Free Republic

The twelve apostles included "Simon the Zealot" (Matt. 10:4). Even people of vastly different backgrounds can minister together for Christ. During the time between the Old and New Testaments, a fiery revolutionary named Judas Maccabaeus led the Jewish people in a revolt against Greek influences on their nation and religion. The spirit of that movement was captured in this statement from the apocryphal book of 1 Maccabees: "Be ye zealous for the law and give your lives for the covenant" (1 Maccabees 2:50). That group of politically-oriented, self-appointed guardians of Judaism later became known as the Zealots. During the New...

LLMs prefer secular, rational reasoning, and while they'll still get religious on occasion, they have a negative view of Jehovah's WitnessesIf you're looking for one of the leading AI models to push faith as the answer to your otherwise neutral queries, you haven't got a prayer. Major LLMs ignore faith and use secular-rationalist reasoning to answer ethical questions, says a consortium of religious universities. But one thing the models all have in common is a negative view of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Secular, humanist, and scientifically derived responses to questions that aren’t framed in a religious manner are at the heart of...

A stunning report out of Canada reveals a physician is now under investigation over the death of a man he met outside a coffee shop.It seems the man was depressed and had been diagnosed with a bowel disease, so the doctor took him to a hospital to be given assisted suicide.According to a report at the Daily Mail, James MacLean, the physician, now is under mandatory clinical supervision for six months.He's accused of improperly delivering Canada's assisted suicide program, Medical Assistance in Dying, to that man and another."MacLean was investigated after he approved Thomas Dillon, who had Crohn's disease, for...

The BBC repeatedly sanitizes jihadist violence against Israelis through carefully loaded language. Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks targeting Israeli civilians are softened into “retaliatory strikes,” as though years of terrorism and aggression are merely understandable reactions rather than deliberate acts of violence by an Iranian-backed Islamist militia. At the same time, when Israel targets Hamas commanders responsible for terror operations, the BBC frames it as Israel acting “despite a ceasefire,” subtly casting Israel as the aggressor while minimizing Hamas violations and ongoing attacks. The pattern is not neutral reporting — it is narrative engineering that reshapes terrorism into grievance and...

When federal agencies closed their doors for a record-setting 43 days last fall, one person saw an opportunity. An individual is awaiting trial after burglarizing the Securities and Exchange Commission during last year’s government shutdown. The alleged thief did not wait long before entering the SEC regional office in Fort Worth, Texas, as the individual entered the building during the shutdown’s first week. A contracted security officer was present for the incident, but failed to stop the person, identify them or sign them in, as building protocols require, the SEC’s inspector general said. The burglar “bypassed” a locked door, walked...

President Donald Trump threatened Wednesday to "blow up" Oman if the longtime U.S. ally sided with Iran in seeking joint control over the Strait of Hormuz, according to reporting from the New York Post, Reuters and other outlets covering a White House Cabinet meeting. "If Oman doesn’t behave, we’re gonna have to blow them up," Trump said during the meeting, according to the New York Post.Trump said the Strait of Hormuz must remain an international waterway and rejected any arrangement that would place control or toll authority in the hands of Iran, Oman, or any other country, Reuters reported. The...

A Kansas boy found something historic during an educational field trip. Corbin Bullard, 12, is already a geology fan, especially dinosaurs. He is also a part of the 4-H Geology Club in Sedgwick County. “4-H is definitely meant to help kids find what they’re interested in and do amazing things,” Stephanie Hays, the Sedgwick County 4-H agent, said. And it was on one of the 4-H trips in Jewell County where Corbin stumbled across something unexpected. “He said, ‘Whoa.’ So, we looked down and found what I think was seven or eight large vertebrae,” Wendy Bullard, Corbin’s mother, recalled. The...

Secretary of State Marco Rubio called out “incompetent communists” who are in charge of the Cuban government, as the United States is eyeing possible intervention regarding the island nation just off the coast of Florida. The country is facing nearly all-day electricity blackouts, as CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Cuba earlier this month to meet with officials. There are also concerns about Cuba possibly wanting to act against the U.S. with military drones, according to Axios. “Cuba’s in a lot of trouble because, unfortunately for them, it’s run by a bunch of incompetent communists,” Rubio said. “Being a communist...

Vice President J.D. Vance’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud has taken a number of actions to tackle fraud in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in the months since its establishment. From Operation Cold SNAP, in which multiple government agencies coordinated to execute warrants on SNAP retailers in Minnesota, to the Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) probe into millions of allegedly fraudulent payments to dead people in Puerto Rico, and indictments secured by the Department of Justice, the federal government has taken a variety of actions to root out fraud in the food assistance program. “Every day, the Trump...

[Catholic Caucus] Swiss bishops ‘strongly reject’ conversion therapy for homosexual, ‘transgender’ individualsThe Swiss bishops claimed that practices aiming to change someone’s sexual inclination or gender identity ‘contradict the dignity of the person as the image of God’ in scandalous comments.The Swiss Bishops’ Conference (SBK) announced Tuesday that it is “strongly” opposed to conversion measures which seek to align one’s sexual inclination or “gender identity” with one’s God-given sex.The Swiss bishops issued their statement in support of a conversion measure ban for children and young adults that has been proposed in the Swiss Parliament. As the bill explains, conversion measures, which...

Spencer Pratt’s sister is making a dramatic U-turn. A short time after publicly torching her brother’s bid for Los Angeles mayor and warning voters supporting him would be “a vote for stupidity,” Stephanie Pratt is now singing a very different tune. “I admit I was the first person to tell people that they were idiots if they voted for my brother,” she wrote in an email to Vanity Fair. “Wow, was I wrong. He has spent every day since the fires, finding the facts, the mistakes, the negligence and uncovering the truth that they never wanted us to know.” Shortly...

The 2026 Tribeca Festival has set the world premiere of “Dreams of Violets,” a fully AI-generated film produced by studio Fountain 0 aimed at showcasing Iranian civilian resistance.The film’s premiere at Tribeca marks the first full-length, live-action film generated by AI to be accepted by a marquee film festival, according to Fountain 0.The project took three months — built entirely using tools such as Kling AI for video generation, Anthropic’s Claude AI for language-related editing, Google’s Gemini and Nanobanana for research and imagery and Fountain 0’s own technology for blocking and frame accuracy, according to the company — all from...

This video from Black Conservative Perspective covers the upcoming trial of Karmelo Anthony, a teenager accused of the first-degree murder of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf at a Frisco, Texas track meet in April 2025. Key Details of the Case: The Incident: Prosecutors allege that Anthony stabbed Metcalf in the chest following a verbal dispute over seating under a tent during a rainy track meet (3:15-3:54). Metcalf reportedly died in his brother's arms (3:46-3:51). Legal Proceedings: Anthony has been indicted for first-degree murder (13:53-13:56). His defense team intends to argue self-defense (4:04, 18:16), while the prosecution argues it was an intentional killing...

Why do public university officials do the things they do? What drives their decisions to allocate scarce resources in some ways and not others? In his recent book The University Unfettered, Ian F. McNeely offers a lot of insight into those questions. McNeely is a former (and current) faculty member and administrator, and he’s writing about his experiences at a state flagship university. He doesn’t say which one, although it’s easy to figure it out if you want to. But which state flagship doesn’t really matter, as there’s nothing unique about “The University” and those who run it. It is...

Israel has killed two top Hamas military chiefs in 11 days, demonstrating near-total surveillance, air supremacy, and intelligence capabilities across Gaza and the Middle East.What is so shocking about Israel's achievement of assassinating two Hamas military chiefs, Izz-al-Din al-Hadad, and his successor, Mohammed Ouda, within 11 days of each other, is that no one is even shocked anymore. Depending on the country or area, from drones to fighter jets, to the navy, to satellites, to Mossad, Shin Bet, and IDF Unit 504 agents, Israel has its enemies' leaders covered and in its crosshairs practically on demand, including: Iran, the Yemen...

Justice Thomas declines to immediately restore Alabama's 2023 congressional map, but orders VRA plaintiffs to respond to Alabama's request by Monday, June 1st at 4pm. Alabama requested a ruling from the Court by 10am on June 1st or as soon as possible thereafter.

A group of U.S. senators introduced new and wide-sweeping legislation Wednesday that aims to address many current issues in college sports, including an effort to restore some rule-making power to the NCAA and open the possibility for conferences to sell their lucrative television rights as one large group. The Protect College Sports Act, written after months of negotiation between Republican Ted Cruz and Democrat Maria Cantwell, would provide the NCAA with an antitrust exemption to enforce several rules that have been challenged in court in recent years. Those rules would include: Limiting athletes to transferring schools only one time without...

Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson is taking aim at the FDA, accusing the agency of concealing COVID vaccine injuries and calling it 'the largest government scandal in my lifetime.' He joined Fox News host Maria Bartiromo and others to discuss the issue. Thank you @MariaBartiromo for covering what the legacy media refuses to: the largest government scandal in my lifetime. FDA officials were fully aware of COVID injection injuries — including sudden cardiac death, pulmonary infarction, stroke, and Bell’s palsy — but kept them… pic.twitter.com/LrSVSa1w6Q — Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) May 26, 2026 "They were warned by their data-mining analysts, their...

It was once a sacred place, ushering you inside with its signature red roof and comforting smell of bubbling cheese in a special era now known lovingly as "the '90s." In its prime, Pizza Hut wasn't just a restaurant chain — it was an experience. The stained glass lamps, red booths and red cups. The fully loaded salad bar. The Pac-Man machines to keep you entertained while you waited for your personal-pan pizza. "It was perfect," says one of many TikTok videos of the experience. "Felt like home," someone commented on another nostalgic video. Now, one of the largest franchisees...

CALGARY — One elderly woman was convinced that her life was soon going to change forever, as the Canadian grandmother expressed excitement after hearing that her family was preparing to hire a MAID. Betty Martin, an 80-year-old woman who lives with her son and his family, was delighted to overhear the family discussing their plan to pay for a MAID to come "take care of" some business at their home. "This will change my life!" Martin said after hearing the news. "My goodness, I bet I'll never have to wash another sink full of dishes ever again. I was worried...