Free Republic

a shadow looms over the world. In this week’s edition we publish The World Ahead 2024, our 38th annual predictive guide to the coming year, and in all that time no single person has ever eclipsed our analysis as much as Donald Trump eclipses 2024. That a Trump victory next November is a coin-toss probability is beginning to sink in. Mr Trump dominates the Republican primary. Several polls have him ahead of President Joe Biden in swing states. In one, for the New York Times, 59% of voters trusted him on the economy, compared with just 37% for Mr Biden....

NEW YORK (AP) — Elton John's musical about televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker is coming to Broadway from London. “Tammy Faye” will land in New York City during the 2024-25 season, producers said Friday. John wrote the music, while Scissor Sisters frontman Jake Shears penned the lyrics The musical was nominated for four 2023 Olivier Awards, including best musical, but lost the musical crown to “Standing at the Sky’s Edge.” The story is by James Graham with direction by Rupert Goold. Bakker, who died of cancer in 2007 at age 65, has captivated popular culture. Her story was told in the...

Chicago residents don’t like the policies they voted for when they voted Brandon Johnson into office. He has lost 72% of the residents. The Illinois Policy Institute puts Johnson on the same level as bottom crawlers former Mayors Lori Lightfoot and Rahm Emmanuel, who polled at 27%. He’s at 28% and going for the gold.. The poll found that his approval was lowest on crime and safety, with two of three voters polled disapproving. Voters disapproved of his handling of housing, homelessness, and migrants. Under bad leadership, crime has gone up in Chicago. Chicago crime declined from 2018 to 2020,...

The Gateway Pundit reported last week about an unnamed Los Angeles father who turned the tables on masked intruders threatening his family. Since then he has identified himself and revealed some news that will leave your blood boiling. This week Vince Ricci appeared in a video for the National Rifle Association, which he is a member of, and said that the state of California has has suspended his constitutional right to own a firearm. After successfully defending my home and my family and my five-month-old child, California has now decided to suspend my Second Amendment rights. WATCH: VIDEO AT LINK...............

The heartbroken mother of a soldier held captive by Hamas terrorists today wept over her daughter's coffin after the 19-year-old and another hostage were found dead in Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital complex. That news came today, with the IDF confirming they had found the remains of Noa and another hostage Yehudit Weiss, 64, from a building adjacent to the hospital where Israeli soldiers are searching for a Hamas command centre. During the hospital raid in which Israeli troops found Noa and Yehudit's bodies, the IDF claimed its forces also found a tunnel shaft used by Hamas terrorists. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin...

A former journalist and talk show host who was arrested on child sex crime charges in Massachusetts last week allegedly bragged in private text messages that they came close to having a sexual encounter with a teenager in their neighborhood. The conversation was detailed in a 24-page police affidavit obtained by The Desk on Wednesday that was written and filed in support of an arrest warrant for Slade Sohmer, the former editor-in-chief of the left-of-center politics website The Recount. Sohmer was arrested last week on suspicion of downloading and transmitting child pornography after police executed a search warrant on his...

Last week, CNN released the results of an exit poll that was conducted in Ohio on Election Day. This poll surveyed 3,658 Ohio voters in different locations around the state. The poll correctly predicted that 43 percent of Ohio voters would vote against Issue 1, which placed legal abortion in Ohio’s state constitution. Additionally, the demographic breakdown of the polling results provides some insights that might help pro-lifers in the future. First, the results indicate that Ohio pro-lifers did a good job communicating with like-minded people. The exit poll indicates that 82 percent of Republicans and 87 percent of conservatives...

Hundreds of migrants living in camps along the Seine River in Paris were removed this week as the city embarks upon a cleanup effort in preparation for hosting next year’s Summer Olympics. Paris police cleared 221 migrants living on the streets near the Austerlitz train station on Tuesday morning, with around 100 being transferred to accommodations outside of the city.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukraine’s troops secured multiple bridgeheads on the eastern bank of the Dnieper River in the Kherson region in fighting that the country’s marine corps described Friday as having left nearly 3,500 Russians killed or wounded and dozens of ammunition depots, tanks, armored vehicles and other weaponry destroyed.

SEOUL, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- South Korea announced plans to end the country's dog meat industry on Friday, aiming to phase out the age-old practice entirely by 2027. Lawmakers and government officials are pushing for the passage of a special act to end the dog meat trade by the end of the year, which would then lead to a three-year phase-out period. The announcement came after a meeting among members of the ruling People Power Party, the agricultural ministry and animal rights groups at the National Assembly in Seoul on Friday. "It is time to put an end to the...

President Joe Biden championed his economic agenda on Thursday, vowing to “double down” on “progress.” Biden’s promise to “double down” on his economic agenda appears indifferent to the economic challenges Americans face, such as inflation and soaring housing costs. Recent polling shows Americans are unpleased with Joe Biden’s economy: Only 14 percent of voters believe they are better off with Biden as commander-in-chief. Seventy percent of voters say Biden’s economic policies have either hurt the economy or have had no impact. Among the 70 percent, 33 percent say the president’s policies have hurt the economy a lot.

Brazilian actress and model Isis Freitas has died after being rushed to hospital in serious condition, she was just 22. Freitas passed away on Sunday and was buried on Monday at the Sao Francisco Xavier Cemetery in Rio de Janeiro. The cause of death is still not yet known, but rumors circulating on social media suggest that she died from tuberculosis. Freitas’s talent agency, LMA Producoes confirmed her death on social media. They wrote: “It is with great regret and sadness that we come to inform you of the passing of our actress and companion Isis Freitas.” “On behalf of...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NATIONAL HOMEMADE BREAD DAY On November 17th, homes will fill with warm, comforting aromas reminding us to slow down and enjoy National Homemade Bread Day. #HomemadeBreadDay Yeast bread calls for us to slow down. We need to spend time with each other as we work the dough and let it rest and rise before baking. Quick breads allow a special treat to share and enjoy with coffee or tea. Other homemade breads, such as donuts, pretzels, muffins, and biscuits, add variety to our everyday meals. And making them with friends and family brings joy and an opportunity to exchange...

Argentines head to the polls this Sunday, Nov. 19 for the second round of the most divisive presidential election in decades. The choice couldn’t be more stark—between an establishment Minister of Economy who has presided over an inflation rate that stands at a staggering 140% and a firebrand libertarian that is making international markets jittery. The establishment candidate, Sergio Massa, is part of the Peronist government of President Alberto Fernández. Javier Milei, a relative political outsider and self-described anarcho-capitalist, is the upstart promising to abolish Argentina’s peso and central bank as part of a campaign to radically reduce the Argentine...

HELSINKI, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Finland will erect barriers at four crossings on its border with Russia from midnight, officials said on Friday, in a bid to stem an increase in migrants that Helsinki says has been orchestrated by Moscow. Finland has accused Russian authorities of funnelling migrants to the crossings in retaliation for its decision to increase defence cooperation with the United States, an assertion dismissed by the Kremlin. Barriers will go up at four of the nine crossings with Russia, at Vaalimaa, Nuijamaa, Imatra and Niirala in its southeast, the Finnish Border Guard said. "Our aim is to...

It was a century ago today* that the execution of two American soldiers of fortune set all that strife in motion. Leonard Groce, a mining supervisor, and Lee Roy Cannon, a rubber planter, were among those hired out by the U.S.-backed rebellion of Juan Jose Estrada. Dictatorial Nicaraguan President Jose Santos Zelaya — no known relationship to his namesake bookend at the other end of that century, the recently deposed leftist Honduran President Manuel Zelaya — had earned Washington’s ire by attempting to carve out an excessively independent sphere of action for his country. Most notably, he courted European investment,...

he 72nd annual Miss Universe pageant will take place on Saturday in El Salvador. Eighty-four women from all over the world are competing for the pageant world's biggest crown. The contestants include lawyers, models, and artists. The Miss Universe competition is a celebration of global pageant winners, bringing together the best of the best for the ultimate crown. The 2023 pageant will take place on Saturday in El Salvador, and current Miss Universe R'Bonney Gabriel — who claimed the title after a controversial Miss USA win — will crown the new queen.

Captured from Russian state media. Original Russian language lyrics are available at the link. Lyrics to the song in the video: Brother, don't wait to be called up! Take revenge on the enemy for our destroyed USSR! Our main battle lies ahead Just find your faith and destroy their Devil's Sabbath Globalism and liberal fascism are against us, the Satan's black mass Open racism, social Darwinism The aggressor will be destroyed Poor Ukraine is stricken with the cancer of the fratricide Only the might of weapons can fully cleanse Ukrainians from anti-Russianness From Mazepa's, Petliura's, Bandera's sins and from the...

[Catholic Caucus] Archbishop Viganò: Bergoglio’s continual actions against the faith reveal ‘defect of consent’ to papal officeArchbishop Carlo Maria Viganò's latest response to Bishop Athanasius Schneider.Editor’s note: The following text is taken from a post to Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò’s account on X (formerly Twitter).(LifeSiteNews) – In theory, a Pontiff’s governing action remains valid and effective even where a single act may be questionable; but in practice, an unbroken and consistent series of acts blatantly contrary to the purpose for which the Papacy exists demonstrates – not the Pope’s human fallibility in governing decisions (in which he is not infallibly...

CNN’s senior legal analyst Elie Honig warned that a reported deeper investigation into Hunter Biden in California is “bad news” for the president’s son. Special Counsel David Weiss is reportedly using a California grand jury to pursue more testimony and documents from possible witnesses in the Hunter Biden case, CNN reported. The outlet also reported that James Biden, the president’s brother, also received a subpoena recently. Honig said the new revelations are “bad news for Hunter Biden any way you slice this.” “Let’s remember, he already has a pending indictment in the federal district court in Delaware for the firearms-related...