Free Republic

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...

As some of you may know, I live in Petersburg, AK. I’ve met Decoy Dan, the former music teacher at our K-12 school, once but I don’t really know him. Even though this is a very small town he’s just not in my circle of friends. Since the news broke the town has been invaded by reporters from major news outlets. They must have parachuted in because there are only two commercial flights a day passing through our airport and the only other way to get here is by boat. The radio station was contacted by the BBC. The local...

Has anyone besides myself wondered what qualifies for Front Page news nowadays?Apparently nothing has happened in the country, or the world in the last 30 days that warrants that status. And Breaking news is similar. The Sunday Morning Talk Show thread dominates with 6 of the top 9 subjects. Anyone know what's going on with this?

A Canadian transgender school bus driver who was fired after sporting a pink miniskirt to work has claimed he is the victim of discrimination under human rights legislation. The driver's schoolgirl outfit began circulating in June 2025 after parents took a video of the individual at St Michael the Archangel Catholic Elementary School in Woodbridge, Ontario, according to Reduxx. Angry parents confronted the driver and demanded to know why his bus was called the 'Lolita Line,' according to a piece of paper that they accused him of sticking to the vehicle's windshield. The name appeared to reference author Vladimir Nabokov's...

🚨 JUST IN: Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd announces the arrest of child predator and former MICKEY MOUSE character at Disney who was "into diapers" — and tried having s*x with a minor "He had two backpacks full of diapers." "He had the high squeaky voice, too." "He wanted to put diapers on the children and do all kinds of nasty stuff, none of which we can talk about. TWO BACKPACKS FULL. He planned to have a great time." He was NO longer employed by Disney when this happened, thank GOD "He said, I'm a little naughty...he was very explicit...

The average journalist has nearly zero connection to the real world. A British pie shop owner, Paul Bowen, was interviewed on Good Morning Britain on Thursday after a new minimum wage law was announced. The clip was something else: Utterly heartbreaking. A must watch. https://t.co/K4W2sxKG4w— Mario Creatura (@MarioCreatura) October 29, 2026Me, as a family, as a director, I'm taking a 2% cut. So my family, my one year old girl, I'm taking a pay cut, the business is taking a pay cut. How - how - how is that breathing room? Where is my breathing space? John Healey, if you're...

Alaska Public Media is not just affiliated with PBS and NPR. When their federal funds were threatened, the Democrats put their CEO Ed Ulmer on the panel to testify before the House DOGE Subcommittee last year, as if the NPR and PBS CEOs weren't enough.The assumption might be that a remote red state so distanced from the continent isn't part of the Eastern media elite. Think again. They performed such absurd propaganda on behalf of embattled Alaska Senate candidate Mary Peltola (D) as to reach Soviet levels of the ridiculously unsubtle. What happened is they went through the motions of...

The EPA overturns a costly Biden rule on natural gas drilling. President Trump on Tuesday reminded Americans why they voted for him. “I’m officially terminating Biden’s expensive and unnecessary methane regulations to save consumers and energy producers $45 billion in costs,” he announced at a rally in Lubbock, Texas. More deregulation, fewer tariffs, please. The Trump Environmental Protection Agency is moving to rescind a suite of Biden rules that would have squashed small oil and gas producers. The Biden team generally required producers to invest in expensive equipment and capture natural gas that incidentally comes up alongside oil production because...