Free Republic

Two weeks ahead of the 2026 November midterm elections, which could change the balance of power in Congress, the Washington, D.C., Board of Elections sent me four strangers’ mail-in ballots. This is not a one-off. It is happening to Americans across the country. Early voting has already begun for the midterms, and millions of unsecured mail-in ballots could have already been sent and submitted. The Daily Signal decided to investigate these four ballots further. By obtaining the D.C. voter registration list, we confirmed the identities of the rightful owners and contacted one of them, a former tenant of my current...

California lost population for the first time in its history a few years back. Some of the loss has been recovered. But there’s been no growth beyond the 2020 peak. Yet Sacramento continues to expand government. The madness will continue until voters realize the mistakes they’ve been making at the ballot box for decades. America’s largest state topped out at 39.53 million in 2019. That number fell to 39.52 million in 2020, then 39.24 million in 2021 and 39.03 million in 2022. After a few years of growth, the population fell again from 2024 to 2025, is still below its...

Democrats know that when it comes to people of faith, the Republicans clean up. This explains why in this election cycle they are trying hard to appeal to religious folks: several “pastors” are running for office. The quotes are necessitated because there are good reasons to question just how representative they are of their Protestant base. Meet the “pastors” running for office. James Talarico He is running to represent Texas in the United States Senate. He is a Presbyterian seminarian and currently serves in the Texas House of Representatives. Abortion When he gave his first sermon, he chose to discuss...

Meta was ordered to pay $25 billion in penalties by a New Mexico court on Wednesday as part of a data privacy case that stemmed from the company’s Cambridge Analytica scandal from nearly a decade ago. The penalty, revealed in a court filing, comes after a jury in a Santa Fe courthouse found in September the social media giant liable for misleading state citizens about how it safeguards and collects user data and prevents harmful information from flourishing on its services. Although the jury concluded that Meta had more than 43 million violations of the state’s unfair practices act, with...

The mutual self-gift of husband and wife underlies the requirement for “total fidelity” and the “unbreakable oneness” of marriage, Pope Leo XIV said at the general audience on Wednesday. “The mutual self-giving of man and woman, such that ‘they are no longer two but one flesh,’ underlies the requirement for ‘total fidelity’ and the ‘unbreakable oneness’ of the spouses, finding vivid expression in the procreation and upbringing of children,” he said during his catechesis on Oct. 21. He focused his reflection on marriage and the family, convinced that “the well-being of the individual and of human and Christian society is...

Large numbers of sports stars continue to drop like flies since the mRNA gene therapies were rolled out.Large numbers of prominent athletes continue to die unexpectedly or suffer anomalous medical emergencies since the mRNA gene therapies were rolled out. Across the NFL, NHL, NCAA football, professional rugby, women's basketball, and international hockey, athletes ranging in age from just 18 to 56 have suffered major medical events, including pulmonary emboli, cardiac arrest, an aortic dissection, an emergency heart transplant, and several deaths. In just the first 21 days of OCTOBER 2026, at least 10 cases have made headlines: Jalen Hurts, 28...

Social Security says it has corrected tens of millions of identity records in the largest database cleanup in its history. The changes involve missing death dates and citizenship information, raising understandable questions about what the effort means for people receiving benefits. The agency’s October 20 announcement reports progress on work underway since the beginning of the Trump administration. It does not announce a benefit cut, a new application requirement or a deadline for everyone to verify their Social Security number. The practical issue is accuracy. Better records can help prevent improper payments and identity misuse, while incorrect changes can create...

Liberal Justice Elena Kagan sharply criticized the Supreme Court’s conservative majority Tuesday, saying it undermined democracy in a series of rulings, including several that have prompted a new wave of legislative map-drawing that has increasingly eliminated competitive districts. Kagan, who has dissented in those cases, also took aim at the majority for striking down campaign finance restrictions and, as she put it, the “evisceration” of the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act that was enacted to protect minority voters. “Part of the reason why the court got it wrong was a kind of lack of the appropriate concern or understanding of...

This video reports on a major marriage fraud scheme uncovered in Massachusetts, where six individuals were arrested and charged by the US Department of Justice (0:00 - 0:51). Key Details of the Investigation: Mastermind: Jennifer Gonzalez is accused of orchestrating sham marriages for over a decade to help illegal aliens fraudulently obtain green cards and US citizenship (0:18 - 0:31). Financial Scope: Authorities state she charged between $38,000 and $40,000 per marriage, netting an estimated $6 million over ten years (0:32 - 0:51). She allegedly used these funds to purchase property and businesses in the Dominican Republic (0:52 - 1:40)....

Explanation: Jinkies, look at all those ghosts! It took 100 hours of observation and a special oxygen filter for today’s image to capture three faint nebulas hidden in the Cassiopeia constellation. IC 59 and IC 63, the original Ghosts of Cassiopeia, haunt the region near multi-star system γ Cassiopeia. Energetic light from γ Cassiopeia causes the hydrogen gas in IC 59 and 63 to glow red. Their dust reflects and scatters some blue-ish white starlight. Newly discovered Objects 1, 2, and 3 appear as blue phantoms, revealing the presence of ionized oxygen. But ionized by what? Like at the bow...

The announcement of the scheduled December 3 execution by firing squad of Nidal Hasan for his "Fort Hood" murder of 13 people and wounding of another 32 in 2009 has inspired Al Qaeda "to avenge this unwarranted slaying of a righteous Muslim. If the US dares to go through with this evil deed we will respond in kind by abducting Americans, killing them, and showing the video of their deaths to the world." "Trump may think that executing Hasan for successfully carrying out a jihad attack on infidels will deter us from our goal of conquering the world for Allah,...

The seventh-year pro had played in Tennessee’s first five games this season before being sidelined this past Sunday. ============================================================== The Tennessee Titans cut defensive lineman Jordan Elliott after he brought a gun to the team’s training facility in a “terrible lapse of judgement,” officials said Wednesday. Titans coach Robert Saleh defended Elliott and called his now-former player “a good man” who deserves another chance — but just not in Tennessee. “He’s a good man (who) had a terrible lapse in judgment that I recognize as a call for help more than a than a criminal act,” Saleh told reporters. “It’s...

In Virginia, a 64-year-old man was charged after he taped his wife to a chair in the basement so he could watch football upstairs. Terry Ward was arrested last Sunday night in Richmond after officers responded to a domestic call. According to the criminal complaint, his wife said he used tape to restrain her to a chair in the basement. Ward admitted he tied her up and left her there. She had marks and tape residue on both arms and told police she had been restrained for up to 45 minutes. He faces felony abduction and misdemeanor assault on a...

An antibiotic morning-after pill has been shown to be effective for preventing STIs among gay men, but some doctors worry about antibiotic resistance. This story discusses STIs and their symptoms. AYESHA RASCOE, HOST: Research shows that a new morning-after pill for bacterial STIs is highly effective for gay men. A possible downside - it could lead to antibiotic-resistant superbugs. Note - this story mentions sexually transmitted infections and symptoms. KQED's April Dembosky reports from San Francisco. APRIL DEMBOSKY, BYLINE: Tyler Toler (ph) has had the trifecta of bacterial STIs - chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis. TYLER TOLER: Itching, burning, leaking, not...

Former judicial discipline director Christopher Gregory triggers panic across the judiciary after filing confidential misconduct records revealing widespread corruption and multi-million dollar hush-money cover-ups.Link to ChatGPT Video Transcript SummarySummary: Alleged Judicial Corruption in ColoradoThe video alleges a long-running corruption scandal involving the Colorado Supreme Court, state judicial officials, and the Colorado Commission on Judicial Discipline. Its central claim is that senior officials concealed judicial misconduct, arranged a multimillion-dollar agreement with a former court administrator, and retaliated against an internal whistleblower.1. The alleged $2.75 million hush-money agreementMindy Macias, a former chief of staff for Colorado's judicial branch, was reportedly facing termination...

A Trump administration fraud task force has uncovered nearly $42 million in food stamp funds meant for needy families that were instead stolen to support criminal activities as well as the lavish lifestyle of a rapper with multiple arrests — including for repeatedly exposing himself to pee off his apartment balcony. Vice President JD Vance and members of the Departments of Justice and Agriculture held a press conference in Cincinnati Wednesday highlighting the cases involving more than 40 defendants operating schemes that bilked the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and related programs. “Two-hundred twenty thousand Americans could’ve eaten for the entire...

What should have been a moment of school pride has now sparked controversy, with a high school football game in Oregon drawing attention for all the wrong reasons. A confrontation involving two rival players has raised questions about sportsmanship, respect, and the lack of intervention from adults present at the scene.

Vice President JD Vance took questions from reporters on Wednesday and was asked about Vivek Ramaswamy’s highly controversial attack ad against Democrat Amy Acton, which has roiled the already nasty Ohio governor’s race. “Vice President, Daniel Bush with the BBC. Thank you. You mentioned after this you’re going to a campaign event. Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign put out a controversial ad featuring his opponent’s mother. Republicans, some are backing away from that. Do you think that that ad was appropriate?” Vance was asked during an Ohio press conference. “Well, I’ll be honest with you, whether the ad was appropriate or not...

A motorist was killed in a drive-by shooting on the George Washington Bridge in Manhattan Tuesday night, according to cops and sources. The driver was found shot in the head on the westbound upper level of the crossing around 7 p.m. after officers responded to reports of a crash, the Port Authority Police Department and sources said. He was rushed to Englewood Hospital in New Jersey and pronounced dead, according to law enforcement sources. The suspect fled and remained on the loose late Tuesday. Investigators are pouring over security camera footage for clues into the slaying. Nobody else was injured...

​ ‪@ProyectoRetic‬ and I captured the longest Reticulated Python ever captured in Puerto Rico 18'4". Reticulated Pythons are an Invasive Species in Puerto Rico the same way that Burmese Pythons are an Invasive Species in Florida. These non-native snakes are having devastating effects on the native wildlife of Puerto Rico and are also causing huge problems for the local residents, often eating their livestock and pets. These snake eat native wildlife and domestic animals all the time, and this particular Individual was originally spotted eating a homeowner's cat behind their house. Every single one of these huge snakes that we...