Free Republic

“All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast” (Proverbs 15:15).

Refugees from Venezuela and Colombia arrived this afternoon at Martha's Vineyard Airport and were later taken to the regional high school for food and water. Ray EwingA plane carrying approximately 48 migrants from Venezuela and Colombia landed unexpectedly at Martha’s Vineyard Airport Wednesday afternoon. Island officials and emergency management representatives were gathering to deal with the situation. “We’re immigrants,” said Eliase, who said he was from Venezuela. “We came here because of the situation in our country, for the economy, for work, for lots of things. I came here walking. We went through 10 different countries until we got to...

~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~ ~ Remembering Our Troops!! ~ Marines Doing Marines Stuff! U.S. Marines with III Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF), ride in a combat rubber raiding craft during a helocasting masters course conducted by Expeditionary Operations Training Group (EOTG) at Camp Hansen, Okinawa, Japan, Sept. 7, 2022. Helocasting is an airborne technique used by small unit special operations forces to insert into hard to reach areas via bodies of water. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Pfc. Justin J. Marty) Canteen Mission StatementShowing support and boosting the morale ofour military and our allies' militaryand family members of...

Unvaccinated kids as young as age 5 will soon be unable to get a Happy Meal in Hong Kong—not inside a fast food joint, anyway.

China’s zero Covid policy is wreaking fresh havoc with its economy and daily life. Chengdu, a Southwestern metropolis of 21 million, has been largely locked down the past two weeks, in reaction to 1,800 reported infections. That’s just the biggest of 70 cities enduring some form of restriction lately. Xi Jinping’s government shows no sign of changing course. “Senior health officials continue parroting what Xi said a few months ago,” says Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations. “They don’t see any reason for shifting away.”

Ukraine recaptured the city of Izium on Saturday, giving hope that the tide might finally be turning decisively against the Russian invaders. Not only are Russian forces in retreat, Vladimir Putin is facing increased criticism at home. There is even evidence of the Kremlin engaging in damage control to manage the domestic narrative.Still, we should not allow ourselves to be carried away by Ukraine’s recent success. Russia still has cards to play.In the build-up to the escalation in the south around the Ukrainian city of Kherson, Russia redeployed much of its forces to that region. In the process of doing...

A congressional committee is calling on the U.S. Military Academy at West Point to remove the name of Confederate General Robert E. Lee from the academy, along with those of P.G.T. Beauregard, and William Hardee.

Becoming a new parent is an adjustment for both men and women. A dozen or so previous studies have shown that motherhood can change the structure of a person's brain, and yet fatherhood is comparatively overlooked. Skip advert Now, new international research has identified neurological changes amongst first-time fathers as well. The study is only small, but it suggests that the neural substrates of parenthood are not exclusive to mothers. Men, as it turns out, can also be impacted by their new role as a parent, albeit in a less pronounced and uniform way. On average, the researchers found new...

Democrat extremism in the wake of President Joe Biden’s “Dark MAGA” speech heated up some more on Wednesday when Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) issued a “call to arms” on the Senate floor while debating a national abortion ban. “When I hear my colleagues talking about how, you know, ‘it should be state rights’ or ‘government should not be telling us what to do,’ the word ‘hypocrites,’ it doesn’t even go far enough to call them out on what they’re doing,” said Hirono.

Democrat nominee for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, said the state should have been freeing criminals “all along” after it began releasing thousands of inmates during the Chinese coronavirus pandemic. As Gov. Tom Wolfe’s (D) office noted, the state released more than 8,300 prisoners, or nearly 20 percent of the inmate population, from March 2020 – October 2021 during the coronavirus pandemic. While speaking on a recently unearthed virtual call, which was published to YouTube by the group Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) in December 2020, Fetterman expressed that the state government “should have already been doing...

Radio personality Howard Stern is fed up with America’s obsession with Queen Elizabeth II. Back from summer vacation, the shock jock lashed out at the “annoying” coverage of the monarch’s recent death on an episode of The Howard Stern Show this week.“ Enough with the Queen!” he told co-host Robin Quivers (per Page Six). “I mean, it’s America, we don’t have a Queen.” The Queen’s death has dominated the planet’s front pages since she died last Thursday at age 96. “The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon,” the royal family tweeted. Stern, 68, acknowledged that Elizabeth II was a...

[Catholic Caucus] SSPX. As I was saying….I read something familiar at LifeSite in a piece about Bp. Athanasius Schneiders remarks about the SSPX.I have often explained in these electronic pages that…There is no question that the Mass celebrated is in a Catholic Rite. The priests of the SSPX are Catholic priests and not some other kind of priests. Regardless of their unique and somewhat thorny canonical status, they are priests of the Catholic Church and not some other Church. They are even able to receive faculties from competent authority. They validly absolve sins even when there is no danger of...

The U.S. Navy quietly rolled back an order punishing SEALs who remain unvaccinated due to their religious beliefs, according to recent court documents.The order, "Trident Order #12," disqualified SEALs seeking religious exemptions from the COVID-19 vaccine from training, traveling for deployment and conducting other standard business. It was first issued on Sept. 24, 2021 by Vice Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William Lescher, and all special warfare forces were initially expected to come into compliance with the vaccine mandate by mid-October 2021.The order specifically said that "Special Operations Designated Personnel (SEAL and SWCC) refusing to receive recommended vaccines based solely...

Archbishop Viganò: ‘Authoritarian tyrant’ Pope Francis causing ‘incalculable’ damage in the Church'It seems obvious to me that the assessment of the intellectual dishonesty of the proponents of the recent restrictions on liturgical matters – all of whom are emissaries of Bergoglio – is inexorably negative.'(LifeSiteNews) – Editor’s note: Below follows the transcript of an interview between Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò and Paix Liturgique during a conference held by the Civitas movement on August 13. The interview has been translated from Italian.Paix Liturgique (PL): Your Excellency, why, after Vatican II, is the question of the liturgy such a burning question?Archbishop...

Consumer prices surged again last month — they’re now up 8.3% over last year. But what do you expect? President Joe Biden and Congress have done zilch to stem the tide and instead have kept fueling it. That’s left the job to the Federal Reserve, which will now have to risk a painful “hard landing” recession to rein in runaway inflation. Last month Biden boasted that the economy had “0% inflation” in July, though prices were up 8.5% over a year earlier, near the worst in 40 years. He and his supporters tried to pretend the crisis was over, or...

NEW YORK - New York City officials claim that many of the migrants who are being bused from Texas did not want to go to New York so they are helping them get to other states. The New York City Commissioner of Immigration Affairs appeared on the FOX 5 NY morning show "Good Day New York" on Wednesday. Commissioner Manuel Castro says that a lot of the migrants are fleeing Venezuela and are [not wanting to be in New York.] Castro says, "Many want to go to places like Florida where the largest community of Venezuelans live." He says they...

A towering bronze and granite monument to the Confederacy in Arlington National Cemetery depicts Southerners gallantly marching off to the Civil War -- and their Black slaves holding a white soldier's baby and following troops obediently. Ringing the memorial, built in 1914, are shields listing the states that violently rebelled against the U.S. in an attempt to break away and keep about 4 million people in bondage. "It is problematic from the top to the bottom," retired Brig. Gen. Ty Seidule, the vice chair of the Naming Commission, told a press gathering on Tuesday. The 108-year-old monument should be stripped...

UKRAINE has been handing out "surrender cards" to Russian soldiers containing secret codes with advice on how they can return home alive, reports have claimed. The cards feature a message in Russian for Vlad's invading forces, as well as a QR code on the back with links to further information on how soldiers can surrender to Ukraine. Pictures of the cards supposedly being distributed widely among Russian forces by Ukraine were shared on social media. One side of the card is in the blue and yellow colours of the Ukrainian flag. The headline reads: "YOUR TICKET TO A PEACEFUL LIFE."...

U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Nicholas D. Goshen passed away from natural causes on September 6, 2022 while serving in Eastern Europe. Lt. Col. Goshen was deployed with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and was based at Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base, Romania.Since June, the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) has nearly 4,000 soldiers deployed to Europe to assure NATO Allies and deter Russian aggression.“Nick was a valued member of the team whose passion and commitment to the division and our Soldiers was extraordinary,” said Maj. Gen. JP McGee, commanding general of the 101st Airborne Division. “I can personally attest to...

EXCLUSIVE: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis followed through on his promise to drop off illegal immigrants in progressive states, sending two planes full of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard on Wednesday. A video provided to DeSantis’ office and shared with Fox News Digital shows the migrants deboarding the planes at Martha’s Vineyard Airport in Massachusetts, the office said. "Yes, Florida can confirm the two planes with illegal immigrants that arrived in Martha’s Vineyard today were part of the state’s relocation program to transport illegal immigrants to sanctuary destinations," the governor’s communications director, Taryn Fenske, told Fox News Digital. FLORIDA GOV. DESANTIS SAYS...