Free Republic

We are adrift in a sea of confusion and rancor caused by mistrust and ignorance.

Two Americans and two Chinese nationals are accused of secretly funneling advanced Nvidia artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China, a plot prosecutors say threatened U.S. national security and violated strict export controls.The Department of Justice said in a news release that Hon Ning "Mathew" Ho, 34, a U.S. citizen born in Hong Kong and living in Tampa, Florida; Brian Curtis Raymond, 46, of Huntsville, Alabama; Cham "Tony" Li, 38, a Chinese national living in San Leandro, California; and Jing "Harry" Chen, 45, a Chinese national living in Tampa on a student visa, face multiple counts including conspiracy to violate the...

A University of Texas freshman took his own life after months of 'demeaning and cruel hazing' which saw him burned with cigarettes and beaten, a lawsuit claims. Sawyer Lee Updike was allegedly 'speared with a fishhook' during an alcohol-fueled event and had his hip pierced with a staple gun, according to the filing from his parents. The lawsuit also alleges that he was forced to take cocaine. Updike, 18, died alone in a convenience-store parking lot just months after joining UT Austin's Sigma Chi's Alpha Nu.

Friday – A convicted sex offender freed from prison two weeks ago allegedly posed as a doctor and sexually assaulted a student inside an Arizona elementary school, sparking outrage and calls for answers from parents, according to reports. Abel Kai Gblah, 25, is accused of sexual assault and kidnapping after he accessed school grounds and posed as a doctor to lure a student into a classroom and assaulted her at Orangewood Elementary School on Nov. 19, according to the Phoenix Police Department (PPD). PPD officials said in a statement to Fox News Digital that officers were called to the school...

Sources linked to the investigation claim that when the 15-year-old's corpse was found, she had been beheaded with her limbs severed and chopped into pieces. Her remains are said to have been 'partially frozen' and in the process of thawing in the trunk of the Tesla by the time they were found, the insiders asserted to TMZ.

November 22, 2025 I will start with a long quote from Students for Liberty as published November 10, 2025. ------- In 1987, [Thomas] Sowell published A Conflict of Visions, and it explained something everyone experiences but nobody can articulate: why political arguments feel like talking to aliens. The book isn't about left versus right. It's about something deeper. Two different ways of seeing what humans are capable of, what knowledge actually is, and how society should be organized. The core friction point that makes campus debates impossible: One vision sees social problems as emerging from basic human constraints. Scarcity is...

"At some point, the lady who was seated, the 70-year-old woman, asked the woman who was standing if she could give her some space, that sparked an argument," said Carey Codd, Broward Sheriff's Office spokesperson. That argument then began to escalate, with officials saying the attacker intentionally and forcefully pushed her own body into the victim several times.

A shooting at a Christmas tree lighting event in Concord, North Carolina, on Friday left four people wounded, according to police. Concord Police said three victims were listed in critical condition and one was in stable condition. All four victims were rushed to a hospital for medical treatment. The shooting happened at the city’s annual Tree Lighting Ceremony on Union Street S near the intersection with Corban Avenue shortly before 7:30 p.m. Police, Concord Fire and Cabarrus County EMS personnel were already at the event and responded immediately with medical aid and evacuation efforts. The remainder of the event was...

WASHINGTON — America’s largest teachers’ union accused Republicans of promoting “racist and transphobic troupes” in teaching materials for an upcoming training program, according to documents obtained by a conservative activist group. The National Education Association is hosting a training from Dec. 2-4 at an undisclosed location called “Advancing LGBTQ+ Justice and Transgender Advocacy” aimed at dismantling “strategic racism and transphobia,” the group Defending Education uncovered. The group released information on the training that is targeted for union staff and teams as part of the NEA UniServ and Organizing Training Program 2025–2026. Sessions will be aimed at “dismantling systems of privilege...

FIRST ON FOX: One of the top teachers unions in the country is facing criticism over an upcoming training session that will instruct members on how to go through a gender transition at work, including best practices for using gender pronouns and combating transphobia, while also being provided with literature labeling conservative opposition as "villains." In a document posted on its website, the National Education Association (NEA) announced to its more than 3 million educator members a slate of training programs, including a session named "Advancing LGBTQ+ Justice," scheduled for Dec. 2-4, 2025. The union will also hold an "Advancing...

NEW YORK, NY — Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announced plans on Thursday to specifically target the rich with a new tax on anyone who makes more than $0.00 a year. The plan, dubbed the "How Much You Got?" Tax, was expected to go into effect in January after Mamdani officially takes office. He has called the tax a day-one initiative, claiming his bread lines would be a disaster without the increased revenue from taking all of everyone's money. "Everything will be free because we'll use everyone's money to pay for it," Mamdani said. "It's basic economics. You wouldn't understand." Officially, Mamdani...

The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the view of The HillThe Trump administration signaled yesterday that it was moving forward on one of President Trump’s key election promises: shutting down the Department of Education. As someone who has advocated for this outcome for many, many years, I am personally thrilled it’s finally coming. The administration announced that the department’s core functions would be handed off to other agencies in anticipation of finally closing down. Actually abolishing the Education Department would take an act of Congress, though the Supreme Court has OK’d Trump’s move to fire many...

Last winter, the federal government released the results of its semi-annual reading and math tests of fourth- and eighth-graders, assessments that are considered the most authoritative measure of the state of learning in American elementary and middle schools. In nearly every category, the scores had plunged to levels unseen for decades — or ever. On reading tests, 40 percent of fourth-graders and one-third of eighth-graders performed below “basic,” the lowest threshold. A separate assessment of 12th-graders conducted this past spring — the first since schools were shuttered by the COVID pandemic — yielded similarly crushing results. Many graduated from high...

A Colorado consumer advocacy group says some of the newest toys on shelves this holiday season are equipped with artificial intelligence, and they may not be good for kids. These robots, and even teddy bears, are equipped with AI chatbots that can talk to your child. In tests, some of the toys could tell kids how to find and light matches or even discuss inappropriate topics. In its annual "Trouble in Toyland" report, U.S. PIRG said, "In our testing, it was obvious that some toy companies are putting in guardrails to make their toys behave in a more kid-appropriate way...

Overnight travel expenses within Chicago Public Schools have skyrocketed in recent years, an internal watchdog investigation found, as employees of the cash-strapped school district spent millions on overseas trips, spa getaways and flights to Las Vegas and Hawaii. CPS Inspector General Philip Wagenknecht’s office on Wednesday published a new report on the district’s travel and overnight spending, which jumped from around $300,000 in fiscal year 2021 to nearly $8 million in 2024. According to his report, some employees allegedly took advantage of the district’s “lax, vague, inadequate and unenforced” travel rules and procedures, leading to the “exorbitant” post-pandemic travel spending...

Musk also said that Optimus would change life for incarcerated people at the meeting. Instead of physically jailing prisoners, Optimus could "follow you around and stop you from doing crime," he said.

A historically black university whose president is under scrutiny for plagiarism allegations reported on by The Daily Wire is a “criminal enterprise to divert federal and state funds,” according to a federal lawsuit filed by the school’s former Vice Provost for Academic Affairs. It is one of four similar lawsuits filed in the last few months against the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, its president Heidi Anderson, its provost Rondall Allen, and its diversity, equity, and inclusion czar Jason Casares, that all follow a similar pattern: A faculty member allegedly discovers wrongdoing at the university, and then is retaliated against...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Education Department is breaking off several of its main offices and giving their responsibilities to other federal agencies, an early look at how President Donald Trump could fulfill his campaign pledge to close the department entirely.Offices that serve the nation’s schools and colleges would go to departments ranging from Labor to Interior. Education officials say the moves won’t affect the money Congress gives states, schools and colleges. They didn’t say whether current department staff would keep their jobs.Since he took office, Trump has called for the dismantling of the Education Department, saying it has been overrun...

A Chicago mother of two has spoken out after shocking video of her family being violently attacked by a group of children outside a school shocked the nation. Corshawnda Hatter, 33, says she has been left traumatized by the ordeal, in which she and her son, nine, were also followed and threatened as she tried to protect him from bullies. 'I can still hear the cries of my kids saying: "Mommy, help me. I'm hurt, I'm scared",' Hatter wrote in a post to social media after the incident near Orville T Bright Elementary School. 'I feel like I failed my...

The endowment dramatically increased its holdings of a spot bitcoin ETF since its previous such report. According to a new SEC filing, the Harvard University endowment’s largest publicly-traded investment is now in the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), which is a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) operated by Blackrock. The filing indicates the endowment increased its holdings of IBIT from 1,906,000 shares to 6,813,612 shares since its previous such report. At current prices, the value of those IBIT holdings sits at around $364 million. This is already down rather heavily from the roughly $443 million valuation included in the filing, as...