Free Republic

Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director William J. Pulte sent two new criminal referrals to the U.S. Department of Justice concerning New York Attorney General Letitia James. The latest referrals come after a criminal indictment against James was tossed in deep blue northern Virginia. The referrals allege suspected homeowners insurance fraud involving misrepresentations on insurance applications for properties associated with James. One referral was addressed to Jason Quinones, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and the other to Andrew Boutros, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. “Pursuant to my authority as the Director of the U.S....

Philadelphia County District Attorney Lawrence Krasner was slammed by the White House Wednesday after he brazenly threatened to arrest and jail ICE agents at airports — warning that even a pardon from President Trump wouldn’t protect them. The George Soros-backed Democrat unleashed the wild threat at Philadelphia International Airport days after Trump deployed ICE officers to at least 14 airports nationwide to assist TSA agents and help reduce the grueling lines that have plagued travelers amid the partial government shutdown. “The president cannot pardon you and yes I will put you in handcuffs, and I will put you in a...

To the average observer, “dispensationalism” sounds like academic jargon. To its adherents, it is a roadmap of the end times. It teaches that history is divided into distinct “dispensations”... In this scheme, we are currently in a “parenthesis” that will end with a secret “Rapture” and seven years of blood-soaked tribulation in the Middle East, culminating in Jesus’ return to fight a war. But here is the problem: This two-stage return of Christ contradicts 2,000 years of Christian orthodoxy. The Nicene Creed, the foundational statement of faith for nearly every Christian tradition, affirms that Christ “shall come again, with glory,...

The U.S. military said it carried out a strike Wednesday on a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the Caribbean Sea, killing four people, as the Trump administration pushes forward with a monthslong campaign against alleged traffickers in Latin America while waging a war against Iran. The latest attack brings the number of people who have been killed in boat strikes by the U.S. military to at least 163 since the Trump administration began targeting those it calls “narcoterrorists” in early September. As with most of the military’s statements on the dozens of strikes in the eastern Pacific Ocean and...

"Forgive us our debts" (Matt. 6:12). Believers confess their sins; unbelievers deny theirs. Christians struggle with sin. That surely comes as no surprise to you. As you mature in Christ, the frequency of your sinning decreases, but your sensitivity to it increases. That doesn't mean you are more easily tempted, but that you are more aware of the subtleties of sin and how it dishonors God. Some people think you should never confess your sins or seek forgiveness, but the Lord instructed us to do so when He said for us to pray, "Forgive us our debts" (Matt. 6:12). That's...

A Catholic bishop in Belgium has announced plans to ordain married men to the priesthood by 2028, despite the Roman Catholic Church’s requirement of clerical celibacy.Bishop Johan Bonny of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Antwerp recently released a pastoral letter claiming that “the consensus on this question is almost total” among Church leaders.“The question is no longer whether the Church can ordain married men as priests but when it will do so, and who will do it,” wrote Bonny. “Any delay comes across as an excuse.”The bishop said he “will make every effort to ordain married men as priests for...

WASHINGTON — Democrats keep making demands to fund the Department of Homeland Security — leaving in limbo thousands of federal workers who can’t afford to miss another paycheck on Friday. Senate Republicans accused Democrats of derailing a once-promising sign earlier this week of getting a deal done to end the partial shutdown of DHS with their latest proposal. Democrats unveiled their counteroffer Wednesday that GOP sources described as more demands, though Dems insisted they are just digging in on existing asks to reform Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Nonetheless, the proposal threw a wrench in the talks — and a...

Whether real or not, President Donald Trump’s statement that Iran has reached out for talks is already having an impact: fueling mistrust within Tehran leadership while easing tensions in global oil markets, even as Iranian officials deny any such contact.President Trump said on Monday that Iran had reached out to Washington for talks after the US threatened to strike Iranian energy infrastructure. He said, “They called, I didn’t call. They want to make a deal, and we are very willing to make a deal.” He also claimed that the United States had been speaking to “a top person” in Iran,...

Baseball fans were left with 'goosebumps' after a stirring rendition of the national anthem on MLB opening night. The New York Yankees traveled to the San Francisco Giants to raise the curtain on the new season and retired US serviceman Generald Wilson was given the honor of singing The Star-Spangled Banner.

A woman in Los Angeles has filed a civil lawsuit against Puka Nacua alleging the Rams wide receiver made an "unprovoked antisemitic statement" and later bit her on the shoulder. The lawsuit cites gender violence, assault and battery, and negligence. The plaintiff, Madison Atiabi, alleged the events happened on New Year's Eve in Century City. In the court document obtained by ESPN, Atiabi said Nacua said, "f--- all the Jews," and that she "immediately felt uncomfortable and emotionally distressed" because of her Jewish faith. Later in the lawsuit, Atiabi said she was in a car with Nacua when he "forcibly"...

Back in November, just days after Zohran Mamdani won his election to become the next mayor of New York City, I wrote about the cost of all of his proposals from free child care to free buses. The free child care plan alone was estimated to cost $6 to $9 billion per year and that's just the cost to offer it in NYC, which is less than half of the population of the state.The problem with all of these plans is that Mamdani had no way to pay for any of this. At the core of his big spending socialist...

Spring planting season is starting across the northern hemisphere. But before seeds go into the ground, nutrients go into the soil. Typically nitrogen fertilizer. "Right now, we're kind of ... we'll be in the thick of it," farmer Matt Ubel said from the cab of his huge green fertilizer spreader near Wheaton, Kansas. "Lot of nitrogen gets put on in the spring." The high cost of fertilizer and other farming necessities pushed many row crop farmers into the red last year. Ubel says some were holding out for lower prices this spring, only to see the price of the most...

Here come the morality police: About 1-in-3 people under the age of 30 say being extremely wealthy is “morally wrong.” Just 19% say it’s acceptable, and another near-50% don’t think it’s an issue one way or another. That data comes from the latest Pew Research Center poll on morality. Compare Gen-Z to Boomers, and data becomes even more stark. Only 10% of those over 65 say it’s morally wrong to be extremely wealthy. But that checks out. Those over 65 have enjoyed one of the greatest growth engines in human history, post World War II America. Cheap education, cheap homes...

The University of Southern California canceled a gubernatorial debate less than 24 hours before it was supposed to take place Tuesday after facing outrage over including only white candidates. Concerns about the selection criteria “have created a significant distraction from the issues that matter to voters,” the university said in a brief statement provided Tuesday. U.S.C. and KABC, the Los Angeles television station that was broadcasting the debate, could not reach an agreement on how to allow more candidates, the university said. The debate had become a flashpoint in the sprawling race to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is barred...

🚛🚫 NO ENGLISH, NO LICENSE! 17,000 TRUCKERS pulled OUT OF SERVICE for failing to pass our English language proficiency test. And we will continue to take dangerous foreign drivers OFF THE ROAD. Making America’s highways SAFE for you is a TOP priority for @POTUS, @USDOT, and @FMCSA 🇺🇸

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth vowed on Tuesday that “today will be, yet again, our most intense day of strikes inside Iran” at the same time that Iranian forces unleashed a new barrage of attacks on Israel and its Gulf neighbors. With both Washington and Tehran ruling out cease-fire talks, experts expect the global energy crisis to worsen as the war trudges on. Fears of Iranian attacks coupled with high insurance costs have largely halted oil and gas tankers from traversing the Strait of Hormuz, where around 20 percent of the world’s crude normally passes. On Tuesday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary...

August 19, 1953: The Iranian military, with the support and financial assistance of the United States government, overthrows the government of Premier Mohammad Mosaddeq and reinstates the Shah of Iran. Iran remained a solid Cold War ally of the United States until a revolution ended the Shah’s rule in 1979. Mosaddeq came to prominence in Iran in 1951 when he was appointed premier. A fierce nationalist, Mosaddeq immediately began attacks on British oil companies operating in his country, calling for expropriation and nationalization of the oil fields. His actions brought him into conflict with the pro-Western elites of Iran and...

Brock McNerney, 72, and Moisette McNerney, 69, of the 1200 block of East Clarendon Avenue in Arlington Heights, were taken into custody on Monday, the village police department announced. Both were charged with two misdemeanor offenses and released pending their initial court appearance. The pair was identified as the individuals responsible for vandalizing the Republicans of Wheeling Township office at 909 East Rand Road late on January 25, Arlington Heights PD said. Video showed two people using markers to write obscenities and draw symbols on the office windows at approximately 10:51 p.m. Arlington Heights Police Chief Nicholas Pecora said the...

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Archaeologists have analyzed a mass grave in southeastern Europe that held the remains of women and children who were violently murdered 2,800 years ago...The grave was unearthed at the archaeological site of Gomolava, located near the modern town of Hrtkovci in northern Serbia. Originally founded as a settlement on the Sava River in the sixth millennium B.C., both settled and mobile cultural groups used Gomolava repeatedly over the centuries. By the ninth century B.C., semisedentary groups in the Carpathian Basin were consolidating around sites like Gomolava, creating tension over land use and ownership...Archaeologists discovered postholes around the burial pit that...