Free Republic

American Airlines is being criticized for its legal team’s response to a civil lawsuit against the company and one of its flight attendants, who is accused of secretly recording five girls in airplane bathrooms. American Airlines is blaming a 9-year-old girl for being filmed by one of their flight attendants in the plane’s bathroom. Estes Carter Thompson is accused of recording multiple girls by taping his phone to plane toilet seats. In a new court filing, American Airlines says the young girl should have known that there was a recording device on the toilet. “Defendant would show that any injuries...

Since 1948, Palestinians living in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza have remained effectively stateless, caught in the limbo of a decades-long peace process that has yielded neither peace nor a state to call their own. But on Wednesday, three European countries—Ireland, Norway, and Spain—announced their decision to officially recognize a Palestinian state alongside Israel. The decision is set to go into effect on May 28. Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Simon Harris, who announced the decision in a press conference, likened Palestinians’ bid for self-determination to the Irish people’s history seeking international recognition of their independence in 1919. “Today,...

With an unapologetically anarchic spirit, we’ve defied the establishment by assembling a lineup of speakers who challenge the status quo and champion true freedom. We’re lining up promotions that symbolize our rejection of government control, offering attendees a taste of defiance. The debates, a battleground for radical ideas, will ignite the flames of rebellion in every heart present. And as the establishment trembles, we’ll raise a defiant toast at the reception for our chosen presidential and vice-presidential candidates, heralding the dawn of a new era of individual autonomy and liberty. This convention will stand as a testament to the indomitable...

Five officials from Cuba’s communist regime — a U.S.-designated state sponsor of terrorism — conducted a secret guided tour of Miami’s International Airport on Monday hosted by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The secret tour, which reportedly lasted approximately five hours, is part of alleged “law-enforcement cooperation” between both countries and saw Castro regime officials visit the TSA’s control facilities in Miami’s airport, which contain some of the agency’s sensitive computer systems. The visit of the Castro regime officials prompted the condemnation of the Cuban diaspora in Florida as well as that of local Miami-Dade County and airport personnel, who...

https://x.com/stkirsch/status/1792757551689609217May 20, 2024

The California State Senate passed a bill on Tuesday that would require new vehicles to come equipped with a function that warns motorists when they’re driving 10 mph over the speed limit. If passed by the state Assembly and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, SB961 by San Francisco state Sen. Scott Wiener would make California the first state with such a requirement for new vehicles. The bill cleared a significant hurdle Tuesday, passing the state Senate on a 22-13 vote. Specifically, SB961 would require new vehicles built or sold in California to include what’s known as “passive speed governors” that...

Two dwarf galaxies (top and bottom) orbit the much larger Andromeda galaxy. DAVID DAYAG/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When astronomers fret about the “missing satellites problem,” they’re not talking about spacecraft in Earth orbit. Their problem is much bigger: For decades, far fewer dwarf galaxies have been seen orbiting the Milky Way and other large galaxies than predicted by models of galaxy formation. But now, two groups of astronomers have found evidence for not just a sufficient number of satellite galaxies to satisfy the simulations—but too many. “Maybe we’ve oversolved the problem,” says Marcel Pawlowski, an astronomer at the Leibniz Institute for...

Popular artificial intelligence tools are becoming more covertly racist as they advance, says an alarming new report. A team of technology and linguistics researchers revealed this week that large language models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini hold racist stereotypes about speakers of African American Vernacular English, or AAVE, an English dialect created and spoken by Black Americans.... (more)

The headquarters of the Republican National Committee was put on lockdown Wednesday morning after two vials of blood were discovered in a package addressed to former President Donald Trump — with the party’s chairman calling the incident a “biological attack.” “Today, vials of blood were sent to RNC Headquarters in DC. We are thankful to law enforcement, who responded quickly and ensured everyone’s safety. The lockdown has been cleared and staff has resumed their office duties because we remain unintimidated and undeterred in our efforts to elect President Trump to the White House,” RNC boss Michael Whatley said in a...

Cars, trucks and SUVs in the U.S. keep getting older, hitting a record average age of 12.6 years in 2024 as people hang on to their vehicles largely because new ones cost so much. S&P Global Mobility, which tracks state vehicle registration data nationwide, said Wednesday that the average vehicle age grew about two months from last year’s record. But the growth in average age is starting to slow as new vehicle sales start to recover from pandemic-related shortages of parts, including computer chips. The average increased by three months in 2023. Still, with an average U.S. new-vehicle selling price...

Benjamin Atkins killed his lodger over a minor financial dispute, prosecutors said A man has been found guilty of murdering his lodger before scattering his severed body parts in packages and a suitcase. Benjamin Atkins, 49, killed Simon Shotton, of the same age, at their home in Bournemouth in August 2023 following a dispute over money, prosecutors said. Atkins' partner, Debbie Pereira, 39, was found guilty of perverting the course of justice. They are due to be sentenced at Winchester Crown Court on 26 July. Warning: This story contains graphic details which readers may find upsetting Mr Shotton's legs were...

Political leaders in Saudi Arabia are pressing the administration of leftist President Joe Biden to help the country develop a nuclear program as part of a larger “security” deal that may ultimately include a pathway to normalizing ties with Israel, Reuters reported on Monday. The discussions regarding helping Riyadh develop nuclear energy, potentially the construction of a reactor and uranium enrichment capacity, reportedly occurred during National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan’s visit to Saudi Arabia and Israel this weekend. Sullivan met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Sunday to discuss “strategic relations” between Washington and Riyadh, according to the...

State and local governments across the US are grappling with a growing problem: Expensive drugs to treat diabetes and obesity are threatening to drain their health-care budgets. State health plans and Medicaid offices are seeing eye-popping bills for Novo Nordisk A/S’s Ozempic, its sister drug Wegovy and similar medications known as GLP-1s. They’re a breakthrough for treating two of the most complex chronic health conditions. But with list prices stretching above $1,000 a month, the costs threaten to empty government coffers. “It’s not sustainable,” North Carolina Treasurer Dale Folwell, who oversees state workers’ health insurance, lamented at a recent board...

A handful of states saw key primary contests on Tuesday, teeing up November matchups in closely watched House races and underscoring voter frustration with both President Biden and former President Trump. Biden and Trump sailed to wins in their respective presidential primaries in Oregon and Kentucky, but both White House hopefuls saw new iterations of protest votes that have cropped up throughout this cycle. In Kentucky, roughly 6 percent of the GOP primary vote went to Trump’s former rival Nikki Haley, who dropped out of the race weeks ago. She’s pulled in sizeable figures in several states as some Republicans...

It's not just Joe Scarborough's phone buddy Joe Biden with troubling issues of memory loss. It's also 61-year-old Scarborough himself. Concerns continue to mount over the Morning Joe host's apparently failing memory. [snip] Now, more troubling evidence has emerged of Scarborough's apparent memory loss and declining mental acuity. On today's Morning Joe, Scarborough mocked Rudy Giuliani for creating his own eponymously-named brand of coffee. It obviously escaped poor Scarborough's memory that Rudy is not the only one in the political/media world to have his own coffee brand. There's also . . . you, Joe! Perhaps the image here will refresh...

I am trying to decide between Visible (Not the + one) and Mint cell phone services. My needs are simple; I don't do gaming, streaming, watch movies on the phone, etc. I call people; I receive calls (not from foreign countries), I make and receive texts and I research stuff on line (like price comparisons between stores). Do any FReepers have experience with Visible or Mint? I'd appreciate their input.

Voters in Oregon were on the brink Wednesday of ousting progressive Portland DA Mike Schmidt and replacing him with one of his deputies who was once a Republican and has vowed to crack down on rampant crime and drug abuse. As of Wednesday morning, with about 63% of the vote counted, Schmidt was trailing Nathan Vasquez by 11.9 percentage points — a difference of more than 117,000 votes, according to the latest tally. “I am committed to fulfilling those campaign promises. I’m committed to ending the open-air drug use, to ending the open-air drug dealing that we have suffered from...

Illinois Democratic state lawmakers are aiming to change the word "offender" to "justice-impacted individual" with a new bill.

Sources close to the discussions in Oman tell MEE that the delegations spoke about ending Israel's war and a shared desire for a change in Israeli government Secret talks between Iran and the United States in Oman were making good progress, but have now been jeopardised by the sudden death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister. Brett McGurk, US President Joe Biden's senior Middle East adviser, held indirect negotiations earlier this month with Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran’s point man for negotiations with the West, according to three Iranian sources close to the talks. The talks took place...

As the sun set on a shattered Europe in the aftermath of the First World War, the birth pangs of a nightmarish reality were felt across Germany. From these turbulent times emerged the National Socialist German Workers' Party, colloquially known as the Nazis. Rising to full power in 1933 under the malevolent leadership of Adolf Hitler and his cadre of ruthless lieutenants like Heinrich Himmler and Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Germany erected an edifice of tyranny, intolerance, and unparalleled cruelty. Picture this: the year is 1939, and you are a resident of Berlin. Kristallnacht, the infamous "Night of Broken Glass," occurred...