Free Republic

First was the crackdown on hobbyist drones. Now, robot vacuums are finding themselves in the FCC’s crosshairs. In the latest expansion of the agency’s “Covered List,” the Federal Communications Commission has classified certain foreign-produced “advanced robotic devices” as a risk to national security. That broad definition doesn’t just apply to humanoids and quadrupeds. It also encapsulates many of today’s WiFi-connected robot vacuums, along with robot lawn mowers and pool cleaners. If you’re worried about whether your robot vacuum is banned, don’t panic. The change in rules primarily affects future products seeking FCC approval to be sold in the United States,...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority: in Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media. I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men,...

~The FReeper Canteen Presents~ Road Trip: Naval Air Station Fallon, NevadaNaval Air Station Fallon or NAS Fallon is the United States Navy's premier air-to-air and air-to-ground training facility. It is located southeast of the city of Fallon in western Nevada. Since 1996, it has been home to the Naval Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN) taking over from the former NAS Miramar, California, and the surrounding area contains 240,000 acres of bombing and electronic warfare ranges. It is also home to the Naval Aviation Warfighting Development Center (NAWDC), which includes TOPGUN, the Carrier Airborne Early Warning Weapons School (CAEWWS) and the...

Flock’s array of license-plate cameras was built to fight crime. But at least 50 law enforcement officers were charged with or accused of misusing it and other systems.JEFFERSON, Ga. — Marci Bakely couldn’t understand how her ex-boyfriend always seemed to know where she was.When she went to buy groceries or on a date or to the doctor, he’d text her about it, sometimes within minutes, despite working 15 miles from her home as a police chief in a small town in the Atlanta suburbs. One day in 2024, when he incorrectly suspected that she’d gone to see a man against...

President Trump on Monday accused US Attorney Jeanine Pirro of folding “like an umbrella” for dismissing charges against former Olympian David Hearn — rather than standing by the case that alleged the canoeist vandalized the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall.“The judge was extremely unfriendly to Jeanine and frankly, I think she choked,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday. “The judge was really vicious. Instead of going after the people that did it, the judge went after her and went after her department, and I guess she choked.” “I was disappointed in Jeanine Pirro. Really disappointed in...

Greek police have arrested and charged a 26-year-old Afghan national with the murder of a 38-year-old British woman whose body was found stuffed in a suitcase in Athens in July. Greek police have solved the murder of a 38-year-old British national whose body was found inside a suitcase in an abandoned building in Athens' Kypseli district in July. A 26-year-old Afghan national has been identified and charged with homicide, robbery, and weapons offences. The suspect is reported to have confessed to some of his actions to Greek authorities. After the woman's body was found, the case was taken over by...

Far-left Colorado House candidate Melat Kiros appeared to welcome communists to the Democratic Party over the weekend. Speaking with PBS host Margaret Hoover on Friday, a smiling Kiros, 29, conceded: 'It's a big tent, right?' The self-professed democratic socialist had just been asked whether conservatives framing hers and others' success as a resurgence of the ideology bothered her at all. 'Some members of the Democratic Party are proudly proclaiming themselves as capitalists,' Kiros pointed out. She also clarified that she did not identify as a 'communist,' personally. 'At the end of the day, it’s up to the voters, right?' Kiros...

California Assembly Republicans ousted Heath Flora as their leader Monday, one day after the California Post revealed that the Central Valley lawmaker is facing two state ethics investigations and spent more than $11,000 in campaign money at a Sacramento dive bar. Assemblywoman Alexandra Macedo, a first-term Republican from Tulare who served in Flora’s leadership team, was selected to replace him as minority leader, according to sources with knowledge of the situation. The sudden shake-up ended Flora’s rocky tenure atop the Republican caucus less than a year after he took over the job.

The prominent Russian anti-war politician Boris Nadezhdin has fled to Paris as Moscow tightens its grip on dissent before parliamentary elections later this year. Nadezhdin, a veteran liberal politician, gained international prominence during Russia’s 2024 presidential election when his long-shot campaign against Vladimir Putin unexpectedly gathered momentum before electoral authorities barred him from running.

An illegal migrant who poured lighter fluid onto a burning California Highway Patrol vehicle and tossed an electric scooter at cops trapped beneath a freeway overpass in a chaotic anti-ICE Los Angeles riot is headed to federal prison. Yachua Mauricio Flores, 23, was sentenced Monday to 37 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $253,415 in restitution for his role in a pro-illegal immigration riot that rocked downtown LA on June 8 of last year, prosecutors said. Born in Mexico in 2003, Flores came to the US as a toddler and lived in Lincoln Heights. He has no previous...

Jake Lang - January 6 Political Prisoner 🇺🇸 @JakeLang: I was just nearly STONED to death by hundreds of savage Muslims in Dearborn Michigan, I was hit right the back of the head with a rock & I’m bleeding - I’m in the back of a Police car now… White female Dearborn Police Officer Kusnir saved my life 🙏 7:07 PM · Aug 2, 2026 Jake Lang - January 6 Political Prisoner 🇺🇸 Aug 2 I am not allowed to carry any deadly weapons as a condition of my $1,000,000 bond in Texas The Deepstate has illegally disarmed me and...

Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey denounced "ongoing Israeli violations in Gaza," in a joint statement on Monday. The statement, which was posted on X/Twitter, said that the "mediating countries" of Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey, were condemning Israeli military action in the Gaza Strip, claiming that Israel was committing a "flagrant violation of international law," through the "targeting of healthcare facilities and medical infrastructure, and the resulting civilian casualties, including women and children." It added that Israel's actions were undermining and threatening "the path toward de-escalation." On Friday US President Donald Trump announced that the Board of Peace had reached an agreement...

New Yorkers, hold onto your wallets and brace yourselves for financial chaos. Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s minions in the Democratic Socialists of America are preparing to radicalize the state Legislature in January, when they take their newly won seats in Albany. A warning sign of their coming craziness appeared Friday, when Mamdani-endorsed Assembly candidate Brian Romero put up a GoFundMe page with an unusual request. He begged for handouts to cover his own rent and groceries for the rest of this year, until he’s sworn in to represent East Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, Astoria and other parts of Queens. Romero won the...

America’s homeowners associations are running out of money — and patience. Amid rising insurance premiums, drained reserve funds and increased safety measures in the wake of the Surfside condominium collapse, the country’s hundreds of thousands of homeowners associations are cracking down on delinquent residents. Even more startling, HOAs are skipping grace periods and handing delinquent accounts over to attorneys. **SNIP** Besides delinquencies, costs have been rising for HOAs in insurance premiums, staffing, lawn care and materials. The annual insurance premium at one Long Island HOA surged to $360,000 from $60,000. Plus, there’s the expense of meeting stricter safety measures, which...

Donald Trump accused US attorney Jeanine Pirro of having “folded like an umbrella” amid reports that he was considering removing her from her post. Trump criticized Pirro on Monday after she dropped vandalism charges against a former Olympian accused of damaging the recently renovated Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool. Trump nominated Pirro to serve as interim US attorney for the District of Columbia last year, and the Senate later confirmed her in August. Speaking to reporters from the Oval Office, Trump said: “Frankly, I think she choked because the judge was really vicious. Instead of going after the people that did...

In the midst of navigating a turbulent divorce last year, Claire learned she was pregnant. “It wasn’t the right time for me to have a child,” said Claire, who lives in Kansas City and agreed to speak on the condition that she be identified by her first name, citing concerns for her privacy and the charged political climate around abortion in Missouri. “But I knew at that point that I did want to have children in the future.” Claire is among about 3,220 Missourians who obtained medication abortions through telehealth from out-of-state clinicians in 2025 — up from roughly 880...

US President Donald Trump said Monday that talks with Iran would proceed in two phases and described the negotiations as Tehran’s “last chance” to sign an agreement. He said the first phase would focus on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, with the goal of having it “completely open” by Tuesday. “The second phase will be the denuclearization,” Trump said, adding that Iran “cannot have a nuclear weapon.”

Faith Facts The U.S. Department of Justice has opened an investigation into an Oklahoma city council’s decision to deny a rezoning request for a proposed mosque development. The federal investigation raises questions about local governance authority and religious freedom protections in zoning decisions. The case highlights ongoing tensions between federal oversight and community-level planning decisions regarding houses of worship. The U.S. Department of Justice has initiated an investigation into an Oklahoma city council’s rejection of a rezoning request that would have permitted the construction of a mosque in the community. The federal probe comes after local officials voted against approving...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope Leo approved Cardinal Roche’s document supporting Latin Mass restrictions: report A Spanish outlet reported that Pope Leo requested a document affirming Pope Francis’ claim that the Novus Ordo is ‘the sole expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite.’Pope Leo XIV supports the Latin Mass-suppressing document Traditionis Custodes and specifically requested Cardinal Arthur Roche’s document on the liturgy backing Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) restrictions, according to a Spanish publication.La Razón reported Sunday that it has been “able to confirm” Cardinal Roche distributed this year’s consistory document on the liturgy “at the request of Leo XIV and,...

At a roundtable discussion with Jewish leaders and community members from around the state, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said she will not attend the Michigan Democratic Party’s nominating convention in August because she does not feel safe to be there. “I feel like my presence isn’t going to be welcome. I don’t want to get chased around. I don’t want to get harassed. I don’t want to get yelled and screamed at. I don’t want to get booed off the stage, irrespective of what I’m saying,” she said at the Thursday event. “And I believe that if I go,...