Free Republic

The US accused Russian intelligence operatives of orchestrating a murder-for-hire plot targeting a Kremlin critic believed to be living in Washington, DC. In documents unsealed on Tuesday, federal prosecutors claim the conspiracy was part of a broader global network that recruited people to carry out assassinations and terrorist attacks on behalf of Moscow. The five men charged in the incitement allegedly worked for Russia’s intelligence services, and are accused of being paid and attempting to pay others in the US and abroad to surveil and kill Russian dissidents. Three of the defendants also face conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire charges. All...

Scientists have made mice with a remarkable amount of room for human brain tissue to grow. By genetically engineering animals lacking part of their brain, researchers created a living model in which pea-sized clumps of human neurons could expand, mature and wire into a developing nervous system, ultimately coming to dominate the mouse cortex, the brain’s outer layer. The model offers a new way to study human neural circuits and brain disease, researchers report September 16 in Nature. “Our goal has been to make aspects of human brain development and function accessible for investigation, so we can develop therapeutics,” says...

Peter Max, whose colorful, psychedelic pop art expressed the optimism of the “flower power” movement of the 1960s and graced everything from postage stamps to a cruise ship, has died at 88, his son said in a written statement Wednesday. Max died on Monday, the statement said. No cause was given, but he had been suffering from advanced dementia. Max began his career in graphic design in the 1960s, and his swirly, colorful, instantly recognizable designs epitomized the era’s “flower power” art. But thanks to his prolific output and fun, accessible style, Max’s work remained popular well into the 21st...

Washington state Democrat Krista Perez, who is running for a state House seat, was seen on police video admitting to drinking wine, declining field sobriety tests and begging to go home before praying and crying in the back of a patrol car after her DUI arrest. Perez finished first in last month’s primary in the 29th Legislative District, Position 1, and will face incumbent state Rep. Melanie Morgan, also a Democrat, in November, as the top two candidates advance to the general. Tacoma Police said Perez’s 2019 Chevrolet Silverado allegedly struck a parked car on South G Street shortly after...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media. I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness - 1 Timothy 2:1-2 Religion Forum Threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind. To Him was given Dominion, Glory and a Kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, tongues might serve Him. His Dominion is an everlasting Dominion ....

🚨 The New York Post just named the group Silicon Valley wants in charge of AI. It is not Congress. It is not voters. It is a far-left Effective Altruism outfit called METR. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei says these people should get employee-like access to the most powerful models on Earth. The problem is they are not independent. The roster includes his old housemate, that housemate’s wife, and staff funded by the same Democratic megadonors already invested in Anthropic. That is not a watchdog. That is the same circle grading its own homework. If a bank hired its own friends...

Daily Readings from the USCCBA certain Pharisee invited Jesus to dine with him, and he entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table. Now there was a sinful woman in the city who learned that he was at table in the house of the Pharisee. Bringing an alabaster flask of ointment, she stood behind him at his feet weeping and began to bathe his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and anointed them with the ointment. Luke 7:36–38Why did Simon the Pharisee invite Jesus to dine at his house? Though the Gospel does...

ActBlue told Congress its "passport verification" stops foreign donors. Their own policy says otherwise: it only checks that the number has the right number of characters. No database check. No real verification. Ever.

From 2013 to today. This video shows extreme devastation and havoc.

“PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A new poll in the Oregon governor’s race shows Republican Christine Drazan with a slight lead over Democratic incumbent Tina Kotek. It’s the latest indication that the governor’s race is essentially neck and neck, with less than two months before the November election. The poll was conducted by DHM Research and was commissioned by Grow Oregon. The poll, called the Oregon Voter Sentiment Survey, sampled 600 likely voters, with a 4% margin of error. It shows voters favor Christine Drazan by two percentage points (45% to 43%), with third-party candidate Brett Smith drawing 4% of the...

The Institute for Family Studies (IFS) recently estimated that the gap between unmarried and married men under the age of 40 continues to widen—with 15 million more bachelors than husbands between the ages of 20 to 39 in 2025. The gap has widened by 12.4 million since 2000, when the gap between married and unmarried stood at 2.6 million. IFS also reports, according to a General Social Survey, 11 percent of young adults in the early 2000s said they were “not too happy.” That percentage is now at 26 percent. During the same period, the number of married men ages...

Jack Schlossberg insisted Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez "can do way better than me" as he was asked about rumors that his friends had been trying to set the pair up. "I respect her a lot," the politician, 33, told the New York Post. The congresswoman quietly split from her fiancé Riley Roberts "some time ago," The New York Times reported, while Schlossberg told PEOPLE in June that he was single and "looking for love"... Schlossberg's comments came after the New York Daily News reported that his friends had said he'd been "down in the dumps" since losing his Manhattan congressional race in...

Look, I can’t tell you that everything is going to be OK for us patriots in the midterms. I think it will, but I’m not sure. Nobody knows for sure. What I do know is what the correlation of forces, to my mind, indicates. It indicates another 2022, a year when we Republicans were going to clean up against an unpopular, semi-conscious president. And we did OK. Not great. OK. And it looks to me, from where I sit, from who I’ve talked to, from what I’ve seen, and yeah, from my gut, that that’s the high-water mark for the...

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has suggested that churches and family members of refugees could sponsor and fund people's relocations, as he calls for an end to federal welfare benefits for refugees, some of whom remain on benefits long-term.Paul appeared on Fox News’ “The Will Cain Show” Tuesday to discuss separate lawsuits filed by major American cities and 22 states over a pending rule that seeks to prevent immigrants who would be dependent on government assistance from entering the U.S. “We actually have laws on the books that [say] if you come here illegally, you’re not supposed to be eligible for...

For weeks, Republicans have accused Texas State Rep. James Talarico (D-50th District) of faking a rightward shift on transgender issues to win a statewide race. Now the public doesn’t have to take our word for it. Why? His own pastor just confirmed it.An undercover journalist for the Daily Wire caught Rev. Babs Miller, a “minister” at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Austin, Talarico's longtime “church,” on hidden camera discussing exactly what we’ve suspected all along.Talarico has drawn Republican criticism for his professed love for “trans children,” claiming that there are seven genders, and that "God is non-binary."Miller knows who Talarico...

The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) laundered more than $75 million for charlatans, cheaters, and thieves, at least one of whom used more than $1 million of the more than $110 million in homeless funds he received to open a nightclub. And it's no wonder that Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who's running for reelection, smelled trouble and quit her membership in and control over LAHSA before the feds announced indictments on Wednesday. Karen Bass suddenly stepped down from LAHSA a few days ago. Today, HUD Secretary Turner just revealed that $75M of fraud was laundered through LAHSA.Probably nothing!...

As I have been writing, the current AI Doomerism hype isn't motivated primarily by real concerns about the potential dangers of rapid AI development. It's a play to create an industry cartel that controls the market and becomes "too big to fail," ensuring that the financial apocalypse the frontier AI companies face does not come to pass. It's also useful for the Democrats who have jumped onto the Doomer bandwagon, because, in exchange for the financial salvation they promise to OpenAI and Anthropic, they will get to decide what AI presents as "reality." It is the ultimate reality-control mechanism, ensuring...

Sydney Sweeney, unlike most prominent celebrities who dominate popular culture, doesn't talk about politics, even when asked. You get no lectures from her about the issues of the day. She neither waves the flag nor kneels when the national anthem is sung. She acts, does ads, and does the required media availabilities, which is another way to say that she does her job without presuming to tell us what to think or bullying us into feeling guilty about anything. Other celebrities have followed that policy, but they let themselves be bullied into becoming advocates, or indulged in the practice once...

For most Americans, higher interest rates mean more expensive debt. But for retirees with substantial cash savings, the equation can flip: a Federal Reserve rate hike could put more money in their pockets without requiring them to take more investment risk. That makes the Fed’s next move unusually important for anyone living off savings. The real question for retirees is less about what the Fed does and more about what their cash is currently earning.Cash Could Become More Valuable AgainFor years, retirees were punished for playing it safe. Near-zero interest rates meant traditional savings accounts, CDs and other conservative investments...

The United States has publicly confirmed for the first time that it has weapons deployed in orbit. The revelation could accelerate spending on missile defense, military satellites and space security, creating opportunities for defense stocks and space ETFs while raising the risk of a costly new arms race. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink delivered the news almost casually during the Air, Space & Cyber Conference in Maryland. “We are increasing readiness against existing threats, and the United States has on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the Joint Force against hostile adversary action,” Meink said. Then the details stopped. Meink...