Free Republic

An Air Force experiment to test drones trained on artificial intelligence (AI) ended badly for the human operator in a simulated mission when the drone bucked the operator’s commands, U.S. Air Force Col. Tucker Hamilton said at a conference in May. Air Force researchers trained a weaponized drone using AI to identify and attack enemy air defenses after receiving final mission approval from a human operator, Hamilton, who serves as the Air Force’s chief of AI Test and Operations, explained at a summit hosted by the United Kingdom-based Royal Aeronautical Society. But when an operator told the drone to abort...

Pope Francis Taps a Like-Minded Portuguese Cardinal to Head the New Dicastery for Culture and EducationCardinal José Mendonça is a published poet whose priestly service has centered on cultural dialogue and education, as well as ministry to homosexuals.VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has chosen to head the Vatican’s newly merged department for education and culture a Portuguese poet close to Francis’ thinking, but who has also been criticized for sympathizing with heterodox approaches to homosexuality and allying himself with a radical feminist Benedictine sister who promotes abortion and same-sex “marriage.”Cardinal José Tolentino Calaça de Mendonça, 56, a native of...

What is Trans Buddy PGH? Trans Buddy PGH is a community-led peer-support organization with the goal of increasing access to and improving quality of healthcare for transgender, non-binary, and gender expansive people. Our trained volunteers provide emotional support and guidance to trans and non-binary patients during healthcare visits and work with these patients to help them make their own informed decisions.

A New York City woman who admitted she showed up to work late dozens of times in less than a year has been awarded millions of dollars by a jury after she successfully argued in court she was terminated because she is black. Jurors in the case did not view dozens of instances of tardiness as a reason for separation from the company. The New York Times reported a woman named Röbynn Europe sued a company called Equinox, which operates a number of high-end fitness brands and gyms. Europe alleged after she was fired from her job on New York...

President Donald Trump traveled to Iowa this week ahead of his scheduled town hall with Fox News on Thursday night, appearing around the state and shaking hands with hardworking Americans as he courts their support going into the 2024 presidential campaign season.On Wednesday, the president wrote on Truth Social, “Looking forward to my stay in Iowa, a Great State that I did more for than any other President including: USMCA, 28 Billion Dollars from China to our farmers, and saving Ethanol, which was dead until I got involved! Will be landing soon.”To kick things off, the president swung by the...

WASHINGTON — Demands by Republican senators for more defense funding threatened to delay Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's plan Thursday to fast-track a bill to raise the debt limit, as the U.S. barreled toward a June 5 deadline to avert a default."Nobody wants to default ... But I'm tired of having default over my head as a reason to neuter the military at a time we need it the most," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said on the Senate floor, where he railed against a bill the House passed with broad bipartisan support late Wednesday. (snip)So what's the solution? As Senate Minority...

Speaking at a campaign event outside Des Moines, Trump said he doesn’t like the term because “half the people can’t even define it” and “don’t know what it is.”

In the last few weeks, an abortionist has been seen bringing her infant to work at Toledo Women’s Center in Toledo, Ohio. Yes, an abortionist brings her baby to the same place where she destroys other women’s babies. This is quite a stark contrast to other abortion clinics like Planned Parenthood which, as a general rule, don’t even allow children in their waiting rooms. And, why would they? It’s hard to convince a pregnant mother the child in her womb is a non-person if she’s staring at a toddler the whole time she’s in the waiting area. The presence of...

An interesting series of updates to the FBI whistleblower case of Joe Biden taking a $5 million bribe payment which now looks to have originated in Ukraine. The background claim is pretty basic. A whistleblower approached congress stating the FBI had a report, an unclassified FD-1023, detailing a conversation with a ‘confidential human source’ (CHS) that outlined Vice President Joe Biden taking a $5 million payment from a foreign national to affect a U.S. policy decision. The FBI agent responsible for investigating the CHS claim was FBI Supervisory Intelligence Analyst Brian Auten, a sketchy character from the Trump-Russia probe. The...

A 25-year-old woman and her husband received criticism for refusing to abort their son because he does not have arms. She said she loves her son just as he is — “perfect.” According to The Mirror, Mariaan Strauss and her husband Hendrick, from South Africa, explained that they learned during an ultrasound at 13 weeks that their son did not have arms. The doctor advised the parents to abort him. And while the thought of raising a child with different abilities seemed daunting to the couple, they did not want to end his life. Called “selfish” for that decision, the...

Montana transgender state lawmaker Zooey Zephyr addressed the Target controversy Thursday after several stores moved their pride merchandise and warned corporations to stand up along side us. "The View" co-host Sara Haines asked Zephyr, D., for her reaction to corporations such as Target, who "removed some merchandise celebrating Pride month from some of their stores after social media backlash from conservatives." "If you’re a corporation, and you’re seeing a sliver of what it's like for LGBTQ people who can't decide to take our identities off the shelf, it’s why it’s more important now than ever to make sure you’re standing...

President Biden struggled to make his way to the stage before giving a speech to Air Force Academy graduates on Thursday. Video shows the president wandering aimlessly while aides can be seen pointing and leading him to the stage. ...

Billionaire Elon Musk was showered with praise during a trip to China this week, with people on social media calling him "a pioneer", "Brother Ma" and "a global idol" while the CEO of Tesla (TSLA.O), Twitter, SpaceX and other companies also met in person with three government ministers. Since landing in Beijing on Tuesday, Musk has met with China's foreign, commerce and industry ministers and has dined with Zeng Yuqun, chairman of top battery supplier CATL (300750.SZ). Little is known of those conversations. The industry ministry only said Musk and its head exchanged views about development of electric vehicles and...

SpaceX's Starlink, the satellite communications service started by billionaire Elon Musk, now has a Department of Defense contract to buy those satellite services for Ukraine, the Pentagon said on Thursday. "We continue to work with a range of global partners to ensure Ukraine has the resilient satellite and communication capabilities they need. Satellite communications constitute a vital layer in Ukraine's overall communications network and the department contracts with Starlink for services of this type," the Pentagon said in a statement. Starlink has been used by Ukrainian troops for a variety of efforts, including battlefield communications.

WATCH: @realDonaldTrump reacts to Joe Biden falling down at the Air Force academy 😂😂😂pic.twitter.com/3rJX3NQIGm— Alex Bruesewitz 🇺🇸 (@alexbruesewitz) June 1, 2023

Some presidential candidates struggle to nail their message. Ron DeSantis is struggling to nail his NAME. In the early days of his campaign, DeSantis has gone back and forth between pronouncing his name Dee-Santis and Deh-Santis. Why it matters: DeSantis' dissonance on how to say his name — for years an issue of confusion for his campaign teams — is a curiosity as many GOP leaders and donors wonder whether the Florida governor is ready for the scrutiny of a presidential campaign. What's happening: During his first week as a candidate, DeSantis pronounced his name "Dee-Santis" during: The video announcing...

This summer, Midpen is celebrating the initial purchase of lands that will become Midpen’s 27th open space preserve: Cloverdale Ranch, a unique ecological and agricultural jewel on the San Mateo County Coastside near the rural town of Pescadero. The lands, first protected by our nonprofit partner Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST), contain large, intact coastal grasslands, one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in North America. The property also has abundant water resources, both natural and human-made. Together, the natural habitat and plentiful water support a diverse community of native wildlife and plant communities, including grassland-dependent species such as American badgers,...

1. The current administration’s domestic social policies are so radical that they cannot be implemented (or disclosed) within a normal spectrum of law and government. Its plans require extra-constitutional authority. War provides that authority. 2. A formalized war footing with Russia is presumed an essential path to oil and gas supply disruption, both physical (exploration, production, and refinement, including Arctic claims) and price stability disruption, which presumably will accelerate green energy switching behavior (problem: there is nothing to switch to). In reality, war merely enriches oil and gas, and further consolidates its central energy role. 3. Financial flows, commercial/central banking,...

Shocking videos have laid bare America's $100billion-per-year shoplifting crisis, with brazen thieves strolling out of stores including Home Depot and Ross Dress for Less with their arms full of stolen goods. Surveillance footage shows a gang of crooks wearing masks wheeling shopping carts loaded with valuable products out of a Home Depot store in New York. Another clip showed shoplifters loading up duffel bags and backpacks with perfumes and colognes from a Ross store in Colorado. The National Retail Federation said that the scourge - which grew worse during the pandemic - cost the industry almost $100billion in 2022. One...

Twelve years ago, FBI agents in Baltimore sought to wiretap former Brookings Institution analyst Igor Danchenko on suspicions he was spying for Russia. But the counterintelligence analyst they were assigned to work with ‒ Brian Auten ‒ told them he could not find their target and assumed the Russian national had fled back to Moscow. But Danchenko had not left the U.S., court documents show. He was living in the Washington area. In fact, he had been arrested in Maryland in 2013 by federal Park Police for being drunk and disorderly, something the FBI analyst could have easily discovered by...