Free Republic

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has signaled that the H-1B visa system will face key reforms before the $100,000 fee applies in 2026. He called the lottery “bizarre,” opposed low-cost hiring, and said visas must go to the most highly-skilled workers. -snip- Lutnick said the H-1B visa lottery system is flawed and needs reform. Referring to conversations with the heads of two leading global tech companies, he said they found the concept of allocating visas for skilled workers through a lottery “bizarre.” He argued that the US must ensure visas go only to the most highly skilled professionals. -snip- The...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The world is on track to add nearly two months of dangerous superhot days each year by the end of the century, with poorer small nations hit far more often than the biggest carbon-polluting countries, a study released Thursday found. But efforts to curb emissions of heat-trapping gases that started 10 years ago with the Paris climate agreement have had a significant effect. Without them Earth would be heading to an additional 114 days a year of those deadly extra hot days, the same study found. The international collection of climate scientists World Weather Attribution and the...

Daily Readings from the USCCBThe Lord Jesus appointed seventy-two disciples whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. He said to them, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” Luke 10:1–2Saint Luke, whom we honor today, was a true evangelist. As an evangelist, he followed the inspiration from our Lord and was used to bring God’s saving message to the ends of the earth. And there is little doubt that his ministry will continue to...

Without question, most of them face a long road to recovery before life can be fully normal again. And sometimes internal wounds heal much more slowly than external wounds. Yet even now, their stories are inspiring courage and strength among others, as their very release has invigorated a nation that has lived in collective trauma since October 7, 2023. Eli Sharabi endured 491 days in captivity before his release, determined to survive his ordeal for his wife and two teenage daughters, from whom he was separated on October 7 when Hamas took over Kibbutz Be’eri. He assured them he would...

I was sitting in a Starbucks the other day, typing away on the laptop open in front of me, pausing to look out the window and watch the cars roll by every few minutes, when a young guy walked over and just started talking to me. Him: “Do you mind if I talk to you a bit? Would you like to have a conversation?” Me: “Um, sure. Have a seat. Are you working on a project or something? Writing something?” Him: “No. I’m just trying to talk to more people. I used to be really socially awkward, so a few...

Florida is permitting a bear hunt from December 6 to December 28, 2025. The hunt administrators will issue a meager 187 permits for bears, based on a lottery system. A chance to obtain a bear permit will cost $5. There is no limit to the number of chances that can be submitted per person. If someone with $5 million wanted to submit a million lottery chances, they could do so. However, only one win can be used to obtain a permit per person. If a person submits 100 chances and wins five, only one permit will be allowed to that...

In a stunning decision issued by the UK Court of Appeals (Civil Division) earlier today, Mark's former colleague at GB News Laurence "Lozza" Fox has been delivered a sweet victory in a five year long case involving three individuals who falsely accused him of being racist. As a result, Lozza will be owed some serious money (seven figures) as well as receive his day in court against his defamers. Here's what he had to say about the court's ruling: I am delighted and grateful that the Court of Appeal has ruled in my favour on my appeal today, ruling that...

What makes a leftist? A revulsion to the truth, mixed with disregard for accountability. Actor Alex Baldwin has just demonstrated he has the “right stuff” to be a leftist, exhibiting little concern about accountability. Providing details of a single vehicle accident he suffered, crashing into a tree, Baldwin—as is often his wont to do—seeks to place the blame on a non-responsible party. Fortunately, a video camera captured something Baldwin despises—the truth. Baldwin was smart enough not to blame the tree. So, he sought out an innocent person to blame. But, he was obviously unaware the accident had been recorded on...

Chicago taxpayers could be on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars for the costly Obama Presidential Center after new tax filings show the Obama Foundation has only deposited $1 million into its promised $470 million reserve fund. That’s the conclusion of an in-depth report by Fox News as it looked at what it described as a “sweetheart deal” to create the reserve fund “to spare taxpayers should the project ever go belly up.” **SNIP** He said that “the city never should have signed over the large section” of the park. “They put a million dollars into a $400...

They screamed for peace. They marched for “Free Palestine.” They rioted for a ceasefire. And now that it is here, with all hostages released, guns silent, and a peace deal in place, they have simply redirected their rage. --SNIP-- The Founding Fathers understood something modern activists cannot. Freedom without virtue collapses into disorder.

For generations, Americans believed the First Amendment was untouchable — the cornerstone of our Republic. But today, freedom is under attack. Behind closed doors, government agencies, Big Tech, universities, and NGOs built a powerful system to control what citizens can say, hear, and believe. This is not speculation. It is a documented reality. “God Complex: The Rise of America’s Censorship Machine” is a Big Picture Originals documentary that reveals how this system came to be, how it operates, and why every American who values freedom must pay attention. Because when speech is silenced, the truth disappears — and with it,...

Please join Freepers throughout the world as we pray for AMERICA: All Levels of Government, Family, Military, Business, Farming, Education, Churches, Health Care Systems, the News, Media and Social Media, Citizen Keyboard Warriors, Technology, The Sex-Trafficked, Right to Life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. (1 John 5:14) Forum threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind.GOVERNMENT MAKING SIN LEGAL DOES NOT MAKE IT RIGHT!

"Friday is a perfect day to indict Schifty!" —Svetlana Lokhova. Tomorrow [today], Saturday, October 18, you might have heard, is this year’s culminating “No Kings” protest demo all over the land. We’ve been to a couple of these curious spectacles since springtime here in the Hudson River Valley, in the next town over. The crowd there was just about entirely made up of aging Boomers, joyfully re-living the halcyon days of the Vietnam protests. It was kind of like a street production of the old Broadway hit Hair, only with a cast of 75-year-olds. Let the sun shine in! But...

Oversight Committee @GOPoversight BOMBSHELL: The Acosta transcript just DESTROYED the Democrats' Epstein–Trump smear. Ranking Member Garcia and @OversightDems have spent months pushing a LIE against President Trump. 🧵 Here are the receipts they don't want you to see: 1/ Acosta NEVER talked to Trump about Epstein. Not in person. Not on the phone. Not over email. "He moved in circles that I did not move in." (p. 65) That's straight from his testimony. / Trump's name? Did not appear in the case. (p. 129) "I have no knowledge of Donald Trump's name appearing in any Epstein document ... (or) being...

Most Virginians have “accepted the apology” of state attorney general nominee Jay Jones for his disturbing, violent threats about a Republican legislator, a top Democrat is saying. However, recent polling and betting odds cast doubt on that claim. Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Ken Martin said in an interview published Friday in Politico that Jones’s violent texts in 2022 about killing Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert were “reckless and unacceptable.” However, he also said that Virginia voters were forgiving. “I believe that most Virginians have accepted that apology and that they’ll elect Jay Jones as the next attorney general,” Martin...

🇺🇸Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem 🇮🇱(10/18/25)[Prayer]Water, Rivers, and Streams in the BibleLuke 13:10-17Jesus Heals a Crippled Woman on the Sabbath 10 On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, 11 and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” 13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God. 14 Indignant because...

Newly released flight manifest records from Jeffrey Epstein's private plane include legendary broadcast journalist Walter Cronkite. The revered journalist - often dubbed 'the most trusted man in America' - appeared in documents made public on Friday by the House Oversight Committee. Also in the logs were Prince Andrew, Bill Gates, and Richard Branson. The documents did not suggest wrongdoing for Cronkite or any of the names listed. But it could reveal the scope of Epstein's network as well as who had access to his properties. The flight logs show the 91-year-old Cronkite boarded a flight in the depths of winter...

Steve Yee, the principal of Earl Haig Secondary School in Toronto, has apologized for that school playing “O Canada,” the Canadian national anthem, in Arabic. It was played on the anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks on Israel. He claimed, “this was not done with any ill intent.” Well hear Yee, hear Yee, that sounds like so much b*******. The playing of the Canadian National Anthem in Arabic is hard enough to believe. That the first time this ever happened in the entirety of Canadian history just happened to be on Oct. 7 cannot possibly be a coincidence....

Mamdani’s economic proposals do not match the real challenges of today. He has proposed building a network of city-run, subsidized grocery stores... Mamdani, blames grocery stores for running up food costs when in reality, grocery stores are some of the lowest-margin businesses around, with 1-2% profit margins in good times. Mamdani has made “freeze the rent” a rallying cry, even though that would backfire, as rent caps would disincentivize developers to build new housing supply... The Democratic nominee estimates his agenda will cost taxpayers $10 billion annually. His solution for financing the hefty price tag is to increase taxes on...

NEW YORK — Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani has catapulted into second place in this year’s New York City mayoral race by promising free buses, no-cost childcare and city-run grocery stores. He’ll have a tough time paying the tab... Standing in his way: Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, who ...has expressed steadfast opposition to hiking taxes on high-income earners. She will be facing reelection next year too, just as Mamdani would need her blessing to begin accomplishing his goals... A POLITICO review of his proposals found Mamdani has likely underestimated the cost of his housing construction and school rehab plans by tens...