Free Republic

A former Mormon missionary has been arrested in Pittsburgh for allegedly sexually abusing at least 14 young boys while serving in Tonga before attempting to escape justice by fleeing the country using a fake identity. William James Purdy, 28, of West Valley, Utah, was taken into custody Thursday following a federal indictment handed down July 16, the Department of Justice announced. Purdy allegedly lured boys into his apartment with gifts including electronic devices, toys, food and money - before exploiting them for sexual exchanges. Purdy first traveled to the Pacific Island nation in 2017 to serve his mission with The...

Tom Lehrer, the Harvard-trained mathematician whose wickedly iconoclastic songs made him a favorite satirist in the 1950s and ’60s on college campuses and in all the Greenwich Villages of the country, died on Saturday at his home in Cambridge, Mass. He was 97. His death was confirmed by David Herder, a friend. Mr. Lehrer’s lyrics were nimble, sometimes salacious and almost always sardonic, sung to music that tended to be maddeningly cheerful. Accompanying himself on piano, he performed in nightclubs, in concert and on records that his admirers purchased, originally by mail order only, in the hundreds of thousands. But...

Cincinnati immigration attorney Trisha Chatterjee had a problem. She needed to ask U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement how best to submit paperwork for her clients detained at the Butler County Jail. Our media partners at the Cincinnati Enquirer say that after days without a response, she finally got through to an ICE officer who said he could give her the phone number for someone who could help. Chatterjee said the number was for a Columbus-area Taco Bell. “For the very first time, finally somebody answered me and I was genuinely so excited to have somebody who was going to help...

Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York said she might push for the state to redraw its congressional map years ahead of schedule to offset potential gains by Republicans in Texas, despite such an action being illegal. Redistricting, which typically occurs every 10 years, sees states redraw their congressional lines based on population trends. Both parties usually employ a process known as “gerrymandering,” meaning they draw the districts in a specific way to gain more seats. Texas announced it was thinking about redrawing its lines early, which could net them up to five more seats in the House. This sparked...

It is not surprising that leading neocon/warmonger and former National Security Advisor John Bolton would rally around his Deep State allies and trash Trump as DNI Tulsi Gabbard turns the screws on those who manufactured the Russia Hoax. .... Snip.... Real Clear Investigations reporter Paul Sperry revealed last night that Bolton had a classified memo in his possession that showed how former CIA Director John Brennan helped manufacture intelligence linking Trump to Vladimir Putin. Still, he never briefed Trump on the matter. Guess what he did instead? He stuck it in a National Security Council safe because he supposedly believed...

A Texas man has filed a landmark federal wrongful death lawsuit against a California abortion provider, alleging the physician "murdered" his unborn children by mailing abortion pills across state lines. The case, Rodriguez v. Coeytaux, marks the first of its kind to test how far pro-life litigants can go to sidestep blue state abortion shield laws using century-old federal statutes and Texas civil code. Filed July 20 in the Southern District of Texas, the lawsuit accuses Dr. Remy Coeytaux of aiding illegal self-managed abortions in 2024, by mailing abortion-inducing drugs to Galveston County, Texas, where they were allegedly used to...

For decades, Republicans have argued that if supporters of NPR and PBS were so fond of keeping the purported “news” organizations operational, then they should have no problem forking over the donations needed to keep them going. As it turns out, that is exactly what is happening, with the New York Times reporting that in the aftermath of NPR and PBS losing their federal funding thanks to the GOP-controlled Congress, donations from private citizens have “exploded” at “unprecedented” levels: scoop: donations to NPR and PBS stations have exploded, with donors across the country giving in unprecedented numbers since Congress cut...

Donald Trump and Ursula von der Leyen are meeting at the US president’s golf course in Scotland to discuss the prospect of a trade deal. The summit with the president of the EU commission could mark a breakthrough in trade negotiations, ending months of uncertainty. Talks between the two leaders are now underway as part of the president’s five-day trip to Scotland, which will also see him meet with Sir Keir Starmer. On Friday, Mr Trump said there was around a “50/50” likelihood of a deal being reached between the US and the EU. The US president initially threatened 30...

Stanford Graduate School of Business stands at the center of Silicon Valley, surrounded by the companies and technologies driving the AI revolution. But according to multiple current MBA students who have spoken this summer to Poets&Quants, the school is not keeping pace with the sweeping changes these tools are bringing to business education — and the consequences could be long-lasting. “I think educators and the school have not modified the curriculum to really match up with the tools that are out there, especially during the first year,” one student tells Poets&Quants in one of a series of candid, wide-ranging interviews....

Amazon Prime making a TV show blasting Convention of States probably wasn’t on your bingo card. But, alas, here we are. The show is called Shiny Happy People: A Teenage Holy War, and it’s a sensationalized polemic about an evangelical organization that apparently “radicalized” Christian youth, which takes an unexpected turn into “exposing” the COS grassroots who want to “rewrite the Constitution.” According to the series’ description, “Teen Mania captivated a generation of fervent evangelical Millennial kids with adrenaline-fueled, ecstatic religious experiences through ‘Acquire the Fire’ rallies. But beneath the glittering surface lurked sadistic boot camps, staged martyrdom drills, and...

Quantum computing developments over the past 12 months, including Google Willow, IBM Majorana 1, and innovations at IBM, PsiQuantum and Atom Computing. Quantum Computing 2025 Update | 17:04 ExplainingComputers | 1.12M subscribers | 3,935 views | July 27, 2025

A flurry of mainstream media reports, from Bloomberg, The Guardian, Financial Times, and CNN, among other outlets, claim that climate change is causing rising food prices “worldwide,” based on a single new study. This is false. Bad weather has always impacted crop production, and there is no actual evidence that extreme weather is increasing. Globalization of media coverage is simply making it easier to hear about bad weather elsewhere in the world, meanwhile crop production and yields globally continue to set records – a fact the same media outlets largely ignore. Focusing on the coverage by Bloomberg, in an article...

Post the worst covers songs you’ve ever heard

For the first time since the war began, there are credible concerns of hunger in Gaza. The main indicator, as expressed both by Gazans and economists, is the price of food in the enclave, a variable that can at least be used to calculate supply and demand and therefore offers a general picture of the overall trend. And that trend suggests that a future hunger crisis might be on the horizon if nothing changes. The caveat—and it’s a big one—is that there is enough food in Gaza. Testimony of Gazans and videos of fat, ogreish Hamasniks stuffing their maws have...

TV shows in the 70’s was a different era altogether—one where boundaries were loose, sensitivities were different, and what passed for humor often reflected the social attitudes of the time. Many catchphrases from that decade, while harmless in their original context, would raise eyebrows and spark controversy if used today. 15. “Whatchoo talkin’ ’bout, Willis?”

Every day brings more devastation. But daily forms of rebellion can restore our sense of purpose. The exterminating force of Project 2025 is plowing through the culture, the government and people’s hearts and bodies like a drunk on a violent tear. We wake each morning, holding our breath to bear witness to the new devastation: PBS and NPR defunded, cuts to the fight against human trafficking, Medicaid gone for millions, Ice working to surveil critics, tons of food for the poor ordered burned and wasted. The momentum of cruelty always feels inevitable. Cruelty is by definition “a callous indifference to...

The Pentagon on Thursday publicly announced it will no longer allow Defense Department officials to appear at events that do not align with the current presidential administration, and will instead thoroughly screen future programs. The move comes a week after the Pentagon pulled all of its military speakers from the annual Aspen Security Forum, which the Trump administration has blasted as a "globalist" summit. The Aspen Institute is a left-leaning think tank, and has featured critics of President Donald Trump like former National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. The order, which went into effect on Tuesday, has only directly impacted the...

Foreign agents were able to penetrate the systems of the U.S. agency responsible for maintaining and designing nuclear weapons. The National Nuclear Security Administration, which operates under the United States Department of Energy, was compromised along with other sectors of the department. According to Bloomberg, while the NNSA is semiautonomous, it still holds the responsibility of producing and dismantling nuclear arms in the United States. This makes the intrusion even more concerning when considering the origins of those who penetrated the system. The Energy Department revealed in an email to Bloomberg that an "exploitation of a Microsoft SharePoint zero-day vulnerability...

The Trump administration has reportedly located over 13,000 children who entered the United States unaccompanied and illegally before being lost to government tracking systems. Immigration and Customs Enforcement under President Donald Trump has arrested more than 400 sponsors of unaccompanied minors for crimes related to mistreatment of the children in their care or for other reasons, a Health and Human Services official told NewsNation. Over 300,000 unaccompanied minors flooded into the United States under former President Joe Biden and were then lost to government officials, according to the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General. The Trump administration has...

As the 2026 primaries begin to take shape, one swing state in particular has remained on the GOP's radar. After Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina announced his retirement in June, all eyes turned to Tar Heel State native Lara Trump. Although the Republican nomination would have undoubtedly been hers to claim, Lara passed on the opportunity to scoop up the Senate bid. Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley, who previously co-chaired the RNC alongside Lara Trump, will instead be running for the North Carolina Senate seat, reportedly with President Donald Trump's blessing. Although neither candidate has issued a...