Free Republic

SNAP food benefits could restart as early as Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday morning. Two federal judges in Massachusetts and Rhode Island ruled on Friday that the Trump administration must use emergency funds to pay SNAP benefits, which help feed 42 million Americans, during the government shutdown. Judge Jack McConnell of Rhode Island also directed that these be paid out of emergency funds “as soon as possible.” Boston Judge Indira Talwani gave the administration until Monday to tell her if it will authorize at least reduced SNAP benefits for November. The administration was originally set to cut...

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said Democrats need to “own” the government shutdown as the impasse has now stretched over a month. Fetterman, one of the few in his party who has broken with Democrats and voted to reopen the government, was asked about the shutdown during a Sunday morning appearance on CNN’s State of the Union. He said it is “deeply distressing” that 42 million people are losing food stamp benefits. “And now that’s one of the big reasons why I refuse to shutting our government down,” he said. “And again, I feel like the Democrats really need to own...

Al Jazeera reported on Sunday afternoon that the Hamas terrorist organization is demanding the evacuation of hundreds of its members trapped in the Rafah area, south of the IDF-controlled Yellow Line in the southern Gaza Strip. According to the report, mediators are holding discussions with both Israel and Hamas in an effort to reach an arrangement that would allow the terrorists to leave the area safely. Under the emerging proposal, the evacuation would take place along designated routes, with Red Cross vehicles escorting the convoys to prevent direct encounters with IDF forces. Sources quoted by Al Jazeera claimed that Hamas...

A Minnesota pilot found himself in a bizarre situation this month, as he was forced to make an emergency landing on a Native American reservation, only to learn that he was about to face an even more frustrating ordeal. The Daily Mail reported on the strange incident: Native American tribe snatches pilot's plane from him after he made emergency landing on their reservation https://t.co/FgD6LkQntk— Daily Mail (@DailyMail) October 31, 2025Darrin Smedsmo was flying over the Red Lake Indian Reservation when his single - engine Stinson airplane suddenly stopped working mid - air. With less than three minutes until disaster, the...

At least two people were killed in a drone attack in Ukraine’s southwestern Odesa region, Ukrainian authorities said Sunday. Meanwhile, Russia and Ukraine continued to pummel each other's infrastructure. Tens of thousands of residents were left without power after Russia attacked the front-line Zaporizhzhia region overnight into Sunday with drones and missiles. Regional Gov. Ivan Fedorov said nearly 60,000 people faced power outages and that two people were wounded in the attacks. He posted photos on Telegram of buildings reduced to rubble. As a result of attacks on Ukraine’s power grid, several regions faced rolling power cuts on Sunday, Ukraine’s...

The film industry’s troubles show no sign of easing. Domestic box office revenue for October 2025 came in at roughly $425 million, marking the worst performance in 27 years outside of the pandemic era, per Comscore data. This dismal figure falls well below even the unadjusted $385.2 million from October 1997, a time before blockbuster franchises dominated screens. Major releases failed to draw crowds. Disney’s *Tron: Ares*, with a reported net cost of $220 million, opened to just $33.2 million domestically and has scraped together only $65.1 million in the U.S., contributing to an estimated $132 million loss. Globally, it...

Sunday 2 November 2025All Souls St. Francis Xavier Owo Catholic Parish of Ondo Diocese in NigeriaReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Violet or Black. Year: C(I).(The following psalms and readings are selected from the many options for this day.)First readingIsaiah 25:6a,7-9The Lord will swallow up death for everOn this mountain,the Lord of hosts will prepare for all peoplesa banquet of rich food.On this mountain he will removethe mourning veil covering all peoples,and the shroud enwrapping all nations,he will destroy Death for ever.The Lord will wipe awaythe tears from every cheek;he will take away his people’s shameeverywhere on earth,for the Lord has said...

The U.S. national intelligence director told officials Friday in the Mideast that America’s former strategy of “regime change or nation building” had ended under President Donald Trump. Tulsi Gabbard ’s comments before the Manama Dialogue, an annual security summit in Bahrain put on by the International Institute for Security Studies, underlines remarks Trump offered on a trip earlier this year to the Middle East. In Trump’s second term, previous American goals of fostering human rights and democracy promotion in the region have been replaced by an emphasis on economic prosperity and regional stability. That includes securing a ceasefire that has...

Saturday 1 November 2025 All Saints Solemnity ABOUT Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: C(I).First readingApocalypse 7:2-4,9-14I saw a huge number, impossible to count, of people from every nation, race, tribe and languageI, John, saw another angel rising where the sun rises, carrying the seal of the living God; he called in a powerful voice to the four angels whose duty was to devastate land and sea, ‘Wait before you do any damage on land or at sea or to the trees, until we have put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.’ Then I heard...

The Shadow of Arab Supremacy: Racism and the (roughly) 5 Million Victims of Sudan's Endless ConflictsSudan, Africa's third-largest country, has been scarred by decades of violence rooted in deep-seated ethnic divisions, where Arab identity has been weaponized as a tool of supremacy and exclusion. Since the mid-20th century, conflicts pitting the Arab-dominated north against non-Arab populations in the south and west have claimed roughly 5 million lives, driven by policies of Arabization, racial hierarchies, and genocidal campaigns. This Arab racism—manifested in derogatory slurs like "abd" (slave) for Black Africans, favoritism toward Arab tribes, and state-sponsored militias targeting non-Arabs—has fueled mass...

Barack Obama praised Zohran Mamdani in a private telephone call on Saturday, with just days to go before the New York City mayoral election. The former US president described Mr Mamdani’s campaign as “impressive to watch” in the call and offered his services as a “sounding board”, according to The New York Times. Mr Obama, still a highly influential voice in the Democratic party, has avoided intervention in municipal contests since he left office and has not endorsed any candidate publicly in the New York race, which will go to the polls on Tuesday. In the phone call, which lasted...

@TrueGenFlynn Now you all know why Elon Musk & DOGE were shut down. The UNIPARTY was caught with their pants down and no longer wanted the exposure. It was butt ugly! https://truthsocial.com/@TrueGenFlynn/posts/115480668971600808

Investigations in the now-submerged cave systems on the Yucatán Peninsula continue to yield evidence for human presence during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. Skeletal remains are scattered throughout the caves of Quintana Roo, most representing individuals who died in situ. The reasons why they explored these underground environments have remained unclear. Here, we announce the discovery of the first subterranean ochre mine of Paleoindian age found in the Americas, offering compelling evidence for mining in three cave systems on the eastern Yucatán over a ~2000-year period between ~12 and 10 ka. The cave passages exhibit preserved evidence for ochre extraction pits, speleothem...

Barack Obama is ready to throw his hat back into the political fray. According to CNN, the two-time former president is “not so sure” that the country will survive Donald Trump’s presidency and is preparing to step up his campaigning efforts in support of the Democratic Party. Their report states: After deliberately stepping back during the Biden years — while remaining the party’s biggest fundraiser even then — Obama and his aides are reworking his longstanding strategy of minimizing his public presence to allow the next generation of Democrats to emerge. Trump’s moves to block Democrats from power since his...

The winner said his wife didn’t believe his win until their son confirmed it on the Ohio Lottery app Sometimes it pays to be forgetful. An Ohio man’s oversight turned into a life-changing moment when his forgetfulness scored him a $500,000 lottery prize. The unidentified Roseville resident told the Ohio Lottery that he went to cash a $50 winning Best of 7’s scratch-off in Zanesville but discovered he’d left the ticket at home. Trying his luck again, the man said he decided to buy another Best of 7’s scratch-off at South 60 Market in Zanesville, and nearly became sick in...

A union representing British Border Force workers said on Friday that more than 120 staff who patrol Britain's waters, in "sometimes harrowing roles", plan to strike on November 14 to protest over pay and working conditions. The majority of the UK's around 10,000 Border Force staff work in airports and ports across the country and overseas. The agency's website does not give a breakdown detailing how many are employed patrolling the country's waters. Britain's Public and Commercial Services union said in a statement that the government began a review six years ago to address the need for standardisation of pay...

I didn’t know Zohran Mamdani was a Muslim when he first blazed onto my algorithms — and into national headlines. When I watched his victory speech after this summer’s New York mayoral primary, though, my first thought was, “He is familiar with faith.” I’ve developed a sixth sense for spotting religious fluency in secular spaces, and Mamdani had it. He was deft at deploying the language of belief, clearly comfortable with the soaring cadence of a sermon. “Every new voter registered, that is faith renewed,” he said that night, repeating “faith renewed” in a refrain. Mamdani has spoken about his...

A Florida man faces felony charges after police say he went on a late-night rampage that left nearly $500 worth of pumpkins smashed outside a Target store in the Tampa Bay area. According to court records obtained by TheSmokingGun.com, 31-year-old Aaron Thompson was caught on surveillance video around 1:15 a.m. on October 21 picking pumpkins from display boxes in front of the store and hurling them to the ground. Police say roughly 80 pumpkins, valued at $472.14, were destroyed. Authorities arrested Thompson several days later when he returned to the same Target. After being shown the surveillance footage in the...

By criticizing the secretary’s policies publicly and casting aspersions on his fitness for the office he holds, these officers are flaunting both fundamental leadership principles and long-established military tradition. Trump derangement syndrome and its variant, Hegseth derangement syndrome (HDS), continue to infect an undetermined number of victims in the military. Like the original affliction, this new strain is a debilitating malady that deprives the aggrieved victim of the ability to think and act rationally. Like the sufferers of TDS who warn the country that Trump is politicizing the justice system by investigating and prosecuting some who have opposed him, the...

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) once again trashed Republicans as part of her ongoing tour on left-wing media circuits, this time attacking Republicans and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) over costs associated with the Obama-era Affordable Care Act (ACA). The congresswoman later claimed that critics of her recent shift are sexist. Extension of ACA credits — which are set to expire at the end of the year under the term’s of the Democrat-passed Inflation Reduction Act in 2021 — have become a central point of the Democratic Party’s narrative on the ongoing government shutdown. Senate Democrats have voted against...