Free Republic

Washington — Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, who represented Illinois for two decades in Congress and was jailed for violating banking laws, has died, a coroner in Illinois said. He was 84. Both the longest-serving Republican House speaker and the highest-ranking elected U.S. official to serve a prison sentence, Hastert's stunning fall from grace came in 2016, when he was sentenced to 15 months in prison on charges related to his concealment of hush money payments made to cover up his sexual abuse of teenage boys during his time as a high school wrestling coach. Kendall County Coroner...

Deep Leaks@DeepLeaksHQMike Gallagher, the 8th most recognized talk radio personality, in the U.S.A., is heard by over 2.25 million listeners weekly. He compiled and wrote the following essay entitled,"Obama: It was You."* It was you who spoke these words at an Islamic dinner - "I am one of you."* It was you who on ABC News referenced - "My Muslim faith."* It was you who gave $100 million in U.S. taxpayer funds to rebuild foreign mosques.* It was you who wrote that in the event of a conflict- "I will stand with the Muslims."* It was you who assured the...

A wide variety of alien species zoomed around planet Earth in different types of UFOs — including beings that looked like Greek gods, 7-foot tall reptiles and small grays — and have killed US service members, UFO whistleblower David Grusch claimed on a jaw-dropping Joe Rogan podcast. Grusch, a retired Air Force officer and former intelligence officer at the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency and the National Reconnaissance Office, claimed to have become aware of these belief-stretching details through his work for the UAP Task Force in 2020. “Even for me, ex-deep state intel officer, I’m like, I cannot believe I’m...

5 October 2026 Monday of week 27 in Ordinary Time Sanctuary of Divine Mercy in Krakow-Łagiewniki(?) Readings at MassThis is a preview of Universalis. The Universalis app gives you every day of every year, not just the single week you’re seeing now, and it doesn’t need the Internet. It gives you the official New American Bible version for the readings at Mass. As well as the Mass, it gives you the Liturgy of the Hours. It costs $9.99-12.99 on your phone, or £19.99 (about $26.50) on your computer. Get it now.Liturgical Colour: Green. Year: A(II).First readingGalatians 1:6-12The Good News...

The United States wants a reactor on the moon by 2030. A Russian-Chinese alliance is working on one for 2036. Some leading scientists say the danger is great.In late August, NASA asked contractors to prepare to build a nuclear reactor that could survive a space voyage and run without maintenance near the moon’s south pole. That may sound like science fiction, but the agency wants it ready to be launched by December 2030.There is a reason for the rush. Russia aims to have a lunar reactor running by 2036 as part of a secretive partnership with China. NASA has already...

A former music pastor in Ohio who appeared briefly on “American Idol” was set to be sentenced Monday after a jury convicted him of murdering his wife while he was having an affair. Prosecutors said Caleb Flynn, 40, staged a home invasion in February after shooting Ashley Flynn, a 37-year-old schoolteacher and volleyball coach. Flynn claimed she was killed by a burglar. With tears rolling down his cheeks, Flynn addressed the courtroom ahead of the sentencing and apologized to his family, starting with his two daughters. “I made vows to Ashley on our wedding day. I failed in those vows,”...

When Oklahoma lawmakers finally gave Sheriff Jim Mullett the go-ahead, he began to rein in Garvin County’s marijuana businesses and shut down the illegal ones. Mullett said there were 470 grows in the county in 2021. With the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control, the state attorney general’s office and other local, state and federal agencies, Mullett said he and his deputies brought the number of grow sites down to 33. But what happens to all the stuff left behind — including the land, chemicals and agricultural equipment? “What’s going on in, around the state of Oklahoma, is...

Emanuel: Having one conversation about one country means you are politicizing a term that has huge and historic moral obligations. I have no problem having that conversation. But the fact that a questioner ignores Sudan that’s happening today, ignores Ukraine that is happening today tells me more about the question and the questioner than it does tells you — than the answer will reveal. _ The whole exchange was a set up to get “Rahmbo” to at least appear to fall in line with El-Sayed. Welker first sets this up with the question of whether Gaza is a genocide, which...

Cornrows are at the center of a controversy between the Baltimore Rock Opera Society and its former executive director. Kelly Carnes says the group terminated her contract as executive director two weeks after she started the job after she wore her hair in cornrows. …………………. "We have received many heartfelt and concerned messages from members of our community regarding a video circulated on social media showing our new Executive Director, who is white, wearing cornrows at a recent BROS public event. We share the weight of these concerns and take this matter seriously," the statement from Baltimore Rock Opera Society...

Social Security’s trust fund is now expected to run out of reserves earlier than projected last year, according to the latest report from the program’s board of trustees. The 2026 Board of Trustees Report projects the depletion date for the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund to come in the fourth quarter of 2032, three months earlier than estimated in the 2025 report (1). Once those reserves are gone, ongoing revenue would cover just 78% of scheduled benefits. That accelerated depletion date is putting even more pressure on lawmakers to find a fix before benefits take a hit. But...

The battle to control the House of Representatives has become more competitive, as the Democratic Party’s lead over Republicans has decreased for the second week in a row. Sign up: Free daily newsletter Email The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that if the elections for Congress were held today, 47% of Likely U.S. Voters would vote for the Democratic candidate, while 44% would vote for the Republican. Four percent (4%) say they would vote for some other candidate and another four percent (4%) are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.) The net advantage...

Ten-year interest rates have vaulted from around 4.5 percent in July to nearly 5.3 percent this week. That may not seem like a lot, but in the history of the bond market, such a rapid rise in rates is almost without precedent. The last time it happened was in 1994, when the "bond vigilantes" relentlessly sold bonds in response to Hillary Clinton's vision of "managed competition" in healthcare. The person on the street knows much more about the stock market than the government bond market, but it is the bond market that has the ability to impose fiscal discipline on...

Ship 43 (Flight 16) continues preparations inside Starbase’s Mega Bay 2 ahead of a potential trip to Florida. Plans are subject to change: SpaceX has confirmed it will launch Flight 15 from Starbase before potentially conducting the following mission from Pad 39A at KSC, Florida. Possible Florida Starship? - Starbase Summary | 10:03 NASASpaceflight | 1.52M subscribers | 117,242 views | October 4, 2026

For ten years now I've had an anonymous name on facebook. Listed two or three rental units where I live without incident. I would use messenger to qualify who I give my address to. Before I started this anonymous approach I had a vehicle with 3 disruptive teenagers just show up at my house, unannounced. Now. Facebook is flagging my listings and denying me access to renters. They want me to "Verify my identity." If I use my real name, users on internet can find my address real easy. We are over 70 and don't need "trouble" just showing up....

Prof. Chen Kugel says forensic evidence showed systematic killing methods across attack sites; he recalls burned and mutilated bodies, the race to identify every victim and the psychological toll that ultimately left him with PTSD; this article contains graphic images and descriptions that some readers may find disturbing. “Here we see the body of a person who was burned,” he says, pausing over one of the photographs. “We know he was burned alive: When we open his airway, we can see soot inside. That means he inhaled smoke while he was being burned.” Prof. Chen Kugel, director of the National...

Around 350 demonstrators turned out anyway. Residents of Gosport, the Royal Navy harbor town across the water from Portsmouth, spent Sunday under police orders that let officers direct people to leave town, as a migrant boat from France made its way toward their coastline.Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary imposed a Section 34 dispersal order covering the entire town under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, running until 7am Tuesday. It lets officers order people to leave an area and not return, and refusing is a criminal offense. Police stacked several more restrictions on top:Protesters were confined to...

Twelve men have been arrested in Vietnam after allegedly confessing to stealing and selling around 2,700 cats, Ho Chi Minh City police have said. Cat traps, fur removal machines and measuring scales were among the items seized during the investigation. The men are suspected of taking the pets to be slaughtered for food. Police allege the suspects roamed through residential areas in small groups on motorbikes at night to steal the cats. The men reportedly used pieces of fish as bait, placing traps outside houses where they knew cats were kept, state media reported. Thirteen of the rescued felines have...

The U.S. Department of Education’s proposed rule to overhaul the federal accreditation system is reshaping the broader national debate over accreditation. Among other changes, the proposal would simplify the process for recognizing emerging and existing accreditors, and explicitly encourage a quality-assurance system more focused on student outcomes, academic excellence, and return on investment. Accreditation performs an essential function in American higher education. The Department of Education recognizes accrediting agencies, and accreditation by an appropriate federally recognized agency can help establish a college or university’s eligibility to participate in federal Title IV student-aid programs. That makes accreditors powerful gatekeepers. But a...

John Spencer, an expert on urban warfare and Chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point, sharply criticized the documentary NAZA on Monday, accusing it of presenting claims about the war in Gaza that go beyond even those made by Hamas. “Worse than Hamas propaganda," Spencer wrote in a post on X after watching the documentary in its entirety. “Over three years, I’ve tried not to be surprised by ignorance, disinformation, and distortions relating to war, but this is at the top for many reasons." Spencer said he intends to publish a detailed analysis of...

LA’s “mansion tax,” sold to Angelenos as a way to tax the rich and boost housing, has instead blocked the building of 9,100 homes, wiped out 16,650 full-time construction jobs and cost $452 million in revenue. A damning new report says the tax, officially known as United to House LA, or ULA — has had a negative impact on the city’s high-end and multi-family real estate markets and collected less than half what it was expected to generate to tackle the city’s housing crisis. The ULA was expected to raise about $900 million a year, or $2.7 billion over its...