Free Republic

The nonpartisan Cook Political Report announced Thursday it was shifting its rating of Rep. Lauren Boebert’s (R-Colo.) competitive House district race from “lean Republican” to “toss up.” Cook Political Report editor David Wasserman said the change in the rating comes after recent campaign finance disclosures revealed Boebert’s challenger raised more than three times what Boebert raised in the second quarter. Boebert, a conservative firebrand, faces what was already sure to be a high-stakes rematch with former Aspen City Councilman Adam Frisch, a Democrat who lost to Boebert in 2022 by a mere 546 votes. The close race triggered an automatic...

Abstract GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 are the two most widely used large language model (LLM) services. However, when and how these models are updated over time is opaque. Here, we evaluate the March 2023 and June 2023 versions of GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 on four diverse tasks: 1) solving math problems, 2) answering sensitive/dangerous questions, 3) generating code and 4) visual reasoning. We find that the performance and behavior of both GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 can vary greatly over time. For example, GPT-4 (March 2023) was very good at identifying prime numbers (accuracy 97.6%) but GPT-4 (June 2023) was very poor on these...

<p>At a public board meeting in May, Shasta County Supervisor Patrick Jones declared that he is convinced there was voter fraud in his election victory in November 2020.</p><p>Jones beat incumbent Steve Morgan by nearly 11 percentage points.</p><p>Jones explained at the meeting that the Mesa, Colorado, “pattern of fraud” played out in his race, referring to claims made by Jeffrey O’Donnell, who — like former President Donald Trump and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell — has pushed debunked theories about voting machines manipulating election results.</p>

“Vivek Ramaswamy” by Gage Skidmore GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has come under fire for alleged ties to George Soros, the World Economic Forum (WEF), his stance on masks, and a controversial partnership with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) over a centralized COVID-19 patient surveillance database. In a candid and bold Twitter video, Ramaswamy addressed these allegations head-on. Expressing his readiness to take tough questions, he said, “We’re surging in the polls. The knives are coming out, the opposition research machines are churning. And you know what? That’s a good thing, because I’m running to be your next president....

CNN cited a study from Tulane University Wednesday and claimed “structural racism” may be behind mass shootings in large cities like Chicago and Milwaukee. CNN leaned on the study to point out “mass shootings in major metropolitan areas…disproportionately affect black people.” They quoted the Tulane researchers indicating, “Racial and ethnic minority populations are significantly more likely to be victims of (mass shootings).”

An enraged motorist has been filmed assaulting a Just Stop Oil protester in London, after a “slow walk” protest blocking traffic reportedly caused a pregnant woman to crash her car. Video of the incident posted online by the controversial group showed a man in a red hat punching a protester and knocking him to the ground before kicking him in the head. The man is seen furiously arguing with another person who steps in to intervene, before returning to a damaged silver Mercedes with his distressed female companion. The car appears to have been struck on the rear driver’s side...

Twisted "racism" mini guide on the Arab vs Israel "conflict": * Rule number 1: "racism" terminology can only be hurled at the ones most victimized by bigotry - past and present (including at the ME conflict), AKA Jews. * Racist-Arab Islamist-bigots terrorist targeting specifically Jews to murder, to injure - "freedom fighting." * The em-masse BDS: "HitlerDidntFinis.TheJob.YouAreModernDayNazis.AllahBlessHitle..NazisWereGood.HitlerGood.Netany...Hitler.HitlerWasRi.ht.GazaIsConcentrationCamp.NoGasChambers.50HolocaustsEveryday."= "innocent [sic] Palestinians" * Mothers, teachers child-abusers: pushing, indoctrinating kids for racist Intifada, jihadism = "UN's children " * Islamist hate sermons, (mosques are under "moderate" PA control and guidance, not to mention Gaza under' Hamas) with or without the 'ages and pigs'...

Former President Donald Trump triumphs in yet another new poll.The headline at USA Today from reporter David Jackson on July 16 — two days ago — reads this way:Donald Trump has a big lead for the GOP nomination. Can DeSantis, Pence or anyone else catch him?The story begins by reporting as follows:WASHINGTON — A half-year before anyone actually votes, and one year before the Republican nominating convention, the GOP presidential race is in the same place it has been for months: A bunch of challengers chasing former President Donald Trump.Trump has built a huge lead in polls despite — or...

The Federal Reserve Thursday officially launched its long-awaited instant payment service FedNow, which allows consumers and businesses to send and receive money in seconds. The system lets Americans pay for groceries instantly, businesses pay their suppliers, or people pay each other. It will be available 24 hours a day, every day of the year, with full access to funds immediately. FedNow isn’t offered directly to individuals and businesses, but it will serve as the basis of infrastructure for instant payments by linking banks. Transactions occur between bank accounts and enable funds to be transferred from a sender’s bank account to...

If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the spicy Thai food restaurant. A woman is suing a San Jose, Calif.-area restaurant and its employees for negligence and emotional distress, claiming that one of the eatery’s mega-spicy dishes was “unfit for human consumption” and left her with health issues that lingered two years after she ate it. The complaint filed at the Superior Court of Santa Clara County on July 3 alleges that the diner, Harjasleen Walia, suffered “permanent bodily injuries” after trying the Dragon Balls appetizer at Coup de Thai in Los Gatos on July 15, 2021, according...

The transparency of the puppeteers continues. The latest example is the New York Post (Murdoch outlet) promoting a story of the RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel, appearing on Fox News (Murdoch outlet) to warn President Trump not to avoid the RNC debate hosted by Fox News, the Murdoch outlet.The private corporation (RNC) has a vested interest in Trump delivering credibility to the organization. The Fox News corporation has a vested interest in Trump delivering credibility and ratings to the organization. Whether President Trump decides to attend or not, the desperation expressed by the two corporations is a little funny.The Freudian slip...

On this date in 1898,* the second patriarch of the Donghak religion was put to death in Korea. Like neighboring Japan, Korea was ripe for “new religions” late in the 19th century and into the 20th. And to the concussive effects of modernity were added, for Korea, those of colonialism: a fading dynasty pressured by both western and Japanese empire-building. “Donghak arose at a time when Korea was on the verge of radical transformations,” writes Kirsten Bell.** Internally, society was stagnating under a rigid Confucian social hierarchy, which saw destitute peasants over-taxed and generally ill-used by corrupt government officials and...

In a departure from his usual amusing — if not particularly insightful — posts, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk recently retweeted the surprising results of a poll conducted at his Turning Point Action Conference.Of the young conservatives surveyed, 95 percent supported ending American involvement in Ukraine — surpassing even their support for Donald Trump. Trump, however, still outperformed all the other presidential candidates, pulling a whopping 85 percent. (READ MORE: Pence Could Thaw ‘Frozen’ GOP Primary)BREAKING: Donald Trump wins new straw poll with staggering 85.7% of the vote!Congratulations to @realDonaldTrump, @VivekGRamaswamy, & @KariLake on being the top vote getters...

Senator Rand Paul declared Wednesday that the U.S. cannot afford to keep sending money and ammo to Ukraine in order to fight a war with Russia, because the country has run out of both.Appearing on Fox Business, Paul responded to the almost weekly announcement now that the Biden administration is sending another billion dollars in aid to Ukraine.“From a fiscal conservative perspective, it makes no sense to borrow money from China to send it to Ukraine,” Paul urged, adding “It’s not like we’re sending them surplus funds. It’s like, ‘Oh, we have surplus ammo around.’”“We’re actually out of ammo now,...

Special Counsel Jack Smith leaked another report to The New York Times on Wednesday night. This comes after the House Oversight Committee produced $17 million in bank receipts and witness testimony in the Biden Family bribery, corruption, and influence peddling schemes with foreign regimes. Jack Smith is likely to use the same Civil War Civil Rights Violation that Merrick Garland and the DOJ have been using to send January 6 protesters to prison for years for non-violent crimes. Again, this leak was reported Wednesday night after the damning testimony from this afternoon. Federal prosecutors have introduced a new twist into...

High home prices and climbing mortgage rates continue to hamper affordability, pushing prospective buyers’ monthly payments to their highest level on record, according to a new report. Home prices posted their largest increase since December in a four-week period ending July 19, rising by 2.1 percent, the report from real estate brokerage Redfin showed. The second straight price jump in the last five months moved up the sale price of a typical home to $382,500. Rising prices, combined with stubborn mortgage rates that are nearing 7 percent, have pushed monthly payments for the typical home to a record high at...

In Florida, a new law cracking down on the employment of illegal aliens went into effect on July 1. A recent article by Axel Turcios for Scripps News tries to scare the reader into thinking this is a Bad Thing. “The law is causing outrage and fear among some in the state,” Turcios tells us. Lawbreakers experience “outrage and fear” when the law is being enforced. That’s a good thing. If you aren’t an illegal alien or dependent on illegal labor, why be outraged and afraid? If illegal workers are leaving the state, the law is working. As for the...

Some of you may recall the debate in Scotland over “self-identification,” a policy championed by Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon that likely ended her career. Critics of “self-ID,” which would permit people to change their gender simply by declaring that they were something other than their sex, pointed out that this policy had many horrific but predictable consequences, such as male criminals deciding to identify as female in order to get locked up with ladies. Sturgeon refused to budge and ended up resigning in large part due to the transgender issue. Another case has surfaced in Scotland that reveals,...

Shasta county supervisor hosts town hall meeting on controversial election fraud claims by MIKE MANGAS, ADAM ROBINSON Wed, July 19th 2023, 7:54 PM PDT REDDING, Calif. — Is there election fraud? Are electronic voting machines being hacked to change the results? In a political climate hotter than the weather, it depends on who you ask. Shasta County Supervisor Patrick Jones is a leading supporter of hand-counting ballots. He's hosting a Town Hall Meeting on Thursday night, July 20, featuring a presentation via Zoom by Jeffrey O'Donnell, who will explain the "Mesa pattern of election fraud" debunked by the Mesa County...

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are reportedly on a ‘trial separation’ amid nasty fights, financial pressure, and opposing lifestyles. Divorce papers might have been filed. The scoop about their non-identity damaging their marriage: VIDEO AT LINK............. As some reports indicate, Meghan allegedly plans to file for divorce and wants sole and full custody of the children. However, that might not be so simple. According to reports, the royal family operates with a strange custody agreement when its couples have their children, which states that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has full legal custody over the young royals. Royal expert Marlene...