Free Republic

A convicted child sex offender is now a fugitive after a California judge allowed him to remain free on $1 million bail following his conviction, a decision that prosecutors are now sharply criticizing after the man disappeared before sentencing.Carl Cacconie was convicted on July 17 at the South Lake Tahoe Courthouse of six felony sex crimes involving an 11-year-old girl. Despite the verdict, Judge Michael McLaughlin, a registered Democrat, permitted him to leave court pending sentencing, which was set for Aug. 25. He never returned. SNIP “To expect that a person on $1 million bond, who has now been convicted,...

The hunt for the next James Bond has officially kicked off. Amazon MGM Studios started auditioning actors for the part of 007 in the past few weeks, Variety has learned, with the studio enlisting the help of Nina Gold to find the man with the suaveness and danger necessary to replace Daniel Craig as Ian Fleming’s super-spy. “The search for the next James Bond is underway,” Amazon MGM Studios said in a statement. “While we don’t plan to comment on specific details during the casting process, we’re excited to share more news with 007 fans as soon as the time...

A Democratic strategist stunned a CNN panel into silence after claiming a new congressional map set to make a black Republican the odds-on favorite to win the election is racist. Democratic strategist Tezlyn Figaro made the argument on Thursday's NewsNight after journalist Lydia Moynihan pointed out how the redistricting bid will help the odds of GOP candidate Charlotte Bergmann, a black woman, in Tennessee. The new map made it through the state's general assembly hours before. Moynihan framed the situation as 'ironic', given that many critics have called the redraw racist. They say it dilutes the state's only black-majority district,...

EVERMAN, Texas — The human remains recovered this week during a multi-department excavation at a home in Everman have been positively identified as those of 6-year-old Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez, the Tarrant County District Attorney confirmed Friday. This home in the 3400 block of Wisteria Lane has been searched before in connection with the disappearance of 6-year-old Noel Rodriguez Alvarez. Noel's mother, Cindy Rodriguez-Singh, who is charged with capital murder, was found incompetent to stand trial last month. Noel was reported missing in March 2023, months after he was last seen alive in October 2022. At the time of his disappearance, investigators...

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Friday cut former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters’ nine-year prison sentence in half, and ordered the 70-year-old, who has become a national martyr for election conspiracy theorists, to be released on parole June 1. Peters’ sentence for orchestrating a security breach of her county’s election system in 2021 in a failed attempt to uncover voter fraud is now four years and four and a half months under a clemency order issued by the governor. “She, because of her incorrect and unpopular speech, got an unduly harsh sentence,” Polis said Friday in an interview with The...

Jared Polls, the Democrat governor of Colorado, reduces the sentence of election denier Tina Peters. She will be released the 1 June, says the Governor.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday that Russia was seeking to draw Belarus deeper into its war in Ukraine and was weighing plans to attack Ukraine's north or a NATO country from Belarusian territory. "We continue to document Russia's attempts to draw Belarus deeper into the war against Ukraine," Zelenskiy said on the Telegram messaging app after meeting military and intelligence officials. He said Ukraine knew of additional contacts between Russia and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to persuade him to join "new Russian aggressive operations". "Russia is considering plans for operations to the south and north of Belarusian territory –...

SSPX responds: ‘Excommunicated? But by whom? By those who kneel before Pachamama?’The Society of Saint Pius X responds to the Holy See's recent statement regarding excommunication if episcopal consecrations are carried out on July 1.Fri May 15, 2026 - 2:54 pm EDTFri May 15, 2026 - 4:18 pm EDT (Society of Saint Pius X) — “Physician, heal yourself” (Lk 4:23).1. The Vatican Press Office published, on Wednesday, May 13, 2026, the following statement from Cardinal Fernandez, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith:Regarding the Society of Saint Pius X, we reiterate what has already been communicated. The...

According to a report from the Daily Mail, several Christian leaders who attended confidential briefings on impending UFO revelations are sounding alarms that the released materials could align with end-times warnings in Scripture. Pastor Joseph Zupetz and evangelist Tony Merkel were among a small group of faith influencers invited to a private gathering in a remote mountainous Airbnb in Tennessee in February. There, former military personnel and investigators into non-human intelligence shared details about upcoming government disclosures of UAPs, reverse-engineered craft, and encounters with otherworldly entities.

Leading Catholic convert says Vatican Synod’s pro-LGBT move mirrors Anglican ‘schism’A former Anglican chaplain to the Queen said the pro-homosexual Synod report strikingly echoes the Anglican Church’s embrace of sexual depravity and descent into schism.A Catholic convert and former Anglican chaplain to the Queen said the Vatican Synod on Synodality’s recent pro-LGBT final report mirrors the Anglican Church’s descent into relativism and “schism.”Gavin Ashenden on Tuesday published a piercing critique of the Vatican’s Study Group 9 report on “doctrinal, pastoral and ethical issues” that scandalously gave the impression of condoning the grave sin of homosexual acts. Referencing the testimony of...

Authorities are investigating after a fiery explosion Friday at a lumber mill in Searsmont, Maine. Officials have not yet released the number of injuries or fatalities. Camden Fire & Rescue confirmed it has a crew providing assistance. "Our thoughts are with the injured, medical professionals providing care and first responders working to control the situation," the department wrote in a statement on Facebook. "We anticipate having personnel committed to helping for several days." Ben Hamel, the mill's purchasing manager, told the Bangor Daily News that the fire started in an area where wood shavings are packaged. The fire then spread...

The stretch between Svalbard and the North Cape of mainland Norway constitutes the Bear Gap, which is the Arctic Circle analogue to the better-known Greenland-Iceland-UK Gap.4 Svalbard’s proximity to the Kola Peninsula and Novaya Zemlya—home to Russia’s Northern Fleet and its nuclear weapons test site, respectively—further helps explain Moscow’s enduring interest in Svalbard. The archipelago’s importance is likely to grow as maritime trade increases in the Arctic. The Pentagon’s 2024 Arctic Strategy notes, “Reduction in sea ice due to climate change means chokepoints such as the Bering Strait between Alaska and Russia and the Barents Sea north of Norway are...

The 2025 article marks a significant evolution. It adapts Maoist strategy as a framework for far-seas operations, showing how a weaker force might offset U.S. advantages through asymmetric means. In doing so, it envisions not only countering intervention in a Taiwan conflict, but also protecting China’s global maritime interests. The application of Mao’s doctrine at sea signals ambitions well beyond regional defense—toward a PLAN capable of contesting influence across the world’s oceans.Once in place, these seemingly civilian platforms, operating in coordination with military forces, would be poised to exploit U.S. vulnerabilities in wartime. They would target critical nodes and weak...

It became more complex in 2025 to own and operate an internationally trading commercial ship. The U.N. Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) 2025 Review of Maritime Transport forecasted inhibited growth in global shipping, increased sailing distances, and elevated costs. Changing trade conditions led to frequent operational adjustments and fine-tuning of shipping routes. Geopolitical tensions and uncertain terms of trade punctured the rationale for interconnected markets advocated for by Ricardian economic logic and neoclassical economic theory. Global insurer Allianz remarked in its 2025 Safety and Shipping Review that the “volatile and complex operating environment” may alter even the long-term trend...

A conservative law firm is suing state officials in federal court challenging Wisconsin’s ban on conversion therapy, arguing it amounts to unconstitutional “viewpoint discrimination.” The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, or WILL, announced the litigation Wednesday, saying it filed suit on behalf of licensed counselors Terri Koschnick and Joy Buchman, who both provide Christian faith-based counseling services. Gov. Tony Evers, Department of Safety and Professional Services Secretary Dan Hereth and members of the Wisconsin Marriage and Family Therapy, Professional Counseling, and Social Work Examining Board are named as defendants in the suit.

The Biden administration may have failed to convince Congress to double Medicaid spending on home healthcare in 2021, but the funding increase occurred anyway. An RCI analysis of federal data has found that spending on the program, which pays health aides and family members to act as caregivers for elderly and disabled adults, nearly doubled between 2019 and 2024, to $46.4 billion a year – an amount nearly identical to the $50 billion per year Biden wanted. As a result, American taxpayers paid more than $217 billion for home-based care under the program during that five-year span. Lacking congressional approval,...

In [2021-2023], thousands of children crossed the border alone and ended up working in some of the most dangerous jobs in the country. Migrant children as young as 13 suffered chemical burns on overnight factory shifts, had their limbs mangled by conveyor belts or fell to their deaths from roofs......[HHS Secretary] Xavier Becerra [who was in charge of finding homes for the kids] began urging staff members to move them more quickly through shelters... Employees told me they loosened protections that had been in place for years, including in screening sponsors... Most of [the kids Becerra placed with sponsors] were...

We’ve been having a debate about “book bans” in recent years, but given the steep decline in student literacy, the deeper question is how any child would even notice whether a book is available in a school library. The Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford recently published an eye-opening study documenting steep declines in student test scores, especially in reading. Over the past 10 years, reading scores have declined in 83% of America’s school districts. What looked like a COVID-driven catastrophe is instead part of a long-running trend. Reading scores were falling at a similar clip prior to the pandemic, from...

Explanation: Comet R3 PanSTARRS might be best remembered as an Orion comet. A key reason is because Comet C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS) was near its most spectacular -- in terms of tail visibility -- when passing in front of the iconic constellation. Although rare, other bright comets, too, have ventured across Orion, including Lovejoy in 2015, Hale-Bopp in 1997, and the Great Comet of 1264. Best visible in long duration exposures, the featured image was captured last week from the Craigieburn Mountain Range in New Zealand. Visible in the deep background image are the Orion Nebula, Barnard's Loop, and through R3's...

Los Angeles mayoral hopeful Nithya Raman wanted to ban backyard barbecues for residents during certain high fire danger days across the city. Raman introduced a motion Wednesday directing city officials to examine emergency restrictions on grilling during Red Flag Warning days, when high winds and dry conditions significantly increase wildfire danger across Los Angeles. The proposal specifically asks officials to consider possible limits on backyard barbecues, fire pits and other open flames in residential neighborhoods during those high-risk weather events.