Free Republic

A man desecrated the main altar of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican by climbing on top of it and throwing six candelabras that were on the altar to the ground, according to the Italian news agency ANSA. He’s seen pulling off the altar cloth before being stopped by security in front of stunned tourists. The altar is located just under the basilica’s famous stone canopy, designed by Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini, which was recently restored. After throwing the candelabras, the man began to remove the altar cloth, as can be seen in a video posted on social media....

Asher Fredman אשר פרדמן @fredman_a: When I served in Lebanon last October, we found huge Hezbollah weapons caches - together with USAID care packages (not to mention UNICEF folders). From the American taxpayer to Hezbollah, with love. @elonmusk. Feb 5, 2025

One was fired by email at 12:47 a.m. Another wept with colleagues as security escorted her from the office. A third frantically tried to fill a prescription after she got a 24-hour notice that her health care was ending.Then there is Jacqueline Devine, a contractor in the office of H.I.V.-AIDS at the United States Agency for International Development. Ms. Devine, a behavioral scientist who worked largely in sub-Saharan Africa on H.I.V. treatment, was among those affected by an abrupt mass firing in her Washington office on Jan. 28. She received no severance pay.“I’ve been going through the stages of grief,...

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is reportedly considering revoking CBS's broadcast license after the network aired a controversial interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris on "60 Minutes.” The interview sparked widespread outrage and calls for accountability after the network aired a misleading version, including highly distorted answers from Harris’ responses. According to a lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump, CBS violated state law by demonstrating deceptive acts in business conduct and “doctored” a "word salad" response from the failed Democrat presidential candidate about the Biden administration's involvement in the Israel-Hamas war. The FCC’s review stems from concerns that the...

Canada will host the ‘Marxist Winter School’ in February that will offer a ‘weekend of intensive Marxist training,’ It’s right in your face now.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand warned that the possible Department of Education eradication President Trump has alluded to will cause property taxes to spike across the state. The Democratic duo gathered for a press meeting on the state of public education on Sunday morning days after Democratic members of Congress were denied access into the Department of Education building. The pair expressed concern over reports that Trump is considering gutting the department through an executive order and then pushing for legislation to abolish it altogether. As many try to wrap their heads around what exactly the...

Please join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media.1 Timothy 2:1-2 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.Religion Forum threads labeled “Prayer” are closed to debate of any kind.

The clock struck 2 AM on Jan 21, 2025. In Treasury's basement, fluorescent lights hummed above four young coders. Their screens cast blue light across government-issue desks, illuminating energy drink cans and agency badges. As their algorithms crawled through decades of payment data, one number kept growing: $17 billion in redundant programs. And counting. "We're in," Akash Bobba messaged the team. "All of it." While career bureaucrats prepared orientation packets and welcome memos, DOGE's team was already deep inside the payment systems. No committees. No approvals. No red tape. Just four coders with unprecedented access and algorithms ready to run....

A retired firefighter who miraculously survived the devastation of 9/11 has died by suicide after suffering trauma from the attack for decades. Thomas 'Tommy' Dunn had been a firefighter for less than a year when two hijacked passenger jets crashed into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The new recruit had been busy that fateful morning on an EMS call and had just returned to his station in Brooklyn when the first plane hit the North Tower. After rushing to the scene, Tommy had been walking directly toward the South Tower when it came crashing down over lower...

Donald Trump launched a parting social media salvo at Taylor Swift as he bailed on the Super Bowl early after watching the Chiefs collapse against the Eagles. The president roasted the pop star for being booed while he was cheered at the New Orleans Superdome in a ruthless post on his Truth Social platform. Trump shared contrasting videos of the rapturous applause he received compared to the boos Swift received when she was shown on the big screen. His social media trolling only heaped more misery on the evening for Swift as she watched her boyfriend Travis Kelce's Kansas City...

More than 10,000 white South African farmers have expressed interest in relocating to the United States following an executive order signed by President Donald Trump. The move has sparked intense debate, raising concerns about the potential economic and social consequences for South Africa. On 7 February 2025, Trump signed an executive order freezing aid to South Africa and prioritising the resettlement of Afrikaners in the United States as refugees. The White House cited South Africa’s recently enacted Expropriation Without Compensation Act, arguing that it discriminates against the white minority population by allowing the state to seize land without compensation. The...

For the first time, analyses determine that some present-day Kenyans who identify as Swahili are genetically very different from medieval residents of the same region, while others have retained substantial medieval ancestry...The researchers found that the initial waves of newcomers were mainly from Persia. These findings align with the oldest Swahili oral stories, which tell of Persian (Shirazi) merchants or princes arriving on the Swahili shores."It was exciting to find biological evidence that Swahili oral history probably depicts Swahili genetic ancestry as well as cultural legacy," said Esther Brielle, research fellow in genetics in the Reich lab.Brielle is co-first author...

Benny Johnson @bennyjohnson Trump just posted this reacting to Taylor Swift getting booed at the Super Bowl 🤣🔥 8:10 PM · Feb 9, 2025

What do we have here, a banana republic? According to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem: The FBI is so corrupt. We will work with any and every agency to stop leaks and prosecute these crooked deep state agents to the fullest extent of the law. https://t.co/HNW1ujf0Gd — Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) February 9, 2025Things like this, where the army fights the navy, are exactly what happen in a night-haunted tinpot dictatorship.If what Noem says is right, this is an amazing breach of professionalism at the FBI, leaking news of raids to the press in order to undermine another federal agency.It's...

For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful! I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies. Let's rip the waste out of our great nations budget, even if it's a penny at a time.

Someone told me no one has one in three in a row.

Elon Musk said Saturday that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the U.S. Treasury Department have agreed on new anti-fraud measures aimed at preventing tens of billions of dollars in fraudulent government entitlement payments each year. In a Feb. 8 statement shared on social media, Musk described the scale of the problem as “utterly insane,” citing estimates that at least $50 billion annually is being lost due to improper payments, including funds going to individuals without Social Security Numbers or even temporary ID numbers.Musk, who leads DOGE and has been designated a “special government employee” by President Donald Trump,...

Long shot is a huge understatement, but the sentiment alone says what you need to know.Secession From Illinois Is in the AirPlease consider Secession From Illinois Is in the AirAs states grow more politically polarized, the difference between good and bad governance is coming into sharper relief for voters. Enough people are noticing in Illinois that some counties want to secede from the Land of Lincoln and join a state that isn’t ruled by public unions and their political yes-men.In November, to little national notice, seven Illinois counties voted to consider seceding, and now Indiana is rolling out the welcome...

President Donald Trump said this weekend that he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin about ending the Russia–Ukraine war, drawing a response from the Kremlin.Speaking to the New York Post in an exclusive interview on Air Force Once, Trump said that he did speak with the Russian leader about the war, which started in 2022. Asked about how many times he’s spoken to Putin in recent days, Trump said, “I'd rather not say.”However, Trump said he believes Putin “does care” about the carnage on the battlefield and “wants to see people stop dying.”“All those dead people. Young, young, beautiful people....

A man with the Palestinian flag got onto the field at the Superdome during halftime but was tackled by security