Free Republic

Hello all I hesitate ever making posts like this because, well, I just don't like doing it. But I feel I have to now. As you all can see, the quarterly goal is not where many of us would like to see. It's still about $6,000 short. This is the last day of Q1 and I am fearful we won't make it. Many of us depend on Free Republic for our news, our devotionals, and as such you are our family. Please, I beg you, don't let the trolls and folks at DU cause FR to have to curtail its...

WASHINGTON — In a blow to LGBTQ rights, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that Colorado's ban on conversion therapy aimed at youths struggling with their sexual orientation or gender identity violates the free speech rights of a conservative Christian therapist. The 8-1 decision in favor of therapist Kaley Chiles on her claim brought under the Constitution's First Amendment is likely to have national implications — more than 20 states have similar laws. It could also have an impact on other forms of medical treatment that involve speech. Writing for the majority, Justice Neil Gorsuch said that "the First Amendment...

Here is the previous thread regarding the addition of the letter hei to Abram's name (Genesis 17):The Name Abraham is Where a Seed was Planted(It contains the explanation for why the letter hei [ה] refers to seed, and as such is the basis for Abraham's name meaning, "the father of many nations".)Genesis 151 After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying: 'Fear not, Abram, I am thy shield, thy reward shall be exceeding great.' 2 And Abram said: 'O Lord GOD, what wilt Thou give me, seeing I go hence childless, and he...

“This pain is like childbirth, it comes with distress, but we pray for it to bring life and freedom soon...Please keep praying, people here need hope.” After a prolonged time of total communication blackout, some Iranians are now managing to speak with their relatives and friends. “It was such a relief to finally hear the voices of our sisters and brothers after nine days of silence,” shares an Open Doors partner who recently managed to have brief calls with some people in Iran. “Praise the Lord, they are safe.” Economic hardship is affecting Iranians across the country...But the protests and...

The United States is resuming operations at its embassy in Caracas after a seven-year hiatus, citing a “new chapter” in diplomatic ties with Venezuela, the State Department said Monday. The reopening “will strengthen our ability to engage directly with Venezuela’s interim government, civil society, and the private sector,” the department said in a statement, calling it a “key milestone” in implementing President Donald Trump’s plan for Venezuela since the U.S. military captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January. Ambassador Laura F. Dogu, the top U.S. diplomat in Venezuela who arrived in Caracas in January, will lead the effort to reestablish...

The House of Representatives passed bipartisan legislation that gives the U.S. president the power to restrict U.S. port access for countries with governments that have seized American property abroad. The Defending American Property Abroad Act of 2026, introduced by Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, passed 247 to 164. In March 2023, the Mexican government seized a U.S. company's port at Punta Venado. “When countries violate trade agreements and illegally seize assets from U.S. companies, it puts American job security, economic security, and national security at risk. This legislation is critical because it ensures there are enforceable consequences for those actions,” Pfluger...

Donald Trump said he was willing to end the Iran war without a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The US president, with no concrete signs of a diplomatic breakthrough, suggested that if negotiations collapsed, he would “obliterate” Iran’s energy and water facilities, but leave the vital waterway under Iranian control. He wrote on his Truth Social platform: “Great progress has been made but, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately ‘Open for Business’, we will conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by...

Iran’s IRGC has confirmed the killing of Jamshid Eshaghi, a major general in Iran’s armed forces and an adviser to the chief of the General Staff, Al Jazeera reports. In a statement circulated by Iranian media, the IRGC said an attack killed Eshaghi with several members of his family, but it did not provide details. Earlier today, Iranian state media announced that the funeral for the IRGC navy commander, Admiral Alireza Tangsiri, who was also killed in an Israeli attack, will take place on Monday.

The mayor of Rhode Island’s capital city is calling for a mural reportedly backed by Elon Musk to honor Iryna Zarutska —the Ukrainian woman whose brutal murder while riding a North Carolina train prompted calls for harsher punishment for career criminals — to be taken down. The mural, located on the exterior of The Dark Lady, an LGBTQ+ club in downtown Providence, remains incomplete, WJAR-TV reported. The office of Mayor Brett Smiley told the news outlet that he wants the artwork taken down. “The murder of the individual depicted in this mural was a devastating tragedy, but the misguided, isolating...

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said Monday his committee has received information showing the United States' Census Bureau in 2020 miscalculated the number of Americans in a way that cost Republicans multiple House seats. Comer claimed the basic count was biased against Republicans because the bureau made estimations instead of doing a physical count during the COVID-19 pandemic, and estimated high in Democratic areas like major cities and underestimated in suburban areas known to be more friendly to Republicans. "The basic count was miscounted grossly in the last census, to the tune of costing the Republicans anywhere from four...

Democrats don't hate all Christians, of course. Christians are great if they are genderqueer or love illegal immigrants, but if they conform to rather normal Christian theology and believe that such a thing as sin exists, or that good and evil are real things, they are quite scary. Postmodern, anti-Western Christianity=good. Cisgender, heterosexual, and especially white Christians=bad. You would think that their objections would be ideological, but that isn't primarily the case. The hatred of Christianity you see in many liberals is actually a hatred of the West itself. The West was called "Christendom" for centuries, and for a reason....

Italy has denied the use of an airbase in Sicily to US military planes carrying weapons for the war in Iran after the US did not follow the required authorisation procedure. A source at the Italian defence ministry confirmed a report in Corriere della Sera that “some US bombers” had been due to land at Sigonella – one of seven US navy bases in Italy – before heading to the Middle East, but that use of the base had been denied because the US sought authorisation to land only while the aircraft were already en route to Sicily. The source...

Held: Colorado’s law banning conversion therapy, as applied to Ms. Chiles’s talk therapy, regulates speech based on viewpoint, and the lower courts erred by failing to apply sufficiently rigorous First Amendment scrutiny.

Wild footage shows three disgruntled women being hauled out of Miami International Airport in handcuffs for storming onto a Philadelphia-bound flight while refusing to pay for extra luggage. Nafisa Dockery, 30, DionjanaCochran, 21, and Davana Cochran, 26 were all slapped with trespassing after a warning and resisting an officer charges over the Sunday night airport mayhem, according to arrest reports. The trio was waiting to board a Frontier Airlines flight when an employee noticed they didn’t pay for a second carry-on luggage item and asked that they step off the line and fork over the extra fee, authorities said, according...

Not an entertainer or talk show celebrity, Postol has banks of lecture slides showing nuke-war damage, missiles & drones in eye-glazing technical detail. Take-away: if a cheap but accurate drone hits your apartment even with a reinforced safe-room, the building will collapse, so you'd better huddle in a shelter. But the destruction of radars means you have no warning. Your life is completely disrupted. While U.S. Defense Industries (Lockheed-Martin, General Dynamics,TRW, etc.) have been getting fat pedalling us decades of useless, expensive whiz-bang systems that never worked but make fantastic Congressional pork: lean-mean Ukrainians, Russians, Chinese & Iranians have been...

Last year, Paula White offered her followers seven Easter blessings for a gift of $1,000. This Holy Week, she’s using support for Israel as a motivation to give money to her. In addition to being a health-and-wealth televangelist — soundly critiqued by most of mainstream Christianity — White leads President Donald Trump’s White House Office of Faith. This year, she’s drawing on the Trump administration’s unflinching support for the Israeli government by claiming a gift to her ministry is a gift to support Israel. White is a staunch Zionist and recently kicked a conservative evangelical woman off Trump’s Religious Liberty...

"It was pretty soon after James was born that I knew something wasn't right," says Laura. She and her partner, Beth, have two children - James, and their eldest Kate - both conceived through IVF treatment at a clinic in Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus. The two women used their own eggs and carefully chose one anonymous, healthy sperm donor. They told the clinic which ordered the sperm for them that it was important the same donor was used for both babies - so their children would be biologically related. But when James was born, they both noticed that his "beautiful" brown...

Alberta’s push for independence reached a major milestone Monday after organizers announced they have surpassed the 177,000 signatures required to trigger a provincial referendum. The petition’s success means Albertans are now on track to vote on independence on October 19, marking a historic moment in the province’s political landscape. SNIP

The Chicago Bulls waived shooting guard Jaden Ivey “due to conduct detrimental to the team,” the team announced in a statement on Monday. Ivey had increasingly been posting on social media about his religious beliefs and recently made anti-LGBTQ comments. The Bulls’ decision reportedly came after he criticized the NBA for celebrating Pride Month, which he called “unrighteousness.”

Military victories are decided on the battlefield—but in modern America, they are too often lost in the politics that follow. The rare quick and total victory over an enemy at little cost often ensures unquestioned political support in modern consensual societies. In most cases, however, especially in the Western world, ongoing military success or failure is adjudicated through the lens of politics—in a way sometimes at odds with the reality of the battlefield. Politicians answer to the people. The best do not drift with the prevailing winds. On the other hand, all must face elections, secure legislative support, and ultimately...