Free Republic

Eight people have been indicted for conspiring to steal more than $7 million from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (“SNAP”) between April 2023 and September 2025. The alleged fraud impacted thousands of victims, many of whom never received reimbursement for the stolen benefits. Belal Hauter, 34, allegedly led the conspiracy by opening or directing coconspirators to open numerous merchant processing accounts in the names of various delis, bodegas, or grocery stores, including a deli where multiple defendants worked. The co-conspirators also opened numerous bank accounts to connect to those processing accounts, so EBT transactions went directly to accounts under their...

Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin will apparently talk to anyone about the Democrats’ lawfare plans if they capture the majority in the House or Senate next week; all you have to do is ask. Slotkin, while campaigning Thursday for congressional candidate Sean McCann, dished on what she has up her sleeve, according to an undercover video obtained exclusively by Townhall. “I’m worried that we’re going to be too nice,” the person said to Slotkin in the video, triggering a smirk from the senator. “What are we going to do to hold the Trump regime and its collaborators responsible? I’m talking prosecutions,”...

An email address that James Talarico’s attorneys confirmed belonged to and was at one time used by the Texas Democratic U.S. Senate candidate appears in a database search result associated with the adult dating website Fling.com’s 2011 data breach. A Fling.com account was created with Talarico’s email address just before Talarico began teaching sixth graders.The result lists the username “mohawk787” and an account creation timestamp of December 26, 2010, at 20:56:49. The profile’s interests field lists “FETISH,” “GROUPSEX,” “SEXUAL RELATIONS,” “ONLINE FLIRTING,” and “OTHER.”Townhall shared the information described in this article with the Talarico campaign and requested comment Friday morning,...

“Ukraine struck the Novokuybyshevsk Oil Refinery in Russia’s Samara region on Friday, ending a two-week pause in attacks on Russian oil-processing facilities. The Ukrainian drone attack triggered a major fire at the refinery. Thick columns of dark grey smoke were seen rising high into the sky. A 16-second dashcam video, recorded from a moving vehicle on a nearby road, captured the smoke and fire. According to The Wall Street Journal report, the pause in Ukrainian strikes reportedly followed pressure from the Trump administration. This came after Washington was concerned about rising global fuel prices ahead of the US midterm elections...

Democrats promise to lower costs, but journalists rarely ask them to explain their policies—or account for the soaring prices under Biden. Two things are missing from almost every media report attacking President Trump over affordability: acknowledgment that Democrats supported Biden’s policies during the inflation surge, which left Americans paying substantially higher prices, and any serious examination of which Democrat policies would actually make life more affordable. If Democrats regain power, their policies could make things worse. According to a recent article, House Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries promises to lower grocery, gasoline, housing, and health care costs. “We are explicitly promising...

The Post is publishing results of its Kansas Senate poll in the interest of transparency and to highlight the challenges the poll faced. The Washington Post and George Mason University began contacting voters last week in one of the country’s most competitive but least-polled Senate contests: the race in Kansas between Republican Sen. Roger Marshall and megachurch pastor Adam Hamilton, who is trying to become the first Democratic senator from the state since the Great Depression.

A woman driven by a compulsion to harm children admitted in a Pittsburgh court that she murdered her best friend’s infant son in a plea agreement that is likely to keep her in prison for life. Nicole Virzi, 32, had been charged with capital murder with the possibility of the death penalty before she opted to plead guilty Wednesday to third-degree murder and other charges. She was sentenced to 35 to 80 years behind bars. “Although this office was committed to pursuing this case to trial and its ultimate conclusion, after continued and on-going consultation with the family and considering...

An escape artist pulled off a thrilling stunt high above Hollywood’s famed Magic Castle to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Harry Houdini’s death on Halloween. Performer Houdini II successfully escaped a straitjacket while suspended upside-down from a crane about 80 feet high next to the castle. The escape artist took just under 2 minutes free himself, saying the straitjacket was an “exact replica” of the one actor Tony Curtis wore in the 1953 film “Houdini.” He completed the escape without an airbag or protective landing system beneath him. Houdini has performed stunts like jumping from Miami’s MacArthur Bridge into Biscayne...

Judge Ada Brown of the Northern District of Texas has been suspended pending psychiatric testing and the resolution of a bar complaint after a bizarre hearing in April 2026. In the hearing, Brown, a Trump appointee, went on a racial diatribe against a lawyer, Ezra Young, over his race. Young was accused of being White. When Young informed her that he is Hispanic, Judge Brown went on to say that he is “white-presenting” in continuing her racial browbeating. Judge Brown was also accused of abandoning her work, but the hearing has caused the most chatter among lawyers. Young filed a...

The endless cries of creeping fascism from the Left have become exhausting, particularly when progressives keep reminding us that their problem isn't authoritarianism itself, but who gets to wield the authority. The most recent example? Robert Reich, the former secretary of labor under Bill Clinton - a man who routinely warns about fascism - advocating for the government to seize control of private companies. Reich wants a Democrat-controlled government to cut off Elon Musk's government contracts and prepare to nationalize SpaceX and Starlink if they regain power. In the spirit of Marx himself, Reich wants the state to take ownership...

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (WBTV) - A former North Carolina military contractor was arrested this week for leaking classified defense secrets and stealing Army night vision goggles, federal prosecutors said. FBI agents arrested 37-year-old James Ashbacher, a former U.S. government contractor, on Tuesday, Oct. 27, in North Carolina. Ashbacher, who held a top-security clearance, was accused of leaking national defense information on a “popular social media site,” unlawfully keeping national defense information at his home and stealing night vision goggles from the U.S. Army. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Ashbacher began working around 2021 for an unidentified private company...

A prominent Minnesota Democrat who served in the state's House of Representatives revealed on Thursday he believes the federal probe into Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., has legitimacy. It's the latest signal that the political dam may be breaking as scandals and investigations into the congresswoman continue to pile up. "Democrats should understand that the allegation is almost certainly true—whatever conclusion they draw from that point could vary—and her denials calling it a right-wing, Islamophobic or racist conspiracy are almost certainly not," Joe Radinovich posted on X in reference to the claims that Omar married her brother as part of an...

POLK COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) — A weeklong undercover operation called “Polk Around & Find Out II” led to 281 arrests in Polk County, including 17 people who worked at theme parks, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier’s office said Friday. The operation targeted child predators and human trafficking and resulted in 488 new charges, including 198 felonies. The Polk County Sheriff’s Office ran two stings at the same time: one targeting adults seeking sex with children and another focused on human trafficking. Sheriff Grady Judd called it the largest undercover operation his office has conducted. At the news conference, Judd said...

There is something in the watercooler at The Washington Post. Well, more specifically, in whatever water WaPo's editorial board is drinking. For the most part, the Post remains a hotbed of Trump Derangement Syndrome-induced hysteria. Typically, the wildfire of irresponsible propaganda "journalism" is lit by editorial directives. For example, The New York Times editorial board is comprised of pathological liars, and that creates the standards-free environment that permeates the organization. WaPo's editorial board has been getting some things right lately, which is one of the most interesting things I've seen in 20+ years of writing about media bias. The way...

A former Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) scientist won a legal victory this week after losing his position following sexual misconduct allegations made by a female colleague. Dr. David Sabatini, a former MIT biology professor and prominent biomedical researcher, was awarded $6 million in damages Friday after a jury found that his former colleague, Dr. Kristin Knouse, had defamed him. SNIP In 2021, Sabatini lost his position at Whitehead following an internal investigation into allegations made by Dr. Kristin Knouse, a younger colleague who worked at the institute. The pair met in 2012 and began a sexual relationship in 2018,...

30 October 2026 Friday of week 30 in Ordinary Time St. Alphonsus R. C. Church, North Ormesby, Middlesbrough, UK Readings 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 readingPhilippians...

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi blasted New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Michigan Democratic Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed over their controversial comments about Israel, declaring their positions “wrong” and insisting they don’t represent the Democratic Party in Congress. Pelosi, 86, delivered the rebuke during an appearance on Donny Deutsch’s “On Brand” podcast Thursday, after the Jewish host pressed the longtime California Democrat about growing concerns over antisemitism within the party. Deutsch specifically questioned how Jewish Americans could continue supporting Democrats when prominent members of the party have refused to affirm Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. “When...

America’s medical schools do not train enough doctors, creating a growing shortage of quality physicians. This shortage is widely recognized and lamented, but the cause of the problem is often misdiagnosed. Observers from all ends of the political spectrum blame Congress, which “capped” subsidies for medical residencies in 1997. In reality, there are simply not enough U.S. medical school graduates. Medical schools, not residencies, are the real bottleneck restricting the supply of quality physicians. After completing medical school, doctors are hired as residents, typically by hospitals, to complete the training that states require for licensure. But there have always been...

Democrats squirmed when Donald Trump accused them of fraud in the 2024 elections. It seemed almost comical that they would insist there were no irregularities, no cheating, no fraud. It was obvious, it was blatant, it was in your face. We saw pictures of men and women stuffing collection boxes with ballots. We were told not to believe our lying eyes. But people of the truth believe the truth, no matter how they find it. Perhaps it seems comical to them. Now, we have the Dan Sullivan fraud. They’re telling us not to believe our lying ears now. Perhaps we...

29 October 2026 Thursday of week 30 in Ordinary Time Missionaries of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary | Linwood NJReadings 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...