Free Republic

A Texas private school is seeing student test scores soar to new heights following the implementation of an artificial intelligence (AI) "tutor." At Alpha School in Austin, Texas, students are placed in the classroom for two hours a day with an AI assistant, using the rest of the day to focus on skills like public speaking, financial literacy, and teamwork. "We use an AI tutor and adaptive apps to provide a completely personalized learning experience for all of our students, and as a result our students are learning faster, they’re learning way better. In fact, our classes are in the...

WASHINGTON (TNND) — Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head Elon Musk on Sunday claimed millions of noncitizens have received social security numbers from the federal government. They weren’t asleep at the switch,” Musk said of the previous Biden administration “It was a massive large scale program to import as many illegals as possible ultimately to change the entire voting map of the United States and disenfranchise the American people. Musk during an address in Wisconsin displayed a chart showing over 2 million noncitizens had received social security numbers in fiscal year 2024. In fiscal year 2025, the government had issued...

Democrat Delaware Sen. Chris Coons told CNN Monday that the “average middle American” is too dumb to identify Greenland on a world map. Coons criticized President Donald Trump’s plan to purchase Greenland from Denmark and make it U.S. territory for resource and national security purposes, arguing that the plan will not resonate with the average American because they do not even know where the island is. Trump said no options for acquiring Greenland are off the table, emphasizing that a takeover of the island is a necessity to protect the U.S. against the threat of Russia and China’s increasing influence...

As if Disney didn't have enough to worry about with its ongoing string of disappointing returns for its Star Wars projects, sequel trilogy star John Boyega decided to chime in with a new interview and call fans of the popular space opera saga racists. Yes, that's just what a flagging intellectual property needed — accuse all of its devoted fans of not being willing to accept non-white characters. Boyega, who played stormtroop-turned-resistance-fighter "Finn" in the sequel trilogy, makes the allegation in a new AppleTV+ documentary titled Number One on the Call Sheet: Black Leading Men in Hollywood, which, one could...

The SAG-AFTRA strike against major video game companies has nearly reached the 250-day mark and there’s no deal yet. And while nothing seems to have changed from the outside, real progress is being made behind the scenes. The video game companies’ bargaining committee (which represents Activision Productions, Blindlight, Disney Character Voices, Electronic Arts Productions, Formosa Interactive, Insomniac Games, Llama Productions, Take 2 Productions and WB Games) presented an updated counter proposal of the Interactive Media Agreement to the actors union on March 26, which “directly addresses several issues the union has identified as important components of a deal,” a source...

In 2016, when Donald J. Trump did the unthinkable and beat Hillary Clinton—a woman so ensconced in the halls of Davosian power she might as well have been issued a United Nations passport—the architects of the so-called "Rules-Based International Order" felt a tremor under their polished marble floors. For decades, this Order—an alliance of bureaucrats, multinationals, intelligence agencies, and supranational institutions—had operated under the conceit that history had ended, that global governance would henceforth supersede national sovereignty. Trump's triumph threatened their theology. To these globalist mandarins, Trump’s insurgency was not merely electoral; it was heretical. He dared to question NATO’s...

Shares of conservative news outlet Newsmax (NMAX.N), opens new tab soared more than 27% before the bell on Tuesday, extending their gains a day after a stunning debut on the New York Stock Exchange.The stock traded at $106, more than 10 times the IPO price of $10, valuing the cable news network at $12.8 billion.Newsmax's shares closed with a more-than-eight-fold gain at $83.51 on Monday, partly buoyed by retail interest. The stock remained the top trending ticker on retail investor-focused social media stocktwits.com.The cable news operator, which raised $75 million in its "mini IPO" last week, is looking to expand...

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US President Donald Trump said that the issue of Kiev's membership in NATO had been the cause of the Ukraine conflict, and it was not discussed in the context of the rare earth metals deal. "I see he [Volodymyr Zelensky] is trying to renegotiate the rare earth [deal],"Trump told reporters at the White House. "Through you [reporters], I heard that they now say 'Well, I'll only do the deal if we get into NATO' or something to that effect. Well, number one, that was never discussed." The issue of Ukraine's membership in NATO was the cause of...

President Trump on Thursday signed an executive order purporting to outlaw collective bargaining across two-thirds of the federal government, citing a little-used provision of federal labor law that invokes national security.A "fact sheet" says the order applies a rarely used provision of the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act that allows the president to exclude agencies and their offices from collective bargaining rules that “cannot be applied to that agency or subdivision in a manner consistent with national security requirements.”Trump first considered using this authority in early 2020, granting then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper the ability to exclude the Pentagon from federal...

The MONTHLY Gardening Thread is a gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is a non-political respite. No matter what, you won’t be flamed, and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack the...

China has held up the $23 billion sale of dozens of ports worldwide — including two key ports in the Panama Canal — to a group led by US investing giant BlackRock after President Trump expressed concern about Beijing’s sway over the strategic shipping lanes. On March 4, CK Hutchison, a Hong Kong-based conglomerate controlled by 96-year-old billionaire Li Ka-shing, announced plans to sell 43 port facilities globally — including critical ports at both ends of the Panama Canal and near the Suez Canal — for approximately $22.8 billion. But China’s State Administration for Market Regulation unexpectedly initiated an investigation...

World Health Organization admitted that it has “no choice” but to cut its budget substantially. America’s exodus from the organization left the WHO with a budget gap of $600 million for FY2025, and it plans to cut expenditures by 20%. The United States provided 16.3% of all funding from FY2022-2023, amounting to $1.3 billion of the organization’s $7.89 billion. Trump believes the WHO partnered with China to hide the origins of COVID-19, and he is particularly disgruntled that the US was paying 10X more into the organization compared to China at a cost of $500 million annually. “The World Health...

It looks like conservatives face long odds against winning today’s Wisconsin Supreme Court election. We have no chance if Trump voters, Republicans, conservatives, and opponents of the coming gerrymander don’t get out and vote for Judge Brad Schimel today. Judge Schimel is a former two-term attorney general who has the endorsement of nearly all law enforcement in the state. His opposite number opposes election integrity measures such as photo ID and has signaled a willingness to redraw the maps of Wisconsin’s congressional districts in favor of Democrats. That’s why Elon Musk was out in Wisconsin supporting Judge Schimel over the...

While Wisconsin's Supreme Court race is officially nonpartisan, Democrats and Republicans have both picked sides and are pouring fortunes into their efforts. As the votes are tallied Tuesday night, the ability to claim political momentum amid the upheaval of President Donald Trump’s second term will be on the line. What is being tested, though, is not so much whether large numbers of voters have changed their minds in the five months since the presidential election. When it comes to Trump himself, Wisconsin is an especially polarized state, with three straight presidential elections decided by less than 1 point. More likely,...

Exodus is a historical novel by Leon Uris regarding the founding of the State of Israel beginning in post-World War II. The movie EXODUS is a retelling of of the 1947 IMMIGRATION SHIP EXODUS and the main characters relationship to the birth of the new Jewish state. 1st Part: The movie begins on a ship filled with Jewish immigrants bound for Israel then were off-loaded in Cyprus. An Intelligence officer succeeds in getting them back on board their ship only then to have the harbor blocked by the British forces preventing them from entering Palestine. 2nd Part: The second part...

A restaurant server who works in the Los Angeles International Airport was rattled after two customers left him a racist message at the top of their receipt. “No tip for illegal,” read the handwritten note. “Go back to Mexico.” Guillermo Ortiz, who works at the Planet Hollywood in the Tom Bradley International Terminal, said it was toward the end of his shift on March 21 when he waited on the couple. Ortiz told KTLA’s Carlos Saucedo that he thought everything had been going just fine with the two customers until he brought out their check. “The way they were looking...

Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) said Monday on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” that she was training Americans to help take down a potential “dictatorship” of President Donald Trump. At her resistance lab training, Jayapal said, “It appears that the Trump administration is willing to ignore judicial decisions and so that brings us to you in this room. It brings us to the people that is really, the bulwark, the wall against the crumbling of democracy.” Maddow said, “Help me understand this idea of the resistance lab and what you’re talking about in practical terms at these events.” Jayapal said, “Yeah...

An insurgent politician, spoiling to cause an upset and topple the establishment, removed from the ballot paper following corruption charges. No, I’m not talking about Erdogan’s Turkey, or some other faraway autocracy, but nominally democratic France, where a court has just upended the next presidential election. Marine Le Pen – leader of the right-wing National Rally (RN), preparing for a fourth tilt at the French presidency in 2027 – has been banned from standing for election for five years. She’s been found guilty for her role in siphoning off millions of euros in European Parliament funds and using it to...

While speaking to far-left political commentator David Packman, New York Governor Kathy Hochul committed to obstructing President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda by promising to prevent New York State police from cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). When a clip of her freak-out was posted to X, conservative commentators reacted by calling for the Democrat’s arrest, citing laws which ban state officials from disobeying federal mandates. For context, her remarks align with New York’s longstanding sanctuary policies, which include a 2017 executive order limiting state cooperation with ICE and a 2020 law banning ICE arrests in courthouses. This radical...

As Californians continue to wonder why they suffer disproportionately at the pump compared to other states, a new study from a prominent researcher says the state’s perpetually high gas prices are largely “self-inflicted.” Michael Mische with the USC Marshall School of Business recently published “A Study of California Gasoline Prices,” diving into the reason why California is typically the most expensive state in the U.S. to fill up your vehicle. The conclusion: California’s high gas prices are the “result of directed policies and a litany of regulations, taxes, fees, and costs,” according to Mische.