Free Republic

Days after the Trump administration's big H-1B fee hike to $100,000, a bipartisan support to further changes to the visa allocation system was seen in the US senate with the introduction of the H-1B, L-1 visa reforms bill. The bill proposes further restrictions on both visas, and comes days after the steep H-1B fee hike and overhaul proposed for the existing lottery system. The move is likely to affect Indians the most, who account for 71% of H-1B visa beneficiaries. The proposed legislation introduces stricter wage and recruitment rules for employers, giving priority to H-1B visas for workers with STEM...

Katie Daviscourt 📸 @KatieDaviscourt Breaking: I just got assaulted by an Antifa agitator outside the ICE facility in Portland. The suspect walked up to me and hit me in the face with her flag pole, swinging it like a baseball bat.

At Quantico, Secretary Pete Hegseth and President Donald Trump delivered a blunt message to America’s generals: the age of political correctness is over, and uncompromising readiness is now the standard. When Secretary Pete Hegseth strode to the podium at Quantico and declared, “Welcome to the War Department,” he did more than rename an institution. He called for a reckoning. Hegseth’s speech was direct and unsparing. “The era of politically correct, overly sensitive don’t-hurt-anyone’s-feelings leadership ends right now.” He pledged to “clear out the debris, remove distractions, [and] clear the way for leaders to be leaders… You might say, we’re ending...

The complaint, filed by a relative of slain Hamas hostage Shiri Bibas, charges the Islamic Republic with crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. JNS Staff. A complaint filed this month to the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands on behalf of a bereaved Israeli family charges Iran with genocide and other egregious crimes for its involvement in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel.

🇺🇸Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem 🇮🇱(10/1/25)[Prayer]Water, Rivers, and Streams in the Bible2 Kings 2:19-22Healing of the Water 19 The people of the city said to Elisha, “Look, our lord, this town is well situated, as you can see, but the water is bad and the land is unproductive.” 20 “Bring me a new bowl,” he said, “and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him. 21 Then he went out to the spring and threw the salt into it, saying, “This is what the Lord says: ‘I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death...

The MONTHLY Gardening Thread is a gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is a non-political respite. No matter what, you won’t be flamed, and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack the...

It's after 8 am East Coast time. I thought the world was going to end eight hours ago? For lack of a budget. "Our Democracy" was supposed to collapse, leaving the Republic in the hands of Hitler. I didn't feel anything. Wait. I did feel anger. Because our elected garbage only has two Constitutional duties: protect our citizens and pass a budget.

IRCC says onus is on applicants to make sure their work permits are completeA construction company in Dartmouth is desperate to find help for three employees from the Philippines who may have to leave Canada because of a mistake in their applications to renew work permits. In two cases, Brycon Construction forgot to pay a $230 employer fee as part of the application. In the third, it neglected to submit a labour market impact assessment. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) rejected the renewals and told the men they had to stop working immediately, leaving them with the option to...

The UN is a sanctuary for third rate-staffers and pseudo-intellectuals from around the world on the lam from reality. In his address to the General Assembly of the United Nations, President Donald Trump claimed that “the UN has such tremendous potential” but was not using it. What did this mean? The UN officially is a member’s organization, a meeting place for diplomacy. Did Trump want to go beyond this and see a UN as a powerful organization operating on its own? The UN has grown into a massive bureaucracy, with over 130,000 people. Secretary-General António Guterres speaks for the UN...

MUNICH (AP) — German police closed the Oktoberfest fairgrounds Wednesday morning following a bomb threat from the suspected perpetrator of an explosion in northern Munich, city officials said. At least one person’s death was believed to be connected to the explosion at a residential building early Wednesday, which Munich police said was deliberately set on fire and part of a domestic dispute. It was not immediately clear whether the deceased was the suspected perpetrator or someone else. Another person, who was not considered to be a danger to the public, remained missing. Specialized teams were called to the scene to...

Charlie Kirk's assassination on September 10th, 2025, had a significant impact on the country. It united Christians and conservatives worldwide in mourning one of their most vocal apologists and evangelists, especially among the younger generation. Kirk was a man of God first before he would ever strive to be identified as a conservative activist. It feels as if we have lost a brother, not just a celebrity, and it's because of the life Charlie lived. --SNIP-- With hardly any proof or solid evidence, the ADL has continued to weaponize its activism against conservatism to capitalize on outrage culture to make...

1 October 2025 Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Virgin, Doctor on Wednesday of week 26 in Ordinary Time St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Church - Lansing, MI Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: C(I).Readings for the feriaReadings for the memorialThese are the readings for the feriaFirst readingNehemiah 2:1-8'Give me leave to go to the city of my ancestors and rebuild it'In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, the wine being my concern, I took up the wine and offered it to the king. Now I had never been downcast before. So the king said,...

Once again, it feels as if we’re tiptoeing toward an official war between the United States and Russia — as opposed to the proxy war that has endured for three and half years between Russia and NATO-backed Ukraine. Although President Trump has downplayed the “rare and urgent” meeting of top military commanders from around the world at Quantico, Virginia, on Tuesday, the event has generated intense speculation. The Pentagon says that secretary of War Hegseth merely wants to deliver a speech on the “warrior ethos” and make sure that military leaders are all walking in the same direction. The president...

Gov. Phil Murphy’s approval rating has dipped below President Donald Trump’s approval numbers in New Jersey, according to a new Emerson College poll that underscores how economic anxiety is shaping the state’s gubernatorial race. The survey, conducted Sept. 22 to 23 among 935 likely voters, shows Murphy with a 35% job approval rating. That is lower than Trump, who holds a 41% approval rating among those surveyed.

In 2021, Katharina Krüsselmann finished her PhD research on a possible link between legal firearms ownership and violent deaths in Europe. The news article was published by the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. From the article: Firearms are the most deadly weapons in common use. So you would expect that the more there are, the more murders are committed with them. But Katharina Krüsselmann did not find such a link when she compared studies on firearm use in Europe. She says this is in part because the murder rate is extremely low in many European countries, which makes small...

“‘He who comes from above is above all, he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. What He has seen and heard, of that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony’” (John 3:31–32). Jesus Christ is the one “who descended from heaven” (3:13). As such, He is “above all”—Christ is sovereign over the universe in general, and the world of humanity in particular. In the old covenant, “God . . . spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets” (Heb. 1:1). But in...

A new chapter in local commerce. Dot is DoorDash’s first autonomous delivery robot — purpose-built to bring orders straight to your door. Designed from the ground up to move goods, not people, Dot is one-tenth the size of a car, fully electric, and street-friendly. It’s engineered for safe, reliable trips through your neighborhood and proudly developed in-house by our team at DoorDash Labs.

National Parks will largely remain open even as the federal government shuts down, according to a plan made public on Tuesday evening. “Park roads, lookouts, trails, and open-air memorials will generally remain accessible to visitors,” says a shutdown contingency plan for the National Park Service (NPS). The plan states that expected staffing levels will be “held to the amount needed for the protection of life, property, and public health and safety, and will be based on the assumption that the NPS is conducting no park operations and providing no visitor services.”

Russian forces occupied Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, for just under a month. Across those 29 days in early 2022, they committed acts of such barbarity that this Ukrainian town will forever be synonymous with war crimes; this conflict’s Srebrenica. Residents were killed and tortured in their hundreds; more than 100 were buried in a mass grave outside the Orthodox Christian church. Others were murdered as they fled. The basement of a children’s summer camp was converted into a torture chamber where women and children were systematically raped. Soldiers slashed throats, mutilated victims and killed parents in front of...

When Israeli jets struck Hamas targets in Doha on September 9, 2025, the explosions reverberated far beyond the Qatari capital. The attack, aimed at senior Hamas leaders residing in Qatar, marked the first known Israeli strike on Gulf soil. It also highlighted a deeper transformation in Middle Eastern politics: the emerging alignment between Israel and Gulf monarchies against the Muslim Brotherhood — and the controversies surrounding Qatar’s influence that some call “Qatargate.” On that September night, Israeli F-15s and F-35s launched missiles over the Red Sea, arching through Saudi skies before slamming into Doha’s upscale neighborhoods. The targets: Hamas leaders...