Free Republic

In 1811, New York courts enforced blasphemy laws rooted in Christian doctrine.Chief Justice Kent declared that Americans “profess the general doctrines of Christianity.”Blasphemy statutes remained on the books in multiple states well into the 20th century.Long before the modern culture wars, early American courts treated insults against Jesus Christ as criminal offenses.In 1811, a New York man was sentenced to prison for blaspheming the name of Christ, and the state’s highest court upheld the conviction without hesitation.The ruling came from Chief Justice James Kent, who wrote that the United States was a Christian nation that “profess the general doctrines of...

Newly released memos reveal Dr. Anthony Fauci’s private alarm over Army biodefense experiments with Ebola and their results, which he worried would erode public trust in vaccines. His concern predated the COVID lockdown by almost four years. Ebola is not only deadly, but reports show a death rate 50 times that of COVID. =============================================================== Dr. Anthony Fauci privately sounded the alarm when he learned the U.S. Army had conducted an experiment a decade ago that aerosolized the lethal Ebola virus, which is not normally transmitted by air, and then shared the results publicly amid an ongoing outbreak in Africa, according...

Suspects in Alleged Terror Plot on Air Force Base Released on Bail, All Said to Be ‘British Nationals’ British Counter Terrorism Police officials said on Monday that the suspects in the alleged terror plot on the Royal Air Force base at Fairford on Sunday have been released on bail, while only being identified publicly as “British nationals”. Amid a growing chorus for more information, UK authorities released a limited description of the five men alleged to have attempted to use explosives to attack RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, which is a defacto U.S. Air Force base, including during Operation Epic Fury...

President Donald Trump is set to announce Monday that a $15 billion steel mill billed as the largest ever built in the United States will go up in Iowa. White House officials said the Oval Office event is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET. Mesabi Metallics is expected to name the Iowa site at that briefing. The administration said the plant would be the first U.S. “mega-steel” facility constructed since the 1960s. Production is targeted to begin in 2030. Officials said the mill would turn out about 7.5 million tons of steel a year in its first phase and as much...

The issue came from a cockpit software update, The Wall Street Journal reported. Boeing has been under intense regulatory and safety scrutiny in recent years. Boeing has identified a previously undisclosed 737 MAX software glitch that could cause an automated navigation feature to fail during landing, The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing company documents. The issue emerged from a cockpit software update and can occur when flight crews alter their planned flight path after a missed approach, the report said. When reached for comment, Boeing said it informed all 737 operators last month about the software issue under...

Led by Bahrain, 80 countries complained to the UN Security Council that "Iran and the Houthis threaten international security, navigational rights, and freedoms. Innocent lives are being put at risk." They called for "the full and immediate reopening of the Hormuz Strait, without the imposition of unlawful fees, conditions or payments and the end of Houthi attacks on Red Sea vessels and Saudi oil pipelines." Thousands of protesters demonstrated outside UN headquarters in New York City calling for the UN General Assembly to take action against the Iranian regime's massacres of peaceful opponents. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council...

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department is warning the public after its bomb squad responded to a call at an Ojai home last week when a concerned citizen brought home a Navy MK25 phosphorus marine marker found on the beach. An MK25 marine marker is an aerially or manually deployed pyrotechnic device that creates both smoke and flame to mark a specific reference point on the water’s surface, according to the U.S. Army. The citizen noticed the marker at the waterline while walking on the beach and, fearing for the safety of other beachgoers, decided to take the marker home and...

A tech executive behind the popular New York Times games was allegedly shot dead by his elderly parents-in-law in a brazen broad daylight attack, police say. Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen, both 77, allegedly fatally shot their son-in-law Jonathan McKinsey, 40, in the parking lot in California on Saturday. McKinsey, the head of engineering for games player experience at the New York Times since 2023, was raced to hospital with multiple gunshot wounds and died at the scene, police say. Witnesses reported seeing two masked shooters approach McKinsey in the parking lot and took turns unloading a barrage of shots...

NEW YORK (AP) — OpenAI said it has paused training of its latest artificial intelligence models as reports of AI agents going rogue mount. The decision to halt development came just hours after the company disclosed Friday that it was reviewing several incidents from the summer in which OpenAI agents searching federal government websites acted in unexpected ways beyond what was asked of them while gathering and distributing information. Separately, AI evaluator Transluce said agents that appeared to come from OpenAI tried unsuccessfully to hack into a Department of Education website, a detail that OpenAI has not confirmed. OpenAI said...

Nine-year-old Olivia Smith had plenty to choose from as she walked through the Academy of Natural Sciences on Friday, surrounded by dinosaurs, wildlife and exhibits that have fascinated generations of children. The fourth grader knew exactly what she liked best. “We have seen a lot of exhibits. My favorites were the pandas. Oh, and the rabbits!” Olivia said as she toured the museum with her teacher, Sandy Debies. But Olivia was among the young visitors getting what could be one of their final looks at the museum before its doors close permanently. The Academy of Natural Sciences, the 200-year-old institution...

Brown County deputies tracked his vehicle through Flock Safety's nationwide Flock cameras: northbound hits on Highway 41, a hit on Bridge Street crossing into Michigan, then southbound on I-41 at 3:56 p.m. They coordinated an intercept. The criminal complaint's probable-cause section spells it out with startling bluntness: "Based on prior flock hits, the vehicle travels to Michigan frequently which is a known source State for Marijuana as it is legal there." That sentence deserves a second read. Driving to a state where cannabis is legal became, in a Wisconsin courtroom, part of the justification to search a car. In Madison...

This is not satire. The five men, who are all "citizens," were reported Sunday morning by an English farmer who saw "Middle Eastern-looking" men in strange vans with masks near the RAF Fairford airbase, which is being used by the U.S. military for refueling and munitions in the Iran war. The vans contained explosive ordinance and the men were charged for the possession of explosives, as well as conspiracy to commit a terrorist act. And they were granted bail. Here's LBC on the release of the terror suspects: Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor told reporters outside New Scotland Yard: 'I can...

Grammy-nominated rap megastar Nicki Minaj is urging young Americans to “vote red’ ahead of what many political prognosticators believe will be a close and contentious midterm election cycle. Joining My View with Lara Trump, the New York native sent a message to young voters that they should head to the poll on November 3rd to make sure their voices are heard in Washington, D.C. “Now is not the time to think that your voice will not be heard. Your voice will not only be heard, but your voice is very necessary right now for the country and for the world....

Operation Karameh: Israeli Orders, Civilian Warnings, and the Targeting of Fatah Forces in 1968 Historical analysis based on contemporary reporting, later historical works, and archival sources. Introduction The Israeli operation against Karameh in Jordan on March 21, 1968, followed a period of escalating Arab terror attacks across the Jordan River and, most immediately, the March 18 destruction of an Israeli school bus full of children by a land mine. Two people were killed and 28 were wounded. Three days later, Israeli forces crossed the Jordan River and attacked the Arab Palestinian terror Fatah infrastructure centered in the Jordanian town...

FBI Deputy Director Andrew Bailey resigned after one year on the job, according to The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and MSNOW. Andrew Bailey had been overseeing election matters. Last August, then-Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel tapped then-Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey to serve as Co-Deputy Director of the FBI. It is unclear why Bailey resigned. Later Monday morning, Andrew Bailey thanked President Trump, AG Blanche and Kash Patel for the opportunity to serve in the FBI. "I want to thank President Trump, AG Todd Blanche, and FBI Director Kash Patel for the opportunity...

Microsoft accidentally wiped some nonprofit customers' M365 data before their retention period expired – and now says it cannot tell them what disappeared, or even whether they lost anything. The cockup followed Microsoft's retirement of its Microsoft 365 Business Premium grant, which gave eligible nonprofits ten free licenses for the productivity suite. Microsoft announced in May 2025 that the grant would not renew after July 1 that year. It offered eligible nonprofits up to 300 free Microsoft 365 Business Basic licenses, alongside discounted pricing for plans including Business Premium. The company urged customers to move users onto another nonprofit plan...

Prosecutors in central New York are reopening an investigation into sickening allegations that seven Cornell University frat brothers horrifically drugged and gang-raped a former student. Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten told ABC News that his office is considering bringing criminal charges related to the case — after the nightmare described in a civil suit filed by the survivor sparked outrage online.

IDF footage shows a child transferring weapons into a civilian home in central Gaza. Troops refrained from striking after identifying the child. DF troops operating in Gaza identified a terrorist using a child to transfer weapons into a civilian home in central Gaza. "The terrorist exploited the child, using him as a human shield to transfer the weapons, in an attempt to prevent the IDF from striking and thwarting their transfer," the IDF stressed. Upon identifying the presence of a child, the IDF refrained from carrying out any strikes against the terrorist. "This is another example of the systematic exploitation...

The U.S. average retail price of diesel was $5.97 per gallon the week of September 7, 2026, up $2.25 from its February average of $3.72, before the disruption in the Strait of Hormuz began. Crude oil accounts for 68 cents of that increase. The refining margin — the gap between the wholesale price of diesel and the cost of the crude it is made from — accounts for $1.71. The world is short of refined diesel rather than crude oil. Russia, once Europe’s largest diesel supplier, has nearly stopped exporting refined products after Ukrainian attacks on its refineries and a...

You see it all the time on social media after big floods or hurricanes. Someone invariably pulls out a fake meme of a shark swimming up the street, in the subway, or some such thing. Except sometimes, perhaps, memes can come true. That seems to be the case after the nor'easter hit southern New Jersey. My colleague Sister Toldjah covered some of the big issues that hit up and down the Eastern Seaboard. There was a lot of flooding in the area of Surf City, New Jersey, with the flooding approaching four feet high in some areas. But one resident...