Free Republic

Politicians typically don’t mind campaign documentaries, because a race is a road show and the camera is a practice run for the performance part of the gig. Having a lens on what postelection governance looks like, however, is a rarity in nonfiction, which makes “Prime Minister” something of a unicorn: an intimate view inside the consequential, galvanizing five-year administration of New Zealand’s progressive leader Jacinda Ardern, who also became a first-time mother simultaneous to taking her country’s highest seat of power.

"We're done with Teams!" declared Digitalisation Minister Dirk Schrödter, speaking via an open-source video platform, in his announcement that the German state of Schleswig-Holstein will phase out all Microsoft software from government workplaces. The goal is to fully transition from Microsoft programs to Linux and open-source programs within the next three months. Also: Why Denmark is dumping Microsoft Office and Windows for LibreOffice and LinuxThe decision will affect nearly every civil servant, police officer, and judge, about 30,000 employees. Eventually, the rest of the civil service employees, primarily school teachers, will make the open-source shift. The radical change is being...

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear First Choice Women’s Resource Centers v. Platkin. Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing First Choice, a faith-based pregnancy center, are asking the Supreme Court to allow it to challenge in federal court an unconstitutional investigation by New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin. Platkin served a subpoena demanding that First Choice identify—by name—the donors behind nearly 5,000 donations and produce up to 10 years of its internal, confidential documents. The First Amendment protects donor identities from unjustified disclosure and prohibits a state official from retaliating against speech with which he disagrees. “New...

IDF calls on those in Tehran's Third District to evacuate ahead of Israeli airstrikes. Katz: 'The mouthpiece of Iranian propaganda and incitement is on its way to disappearing.'

Pro-life organizations have been talking about a recent study on abortion pill complications. The study found that 10.93 percent of people experience sepsis, infection, hemorrhage, or another serious adverse event within 45 days of taking the abortion pill. It also found that the rate of serious adverse events following chemical abortions is at least 22 times higher than the figure of “less than 0.5 percent” reported on the drug label. When examining numbers and statistics, it’s easy to lose sight of their impact on individual people. What do these complications look like for individual women? An Abortion Pill Complication One...

The Supreme Court has ordered New York courts to reconsider Diocese of Albany v. Harris, a case challenging New York’s abortion mandate, in light of Becket’s unanimous victory in Catholic Charities Bureau v. Wisconsin Labor & Industry Review Commission. In 2017, a group of Catholic and Anglican nuns, Catholic dioceses, Christian churches, and faith-based social ministries challenged New York’s mandate forcing them to pay for employees’ abortions. After New York courts declined to protect the faith groups, Becket and Jones Day asked the Supreme Court to step in. In 2021, the Justices reversed the lower courts’ rulings and told them...

Astronomers have uncovered a stunning twist in the mysteries of Uranus’ moons. Image: NASA, ESA, STScI, Christian Soto (STScI); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI) | The Daily Galaxy --Great Discoveries Channel ================================================================== A groundbreaking new study has uncovered surprising revelations about the moons of Uranus, challenging existing theories of how these moons interact with the planet’s magnetic field. Researchers, armed with the advanced ultraviolet instruments of the Hubble Space Telescope, have found that the “dark sides” of Uranus’ largest moons—previously thought to be on their trailing hemispheres—are actually on the opposite sides. The new findings, presented at the 246th American...

Just saw a utube video from an Iranian expat in London with this headline "Khamenei Fleeing To Russia As Tehran Collapses" Link to video below Searched that headline in a browser and came up with numerous articles from today with similar focus. As of this posting nothing similar in Jerusalem Post or Times of Israel (both Center-Left), or Arutz Sheva (religious Right) Pick your poison. YMMV.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — In an inspiring display of solidarity to voice their opposition to President Donald Trump's policies, San Francisco protesters spelled out "No Kings" with sidewalk feces. Thousands of the city's residents gathered downtown over the weekend to show their displeasure with Trump's immigration agenda, using the copious amount of human waste scattered around on the surrounding sidewalks as their medium of expression. "This will show Trump how much better off we are without his policies!" shouted one angry San Franciscan as he sculpted handfuls of excrement into the giant letter "N." "Our city is the perfect example...

President Trump ordered ICE to focus on Democrat strongholds for mass deportation. Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials should “do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History.” It looks like he’s going after sanctuary cities. He’s shifting from farms and hotels to Democrat cities. Newsweek wrote, “But despite the unrest, data suggests that Trump’s messaging on border enforcement and immigration control may be resonating even within the immigrant community.” The Mass Deportation Effort Is On Trump wrote on...

MADISON, Wis. -- An apartment occupant reportedly used tequila to marinade a home-cooked turkey Sunday evening, causing the oven door to "blow open." According to the Madison Fire Department, the 911 caller said they were cooking a turkey in the oven for eight minutes when the oven door "blew open." Firefighters arrived at the 5000 block of Old Middleton Road at 6:16 p.m. to check the oven. A thermal imaging camera was used, and firefighters opened the oven, which had blue flames that came out. The oven was removed from the apartment, and the occupant said they have used this...

Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D, Gay, WI) was named on a list recovered from the vehicle of a man suspected of killing a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband and injuring another lawmaker and his wife. Baldwin is one of nearly 70 names who reportedly appear on the list. The Associated Press reports that other people on the list include state and federal lawmakers as well as abortion rights advocates. "Senator Baldwin was informed by law enforcement that she was included on the alleged shooter’s list of names," Baldwin's Communications Director Eli Rosen told Channel3000.com in a statement. "She is grateful for...

The Department of Defense (DoD) has repeatedly voiced intention to maintain “appropriate human levels of judgment” over autonomous and AI-enabled weapon systems, but those who study frontier AI technologies have identified many challenges to aligning AI with human intentions. While questions of AI alignment occasionally smack of science fiction, frontier AI developers grapple with these challenges for product optimization and safety. Two challenges relevant to military AI applications have emerged recently: sycophancy and emergent misalignment . In the technical sense, sycophancy is the tendency of AI models to offer responses that are pleasing to their users at the expense of...

President Donald Trump said Monday that a deal with Iran regarding its nuclear program could be reached in the near term, and noted that Iranians have indicated to the administration they want to have discussions. Trump shared his optimism during a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney ahead of G7 sessions in Canada, on the heels of Israel taking out nuclear sites, refineries, and military leaders in Iran, and Iran responding by attacking Tel Aviv. “Do you think a deal is achievable within days, within weeks? Is there that kind of runway?” a reporter asked Trump. “Yeah, it’s achievable....

More than 100 police officers searched for two days for the suspect in the shootings of two Minnesota state lawmakers and their spouses. They finally captured him late Sunday, the hunt ending when he crawled to officers who had tracked him to a field outside Minneapolis. The suspect, Vance Boelter, 57, had been on the run for a day and a half when investigators found his car and hat Sunday afternoon on a remote stretch of road in Sibley County, a largely rural area southwest of Minneapolis — about an hour’s drive from the sites of the attacks early...

More than 100 police officers searched for two days for the suspect in the shootings of two Minnesota state lawmakers and their spouses. They finally captured him late Sunday, the hunt ending when he crawled to officers who had tracked him to a field outside Minneapolis. The suspect, Vance Boelter, 57, had been on the run for a day and a half when investigators found his car and hat Sunday afternoon on a remote stretch of road in Sibley County, a largely rural area southwest of Minneapolis — about an hour’s drive from the sites of the attacks early...

But Tehran's 86-year-old supreme leader will still be fearing assassination, hiding out in 'as secure a location as they can manage' as Israel continues to target high ranking officials with deadly precision strikes across the country, onlookers believe. Sources within Iran told London-based Persian-language outlet Iran International that Khamenei was moved to an underground bunker in Lavizan, in northeastern Tehran, in the hours after Israel began its attacks on the capital at the end of last week. He is believed to be holed up with his family, including his son, Mojtaba - who has been pegged as a potential successor...

President Trump began the Group of Seven (G7) summit Monday in Canada by arguing it was a mistake to kick Russia out of the organization more a decade ago. “The G7 used to be the G8. Barack Obama and a person named [former Canadian Prime Minister Justin] Trudeau didn’t want to have Russia in, and I would say that was a mistake, because I think you wouldn’t have a war right now if you had Russia in,” Trump said during his first meeting of the summit with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. Trump has made similar comments in the past....

MEXICO CITY — The action may be on the streets of Los Angeles, but fallout from the immigrant protests is roiling politics in Mexico at a delicate moment — days before Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is expected to meet President Trump in their much-anticipated inaugural face-to-face encounter.Sheinbaum has been on the defensive since Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem — at an Oval Office event in Trump’s presence — accused the Mexican president on Tuesday of “encouraging violent protests.” While Sheinbaum has assailed the U.S. immigration raids and backed immigrants’ rights to protest, there is no public record of her ever...

Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon warn that without a singular focus from the president to stop it right now, the U.S. will be dragged into war with Iran and repeat all the mistakes of the war on terror on an even larger scale. "I don't want my country to be further weakened and destroyed by another one of these wars," Tucker said. "And if you can't connect the dots after 25 years of this sh*t, you're either too dumb to participate in the conversation, or, like Mark Levin, you're just a liar who doesn't care." "This is a perfect way...