Free Republic

What we know about the case * A judge sentenced Sean “Diddy” Combs to 50 months in prison, fined him $500,000 and ordered five years of supervised release. * Before he was sentenced, Combs addressed the judge, begging for mercy and apologizing for "sick" actions. * Prosecutors had pushed for more than 11 years, while the defense sought 14 months — which would have equaled time served. Since Combs has been in custody since September 2024, he will receive credit for over a year already served. * A jury acquitted Combs of racketeering and sex trafficking charges on July 2,...

SUMMARYProtests erupt in Spain, Italy, Ireland, France, Germany and Switzerland Protesters in Barcelona smash windows In Italy, students occupy, block access to universities Pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Europe on Thursday blocked traffic and vandalised shops and restaurants after Israeli forces intercepted a Gaza-bound humanitarian aid flotilla. Israel faced international condemnation after armed Israeli soldiers boarded around 40 ships that were attempting to break a naval blockade to deliver aid to the Palestinian enclave, arresting more than 400 foreign activists including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg. In Barcelona, protesters smashed or spray-painted anti-Israel slogans on windows of stores and restaurants including coffee...

Churches across the West are twisting themselves into shapes no apostle would recognize — bending like pretzels to please secular society. They update doctrines, rewrite homilies, and water down long-held beliefs, all in hopes of attracting people who rarely show up anyway. And now the Church of England has chosen its new leader: Dame Sarah Mullally, hailed as a “theological liberal” and celebrated for her progressive stances. But it raises a fair question: does the Archbishop believe in the Christianity she is meant to lead, or only in a softened imitation of it? Mullally, the first female Archbishop of Canterbury...

The Yom Kippur killer was on bail for alleged rape before his synagogue attack, it emerged last night. Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, was under investigation by Greater Manchester Police over a sexual attack carried out this year and was due to appear in court. It is believed unemployed Al-Shamie was also facing mounting debts and the collapse of his marriage, with his wife leaving the family home with their one-year-old son six months ago. Residents said he was a loner who spent his days in pyjamas, bulking up by weightlifting in his garden and annoying neighbours by parking his battered Kia...

..a death sentence in Tunisia...Facebook posts critical of Tunisia's... US intelligence officials told...September 8th Israeli attack on the Gaza Aid Flotilla... Court of Appeals ruling against President Trump's executive order to end birthright... The US Supreme Court reaffirming the right of the Trump... Another night of drone sightings and disruption at the Munich... Russian air defenses shooting down a drone...fire ignited... Explosions in the Sumy and Kharkiv regions... Music mogul-icon Sean "Diddy" Combs sentenced to 50 months... US House Speaker Mike Johnson deciding to keep the House out... Trump Speaks Of Hamas Readiness For "Peace" Calls On Israel To End...

The vile attack on a Manchester synagogue on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar should be a blaring wake-up call to the United Kingdom that Islamist extremism is out of hand. Antizionists screaming “Globalize the Intifada!” have spent the last two years insisting that their fervid calls for the elimination of Israel have nothing to do with antisemitism — indeed, that it’s offensive to suggest otherwise. Their protests, you see, are motivated solely by humanitarian concerns. But if any bright line ever divided principled opposition to the war in Gaza from outright hatred of Jews, the “Free Free Palestine”...

[Catholic Caucus] Catholics invited to make reparation this weekend for ‘abomination’ of Vatican LGBT eventFour bishops will lead an act of reparation and a rosary in atonement for a sacrilegious pilgrimage that saw thousands of so-called 'LGBT Catholics' process into St. Peter's Basilica.Michael Matt, editor of the Remnant newspaper, is inviting Catholics across the globe to join attendees of this weekend’s Catholic Identity Conference (CIC) in Pittsburgh in making an act of reparation and reciting the holy rosary in reparation for the abomination that took place at the Vatican during the recent LGBT pilgrimage.Matt invites the faithful to join Bishop...

Mobs gathered not just in Whitehall but also in London railway stations and in Leeds, Manchester, Bristol, Bournemouth and elsewhereAs so often, the Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis hit the nail on the head over yesterday’s terror attack in Manchester. It was, he said, the result of “a tidal wave of Jew hated.” Jews have spent the past two years highlighting the danger posed by the authorities’ refusal to take more than perfunctory action against the regular hate marches and gatherings. We have warned what was coming – and yesterday it came. It will, I dread to write, not be the...

The prime minister has called for protesters to “respect the grief of British Jews this week” after the Manchester synagogue attack. Ahead of a planned demonstration against the ban on Palestine Action this Saturday, Keir Starmer wrote in the Jewish Chronicle that activists should recognise this is a time of mourning. “Peaceful protest is a cornerstone of our democracy – and there is justified concern about the suffering in Gaza – but a minority have used these protests as a pretext for stoking antisemitic tropes,” he wrote. “I urge anyone thinking about protesting this weekend to recognise and respect the...

The Prince of Wales has said he will bring change to the monarchy when he is king, in an interview palace sources say is the most open Prince William has ever been. The Prince was speaking to the actor Eugene Levy in Windsor, for the Apple TV+ show The Reluctant Traveller. In a revealing conversation, the actor asked Prince William about his future role as King. "I think it's safe to say that change is on my agenda," he said. "Change for good, and I embrace that, I enjoy that change. I don't fear it, that's the bit that excites...

WOODFORD COUNTY, Ky. — An Indiana man convicted in the death of a 6-year-old Kentucky boy is now out of prison on parole. Ronald Exantus was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2018, but was released early on good behavior and education credits. He broke into the Versailles home of Logan Tipton in December 2015, fatally stabbed the boy and attacked the little boy's father and sisters. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity for murder, but a jury found him guilty but mentally ill on assault charges. Tipton's family also survived the attack and his father...

@AmichaiChikli In the wake of the horrific Manchester terrorist attack, Israel and the Jewish people stand firmly with our allies in the United Kingdom. On behalf of the State of Israel, I am proud to host British patriot @TRobinsonNewEra who will visit Israel in mid-October. Tommy is a courageous leader on the front line against radical Islam. At a time when Jews across Europe face rising antisemitism, it is vital to strengthen bonds with allies who refuse to be silent. He has proven himself a true friend of Israel and the Jewish people, unafraid to speak the truth and confront...

NZBA had nearly 150 members but banks began leaving when Trump was re-elected on promise to ‘drill, baby, drill’The global banking industry’s net zero target-setting group has announced it will shut down immediately, amid faltering climate commitments around the world.The Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), which was rocked by a wave of departures after Donald Trump’s re-election, said its remaining members had “voted to transition from a member-based alliance and to establish its guidance as a framework”.“As a result of this decision, NZBA will cease operations immediately,” a spokesperson said.Sustainable investment campaigners offered mixed reactions to the move. Jeanne Martin,...

“In a dramatic display of symbolism, Pope Leo XIV blessed a block of ice to challenge climate change deniers and urge political leaders to act. The gesture was performed at a global gathering south of Rome marking the 10th anniversary of Laudato Si, the late Pope Francis' ecological encyclical. Standing before a melting glacier fragment, Pope Leo invoked his predecessor's environmental legacy while chastising those who mock climate science. He called on leaders to act with courage rather than delay, and invited attendees to join the effort.”

A new report from PEN America tracks restrictions on school books across 45 states.Restrictions on books in public schools have become “rampant and common,” according to a new report by the free speech organization PEN America, so frequent in some states that they are now considered “routine and expected part of school operations.” Kasey Meehan, director of PEN America’s Freedom to Read program, said the frequency and breadth of restrictions over the past four years has begun to desensitize Americans to the banning of books in schools. “There’s this numbness we have,” Meehan said, “toward not just book bans, but...

“CAIRO, October 4. /TASS/. Palestine’s Hamas movement doubts that 72 hours will be enough for releasing all the living Israeli hostages and handing over all the bodies of the deceased to Israel, a member of the movement’s political bureau Moussa Abu Marzouk told Al Jazeera.”

Amazon is catching backlash again from 007 fans—this time for quietly editing classic James Bond movie posters on Prime Video and removing Bond’s guns.Posters Sanitized As shared by the SpyHards account on X, updated poster artwork for nearly every Bond film now omits Bond holding a gun. This includes posters for classics like Goldfinger, Thunderball, GoldenEye, and Skyfall, among others. The guns have simply been Photoshopped out (or through the use of AI). “Welcome to a world where promoting James Bond 007 needs to be done without his sidearm,” one fan wrote in response. You can view the images here:

A serious political sickness.Well of course they would say this. And for a reason. Politically speaking, President Trump has taken the Democrats to the woodshed more times than can be counted. The economy hums. The U.S. is not at war. America’s cities are being cleaned up from the sewers Democrat mayors have opened. One could go on. Yet with all of that — or maybe because of all of that — here are prominent Democrats on the president. Rep. Madeleine Dean, a Pennsylvania Democrat, said the other day, “The president is unhinged. He is unwell.” Democrat Rep. Jasmine Crockett...

The Supreme Court justice's wife and mother sat in the courtroom as Sophie Roske apologized to the family.WASHINGTON — A woman who pleaded guilty to attempting to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh three years ago was sentenced Friday to more than eight years in prison.Sophie Roske, now 29, was arrested near Kavanaugh’s home in June 2022 and told officials at the time that she intended to kill the associate justice, then herself.She appeared in court on Friday for her sentencing in a yellow jail jumpsuit. Members of Kavanaugh’s family as well as Roske’s were at the sentencing.U.S. District Judge...

Americans’ confidence in the mass media has edged down to a new low, with just 28% expressing a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in newspapers, television and radio to report the news fully, accurately and fairly. This is down from 31% last year and 40% five years ago. Meanwhile, seven in 10 U.S. adults now say they have “not very much” confidence (36%) or “none at all” (34%). When Gallup began measuring trust in the news media in the 1970s, between 68% and 72% of Americans expressed confidence in reporting. However, by the next reading in 1997, public...