Free Republic

Social media companies have been ordered to have emergency measures in place to stop illegal content going viral, as regulators battle to stop the type of misinformation spiral that circulated after the 2024 summer riots. Sites such as X, formerly Twitter, and TikTok will have to have a “crisis protocol” in place to intervene when the sharing of dangerous content begins to rise. Under the measures to be implemented by Ofcom, the UK’s tech regulator, online platforms will also need to reserve a dedicated line of communication channel through which the police can contact them in a crisis. It follows...

A former Royal Navy commander has expressed concerns over reports Sir Keir Starmer could axe a new fleet of warships. Tom Sharpe, who commanded four warships during his 27-year career, said he fears ministers will take the “cheapest option” rather than the best one in the future of the Type 83 destroyer programme. Reports claim the Prime Minister is weighing up scrapping plans to build the warships, expected to replace the current Type 45s next decade. Mr Sharpe said there is a decision to be made about the programme, as the First Sea Lord pushes for a transition towards a...

The recently knighted star has been linked to the role for a long timeIdris Elba has confirmed he will not be playing James Bond, saying that he felt some audiences wouldn’t “go for” a Black actor playing the role. The award-winning actor, who has been the star of films including The Suicide Squad, Pacific Rim, and TV series The Wire, has been linked with the role for many years, with speculation building following the departure of Daniel Craig from the role in 2021. However, in a recent interview with British GQ, he discussed why he won’t be playing the part....

The State Department is dismantling birth tourism networks across Africa and Europe, officials announced on Wednesday. An estimated 33,000 United States-born children are rewarded birthright American citizenship annually solely because their foreign parents arrived in the United States on a temporary visa, often a tourist visa, before they were born. Decades later, those American-born children can sponsor their parents for green cards. The birth tourism industry is widespread among Turkish nationals in New York City, Chinese nationals in California, Russian nationals in Florida, and Middle Easterners in Illinois. State Department officials said in a series of X posts they have...

A promising new drug could put an end to cumbersome CPAP machines and allow millions of Americans to breathe easy and sleep soundly. Researchers at the biopharm company Apnimed have been developing a sleep apnea drug called AD109. After various clinical trials, they are preparing to file for FDA approval. “A pill for sleep apnea has always been the holy grail,” Dr. Andrew Wellman, a Harvard sleep researcher, told Forbes, noting that over the past several years, at least 40 drug candidates have been tested for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) without success.

Police in Ohio Wednesday were hunting for a 20-year-old man in connection with a shooting at a street festival over the weekend, as they released his mugshot along with a picture of a “second shooter” they need help identifying. Ka Nye Taylor is wanted on 11 counts of felonious assault following the mass shooting at the Old West End Festival last Saturday, police in Toledo announced.

Austin Metcalf was supposed to graduate this year. Instead, he is in a casket and has left a wave of heartbreak following his tragic murder at the hands of Karmelo Anthony. Metcalf was posthumously honored during Memorial High School’s graduation ceremony in Frisco, Texas. His identical twin brother, Hunter, accepted the diploma on his behalf. Footage of the moment has since emerged. A video shows Hunter Metcalf receiving his diploma on stage. Then he returned to the stage to get his brother’s as well. Once Austin Metcalf’s name was announced, the crowd delivered a rousing standing ovation that lasted 30...

The Belfast victim remains in serious condition in hospital after a savage, medieval knife attack in north Belfast left him with catastrophic injuries, including the loss of his left eye, severe damage to his right eye, deep cuts all over his face, and lacerations to his back. The victim, a man in his 40s, was attacked Monday night on Kinnaird Avenue, a residential street near Antrim Road. Police said he suffered significant eye injuries, and serious slash wounds to his face and back. A 30-year-old Sudanese national, Hadi Alodid, has been charged with attempted murder, possession of an article with...

Explanation: What looks as if it is going to swallow the great Pillars of Creation? The Eagle Nebula (M16) is not a bird, a plane, or Superman. M16 is actually a combination of several celestial objects. NGC 6611 is the young star cluster that appears to peak out beneath the Eagle’s “wings”. The ultraviolet light from these stars ionizes the surrounding gas, creating the emission nebula IC 4703. The Stellar Spire is seen reaching towards the Pillars of Creation from the left. Both are structures of cold gas and dust that are optimal for star formation. Some astronomers previously thought...

[Catholic Caucus] Faithful priest targeted by protesters after denying ‘married’ homosexual Holy CommunionThe priest ‘told me that when he was giving me communion he was giving me ‘poison’ and that both my husband and I were ‘unworthy’ people and were doomed to live eternally in purgatory,” the homosexual alleged.A parish priest in Spain is being protested for preventing a homosexual from receiving Communion.José Antonio Hurtado alleges that on May 30 a parish priest in his hometown, Villanueva del Rio and Mina, asked him to remain after Mass and informed him that although he had received Communion that day, he would...

Lame-duck Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) suggested during an unhinged episode podcast that she too would have stabbed track star Austin Metcalf — after Karmelo Anthony was convicted of first-degree murder in the racially charged case. On Tuesday’s episode of “Clock It with Crockett,” the failed Senate candidate let loose a torrent of falsehoods to paint a picture of the brutal slaying of 17-year-old Metcalf that had virtually no basis in reality. The cavalcade of inaccuracies started with Crockett downplaying the size of the semi-serrated, 5-inch pocket knife Anthony was convicted of plunging into Metcalf’s chest during a dispute at a...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump signed a bill into law on Wednesday that gives his immigration and deportation agenda a nearly $70 billion boost for the rest of his time in the White House. The bill provides $38 billion for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and $26 billion for the Border Patrol. An additional $5 billion would cover unforeseen costs, according to the White House. Trump signed the legislation in the Oval Office a day after House Republicans pushed the measure through by a 214-212 vote over the objections of Democrats. His signature ended a nearly six-month fight over...

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates told a Capitol Hill hearing Wednesday that Jeffrey Epstein used Gates’ marital infidelities as “leverage” to keep the billionaire in Epstein’s circle. In a prepared opening statement, Gates told committee members that he “never witnessed nor had any indication that Epstein was engaged in ongoing criminal conduct.” “I never went to his island, his ranch, or his Florida home. I have never victimized anyone. While he may have sought to foster a personal relationship, I was never interested in that and never reciprocated,” he went on. But the philanthropist also disclosed that the late pedophile learned...

Tarrant County commissioners voted along partisan lines Tuesday to reject a resolution honoring the county’s largest health center focused on LGBTQ services. The resolution was drafted to commend Arlington’s HELP Center for LGBTQ+ Health for “outstanding service, compassionate care and enduring contributions to the health, dignity and wellness of the people of Tarrant County.” In 2025, the center administered more than $70 million worth of medication, clinical services and supportive care to 7,000 patients for free. The court’s three Republicans — County Judge Tim O’Hare and commissioners Matt Krause and Manny Ramirez — voted against the resolution. Democratic commissioners Alisa...

Admittedly, I don’t understand “influencers.” So, I went to various AI sources and this explanation seems to be as good as any: Influencers are people who have built a significant following on social media platforms and use that audience to shape opinions, trends, and purchasing decisions. Claude adds People tend to trust influencers more than traditional ads because they feel like a peer recommendation rather than a sales pitch. And the Big Shots have millions and millions of followers. The main You Tube channel for Jesse Ridgway (McJuggerNuggets) has amassed over 4.3 million subscribers and—get this—racked up more than 2.3...

Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Az) has introduced the Reproductive Healthcare Leave Act, HR 8158. Ansari called it "part of my Healthy, Equity, Rights (HER) package. It covers pregnancy terminations, menstrual pain, miscarriages, menopause symptoms, endometriosis, IUD insertions, vasectomies, fertility treatments and biopsies. My bill has 28 co-sponsors." Ansari said "pain related to periods, in particular, is something that I have dealt with for many, many years. Women's pain, whether from periods, from endometriosis, from the number of reproductive healthcare issues that exist, is severely underfunded and under-researched and therefore we don't have many solutions." Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich), a co-sponsor of...

FRISCO, Texas - A Texas couple was sentenced Tuesday to 40 years each in federal prison for operating a fraudulent chain-referral pyramid scheme that prosecutors said cheated more than 10,000 people nationwide out of more than $30 million during the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID scheme What we know: LaShonda Moore, 38, and Marlon Moore, 39, of Frisco, were convicted by a jury in January 2026 on conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering charges stemming from their operation of "Blessings in No Time," or BINT, an illegal pyramid scheme that ran from June 2020 to June 2021. According to court documents and...

federal judge struck down a Nebraska law that allowed illegal alien students to receive in-state tuition rates at public colleges and universities, siding with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) after the agency challenged the policy earlier this year. U.S. District Judge Brian Buescher ruled that Nebraska’s law violated federal immigration law by providing a higher education benefit to illegal aliens that was unavailable to American citizens from other states. The decision permanently blocks enforcement of Legislative Bill 239, a measure passed in 2006 that allowed certain illegal alien students to qualify for in-state tuition rates at Nebraska’s public institutions....

In a disturbing escalation of the anti-white racial hatred already on display throughout the Karmelo Anthony murder trial, supporters of the convicted killer swarmed and verbally assaulted Austin Metcalf’s family as they left the Collin County Courthouse on Wednesday, after Anthony was sentenced to 35 years in prison. Footage posted to X captures the family, still grieving from losing their 17-year-old son and brother, being taunted with the vile chant “We glad Austin’s dead!” as they walked from the courthouse steps to their vehicles in the parking lot. In the video, the Metcalf family is trying to just walk down...

The conversation every Black parent dreads is happening right now in living rooms across America, ignited by a single word echoed in a Texas courtroom: guilty. 19-year-old Karmelo Anthony was convicted of murder in the death of Austin Metcalf and sentenced to 35 years in prison. But while the verdict closed the legal chapter, it opened a painful, urgent dialogue inside Black homes—one centered on a parent’s deepest fear. For many, the verdict has forced an agonizing acceleration of Black childhood, forcing parents to strip away their kid’s innocence in exchange for survival. Popular TikTok Influencer, Just Wayne, spoke about...