Free Republic

Is the media serious with this story? They’re trying to do Signalgate 2.0, but this time trying to rope in Secretary of Defense’s Pete Hegseth’s wife? It would appear so. In March, the Wall Street Journal ran with a story in which Hegseth shared sensitive information at a meeting where his wife was allegedly present. We don’t know if this is true because no one would go on the record to confirm it. Now, we have The New York Times trying to rehash the Signal stuff again, based on “four people with knowledge of the chat” (via NYT): Defense Secretary...

Last week, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) scrambled to contain the fallout from his tone-deaf El Salvador stunt that quickly turned into a political fiasco. The Maryland Democrat, who initially grandstanded about his efforts to “rescue” a deported MS-13 gang member, is now in full damage control mode—desperately trying to rewrite the narrative of a trip that backfired spectacularly. Van Hollen even hit the Sunday talk shows to contain the fallout. Curiously insisting to Jonathan Karl of ABC News’s “This Week” that he’s not defending Kilmar Abrego Garcia, but that he’s defending “the rule of law.” Host Jonathan Karl pressed...

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.

Sunday is a “clearing the spindle” day, and one of the things on my spindle has been Nate Silver’s prediction last week that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, aka AOC, is currently the most likely person to be the Democrat party’s 2028 presidential candidate. Frankly, I think he’s right. She’s telegenic, has name recognition, and manages to make the same politics that killed tens of millions of people in the 20th century seem user-friendly. She’s also Bernie Sanders’ anointed heir, and he missed the nomination in 2016 and 2020 only because the Democrat party panicked. Last week, Nate Silver, while acknowledging that it’s...

Ridicule and intrigue seem to hang on Joe Biden even three months after he was evicted from the White House. The latest controversy stems from the Biden family Easter photo which was clearly manipulated to add the patriarch.X users instantly sniffed out the Photoshop subterfuge.[snip]Here is Grok’s Artificial Intelligence analysis:To determine whether Joe Biden was photoshopped into the image, I’ve carefully analyzed several key aspects of the photo: lighting and shadows, edges and blending, interactions with others, and overall composition. Here’s the evidence that suggests Joe Biden was indeed digitally added to the scene.

Giorgia Meloni’s interpreter has apologized for faltering during a high-stakes meeting with Donald Trump earlier this week, prompting the Italian prime minister to jump in and translate her own comments about NATO and defense spending. Valentina Maiolini-Rothbacher, who was interrupted by Meloni when providing a translation at the White House meeting on Thursday, said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that the mishap was the “worst thing that can happen to an interpreter, a terrible setback.” Footage of the meeting shows President Trump asking Maiolini-Rothbacher for a translation of Meloni’s response to a question from an Italian...

Some arrogant BBC reporter tries to lecture Bukele about “human right” for gang members in El Salvador, after Bukele was elected for his second term. Let's just say it did not end well for the BBC reporter. Trouble with these moronic western legacy media is, they'll do everything possible to defend vicious criminals. Meanwhile, they never run anything in their lives. They just write nonsense every day and get paid for it too. Worth watching.

Watch VideoFox News host Mark Levin gives his take on the judicial branch’s role on ‘Life, Liberty & Levin.’

Sydney Johnston grew up in a nondenominational Christian household — but now the Upper West Side millennial is a devout Catholic. “There’s just something so beautiful and transcendent about the rituals and the ancient history in the Catholic Mass that’s been preserved,” Johnston, 30, told The Post. “The church really communicates a degree of reverence that I didn’t find in the more liberal, laissez-faire approach of nondenominational churches.” Confirmed in December 2024 at the Church of Notre Dame in Morningside Heights, Johnston is one of a growing number of young people turning to the Catholic Church from other denominations, religions...

For the first time, archaeologists discovered an industrial purple-dye factory that remained in business for 500 years between 1100 and 600 BCE in Israel, highlighting a famous and mysterious color in textile history.The color purple had long symbolized political and spiritual authority and wealth. However, until now, little evidence has surfaced of a physical location where extraction and processing took place.A team from the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University and the University of Chicago recently uncovered the first site in "the entire world" at the fishing village of Tel Shiqmona on Israel's Carmel coast. And the number...

Their critics call them MAGA Catholics. Others label them as traditionalists — even fundamentalists. What is certain is that conservative or “faithful” Catholics, as they often prefer to be known, seem to be everywhere right now — from the new candidate for America’s ambassador to the Holy See to holding dinners and prayers services at Mar-A-Lago. This small but fervent wave of new conservative Catholicism is exploding nationwide — more visible than ever as they celebrate their resurrection victory this Easter Sunday.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA - While Christians have often complained of bias in the selection of which days Google honors with its "Google Doodles," believers around the country were reportedly ecstatic to find that the search and advertising giant chose to honor the empty tomb of Jesus on Easter morning with an empty homepage. While many significant holidays like International Women's Day, Labor Day, and "Celebrating Pad Thai" are honored with a specially designed Google logo for the day, the celebration of Jesus's resurrection was given the highest honor, with a completely unaltered Google homepage. "Just as Christ left a completely...

Major depressive disorder (MDD) affects approximately 280 million people globally and is one of the leading causes of disability. One in every three people suffering from MDD also has to deal with treatment-resistant depression (TRD), a condition where patients do not respond to at least two antidepressant trials. Esketamine nasal spray, a rapid-acting anti-depressant, is known to be effective against TRD when administered alongside antidepressants like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) or a serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI). A study retrospectively compared the effectiveness of both the combinations in treating TRD and found that esketamine plus SNRI showed significantly better overall...

Blue laser vaporization alleviates lower urinary tract symptoms while preserving sexual function in patients undergoing benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) surgery, according to a study. Zun-Jie Hu and colleagues assessed the impact of 450-nm blue laser vaporization on sexual function in 67 patients (median age, 65 years) undergoing BPH surgery and followed for three months. The researchers found that blue laser vaporization significantly improved International Prostate Symptom Score, quality of life, and International Consultation on Incontinence Modular Questionnaire for Male Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (ICIQ-MLUTS) scores. Blue laser vaporization was also significantly associated with a reduction in postvoid residual volume. There...

Two people were killed an six more were injured during the mass shooting that took place Thursday at Florida State University. As I described here, the shooter was stopped in the act and sent to the hospital by police. It sounds like he's going to survive. He was later identified as Phoenix Ikner, a 20-year-old student at FSU. His mother was also identified as a local sheriff's deputy. Ikner used one of her handguns in the attack. However, today we've got a lot more information about Ikner and his history and what it shows is a lot of family problems,...

The acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was replaced Friday, only three days after assuming the role, as his appointment triggered a power struggle between Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Elon Musk of the Department of Government Efficiency, the New York Times reported. Gary Shapley was replaced after Bessent complained to President Donald Trump that Musk circumvented Bessent’s office to secure the position for Shapley, the NYT reported. The outlet cited people who said they were familiar with the situation. Shapley was a longstanding IRS agent who accused the Biden administration’s Department of Justice of dragging out its...

The deep state is in a state of chaos after Pete Hegseth fired three Department of Defense aides who were allegedly involved in the leaking of classified government information earlier this year, along with the departure of Hegseth’s chief of staff from his role following an extended period of turmoil within the agency. For context, on April 18, 2025, Hegseth terminated three Defense aides — a senior adviser named Dan Caldwell, Deputy Chief of Staff Darin Selnick, and Chief of Staff to the Deputy Secretary of Defense Colin Carroll —and removed Chief of Staff Joe Kasper from his position. All...

According to the Migration Policy Institute and ACLU, approximately 75% of deportations under the Obama administration (2009–2017) were nonjudicial removals, meaning they bypassed immigration court hearings and judicial oversight. In FY 2012 alone, 313,000 nonjudicial removals occurred, compared to 1,400 in 1995. These removals often involved "expedited removal" or "administrative removal," where Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents, such as Border Patrol or ICE officers, made decisions without involving an immigration judge. Did you hear one word about this from the media?

America's oldest serving astronaut Don Pettit has returned to Earth on his 70th birthday. The Soyuz MS-26 space capsule carrying Pettit and his Russian crewmates Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner made a parachute-assisted landing in Kazakhstan's steppe at 06:20 local time (01:20 GMT) on Sunday. They spent 220 days on board the International Space Station (ISS), orbiting the Earth 3,520 times, the US space agency Nasa said. For Pettit - who has now spent a total of 590 days in space - it was his fourth mission. Still, he is not the oldest person to fly in orbit - that...

During this week’s broadcast of FNC’s “Sunday Morrning Futures,” Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) offered an optimistic take on the Trump administration’s challenge to the country’s existing birthright citizenship policy currently being considered by the Supreme Court. “Look, Jason, this is a fascinating case,” he said. “It’s a close case. It can be won. No one knows the outcome for sure. But one thing that’s important for everyone to keep in mind, this case is not about whether birthright citizenship exists, nor does it undermine the 14th Amendment’s birthright citizenship promise. This is, rather, about what the contours of birthright citizenship...