Free Republic

Free condoms for competitors at the Winter Olympics have run out within a record-breaking three days, according to La Stampa. “The supplies ran out in just three days,” an anonymous athlete told the Italian newspaper. “They promised us more will arrive, but who knows when.” It blamed the Olympic organisers, saying they had not been “particularly generous with the numbers”. “In Paris the athletes received 300,000 condoms — two per day each— but the numbers for these Winter Games were significantly lower: not even 10,000,” La Stampa’s report states. Just under 3,000 athletes are competing at the Winter Olympics, compared...

HOUSTON, Texas (KBTX) -A Kansas woman has been sentenced to federal prison after making false claims that astronaut Anne McClain illegally accessed her bank account while deployed to the International Space Station, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Summer Heather Worden, 51, of Sedgwick County, Kansas, pleaded guilty on November 14, 2025, to making false, fictitious, and fraudulent statements and representations to law enforcement. U.S. District Judge Alfred H. Bennett sentenced her to three months in federal prison, followed by two years of supervised release. The court also ordered Worden to pay $210,000 in restitution. In July 2019, Worden...

One of the Bay Area’s hottest startups is hiring like crazy. The catch? You have to be willing to train artificial intelligence to one day do your job as well as you can. Welcome to the next gig economy. Instead of driving for Uber or delivering Postmates, a new wave of workers is signing up to school AI. These white-collar contractors review and critique the output of the large language models that power chatbots and other AI tools. Not just anyone can work for Mercor, an AI startup valued at $10 billion. Applicants have to demonstrate their abilities in the...

Shares of several trucking and logistics companies declined Thursday on fears that new artificial intelligence tools could slash major freight inefficiencies, leading to less demand for the industry’s services. A new tool from AI company Algorhythm Holdings has made trucking companies the latest victim of the market’s AI jitters, adding to the historic sell-off in software stocks and real estate companies. The notable market rotation has come as investors are increasingly scrutinizing traditional businesses that may not be able to keep up with rapid advancements in AI. Leading trucking and logistics stocks C.H. Robinson and RXO dropped 14.5% and 20.5%,...

A 43-year-old Kansas man allegedly spent his Christmas Eve on a mission to kill someone and armed himself with a hammer before knocking on a door of a home with several cars in the driveway. When a woman holding her 1-month-old baby answered, the suspect — later identified as Jason Eastburn — pounced, cops say. He repeatedly hit her in the head with the hammer, requiring doctors to patch up the wound on her head with four staples, according to a probable cause arrest affidavit released on Monday.

Welcome back to day 383 of America liberated from the Biden*/Harris occupation! After last week's announcement that Jeff Bezos was laying off a few hundred staffers from his money pit vanity project of what was once a newspaper, the Dinosaur Media howled with rage and despair. It's not hard to feel some sympathy for anyone losing their job, but when I looked at the articles in this past Sunday's paper, I feel a lot less sympathy. As we’re now learning that The Washington Compost’s layoffs are worse than initially reported, I figured we should take a look at the fine...

For once, new research on the ruins of the Roman city of Pompeii is not focusing on the destructive aftermath of the infamous Mount Vesuvius eruption in 79 CE. Instead, it centers on the creative acts preceding it. After taking a closer look at the city's construction projects, a team from MIT believes that ancient Rome's legendary concrete recipe might need a major historical revision.When ancient Roman architecture comes to mind, the columns and coliseums are generally the first things that pop into your head. These structures were often built using Roman concrete -- and that material traces back to...

BRASÍLIA (9 February 2026) — A Brazilian woman, Isadora Borges, is facing criminal prosecution after posting comments on social media expressing her views on gender ideology, exposing her to a possible prison sentence of four to ten years. In November 2020, Isadora Borges made two posts on X (then Twitter), peacefully expressing her views against gender ideology. One comment stated that “transgender” women “were obviously born male.” Another stated: “A person who identifies as transgender retains their birth DNA. No surgery, synthetic hormone, or clothing change will change this fact…” Her comments quickly gained attention online, and prompted Erika Hilton,...

The consumer price index was expected to increase 2.5% from a year ago in January, according to the Dow Jones consensus.

Two Pakistani nationals were indicted on Thursday for their roles in defrauding Medicare in a scheme conducted in Chicago, Illinois. The duo allegedly regularly billed “Medicare and private insurers” in excess of $10 million for “nonexistent healthcare services,” according to the Department of Justice. Kashif Iqbal and Burhan Mirza, and several other unnamed participants, “used nominee-owned laboratories and durable medical equipment providers to submit fraudulent claims to Medicare and private healthcare benefit programs for items and services not rendered. Mirza illegally obtained private identification information of individuals and providers as part of the fraud. He then used this data to...

The Times Guild Bargaining Committee sent staffers a newsletter on Tuesday detailing the latest labor negotiations. The Guild said it made a "big push to end the two-tier system The New York Times created and perpetuates by wrongly excluding jobs and workers from the Times Guild" and received a revised proposal from the company to end all hybrid work guarantees on March 1, 2027. "At that point, they would have the right to require us to work in the office five days a week and to eliminate our contractually guaranteed three weeks of remote work per year. As we saw...

A Portland man is facing criminal charges after police say he left two young children at home for several minutes to make a fast food run. According to court documents, Portland Police responded to a welfare check at the Columbia Park Annex on North Lombard on Tuesday evening. Officers found a 3-year-old boy outside dressed in a shirt, shorts, and socks standing near neighbors. The neighbors said he had thrown up and was frequently coughing. The boy was able to lead officers to where he lived which was a few blocks away in the 7000 block North Dwight Avenue. Police...

00:05 Introduction: The Growing Debate Over Israel on the Right 00:46 Why Conservatives Are Suddenly Split on Israel 04:13 The Role of Evangelicals in Supporting Israel 08:42 Islam as an Ideology, Not Just a Religion 10:28 The West’s Awakening to the Threat of Islamism 17:11 Claims of Islamist Influence Inside U.S. Institutions 23:22 The Importance of Citizen Activism 27:30 Sharia Law and Its Impact on Women’s Rights 31:20 Immigration, Assimilation, and National Security 35:51 The Growth of Mosques and Cultural Change Brigitte Gabriel returns to Hearts of Oak for a wide-ranging and urgent conversation examining growing divisions within the Republican...

🇺🇸Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem 🇮🇱(2/13/26)[Prayer]A New Study For A New Year: PersonalitiesGenesis 25: 27 And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents. 28 And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob. 29 And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint: 30 And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom. 31 And Jacob...

PORT ORANGE, Fla. — A Florida couple was arrested after a game of pickleball escalated into a fight, authorities said. According to Volusia County Sheriff’s Office online booking records, Anthony Edward Sapienza, 63, and his wife, Julianne Sapienza, 51, both of Ponce Inlet, were arrested on Feb. 8. ... While five people on the court were directly involved in the fight, it was unclear how many other witnesses participated. The affidavit stated that 20 people were involved.

PORT ORANGE, Fla. — A Florida couple was arrested after a game of pickleball escalated into a fight, authorities said. According to Volusia County Sheriff’s Office online booking records, Anthony Edward Sapienza, 63, and his wife, Julianne Sapienza, 51, both of Ponce Inlet, were arrested on Feb. 8. ... While five people on the court were directly involved in the fight, it was unclear how many other witnesses participated. The affidavit stated that 20 people were involved.

13 February 2026 Friday of week 5 in Ordinary Time Basilica of Saints Vincent & Catherine de Ricci – Prato, ItalyReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: A(II).First reading1 Kings 11:29-32,12:19Solomon is unfaithful; the Lord moderates his wrathOne day when Jeroboam had gone out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah of Shiloh accosted him on the road. Ahijah was wearing a new cloak; the two of them were in the open country by themselves. Ahijah took the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve strips, saying to Jeroboam, ‘Take ten strips for yourself, for thus the Lord speaks, the...

43 years ago today, Bonnie Tyler released the song that would become her personal best-selling tune of all time. Written and produced by Jim Steinman, the pop-rock icon’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” was released on Feb. 11, 1983, cementing her as a powerhouse vocalist. The song, a standout track on her fifth studio album, Faster Than the Speed of Night, topped the US Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks...

"I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it" (Phil. 1:6). God always finishes what He starts. All who love Christ desire to be like Him in spiritual perfection and absolute holiness. We want to please Him in every respect. However, that noble pursuit is often met with frustration and discouragement as human frailties and sin block our pathway. Paul's cry in Romans 7 is ours as well: "That which I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I...

On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “AC360,” host Anderson Cooper said that, after the drawdown of immigration officers in Minnesota, there are “thousands” of officers “who probably couldn’t make it on a police force, probably couldn’t make it in the military. Some of them, obviously, have been serving for a long time, but some of them have 47 days of training because of the 47th president.”