic...

Pedophiles are rebranding themselves as “MAPs” or “Minor Attracted Persons” in an effort to gain acceptance and be included into the LGBT community. According to Urban Dictionary, the blanket term MAP includes infantophiles (infants), pedophiles (pre-pubescent children), hebephiles (pubescent children), and ephebophiles (post-pubescent children). Some MAPs also refer to themselves as NOMAPs or “Non-Offending Minor Attracted Persons”. These pedophiles seek to be a part of the LGBT+ community, even going so far as to make a “Pride” flag for Gay Pride Month.