Free Republic

Late in the second quarter Saturday at Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium, No. 7 Texas was up 14 points on a Florida team in free fall. The Gators, ranked as high as No. 8 earlier this month, were coming off back-to-back blowout losses, the second of which was handed to them by a South Carolina squad that was previously winless in SEC competition. To top it off, Florida arrived in Austin with its QB1 nursing a shoulder injury that he suffered in that disheartening setback to the Gamecocks.

By Dr. John BergsmaReligion and politics are a volatile mix, such that the old dictum was, these were the two topics one should not raise in polite conversation. The readings for this Sunday are concerned, in part, with the interaction of religion and politics, in the rule of God vs. the rule of men. The Scriptures affirm that despite appearances to the contrary, ultimate control of human history is in the hands of God. Human rulers have their place, but even they are ultimately instruments by which God guides human affairs. In the midst of the chaos that is human...

Things are getting increasingly wild in the ongoing, multifaceted investigation into Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN-05). When you bring DNA evidence into the fray, you'd be right to wonder if something beyond the initial reports is happening behind the scenes. Federal agents, according to multiple sources who spoke with NewsNation, searched discarded trash in hopes of obtaining DNA from Omar and her family before raiding her Washington, D.C. home this week. The sources state that any potential DNA evidence obtained "is critical to the investigation" into the Squad member. It's unclear how such evidence would factor into the case, but...

President Donald Trump has made no secret of his demands to see charges against former officials.The White House task force that President Donald Trump charged with uncovering evidence of election fraud hasn’t produced any. Instead, it has shifted to releasing records that his administration is using to help build a public case against officials who investigated him.The president initially promoted the task force, led by pro-Trump journalist John Solomon, as part of a push to uncover election fraud. But more recently, the task force has been releasing law enforcement records from past investigations into Trump, including special counsel Robert S....

Pennsylvania congressional candidate and state Rep. Chris Rabb said this week that while he's against incarceration, he's in favor of locking up "lawless MAGA thugs." "I’m a decarceration person," Rabb said on left-wing podcaster Wajahat Ali's show. "I believe the country that represents 5% of the world population but 25% of the people put in cages is morally wrong. "It’s also bad policy, but I will make an exception for all of those f---ers who are lawless MAGA thugs, who have destroyed lives and communities. Lock all of those f---ers up. I know that seems a little hypocritical of me...

An international oil benchmark hit $110 per barrel on Friday, as the industry faces persistent shocks from the U.S.-Iran and Russia-Ukraine wars. The price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, hit $110 during Friday trading. That marked the first time it has reached that high since May 20, less than three months after the U.S. and Israel launched the Iran conflict. The commodity was trading at roughly $109.75 as of late Friday afternoon. Brent crude prices peaked in late April, when the benchmark topped $120 per barrel. Oil prices shot up during the early months of the conflict with...

Laura Loomer publicly pitched herself for the newly open White House press secretary role. Her joke about going blonde has added a twist to the search for Trump’s next spokesperson. After Katie Zacharia was dismissed as White House press secretary, far-right activist Laura Loomer publicly put herself forward for the job. Her jokes about changing her appearance coincided with the launch of new prediction markets on who will be the next spokesperson for Donald Trump’s administration.What Loomer proposedOn October 16, Laura Loomer wrote on X: “Hear me out: Press Secretary Laura Loomer” – suggesting that she be considered for the...

[Catholic Caucus] Bishop bans St. Michael prayer at the end of Masses The St. Michael the Archangel prayer ban at Masses comes a year after Bishop Mark Beckman limited the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass in the Diocese of Knoxville.Bishop Mark Beckman of Knoxville, Tennessee, banned the praying of the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel at the end of masses in his diocese.In a statement to members of the Diocese of Knoxville published Friday, Beckman lamented that as he has traveled throughout his diocese, he “noticed that in some of our parishes additional prayers, including the Prayer to...

Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York recently spoke to a reporter for TMZ in DC – an outlet that is obviously becoming one of her favorites – and explained that talking about Abdul El-Sayed’s alleged family ties to the Muslim Brotherhood is (drumroll please) racist.To hear AOC explain it, Abdul El-Sayed is a victim here, because his family had some struggles when he was a little boy. Oh and also, if you examine anyone’s life hard enough, won’t you find some questionable connections? She actually tries to make this point.For the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), this is probably the...

[Catholic Caucus] Austrian theologian: Ending synodal process would be an ‘ecclesiological problem’ An Austrian theologian who advised the Synod on Synodality argues the process must become a 'lasting culture' in the Church under Pope Leo XIV. A theological adviser to the Synod on Synodality has called for the process to continue indefinitely, declaring that synodality is not a project with an “expiration date.”Klara-Antonia Csiszár, a pastoral theologian who serves as vice rector of teaching and research at the Catholic Private University of Linz, gave an interview to katholisch.de – the online news portal of the German Bishops’ Conference – in...

Elon Musk’s latest vision for the company’s sports car has more to do with China than cold-gas rocket thrustersThe new Tesla Roadster was pure spectacle. There was the design that gave the sports car an appearance of a jet fighter crossed with a Lamborghini. A suction system that enabled it to hang upside down 69 feet above the ground. And, the defining feature, cold-gas rocket thrusters that jumped the car over a line of vehicles while doing a midair barrel roll.With a flying sports car, Elon Musk displayed again that he’s America’s biggest dreamer. So when the Tesla CEO puts...

The flow of illegal migration along the southern, U.S.-Mexico border is roughly 95% less than it was during the Biden administration. President Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration has been hugely successful at dialing back on illegal border crossings. But for some of America’s border communities whose economies relied on illegal immigrants and Border Patrol operations, there’s a big adjustment underway.Grocery store owner Felix Chavez has spent the better part of five decades building this business in the small border town of Donna, Texas. He’s expanded to eight grocery stores and one convenience store.Each year, he says, sales have climbed. That...

17 October 2026 Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop, Martyr on Saturday of week 28 in Ordinary Time Saint Ignatius of Antioch, NYCReadings 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: Red. Year:...

President Trump is carrying his insatiable appetite for controversy into the most unforgiving stretch of the electoral calendar, fortified by a decade of political survival."Bottom line, it's gonna all work out. You know why? It always does," Trump told reporters this week.Why it matters: Gone are the days of a single "October surprise," swallowed by a familiar barrage of scandals, provocations and shattered conventions that have persisted in the closing weeks of Trump's final midterm election.The big picture: Axios has documented Trump's steady demolition of presidential norms in his second term, from the transition through his first 100 days and...

When a skunk like this starts whining like this, WE know our side is over the target with bombs at the ready. He's reassuring us that this time there will be no boarding up windows and 3 AM fake ballot drops. READ AND ENJOY!!! Friday on CNN’s “OutFront,” former White House lawyer Ty Cobb said at President Donald Trump’s direction, the Department of Justice is attacking “the election mechanisms on every front.” Cobb said, “If people have been listening, frankly, it’s been out there in black and white for two years. On his very first day, you know, Trump issued...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired back at former President Obama after he claimed Israel had stolen Palestinian land. “The Jewish people are not foreign occupiers in the land of our forefathers,” Netanyahu responded in a stern video rebuke posted on X Friday. Obama made headlines when he slammed the founding of Israel and defended Palestinian terrorism in a conversation with Irish journalist Susan McKay during a paid speaking engagement at the O2 Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland on Tuesday. The paid speaking event drew about 7,000 people. “They took land off people and they were expelled. And those people...

"Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth; for the Lord speaks" (Isa. 1:2). God’s Word is the only source of divine authority. We might assume that those who affirm the inspiration, inerrancy, and infallibility of God's Word would automatically submit to its authority. But that isn't always the case. Even those who hold to a high view of Scripture may sometimes fail to obey it. We need to be reminded that the authority of God's Word isn't simply a doctrine to be affirmed, but a priority to be pursued. Israel fell into the trap of holding to a high view...

The president signed an executive order to exempt Russia from most parts of a law he signed last monthPresident Trump is halting implementation of most of the sanctions that were to be imposed on Russia under a bipartisan bill he signed last month.The announcement came in an executive order on Friday night, and was part of a broader pivot by Trump toward courting Moscow as he seeks to end the war in Ukraine and keep energy prices under control ahead of the midterm elections.The law, which was championed by and named for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), targets...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said up to 20 million people could flee the country and head to Europe if Russia wins the war. Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Zelenskyy said "Russia is Killing" us and Ukrainians are being "pushed" out of the country. So far, about four million Ukrainians live in countries part of the European Union under temporary protection status. There are currently just under 40 million people still living in Ukraine, so Zelenskyy's projection accounts for about half of the current population. Ukraine is facing a dire situation at the moment, its energy grid being constantly...

The shooter who attacked the Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, is dead. John Griffin, 16, used a shotgun, blasted open the locks on the doors to gain entry, and murdered a teacher and three children. A second teacher chucked her phone and tackled him, buying time. An armed bystander, Kaylub Giamanco, intervened and killed Griffin. Oregon already has universal background checks, a ghost gun ban, and safe storage laws. In fact, every gun control law pushed by anti-gun groups is codified here so these people can pipe down. Will Griffin’s mother be charged? She bought the shotgun around...