Free Republic

What a difference a year makes. After devastating defeats in 2024, Democrats are closing out 2025 with wind in their sails. They won double-digit victories in the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races. And last week they got a stronger-than-expected showing in a Tennessee special election. Republicans and Democrats now talk openly of a likely tsunami of wins for Democrats in the 2026 midterms. If true, Democrats better get a surfboard and make plans to ride that big wave into the 2028 presidential election.That means creating their own version of the Republicans’ Project 2025.They will need Project 2027 for their...

President Herzog and Foreign Minister Saar say government ignored the rise of Islamist extremism and antisemitismAt least 12 dead in Australia, including suspected shooter, after Hanukkah event shooting Yael Eckstein, president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, reacted to the shooting that killed at least 12 people during an attack on a Hanukkah event in Australia. Israeli officials were quick to lay blame for the deadly shooting in Sydney, Australia, at the feet of the nation's government on Sunday, saying it had ignored "countless warning signs" of antisemitism. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu read aloud at a government...

Explanation: What would it be like to fly over the largest moon in the Solar System? In 2021, the robotic Juno spacecraft flew past Jupiter's huge moon Ganymede and took images that have been digitally constructed into a detailed flyby. As the featured video begins, Juno swoops over the two-toned surface of the 2,000-km wide moon, revealing an icy alien landscape filled with grooves and craters. The grooves are likely caused by shifting surface plates, while the craters are caused by violent impacts. Continuing on in its orbit, Juno then performed its 34th close pass over Jupiter's clouds. The digitally-constructed...

WORLD — Fake news media across the globe have reported that a mass shooting occurred in Australia, which is literally impossible because guns are illegal there. Despite the patent absurdity of criminals using guns, which are banned, several major news stations in the United States repeated the obviously fictional story, "It's embarrassing how many news outlets were duped by this clearly fake story," said misinformation expert Harold Cannon. "It would have taken thirty seconds for these so-called news stations to simply Google gun laws in Australia, and they would have known the story couldn't be true. You simply can't have...

The man arrested in connection to the deadly shooting at Brown University drove from Wisconsin to Rhode Island with a laser-equipped firearm, according to law enforcement. Aged in his 20s, the unidentified gunman killed two Ivy League students and injured several more before FBI agents snared him at the Hampton Inn hotel in Coventry. Sources told CNN he drove from Wisconsin to Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island - a journey which would have taken around 17 hours. The person of interest also had two guns in his possession at the hotel and one of them had laser sight, sources...

U.S. President Donald Trump expressed uncertainty about whether Republicans would keep control of the House of Representatives in next year's midterm elections because some of his economic policies have yet to take full effect, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. Trump, in an interview conducted on Friday, told the Journal, "I can’t tell you. I don’t know when all of this money is going to kick in," when asked about the whether Republicans would lose the House in November. The White House did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment. The president has argued that his economic policies,...

“Neuroscientists who stand up and say ‘we have souls’ are few and far between,” says pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Michael Egnor. “But when you look carefully at the neuroscience—the best neuroscience over the past century—it clearly points to the existence of the soul and to the existence of aspects of our mind that don't come from the brain.” Egnor himself started off as a materialist and atheist. But 40 years and more than 7,000 brain surgeries later, he concluded that reason and free will do not reside in the brain. In this episode, he reveals what he’s found. “Neuroscience is just...

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani decried the “vile act of antisemitic terror” that unfolded during a Hanukkah celebration in Bondi Beach, Australia on Sunday and vowed to “keep Jewish New Yorkers safe.” During a Chanukah by the Sea event on the iconic Sydney beach on Sunday, at least two gunmen opened fire, killing 11 people, including children, and wounding at least 29 others. “The attack at a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney today was a vile act of antisemitic terror. I mourn those who were murdered and will be keeping their families, the Jewish community, and the Chabad movement in my prayers,” Mamdani...

One of the survivors of the terror attack at a Bondi Beach Hanukkah celebration said four police officers just “froze” during the 20-minute rampage on Sunday that killed 11. Eyewitness Shmulik Scuri said he was with his family when the two suspects began firing at the crowd of worshippers from a nearby bridge. “For 20 minutes. They shoot, shoot. Change magazines. And just shoot,” the witness told reporters. “Twenty minutes, there was four policemen there. Nobody give fire back. Nothing. Like they froze,” he said of the slow response. “I don’t understand why.”.” When he was asked who the gunmen...

Ahmed al Ahmed, a 43-year-old fruit shop owner, confronted one of the attackers during the Bondi Beach shooting that left 12 dead. The father of two wrested the rifle from the shooter and pointed it back at him, saving lives in the process. The man who heroically tackled and disarmed one of the Bondi Beach attackers has been as Ahmed al Ahmed, a 43 year-old fruit shop owner. Ahmed who can be seen in a video dressed in a white tee-shirt approached one of the shooters who was holding a rifle, tackling him, and grabbing his weapon, an act that...

Police boost security for Scottsdale Chanukah event (Only linked to, per FR rules.)

Julianne Murray, has resigned as Acting US Attorney for the District of Delaware. Murray was appointed as interim US Attorney in July – a 120-day appointment from US Attorney General Pam Bondi, which expired in November. When her interim term expired, Murray then was appointed “acting US Attorney” by Bondi, however there has been no approval by the US Senate Judiciary Committee. Murray, a Republican, said in a statement Friday that the ‘blue slip’ tradition in the US Senate and with 2 Democratic Delaware Senators who did not support her – she was never considered for US Attorney for the...

What exactly would it mean to “globalize the intifada”? What would a globalized intifada even look like? At least twelve people are dead and 29 injured on Australia’s Bondi Beach Sunday, as two Muslims opened fire upon a Hanukkah celebration. And so now the world has yet another example of what looks like when an intifada is globalized. “Intifada” means “shaking off” or “rebellion,” and refers to armed struggle against Israel, including Israeli civilians. The Jerusalem Post noted back in 2021, when there was a good deal of globalization of the intifada that went largely unnoticed, that “during the Second...

The professor said her teaching assistant was leading the review session when a shooter entered a lecture hall and opened fire. The professor herself was not there. Rachel Friedberg, a Brown University economics professor, said Saturday’s mass shooting at the school happened at a review session for the final exam of her Principles of Economics course. Friedberg said she was not present during the shooting. The session was led by her teaching assistants, she said, one of whom alerted her. Friedberg then raced to Rhode Island Hospital, where an Ocean State Media reporter spoke with her. Friedberg said she heard...

Chris Murphy goes after Trump for Brown University shoot*ng: “Donald Trump has been engaged in a dizzying campaign to increase violence in this country." Dana Bash provides an assist to Murphy for his garbage rhetoric.

14 December 20253rd Sunday of Advent Saint John-of-the-Cross Vero Beach, FloridaReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Rose or Violet. Year: A(II).First readingIsaiah 35:1-6,10God himself is coming to save youLet the wilderness and the dry-lands exult,let the wasteland rejoice and bloom,let it bring forth flowers like the jonquil,let it rejoice and sing for joy.The glory of Lebanon is bestowed on it,the splendour of Carmel and Sharon;they shall see the glory of the Lord,the splendour of our God.Strengthen all weary hands,steady all trembling kneesand say to all faint hearts,‘Courage! Do not be afraid.‘Look, your God is coming,vengeance is coming,the retribution of God;he is coming...

For those who understand the basics of attrition warfare, the outcome of the fight in Ukraine was obvious a long time ago. Russia's superior logistical position along with its grinding offensive tactics have worn down Ukraine's defenses and left the country with a desperate manpower shortage. The recent capture of the vital hub of Pokrovsk has now opened the door to an accelerating Russian advance. The Russian offensive is gaining significant ground from Pokrovsk to the north, all the way to Kupiansk. The strategic city of Siversk is now largely under control of Russia according to geo-location mapping. Myrnohrad, also...

Yasir Qadhi has identified Japan as his next ideological frontier, using a polished da’wah tour to embed foreign-trained leadership, expand Islamic institutions, and quietly build a long-term foothold in a nation with no scrutiny, no resistance, and no understanding of the movement he represents. In a move that should alarm every security analyst and every government paying attention to the global spread of political Islam, the notorious Texas-based imam Yasir Qadhi — long identified by critics, researchers, and former intelligence officials as aligned with Muslim Brotherhood-influenced networks, has now arrived in Japan to launch what is, unmistakably, a coordinated, multi-city...

The prophet Isaiah wrote: “The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap” (Isa. 17:1). “And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.” It is not hard to find commentators that say this prophecy has been fulfilled, but because Damascus has been destroyed so many times, there is much doubt about who fulfilled it and when it happened. There are others who believe it has never been fulfilled...

For my more seasoned readers, let’s say you could travel back in time and revisit a moment in your life. You’re not going back to change the past, but simply to sit as a silent guest and listen in on a conversation you might have had back then. Let’s say you decide to go back to the year 1993 when you and a friend are in a restaurant having lunch. At some point the conversation steers into the signs of the times and when you think the Lord will return. Your friend might mention the fact that the year 1993...