Free Republic

US stocks tumbled across the board on Friday after the July jobs report showed more cooling in the labor market, fueling concerns the Federal Reserve's "higher for longer" interest-rate stance might end in recession. The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) dropped 2.9% after the jobs report's release. That plunged the tech-heavy index into correction territory, more than 10% below its recent high in early July. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) slumped nearly 2.4%, or close to 1000 points, as a flight from stocks accelerated. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) sank 2.5%. Stocks kicked off August with a sell-off after a clutch of...

As the plane carrying the freed Americans landed just before midnight, Vice President Harris was there to welcome them. After embracing Gershkovich and Whelan, she addressed the assembled reporters. "This is just an extraordinary testament to the importance of having a president who understands the power of diplomacy and understands the strength that rests in understanding the significance of diplomacy," she said

Iran reportedly plans to attack Israel on the day of Tisha B'Av, where Jews mourn the loss of the first and second Temples. Western intelligence sources told Sky News Arabia that they had evidence Iran plans to attack Israel on Tisha B’Av in response to the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, which begins on August 12 and ends on August 13, the site reported on Friday. Iran’s attack will reportedly be coordinated with Hezbollah, an Iran-backed terror group embedded in Lebanon. On Tisha B’Av, Jews lament the destruction of the first and second Temples. During the annual event, there...

[Catholic Caucus] Cardinal Gregory To Say Mass For Perversion-Enablers This WeekendCanon 212 linked to the gushing account of this gay-pandering gab-fest that will happen this weekend, starting Friday August 2, at Georgetown University. Please note that this account is NOT from the Gay Blade, although one could understandably have that mistaken impression. It is from the Vatican News. They printed the pope's greetings to the participants in this gathering that will serve to condone the mortal sins of sodomy and other related perversions. They intend to "build community and share best practices".Again, note that the pope did not condemn these...

After almost 500 days of unjust captivity, The Wall Street Journal’s Evan Gershkovich was released from a Russian prison Thursday, as were fellow prisoners including Paul Whelan, Vladimir Kara-Murza and Alsu Kermasheva and 12 others in a massive multinational prisoner swap with Russia. Gershkovich and Kermasheva are journalists, Kara-Murza a critic of the Ukraine war and Whelan a former Marine. Not criminals or spies or other malefactors. It comes, as was expected, at an enormously high cost. Washington traded three prisoners back to Russia: Roman Seleznev, Vladislav Klyushin and Vadim Konoshchenock. All are crooks of the highest order: a cyber...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Thursday that several counties in Florida have been placed in a state of emergency via an executive order. The state of emergency includes counties in Southwest Florida, Central Florida, Northeast Florida, the panhandle, and the Big Bend regions. The system, located over easter Cuba, could form into a tropical depression as it continues its path toward Florida this weekend. As of the 11 a.m. advisory, it was located about 420 miles southeast of Key West, Florida. It was moving west-northwest at 16 mph with 30 mph winds.

Democrats on Friday urged the nation’s central bank to cut interest rates now as the unemployment rate surged. The unemployment rate jumped to 4.3 percent and employers added 114,000 workers to their payrolls in July, a significant miss from economists’ 180,000 expected jobs estimate. As Breitbart News Economics Editor John Carney noted, the significant jump in unemployment may suggest that the economy might be heading towards a recession: The 4.3 percent unemployment rate brings the three-month average 50 basis points above the lowest three-month average over the past 12 months, a threshold known as the “Sahm Rule” that historically has...

Kama-la Kameleon [Verse 1] Desert loving in your eyes all the way If I listen to your lies, would you say? [Pre-Chorus] I'm a man without conviction I'm a man who doesn't know How to sell a contradiction You come and go, you come and go [Chorus] Kama, Kama, Kama, Kama, Kama Kameleon You come and go, you come and go Loving would be easy if your colors were like mine too Red, white and blue, red, white and blue [Verse 2] Didn't hear your wicked words every day And you used to be so sweet, I heard you say...

Many prospective home buyers have been waiting for lower mortgage rates to pull the trigger. Those who have been on the sidelines by choice may not want to wait too long. The Federal Reserve said it could lower interest rates in September. Those further mortgage rate declines could be in view, which would lower housing costs. Forecasts published by the National Association of Realtors, Fannie Mae, and the Mortgage Bankers Association foresee rates ending the year in the mid-to-high 6% range, down significantly from this spring’s high of 7.22%. Mortgage rates could fall to 6.5% or even lower in the...

Daily Readings from the USCCBJesus came to his native place and taught the people in their synagogue. They were astonished and said, “Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds?” Matthew 13:54Today’s Gospel goes on to say that the people in Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth took offense at Him, which led Jesus to say, “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and in his own house.” It is somewhat surprising that they took offense at Jesus after witnessing His wisdom and mighty deeds. Jesus was very familiar to the townspeople, and it seems that...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with French media this week that he would support the presence of Russia at a second iteration of the failed global peace summit for his country held this year. Ukraine led an meeting in Switzerland in June intended to discuss ways to end the two-and-a-half-year-old Russian invasion of his country, which began in earnest after nearly a decade of Russia colonizing Ukrainian territory and backing pro-Russian separatist groups in the nation’s east. Russia did not participate in the meeting, nor did key Russia allies such as China, Ukraine’s largest trade partner. The...

Simone Biles loves her "black job." The Olympic gymnast, who won two gold medals in Paris making her the most decorated U.S. gymnast, took a swipe at former President Donald Trump in a post Friday on X. The 27-year-old shared a post from singer Ricky Davila who celebrated Biles as she posed for photos clutching her medal and a "Goat" necklace. "Simone Biles being the GOAT, winning Gold medals and dominating gymnastics is her black job," Davila wrote. "I love my black job," Biles responded, adding a black heart emoji. The post appears to be in response to remarks Trump...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As the 2024 presidential race makes its turn into the final stretch, the White House assured journalists that they would only have to pretend Kamala Harris is likable for a couple more months. Members of the media, weary from the exhausting duty of portraying Harris as capable, experienced, qualified, and decent, were relieved to find out that they would only have to maintain the ruse until election day. "Don't worry, you don't have to do this forever," one White House insider told reporters. "We just have to make people think she's a bright, likable person until they...

Stocks fell sharply on Friday with the S&P 500 headed for its worst session in roughly two years, as a much weaker-than-anticipated jobs report for July ignited worries that the economy could be falling into a recession. The broad market index dropped 2.1%, on pace for its biggest one-day sell-off since 2022, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 2.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 911 points, or 2.3%. Friday’s sell-off pushed the Nasdaq into correction territory — down more than 10% from an all-time high set nearly a month ago. The Nasdaq-100, which is made up of the 100 largest...

FIRST ON FOX: Then-Sen. Kamala Harris’ 2019 presidential campaign website linked to a study touting what it called the "electoral implications" of not deporting some illegal immigrants, saying that the policy "could provide sizable contributions to the margin of victory in swing states." Harris’ campaign website touted a "new roadmap to citizenship for Dreamers," referring to illegal immigrants who came to the country as children. Her plan called for a pathway to citizenship for those who entered the U.S. illegally and protection from deportation for illegal immigrant parents of U.S. citizens and green card holders.

The Biden administration’s prisoner swap with Russia is being touted by the corporate press as “historic,” and in a way it is. Nothing like this, on this scale, has happened since the Cold War. But the swap is as lopsided as it is historic. All Americans should welcome the release of our three unjustly imprisoned compatriots: Evan Gershkovich, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine, and Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva. They were among the 16 western prisoners released by Moscow in exchange for eight Russian nationals released by the U.S. and allies. But this...

According to a statement released by Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Ilaria Caloi and Federico Bernardini of Ca’ Foscari University and Cretan potter Vassiliki Politakis replicated the shapes of Minoan pottery vessels using a type of potter’s wheel and techniques suggested by scholars of Minoan Crete.These techniques included hand-building methods and throwing-off-the-hump, wheel-throwing from a solid clay ball, wheel-pinching, and wheel-coiling. The experimental replicas were then examined with X-ray micro-computed tomography to produce detailed 3-D images of the joints, voids, and other components of the vessels.The researchers were able to identify specific differences in the finished pottery that will help...

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in an interview with Punchbowl News compared President Biden’s proposed Supreme Court reforms to the Jan. 6, 2021 attacks on the U.S. Capitol. “That’s what some people were trying to do Jan. 6 — to break the system of handing an administration from one to the next,” McConnell said in the interview, referring to the proposed reforms. “We can have our arguments, but we ought to not try to break the rules.” The reforms that Biden has backed include 18-year term limits, which would allow a president to appoint a new justice every two...

Metal detectorists discovered a cache of ancient coins in a field in eastern Poland, according to a CBS News report. Three of the coins are Roman dinars minted between A.D. 138 and 161. These coins bear an image of the face of the emperor Antoninus Pius (reigned A.D. 138 and 161). Another silver dinar is imprinted with the face of his wife, Faustina the Younger, dated to A.D. 141. The face of the emperor Marcus Aurelius has been identified on another dinar dated to A.D. 174.A piece of one coin, which also bears the face of Antoninus Pius and has...

[Catholic Caucus] Was Archbishop Viganò silenced by the Vatican for exposing corruption in the Church?If the Vatican’s attempt to silence Archbishop Viganò is successful, whatever you think of the prelate, Catholics will have lost one of the few voices courageous enough to challenge the don’t-ask-questions mentality now prevalent in Rome.(Turning Point Project) — The excommunication of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò for “his refusal to recognize and submit to the Supreme Pontiff” presents us with an opportunity to revisit Viganò’s claim that the pope is not valid.Among the many reasons Viganò offers for saying so is the possibility that the election...