Free Republic

War is hell. Forced war upon the innocents is even worse and this story is very disturbing. Ukraine has forced conscription. Essentially a radical forced draft where the government pays private contractors to locate Ukrainian men, drag them off the streets, put them into military training and force them to fight in the war. Inside Ukraine this process has become more and more aggressive as the population of available fighting-age males has declined. The process is also fraught with corruption. The private contractors, “draft enforcers” ie. “headhunters”, are paid to find the men who refuse to fight. Financial support given...

[Sub-title: At least 38 civilians have been killed across Ukraine following intense Russian strikes on: a humanitarian aid centre in Zaporizhzhia, a hospice in Dnipro, and key municipal power networks.] 'Exceptionally horrific strike' — Russian bombs hit school used as humanitarian aid center in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, A wave of devastating Russian bombardments targeting civilian infrastructure across Ukraine has claimed the lives of at least 38 civilians and left scores of others injured over a single 24-hour period. The strikes directly hit a humanitarian distribution point, a medical hospice, and a hospital, deepening an already catastrophic humanitarian crisis. The assaults come...

B.C. Conservation Officer Service says it's investigating, traps have been set outFamily members have identified the two victims of a suspected fatal grizzly bear attack near Bella Coola, B.C., as Jennifer Balcarras, 48, and her daughter Selah Reed, 19. Balcarras's remains were discovered Monday in the Snooka West Trail area, the conservation officer service says. Family reported them missing on Sunday after they didn't return from a walk on the trail — described as a roughly five-minute drive from their home — on Saturday afternoon. "It's surreal. It doesn't seem real. It feels like a dream," said Josh Balcarras, Jennifer's...

The Oman Observer reports that burial chambers containing human remains and pottery have been excavated in northwestern Oman by archaeologists from Oman's Department of Heritage and Tourism. The burials have been dated to the third millennium B.C. and attributed to Mesopotamia's Jemdet Nasr civilization. Walid bin Hamad al Ghafri of the Department of Heritage and Tourism said that the excavation uncovered many beads, in addition to bronze arrowheads, axes, and daggers. Archaeological sites in the region are in danger of destruction due to rapid urban development, he concluded. To read about how people lived in the Omani desert some 5,000...

Reuters reports that archaeologists have uncovered a wooden cupboard discovered in a house on Via dell'Abbondanza in central Pompeii. Inscriptions in the house suggest that it belonged to Cornelius Maximus. "We cannot reconstruct with certainty the identity of whoever lived in the house, but these fragments bring us closer to their daily life," said Gabriel Zuchtriegel of Pompeii Archaeological Park. Researchers determined that before it was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79, the cupboard held a necklace made up of at least 24 crepundia, or amulets crafted from bone, glass paste, earthenware, and rock crystal. Some...

With the midterm elections approaching, Americans face a critical decision about the future of their country. The Democratic Socialists of America have a radical vision for America, one that rejects both the Constitution and the Bible. But this conflict over faith, freedom, and the role of government is nothing new. It dates back to the founding of our nation, when it wasn't the DSA challenging these principles, but the Deists. The Founders confronted these competing ideas more than two centuries ago, and the debate continues today. With so much at stake in the upcoming elections, understanding this history — and...

The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday ruled that the Department of Justice (DOJ) can request the states of California and Washington to sequester the ballots of potential non-citizen voters, threaten election officials with prosecution, and pursue related investigations. The 6-5 en banc panel decision was rendered just mere hours before polls close on midterm election day. The ruling follows numerous attempts by California to block the DOJ’s efforts to prevent tens of thousands of potential non-citizens from voting in the election. The en banc ruling reinstated a 2-1 panel decision issued on Monday night, in which the...

Her former campaign manager says the other Sullivan was recruited to confuse GOP voters. When the Justice Department sued Alaska over its manipulated Senate ballot, liberal shrieks could initially be heard up to the Arctic. They’re fading now, after the New York Times on Wednesday published evidence that Democrats rigged Alaska’s ranked-choice ballot with a decoy candidate who threatens to deny Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan re-election.Yet while exposing the deceit is helpful, it’s no remedy. Hurdle upon hurdle has been stacked against Alaskans’ ability to have a clear and fair vote: False-flag candidates, a Rube Goldberg ballot, deceptive electioneering. Court...

Election Day is already off to a disastrous start in Kansas, where a polling location in Leavenworth County ran out of ballots Tuesday morning, leaving frustrated voters waiting more than an hour and reportedly forcing some to leave without casting their votes. The stunning election administration failure unfolded at the Linwood Community Building in downtown Linwood, where voters arrived Tuesday morning expecting to participate in the crucial 2026 midterm elections. Instead, they discovered that county election officials had failed to provide enough ballots for their precinct. According to KCTV5's Election Day report, the polling location was short of ballots for...

Jacob Allen Morley broke out of the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville on Oct. 25 ... Missouri state troopers have captured an escaped convict who broke free from a Tennessee prison last week ... Jacob Allen Morley broke out of the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville, Tennessee, on Oct. 25, officials said previously. He was serving a life prison sentence for murder. After his escape, he allegedly stole a truck... As state troopers closed in on him, they say he tried to veer off the road and got stuck. He was arrested without further incident about two hours after police...

---SNIP-- The leaflet said: “No business for Zionists! These Zionist establishments must go! Not in our city!”. The rally is planned for Saturday, the eve of the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the Nazi pogrom that took place between November 9 and 10, 1938. On that night, mobs destroyed thousands of Jewish businesses, homes and synagogues in Germany and Austria, while thousands of Jews were beaten, assaulted and sent to concentration camps.

Former New England Patriots great Rob Gronkowski met voters and candidates at polling places across New Hampshire on Election Day. "Gronk," who is not known for being politically outspoken, was seen in social media footage posing with fans for pictures and signing jerseys outside a tent with the logo for Turning Point USA, the conservative political organization founded by Charlie Kirk. A spokesperson for Turning Point said Gronkowski was not with their group, but did walk by their tent. Republican candidate for governor Kelly Ayotte posted a photo with the tight end and his girlfriend, Camille Kostek, in Bedford. A...

Explanation: Did this meteor come from that comet? Probably not. Although many meteors do originate from comets, there are thousands of comets that have visited the inner Solar System recently, and matching meteors to them can be tricky. And to be clear, the pictured comet is far behind the streaking meteor. Comet C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS) was captured from Hautacam, France in April when the giant space iceberg sported impressive ion (blue) and dust tails. Sand-sized rocky debris that enters Earth’s atmosphere typically appears as meteors, while the colorful foreground streak here may indicate a complicated composition. This month three notable...

I almost feel bad for Angie Nixon. Sometime tonight, after the Panhandle brings it home, she’s going to find out that millions of Floridians don’t want her representing them in the United States Senate, and she’ll have to confront the possibility that the problem might actually be Angie Nixon. Just kidding. We all know that’s not happening. She’s already figured out who to blame. Florida is racist. The voters are racist. Apparently even the Democrat donors think so. Talking with Politico’s Dasha Burns last month, she complained that national Democrats were staying out of her race because “they think that...

Being pro-life is not antisemitic Cardinal Cupich (Oct 29, 2026) will today honour Michael Sacks despite his substantial financial support for abortion, while the Archdiocese of Chicago has responded to criticism by warning of the dangers of antisemitismToday, despite widespread indignation from the pro-life movement, Cardinal Blase Cupich will award Michael Sacks the inaugural Nostra Aetate Award at Mundelein Seminary in Chicago. The award will be presented during the annual Rerum Novarum event, “an evening to honour lay men and women who are examples of Catholic Social Teaching in action.”Nostra Aetate, full title Declaration on the Relation of the Church...

On Tuesday, the Department of Justice announced what it called the “largest monitoring effort in DOJ history,” saying it would deploy agents to monitor and observe elections for the first time in the nation’s history. "Today, the DOJ will further this mission by engaging in its largest monitoring effort in history—with approximately 1,000 election monitors and observers deployed, and, for the first time, in all 50 states," the Department of Justice's press release reads. "The effort is coordinated by the Civil Rights Division. Monitors will include personnel from the Division, other DOJ divisions/components, U.S. Attorney’s Offices and federal observers from...

Just 236 people have been charged with voting-fraud-related offenses by the Trump administration, despite its unsubstantiated claims that fraud is widespread.The Department of Homeland Security has mounted an extraordinary campaign to hunt for illegal voters, devoting hundreds of federal agents to the task of poring over tens of thousands of voter records and knocking on the doors of people suspected of being noncitizens who unlawfully cast ballots.But the crusade has so far resulted in the Trump administration’s charging only about 236 people with voting-fraud-related offenses across the country since the president took office, according to the Justice Department. That includes...

[Catholic Caucus] Leo-appointed archbishop of Vienna supports ‘ordination of women’ Archbishop Josef Grünwidl also argued for the abolition of priestly celibacy, stating it has 'nothing to do with our faith, with the truths of the faith, or with dogma.'Archbishop Josef Grünwidl of Vienna has said that he wants the “ordination of women” but thinks it is not “realistic” at the moment.In an interview with Austria’s public radio station Ö1, the new archbishop of Vienna addressed a wide range of issues, including the questions of female ordination, mandatory priestly celibacy, and euthanasia.Grünwidl noted that women are already serving in many areas...

The reasons behind these record crime reductions aren’t difficult to understand... Most people who follow the news probably missed Monday’s announcement from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS): Felony violent crime plunged 25 percent in 2025. Rape fell 13 percent, robbery dropped 27 percent, and aggravated assault declined 31 percent. Property crime fell 19 percent. Except for rape, these represent the largest one-year declines since the government began collecting these data 53 years ago. That marks a dramatic reversal from the Biden administration, when felony violent crime soared by a record 59 percent and property crime rose 8 percent between...

Bubble baths are underway. Dinner is made to order. The daily itinerary? Naps, training sessions and facials. Outside, a happy pack tears around fenced-in play areas as staff keep watch from offices overlooking the grounds. The guests are dogs. And this is their country escape. On a sunny afternoon at Far Fetched Acres in the Hudson Valley, one eager pup worked through a training session while others mingled in thoughtfully matched playgroups. Inside the custom-built, 10,000-square-foot postmodern barn, lavender-scented air sets the mood. Each dog has a personalized cubby stocked with food, medications, toys and detailed instructions from home. The...