Free Republic

U2 releases Renee Good tribute song 'American Obituary' "These songs were impatient to be out in the world," singer Bono said of the band's surprise new EP, "Days of Ash." Irish rockers U2 became the latest high-powered musical act to condemn the federal immigration raids with the surprise release Wednesday of a six-track EP that kicks off with a song for slain Minneapolis protester Renée Good. Following in the footsteps of Bruce Springsteen, Bad Bunny, Billie Eilish and other artists, U2 recorded “American Obituary,” a four-minute plus musical condemnation of the crackdown that left the mother of three dead on...

On Wednesday’s CNN This Morning, host Audie Cornish and her panel managed to recast enforcement of federal civil rights law under Donald Trump as “enforcing ideology,” while a Democratic consultant insisted that DEI “was never a problem” until Trump took office. [snip] Host Audie Cornish framed the issue this way: “What it means is the actual government now is involved in enforcing a different ideology, so to speak.” No. It means the federal government is enforcing the law. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race. Get the rest of the story and view the...

https://x.com/wcdispatch/status/2023987491007521081 Walter Curt@wcdispatchAlright!! Finally everything is working!Right now, the live Medicaid intelligence map covers all 50 states and includes 208 discovered billing codes, with 11 high-priority codes currently enabled for focused monitoring.The national map view currently includes 4,167 unique provider lead points and 350 hotspot tracts, with deeper investigative views tracking 3,530 high-risk entities, 1,797 T1019-focused leads, and 2,874 critical address clusters.Each lead is ranked with a confidence score and priority tier so teams can triage faster and focus on the highest-impact signals first.The scoring is based on a multi-signal model that looks at payment scale, utilization intensity, concentration patterns,...

“Not only are Jews unsafe in her care, but it calls into question the judgment of those who employ her" says Physicans Against Antisemitsm (PAA).A California-based registered nurse has come under fire from the nation’s largest organization combatting antisemitism in healthcare after she posted dozens of tirades against Judaism and Jews, saying they pray to the “Synagogue of Satan” and that Judaism is “built on lies.” The nurse — RN Gina Borggrebe — works at Michael Lin Advanced Dermatology and for Paul Dougherty MD, according to her LinkedIn. The nurse is based in California and works throughout the LA county...

The heroic bystander, Michael Black, who risked his own life to try to subdue the transgender gunman in Rhode Island on Monday, recounted the harrowing incident on Tuesday. He described how, after he tackled the shooter, his hand became caught in the gunman's slide, stopping him from causing further harm, and how he witnessed the shooter pull out a second gun and take his own life. "As I was watching the game, I heard a pop, pop. And I thought they were balloons, I thought they were big balloons. And the noise was right in front of me. I looked,...

A committed Christian who followed a call to Baptist ministry, Gary’s life took a dramatic and unexpected turn when he was invited to help develop a network of Cowboy Churches in Texas. He flourished in this role, and it grew rapidly. However, the chaos of COVID, combined with partisan political infighting in his congregations, led him to seek an anchor in a theological tradition that could transcend the spirit of the age. This led him to discover the history and authority of the Catholic Church, and he knew that he had to come home.

A federal judge has declared a mistrial in the high‑profile case accusing nine North Texans of attacking the Prairieland ICE Detention Center on the Fourth of July, after determining that a defense attorney’s shirt could improperly influence potential jurors. The mistrial was issued Tuesday during jury selection, after Judge Mark Pittman noticed that defendant Maricela Rueda's defense attorney, MarQuetta Clayton, was wearing a T‑shirt under her jacket with images tied to the civil rights era beneath her jacket. Clayton later exited the courthouse with the shirt turned inside out, which had depicted images of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Shirley...

Explanation: Cradled in red-glowing hydrogen gas, stars are being born in Orion. These stellar nurseries lie at the edge of the giant Orion molecular cloud complex, some 1,500 light-years away. This detailed view spans about 12 degrees across the center of the well-known constellation, with the Great Orion Nebula, the closest large star-forming region, visible toward the lower right. The deep mosaic also includes, near the top center, the Flame Nebula and the Horsehead Nebula. Image data acquired with a hydrogen-alpha filter adds other remarkable features to this wide-angle cosmic vista: pervasive tendrils of energized atomic hydrogen gas and portions...

Rebekah had Judaism in her background, but was raised in a fundamentalist form of Pentecostalism that she rebelled against strongly, going deep into a world of regrettable life decisions. Through God’s providence and some key relationships, she began to come back to faith, and was surprised to find, after her initial Christian conversion, that her true spiritual home was in the Catholic Church. She now works helping women in crisis pregnancies in Steubenville, OH.

Do any of our FReeper Coast Guard veterans want to list their service on our military table of honor? If so, please provide the details. Regardless, thank you for your service. Here's a blank template with placeholder text until I receive actual dates and details.FReeper veteranCoast Guard19XX - 19XX, details placed hereFReeper veteranCoast Guard19XX - 19XX, details placed hereFReeper veteranCoast Guard19XX - 19XX, details placed hereI have already built the tables for the Air Force, Marines, NAVY and National Guard tables of honor. After I build tables for each branch, I will create a master table of all military willing...

President Trump is sending the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest warship, to the Middle East, along with a huge fleet of aerial refueling tankers and F-22 and F-35 strike fighters, according to reports. It would join the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group in the Middle East as a major show of force amid US negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program. The Ford — America’s most advanced aircraft carrier and the largest ever built — is designed to carry more than 75 aircraft, including F-35C Lightning II stealth fighters and F/A-18F Super Hornets, as well as EA-18G...

Peace officers, military personnel and prosecutors in recent years have faced a growing threat from the practice known as “doxxing” in which their personal, private information is obtained, sometimes through legal means and sometimes illegally, and spread online via a variety of social media. In most cases the information posted online has included home addresses, obviously putting law enforcement and military personnel, and their families, at great risk.Some states, particularly Alabama, have moved to protect America’s heroes with legislation outlawing the practice and imposing penalties on those who participate in the practice.There is also a federal statute to protect federal...

Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee’s vehicle was stolen Monday after someone broke into her office, according to the Oakland Police Officers Association (OPOA). The police union confirmed that someone tampered with the door of Lee’s office and stole the keys to her city-issued vehicle. The suspect drove away in Lee’s vehicle, the OPOA said. A day later, on Tuesday, the stolen vehicle was recovered in Vallejo. The Oakland Police Department (OPD) confirmed that a city-owned vehicle was stolen from Oakland City Hall on Monday and recovered “hours later.” Neither OPD nor the OPOA specified the location of where in Vallejo it...

Nearly 44 years after 13-year-old Sarah Geer was brutally raped and strangled to death in a Cloverdale alley, the girl’s murderer has been convicted, the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office announced. On Friday, a Sonoma County jury found 66-year-old James Oliver Unick guilty of the May 23, 1982, murder and found true that he committed a sexual assault during the commission of murder. Unick was ultimately identified as the suspect and arrested on July 22, 2024, after a cigarette he had smoked was collected by FBI agents and analyzed to be a match of DNA evidence at the scene of...

Question: Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to allow the General Assembly to temporarily adopt new congressional districts to restore fairness in the upcoming elections, while ensuring Virginia's standard redistricting process resumes for all future redistricting after the 2030 census?

This video shows bodycam footage and other recordings of the aftermath of UPS Airlines Flight 2976, which crashed on October 31, 2025. The crash occurred shortly after takeoff, with the plane landing on a recycling facility and causing a massive fire and explosions due to the combination of jet fuel and stored fuel oil (5:09). Key points from the video: Initial Response (0:11-1:59): First responders arrive to a chaotic scene of heavy black smoke and a large fire. Police work to evacuate people and shut down roads. Worsening Situation (2:45-5:47): Officers discover the plane was fully loaded with fuel for...

Apparently, Americans must give up their dogs to avoid appearing “Islamophobic.” Outrage against Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) is the left’s outrage du jour. The rage mob swung into action after Fine wrote: “If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one.” Yeah, that was it. He didn’t say “Kill them all” or even “Deport them all.” He didn’t recommend any action at all. He was actually responding to an X post from far-left, pro-Hamas activist Nerdeen Kiswani. In response to a news item about two grocery stores removing people with dogs, Kiswani...

“ TEHRAN, Feb. 18 (MNA) – The Russian Defense Ministry has released a video showing that Russian and Iranian navies hold maneuvers in the Oman Gulf The Russian Defense Ministry announced that Russia and Iran have held joint naval operations in the Gulf of Oman. Iran’s fleet is joined by the Russian corvette Stoiky, whose crew took part in joint ceremonial events in the port of Bandar Abbas, the report said. The sailors from both sides synchronize their actions to ensure safe navigation. Earlier, media have cited the Russian defense ministry as saying that Iran and Russia will hold joint...

Vatican declines invitation to join Trump’s Board of PeaceVatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin said global crisis management ‘primarily’ belongs to the UN, which the cardinal said poses a ‘critical issue’ for Trump’s Board of Peace.The Holy See has declined President Donald Trump’s invitation to join the Board of Peace, the stated aim of which is the governance of global areas affected by conflict.On Wednesday, February 17, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin told reporters that the Holy See “will not participate in the Board of Peace due to its particular nature, which is clearly not that of other...

Eight backcountry skiers died and one remains missing after an avalanche in the Lake Tahoe area, officials said on Wednesday. The rescue mission is now a recovery mission because the missing skier is presumed dead. Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon said a group of 15 skiers was in the Castle Peak area when the sheriff's office got a report of an avalanche around 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday. She said challenging weather conditions made it difficult for crews to reach the site of the avalanche. Crews arrived at the scene just after 5:30 p.m. and used a snowcat to travel two...