Free Republic

What are the odds on blatant hypocrisy from a retired member of Congress? Former Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln, who helped write legislation giving federal regulators authority to crack down on gambling through financial markets, is now lobbying for prediction market giant Kalshi — which has paid her firm $480,000 since 2024, according to a report. During her time in office, the Arkansas pol warned that sports event contracts served no genuine commercial purpose. Now she argues that the same types of wagers offer legitimate financial benefits, Ars Technica reported. The reversal comes amid a nationwide legal battle over whether Kalshi...

[Catholic Caucus] Should sinners conform to the Church’s moral ideal - or should the Church move closer to them? Should sinners conform to the Church’s moral ideal - or should the Church move closer to them? Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David of the Philippines addressed the Vatican’s 10th-anniversary Amoris Laetitia meeting on October 12 in a video presentation. He said the exhortation encouraged pastors “to discern concrete situations rather than begin with classifications, to accompany gradual growth, and to trust that grace can already be at work even in lives and relationships marked by weakness and incompleteness.” And: “Not simply to...

Just when you thought we’d heard enough about diarrhea outbreaks in the US, along comes another stomach-churning story. And this one has a particularly disturbing twist… it’s spreading through the gay community like wild fire. A bacterial infection that causes dysentery is spreading thanks to sexual contact, and scientists are warning that some of these strains are actually becoming so resistant to antibiotics that they are verging on becoming untreatable. Yikes. It’s a nasty little bacterium bug called Shigella, and if you’ve ever read about the horrors of dysentery during the days of the Oregon Trail, you already know how...

A raid on controversial Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Washington, DC, home signifies law enforcement has already amassed compelling evidence of criminal activity and are nearing the end of a long investigation, a source told The Post. The most likely scenario, multiple people claimed, is that immigration cops are looking into a long-floated rumor that Omar is actually one year older than she has long claimed to be — a tiny detail that may put her citizenship in jeopardy. “The big picture here is a federal judge in Washington, DC, signed off on a search warrant. That means there’s probable cause...

A ship has been struck in the Strait of Hormuz nearly every day this month, according to the International Maritime Organization. Between Oct. 1 and Tuesday, nine ships – mostly crude oil tankers – were struck in the Strait of Hormuz or off the coast of Oman, according to the IMO. Two additional ships were hit since, with one struck on Wednesday and another struck on Friday, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations. Wednesday’s attack was on an unnamed tanker off the coast of Madinat ash Shamal, Qatar, in the Persian Gulf. Friday’s attack was on an unnamed...

<[Catholic Caucus] Inclusion of adulterers and “persons identifying as LGBTQ” called for at the current Vatican meeting on Amoris Laetitia. Inclusion of adulterers and “persons identifying as LGBTQ” called for at the current Vatican meeting on Amoris Laetitia.American Catholic moral theologian Prof. Julie Hanlon Rubio addressed the Vatican’s meeting marking the tenth anniversary of Amoris Laetitia on October 12.Rubio recounted the case of an elderly woman with dementia who refused Communion because her husband had previously been married. The woman, she said, remembered that “she was not worthy to receive the Body of Christ.” Rubio presented the story as evidence...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) — “Breaking Bad” actor and disability rights advocate RJ Mitte died Monday at age 34, authorities and his representatives said. Cameron County Justice of the Peace Cyndi Hinojosa told The Associated Press she declared Mitte dead at about 1:30 p.m. at what she believed was his home in Brownsville, Texas. She said she was unable to provide a cause, but an autopsy will be performed. Mitte played Walter White Jr., the son of Bryan Cranston’s chemistry teacher-turned-meth dealer Walter White on nearly every episode of the five seasons of the AMC show, which recently ranked as the...

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A Christian teacher is taking legal action against a school in Sunderland after being sacked for telling students she is pro-life. Anita Meston, who's been a teacher for 28 years, joined Biddick Academy in Washington in October 2024. During a Year 8 history lesson which focused on the bombing of Dresden in World War II, she asked whether similar moral questions surrounded the current conflict in Palestine. When asked by a pupil, Meston said that she was “pro-Israel” but lamented the deaths of innocent people in Gaza. Later in the lesson, a different student asked if she was “pro-abortion”, to...

President Donald Trump has called for Ukraine to elect a new leader, raising fresh questions over current President Volodymyr Zelensky's political future and when Kyiv will hold its next vote. "I think it's time for Ukraine to get a ​new president," Trump said on Saturday, echoing his previous pushes for Kyiv to carry out elections that the country's constitution forbids during wartime. --SNIP-- Valery ZaluzhnyiZaluzhnyi, the former Ukrainian military commander-in-chief who is the current Ukrainian ambassador to the U.K., is widely considered Zelensky's top rival. According to research published by Ukrainian research institution, the Rating Group, on Thursday, Zelensky and...

Republican President Donald Trump's low approval ratings, voter concern over high prices and dissatisfaction with the Iran war have led many analysts and opinion polls to predict significant Democratic gains in the November 3 midterm elections. But six analysts and party strategists told Reuters several factors could prevent Democrats from turning those ‌favorable political conditions into a landslide, even if the party ultimately makes gains in Congress. Here are six reasons Democrats may fall short of expectations. FEWER COMPETITIVE HOUSE RACES The number of competitive US ‌House races has shrunk sharply over the past three decades as partisan polarization and...

Parent rights powerhouse unleashes Super Intelligence surveillance system to monitor school boards Program sweeps all 13,000 school boards' agendas every 12 hours, and ranks policies on whether parents should be concerned. Moms for Liberty, one of America’s most influential parent rights groups, is unleashing a digital surveillance system powered by Super Intelligence to monitor school board agendas across the nation’s 13,000 school districts. The group unveiled its project, codename M4L AWARE, at its annual meeting in Dallas on Friday, promising parents it would give them advance warning about controversial policies or good news projects before school board members vote on...

After the feds raided Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN)’s immigration documents in a reportedly years-long fraud investigation into the Somali Congresswoman’s background, even MS Now is admitting the feds likely have evidence. The investigation appears to be focusing on whether she and her father lied on immigration papers filled out when she was a teen, as the statute of limitations on her alleged marriage to her brother has already expired. A former immigration official previously told the New York Post that if Omar’s father lied on citizenship paperwork and she went along with the lie, it “would wipe her out from...

Religious leaders are weighing in, creating a new political risk for the creators of the technology Pastor Joseph Hutchinson began a recent Sunday sermon by pointing to the Book of Revelation, the final part of the New Testament best known for apocalyptic prophecy. And he quickly argued for how artificial intelligence will fit into end times. “AI wants to be God,” the pastor warned those at Gospel Light Baptist Church in Orangeburg, S.C. The sermon, the 74-year-old later told me, was inspired by the questions he was getting from the congregation, which numbers around 150. In his roughly 50 years...

12 October 2026 Monday of week 28 in Ordinary Time St Wilfrid Roman Catholic Church | York Oratory, York, EnglandReadings at MassThis is a preview of Universalis. The Universalis app gives you every day of every year, not just the single week you’re seeing now, and it doesn’t need the Internet. It gives you the official New American Bible version for the readings at Mass. As well as the Mass, it gives you the Liturgy of the Hours. It costs $9.99-12.99 on your phone, or £19.99 (about $26.50) on your computer. Get it now.Liturgical Colour: Green. Year: A(II).First readingGalatians...

You might have recently seen a political advertisement about Maine’s Senate race. That’s because the advertisement mistakenly played in Portland, Oregon, instead of Portland, Maine. The advertisement, paid for by Republican PAC Defending Main Street, decries “Taxin’ Troy Jackson,” the Democratic candidate facing off against Susan Collins. Sarah Chamberlain, president of the Republican Main Street Partnership, said she was “very unhappy” about the mix-up. “I’m really upset,” she said. “I cannot believe that this happened.”

The social justice warriors came for Columbus. The real target is America. By: Dr.s Jill Glasspool Malone and Robert W. Malone “In fourteen hundred ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” In the 1960s, when I was a child in elementary school, California was enjoying its golden years. Agriculture was thriving, vast cattle ranches still dotted the arid landscape, and the aerospace industry was reaching extraordinary heights. Hollywood was the undisputed capital of American moviemaking, and the state’s population and economy were growing by leaps and bounds. Brand new, uncrowded freeways made it easy to get around. California represented the best...

The new century will see a renaissance of space exploration as exciting and as challenging as the space race of the 1960’s. And this rebirth will happen under the banner of freedom and private property, the very principles for which the United States fought the Cold War. [predicted in my 1998 book - Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, p. 263]. More than any other moment since the launch of Sputnik in 1957, the future of the human race’s effort to explore and settle the solar system is right now shining bright and hopeful, with everything converging enthusiastically in a...

Sagal Abdi-Wali, the newly-elected MP for Holborn and St Pancras, was welcomed by Andy Burnham as she took her seat in Parliament after beating Zack Polanski in the crunch north London by-election. MPs returned to the Commons on Monday after the break for the party political conferences. Parliamentary business started in the Chamber shortly after 2.30pm. Ms Abdi-Wali was hailed by dozens of Labour MPs in Parliament’s vast Westminster Hall where she took a selfie with the Prime Minister and her new colleagues. Taking her seat in the Commons Chamber, she said: “I swear by almighty God that I will...

Catherine Wieland got on Britain’s welfare rolls in 2021. With a history of emotional trauma, she was too anxious to go outside or carry out simple tasks like washing herself, she told the government. Soon, she was receiving about £700, or $1,000, a month in disability benefits. And, it turns out, going outside quite a bit. Using a taxpayer-subsidized program for those with disabilities, Wieland paid a small deposit for free use of a BMW, which she used to regularly visit the hair salon, dine out at restaurants, attend a Brighton pride parade and visit an amusement park. According to...