Free Republic

For months, US economic data has shown resilience, with layoffs remaining low and business activity staying steady despite fears over policy uncertainty. But the tide may be shifting. Multiple data points this week have shown signs of slowing as a wide swath of tariffs has been in effect. On Thursday, weekly filings for unemployment benefits hit their highest level since October 2024, adding to a slew of data showing a cooling economy leading into the Friday morning release of the May jobs report. Earlier in the week, the Institute for Supply Management's Services PMI registered a reading of 49.9 in...

Once again, the consensus of government and private weather forecasters is that this coming summer will witness above-average temperatures in most parts of the United States. Already, warnings have been sounded that America’s power grids will be under great stress—as has been the case for a number of years—with a strong probability of blackouts and brownouts in some parts of the country. For example, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s (NERC) summer reliability assessment published on May 18 cited the 15-state Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) as the regional grid most likely to see a meltdown this summer. NERC’s warning...

An elusive fungus capable of generating quantities of a compound used to synthesize the hallucinogen LSD has finally been discovered on the morning glory vine after decades of searching. Almost a century ago, the Swiss chemist Albert Hoffman hypothesized the whimsical plant might harbor a species that belongs to a family of ergot-generating fungi. As the man who discovered and was first to synthesize LSD ( lysergic acid diethylamide) from the ergot alkaloid, Hoffman had been keen to expand our understanding of the biology and chemistry of organisms that produced it. While biochemical data hinted that a commonly cultivated morning...

@RepThomasMassie The house has a 72 hour rule which requires the bill to be posted 72 hours before passage. BUT the Speaker circumvented this rule with a “managers amendment” that re-wrote and added substantial portions of the bill as it went through the rules committee the night the bill was passed. There’s another House rule which requires a day to pass before voting on a bill after the rules committee has modified it. Would you believe the House voted to suspend that so-called “same day rule”?! 😳 This means the final language of the bill was released only a few...

As leading AI labs compete in a breakneck race to develop more powerful systems, the “Godfather of AI” says ethical concerns and safety research are being sidelined, risking serious consequences for society. The Financial Times reports that AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio has sounded the alarm on the current state of AI development, warning that the competitive drive to create increasingly intelligent systems has led to a reckless disregard for safety and ethical considerations. Bengio, often referred to as the “Godfather of AI,” believes that this negligent approach could have disastrous consequences for humanity. In an interview with the Times, Bengio...

Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!

Investigators are working to uncover what caused a fleet of decommissioned SEPTA buses to catch fire at a Philadelphia bus depot on Thursday morning. SEPTA GM Scott Sauer said over a dozen of the torched buses were Protera-manufactured electric buses that he said have not been used in several years. A total of 40 buses were damaged in the fire, sparking air quality concerns that the city's health department says are still unhealthy for nearby residents. No one was injured in the fire at SEPTA's largest bus depot that runs 24-hours a day.

Donald Trump’s journey from the world of business (with WWE along the way) to the Oval Office is a story of the power of showmanship and the blurred lines between entertainment and politics. As the only WWE Hall of Famer to become President of the United States (so far), Trump’s political career has been significantly influenced by his experiences in professional wrestling.

Elon Musk went nuclear on President Trump Thursday, accusing him of withholding information from the public about Jeffrey Epstein because it would implicate him. “Time to drop the really big bomb,” Musk posted on X after a multi-hour tirade against the president. “@realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files.” That is the real reason they have not been made public,” he claimed. “Have a nice day, DJT!” The disgraced financier’s association with Trump has been known for years as the two were videotaped and photographed together at parties in the 1990s.

The woman who was charged after spitting on DOJ official Ed Martin is potentially facing new charges after she went on an insane tweet rant and threatened Interim DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro. Last month, the Justice Department charged the unhinged woman who spat on DOJ official Ed Martin. The woman, identified as Emily Gabriella Sommer, was charged with violation of 18 U.S.C. § 111 (Assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers and employees of the United States). Sommer spat on then-Acting DC US Attorney Ed Martin last month while he was interviewing with Newsmax. “We need to stay focused,” Ed...

President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to cut Elon Musk’s government contracts as their fractured alliance rapidly escalated into a public feud with Trump suggesting he would use the U.S. government to hurt his fellow billionaire financially. The spectacular blow-up between the president of the United States and the world’s richest man played out on their respective social media platforms after Trump first broached the topic in a White House meeting with Germany’s new leader. The rancorous breakup happened less than a week after they appeared together at the White House and Trump thanked Musk for his brief but tumultuous...

New Testament scholar NT Wright has shared further thoughts on the murder of children in the womb, offering that while he’s no scientist and it’s tough for him to talk about the issue on account of him being a man and not a woman, that he believes there are exceptions for rape and incest, as well as the mental health of the mother who can’t bear having a child with a fetal deformity. Wright previously revealed that he thinks a substantial element of the pro-life movement is just “people nervous about sex” who get manipulated by “powerful men telling women...

Radio host Charlamagne Tha God on Thursday criticized black Democratic voters for what he called blind loyalty to the party. Charlamagne’s comments on “The Breakfast Club” followed former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announcing on Wednesday that she was leaving the Democratic Party to become an independent and publishing a book. The radio host praised her departure from the Democratic Party, arguing that black Americans should not be tied to either major political party. WATCH: VIDEO AT LINK................... “I respect her being independent because I feel like if you black in this country, you shouldn’t be loyal to any...

The Pentagon notified Congress last week that it will be diverting critical anti-drone technology that had been allocated for Ukraine to US Air Force units in the Middle East, according to correspondence obtained by CNN and people familiar with the matter.The move reflects the US’ shifting defense priorities under President Donald Trump – toward the Middle East and the Pacific – and the fact that US stockpiles of some defense components are becoming increasingly stretched.The technology, proximity fuzes for the rockets Ukraine uses to shoot down Russian drones, was redirected from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) to Air Force...

Democrats are expressing disapproval of their own party’s attempts to regain men that voted Republican in the 2024 presidential election, The Hill reported Thursday. Some Democrats told The Hill they believe that the Democratic Party needs to find better ways to reconnect with male voters. The report comes after The New York Times reported that some Democrats had unveiled “Speaking with American Men: A Strategic Plan” (SAM), a widely panned $20 million effort co-founded by a prominent feminist aiming to study how the Democratic Party can regain young male voters that backed President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election....

Laura Loomer @LauraLoomer President Trump just said the easiest way to save money in our budget is to “terminate @elonmusk’s Governmental subsidies and contracts.” Trump added, “I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it. ” 2:01 PM · Jun 5, 2025

An Illegal immigrant has been found guilty of a DUI crash that resulted in the death of a state trooper. On Tuesday, a Snohomish County jury found Raul Benitez-Santana, 33, guilty of vehicular assault and vehicular homicide — in connection with the death of Washington State Patrol Trooper Christopher Gadd. In March 2024, Gadd, 27, was driving in his cruiser when he was hit by a speeding car going over 100 mph ... Benitez-Santana was under the influence at the time of the crash. He admitted to drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana before jumping in his vehicle. Benitez-Santana had reportedly...

If you have walked the deep political weeds with us, you will likely remember the warnings. Thomas Massie, Chip Roy, Rand Paul and other fellow republican travelers will join with Elon Musk and the alligator emoji network to oppose President Trump as soon as they can get back into the minority.There is an intention behind this alignment of interests, which includes the Tech Bros (and Sea Island), that ends with a Vance-DeSantis promoted effort in 2028. The only thing standing in their way is MAGA. As a result, MAGA must be fractured.The money center behind the strategy is working on...

Elon Musk right now on X: Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!

We’ve known for a long time that LGBT activists have a persecution fantasy. That’s why they’ve come up with so many hate crime hoaxes over the years. This week they came up with another one, and it’s one of the most absurd ones we’ve seen in a long time.