Free Republic

Texas Children’s Hospital has opened the nation’s first detransition clinic as required by its settlement with Attorney General Ken Paxton.Vanessa Sivadge, a nurse and whistleblower in the case, announced on X that the detransition clinic is now open. Under the settlement, finalized in July, the hospital was required to open the clinic before the end of October. “I think of all the detransitioners who have suffered in silence, been dismissed, and fought desperately to have their voices heard,” posted Sivadge. “This win is for them.” “In accordance with my settlement with Texas Children’s Hospital, the nation’s first-ever Detransition Clinic is...

The U.S. Consumer Confidence Index rose to 91.7 in October 2026, up from a revised 84.2 in September 2026, according to The Conference Board. October 2026 Index Breakdown Headline Index: 91.7 (an increase of 7.5 points from September). Present Situation Index: Increased to 120.4, reflecting stronger consumer assessments of current business and labor-market conditions. Expectations Index: Increased by 6.9 points to 72.6, driven by reduced pessimism regarding short-term business, income, and job outlooks. Key Drivers: Easing retail gasoline prices helped lift consumer sentiment after three consecutive monthly declines. 

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the US, but its target population is changing. While rates have steadily decreased for more than a decade in adults over 65, cases among another population are suddenly exploding. Now, scientists are racing to understand why this shift is happening — and why these new cases are so aggressive. You may have seen that colorectal cancer is rising among people younger than 50. However, new research reveals that this increase is most dramatic among a younger population within that group: kids aged 10 to young adults in their early...

Brazilian Senator Flávio Bolsonaro has left the country for the United States after losing Sunday's presidential election and refusing ‌to comply with a Supreme Court order to hand over his passports, two sources said. The U.S. Embassy in Brazil did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Bolsonaro's lawyer also declined to comment. Flávio's departure for the United States threatens ​to deepen a rift between the two most populous nations in the Americas. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has accused Washington of colluding with the Bolsonaros to put them ​back in power, and Reuters reported ahead of...

“We are also starting to consult federal workers on how to do some blocking inside the govt agencies during emergency situations — but please do not put that on the form.” —Eric Manton, of the DRG They put it on the form, though, cuz somebody screwed up. Oopsie. . . . Get this: the reason that a color revolution is underway at all in America is not really political anymore — if it ever even was. It’s because a whole lot of people have committed crimes against this country. And with each wave of attempted sedition, they have compounded their...

Leo XIV omits mention of Christ at Assisi, says ‘peace’ must be man’s ‘guiding star’ The Pontiff spoke as though all world religions are equally legitimate while not once mentioning the name of Jesus Christ, the Trinity, or the Blessed Virgin Mary.In recorded remarks to the international ecumenical gathering in Assisi, Pope Leo XIV proclaimed that “peace” must be man’s “guiding star” while not once mentioning the name of Jesus Christ, the Trinity, or the Blessed Virgin Mary.“Peace must once again become the common ideal of all peoples, the guiding star for all our choices, the standard that exposes injustice,...

Prediction markets like Kalshi are fundamentally different from sportsbooks and offer public benefits. Betting and trading look alike. What sets them apart is who’s on the other side. What’s the difference between a sportsbook customer gambling on the Milwaukee Brewers and a Kalshi trader buying a contract on the same result? Both get money if the Brewers win and lose it if they lose. It walks like a bet and quacks like a bet. But we at Kalshi operate a market, not a casino. A century ago, all derivatives trading was derided as “gambling.” What matters is the structure, not...

US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz got into a shouting match Tuesday with Cuba’s foreign minister on the floor of the UN’s General Assembly hall while detailing the communist regime’s ill-gotten wealth. The ambassador was calling attention to the “corrupt Cuban elites,” at one point displaying a photo of late dictator Fidel Castro wearing two Rolex watches worth around $40,000 in today’s money. “According to the regime’s own statistics, that would pay for 55 years of an average Cuban wage,” Waltz noted, before showing a photo of Miguel Díaz-Canel and saying, “It didn’t just start with Castro. This...

Benjamin Netanyahu has requested an extension to voting hours as millions of Israelis head to the polls in the country’s first elections since Oct 7. The prime minister’s Likud party petitioned to extend voting beyond 10pm owing to fears of low turnout among his supporters. It follows Mr Netanyahu’s earlier claim that Arab parties were trying to steal the election by bribing voters with envelopes of cash. Mr Netanyahu’s main rival, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot and his Yashar party, opposed the extension request. “The request is intended to lay the groundwork for claims challenging the integrity of the election,...

[Catholic Caucus] The Slippery Tales of Fr. James Martin S.J. Fr. James Martin wants you to believe homosexuals hear relentless condemnation from the pulpit. His stories are what Mark Twain would call “stretchers” and I would call, well, lies.In a recent interview with JD Flynn at The Pillar, Martin offers several anecdotes along these lines, that homosexuals hear relentless condemnation from the pulpit. Does this claim strike you as even remotely true? The Crisis audience is fairly conservative, probably attending conservative parishes, so if anyone has heard this kind of relentless anti-gay thundering from the pulpit, you have. But I...

Lack of profits and the threat posed by western countries are raising concern about the sustainability of Beijing’s AI boomTrillions of dollars have been wiped from China’s stock markets in recent months amid increasing anxiety about the future of artificial intelligence, as Beijing races against the United States for dominance in the sector.The STAR 50 Index, which tracks technology and innovation companies on the Shanghai stock exchange, has plunged 40% since June. Other indexes of major companies dropped by about 20% over the same time period. The precipitous drop has wiped out $2.4tn from the Chinese stock market since May,...

BREAKING: The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to restore a Biden-era regulation allowing immigration judges to suspend some deportation proceedings......... The Supreme Court just gave President Trump a big win over immigration courts when it comes to deportations. In short, the courts now no longer have the ability to close deportation cases on their own.

We have a week to go before the pivotal midterm election that will determine control of Congress and the fate of President Trump's agenda for the remainder of his term. Speaker Mike Johnson has announced another campaign blitz, where he will visit 13 states and 21 districts between now and November 3. This blitz comes on the heels of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson overseeing historic fundraising for House races, raising more than $30 million in the third quarter and more than $156 million for the cycle. Coupled with what the Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), a Johnson-endorsed PAC, has...

Naegleria fowleri, a brain-eating amoeba, is one of the most lethal infections in the world. Scientists at UC San Diego have isolated a molecule that could help us fight back. Credit iStock/Gilnature. =================================================================== Key Takeaways Brain-eating amoeba (primary amoebic meningoencephalitis) is nearly always fatal and progresses so rapidly that current treatments are often too slow or too toxic to be effective. UC San Diego researchers discovered a marine-derived molecule that kills the parasite faster and more selectively than current treatments. Findings could lay the foundation for future treatments that fundamentally improve survival rates, especially when combined with existing therapies. =======================================================================...

Well, would you look at this… A new group of former federal prosecutors and so-called “human rights” activists has decided that America’s Justice Department isn’t doing its job, so they’re going to step in and start building criminal cases against government officials themselves. And as you’d expect, they’re funded like a well-oiled left-wing machine. And guess who’s high on their list of targets… ICE agents, of course. The organization calls itself the “Rule of Law Project,” and it’s promising to investigate alleged corruption and misconduct that it claims President Trump’s Justice Department has been ignoring. Sounds awfully official, doesn’t it?...

A history refresh and if-then logic to counter the demoralization campaigns on the upcoming midterm elections. The struggle sessions will continue until morale improves. After a year of infighting within the right in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, we cannot allow history to repeat with the CCCP and the CCP. The Bolsheviks under Lenin destroyed the White Russians under Pyotr Wrangel because they were unified and their opposition was not. The Communists under Mao destroyed the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-Shek because they were unified and their opposition was not. Will America share the same fate? Demoralization campaigns have intensified...

[Catholic Caucus] James Martin’s ‘ministry’ posts ‘LGBTQ confiteor’ calling on ‘queer saints’ A lesbian’s blasphemous, pro-LGBT rendition of the Confiteor, posted on Fr. James Martin’s website, diminishes sin and invokes ‘spiritual ancestors.’An essay published on Father James Martin’s heterodox Outreach site includes an “LGBTQ Confiteor” that blasphemously invokes “queer saints.”In her October 25 essay for Outreach entitled “An LGBTQ Catholic guide to the Mass: Praying the Confiteor,” Ariell Watson Simon, a woman who is “married” to another woman, discusses her experiences praying the Confiteor at Mass and claims that the faithful overly focus on sexual sin.At the end of her...

American who lives and grew up in Los Angeles just took a 5 day trip Miami, Florida She says she can’t believe how clean it is there, how there are no homeless and how much less expensive it is “I didn't realize just how dirty and gross and expensive LA actually is just because I'm used to it. I live here, I live in it. I saw 2 unhoused people the entire time I was in Miami. The whole week I saw 2 unhoused people, and we went to a bunch of different parts in Miami. And the cost of...

After preparing five victims of the Tree of Life synagogue massacre for burial, members of Pittsburgh’s New Community Chevra Kadisha stood in a circle and held hands. They had gathered like this before, taking a moment after their work to process what they had done. This time, they were caring for people murdered in their own community. Volunteers from outside Pittsburgh had come to help. David Zimmer, a longtime member, remembered one visitor bringing a custom from another chevra kadisha. “He passed around a piece of chocolate,” Zimmer recalled, “so that there should be something sweet.” Eight years later, NCCK...

You’re arguing with psychosis. They’re screaming about things that aren’t there. The first task of defeating political opponents is to understand who they are. What is it that Democrats think they’re doing? And what they think they’re doing in 2026 amounts to a relentless ritual hallucination in the service of an institutional status quo. They’re making up a fake world in their heads to protect their paychecks: in media, in academia, in government, in the results-not-required world of the nonprofit organization. If you doubt that, go read the opinion pages of The New York Times, the agenda-setting newsletter of the...