Free Republic

He’s supposed to give Texas Republicans a run for their money in the U.S. Senate race. Ken Paxton is supposed to lose, if you believe the polling. So, where the hell is Democrat James Talarico? He’s been missing for almost two weeks. No, it’s not an Unsolved Mysteries episode, but politically, he’s been MIA from the campaign trail in a race where Democrats can’t have their people running silent and deep. Is it because we learned earlier this month that Talarico is a Marxist? Where is this guy (via PJ Media):

Harvey Weinstein, the Hollywood heavyweight who was a longtime supporter of the abortion industry, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for sex crimes. Key Takeaways: * Disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein has faced numerous charges of rape and sexual assault in multiple states, giving rise to the #MeToo movement. * He was convicted of committing a first-degree criminal sexual act in New York against production assistant Miriam Haley, though this conviction was later overturned. * Weinstein was again found guilty, and sentenced to 15 years in prison in New York, though there are other legal battles continuing in...

When NBC sent Tony Dungy packing, they said it was a youthful revamp of Football Night In America. The former NFL head coach and analyst for over 17 years thinks something else had to do with it. The two time Super Bowl winner (one as a coach, one as a player) was a staple of NBC’s Sunday Night Football across two decades. He brought expertise and experience to the network’s pregame, halftime and postgame shows… that is until NBC wanted to go a different way. In an interview with Sage Steele, Dungy said that the writing was on the wall...

VIDEOI recently BBQed two whole chickens using the famous Pollo Loco copycat marinade. When I lived in California I was so addicted to Pollo Loco that I ate it almost every day and sometimes even twice a day for lunch and dinner. I don't miss much about California but one of the few things I do miss is definitely Pollo Loco. Fortunately, there are copycat Pollo Loco recipes on the web and I recently BBQed two chickens using that recipe and it brought back great taste memories. Therefore I decided to give it a try with only wings as you...

We are a nation at war. Not by our choice, of course; but then, it only takes one country to declare a war. The jihadist Twelvers who run Iran declared war on the United States, and on Israel, and in fact on pretty much the entire world, 47 years ago, and they’ve been at war with the world ever since. Israel has borne the brunt of it, most of the time, since they are geographically so much closer, and when it came time for us to fully join the fight last year, Israel and the United States became true wartime...

Explanation: How was the Saturn system imaged so clearly? Astrophotographer Tom Williams captured such exquisite details due to one night of exceptional atmospheric conditions above the United Kingdom. This means more than a cloudless sky. Pockets of air at different temperatures and densities move around and bend light as it travels through Earth’s atmosphere, distorting astronomy images. This is called “seeing.” Less atmospheric turbulence means clearer images. The astrophotographer reduced the impact of seeing with the lucky imaging technique: thousands of short-exposure images are taken very quickly with a high-speed camera and the clearest images are added up. Which object...

Young teenagers are less likely to identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual than they were a few years ago, according to a new analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. The decline is particularly striking among ninth-grade girls, according to Jean Twenge, a professor of psychology at San Diego State University who published her analysis of the 2025 data on her Substack “Generation Tech.” In 2021, 30 percent of ninth-grade girls identified as lesbian or bisexual. Last year, 17 percent did. “It really does look like a free fall,” Twenge said. “But what’s causing it is unclear.” Twenge...

Atlanta police charged 30-year-old Phelan Thorpe after he allegedly attacked her in Midtown on Saturday, then stole and crashed a police car on Monday. The next day, Coleman discovered an unnerving message saved to her stolen phone's voicemail greeting. "I don't even give a f— about the phone no more," the man's voice said. "I'm gonna come air that b—- out, on God. Boy, when I found out I [had] your ID, f—- that, shorty, I need $600 on my cash app."

The computer scientist behind groundbreaking research that helped land Nasa's astronauts on the Moon, has died aged 90. Margaret Hamilton was a trailblazer in her field, leading the team who developed the software for Nasa's Apollo missions, which coined the term "software engineering". Hamilton's former employer, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), confirmed her death, adding she died on 30 September.

Tomorrow, September 29, the second annual MAHA Summit will be held at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, D.C. Today, I looked at the speakers and was genuinely taken aback. Then the picture became considerably clearer when I took a gander at the sponsor list. This is being advertised as “a one-day gathering of the foremost leaders shaping the future of American health,” culminating with Vice President JD Vance and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. What bothers me most is not any single corporation on this list. It is who is missing. I know many of the people who spent...

Hilltop National Bank, based in Casper, Wyoming, took its internal banking systems offline Wednesday after identifying a cybersecurity incident that disrupted online and mobile banking, telephone service and scheduled payments. Hilltop first publicly acknowledged the disruption at 8:32 a.m. MDT Tuesday, Sept. 8. The bank said at 3:43 p.m. that interruptions to its online, mobile and telephone services were continuing. Employees had begun noticing problems across the bank’s information technology infrastructure Tuesday, according to County17. After midnight Wednesday, Bill Salvin, a representative for Hilltop Bank and True Companies, said the bank had identified the problem as a cybersecurity incident and...

The Trump administration is suspending tech giant Microsoft from a program to apply for green cards for workers who come to the U.S. to live and work using an H-1B visa.WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration is suspending tech giant Microsoft from a program to apply for green cards for workers who come to the U.S. to live and work using an H-1B visa as it accuses the company of fraud.“If you do the math, for every worker that Microsoft laid off, they replaced that worker with one and a half foreign indentured servants,” said Vice President JD Vance...

President Trump claimed that his administration is “having productive discussions” and vowed to hold off on resuming attacks against the Islamic Republic before the midterm elections. “We are having productive discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the president wrote on Truth Social Thursday. “[W]hile Iran is in very bad condition, both Economically and Militarily and while the Blockade will remain in full force and effect, with Oil flowing in Record Numbers of Barrels through the Hormuz Strait,” he added, “we will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the Midterm Elections.” The president has long been rumored...

The State Attorney's Office filed an indictment Thursday with the Jerusalem District Court against Muhammad Shalabi, 22, of Beit Hanina. He is accused of planning terrorist attacks against security forces and Jewish civilians using explosive devices and deadly poisons. According to the indictment, filed by attorney Amichai Marks of the Jerusalem District Attorney's Office, Shalabi is a third-year pharmacy student who also worked as a pharmacist's assistant. Prosecutors allege that he underwent a process of ideological radicalization, partly following the events of October 7 and the Swords of Iron War, and systematically consumed content associated with Hamas and ISIS. According...

"Half of Russia’s six largest diesel-producing refineries were forced to cut or halt output in September after strikes, according to a Reuters tally. ... Other forces have tightened diesel. Gulf refineries were damaged after the Iran war widened in February."

[Catholic Caucus] At Leo’s Amoris Laetitia Jubilee, Christ Is Described as “Flirting” With the Woman at the Well — Meanwhile, Leo Cements Sacrilegious Communion as Catholic There are many ways to open a Vatican gathering on marriage.One could begin with Cana.One could begin with Christ’s words on the indissolubility of marriage: “What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder.”One could read St. Paul on the union of husband and wife as an image of Christ and His Church. One could remind bishops that Our Lord restored marriage to its original dignity after fallen man had distorted it.Or,...

The Atlantic's hurricane drought is over, and it is now the longest on record. Isaias reached hurricane strength over the Gulf Wednesday night, according to the National Hurricane Center. That is later than the first hurricane of any season on record, surpassing the 7 p.m. Oct. 7 mark set in 1905. Isaias is the ninth named storm of 2026. The first eight were all tropical storms, three of them hit the Gulf Coast, and none reached hurricane strength. In mid-September, Tropical Storm Fay came closest to hurricane status, peaking at 70 mph, 4 mph short of the Category 1 threshold....

On CNN This Morning, host Audie Cornish played a clip of Bill Maher on Fareed Zakaria's show predicting the Democrats would administer an "ass-whooping" to the Republicans. Maher based his bold forecast on the notion that President Trump hasn't delivered on various promises. Cornish introduced the Maher clip as "conventional wisdom," and after it rolled, she embraced his take: "I can't sum it up better than that kind of idea." Over on Morning Joe, Chris Matthews' supposition was more specific: "A month from now, I think the Democrats win the Senate and the House. I think it's gonna be a...

OTTUMWA, Iowa —A prayer at the beginning of an Ottumwa City Council meeting is drawing backlash. Former council member Matthew Dalbey delivered the invocation Tuesday, which ended with "hail Satan." That caused an uproar. The Ottumwa Courier reports local pastor Rick Bick took the mic, even though public comment is reserved for the end of city council meetings. He said it was a "curse on the city."