Free Republic

DEDHAM, Mass. (WPRI) — A Nativity display at a church in Dedham, Massachusetts, is sparking a debate.The display outside Saint Susanna Parish now features a sign that reads “ICE was here” instead of the figures of Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus.Below it, another message claims “the holy family is safe in our church” and instructs people to call a number if they see immigration agents.

State Senator Lea Webb, who represents Tompkins, Cortland, and much of Broome County, is facing foreclosure on her Binghamton-area home, according to recent court documents. The Ithaca Voice reports attorneys for PHH Mortgage Corporation, a New Jersey-based lender, filed a civil suit against Webb in federal district court on October 22 over missed mortgage payments. Court filings indicate that as of June 2025, Webb was in default for $7,760, roughly equivalent to three months of payments. Webb purchased the four-bedroom home in Johnson City last December for $380,000, according to county records. The property is listed on Broome County tax...

[Germany] The founding congress of the new AfD youth division, Generation Deutschland, drew thousands of Antifa rioters and other leftist protesters to Gießen. Leftists flood the streets of Gießen Saturday in yet another anti-AfD protest.Saturday saw one of the larger police actions in the history of the Federal Republic, as 5,000 officers deployed against a leftist mob numbering 25,000 or more. The Antifa network Aktionsbündnis Widersetzen (“Action Alliance Resist”), Social Democrat-aligned labour unions like DGB and Verdi and an array of “civil society organisations” took to the streets of Gießen to protest the founding congress of the new Alternative für...

Complaints about the Commission for Public Higher Education’s (CPHE) proposed solutions to accreditation problems are unwarranted. This October, the Chronicle of Higher Education ran an article titled “Will the Commission for Public Higher Education Be a ‘Serious’ Accreditor?,” voicing concerns about higher education’s most recent innovation. Touted most famously by Ron DeSantis, the CPHE, a brainchild of six Southern university systems (including the UNC System), aims to “advance the quality and improvement of higher education by accrediting … state public universities that are incorporated, chartered, licensed, or authorized in the United States.” The first cohort of CPHE applicants was announced...

Jailed teacher Enoch Burke will not be released for Christmas like he has been in the past, a High Court judge said on Wednesday. Mr Justice Brian Cregan also said he did not intend to release him for Easter and he did not understand why he was released in the past during his previous four jailings for contempt. Others in prison for contempt were not treated like this and let out even though they fail to purge their contempt, he said. The judge gave Mr Burke a review date of March 3rd, but in the meantime he has liberty to...

When the publishers of this children’s book are aghast that it’s being used to push hilarious reactions to liberal insanity, you know you’ve hit a home run. Enter ‘Franklin the Turtle,’ a Canadian children’s book series that has become a social media sensation, as good patriots have turned it into many memes mocking liberal policies. The use of Photoshop and AI is elite. I’m sorry—they’re all hilarious. I can’t post all of them because, well, I would get in trouble, but you could imagine. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s post showing the turtle blowing up narco-terrorists was total cinema. It...

For two decades, Muhammad Abdulrahman, 58, lived with his wife and his beehives on a remote hillside in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. But in May, Israeli settlers set up camp about 200 yards away and took control of the road leading to Mr. Abdulrahman’s home, blocking him from returning, he said. Israeli soldiers then evicted him and his wife, Suha Abdulrahman, the couple said. The Israeli military said that Mr. Abdulrahman left voluntarily, but he said that he has still been unable to return home. Last month, a video shared by an Israeli lawmaker on social media showed his house...

Pope Leo urges Christians to ‘be less fearful’ of Islam, encourages ‘dialogue’ with Muslims'One of the values of this trip is precisely to raise the world’s attention to the possibility that dialogue and friendship between Muslims and Christians is possible,' Leo stated.Pope Leo XIV has spoken warmly about the relationship between Muslims and Christians and downplaying fears of Islamization.During his recent international trip to Turkey and Lebanon, the Pope gave a speech at an interfaith meeting held at Martyrs’ Square in Beirut.“Dear friends, your presence here today, in this extraordinary place where minarets and bell towers stand side by side,...

SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. — Deputies in Southwest Florida had their hands full when a 14-foot, 600-pound alligator decided to rest on the doorstep of a Sarasota residence. It took seven deputies with the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office and a licensed trapper to dislodge the massive reptile and lift it onto a truck. “This massive guest had plans to stay for the holidays, but we had other ideas,” the sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post. The alligator was nearly a record-breaker for length, coming up a few inches short of the state’s record.

In the winter of 2014, an adult female wolf was found dead in northern Minnesota, on the Grand Portage Indian Reservation. When the necropsy was performed, the cause of death was determined to be from a single wound from an ordinary pellet gun. Described as “low powered”, the pellet was almost certainly either .177 or .22 caliber. Although this incident occurred in 2014, I only learned of it this year. Ordinary pellet guns have been powerful enough to kill humans and even a black bear. The wolf was a lone female who had been driven out of the pack on...

An illegal immigrant from Mexico who previously served nearly two decades in federal prison, was indicted Tuesday after allegedly conspiring to move tens of millions of dollars in methamphetamine in the Atlanta area, leading authorities to seize nearly 1,600 pounds of the stimulant drug hidden in blackberry shipments. Gerardo Solorio-Alvarado, 44, of Mexico, was charged with conspiracy and possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine. He previously served 17 years in prison after being convicted of felony possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine and possession of a gun in a drug trafficking crime.

An inebriated raccoon was taken into custody after allegedly breaking into a Virginia liquor store on Black Friday, partaking in what officials have deemed a "liquor-fueled rampage." A trail of smashed liquor bottles led police to the masked suspect, who was found passed out in the sploot position on the Ashland business's bathroom floor, according to Hanover County Animal Protection and Shelter. In an embarrassing photo shared by authorities, the plastered procyonid could be seen lying next to a garbage can and toilet. The town later identified the four-legged intruder as "Cole," noting he may need a ride home after...

Today I spent the day with my excellent collaborator Richard Ellenbogen cross-examining witnesses at the New York Public Service Commission’s hearing on whether the pending rate increase request of our utility Con Edison should be approved. We had a lot of fun. Although the hearing was theoretically open to the public, they had no live video feed, and you had to register in advance to attend in person. It looked like everybody there was an interested party. At the close of the hearing, we were invited (along with everybody else) to file a post-hearing brief by next Friday, December 12....

Capturing the cultural zeitgeist and trends for the year ahead is a tricky business. But every year, the Pantone Color Institute chooses a color to do precisely that. And it has settled on a shade of white, “Cloud Dancer,” as its Color of the Year for 2026. The institute, which is considered a leading authority on color, forecasting trends and advising brands, described the shade as “a billowy, balanced white imbued with a feeling of serenity.” As technology’s grip on daily life tightens, Cloud Dancer represents a “calming influence in a frenetic society, rediscovering the value of measured consideration and...

PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. — A man who was arrested in February for burglarizing a home while naked tried fleeing from court Tuesday, says the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office. According to the sheriff’s office, during a hearing for previous charges, Circuit Court Judge Washington ordered bond revoked for 25-year-old Keeton Mercer. Court security blocked the exit, and bailiffs took him back into custody. Deputies say Mercer was taken to the Putnam County Jail and is being held without bond. In addition to his prior charges of burglary, criminal mischief, 2 counts of battery, and escaping an officer with violence. He now...

Prince Harry took a jab at President Trump during his awkward appearance on the “Late Show with Stephen Colbert” as he teased Americans over their obsession with the royals. Harry crashed Colbert’s monologue at the Ed Sullivan Theater in NYC on Wednesday night when the late-night host poked fun at the various “problematic” Christmas-themed movies centered around royalty — just hours after it was announced his father-in-law, Thomas Markle, was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery. “I genuinely thought this was the audition for the Gingerbread Prince saves Christmas in Nebraska,” Harry quipped as he walked out onto the...

Newsom readies a presidential run while presiding over a state buckling under sky-high costs, mass exodus, and crumbling basics—leaving little to brag about beyond attacking Trump. As California Governor Gavin Newsom gears up to run for president, what in the world will he run on? Californians know that Newsom will not boast, “I will do for America what I have done to California!” Why not? Count the reasons. California’s astronomical gas prices and taxes remain the highest in the continental U.S. Ditto the state’s trifecta of the highest electricity rates, the costliest home prices, and the fourth-highest home insurance costs....

A suspect who allegedly planted pipe bombs outside both the RNC & DNC headquarters in Washington D.C. on January 5, 2021, is now in federal custody after a nearly five-year investigation, law enforcement sources told Fox News Digital on Thursday.

What did Ilhan Omar know about the $1B welfare fraud case in her Minnesota district? US Rep. Ilhan Omar’s close ties to the $1 billion welfare scam in her Minnesota congressional district are being uncovered. Omar (D-Minn.) held parties at one of the key restaurants named in the fraud, knew one of its now-convicted owners, and one of her own staffers has also been convicted — both for stealing millions. Omar even introduced the bill that led to $250 million in fraud. Yet she claims to have been completely unaware of it. “[Rep. Omar] knew who these people were. People...

OpenAI must produce millions of anonymized chat logs from ChatGPT users in its high-stakes copyright dispute with the New York Times (NYT.N), and other news outlets, a federal judge in Manhattan ruled. U.S. Magistrate Judge Ona Wang in a decision made public on Wednesday said, that the 20 million logs were relevant to the outlets' claims and that handing them over would not risk violating users' privacy. The judge rejected OpenAI's privacy-related objections to an earlier order requiring the artificial intelligence startup to submit the records as evidence. "There are multiple layers of protection in this case precisely because of...