Free Republic

5 July 2026 14th Sunday in Ordinary TimeAntonio Maria Zaccaria church, Rio de JaneiroReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: A(II).First readingZechariah 9:9-10See now, your king comes humbly to youThe Lord says this:Rejoice heart and soul, daughter of Zion!Shout with gladness, daughter of Jerusalem!See now, your king comes to you;he is victorious, he is triumphant,humble and riding on a donkey,on a colt, the foal of a donkey.He will banish chariots from Ephraimand horses from Jerusalem;the bow of war will be banished.He will proclaim peace for the nations.His empire shall stretch from sea to sea,from the River to the ends of...

Fourth of July descended into mayhem across Southern California as unruly crowds overwhelmed packed-out fireworks displays, looted stores, ignited fires and saw cops charge on horseback. The worst unrest erupted in Newport Beach, where Independence Day revelers poured into Orange County, choking traffic and triggering a police response as disorder spread near the pier. Authorities ultimately shut down businesses from the Newport Pier to Pacific Coast Highway as officers moved in to restore order. Officers were swarmed by hundreds of people who hurled bottles and other debris at them before the crowd turned on one another and began fighting. Mounted...

Huge crowds have gathered in Tehran for the funeral of Iran's late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, with millions calling for 'revenge' against the US. Khamenei ruled the Islamic republic from 1989 until he was killed aged 86 in an airstrike on the first day of the US-Israeli war with Iran on February 28. Today's service at Tehran's Grand Mosalla complex was led by prominent Shia cleric Ja'far Sobhani, a 97-year-old scholar. It came one day after mourners flooded the streets of Tehran chanting 'death to America!' over Khamenei's killing. As authorities unveiled the casket containing his body in a glass...

The Supreme Court’s Heller decision in 2008 established that the Second Amendment is a fundamental, unalienable—God-given--right that does indeed acknowledge, but not grant, the right to keep and bear arms for lawful purposes such as self-defense. Unfortunately, the wheels of justice grind slowly, and it was not until 2022 that the Court handed down its Bruen decision, which affirmed that the right to bear arms extends to wherever Americans might be. What good is a right that can only be exercised in one’s home or on one’s property? Where is self-defense more likely, in one’s kitchen or out there in...

Full Fourth of July fireworks show lights up DC for America 250 celebration in massive display

When Abraham Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address on March 4, 1865 the Civil War was nearly over. After recalling the circumstances of his first inaugural address, given precisely four years earlier and just before the nation fell into civil war, he told the crowd with characteristic understatement that "the progress of our arms...is as well known to the public as to myself; and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all." After the issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation two years previous and the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment outlawing slavery by the House of Representatives just two...

Chicago has one of the most expensive education systems in the world-per capita student expenditures approaching $30,000 per year. Only 18 percent of students are proficient in math, with reading scores not much better. The only hope is to eliminate the Chicago Public Schools entirely and go to an all–private school system. We would eliminate the property tax as a school financing vehicle. Currently, 15–30 percent of rents in Chicago go directly to fund public sector schools. Chicago renters will welcome a huge rent reduction. I recommend limits be placed at 10 percent of family income for one student, 16.6...

The first stage is carrying the first prototype 'Fabships' for Besxar, a semiconductor manufacturing company. These microwave-sized devices are designed to produce ultra-pure materials for semiconductors in the vacuum of space. The company has booked 12 Falcon 9 flights to test and refine these "Clipper-class" Fabships. Two of the devices have been integrated into the rocket for the Starlink 10-50 mission and will be returned to Besxar following booster recovery. Our live coverage with commentary from Spaceflight Now's Will Robinson-Smith will start about one hour prior to launch. [the time index is set to skip the first 59:56] Live: SpaceX...

If you want to know why Politico risked the inevitable mockery that will ensue by whining absurdly about the supposed dangers posed to the environment by the America 250 fireworks the answer is easily supplied by simply reading the first word of the title of their Friday KvetchFest, "Trump plans record fireworks show, internal docs warn of smoky skies."Substitute the name of any Democrat president such as Clinton or Obama or Autopen and the silly story by the Politico troika of Alex Guillen, Miranda Willson, and Ariel Wittenberg would have been nonexistent. Yes, they just can't allow President Donald Trump...

Hi everybody. Normally I'd send a Freepmail but I LOST all your contacts for those of you on my freepmail list. If you want to be on---and this is the first mail I've sent in months---reply below & I'll assemble a new list. I've been posting elsewhere, but I wanted to give you some #s updates as well as personal updates. *Since Nov. 2024, Republicans nationally have NET added about 1.4 million voters over Ds. Excepting the last 2-3 months, this movement has been almost universal in states we can track. Several big states---including TX, GA, WI, and MI do...

Your broker may be speaking funny and saying “y’all” often. I mean, Wall Street in Texas is getting more real by the minute. We thought it was a cool idea a while back, but it may be happening indeed. Check this out: The Texas Stock Exchange will commence trading on Monday, kickstarting the first real test of one of the most well-funded new exchanges to launch in decades. The Texas Stock Exchange, a Dallas-based startup, will initiate a phased rollout to take place over the course of July. On Monday, the exchange will open to TXSE members, including approved broker-dealers,...

"You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house" (1 Pet. 2:5). Christ is your life, and you are an integral part of what He is accomplishing in the world. The Jewish culture of Peter's time centered on the Temple in Jerusalem. Apparently drawing from that picture, Peter used vivid language to teach that God no longer dwells in an earthly, material, temporal house, but in a spiritual house. Christ is the cornerstone, and the spiritual house He is building is comprised of individual believers. That analogy introduces us to the first spiritual privilege Christians enjoy:...

Union and Confederate veterans shake hands during the 50th anniversary reunion at Gettysburg, 1913. Fifty years after the Battle of Gettysburg, thousands of aging Civil War veterans returned to the Pennsylvania battlefield where they had once fought as young soldiers. The 1913 Gettysburg Reunion commemorated the battle’s semicentennial and became one of the largest gatherings of Civil War veterans ever held. Men who had once faced one another across stone walls, ridges, and open fields reunited as survivors of the conflict that had transformed the United States. Veterans were housed in a sprawling temporary camp near the battlefield, and many...

As America prepares to celebrate its 250th birthday, gun owners should take a moment to remember how unlikely today’s victories once seemed. In 1976, when the nation marked its bicentennial, many Second Amendment supporters believed the right to keep and bear arms was slowly being written out of American life. The law schools were hostile. The courts were hostile. The media was hostile. Most politicians treated the Second Amendment as a historical inconvenience. The future looked grim.We chose to keep fighting. Giving up was not an option. The Constitution was clear, and we intended to fight to keep the Republic,...

Democrat candidates and incumbent lawmakers have not been shy when it comes to bashing the country that allowed them to make it to their privileged positions. As Americans gear up to celebrate the incredible milestone of 250 years of American grit and freedom, several far-leftists have spent the last several years using their positions of power to bash the land of opportunity. It certainly is a time of celebration for the vast majority of Americans, and while patriotism often overshadows the negativity — particularly right ahead of Independence Day — it is important for Americans to remember what they are...

A well-preserved Byzantine-era residential city in the western desert is one of two major archaeological finds announced by Egypt .. The recent discoveries at the Dakhla Oasis and at the Marina el-Alamein archaeological site, near Alexandria, are the latest findings which the Egyptian government hopes will boost the country’s vital tourism sector, partially driven by antiquities sightseeing. ... The Tourism and Antiquities Ministry said that the first discovery reveals details of daily life, urban development and economic activities in the Dakhla Oasis in the fourth century, when Egypt was part of the Byzantine empire. ... A basilica church dating back...

Ugandan-born, socialism-loving New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has emerged as a “kingmaker” in the Democrat party, says Phillip Elliot of TIME. Two prominent House Democrats lost their primaries to insurgent rivals while a third left-wing candidate defeated the Brooklyn Borough chief,” he writes. “All together, the results demonstrated the fragility of an Establishment imprimatur, the power of the New York Mayor’s blessing, and the ascendancy of socialism. Elliott then goes on to do this silly thing that Democrats have done for a few decades now, and suggests that this “ascendancy of socialism” is not, as Donald Trump and some...

Fights have broken out across France as hundreds of shoppers scramble for air conditioning units before soaring temperatures next week. Footage showed Parisians scuffling over the coveted equipment in a Lidl supermarket after 400 people queued all night to get their hands on a unit on Thursday. The clashes came after temperatures reached 44C (111ºF) in parts of France last week, with sweltering heat set to return on Monday. One customer reportedly injured eight people, including a 12-year-old, with pepper spray in an attempt to get his hands on an air-conditioning (AC) unit. Seems like Europe's experiment with no air...

This rare Bronze Age shield was deposited in a bog over 3,000 years ago.It was discovered in Auchmaleddie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland in 1897.Due to its fragile state, it has been kept flat in storage for decades. Until now.Our Artefact Conservator Bethan Bryan and Curator Dr Matthew Knight assess the shield ahead of conservation work. This process involves lifting the shield to look at its underside, which has not been viewed in over 3,000 years. Find out what clues it has about its use and how it was made.The shield has been conserved for display in the free exhibition 'Scotlands First Warriors'...

Gone are the days of university freshmen reading classical philosophers like Plato or contemporary pedagogues like Ta-Nehisi Coates. These days, incoming college students are lucky if they can get through Judy Blume’s “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing.” According to a new “Survey of Adult Skills” conducted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development — a forum for 38 high-income, predominantly Western countries — a not insignificant number of adult students enrolled in higher education are now reading and doing math at a level which, in a more functional society, would be alarming for a middle schooler. The survey,...