Free Republic

The prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27 is "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma,” as Sir Winston Churchill once said regarding Russia. Similarly, the mystery of this prophecy has intrigued scholars and theologians for centuries. Many believe that Daniel 9:24-27 is the most crucial passage of prophecy in all of Scripture. No prophecy in the whole Bible is more critical to our understanding of the end times than these four verses. There are numerous interpretations of the historical and biblical context (and timeframes) surrounding the events described in these four verses of Scripture. About a year ago, I wrote...

A multi-year investigation centered on multiple motels, “brow and lash” salons and alleged human trafficking in and around Nebraska’s largest city has led to charges against five people in the hotel business. The five, who own, operate and manage the involved hotels, are accused of crimes ranging from alleged sex and labor trafficking, fraudulent use of visas, money laundering and concealing undocumented immigrants, law enforcement officials announced Tuesday. Also seized as part of the search warrants was $565,000 in cash and jewelry. A representative of U.S. Homeland Security said workers in the country without proper documentation also were detained, though...

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s ‘Make America Healthy Again’ movement is taking off in red — and blue — states, even as health experts condemn some of his actions.Republicans were also solely behind 80 percent of the bills this year to restrict geoengineering, a conspiracy theory that the U.S. government is controlling the weather by spraying chemicals into the sky. Legislation introduced related to ivermectin has grown fivefold since last year, while bills prohibiting geoengineering have more than doubled.Democrats, meanwhile, were behind the vast majority of bills to curb plastics and pesticide use. Roughly 70 percent of the measures to phase...

[Catholic Caucus] FULL TEXT: Msgr. Coronado-Arrascue's letter to Crux'Am I supposed to remain silent about alleged abuse ... because it is not convenient to the Pope's narrative that he did nothing wrong?'On August 1, Elise Ann Allen published an article titled “Coverup allegations against Leo spun by defrocked priest” for left-wing Catholic website Crux. Msgr. Ricardo Coronado-Arrascue, a canon lawyer who lives in Peru, is the subject of the article.Coronado-Arrascue was previously stationed in Colorado Springs, where he served as diocesan judicial vicar and chancellor. He also taught seminarians Canon Law.On December 19, 2024, Coronado-Arrascue was dismissed from the clerical...

Crime on the streets of Washington, D.C., has become practically apocalyptic, to the point that President Donald Trump has been forced to take control of the city’s law enforcement operations and deploy National Guard troops to return order. “This is liberation day in D.C., and we’re going to take our capital back,” Trump declared. And, of course, the left-wing response was to either deny that crime in our nation’s capital even exists—which is only true in the wealthy elitist bubbles in which they reside—or accuse Trump of racism. “As D.C. the National Guard arrived at their headquarters Tuesday, for many...

Boycott, eh? US exports of liquor and wine to Canada have plummeted by more than 60% in the first half of the year as furious Canucks snub American booze because of President Trump’s trade war. Shipments of popular US-made whiskeys, rums, gins and other liquors through June to Canadian provinces was around $43.4 million, according to the Distilled Spirits Council — a 62% drop from the approximate $114 million during the same period last year. Wine exports have suffered even more severely, falling approximately 67% based on federal trade statistics provided by the US trade group. The data was first...

It’s the presidential seal of approval. Former President Barack Obama’s newly revealed call with mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani is a nod that could help make the socialist more palatable to panicking high-level Democrats, insiders tell The Post. Details about the June call — first reported by New York Times staff writer Mara Gay on Wednesday and confirmed by The Post — remain vague, but its disclosure appears to be part of an effort to persuade holdout Big Apple voters that Mamdani is not a fringe candidate. “It gives the sense that President Obama’s world is comfortable with his candidacy. It...

A cognitively impaired New Jersey man grew infatuated with “Big sis Billie,” a Facebook Messenger chatbot with a young woman’s persona. His fatal attraction puts a spotlight on Meta’s AI guidelines, which have let chatbots make things up and engage in ‘sensual’ banter with children. When Thongbue Wongbandue began packing to visit a friend in New York City one morning in March, his wife Linda became alarmed. “But you don’t know anyone in the city anymore,” she told him. Bue, as his friends called him, hadn’t lived in the city in decades. And at 76, his family says, he was...

JD Vance's fishing trip in England was technically illegal because British Foreign Secretary David Lammy did not have the required rod license. The Foreign Office said Lammy described the lapse as an "administrative error," that he had written to the British Environment Agency to notify them and that he had now purchased the relevant licenses. It is not yet clear whether Vance had a license—Newsweek has contacted his team, via email, for comment.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to London on Thursday, a day before a critical U.S.-Russia summit in Alaska. "Yesterday, together with all partners, today in a bilateral format, we discussed expectations from the meeting in Alaska and possible prospects," Zelenskyy said in a social media post after the meeting. "We also discussed in detail security guarantees that can make peace truly sustainable if the United States still manages to pressure Russia to stop the killings and engage in real meaningful diplomacy. It is important that we can all work together within a coalition of those...

Now it's Christianity's turn to be mocked by the Palestinian Authority. While it's PA policy to insult, mock and misrepresent Jewish tradition and Jewish history in the land of Israel whenever possible, this week it was Christian traditions' turn to be insulted and denied by the PA. In the words of the official PA daily columnist, Christian traditions of the Holy Sepulcher and the Holy Grail are "nonsense," because Jesus doesn't belong to Christian tradition but belongs to the Palestinians.

Expect Joe Scarborough & Co. to soon return to their regularly scheduled programming of trashing President Trump. But at least in this moment, the show has struck a very different tone on the issue of Trump's moves to use federal agents to bolster crime-fighting in DC. On today's show, Susan Page of USA Today was the first to suggest that Trump has set a "trap" for Democrats. Oppose Trump's crime-fighting efforts at their peril. As Page mordantly put it: "There are very few politicians who want to stand up for crime." Joe Scarborough ran with that, repeatedly referring to Trump's...

In A Nutshell A new bladder cancer device called TAR-200 delivers chemotherapy directly into the bladder over time, avoiding long treatment sessions. In a clinical trial, over 8 in 10 patients with a specific type of bladder cancer (carcinoma in situ) saw their cancer disappear after treatment. Many patients stayed cancer-free for more than a year, and most were able to avoid bladder removal surgery during the study period. Side effects were mostly mild urinary symptoms that cleared up within weeks, with serious problems being uncommon. ================================================================= LOS ANGELES — For bladder cancer patients whose tumors stop responding to standard...

The Virginia Police Benevolent Association, which four years ago supported all Republicans, is backing Abigail Spanberger (D) over Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R). RICHMOND — The Virginia Police Benevolent Association is backing Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic nominee for governor — a switch from four years ago, when the group favored Republicans up and down the statewide ticket. The PBA announced Wednesday that it is splitting its endorsements in statewide races this year, picking the Republican candidates for lieutenant governor and attorney general, John Reid and Jason S. Miyares. The group praised Spanberger for voting to increase local law enforcement funding...

Federal agents turned up in downtown Los Angeles, where Gov. Gavin Newsom was delivering a speech, and detained at least one person in the latest high-profile immigration enforcement operation in the city. Newsom was speaking at the Japanese American Cultural Center in the Little Tokyo area about a congressional redistricting map plan in response to Texas' redistricting effort. The center also was hosting an event in honor of three Japanese American brothers who served in World War II. U.S. Border Patrol Sector Commander Gregory K. Bovino said the agency was conducting roving immigration enforcement patrols in the area and one...

On the 90th anniversary of the Social Security Act, President Donald J. Trump delivered a stirring proclamation in the Oval Office, promising to “Make Social Security Great Again.” Trump celebrated the passage of his signature legislation, the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which includes a temporary senior tax deduction, effectively eliminating taxes on Social Security benefits for many recipients aged 65 and above from 2025 through 2028. As part of the administration’s push to “root out fraud, waste, and abuse,” Trump touted removing 275,000 illegal aliens from the Social Security system and clearing 12.4 million names listed as being over 120...

LOS ANGELES (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom stood with other prominent Democratic leaders Thursday to announce that the state will move forward with a partisan plan to redraw congressional maps in an effort to help his party win five more U.S. House seats in 2026.The move is a direct response to a Republican-led effort in Texas, pushed by President Donald Trump as his party seeks to maintain its slim House majority after the midterm elections. Texas lawmakers are considering a new map that would help them send five more Republicans to Washington, but Democrats have so far halted a...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Washington, D.C., police chief ordered more cooperation between her officers and federal immigration officials as President Donald Trump’s law enforcement takeover of the nation’s capital took root Thursday. National Guard troops watched over some of the world’s most renowned landmarks and Humvees took up position in front of the busy main train station. In a city tense from days of ramp-up toward federal law enforcement intervention, volunteers helped homeless people leave long-standing encampments — to where, exactly, was often unclear. The mayor, meanwhile, left town for a family commitment. And the president told reporters that he...

California’s far-left Governor Gavin Newsom has once again proven he’s more interested in political theater than governing, launching what he’s calling “Liberation Day” on Thursday in a desperate bid to intimidate President Donald Trump and Republican-led states. On Monday, in a hysterical, all-caps ultimatum, Newsom demanded that Trump “stand down” on “red-state gerrymandering” or face California’s “massive counter-gerrymander.” “DONALD TRUMP HAS 24 HOURS LEFT TO RESPOND TO GOVERNOR NEWSOM’S LETTER. IF HE DOES NOT STAND DOWN, THERE WILL BE A VERY IMPORTANT PRESS CONFERENCE THIS WEEK WITH A MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER.” Newsom accused...

A series of experiments published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology indicates that when people interact with autonomous agents—such as robots or virtual assistants—that display strong emotional intelligence, they tend to see those machines as more humanlike. But this shift comes with an unintended consequence: people may also begin to see other humans as less human, leading to a higher likelihood of mistreating them.