Free Republic

The woke professor tearing up Baylor University continues his wild ride of unrestrained progressivism, recently interrupting church liturgy to unironically point out that the title of a centuries-old hymn is “sexist” for containing the word “brethren” and that he’s edited and moved around parts of it as to not cause offense. The last thing that I’ll mention is because I’m Episcopalian, I don’t like to interrupt liturgy. Liturgy is holy. It works when it’s together. We have a song that is 200 years old, which will be our opening hymn. I am well aware that the title Brethren We Have...

Former President Trump threw his support behind Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Friday as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) — one of Trump’s closest allies on Capitol Hill — threatens to force a vote on ousting the House leader. Asked during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago if he supports Greene’s motion to vacate, Trump — while standing beside Johnson — said the Speaker is “doing a very good job.”

China is helping Russia ramp up its defense industrial base at such a large scale that Moscow is now undertaking its most ambitious expansion in military manufacturing since the Soviet era as it continues its war against Ukraine, according to senior Biden administration officials. The support China is providing includes significant quantities of machine tools, drone and turbojet engines and technology for cruise missiles, microelectronics, and nitrocellulose, which Russia uses to make propellant for weapons, said the officials. Chinese and Russian entitles have also been working jointly to produce drones inside of Russia, one of the officials said. The support...

One of my walking trails is right by the police station in Brookfield, CT. The parking lot for the police station abuts the parking lot for the walking trail (by the Still River which often floods into the trail). Once in a while after a walk, I get in my car and leave the walking trail to head home and immediately a police vehicle, evidently going on shift, leaves their own parking lot and slides in behind me. What to do in this situation? The roads leading back home are in either 25mph or 30mph speed zones. Ridiculously low speed...

Catholics in the U.S., one of the country's largest single Christian groups, hold far more diverse views on abortion rights than the official teaching of their church. While the Catholic Church itself holds that abortion is wrong and should not be legal, 6 in 10 U.S. adult Catholics say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to a newly released profile of Catholicism by Pew Research.

Italian regulators have pulled a “blasphemous” television advert in which nuns are offered crisps instead of consecrated hosts during a Mass. The advert for Amica Chips provoked a huge backlash within the Catholic nation, with claims that it “debased” and “vilified” Jesus Christ. The Institute of Advertising Self-Discipline, Italy’s advertising standards authority, has now upheld complaints against the advert and ordered it off the airwaves. In the 30-second advertisement, a group of young nuns are seen filing through a cloister into a chapel while another nun prepares for Mass but fills a ciborum with crisps instead of communion wafers. A...

SNIP The situation unfolded when Christina sent her boss a text message after finding out she was the “lowest paid in the whole team” despite having worked at the company the longest and being in one of the most senior roles. The staff member said it didn’t matter who told her and asked if it was true. “It absolutely does matter. This is not an appropriate topic of discussion for the workplace,” Elliot responded. Askins slammed this response, telling his followers that it is completely legal to discuss pay with your colleagues and to “never let a company tell you...

Notable Evangelical pastor, author and radio personality Chuck Swindoll is stepping down as senior pastor of Stonebriar Community Church, a Texas megachurch based in Frisco, but he will continue to preach on Sundays. The 89-year-old pastor, who has held the position since 1998, will take on the role of founding pastor effective May 1, according to a statement from the elders of Stonebriar. Jonathan Murphy, the chair and professor of Pastoral Ministries at Dallas Theological Seminary, will become the church's new senior pastor. "Pastor Chuck will continue to preach God's Word at the pulpit on Sundays, while Jonathan will shepherd...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) administration lost track of the $24 billion in taxpayer funds it spent over the past five years in an attempt to curb the state’s homelessness crisis, an audit has found. The California State Auditor’s report, released on April 9, detailed multiple “gaps” in accountability in regards to how the money was allocated during the 2018-2023 fiscal years. Lead auditor Grant Parks said the state “has not collected sufficient data” to prove that the billions of dollars improved the situation.

Eighty-six House Republicans on Friday voted against an amendment to require a warrant for surveillance of Americans’ communications. Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) proposed an amendment to the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA), a bill that would reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Section 702 is a law that is meant to target foreign adversaries, but often surveils Americans’ private communications without a warrant. The amendment tied at 212-212 in the House; a tie in the House means that the measure fails. Although Biggs’s amendment did receive support from a majority of Republicans, 86 House...

Report Highlights: • The U.S. has more than 82 million lawful firearm owners. • 53% of the 21 states with restrictive concealed carry laws have violent crime rates higher than the national average. • 55% of states with a violent crime rate below the national average have permitless carry. • Between 60,000 and 2.5 million Americans use firearms for self-defense each year. • 40% of criminals convicted of crimes while in possession of a firearm were already prohibited from carrying firearms. • A 2018 study shows that 68% of those convicted of crimes while in possession of a firearm were...

Authorities have arrested a man suspected of beating and sexually assaulting two women along the famed Venice Canals in separate attacks last weekend, the Los Angeles Police Department announced on Friday. Anthony Jones, 29, was apprehended late Thursday evening in San Diego. He is described as a Black male, 6 feet 1 inch tall and 200 pounds.

Shohei Ohtani's interpreter Ippei Mizuhara is apparently nearing a plea bargain with federal agents. Released documents note no evidence that he gambled on baseball.Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani, is in some big trouble. He was accused of and is reportedly preparing to plead guilty to stealing money from the two-time MVP in order to cover his gambling debts, and it turns out, it's worse than we all thought. It was reported on Thursday that Mizuhara transferred more than $16 million from Ohtani's bank account, far more than the $4.5 million that was initially...

Report highlights: • An average of 10,252 firearms were used in homicides between 2015 and 2019. Handguns were involved in 59% of homicides in 2020. • Handguns were used in 62% of homicides between 2015 and 2019. • Most mass shooters used firearms chambered in 9mm and .223 Remington in 2023 and 2024 (to date), resulting in 45% of all deaths. • 1 in 6 criminal assaults involving a firearm results in death. • Gunshot victims were 4.5 times more likely to die when shot by larger caliber bullets (.357 magnum, .40, .44 magnum, .45, 10 mm, and 7.62 ×...

As a ninth-degree black belt, Diane Reeve Kirby is prepared to make any man who attacks her regret it. But she has no illusions about how far her 35 years of training will take her. "Typically a man is going to be bigger and stronger than a woman. And that's just a fact we have to live with," Kirby says. Likewise, women taking classes at Kirby's Action Self-Defense are quickly disabused of any Scarlett Johansson butt-kicking fantasies they may harbor. "What I teach is a one-shot deal," Kirby tells me as we sit in the kitchen of her Plano, Texas,...

Even Taco Bell’s Chief Marketing Officer finds the food at the beloved fast-food chain to be “life-changing.” Taylor Montgomery has been with the franchise for more than eight years, and he recently revealed that he eats Taco Bell “every other day.” At Live Más LIVE, the company’s first-ever superfan convention, the CMO told Business Insider that he even orders the same thing every time. “Two to three crunchy tacos — not supreme, just regular crunchy tacos,” he told the outlet. “And a bean burrito with extra onions, grilled." “You have to try it, it’s life-changing,” Montgomery urged.

Kiefer Sutherland denies he stayed in character and bullied his “Stand by Me” cast in 1986. Sutherland, 57, looked back on the 1986 coming-of-age film during Thursday’s episode of “The Talk,” which former co-star Jerry O’Connell co-hosts. Natalie Morales used Sutherland’s visit to address the viral claim that he would continue to be mean to the movie’s young actors when the cameras stopped rolling.

Judge Ana Reyes also dinged the House for seeking testimony that is clearly privileged. A federal judge tore into the Justice Department on Friday for blowing off Hunter Biden-related subpoenas issued in the impeachment probe of his father, President Joe Biden, pointing out that a former aide to Donald Trump is sitting in prison for similar defiance of Congress.

his is the innocent 68-year-old grandmother who was punched in the face and pushed down the stairs outside a Queens church during a robbery that saw her sixteen-year-old attacker take off with her car. Irene Tahliambouris suffered a fractured skull, black eye, and numerous bruises from the vicious assault that took place outside of St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church on 152 Street in Briarwood around 8.20 on Sunday. Her attacker Jayvaun Prince, 16, was taken into custody today in a gurney after suffering an unknown medical episode. He was taken to the hospital with a police escort after suffering an...

If the Biden administration is trying to restore American parents’ confidence in the public school system, they sure have a funny way of showing it. Nowadays, one of the most significant causes of concern — and perhaps the deciding factor for most parents pulling their children out of public schools — has been the increasing woke indoctrination from the public school system, especially in regard to the ever-prominent LGBT agenda. And how is Biden’s Department of Education handling the increasing wariness of parents toward the public school system? By releasing on social media a video celebrating another made-up LGBT holiday,...