Free Republic

One of my consistent themes is that in the post-Christian West, sexual pleasure and hedonism have been elevated to the highest human good. Human beings are driven to ask, "What is the meaning of life," and when God exits stage left, what usually replaces Him is "pleasure." That's natural, of course, since pleasure by its nature is self-reinforcing. "If it feels good, do it" is hardly revolutionary, despite what the hippies said. Without religion, human beings struggle to come up with reasons to deny our darkest desires without appealing to moral standards that are generally rooted in religion, or at...

Oregon Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley are advocating for a bill that would stop President Trump from replacing immigration judges with what the senators call “inexperienced attorneys.”The bill is led by Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and co-sponsored by Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) alongside Senators Wyden and Merkley.

Representative Jim McGovern (D-MA), Ranking Member of the House Rules Committee and Co-Chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY), and Representative Joaquin Castro (D-TX), Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee's Western Hemisphere Subcommittee, have introduced a War Powers Resolution to block the Trump administration from engaging in hostilities within or against Venezuela absent congressional authorization. The Constitution does not permit the executive branch to unilaterally commit an act of war against a sovereign nation that hasn’t attacked the United States,” said Rep. Massie.

Several Democratic senators and one Republican, Rand Paul of Kentucky, filed a war powers resolution to prevent the United States from using its armed forces to engage in hostilities with Venezuela without congressional approval. The resolution was filed by Paul and Democratic senators Tim Kaine, Va., Adam Schiff, Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, N.Y. It directs President Donald Trump to stop using the military “unless specifically authorized by a declaration of war or specific authorization for use of military force,” according to The Hill.

DEDHAM, Mass. (WPRI) — A Nativity display at a church in Dedham, Massachusetts, is sparking a debate.The display outside Saint Susanna Parish now features a sign that reads “ICE was here” instead of the figures of Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus.Below it, another message claims “the holy family is safe in our church” and instructs people to call a number if they see immigration agents.

A 29-year-old male accused in a fatal stabbing in Boston over the weekend was facing weapons and drug charges less than a month ago but walked free. Court records indicate that Javonte Robinson's previous weapons and drug charges were dismissed when an attorney could not be found after 45 days, WCVB-TV reported. Robinson's case was dropped amid a work stoppage involving private attorneys who normally defend suspects who can't afford lawyers, the station said, adding that the attorneys in question stopped accepting new cases in May in an attempt to force the state to pay them more. WCVB said Robinson...

Emails revealed that Summers sought advice from Epstein on romantically pursuing a woman he referred to as his mentee.Summers’ comment comes after a senior Trump administration official and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) each called on institutions to sever ties with Summers.The statement leaves question marks hanging over the fate of several positions Summers occupies, which include a board seat at OpenAI, a tenured position at Harvard, an unpaid nonresident fellow position at the liberal Center for American Progress think tank and a paid contributor role at Bloomberg News. A Summers spokesperson declined to answer a direct question about those roles.Earlier...

Judge Mark L. Wolf, writing in The Atlantic, said he was stepping down to defend against the “assault on the rule of law” by President Trump, who he accused of “targeting his adversaries.”A federal judge warned of an “existential threat to democracy” in a searing first-person essay published on Sunday, saying he had stepped down from the bench to speak out against President Trump. He accused Mr. Trump of “using the law for partisan purposes, targeting his adversaries while sparing his friends and donors from investigation, prosecution, and possible punishment.”The judge, Mark L. Wolf, wrote in The Atlantic magazine that...

Meanwhile, Rhode Island bureaucrats give a big thumbs-up to SouthCoast Wind transmission line plan. President Donald Trump clearly has the climate cultists and green grifters among his top targets during his very busy second term, which began with his signing an executive order in January to halt new or renewed offshore wind leases. Now it looks like the plug is going to be pulled from a massive offshore East Coast wind farm project. Back in September, I reported that federal regulators were moving to revoke approval of SouthCoast Wind’s construction and operations plan, the final major permit required before offshore...

The FBI said on Tuesday that two men from Massachusetts were arrested following an explosion at the Harvard Medical School building over the weekend. FBI Boston posted on X on Tuesday regarding the arrests, saying, "BREAKING: Special agents & officers with FBI Boston's Joint Terrorism Task Force & Harvard University Police Dept. have arrested two Massachusetts men in connection with an explosion at Harvard Medical School. Details to follow at a 1:00 p.m. news conference with [U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts] at the federal courthouse in Boston." Early Saturday morning, an officer who responded to a fire...

An early morning blast shook the Goldenson Building on Harvard University’s Longwood Medical School campus in Boston, drawing immediate scrutiny from law enforcement. Authorities now classify the incident as deliberate, with two masked individuals spotted fleeing the scene. The event unfolded just after 2:45 a.m. on Saturday, when a Harvard University Police Department officer arrived at 220 Longwood Avenue following a fire alarm. As the officer approached, two people bolted from the building. Efforts to halt them failed, and inside on the fourth floor, signs of an explosion emerged. Boston Fire Department’s arson investigators determined a single device caused the...

An explosion rocked a Harvard Medical School building early Saturday morning, authorities said. The unknown device exploded on the fourth floor of the Goldenson building on the Harvard Longwood Campus’s main quad shortly before 3 a.m., The Harvard Crimson reported citing authorities. Two individuals were witnessed running out of the building at the time of the detonation, the outlet said, citing the Harvard University Police Department.

A pair of greedy sisters were filmed attacking supermarket staff and hurling racist slurs while allegedly stealing lobster, steaks and truffle butter. Olivia L. Byrd, 37, and Rahjane J. Byrd, 28, were caught on camera swinging at employees inside a Market Basket in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts, last weekend. Wild footage captured inside the store caught the moment the two violently punched an employee and hurled bags at them while shouting their heads off. One of the sisters was seen clobbering a worker in the head, while the other charged at another employee, swinging a blue bag at them. As the...

The Healey administration’s Western Massachusetts Deputy Director Lamar Cook was arrested after State Police intercepted a cocaine shipment at the Springfield State Office, the Hampden DA’s office announced Wednesday. “The Governor’s Office has been made aware of the arrest of an employee, Lamar Cook,” a spokesperson for the governor said. “The conduct that occurred here is unacceptable and represents a major breach of the public trust. Mr. Cook has been terminated from his position effective immediately. This criminal investigation is ongoing, and our administration will work with law enforcement to assist them in their work.” ... State Police seized “multiple...

A staffer for the Democrat Governor of Massachusetts has been fired after he was arrested on drug and gun charges. Lamar Cook, who was a member of Gov. Maura Healey’s staff, was arrested after police executed a search warrant at his state office in Springfield. During the search, authorities seized eight grams inside of his government office. The now former Deputy Director of the governor’s western Massachusetts office has since been charged with cocaine trafficking and unlawful possession of a gun. Per CBS News: A member of Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey’s staff has been fired after he was arrested on...

The deputy director of Governor Maura Healey’s western Massachusetts office, LaMar Cook, was arrested and terminated from his position after several kilograms of suspected cocaine were seized. The Hampden District Attorney’s Office told 22News that an ongoing investigation is being conducted after multiple parcels were seized that contained a combined total of approximately 21 kilograms of suspected cocaine. 22News obtained the court documents that state two packages sent from an address in Atlanta, Georgia, were intercepted by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Louisville, Kentucky, on October 8. The packages contained approximately 12 kilograms of cocaine (several imprinted with the word...

A bronze statue of Confederate Gen. Albert Pike, which was toppled by demonstrators in 2020 following George Floyd’s death, was reinstalled this past weekend in Washington, D.C. The statue, which stands 11 feet tall atop a 16-foot granite pedestal, was pulled down with ropes, spray-painted with graffiti and set on fire by demonstrators who viewed it as a symbol of systemic racism and the Confederacy. Pike was a Confederate general in the Civil War and also served as an associate justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court. He was one of the most influential figures in the history of American Freemasonry...

Indian national has been charged with allegedly stabbing two minor victims with a metal fork while on board a Lufthansa flight from Chicago to Germany. Praneeth Kumar Usiripalli, 28, is charged in U.S. District Court with one count of assault with a dangerous weapon with intent to do bodily harm while traveling on an aircraft in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States. According to the charging documents, on Oct. 25, 2025, while on board Lufthansa flight 431 en route from Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany, Usiripalli allegedly stabbed a 17-year-old male passenger (Minor A) in the shoulder area with...

The Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) has spent millions of dollars in 2025 supporting an array of anti-Israel groups, several of which have ties to terrorism abroad and extremist activists in the United States, a Washington Free Beacon review of the organization’s grantees shows. The RBF in April of this year awarded a $135,000 grant to 7amleh, the "Arab Center for Social Media Advancement," under the umbrella of "Peacebuilding." The organization describes itself as an advocate "for Palestinian digital rights," creating a "safe, fair and free digital space for Palestinians." Its leadership, rather than a list of notable peace activists, consists...

A wacky ex-Democrat politician suffered a terrifying attack earlier this week in Massachusetts while at his place of employment.