Free Republic

Navy Petty Officer Second Class Kristin Fregeau is being discharged from the Navy for attempted desertion, but her attorney contends that this is a cover for separating the officer because she had a religious objection to the vaccine mandate. “The Navy couldn’t separate [Fregeau] for vaccine refusal, so they drummed up a story about attempted desertion,” Sean Timmons, Freugeau’s attorney, told The Epoch Times. The attempted desertion charge arose from Fregeau leaving her base for 20 days in December 2021 without prior approval. But Timmons said the petty officer moved to Tennessee during that period to remove her child from...

The Indian billionaire briefly surpassed Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to become the second-richest person in the world in September, according to Bloomberg. He’s now ranked as the world’s fourth wealthiest person. Outside Southeast Asia, Adani is hardly a household name. That might be changing now that he’s richer than Microsoft founder Bill Gates and iconic investor Warren Buffett. “The kind of rise that you have seen is truly phenomenal and probably unprecedented in the world that in such a short time a single individual has been able to acquire assets across industrial sectors and has emerged as one of the...

Even more territories Ukraine is liberating, it's fantastic news yet again!

Washington intends to seek the return of Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan to the United States. This was announced on Saturday, October 1, by a senior official of the US administration....At the same time, the details of the exchange of prisoners were not disclosed. So, it is still not known whether there are any shifts in this process....American basketball player Brittney Griner was detained in February 2022. Vapes with cannabis oil were found in her hand luggage, after which the athlete was arrested. A criminal case was initiated against Greiner under the article on the smuggling of narcotic drugs in...

KYIV — Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions, announced by President Vladimir Putin on Friday, will not affect Kyiv’s resolve to free them with military force, said an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “For our plans, [Russia’s annexation] doesn’t matter,” Mykhailo Podolyak told POLITICO, speaking before the signing ceremony in Moscow orchestrated by Putin. The Russian leader railed at the United States and the West, denounced the Ukrainian government, and warned: “We will protect our land using all our forces.” The annexation comes on a day when Ukrainian soldiers have reportedly encircled thousands of Russian troops near the city...

Almost 100 churches face imminent closure due to dwindling churchgoers, volunteers, and income.A Catholic diocese in the Netherlands has announced that 60% of its churches need to close in the next five years due to dwindling churchgoers, volunteers, and income. Bishop Jan Hendricks unveiled the plans for the Diocese of Haarlem-Amsterdam at a meeting with around 90 parish administrators on Sept. 10. The diocese, which dates back to 1559, covers the province of North Holland, in the northwestern Netherlands, as well as the southern part of Flevoland province. It includes Amsterdam, the country’s capital and most populous city. Hendricks, who...

It’s no secret that transitioning to something you are not is a fad. By this I do not mean that nobody experiences genuine dysphorias that require treatment, and I freely admit that my experience and education are insufficient to the task of developing treatment plans for people who are genuinely suffering from what appears to me to be a serious mental health problem. Dancing around a bit more to cover myself, I will also emphasize that calling dysphoria a mental illness is not a slam or slander: mental health problems run in my family and they are serious conditions that...

Catholic leaders, scholars, and human rights activists publicly express their solidarity with Cardinal Zen as his trial commences.As Cardinal Joseph Zen begins his trial in Hong Kong, a number of Catholic leaders and human rights activists have come out with statements of support for the 90-year-old bishop emeritus. Cardinal Zen and five others are charged with failing to register properly a fund that provided legal aid to pro-democracy protesters. An outspoken critic of Beijing’s communist regime, Cardinal Zen served as a trustee of the “612 Humanitarian Relief Fund” that helped pay legal and medical bills for protesters arrested and hurt...

This week, President Biden denounced the election of Italy's first woman Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, calling it "a threat to democracy. Her program of 'yes to the natural family, no to the LGBT lobby, yes to sexual identity, no to gender ideology, yes to secure borders, no to mass migration, no to Islamist violence, no to big international finance, and no to the bureaucrats of Brussels!' sounds like the same kind of nonsense we hear from Donald Trump. I will do everything in my power to bring down her government." Biden also rebuked United Kingdom Prime Minister Liz Truss's plan...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Archives and Records Administration informed lawmakers that a number of electronic communications from Trump White House staffers remain missing, nearly two years since the administration was required to turn them over. The nation’s record-keeping agency, in a letter Friday to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, said that despite an ongoing effort by staff, electronic communications between certain unidentified White House officials were still not in their custody. “While there is no easy way to establish absolute accountability, we do know that we do not have custody of everything we should,” Debra Steidel Wall,...

Panic at an Indonesian soccer match after police fired tear gas to stop brawls left 129 dead, mostly trampled to death, police said Sunday. Several fights between supporters of the two rival soccer teams were reported inside the Kanjuruhan Stadium in East Java province's Malang city after the Indonesian Premier League game ended with Persebaya Surabaya beating Arema Malang 3-2.

Twenty-seven House Democrats have joined a growing chorus of voices calling for the resignation of World Bank chief David Malpass after he made comments that critics say smacked of climate denial. In a letter sent Thursday to President Biden, representatives Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), Sean Casten (D-Ill.) and 25 other Democrats said Malpass’s recent comments were both “troubling” and “unacceptable” and that the World Bank should have a “leader who listens to the science and is a global leader in combating climate change.” “We urge you to advocate for the removal or forced resignation of David Malpass as World Bank Group...

The Federal Reserve announced Thursday that six of the nation’s largest banks would participate in a pilot climate scenario analysis exercise in 2023. Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo will undergo the exercise, which the Fed said will not have capital or supervisory consequences. The Fed plans to publish aggregate findings from the exercise but no firm-specific information. The exercise, which had been expected, will kick off the Fed’s efforts to gauge the level and management of risks for banks when it comes to climate change, after European regulators already mounted similar efforts.

*** Retraction Watch reports: After months of investigation that identified networks of reviewers and editors manipulating the peer review process, Hindawi plans to retract 511 papers across 16 journals, Retraction Watch has learned. The retractions, which the publisher and its parent company, Wiley, will announce tomorrow in a blog post, will be issued in the next month, and more may come as its investigation continues. They are not yet making the list available.***My own view as someone who left academia after becoming a Harvard professor is that corruption has infiltrated the academy along with careerism and politicization. Correcting the situation...

Denver, Colo., Sep 25, 2022 / 22:50 pm A suspect was quickly arrested in the vandalism of a Denver-area Catholic pro-life medical clinic. It is not clear whether the clinic was targeted for its pro-life Catholic mission, though the various graffiti included a reference to Satan and a stylized depiction of a devilish character. “We are sad to have to share that our clinic was just vandalized,” Bella Health + Wellness medical group said Sept. 25 in a 3 p.m. Facebook post including some photos of the vandalism. “If you could take a moment today to pray for our mission,...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media. I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ~ 1 Timothy 2:1-2 Religion Forum Threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind.

A top Russian officer reportedly had his face 'smashed' during a brawl with furious conscripts after telling them their lives were going to be thrown away on the front lines in Ukraine. The mobilised recruits turned on the Russian lieutenant-colonel after he bluntly said: 'You are all cannon fodder, you are facing slaughter.' The high-ranking officer had bones in his face broken in a brawl in which 'every single one of them was drunk', say reports.

NEW YORK (LifeSiteNews) — In the latest vindication of conservative concerns about the legal precedent set by forced recognition of same-sex “marriage,” a New York judge ruled that polyamorous relationships are entitled to the same legal protections as two-person unions. As highlighted by Reason, on September 23 New York Civil Court Judge Karen May Bacdayan handed down her decision in West 49th St., LLC v. O’Neill, which concerned roommates Markyus O’Neill, Scott Anderson, and Anderson’s “husband” Robert Romano. When Anderson died, the apartment company forbade O’Neill from renewing his lease because his name was not on it, and they did...

St. Louis substitute teacher Brandon Holbrook, 30, was found unresponsive in his jail cell Monday before dying an hour later at a local hospital Holbrook was jailed for allegedly raping a former 14-year-old student on three occasions. Police say two other accusers have stepped forward Officials at St. Louis County Jail found Holbrook sitting upright with his headphones in, but tapped his shoulder and found him unconscious His lawyer, Scott Rosenblum, said the death is 'unusual,' as the results of an investigation and autopsy report are pending

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is lashing out at oil companies who he says are “fleecing” Californians with gasoline prices that are rising disproportionately in the Golden State. “The fact is, they’re ripping you off. Their record profits are coming at your expense,” Newsom said in a scathing video posted to Twitter Friday in which the governor called for a new windfall tax on oil companies. Newsom said the windfall tax would “ensure these profits go directly back to help millions of Californians who are paying for this oil company extortion.”