Free Republic

[Catholic Caucus] Pope Leo XIV Wades Into Durbin DebatePope Leo XIV responded to controversy over the Chicago cardinal’s plans to honor a Catholic U.S. senator who supports legalized abortion, saying that the senator’s record should be considered in its totality and that Americans should search together for the truth on ethical issues.Several U.S. bishops condemned Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich’s plans to honor U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Illinois, with a “lifetime achievement award” for his work surrounding immigration policy despite his pro-abortion voting record. “I am not terribly familiar with the particular case. I think it’s important to look at the...

A protester berating United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Massachusetts found her car in a lake, according to video posted by Fox News reporter Bill Melugin. The incident occurred in Upton, Massachusetts, where a woman began shouting at ICE agents who were taking at least one illegal immigrant into custody, according to Fox News. Melugin obtained the photo and 11-second video from a source within ICE. “Well, that sucks. Look at that, Lucy. Her car got lost,” an agent said on the video after the car, a gray or silver crossover, rolled into the lake and began...

LAYTON, Utah (ABC4) — A 92-year-old Idaho man was arrested in Utah after traveling across state lines with a plan to kill his nephew and his nephew’s wife. Billy J Nevills, 92, has been arrested on two counts of attempted murder. He has not been formally charged yet. According to the arrest statement, on Sept. 28, 2025, Nevills traveled from his residence in Twin Falls, ID, to Utah. He would allegedly later tell investigators that he was driving around and looking for his nephew’s house with the intention of killing him. The Layton City Police Department located Nevills in Layton...

Senate Democrats have voted down a Republican bill to keep funding the government, putting it on a near certain path to a shutdown after midnight Wednesday for the first time in almost seven years. The 55-45 vote Tuesday on the bill to extend federal funding for seven weeks fell short of the 60 needed to end a filibuster and pass the legislation. It came as Democrats are making good on their threat to close the government if President Donald Trump and Republicans won't accede to their health care demands. Senate Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Republicans are trying to...

Despite a Houston area baseball facility initially claiming Muslim men shooting into a 12-yaer-old baseball game was “recreational shooting,” the Department of Homeland Security says the men are dangerous criminals. DHS also says two of the men never should have been allowed into the country or been granted the immigration status they were by the Biden administration. Three Muslim men were charged last week with felonies after they allegedly fired rounds toward a youth baseball complex in Katy, Texas, a suburb west of Houston. Shots were fired into the Ameripark youth baseball field, known as “The Rac,” when a youth...

A Democrat prosecutor in D.C.’s most populous suburb allowed illegal immigrants to go unpunished for vicious crimes because a felony conviction might lead to their deportation, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares alleged in an investigation Friday. Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney Steve Descano requires his staff to examine “immigration consequences” when considering cases, then often pleads them down to more minor crimes. That’s a leniency not always afforded to Americans, and it amounts to illegal discrimination, Miyares said in a report that encourages the federal Department of Justice to take action. Descano “engaged in a pattern and practice of denying U.S....

A former FBI agent says a serial killer who doubled as an FBI informant for years manipulated agents into believing he was helping them, all the while preying on unsuspecting victims. Scott Kimball will likely spend the rest of his life in a federal prison in Colorado after he was sentenced to 70 years in 2009. He pleaded guilty to killing four people between 2003 and 2004, and his number of victims could be much higher, according to former FBI Special Agent Jonny Grusing. “He made a game out of tricking the FBI,” Grusing told Fox News Digital, adding that...

A small boat crossed the Channel on Saturday carrying 125 people, the largest ever number to make the journey in a single vessel. The crossing surpasses a record set in August when 106 people attempted the journey in one boat. Figures from the Home Office show 895 migrants crossed the Channel in 12 boats on Saturday, while around 33,000 people have done so since the start of 2025. It comes after another migrant died trying to cross the Channel, with a body found on Sunday morning on a beach near Boulogne-sur-Mer in northern France, according to the AFP news agency....

Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth were accused of 'condescending and insulting' America's top generals and admirals at a highly anticipated summit on Tuesday. The president and Secretary of War hosted hundreds of military chiefs at Marine Corps Base Quantico on Tuesday, for a meeting they hoped would inspire the nation and revolutionize America's fighting force. But ex-Pentagon chiefs warned that the political speeches, which meandered through various topics from fat soldiers to Joe Biden's autopen, risked alienating the top brass. A former national security official told the Daily Mail that he found it 'incredibly condescending ... and a highly inappropriate...

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy has announced the return of the newly restored “Christ on the Water” painting to its place of prominence at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA). The historic artwork, which had been relocated to the basement of the Academy’s chapel in 2023, was unveiled during a ceremony in Wiley Hall with Academy leadership and midshipmen in attendance.

FAFO Is In the October Air …

The Justice Department filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) and Sheriff Robert Luna on Tuesday, accusing it of "systematically" delaying concealed carry permits for law-abiding citizens in violation of the Second Amendment. The lawsuit, which the DOJ touts as its first-ever affirmative lawsuit in support of gun owners, alleges the LASD created a "pattern and practice" of obstruction by forcing law-abiding citizens to wait months and even years for a decision. The DOJ said in their complaint that, between January 2024 and March 2025, the sheriff’s office received 3,982 new applications for concealed carry permits...

During an IDF operation in Gaza City, forces spotted a man carrying a white flag and calling for help. This unusual sight raised suspicions that he might be an Israeli hostage, prompting additional forces to be deployed to the area. According to a report by Channel 12 News, after focused searches, it was determined that the individual was not a hostage but a terrorist attempting to deceive the forces. The IDF believes this was an attempt by Hamas to lure soldiers to a specific location for the purpose of setting off explosives or other devices. The IDF spokesperson stated, "During...

Bruce Bochy and the Texas Rangers announced on Monday evening what has been expected for the past several months when the two parties said they like each other, but not enough to stay together.Not quite Keith Urban/Nicole Kidman-level split, but a split nonetheless.While announcing that Bochy’s run as the team’s manager is over, they announced that they have offered the 70-year-old future Hall of Famer a spot with their club as an advisor. Don’t expect him to take it.He sounds like a man who wants to remain on the bench, and there are openings already with other big league clubs....

Ian Andre Roberts, the superintendent of the Des Moines Public Schools in Iowa, who was arrested by ICE, is a registered active Democrat voter in the state of Maryland.According to the official website for the Maryland State Board of Elections, Roberts, who overstayed a student visa from 1999, held an active voter status and was registered as a Democrat in Maryland, Fox News reported. The development was first reported by columnist Dustin Grage. Republican state Delegate Matt Morgan, chair of the Maryland House Freedom Caucus, told Fox News Digital that Roberts’ registration meant he was eligible to vote in all...

Microsoft hosts ready-to-use political censorship software on its Azure Marketplace in China, further evidence of how the company has aided the development and implementation of the country’s repressive system of political control. An Associated Press investigation revealed American tech companies like Dell, IBM, and Microsoft are increasingly recognized to have played a pivotal role in the construction of the modern Chinese surveillance state over the last two decades by providing critical hardware and software. Less documented is the role some U.S. companies have played in enabling mass censorship. Microsoft in particular aids and abets censorship by the Chinese government far...

WASHINGTON, Sept 30 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump warned congressional Democrats on Tuesday that allowing the federal government to shut down at midnight would allow his administration to take "irreversible" actions including shutting down programs important to them. "We can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible, that are bad for them and irreversible by them, like cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that they like, cutting programs that they like," Trump said in remarks to reporters from the White House Oval Office."You all know Russell Vought," Trump added, referring to the director of the Office...

Co-host (of CNN’s The Situation Room) Wolf Blitzer said, “I want to play something President Trump said last hour as he addressed senior U.S. military officers at the Marine base at Quantico, Virginia. Listen to this, then I’ll get your reaction.” […] Johnson said, “This is absolutely appalling. This president is an unstable human being, and it’s right for this moment to check him. We’re calling on Congress to do its job. There’s no way that anyone in this country should be OK with armed militarized troops being sent to cities. These individuals, these brave women and men who sign...

Fahima Noori had big dreams when she graduated from university in Afghanistan. She had studied law, graduated from a midwifery programme and even worked in a mental health clinic. But all that was taken away when the Taliban swept into power in 2021. They banned girls over the age of 12 from getting an education, severely restricted job options for women and recently removed books written by women from universities. For Fahima, the internet was her last lifeline to the outside world. "I recently enrolled in an online university [and] I had hoped to finish my studies and find an...

Washington — A federal judge in Massachusetts ruled Tuesday that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Secretary of State Marco Rubio violated the First Amendment by targeting pro-Palestinian students for deportation in order to strike fear into international students and curb lawful speech. In a 161-page decision, U.S. District Judge William Young delivered a blistering assessment of the Trump administration's efforts to pursue international students who expressed pro-Palestinian views on college campuses, which he said was constitutionally protected speech. The judge, appointed by former President Ronald Reagan, was unsparing not only in his views of Noem and Rubio's actions, but...