Free Republic

Here I am offering a simple but different perspective involving the creation and meaning of the name Abraham.Genesis 171 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him: 'I am God Almighty; walk before Me, and be thou wholehearted. 2 And I will make My covenant between Me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.' 3 And Abram fell on his face; and God talked with him, saying: 4 'As for Me, behold, My covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be the father of a multitude of nations.5 Neither shall...

Children in Finland start school at the age of seven. They are only in classrooms half the time as most other countries. Its students outperform most others across the world. Why is that?

Explanation: What are these Earthlings trying to tell us? The featured message was broadcast from Earth towards the globular star cluster M13 in 1974. During the dedication of an upgrade to the Arecibo Observatory - then the largest single radio telescope in the world - a string of 1's and 0's representing the diagram was sent. This attempt at extraterrestrial communication was mostly ceremonial - humanity regularly broadcasts radio and television signals out into space accidentally. Even were this message received, M13 is so far away we would have to wait almost 50,000 years to hear an answer. The featured...

“I wanted to know the truth of life. I wanted to live a good life, I wanted to live with purpose and know why I am on the earth.” Methodology • 28 South Asian Muslim believers in Christ interviewed • 15 born in UK, 8 came as young children, 5 more recent arrivals • 24 Sunni, 2 Shia, 1 Ahmadiyya, 1 mixed Ch/Mus parents • Ages - Youngest 21, Oldest 61, Average 38 • Christians for: Newest 9 months, Longest 29 yrs, Average 14 yrs • Baptised: 26 (2 not) • Singles 12, Marrieds 12, Divorced 4 (3) • Self-Designation:...

Russia has quietly become Iran’s most consequential external partner. Public reporting shows Moscow feeding Tehran real time satellite imagery of U.S. and Israeli positions — a simple but powerful boost to Iranian targeting and battle damage assessment. Russia has also helped upgrade Iran’s Shahed drones with better navigation and communications systems. These aren’t glamorous contributions, but they matter: they force the United States to burn multimillion dollar interceptors on cheap, disposable threats. None of this changes the balance of power. But it absolutely changes the tempo of the war. China’s support looks different — quieter, but just as important. Beijing...

The European Union is expanding its powers to track, raid and deport migrants to " return hubs ″ in third countries in Africa and elsewhere, quietly adopting tactics of the Trump administration that have drawn public criticism across the 27-nation bloc. The EU continues to tighten migration policies after right-wing parties took power in some countries in 2024. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, from the center-right European People’s Party coalition, has said that the new measures will prevent a repeat of the 2015 crisis caused by Syria’s civil war, when about 1 million people arrived to seek asylum....

Join us as the Artemis II crew answers questions from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, where they're in protective quarantine ahead of their upcoming flight around the Moon. NASA's Artemis II Q&A from Quarantine | 53:49 NASA | 12.8M subscribers | 20,828 views | March 29 2026(Streamed live 2 hours ago)

This week, one of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents Trump sent to JFK Airport in New York City to assist the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) saved a one-year-old child from choking to death by using the Heimlich maneuver. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who had previously asserted that "the last thing that the American people need are for untrained ICE agents to be deployed at airports all across the country potentially to brutalize or in some instances kill them," now cautions "against letting down our guard against these dangerous and undisciplined brutes. A lion may peacefully lie...

A journal called Liberal Currents recently invited me to contribute to a scholarly symposium on what the editor, Adam Gurri, described as “how we can move to a new, stable democratic regime after Trump.” He was particularly interested in “what sort of accountability model should be pursued, especially if it has to be done on a partisan basis by a Democratic trifecta.” I disagreed with the premise of the symposium and declined. The idea of “restoring democracy” after Donald Trump is widespread on the left. When we realize what this means, it should prompt those loyal to our Constitution to...

Nurses from the country's largest nurses union, National Nurses United (NNU), will join rallies across the United States as part of the March 28 No Kings protests. Nurses continue to condemn the Trump administration's authoritarian politics and call for the abolition of ICE, an end to Trump's war in Iran, and demand what's collectively needed for a healthy future for our society. "Nurses will continue to take to the streets to protect our neighbors and protest the fascist politics Washington is trying to force on everyday people at home and abroad," said Mary Turner, RN and NNU president. "We will...

Alarming footage on social media has captured the moment No Kings protesters were seen coughing and choking after tear gas was deployed in Los Angeles, California. The intense standoff between a small group of protesters and authorities was filmed at the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown L.A. The Los Angeles Police Department's incident commander declared a "tactical alert" for the City of Los Angeles after the event. "Federal Authorities have deployed more tear gas due to demonstrators throwing large concrete blocks, bottles and other objects over the fence," LAPD wrote in a statement on X. A dispersal order was issued...

In Preston Sturges' posthumous memoir Sturges by Sturges, finished by his widow Sandy and published in 1990, the director recounts an outlandish story from his childhood that would end up inspiring one of the most chaotic sequences in his 1942 screwball masterpiece The Palm Beach Story. His mother, a socially and culturally ambitious woman who was friends with dancer Isadora Duncan and had an affair with satanist Aleister Crowley, had brought him to Dresden while she worked on an operetta and the two of them (plus maid) were heading back to Paris in a train compartment stuffed with masses of...

The Public Theater celebrated the opening night of the world premiere play Public Charge on Wednesday evening, welcoming a range of political leaders and theater artists to mark the occasion. See photos of the event. The play is co-written by former U.S. Ambassador Julissa Reynoso and Michael J. Chepiga and draws from Reynoso’s experiences working for Hillary Rodham Clinton. The Public Theater celebrated the opening night of the world premiere play Public Charge on Wednesday evening, welcoming a range of political leaders and theater artists to mark the occasion. See photos of the event. Clinton attended the opening and offered...

A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy died after suffering a medical emergency while participating in the 2026 Baker to Vegas Challenge Cup Relay race, officials announced. The deputy, assigned to the San Dimas Sheriff’s Station, was among numerous law enforcement personnel representing their agencies at the annual event when the medical emergency occurred, according to a statement shared by the department on social media. ... Officials described the deputy as a 13-year veteran whose loss is being felt across the LASD community. The Baker to Vegas Challenge Cup Relay is an annual long-distance relay race that draws teams from...

The Secret Service continues to make headlines, though not always for the right reasons. In 2024, the agency’s actions, particularly its failure to protect Donald Trump during the July rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, fueled calls for its dissolution. Moreover, there were serious security breaches involving Biden officials. In 2023, a drunk individual entered the home of then-National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, managing to bypass his Secret Service detail. And now, an agent on Jill Biden’s detail shot himself in the butt while escorting the former first lady through Philadelphia International Airport on Friday. Susan Crabtree of RealClearPolitics had the backstory:...

Ukraine signed a defense cooperation pact with Saudi Arabia on Friday, as Gulf countries look to Kyiv for assistance on defending against drone attacks from Iran. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed the agreement with senior Saudi officials during his two-day visit to Riyadh. The accord "lays the foundation for future contracts, technological cooperation, and investment. It also strengthens Ukraine’s international role as a security donor," Zelenskyy announced Friday morning. "We are ready to share our expertise and systems with Saudi Arabia and to work together to strengthen the protection of lives. Now into the fifth year, Ukrainians are resisting the same...

Vladimir Putin is facing mutiny from his biggest war Ukraine backers amid fears of an impending coup. An unprecedented wave of defeatism over the war has gripped the “toxic” Kremlin dictator’s most ardent supporters. This follows a wave of crippling Ukrainian drone and missile strikes which have paralysed Putin’s oil exports and savaged his key military factories. Russian gains on the frontline have ground to a virtual halt, with some reversals, amid catastrophic losses of 8,000 or more soldiers a week.

This is from a YouTube video, obviously, but I'm only posting the verbiage from it that goes along with the title of this posting. That section goes as follows: Be cautious of people with podcasts and social media platforms who make money by views, clicks, and the number of followers they have.If they can cause a stir, if they can get a debate, these kinds of things, it will serve them and they will profit from it. They like to cause a stir because they can profit because more people will tune in, listen to their podcast or watch their...

A pivotal U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine. The attack injured more than 10 service members, two seriously. Among the other planes damaged are aerial refueling tankers. U.S. Central Command has declined to comment on the incident. Air & Space Forces Magazine has reviewed an image that shows significant damage to an E-3 at Prince Sultan Air Base. The image appears to show one...

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is calling for Republicans to provide Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with enough funding to last a decade. He believes Republicans can do that without the support of a single Democrat. "We can do it with just 50 votes," Cruz said. Lawmakers in the Senate agreed early on Friday to advance funding for DHS that includes the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Coast Guard, the Secret Service and seven other agencies — even as gridlock over ICE remains firmly in place.