Free Republic

Two events of the last week witness to a significant shift in the times in which we live. The first is a sermon by megachurch Evangelical pastor Andy Stanley that seemed to concede ground to gay partnerships within the Church. The second is a worryingly ambiguous comment from Pope Francis on the possibility of blessing same-sex unions. In his Sunday sermon at North Point Community Church, Stanley responded to criticism that he had held a conference that featured gay-affirming speakers. He stated that North Point continues to teach that marriage is between a man and a woman, but that if...

Las Vegas has a great slogan: “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” Israel could have an opposite variation on this slogan: “What happens in Israel doesn’t stay in Israel.” After all, Israel is just the canary in the coal mine. It’s the Islamists’ first target, but it’s not their only target or even their primary target. It’s simply on the front lines and a useful way to determine whether the rest of the world has the spine to face the Islamic challenge.Today’s “Evidence A” for this truism is the call from Hamas for Friday the 13th to be a...

Israel has warned the UN that 1.1 million Palestinians should evacuate the northern Gaza Strip within the next 24 hours, according to a report. The Israeli Ministry of Defense and its army suggested UN staff and Gazans flee to the southern portion of the strip, an indication of a stronger, more intense attack to come against Hamas by the Jewish nation. “Today, just before midnight local time, team leaders of the UN Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the Department of Safety and Security in Gaza were informed by their liaison officers in the Israeli military that the...

Ep. 30 What's happening at the southern border isn’t just an invasion, but a crime. The politicians and NGOs responsible for it are criminals, who should be punished accordingly. https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/status/1712588957534360034?s=20

For most Americans, labels such as “gay,” “non-binary,” and even “members of the LGBTQ+ community” are generally used interchangeably to describe those preferring same sex partners. This imprecision suffices for ordinary conversation, but it fails to capture a key political distinction among today’s homosexuals, namely those embracing the label “queer.” The label “queer” may appear new, but it is decades old. In his 1995 book Saint Foucault: Towards a Gay Hagiography, David Halperin explains:As the very word implies, ‘queer’ does not name some natural kind or refer to some determinate object; it acquires its meaning from its oppositional relation to...

An instructor at Stanford University has been suspended as the school investigates allegations he targeted students based on their “identities and backgrounds” during two classes in which he gave impromptu lectures on the Israel-Hamas conflict. In one of the classes, the lecturer began by blaming the war on Zionists before asking “Jewish students to raise their hands,” Nourya Cohen, a Jewish student leader, told the San Francisco Chronicle. “He asked how many Jews died in the Holocaust,” Cohen said, adding that when someone replied six million, “he said, ‘Yes. Only six million.’” A rabbi who said he spoke to three...

It’s well known that the United States Army and Marines maintain a significant stockpile of used, damaged, or older models of weapons. Some are damaged and waiting to be safely salvaged, but many of them are still functional, requiring a bit of cleaning or maintenance. Some may be perfectly fine, but they’ve been replaced by newer models. Now that our allies in Israel are rushing to outfit an expanded military force to take on Hamas and their civilians are looking for hardware also, someone finally thought to ask the army about those stockpiles and how we could ship out the...

Within hours of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s announcement that he will run for president as an independent and not a Democrat, the super PAC supporting his candidacy raised more than $11 million.Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. makes a campaign announcement at a press conference in Philadelphia, Pa. on Oct. 9, 2023. Mr. Kennedy announced he will end his Democratic primary bid and will run for president as an independent. (Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images)American Values 2024 disclosed on Oct. 10 that it has generated $11.28 million since Mr. Kennedy told an audience in front of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia,...

The Harvard Crimson on Thursday reported that 79 percent of grades given to Harvard students in 2020-21 were in the A range.That is an increase of 20 percent over the last decade. It leaves the question of not how difficult it is to flunk out of Harvard but how difficult it is not to excel. Faculty have apparently solved any equity issues by making everyone a top student.The problem was raised in the movie “The Incredibles,” when the villainous character “Syndrome” reveals a plan to make everyone a superhero. Syndrome’s motive is hardly altruistic: He hated superheroes and “with everyone...

The Biden administration is determined to deport a Christian family, but has done next to nothing to remove millions of illegal immigrants.The Biden administration is deporting a Christian family from Germany who legitimately fears persecution and should qualify for asylum, while allowing 99 percent of illegal immigrants to stay in the U.S., most of whom likely do not qualify for asylum.Uwe and Hannelore Romeike reportedly fled Germany in 2008 because they were threatened with prosecution and $9,000 fines for homeschooling their five children. The couple and their family have lived in Tennessee and filed for asylum. The family has thrived...

[EXCERPT]So here’s the situation we face now: the RNC has kept an iron claw on the debate process, preventing candidates from facing off in any other venue than their predetermined choices. They’ve done so while allowing the leading candidate, former president Donald Trump, to skate by, avoiding any requirement to debate or participate. The effect has been embarrassing to say the least — too many candidates, too little time and a Univision-backed questioner in the second debate who was heinous, inaccurate and essentially functioned as a Democratic plant.The RNC has done a terrible job of managing this cycle, just like...

Well, well, well. Looks like this wasn’t a done deal after all, eh?What took them so long?The United States and Qatar have agreed to block Iran’s access to $6 billion in funds recently transferred to the nation as part of a deal between Washington and Tehran that led to the release of five imprisoned Americans from Iran last month.Wally Adeyemo, the deputy Treasury secretary, told House Democrats on Thursday that Iran would no longer have access to the funds, according to a person familiar with the matter. The money was under close supervision and strict conditions that it be used...

It’s amazing the degree to which this story which only became news on Tuesday has become central to news about the Israel-Hamas war. As I pointed out yesterday, the IDF confirmed the story of some babies/children being beheaded and CBS reported on another named source outside the IDF who also claimed to have seen the proof.By the end of the day yesterday, even President Joe Biden even referenced the claim in his remarks, though as I said at the time his statement wasn’t very clear. Shortly after Biden’s comments, officials in the administration clarified that he had no inside information...

The struggle to return the children A considerable number of boys and girls were abducted in the criminal terrorist attack carried out by Hamas .. The grandmother of the 3 sisters who were kidnapped said in pain: "The movies are running in my head, There is no one to give me any hint" .... "The movies that run through my head, what did they do to them on the way?". No official has published an official number, but the networks are already flooded with pictures of smiling and innocent children, whose condition is frightening to imagine..

The Justice Department on Thursday announced that a former IRS contractor has pleaded guilty to stealing and disclosing sensitive tax information to the press. The announcement comes weeks after the individual was charged with the crime.The documents he was accused of leaking were associated with some of America’s wealthiest people, including former President Donald Trump.An IRS contractor, Charles Littlejohn, 38, of Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty today to disclosing tax return information without authorization.“By using his role as a government contractor to gain access to private tax information, steal that information, and disclose it publicly, Charles Littlejohn broke federal law and...

One of my dearest friends was born in a kibbutz two miles from Gaza. His village was able to evacuate when Hamas launched its murderous assault last Saturday. However, a neighboring kibbutz called Kfar Aza was targeted by the terrorists.Yesterday, my friend forwarded to me a survivor’s description of what happened:A thriving community of one thousand people, men and women, was brutally crushed within forty-eight hours. Whole families, parents, brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, grandfathers, and grandmothers were murdered in cold blood. Their houses were turned into piles of earth and ashes, and their lives as they knew them—destroyed. They lost...

Special Operation update with IDF spokesperson on X.

Thirty-four student groups at Harvard University signed a letter earlier this week in response to the attack on Israel by Hamas that left 1,200 dead and at least 2,700 wounded. That letter blamed Israel for the attacks. ... A few of the student groups have withdrawn their signatures, including Harvard College Act on a Dream, Amnesty International at Harvard, the Harvard Islamic Society, Harvard Undergraduate Ghungroo, and the Harvard Undergraduate Nepali Student Association, Harvard College Pakistan Student Association, and Sikhs and Companions of Harvard. The remaining groups and members of their leadership stand by the letter and its inflammatory claims....

The IDF informed the UN tonight that all Arabs in the northern Gaza Strip must evacuate to the south in the next 24 hours. The Air Force has dropped more than 6,000 bombs against targets of the Hamas-ISIS terrorist organization in Gaza since Saturday.