Free Republic

"Stand firm therefore . . . having put on the breastplate of righteousness" (Eph. 6:14). A righteous life testifies to God’s transforming power and brings Him glory. We've seen the importance of donning the breastplate of righteousness, but Scripture also discusses the consequences of failing to do so. These consequences serve as warnings to anyone who is prone to neglect righteousness. If you're not committed to righteousness, you not only make yourself spiritually vulnerable, but also forfeit some of God's wonderful blessings. David prayed, "Restore to me the joy of Thy salvation" (Ps. 51:13). His sin had robbed him of...

A transgender policewoman has confessed to raping a 15-year-old girl in a McDonald's toilet in Germany. Maja S., 55, confessed before the Traunstein Regional Court wearing handcuffs and leg irons amid the ongoing trial. She will likely face three and a half years in prison, according to Judge Andreas Bartschmid, in exchange for the confession. After her arrest, Maja S. was initially held in the women's section of the Bamberg prison in Bavaria. For the past five months, however, she has been in the men's section of the Stadelheim prison. Her lawyer, Peter Dürr, told BILD: 'This is a serious...

The coalition of second-tier and second-rate countries calling themselves the BRICS (an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) has just wound up its annual “summit,” this year held in New Delhi, India. In the twenty years since the BRICS coalition’s founding, its membership has expanded beyond just the countries forming the acronym, with additional attendees at this year’s event including the likes of Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. Of those new members, only Indonesia really has a claim for even second-rate status. Saudi Arabia and UAE are wealthy, but owe the wealth almost...

Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday unveiled “Vision Zero Reimagined,” a wide-ranging plan to eliminate traffic deaths within 10 years — including by boosting “pedestrian-only” zones across the city. The 105-page blueprint, however, offers few concrete details on the no-car zones, such as where they would be located or how much of the city would be turned into “pedestrian-priority districts.” “Vision Zero Reimagined puts forward the bold measures and practical fixes we need to make preventable tragedy no longer a part of everyday life in New York City,” Mamdani said. The plan also vaguely vows to institute 20 mph speed limits...

The 10-year Treasury yield climbed above 5% as surging oil prices revived inflation fears, while heavy government borrowing and expectations of tighter Federal Reserve policy added pressure. Higher Treasury yields typically push mortgage rates upward, reducing buyers’ purchasing power and increasing monthly payments — especially as 30-year mortgage rates approach 7%. Consumers may also face costlier auto and business loans, although savers could benefit from higher returns on CDs, money-market accounts, and newly issued Treasury securities. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note climbed above 5% this week, a milestone that could raise borrowing costs across the economy...

A Pennsylvania man planned to carry out an ISIS-inspired "mass casualty attack" before an FBI investigation thwarted him, according to federal law enforcement officials. Speaking at a press conference Tuesday, federal officials said Jonathan Kramer, 21, of Valencia, had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Syria. He was arrested Saturday outside of a hotel in Cranberry Township, around 25 miles north of Pittsburgh, with a rifle, ammunition and dozens of knives in his possession. Suspect shared "radical ideology" Richard Evanchec, special agent in charge for the FBI's Pittsburgh field office, called the planned attack an "imminent threat of violence...

Sometimes I feel like a frog that’s getting boiled. The temperature keeps going up slowly, so I’m not really provoked to jump out of the pot. Just now, in the California gulag, a law was enacted to forbid the watering of “decorative” grasses, regardless of drought conditions. But it’s okay. We’ve become sort of used to it. My sense of self-worth, however, resents being told what to do with my water. Sometimes I think of sustaining other non-essential plants...and even taking a shower or washing dishes. But the self-anointed geniuses have already enacted a statute that limits household daily water...

16 September 2026 Saints Cornelius, Pope, and Cyprian, Bishop, Martyrs Saint Ludmila of Bohemia (Prague?)Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Red. Year: A(II).Readings for the feriaReadings for the memorialThese are the readings for the feriaFirst reading1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13The supremacy of charityBe ambitious for the higher gifts. And I am going to show you a way that is better than any of them. If I have all the eloquence of men or of angels, but speak without love, I am simply a gong booming or a cymbal clashing. If I have the gift of prophecy, understanding all the mysteries there are, and...

The FBI has now released its eighth tranche of files on Thomas Matthew Crooks — the 20-year-old who came within an inch of killing Donald Trump in Butler, Penn. Like the earlier drops, this one is 181 pages of interview summaries, invoices, evidence logs, and internal communications from FBI Pittsburgh. It’s heavily redacted, and 95 pages are withheld outright. In June I went through the fifth tranche, and found that the redactions said more than the visible text. What survives the redactors is still stranger than most of what you’ve heard about this case on television. Here’s what stood out...

New photos obtained exclusively by CBS News reveal for the first time the widespread damage and destruction of buildings and vehicles at multiple U.S. positions across the Middle East, as a result of Iranian missile and drone attacks. The Defense Department's inspector general this week released a fresh report on the war in Iran that revealed "equipment losses" worth up to $3.7 billion — including nearly 60 aircraft. In a first-of-its-kind mandatory report to Congress, the inspector general added that U.S. Central Command reported Iranian strikes at U.S. bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and Jordan.

🇺🇸Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem🇮🇱 (9/16/26)[Prayer]Personalities Psalm 24Of David. A psalm.1 The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; 2 for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters. 3 Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? 4 The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god.[a] 5 They will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God their Savior.6 Such is the...

This is very troubling… Why is it that only Republicans believe when you strangle to death your three little innocent children, including a baby, that you committed murder and should be punished? What did these babies ever do to deserve such a cruel death at the hands of their mother? Michael Marcel at Fugitive TV on TouTube interviewed the lone juror who stood up to the leftist mob who were ready to let Lindsey Clancy walk. Michael Marcel: He was very kind, Catholic, and you want to hear something very funny? We started talking. He thinks he knows why he...

On the cover of its latest edition, The Economist promises to uncover “the truth and the lies” about “Islam in Europe.” The story it presents is, for the magazine’s readership, a reassuring one: a crisis of two extreme fringes fighting across a sensible middle. But this is a false framing that betrays the complexity of Islam in Europe it promises to untangle, just when honest understanding is urgently needed. Allow me to explain why. The editors offer a soothing symmetry: on one side, a small minority of Islamist extremists; on the other, a small minority of far-right extremists. “Islam poses...

What good are all our 9/11 memorial services if we allow sharia law to take over our country? Many ardently claim that we shall never forget the heinous murders of 9-11. But in fact, we need to constantly remember the goal of jihadists and actively repel their evil. The mastermind of 9/11 Khalid Sheikh Mohammed designed the September 11 attacks. He told Dr. James Mitchell they did not need another massive Islamic attack to conquer us. They would use our civil liberties, our openness, and our hunger to honor other cultures — he called them gifts from Allah. The practical...

On April 18, 2026, a 58-year-old man committed a mass murder in Kyiv, Ukraine, using a legally registered firearm. Seven people were killed. Two police officers fled the scene. The Minister of the Interior, Ihor Klymenko, established an administrative working group to consider the creation of a national law to allow citizens to own and carry handguns for self-defense. The working group was established on June 11, 2026. Ihor Klymenko was replaced as Interior Minister on July 16, 2026. Ivan Vyhivskyi is the current Minister of the Interior. It is not clear if the working group has submitted recommendations to...

From the gun cabinet of his shooting range, Volodymyr Sukhomlyn pulls out a semiautomatic shotgun. **SNIP** Not an easy target “But more recently it’s been bus drivers and cabbies buying them, too — anyone who is out on the streets a lot.” One FPV attack this month injured several people at a supermarket, leaving the floor stained with blood. Another ploughed into the upper floors of a government building downtown. “I heard it coming and we had to hide in a shop when it exploded,” said Julia Sologub, 31. “It used to be just a problem for soldiers — now...

We are past the peak of the Hurricane season and the great news is that no hurricanes have yet formed in the Atlantic Ocean. This should be a cause of massive relief yet for poor David A. Graham of The Atlantic, this also seems to be a source of frustration. Why? Because Donald Trump has not had to face a hurricane disaster going into the midterm elections. Graham's bizarre attitude can be see in his Tuesday article in which he almost seems to plead for a hurricane so as to harm Trump, "How Long Can the U.S. Escape an Atlantic...

This video from the Watching the Watchers channel discusses the criminal sentencing of Elpedio Raina, a man from Compton, for his role in attacking ICE vehicles (0:00 - 0:24). Key takeaways include: Sentencing Outcome: Raina was sentenced to 36 months in federal prison (0:27, 8:31) for felony assault on a federal officer (0:36). He had requested probation (1:52, 4:06) but the judge rejected this, noting that disagreement with laws passed by Congress does not justify assaulting federal officers (1:03). The Incident: On June 7th in Los Angeles, Raina was involved in an anti-ICE protest where he knowingly lit objects on...

A longtime reporter and a veteran pilot have been identified as victims on board an NBC helicopter when it crashed between two buildings near the scene of a deadly bus collision in Los Angeles. Heartbroken colleagues identified reporter Eliana 'Eli' Moreno and pilot George Marciniw as the two people tragically killed when the news helicopter went down in a parking lot in Chatsworth just before 7pm on Tuesday night. A pedestrian, who has not yet been identified, also died at the scene. Another was transported to a local hospital in unknown condition. The NewsChopper4 was flying over the area between...

For Americans who follow the Russian-Ukrainian war, the past few months must look very strange. In the first half of summer, the story from Kyiv – and the many western media outlets that repeated it – was that Ukraine was winning. Then, not long after the NATO summit in July, Kyiv announced it lacked the interceptors to prevent a winter disaster. The country needed 300 missiles to survive, we were told. Even if these 300 missiles arrive, they are unlikely to protect a country as large as Ukraine from the sheer volume of Russian ballistic attacks and glide-bomb strikes. Now...