Free Republic

A Christmas Prayer By Rian B. Anderson It was Christmas Eve 1881. I was fifteen years old and feeling like the world had caved in on me because there just hadn't been enough money to buy me the rifle that I'd wanted so bad that year for Christmas. We did the chores early that night for some reason. I just figured Daddy wanted a little extra time so we could read in the Bible. After supper was over I took my boots off and stretched out in front of the fireplace and waited for Daddy to get down the old...

Remember how Democrats once hailed ObamaCare as a "big f---ing deal?"Nowadays, as inadvertently revealed by Politico, many Democrats have turned their backs on the 15-year-old program they have come to loathe (while urging continued funding for it) and instead increasingly demand its replacement with Medicare For All.On Sunday, Politico reporters Lisa Kashinsky and Elena Schneider revealed the deep Democrat discontent with ObamaCare in "Democrats are united in bashing GOP on Obamacare. Medicare for All could reopen a rift."The article began with how fervently many Democrats are in their desire to ditch ObamaCare in favor of the entirely government-financed Medicare For...

BETHESDA, Md. (WBFF) — A $2.3 million home in one of Maryland’s wealthiest neighborhoods has become the latest test of the state’s ability to respond to squatting, exposing how legal gaps, slow court processes, and limited enforcement can leave communities waiting for action – even when ownership is clear and criminal complaints are filed. The Bethesda case, now winding through Montgomery County courts, mirrors a pattern Spotlight on Maryland has documented statewide: Vacant homes, disputed occupancy, and neighbors caught between civil law and public safety concerns. Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy’s office said it cannot comment on this matter...

A forklift driver was allegedly talking on the phone when he struck and killed a 45-year-old man. According to WTOC, new information has emerged about a fatal forklift incident that occurred in April at the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America site. The report states that 45-year-old Sunbok You, the CEO of Hyundai subcontractor SBY America, was struck and killed at the HL-GA Battery Company construction site. While speaking with workers at around 4:45 p.m. on March 21, You walked across a road before being struck by a forklift. The Bryan County Sheriff’s Office told WTOC reporters at the time that...

Finally, we are seeing some pushback. In North Carolina, a public library board was disbanded for pushing transsexual indoctrination on little kids. The Blaze reports: The controversy involved the “Call Me Max” book that tells the story of a girl asking teachers to refer to her by her chosen identity rather than the biological reality. The board in Randolph County had reviewed the book and found that it fit within the county’s guidelines in October. No one who attempts to undermine the sanity of impressionable children so as to groom them for a twisted realm of sexual depravity should be...

A Washington woman angry with pro-life protesters outside a Planned Parenthood abortion facility struck one of them with her SUV after an argument, authorities said. Sierra D. Godfrey, 32, of Richland, is accused of swerving toward two men standing near the exit of the Bonnie Avenue abortion facility on December 1 with the intent to scare them. Instead, she hit one in the leg and hip, knocking him down before fleeing the scene. Godfrey, who allegedly admitted to police that she hit the protester and drove away, was arrested December 15 and booked into the Benton County jail on suspicion...

The Justice Department's latest trove of files includes photos taken inside the bizarre structure which was first uncovered by drone footage of Little Saint James in 2019. The cube-shaped building with blue and white stripes covering it has been the subject of speculation and conspiracy theories. Photos inside the building show it in tough shape, including excess pieces of wood lying around and exposed cement panels. Another photo shows a pair of mattresses that appear to have been left to rot inside a shrink wrap that has turned a shade of yellow. The ceiling is hand-painted, showing various animals and...

I have had an interesting and rewarding time in discussions and arguments(?) with various AIs. Google's is hopelessly woke, and unrepentant about it. I have abandoned it. Using Microsoft's Copilot UI on top of Smart GPT-5.1 has delivered a very different, FAR more neutral AI experience. You can actually instruct it to abandon certain built-in woke-leaning tendencies about safety and offending. One then works with a remarkably neutral AI. I decided to see how Smart GPT-5.1 would track on a 'discussion' in logic around two questions and two premises. The two premises were: (1) there is no god/deity, and (2)...

The police chief at Brown University has been placed on leave as the school examines its response to a mass shooting that left two students dead. University officials announced Monday that Rodney Chatman, the head of public safety at the school, was placed on leave effective immediately, and his day-to-day responsibilities were given to former Providence Police Chief Hugh Clements. The decision comes amid intense scrutiny over the school's security policies in the wake of the December 13 mass shooting, during which students Ella Cook and MukhammadAziz Umurzokov were tragically killed and nine others left with injuries.

WH MLUT NYHU SLID UTLIKH, GTYGYZWUD TWH LUH HDWHYI. UTDBD LH W HLNVZD NDNYBJ WLX UTWU JYA GWI AHD UY XDUDBNLID MTDUTDB LU LH UTD GYBBDGU ULND UY YBXDB GTYGYZWUD XLHTDH: WIJ NYIUT MTYHD IWND GYIUWLIH UTD ZDUUDB W, D, YB A LH UTD VBYVDB ULND SYB GTYGYZWUD. -- HWIXBW QYJIUYI

"Call of Duty" video game creator Vincent Zampella reportedly died in a car wreck on a mountainous stretch of highway near Los Angeles this weekend. The California Highway Patrol says the single-car crash was reported around 12:45 PM Sunday afternoon near mile marker 62 on the Angeles Crest Highway in Altadena. Two people were involved in the crash, according to the CHP, with one of the victims pronounced dead at the scene. NBC Los Angeles was the first to report that person was Vincent. The video game developer was reportedly driving the car and was heading south when the car...

The number of flu cases across the country is on the rise, following a global trend that is now reaching the U.S., say health care professionals. Britain, Australia and Japan have already reported spikes, in what has turned out to be an early flu season, according to The New York Times. Some of the areas seeing the biggest spikes so far include New York City, Denver and New Orleans, according to The Times and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s tracker. The dominant strain of the flu virus circulating this season is H3N2 subclade K – a variant of...

The Babylon Bee has scoured through the thousands of pages of newly released Epstein documents to uncover all of the photos that don't include former President Bill Clinton. Here they are, in chronological order: That's all of them! We will continue to keep this page updated as more files are released.

US forces have boarded the Bella 1, a US‑sanctioned, Panamanian‑flagged crude tanker bound for Venezuela, marking the third interception near the country this month after the Skipper on Dec. 10 and the Centuries on Saturday. US forces have intercepted yet another oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, boarding the Bella 1 as it sailed toward Venezuelan waters to load crude, according to people briefed on the operation, in the latest escalation of President Donald Trump’s effort to starve Nicolás Maduro’s government of oil revenues. The Bella 1, a Panamanian‑flagged vessel already sanctioned by Washington, was stopped in the southern...

MCDZO DFQJQTRG TS LIDZJ VTTPG KZU VD FDXQLCJSHX, VHJ MCDZO DFQJQTRG TS LIDZJ KDR ZID ZVGTXHJDXU FDJDGJZVXD. -- TGMZI EQXFD

After a few seconds, Metcalf reached up, threw a punch at the fan with his closed right hand and walked away. Because there was no flag thrown during the incident with the fan, the NFL cannot weigh in on a disqualification, which is why Metcalf could continue playing.

Thursday on the “Politicon” podcast, Democratic strategist James Carville said Charlie Kirk “was not a pimple” on filmmaker Rob Reiner’s ass. While discussing Reiner’s legacy, Carville said, “Charlie Kirk, there was this thing, some kindergarten teachers forwarded some things he said about women. I would urge anybody to look at that. And they fired, you know, fired him. Okay, I’m sorry, I don’t want anybody to get shot. He had young kids. I hate that, but Charlie Kirk was not a pimple on Rob Reiner’s *ss when it comes to influence, and it comes to impact when it comes to...

I spent eight years paying the mortgage, taxes and repairs on my parents' house, assuming that when they died, my sister and I would share both the grief and the responsibility. Instead, I now co-own a property with a sibling who refuses to move out, pay rent or agree on a plan, and the family home that once felt like a refuge has become a legal and emotional minefield. My situation is personal, but the dynamics are increasingly common as adult children inherit homes together and discover that shared ownership is far more complicated than it looked on paper. In...

TULUSGUQ RA V SCMZJ CY RMBRZVZRCM ZC YCQDUZ CWQAUIBUA RM ZJU AUQBRLU CY CZJUQA. — QCGUQZ ICWRA AZUBUMACM

The correlation between moonbattery and mental illness is well established. But is it clinically accurate to say that moonbattery actually is a manifestation of mental illness? The question has legal ramifications. Gateway Pundit reports on the case of Riddhi Patel… …a 28-year-old Indian-American leftist activist who identifies as “non-binary”. “They” were born and raised in Bakersfield, California and worked as an Economic Development Coordinator for the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment (CRPE), a nonprofit environmental justice organization that focuses on “supporting low-income and marginalized communities.” In her job, Patel “highlighted intersectionality within environmental justice” and “collective liberation for...