Free Republic

The actual pageant is on Sunday, Dec. 8th at 7PM ET on the Fox Network (LIVE) hosted by Steve Harvey. Tonight is the PRELIMINARY Competition, where contestants will be wearing their native costumes and gowns. Live from the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Downtown Atlanta.

How do you get machines to perform better? Tell them they could croak at any minute. In a new paper from the University of Southern California, scientists say that “in a dynamic and unpredictable world, an intelligent agent should hold its own meta-goal of self-preservation.” This idea invokes the design concept of a survival game, where a finite number of resources is given to a set number of players and they must find an equilibrium or eliminate their competitors. The gorgeous 2018 card game Shipwreck Arcana is a great example of a cooperative survival game: To win, at least one...

There are different types of flu viruses, and the one causing illnesses in most parts of the country is a surprise. It’s a version that normally doesn’t abound until March or April. That virus generally isn’t as dangerous to older people — good news, since most flu hospitalizations and deaths each winter occur in the elderly. However, such viruses can be hard on children and people younger than 50. Louisiana was the first state to really get hit hard, with doctors there saying they began seeing large numbers of flu-like illnesses in October. In both of the previous two flu...

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Friday put a temporary hold on a court ruling that would require records held by Deutsche Bank AG and Capital One Financial Corp to be handed over to Democratic-led congressional panels. Trump's lawyers asked the high court to put a hold a Dec. 3 ruling by Manhattan-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals directing the two banks to comply with April subpoenas by the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee and Intelligence Committee for the financial records.

Harvey Weinstein hobbled into court in Manhattan on Friday for a hearing on his sexual assault case where prosecutors claimed he had violated bail conditions by 'mishandling' his electronic ankle monitor. The 67-year-old looked frailer than at his last appearance, clinging on to one of his aides as he made his way into the courthouse while another carried a cane. The decline in his health is down to Type 2 diabetes and a spine condition, both of which have been exasperated by his ongoing legal woes, according to sources cited by Page Six. Weinstein will go to trial in January...

Prices for prescription drugs edged down by 1% last year, a rare result driven by declines for generics and slow, low growth in the cost of brand-name medications, the government said Thursday. Though modest, it was the first such price drop in 45 years, according to nonpartisan economic experts at the federal Department of Health and Human Services, who deliver an annual report on the nation’s health care spending.

Did Obama-Appointed Ukraine Ambassador Intervene to Help Anti-Trump Ukraine Group? Judicial Watch Sues for Key Docs Of Deep State Official At Center of Latest Coup Attack on Trump Court Tells FBI It Can’t Hide Records about FBI-Clinton Lawyer Meeting on Russia Did Obama-Appointed Ukraine Ambassador Intervene to Help Anti-Trump Ukraine Group? As the coup abuse against President Trump accelerates, Judicial Watch focuses on the real Ukraine collusion scandal. We just sued the State Department for documents related to a reported “untouchables list” given by former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch to Ukraine Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko in late...

The burdensome costs of medical care, prescription drugs and health insurance have become dominant issues in the 2020 presidential campaign. But a new report from the Department of Health and Human Services shows the nation remains in a period of relatively slow growth in health spending. Health spending in the United States rose by 4.6 percent to $3.6 trillion in 2018 — accounting for 17.7 percent of the economy — compared to a growth rate of 4.2 percent in 2017. Federal officials said the slight acceleration was largely the result of reinstating a tax on health insurers that the Affordable...

Texas will be much cleaner after this upcoming weekend as Scott Presler, conservative activist and environmental steward, returns to Harris County. Over the last year, the 31-year-old spearheaded initiatives to cleanup cities and empower communities across the United States including Chicago, Baltimore, and Los Angeles. He now plans to tackle our very own city of Houston this Saturday. In a phone call with the Houston Courant, Scott’s enthusiasm was earnest, “I used to live in Galveston and League City and have roots in the greater Houston area. We want to go into the areas that have been neglected and show...

Fanatics can justify any action, and House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff this week demonstrated where that mindset leads. In his rush to paint Donald Trump as a lawbreaker, Mr. Schiff has himself trampled law and responsibility. That’s the bottom line in Mr. Schiff’s stunning decision to subpoena the phone records of Rudy Giuliani and others. Mr. Schiff divulged the phone logs this week in his Ukraine report, thereby revealing details about the communications of Trump attorneys Jay Sekulow and Mr. Giuliani, ranking Intelligence Committee member Devin Nunes, reporter John Solomon and others. The media is treating this as a victory,...

CMPD will be ending the electronic GPS monitoring system for homicide suspects in the Queen City. CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney announced Friday that the department would be ending the electronic GPS monitoring system for homicide suspects. According to CMPD, the department is currently monitoring 463 suspects who have been ordered by a judge or magistrate to wear a monitoring device as a condition of their pre-trial release, including 31 people charged with murder. To date, 127 of those out on electronic monitors have cut theirs off and ran - with 18 still being sought....

Clips tagged #Swamp With Giuliani, OAN Interviews Former Ukrainian Officials Including Lutsenko And Fired Prosecutor Shokin WASHINGTON, D.C., December 5, 2019 – One America News Network (“OAN”) confirms that its White House Correspondent and Investigative Reporter, Chanel Rion, has concluded a second round of exclusive interviews with former Ukrainian officials in Budapest and Kiev that call … Ukraine lawmaker met Giuliani to discuss misuse of U.S. taxpayer money in UkraineKIEV (Reuters) - An independent Ukrainian lawmaker said on Thursday he had met U.S. President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer in Kiev to discuss the alleged misuse of U.S. taxpayer money by...

New call logs purported to show Giuliani ringing a number identified as the White House Office of Management and Budget. They also show Rep. Devin Nunes was in touch with both Rudy Giuliani and his indicted associate Lev Parnas in April 2019. House Intelligence Committee Democrats included information in their 300-page report. Suggested a 13-minute call between Giuliani and OMB; records show multiple calls from Giuliani to the White House on key dates in April and August. Trump administration says no one at OMB spoke to Giuliani. New York Times reports the number associated with the calls is a generic...

They say art imitates life. But in Joe Biden's case, he imitates the Seinfeld character, Izzy Mandlebaum. "You think you're better than me????"

RUSH: Let’s look at CNN. What do you think CNN is gonna cover Monday, the Horowitz report or the impeachment hearings? They’ll cover the impeachment hearings. They’ll ignore the Horowitz report. Speaking of CNN, the bottom has fallen out. This is another reason why I tell everybody not to worry. If you want to look at “media strongholds,” quote-unquote, that are leading with this “Trump’s gotta go” story, CNN’s totally all in on, “Trump’s got to go. CNN Has Succeeded in Destroying Itself Dec 6, 2019 RUSH: Let’s look at CNN. What do you think CNN is gonna cover Monday,...

On December 4, Moscow’s Kuntsevsky District Court continued hearing the case against 21-year-old Higher School of Economics (HSE) student and libertarian YouTube personality Egor Zhukov. Zhukov stands accused of issuing public calls for extremism: Prosecutors have argued that his videos on nonviolent resistance were motivated by “political hatred and enmity to the constitutional structure extant in the Russian Federation” as well as a desire to destabilize the country’s social and political order. Zhukov’s case, one of many that were brought forward during this summer’s wave of election protests in Moscow, has attracted widespread attention throughout the Russian opposition. Many of...

(CNN)A number of employees of the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation have been suspended amid an investigation into a photograph showing a training class apparently giving a Nazi salute, officials said. The image shows the class members each with a raised arm as the text above reads "HAIL BYRD!" The faces of the trainees and several other people have been blurred out.

Putney told WBTV News he will stay in his current position through the “preparation and execution” of the Republican National Convention in late August but didn’t give an exact retirement date. (Source: Paige Pauroso) CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - At the tail end of a press conference discussing how to improve electronic monitoring of homicide suspects, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney altered his plans to retire at the end of the year. “I intend to retire,” said Chief Putney. “It will not be January 1, 2020.” Putney told WBTV News he will stay in his current position through the “preparation...

Cierra Brown is trying to do all she can on her own, but it rarely feels like she’s doing enough. Cierra Brown estimates her commute to work would only take about 25 minutes if she had a car. That’s part of the reason she returned to McDonald’s in January: Her car had broken down and she needed money. But at McDonald’s, Brown only earns $9.50 per hour as a cashier, which barely helps cover rent and is far from enough to solve her vehicular woes. Without a car, one of Brown’s main headaches is getting to work. Her typical bus...

RUSH: Folks, I find it absolutely hilarious that Cory Booker and the Democrats are still complaining about the makeup of their own candidates running for president. They’re literally out there wringing their hands over the fact (sobbing) “that Kamala Harris is gone and there aren’t any African-Americans and diversity. “It’s so bad, and it’s nothing but a bunch of rich white guys that are running for the Democrat nomination.” Well, not all are rich, but they’re all white guys — and, you know, how are they gonna deal with this? No, seriously. Let me tell you how they do deal...