Free Republic

ABC late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel told his audience that Antifa does not exist in the same week that the funding mechanisms for organized Antifa rioters was revealed by, Seamus Bruner, the Director of Research at the Government Accountability Institute (GAI).The ratings-killing Kimmel addressed the Antifa issue during his monologue on Thursday insisting that there is “no Antifa.”“You understand, there is no Antifa? This is an entirely imaginary organization,” Kimmel exclaimed, plying the left’s recent favorite assertion about the group. “There is not an Antifa. This is no different than if they announced they rounded up a dozen Decepticons [from the...

From indie‐chart toppers to cult classics, these songs capture Harriet Wheeler’s ethereal vocals and The Sundays’ jangle‑pop magic.Ever since The Sundays emerged with their debut single “Can’t Be Sure” and the instantly adored Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, they’ve personified a kind of guitar-led indie pop that’s both literary and otherworldly. The English band—fronted by the quietly iconic Harriet Wheeler and guitarist David Gavurin—crafted only three albums, yet their influence on dream pop, shoegaze, and indie music endures. Their songs shimmer with emotional clarity, marrying crisp, chiming guitarwork with Wheeler’s crystal-clear vocals. While they never chased commercial trends, their music...

Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine rejected in a joint statement on Friday any "foreign guardianship" over Gaza, stressing that its governance is a purely internal Palestinian matter, according to Reuters. In an exclusive interview with Sky News, Hamas official Basem Naim said that while Hamas will no longer be directly involved in governing Gaza following the implementation of US President Donald Trump's peace plan, there is no plan to fully disarm, as Naim claimed that “no one can deny us the right to resistance by all means, including armed resistance.” When asked...

Dispensational Dispensational Zionism views the reestablishment of Israel in 1948 as a direct fulfillment of prophecy and a sign that history is approaching its climax. This view carries significant risks. It can reduce Israel to a mere prophetic symbol, turning Jewish people into actors in a divine drama rather than covenant partners. It can also foster uncritical support, a tendency to view all of Israel’s policies as automatically justified. At its worst, eschatological zeal leads to fatalism: if conflict in the Middle East is “predicted,” then pursuing peace seems pointless. This instrumentalizes both Israel and its neighbors and risks excusing...

Mark Zuckerberg is said to have started work on Koolau Ranch, his sprawling 1,400-acre compound on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, as far back as 2014. It is set to include a shelter, complete with its own energy and food supplies, though the carpenters and electricians working on the site were banned from talking about it by non-disclosure agreements, according to a report by Wired magazine. A six-foot wall blocked the project from view of a nearby road. Asked last year if he was creating a doomsday bunker, the Facebook founder gave a flat "no". The underground space spanning some...

Reviving the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from Alberta to the U.S. could play a part in tightening U.S.-Canada energy cooperation, Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Friday. Carney raised the idea during a Tuesday meeting in the Oval Office with U.S. President Donald Trump on defusing trade tensions, according to a source familiar with the discussions. "We are looking for areas where the integration of our economies will be better for us both. We have opportunities in the energy sector - there are many possible projects, including Keystone XL, but there are others," he told a press conference. The...

SALINAS, Calif. — A convicted inmate murderer was sentenced for the murder of another inmate at Salinas Valley State Prison, per Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine M. Pacioni. John Lydon, 52, was found guilty of the murder of Son Kim Tran. He received life in prison without the possibility of parole.

[Catholic Caucus] Indian bishops’ platform celebrates ‘transgender’ professor at Catholic university: ‘Momentous stride’Catholic Connect, an official platform run by the Indian Catholic bishops’ conference, praised the hiring of the first ‘transgender’ professor in Tamil Nadu at a Jesuit university, calling him a ‘changemaker.’ An interview published last week by Catholic Connect, an official platform run by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), with Dr. N. Jency, a male who identifies as a “transgender female,” celebrating the fact that he has been hired as the first “transgender” professor in the Tamil Nadu region of India.In the interview transcript, published October...

Diethylene glycol (DEG) is an organic compound that is commonly used as an industrial solvent in antifreeze mixtures and brake fluids. But, in India, DEG is ending up with worrying frequency where it should never be – in cough syrups for children. The repeated presence of this toxic substance in medicines has had devastating, fatal consequences in India and abroad, while also bringing the country’s lax drug regulatory set-up under intense scrutiny. In the latest instance of such contamination, at least 22 children have been killed since September in the Indian states of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan after consuming Coldrif,...

Benny Johnson @bennyjohnson: An individual has been arrested for threatening to kill my wife, my four children, and me. He sent a letter to my home saying he hated our views and wanted us dead. He is being charged federally and faces prison time. I want to thank President Trump, AG Pam Bondi, and the Department of Justice for immediately acting and saving my family. We are forever grateful. Left-wing violence is exploding with copycats appearing everywhere. It is the greatest threat to our country today, targeting people for simply speaking the truth. Let me be absolutely clear: We will...

This is necessary to end the war and ensure a just and lasting peace in UkraineLONDON, October 10. /TASS/. The United Kingdom, France, and Germany are working together on the potential expropriation of Russian sovereign assets, the UK prime minister's office said in a statement following a phone call between British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Vladimir Zelensky. "Reflecting on his discussions with the leaders of France and Germany this morning, the Prime Minister said all three countries were united in wanting to drive progress towards using the full value of the immobilized Russian sovereign assets to end the war...

President Trump announced Friday he will raise tariffs on China in response to a move from Beijing to tighten its control over certain critical minerals and rare earth elements. Trump announced on Truth Social that he would impose a tariff of 100 percent on Chinese goods beginning Nov. 1 or sooner. Those tariffs will supersede existing duties already in place on Chinese goods. The president said his administration would also place export controls “on any and all critical software.” “It is impossible to believe that China would have taken such an action, but they have, and the rest is History,”...

The technique, known as IORT, has numerous benefits, surgeons say, but it generates less money for hospitals and radiation oncologists.It’s not uncommon for breast cancer patients in the rural South to travel hundreds of miles to reach the medical practice run by Dr. Phillip Ley, a cancer surgeon in Jackson, Mississippi. For those who are good candidates, Ley recommends a therapy that delivers a single, targeted radiation dose to a patient’s breast tissue immediately after surgery to remove a tumor. Known as intraoperative radiation therapy, or IORT, it costs patients less in both time and money than traditional radiation treatments,...

Whether by design or by quiet submission to a rapidly-evolving digital landscape, the world’s largest social media companies have allowed their platforms to become factories of division, dehumanization and, increasingly, real-world violence. What began as tools for connection have become engines of rage. It’s no accident. It’s business. At the heart of this transformation lies the engagement algorithm: a seemingly neutral mechanism that curates what billions of people see, like, share and believe. Algorithms are not neutral. They are engineered with a single purpose — to keep us on the platform, clicking, commenting and scrolling. In the race to capture...

For some reason, I've been listening to a LOT of Pat Metheny the last couple of weeks.

Phys.org reports that Mohammad Reza Eghdami of the University of Guilan and his colleagues examined the poorly preserved remains of a man unearthed in northwestern Iran at the Liyarsangbon Cemetery site. The 77 Parthian burials there have been dated to between 247 B.C. and A.D. 224. The Parthians were known by the Romans for their skills in mounted warfare, archery, and metalworking, including the manufacturing of high-quality weapons. This man had been buried on his left side with his legs bent. A poorly-made pot containing the remains of a bird and traces of smoke was also discovered in the grave....

Two years after the outbreak of the war against the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Israeli authorities have released a new overall toll of military and civilian casualties. According to Channel 12, the Ministry of Defense, the National Insurance Institute, and the Eran (Emergency Psychological Assistance) association have released "unprecedented numbers" of victims, injuries, and people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Since the conflict began on October 7, 2023, 1.152 Israeli military and security forces personnel have died, 42 percent of whom were under the age of 21. The victims include 1.035 members of the Israel Defense...

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The Nobel Peace Prize has become mired in scandal today after suspicious bets were placed before a longshot was announced as the winner. Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was an obscure candidate just 12 hours before she was announced as winner on Friday. Her victory stunned the world after Donald Trump secured a peace deal in Gaza, ending a two-year war that has killed more than 70,000 people. Machado had just a 5 percent chance of claiming victory, according to prediction market Polymarket. But then a buying spree, from a newly created account '6741', rocketed her chances to 70...

The United States issued nearly one-fifth fewer student visas in August as the Trump administration tightened immigration rules, new data show. India, once the top source of U.S. international students, experienced the largest drop, while China became the leading country of origin. According to the International Trade Administration, the U.S. issued 313,138 student visas in August, the most common month for new university enrollments. This represents a 19.1 percent decrease compared with the same month in 2024. Student visas for Indian nationals fell dramatically by 44.5 percent over the past year. India had previously been the largest source of foreign...