Free Republic

BUENAVENTURA, Colombia—The Trump administration’s bombing campaign against cocaine-smuggling speedboats is starting to have an impact on the global drug trade—but not necessarily in a good way.Thirteen months into the initiative, Colombian navy divers are detecting greater use of “parasites”—metal modules packed with cocaine that traffickers bolt onto the hulls of freighters preparing to steam out of this country’s largest Pacific port. Deep in the Amazon, smugglers have shifted shipments east, hiding drugs on boats moving through the rain forest’s vast river network. And on Colombia’s long coast, crews evade U.S. military airstrikes by hugging the shoreline in the exact same...

More Republicans are speaking out against President Donald Trump’s decision to let Vladimir Putin’s Russia temporarily export diesel fuel on the global market, expanding the bipartisan blowback over the deal. Six GOP senators joined six of their Democratic colleagues in a letter Tuesday urging Trump to cancel the arrangement allowing Russia to supply 4.8 million metric tons, or nearly 36 million barrels, of diesel through mid-April. “This deal is a gift to our adversary and a betrayal of our Allies; it should be rescinded,” the lawmakers wrote. Republican Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine, Oklahoma’s Alan...

On Monday's CNN This Morning, host Audie Cornish aired a clip of UN human rights spokesperson Shabia Mantoo condemning the planned livestream of Nidal Hasan’s execution as “abhorrent” and incompatible with the prohibition on torture. Cornish then asserted that the broader debate has already been settled. CNN’s decision to platform the UN statement as a serious contribution drew an immediate rebuttal from conservative panelist Tiana Lowe Doescher of the Washington Examiner. “I could care less what the UN says. They had Iran on the women’s rights commission.”Get the rest of the story and view the video here.

Afear tactic,” a “red herring,” and a “flat-out lie” — that’s how Democrats described Republicans’ claims that the left wanted to give free health care to illegal aliens last year during a government shutdown. Yet three weeks before voters decide who controls Congress, U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and other Democrats are making “Medicare for All” — including for illegal aliens — a central campaign promise, and a host of Democrat senators are backing a bill that would cement that policy in law. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ “Medicare for All” bill would create a right for illegal aliens and other noncitizens...

A Missouri judge who ordered two children locked inside juvenile detention cells because they refused to leave a courthouse with their mother has been dealt a humiliating defeat in federal court. On Tuesday, October 13, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled against Missouri Circuit Judge Eric Eighmy, concluding that his outrageous handling of a family custody dispute violated the children’s clearly established constitutional rights. The decision, written by Circuit Judge David Stras, upheld a jury’s $10,000 damages award to the children, along with a staggering $326,637.22 in attorney fees and costs. And the reason for the...

The US Treasury Department said Tuesday that it’s imposing $1.2 billion in fines on Bank of America for allegedly violating anti-money laundering and sanctions laws. The fines on America’s second-biggest bank amount to the third-largest in the department’s history. “When a bank of this size fails to meet its anti-money laundering and sanctions obligations, the consequences extend far beyond its own walls, exposing the entire U.S. financial system to significant illicit finance risks,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. “Today’s actions send a clear message that even the biggest financial institutions are not above the law.” Treasury said...

A team of researchers appears to be closer than ever in the search for Amelia Earhart’s plane and remains, a mystery that has captivated the world for decades. Earhart and flight engineer Fred Noonan disappeared 89 years ago during an attempt to fly across the world. Earhart and Noonan took off from Miami, Florida, in May 1937. On July 2, 1937, Earhart and Noonan were supposed to stop at Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean to refuel but encountered difficulties and transmitted messages saying, “Gas is running low. We are flying at 1,000 feet,” and “Wait.” Now, researchers from Purdue...

BREAKING: Actress Selma Blair arrested after in-flight incident | 3:18 Fox News | 15.5M subscribers | 1,758,841 views | October 12, 2026

Pope Leo XIV underwent a procedure at Agostino Gemelli University Hospital in Rome to remove a small nodule on his lung Tuesday, the Vatican said. The 71-year-old pontiff underwent thoracic surgery to remove the lower lobe of his right lung and doctors confirmed he had lung adenocarcinoma, a form of lung cancer, according to a statement released by the Holy See Press Office. The diagnosis was confirmed through a tissue examination conducted during the operation, consistent with findings from preoperative tests, the Vatican said. The pope spent approximately three hours in the operating room, although the surgery itself lasted about...

One of the latest polls suggests that Republican Ken Paxton may be moving the needle on his Democrat opponent James Talarico, with the new result showing that he is narrowly running ahead of the competition. US Senate Texas 2026 🟥Ken Paxton 47.2% 🟦James Talarico 46.7% 🟨Ted Brown 2.2%

The United Nations General Assembly rammed through another non-binding “political declaration” on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response on Tuesday by a lopsided 153–3 vote. The only countries that voted no were the United States, Israel, and Argentina. New Zealand and Paraguay abstained. According to UN News, the declaration calls for stronger international cooperation on pandemic preparedness and welcomes the World Health Organization’s controversial Pandemic Agreement, adopted in May 2025. The declaration is officially nonbinding, meaning it does not itself give the WHO legal authority to impose lockdowns, vaccine mandates, or other public health restrictions on Americans. But the overwhelming vote...

WASHINGTON — Rep. Ilhan Omar’s staff helped get her birthdate changed in public records once the Minnesota Democrat was elected to Congress in 2018, a switch that has since spurred frenzied accusations that she misrepresented her age to secure US citizenship. The alteration could offer a big clue as to what federal immigration agents were searching for when they raided her DC home Monday: If the congresswoman is actually one year older than she’s claimed to be, that would mean she couldn’t have legally become a US citizen in 2000, critics contend. Omar’s birthdate had been listed in the Minnesota...

Exclusive interview: Cardinal Roche to traditionalists: ‘You are edging yourself away from the centre of Catholicism’ In an exclusive interview with AdVaticanum, the Prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship speaks about his dicastery, the controversy over an Islamic chant at a Belgian university Mass, the future of Traditionis Custodes, the validity of SSPX sacraments and whether there was an appetite among bishops for change from Summorum PontificumCardinal Arthur Roche is one of the most senior churchmen in the Vatican. He served as Secretary of the then Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments for almost a...

Two ships have been hit in drone attacks off Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast, with one of them sinking, Prime Minister Rumen Radev said. The Ukrainian-owned Chelsea 3, which was sailing under a Maltese flag, was hit by three drones and damaged about 18 nautical miles (33km) off Bulgaria at about 1:30am on Tuesday, Radev said. Bulgarian officials said five crew members had been rescued from the ship that sank but 11 remain missing at sea. The vessel went down off the coast of the village of Krapets, near the Romanian border and was identified as the Guinea-Bissau-flagged cargo ship HS...

Jewish Democrats at U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s alma mater are signing on to a “Nonnegotiable” petition to pressure the former Wayne County health official on his anti-Israel views. “Shoutout to the students at the University of Michigan who’ve been out on campus collecting signatures for Nonnegotiable!” the group posted to Instagram on Saturday. “On a campus where Jewish students have faced harassment, threats, and pressure to hid who they are, these students are meeting the moment,” the post read. “These are young Jewish Democrats who were excited to cast their first votes for U.S. Senate this November. Instead, they’re...

The Supreme Court on Tuesday added three new cases to its oral argument docket for the 2026-27 term, agreeing to decide, among other things, what kinds of orders trial courts can issue in disputes over access to government information and whether working as a cook in a camp run by violent separatists qualifies as providing “material support” for terrorism under federal immigration law. President Donald Trump created the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency, also known as DOGE, in January 2025 to advance his agenda by “modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.” Although it is not...

Law Enforcement Actions in Ohio and Texas Result in Charges, Arrests, and Seizures of Approximately 187 Computer Devices Today the Department of Justice announced coordinated actions against the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea (DPRK) government’s schemes to fund its regime through remote information technology (IT) work for U.S. companies. These actions include an indictment, two arrests, searches of multiple known or suspected “laptop farms” in Texas pursuant to “Operation Lonestar Roundup,” and the seizure of approximately 187 computer devices used by DPRK IT workers. “North Korea’s rogue regime uses its pervasive IT worker schemes to raise revenue for various...

Interview with Cardinal Roche: the Pope is not going back on Traditionis Custodes, Summorum Pontificum will not returnCardinal Roche, the English head of the Dicastery for Divine Worship, granted an extensive interview to website Ad Vaticanum as he nears the end of his term.We provide below the excerpts that concern Traditional Catholics, the entire interview deals with several other matters.... This year will mark five years since the implementation of Traditionis Custodes, the motu proprio from Pope Francis’s pontificate, which adjusted a previous motu proprio from Pope Benedict’s pontificate. Do you think, in view of these changes from pontificate to...

Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., formally introduced sweeping legislation to dismantle the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and eliminate Customs and Border Protection (CBP), advancing a radical proposal that would fundamentally overhaul federal immigration enforcement. The progressive "Squad" member's "Reimagining Safety Act" would replace DHS with a new "Department of Community Safety," while preserving several existing federal agencies such as the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The legislation would eliminate CBP, including the Border Patrol, toppling the federal agency currently responsible for securing America's borders and screening travelers and goods...

It has been nearly four years since OpenAI announced ChatGPT in November of 2022, and most universities continue to muddle along with their AI efforts. Many are treating it as a tactical academic integrity issue when it really is about strategic organizational transformation. If done right, AI can fundamentally change how students learn, faculty teach and conduct research, and universities operate. Based on our 2025 internal survey of UNC professors, 95% of our faculty agree that our students must leave Carolina ready to use AI intelligently and ethically. Overall, while 90% of college students are using AI, 58% of them...