Free Republic

During the past eight or nine years, many football fans have wondered: Is the NFL favoring the Kansas City Chiefs? Why do Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs always seem to get bailed out with a penatly flag against the other team? No, you are not being paranoid or a delusional. Actually, science and research suggest you might be on to something. Research done by a team at UTEP presents evidence that the Chiefs have benefited from slanted officiating from 2015 to 2023, a time that coincided with their rise as one of the NFL’s most marketable franchises. Published in the...

The government shutdown is about to slam into the federal courts, which had been able to keep running but are about to exhaust their extra cash and will have to furlough employees starting early next week. Courts will be allowed to perform only essential work where human life or protection of property is involved, plus activities specifically required by federal law or to carry out Article III of the Constitution. Employees who aren’t involved in those activities will be furloughed, while essential employees will have to work without pay, the administrative office for the U.S. courts said Friday. The shutdown...

Mexico has started mass deportations of illegal migrants, deporting thousands to Central America Mexico making the move after President Donald Trump closed the US Mexico border. The closing led to an 85% plunge in illegal migrant entries through the US – Mexico border in the first eight months of the year—the lowest levels in half a decade. Mexico has realized that it cannot absorb the spillover from Biden-era open-border policies, as more illegal migrants have been apprehended in Mexico than by U.S. agents in recent months. Here are some of the moves being made by Mexico. Mass deportations to Central...

State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) stands for a photo in the Castro district of San Francisco in 2023. Wiener, known for housing advocacy and criticism of President Trump, has raised $1 million for the San Francisco district campaign. Pelosi, 85, has not indicated whether she will seek reelection after being first elected to Congress in 1987. SACRAMENTO — State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), who has emerged as one of California’s most vocal critics of President Trump, will run next year for the congressional seat held by former House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi.A formal announcement from Wiener is expected...

The unity of Church of England has been dealt a major blow to the denomination in a punishing reminder that theological treason has consequences, after a group representing nearly 40 million members—ten times the number of Anglicans in the UK—announced they are the real Anglican Communion and will no longer be in communion with their progressive counterpart, dividing the denomination in two while declaring “We cannot continue to have communion with those who advocate the revisionist agenda, which has abandoned the inerrant word of God as the final authority.” Over the past two decades, the denomination has been liberalizing at...

ENNIS, Texas — A man suspected of fatally shooting three people in Henderson County early Friday was hospitalized after he crashed into the Buc-ee's in Ennis, injuring a pedestrian, and shot himself, officials say. Henderson County deputies tell WFAA that Christopher Kyle Reid Jr., 29, of Hubbard, is suspected of fatally shooting three people at a home in the Cedar Creek Cove subdivision in Mabank before 2:30 a.m. The three who were shot weren't identified. Later Friday morning, officials allege Reid drove a 2003 Dodge Caravan into the southwest entrance of the Buc-ee's in Ennis around 5 a.m., hitting and...

The National Mulligan Day is observed every year on October 17. It’s a day dedicated to the idea of a “mulligan” — a second chance, a do‑over — not just in golf but in life. On this day, people are encouraged to try again at something they wish had gone differently, to offer forgiveness, or to treat themselves or others with a bit more grace.

Halloween mask–wearing creeps terrorized a widow in Virginia as chilling doorbell footage showed the trio trying to break into her home and threatening to kill the occupants inside. The three suspects showed up at the Alexandria home — about eight miles from Washington, DC — around 10 p.m. Tuesday, according to the homeowner’s daughter, Shayla, WUSA9 reported. “At first I thought it was just a Halloween joke, a little prank,” Shayla said. “So I said, ‘Happy Halloween.’” But when the masked intruders refused to leave, she warned them she’d call the police — a threat that failed to scare them...

During a Canadian parliament Finance Committee hearing Krista Carr, the CEO of Inclusion Canada, which is a national federation of people with disabilities, stated that: People with disabilities are now very much afraid in many circumstances to show up in the healthcare system with regular concerns because often MAiD is suggested as the solution to what is considered to be intolerable suffering that happens to be caused by some of the things that this committee addresses like poverty and the situations that people with disabilities disproportionately find themselves in compared to other Canadians. This is explosive testimony from Krista Carr...

The shooting occurred around 3:48 a.m. near the intersection of State and Dearborn streets, an iconic nightlife district that has been drawing revelers for decades. More than 30 Chicago cops, mostly probationary officers, were already deployed nearby when gunmen opened fire from a moving vehicle. According to preliminary reports, officers first spotted a gray Acura CL and a black SUV, believed to be a Jeep Grand Cherokee, racing south on State Street from Division around 3:31 a.m. The same vehicles were seen circling the neighborhood multiple times before the shooting occurred about 15 minutes later. CPD said the gunfire came...

If their plan is just to rely on Trump’s overreach, then they’ll be repeating Biden’s mistakes.Voters certainly seem to be going south on President Donald Trump’s war on non-White immigrants. In a New York Times poll conducted in late September, a slim majority of registered voters said the president had gone too far in aggressively trying to ferret out and deport non-Americans — and that was before federal agents started using tear gas and pepper spray on the streets of Chicago.It’s a rare glimpse of bluer skies for Democrats since last year’s presidential election. But if their plan on immigration...

Hamas intends to maintain security control in Gaza during an interim period, a senior Hamas official told Reuters, adding he could not commit to the group disarming - positions that reflect the difficulties facing US plans to secure an end to the war. Hamas politburo member Mohammed Nazzal also said the group was ready for a ceasefire of up to five years to rebuild devastated Gaza, with guarantees for what happens afterwards depending on Palestinians being given "horizons and hope" for statehood. Speaking to Reuters in an interview from Doha, where Hamas politicians have long resided, Nazzal defended the group's...

Explanation: What are the unusual spots surrounding that galaxy? They are all images of the same supernova. For the first time, a single supernova explosion has been seen split into multiple images by the gravitational lens deflections of intervening masses. In this case the masses are a large galaxy and its home galaxy cluster. The featured image was captured last November by the Earth-orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. The yellow-hued quadruply-imaged Supernova Refsdal occurred in the early universe far behind the cluster. Measuring the locations and time-delays between the supernova images should allow astrophysicists to recover the amount of dark matter...

Ms. Machado’s efforts to reclaim a stolen election by any available means, including military intervention, has long galvanized her supporters. Her opponents say these hard-line policies have a political cost.Last year, María Corina Machado, the leader of Venezuela’s opposition, was forced into hiding by the country’s autocrat after he stole a presidential election Ms. Machado’s movement had won.Now, Ms. Machado is the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, U.S. warships are floating near the Venezuelan coast and the United States is calling President Nicolás Maduro a “narco-terrorist” and a fugitive from American justice.The Nobel award has galvanized Ms. Machado’s movement....

In the cesspool of New York City politics, where ambition often trumps integrity, Zohran Mamdani stands out as a particularly insidious figure, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist whose campaign reeks of calculated deception. As the Democratic nominee for mayor in this 2025 election, Mamdani has mastered the art of flip-flopping, dodging, and outright dissimulation, behaviors that echo the Islamic doctrine of taqiyya. For those unfamiliar, taqiyya allows Muslims, particularly in Shia traditions like Mamdani's Twelver background, to conceal their true beliefs under threat. But in Mamdani's case, it's not persecution he's hiding from, it's the electorate's scrutiny. He's weaponizing it to...

Summary Investigation predates Trump administration, unlike Comey and James Trump critics say he is using Justice Department to punish enemies Proving Bolton's diaries were classified may be complex Oct 17 (Reuters) - The indictment of John Bolton on charges of sharing classified information is stronger than the recent charges against two other political foes of President Donald Trump, but the former U.S. national security adviser has several options for mounting a defense, legal experts said.Bolton, 76, said in a statement on Thursday that he was the latest target in Trump's weaponization of the Justice Department against his enemies. He pleaded...

Democrats improved in the third quarter, but Republicans still have more money. After just one vulnerable House Democrat raised $1 million in the second quarter, four members targeted by the NRCC raised at least that total in the third quarter. That group includes Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine), who represents a district President Donald Trump won by 10 points and also faces a primary challenge. Reps. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.), Derek Tran (D-Calif.) and Eugene Vindman (D-Va.) each also each raised more than $1 million.“Americans are tired of the disastrous GOP agenda of higher costs, broken promises, and tax breaks for billionaires....

A Russian investment envoy proposed that Elon Musk and The Boring Company build a “Putin-Trump” tunnel connecting Alaska and Russia through the Bering Strait. President Donald Trump said the proposal was “interesting” and he’d have to think about it. Musk has previously held talks with Putin about other matters. President Donald Trump said Friday that a Russian proposal for Elon Musk and his tunneling business, the Boring Company, to build an undersea rail tunnel through the Bering Strait was “interesting” and he’d have to think about it.“That’s an interesting one,” Trump said when asked about the suggested tunnel from...

The Army designed the Future Soldier Preparatory Course (FSPC) to close two gaps. The first is between the number of soldiers the Army wants and the number it has been able to recruit in recent years. The second gap was between the aspirations of men and women who wanted to join the Army and the basic physical, intellectual, and legal standards the Army requires of new recruits. Based in Fort Jackson, South Carolina, the FSPC puts would-be recruits through what amounts to preparatory basic training, designed to generate physical fitness (usually measured in terms of weight, waistline, and basic exercise...

One guy used $2.1 MILLION to pay his American Express Credit Card