Free Republic

Ten-year interest rates have vaulted from around 4.5 percent in July to nearly 5.3 percent this week. That may not seem like a lot, but in the history of the bond market, such a rapid rise in rates is almost without precedent. The last time it happened was in 1994, when the "bond vigilantes" relentlessly sold bonds in response to Hillary Clinton's vision of "managed competition" in healthcare. The person on the street knows much more about the stock market than the government bond market, but it is the bond market that has the ability to impose fiscal discipline on...

Ship 43 (Flight 16) continues preparations inside Starbase’s Mega Bay 2 ahead of a potential trip to Florida. Plans are subject to change: SpaceX has confirmed it will launch Flight 15 from Starbase before potentially conducting the following mission from Pad 39A at KSC, Florida. Possible Florida Starship? - Starbase Summary | 10:03 NASASpaceflight | 1.52M subscribers | 117,242 views | October 4, 2026

For ten years now I've had an anonymous name on facebook. Listed two or three rental units where I live without incident. I would use messenger to qualify who I give my address to. Before I started this anonymous approach I had a vehicle with 3 disruptive teenagers just show up at my house, unannounced. Now. Facebook is flagging my listings and denying me access to renters. They want me to "Verify my identity." If I use my real name, users on internet can find my address real easy. We are over 70 and don't need "trouble" just showing up....

Prof. Chen Kugel says forensic evidence showed systematic killing methods across attack sites; he recalls burned and mutilated bodies, the race to identify every victim and the psychological toll that ultimately left him with PTSD; this article contains graphic images and descriptions that some readers may find disturbing. “Here we see the body of a person who was burned,” he says, pausing over one of the photographs. “We know he was burned alive: When we open his airway, we can see soot inside. That means he inhaled smoke while he was being burned.” Prof. Chen Kugel, director of the National...

Around 350 demonstrators turned out anyway. Residents of Gosport, the Royal Navy harbor town across the water from Portsmouth, spent Sunday under police orders that let officers direct people to leave town, as a migrant boat from France made its way toward their coastline.Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary imposed a Section 34 dispersal order covering the entire town under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, running until 7am Tuesday. It lets officers order people to leave an area and not return, and refusing is a criminal offense. Police stacked several more restrictions on top:Protesters were confined to...

Twelve men have been arrested in Vietnam after allegedly confessing to stealing and selling around 2,700 cats, Ho Chi Minh City police have said. Cat traps, fur removal machines and measuring scales were among the items seized during the investigation. The men are suspected of taking the pets to be slaughtered for food. Police allege the suspects roamed through residential areas in small groups on motorbikes at night to steal the cats. The men reportedly used pieces of fish as bait, placing traps outside houses where they knew cats were kept, state media reported. Thirteen of the rescued felines have...

The U.S. Department of Education’s proposed rule to overhaul the federal accreditation system is reshaping the broader national debate over accreditation. Among other changes, the proposal would simplify the process for recognizing emerging and existing accreditors, and explicitly encourage a quality-assurance system more focused on student outcomes, academic excellence, and return on investment. Accreditation performs an essential function in American higher education. The Department of Education recognizes accrediting agencies, and accreditation by an appropriate federally recognized agency can help establish a college or university’s eligibility to participate in federal Title IV student-aid programs. That makes accreditors powerful gatekeepers. But a...

John Spencer, an expert on urban warfare and Chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point, sharply criticized the documentary NAZA on Monday, accusing it of presenting claims about the war in Gaza that go beyond even those made by Hamas. “Worse than Hamas propaganda," Spencer wrote in a post on X after watching the documentary in its entirety. “Over three years, I’ve tried not to be surprised by ignorance, disinformation, and distortions relating to war, but this is at the top for many reasons." Spencer said he intends to publish a detailed analysis of...

LA’s “mansion tax,” sold to Angelenos as a way to tax the rich and boost housing, has instead blocked the building of 9,100 homes, wiped out 16,650 full-time construction jobs and cost $452 million in revenue. A damning new report says the tax, officially known as United to House LA, or ULA — has had a negative impact on the city’s high-end and multi-family real estate markets and collected less than half what it was expected to generate to tackle the city’s housing crisis. The ULA was expected to raise about $900 million a year, or $2.7 billion over its...

Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Karl Marx, Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong are having a drink in a bar and are debating amongst themselves who is the greatest communist in world history. Obviously AI generated.

The number illegal immigrants who have crossed the English Channel since Friday has now reached 1,300, GB News can exclusively reveal. Today alone, 600 made the crossing in multiple boats. Another migrant dinghy is still en route, and authorities in the UK and France are preparing for hundreds more to cross tomorrow. It is an astonishing surge in migrant crossings over such a short period, at a time of year when the number of illegal dinghy crossings would normally slow down significantly. A total of 91 illegals arrived on Friday. That was followed by 164 on Saturday and a further...

[Catholic Caucus] Leo: The Church Should be an “Open House” that “Listens Without Judging” The Church as founded by Christ listens only to God, not to man, but the Bishop of Rome has a different idea. Pope Leo has said that he wants the Church to be an “open house” that “listens without judging.” In his prayer video for October 2026, he said:“May your Church be an open house, a safe space where everyone has a place — a community that accompanies and never excludes; that listens without judging; and that draws near without fear.”Unfortunately, Leo has erred again. This...

Former President Barack Obama will campaign alongside Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed in Detroit later this month, lending his support to the progressive nominee after a bruising Democratic primary exposed divisions within the party. Obama will appear with El-Sayed at an Oct. 24 rally that will also feature other top Democratic candidates in Michigan, including Jocelyn Benson, the party’s nominee for governor. Obama is getting significantly more involved in the midterm elections, with additional campaign stops and advertisements expected to come in the closing weeks, according to plans shared first with The Associated Press. The Detroit event is a notable...

[Catholic Caucus] Bishop Schneider: Church hierarchy promotes ‘brazen heresies’ approaching ‘apostasy’ Bishop Athanasius Schneider told the Catholic Identity Conference that the Church is facing a hostile takeover from within its 'administrative structure.'Bishop Athanasius Schneider said in a talk on Saturday that the Church is witnessing a “hostile takeover” from within its own hierarchy promoting “brazen heresies” that come close to apostasy.While opening his address at the 2026 Catholic Identity Conference (CIC) on October 3 the auxiliary bishop of Astana, Kazakhstan, emphasized that God in His Divine Providence has allowed an unprecedented crisis in the Church involving a hostile takeover within...

After more than two hours of argument, it was unclear whether the justices would green-light Boulder, Colorado’s novel lawsuit against ExxonMobil and Suncor Energy. The Supreme Court on Monday grappled with whether to let a novel lawsuit go forward that is seeking to hold two large oil companies liable for the effects of climate change, a decision that will be critical to similar litigation that dozens of states, counties and cities have brought in recent years. After nearly two hours of argument, it remained unclear how the justices might rule in the first case of the new term and one...

Pedro Sánchez is the undisputed leader of the European Left. But his time is running out. The Spanish prime minister rolled the dice on a snap election that risks bringing the hard-Right Vox into national government for the first time. The poll-leading centre-Right Partido Popular (PP) will need Vox as coalition partners if it is to take power, which will mean the most Right-wing Spanish government since Franco. It’s a nightmare scenario for Mr Sánchez, who prides himself on his progressive policies. ================== But if Mr Sanchez’s gamble backfires this time, the already small number of centre-Left leaders in Europe...

A viral video captured an Arizona college cheerleader being violently slammed to the ground and pummeled on top of a bicycle by cops after she allegedly interfered with an arrest. Arizona State University senior Eryn Bonner was hit with two misdemeanor charges last week in Tempe after a harrowing video captured cops allegedly leaving her covered in bruises during an arrest in July, according to the Tempe Police Department and ABC15. VIDEO AT LINK..................

Latest news with many video clips on the Spanish government troubles with discontent about illegal immigration, riots spreading in France and the election in Brazil where conservative ex-president is jailed and his son beat communist president Lula in the first round of voting.

President Trump announced Friday that over 20 million “wonderful seniors” will receive $90 checks this month to help cover Medicare premiums.Eligible Medicare Part B enrollees will receive the one-time payment via direct deposit or check thanks to the Medicare Improvement Fund that was established in 2008, according to the White House.

Explanation: A deep image of the Sombrero galaxy reveals surprises. M104 is named the Sombrero galaxy because, on shorter exposures, it looks like a hat. A key defining feature of this huge galaxy is a dark brim of dust that circles the disk galaxy's center. A much longer exposure, however, brings up a hairy past where a bright, hazy halo is revealed that extends well past the central disk and contains many unresolved stars. Surprisingly, in this stellar haze, structures can be seen that include a diagonal ring. These structures and tidal streams provide fresh evidence that M104 had a...