Free Republic

Concerns about public safety will eventually recede, but Big Brother will still be watching. Did somebody say something about never letting a crisis go to waste? That may well have been on California Gov. Gavin Newsom's mind when he announced the installation of hundreds of surveillance cameras in Oakland to address public concerns about crime. Whether or not robberies and assaults decline because of police monitoring, you can bet those cameras will remain in place long after everybody has forgotten the reason for their existence. Crime Fears Become an Excuse for Surveillance"Building on public safety investments in Oakland and the...

DETROIT (Reuters) - As U.S. sales of gas-electric hybrid vehicles surge and electric-vehicle sales cool, automakers and suppliers are betting consumer demand for a compromise between all-combustion and all-electric is a durable trend. Automakers and suppliers are adding capacity to build gasoline-electric hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles for the U.S. market, responding to increased consumer demand for technology that General Motors and other automakers once planned to phase out in favor of all-electric fleets, industry executives and analysts said. U.S. sales of hybrids grew five times faster than EV sales in February, Morgan Stanley said. A plug-in hybrid version of...

- The Israeli military has sacked two senior officers after seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid workers were killed in a strike in Gaza on Monday - The IDF's inquiry into the incident says some workers survived initial air strikes, but were killed when a third car was hit In addition to last night's briefing, the IDF has now released a statement on the findings from its initial inquiry. It says the incident "should not have occurred" and it was a "grave mistake stemming from a serious failure due to a mistaken identification, errors in decision-making, and an attack contrary...

In an interview on MSNBC’s The Beat, former Senior Adviser to President George W. Bush, Karl Rove, launched a scathing critique of Donald Trump’s pledge to pardon individuals charged for their roles in the January 6 Capitol event. (snip) “What those people did when they violently attacked the capital in order to stop a constitutionally mandated meeting of the Congress to accept the results of the Electoral College is a stain on our history,” said Rove.“Every one of those sons of b*tches who did that, we ought to find them, try them, and send them to jail. One of the...

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) on Friday was dinged on social media after saying that the 4.8-magnitude earthquake that shook New York hit “west of Manhattan” rather than mentioning New Jersey. “A 4.8 magnitude earthquake hit west of Manhattan and has been felt throughout New York,” Hochul said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “My team is assessing impacts and any damage that may have occurred, and we will update the public throughout the day,” she continued. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the epicenter of the quake was near Lebanon, N.J, a description...

If you plan to deposit $10,000 or more into your checking account, there are a few things you should consider first. By law, banks have to report deposits that exceed a certain amount. Not only that, but many bank accounts come with maximum deposit restrictions. You may also be subject to certain fees when making such a large deposit. If you frequently make large deposits, you should also watch out for any potential scams or fraudulent activity. But even if this is a one-time thing, it’s still important to know about these factors and how they might affect you. Banks...

Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus secured nearly $450 million in earmarks from recently passed government funding legislation, with the average member getting almost twice as much as far-left “Squad” members. The taxpayer watchdog OpenTheBooks released a report this week cataloging the pork-barrel spending totals for more than a dozen Republican members who voted against the $1.66 trillion in fiscal year 2024 spending as part of two packages in March. The report found 17 current Freedom Caucus members, as well as now-former member Randy Weber (R-Texas). secured $25 million per member — far higher than the $13.9 million that...

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it has asked a federal court to deny the U.S. Government’s request to transfer the Ashli Babbitt wrongful death lawsuit from California to Washington, DC. Among other legal points, Judicial Watch argues it would prejudice the case and be unjust for Ashli’s family if it were transferred to the hostile forum of District of Columbia.Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit on January 5, 2024, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California on behalf of the family of Ashli Babbitt, the U.S. Air Force veteran who was shot and killed...

One of the first openly transgender attorneys in Washington state has proven that her unique appearance has no impact on her success as a lawyer in her small town. Lawyer Stephanie Mueller, 70, has been open about her background and says it has no impact on her ability as a public defender. 'I get good results because I'm a good lawyer. This is very, very fabulous,' Mueller once said. Despite her unique appearance, Mueller insists she has been 'treated with complete respect and great acceptance' since transitioning in 2012 - at the age of 58. 'It's really important to know...

Hundreds of neighbours left terrified by lawless teenagers running riot in their sleepy Sussex village held an emergency meeting to address the growing crimewave. Villagers in Barnham, West Sussex, say they are scared to leave their homes after shocking footage emerged on social media of a group of teenage girls assaulting an emergency worker after sparking a huge brawl at the station. Within 48 hours, a second clip went viral of another group of young girls appearing to loot the village's local Co-op. The chaos sent shockwaves through the leafy coastal village - so much so, an emergency public meeting...

A series of scandals has blighted Denmark's Armed Forces at a time when the Scandinavian country and member of the NATO alliance is building up its defenses, chiefly as a response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The events have so far led to the dismissal this week of Denmark’s top military chief, Gen. Flemming Lentfer, who failed to inform the defense minister about an incident on the frigate HDMS Iver Huitfeldt last month while deployed to the Red Sea, where it was part of a U.S.-led operation to defend commercial shipping against Houthi militants. On Thursday, a technical error onboard...

Tesla has shockingly canceled the much-anticipated $27,000 car it was relying on to break into the mass market. The 'half price' EV was due to go into production starting next year and viewed by investors as a vital saving grace that could rescue the struggling automaker. Tesla will instead continue developing self-driving robotaxis, according to Reuters, which broke the news on Friday. In the minutes after the news broke, Tesla's share price fell more than 5 percent to just over $160. The company's stock is one of the worst performing in the S&P 500 this year. This week its share...

The DOJ has filed opposition to the defendant’s motion, saying it has ‘no obligation to investigate’ who the men in the videos are. . Recently released Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol Police security video shows a suspected FBI special agent clapping and cheering as crowds surged up steps to the Columbus Doors and another meeting with an FBI tactical team just before it entered the Capitol after the fatal shooting of Ashli Babbitt. The videos were first identified by defendant William Pope of Topeka, Kansas, in court filings in his own Jan. 6 criminal case. Exhibits Mr. Pope originally filed under...

The Biden administration will soon roll out a sweeping new student loan forgiveness proposal that could impact millions of Americans. Despite its smaller scope than President Joe Biden’s first education debt relief plan that the Supreme Court ultimately blocked, this new aid package could still forgive the debt for as many as 10 million Americans, according to one rough estimate by higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz. Biden is planning to provide details of his new debt forgiveness plan during a speech Monday in Madison, Wisconsin, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The president likely wants to start forgiving debt...

A woman had a cartoonish meltdown on a Spirit Airlines flight -- and while cops were trying to remove her ... she tried invoking the name of George Floyd. This video is making the rounds online, which captures an incident on a Spirit plane from March 23 -- which seems to have been in the process of taking off from Vegas. Unclear what happened that led to the ruckus, but right from the get-go in the clip ... cops are on hand. VIDEO AT LINK............... You can see the police put one handcuff on her as the woman protests, and...

An early morning shooting just blocks from student housing at Rutgers University left two people affiliated with the New Jersey school injured on Friday. The shooting occurred just after 2 a.m. at the intersection of Easton Avenue and Hamilton Street in New Brunswick following an apparent altercation, Rutgers police announced. Police found a male victim “affiliated with Rutgers University” with gunshot wounds and took him to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, RLS Media reports.

Tesla's price CUTS in Australia follow the company's decision on April 3 to announced 0% financing for new orders of the Model 3 and Model Y in China. The incentive runs through the end of April and is Tesla's first interest-free promotion for China, the world's biggest EV market.Meanwhile, Tesla INCREASED its U.S. prices for all Model Y trims on April 1. Tesla RAISED prices on Europe Model Y vehicles on March 22. In China, Tesla also HIKED prices on its entire Model Y line by around $690 on April 1, even as some incentives expired.

One of Donald Trump's co-defendants in his Georgia election interference case has threatened to launch legal action against Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis if she "does not recuse herself from this case by noon on Monday." The Context Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has pleaded not guilty to a number of charges in Georgia over allegations he broke the law attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election result in the state. This is one of four criminal cases Trump is facing as he makes his bid for a second White House term. Trump has consistently denied all the...

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) said the Baltimore bridge recovery operation is “remarkably complex” as crews work to remove the cargo ship that hit the Francis Scott Key Bridge last week as well as the debris. Moore joined NewsNation’s ‘Cuomo’ late Thursday, telling host Chris Cuomo the ship is “literally the size of the Eiffel Tower, and the weight of the Washington Monument.” Moore said 27,000 tons of bridge debris is“pancaked” at the bottom of the river. When the ship struck the bridge, an eight-man construction crew was working to repair the road surface. The collapse was so fast they...

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that Israel must control the territory in the Gaza Strip and significantly reduce the number of Palestinian residents in Gaza. In an interview to army radio, the far-right minister said that his "demand" was for the Gaza Strip to stop being a "hotbed where two million people grow up on hatred and aspire to destroy the State of Israel." ...Smotrich then suggested that the removal of around 90 percent of Gaza's residents would help achieve his goal. "If there are 100,000 or 200,000 Arabs in Gaza and not two million, the whole discourse about the...