Free Republic

The Fairfax County Public Schools system in Virginia has launched an investigation into accusations that school staff arranged abortions for students without notifying their parents, according to local reports. School officials at Centreville High School in Union Hill allegedly arranged and bankrolled abortions for girls in 2021, including a 17-year-old, according to local news outlet WJLA. “We learned yesterday of these concerning allegations from 2021,” FCPS said in a statement to the outlet on Wednesday. “We are launching an immediate and comprehensive investigation as we take all concerns of student wellbeing very seriously.” Pressed on whether FCPS staff have ever...

ICE agents used a "never before seen" tactic to enforce US immigration law during a huge raid at a Home Depot. While LA mayor Karen Bass and activists are outraged, the new tactic may have protected officers in one of America's most dangerous sanctuary cities. More show notes: ICE was using a Penske rental truck as a "Trojan Horse" at Home Depot in Los Angles. One of the drivers posed as someone looking for work then agents came storming out of the back. Penske release statement on this..on video. Typical double talk.

Donald Trump is making good on his pre-election promises and continues to push for favorable crypto regulations. Today, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, signed an Executive Order that aims to allow 401(k) investors access to alternative assets (such as digital assets). According to the official announcement: “The order directs the Secretary of Labor to reexamine the Department of Labor’s guidance on a fiduciary’s duties regarding alternative asset investments in ERISA-governed 401(k) and other defined-contribution plans.” This comes as part of Trump’s plans to establish the country as the leading player in the cryptocurrency industry. To this point,...

Gina Carano has received a settlement following her controversial 2021 firing from Disney's The Mandalorian. The actress and mixed martial arts veteran, 43, who starred as Cara Dune in the Star Wars franchise spin-off, was canned from the popular series in early 2021 over Instagram posts comparing Jews in the Holocaust to American conservatives. Carano confirmed the settlement herself on her official X account stating: 'I have come to an agreement with Disney/Lucasfilm, which I believe is the best outcome for all parties involved. I hope this brings some healing to the force.' She added, 'I want to extend my...

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- More than 9,200 Department of Water and Power customers in Granada Hills and Porter Ranch remained without water service Thursday while the utility scrambled to repair a broken underground valve -- a job that could last through the weekend. The affected area is bounded roughly by Rinaldi Avenue on the south, Balboa Boulevard on the east, De Soto Avenue on the west and the foothills and hills to the north, according to the DWP. According to the agency, water crews were conducting repair work on Tuesday at a pump station that connects to a 10 million-gallon...

Long before bourbon dominated the liquor market, rye whiskey reigned supreme. Now, a Midwestern distiller is teaming up with scientists to bring back a long-gone type of grain and turn it into spicy, bold whiskey. The source is a wooden schooner named the James R. Bentley that's been sitting in Lake Huron for nearly 150 years. The ship sank in Nov. 1878 after striking a shoal.

~Favorite Rich or Poor Songs~ Fiddler on the roof - If I were a rich man (with subtitles)*Video*

What if I told you a high level official in the US Government had an account on a sex solicitation website and regularly engaged in swinger activity? Would anyone even be surprised? I wonder how long it will be till it comes out. A lot of things will then start to make more sense… A LOT. Tick tock.

• As AI reshapes how stories are created and consumed, Hollywood faces an existential question: Can it stay culturally central or is it being overtaken?• Startups like Luma and Moonvalley are pushing the boundaries of AI-native filmmaking, while legacy studios scramble to adapt.• Depending on how it’s used, AI could spark a creative rebirth or hasten Hollywood’s slide into irrelevance.• Across conversations with tech CEOs, studio executives and filmmakers, some foresee a renaissance. Others warn of a flood of cheap content and a “Black Mirror”-style future. At a Starbucks in downtown Culver City, Amit Jain pulls out his iPad Pro...

My startling chat with Grok Grok tries to serve Elon Musk, the aggressive censors at X, and me X deleted several of my posts with no explanation. Instead of complaining to X, I contacted Grok and asked why my posts were being vaporized. We communicated for 45 minutes, which resulted in more than 25 pages of single-space copy! People wonder what AI is all about. I can report that Grok does everything super-fast. He (she if you prefer) does not make grammatical or spelling mistakes. Like me, he loves alliteration. Whatever you say, he weaves that into his conversation so...

Patrick Ruffini is a co-founder of Echelon Insights, a research and analytics firm. By the time 2028 rolls around, high-quality polling of the presidential race may prove very hard to come by. And it won’t be because of a natural evolution in how Americans take polls — something we pollsters are all too familiar with — but because of a switch that’s set to be flipped next month at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California. Apple’s new mobile operating system, iOS 26, includes a new feature designed to curb unwanted spam calls and text messages. It will do so by segregating...

Virginia’s [Democrat] gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger raked in $50,000 in campaign donations from an electric vehicle tycoon who is a member of the Chinese Communist Party, according to campaign finance records. The funding is perplexing given that Virginia law forbids foreign nationals from making political contributions, and Chinese law typically bans CCP members from holding foreign citizenship or permanent residency.Pin Ni, an executive at Chinese automotive conglomerate Wanxiang Group and the head of the company’s American subsidiary, gave the donations to Spanberger’s campaign in April and May.The news comes as Republicans slam [the Democrat] over her support for electric vehicle...

The 29-year-old forged her documents to work at a Florida hospital, and the discrepancy was noticed only after she was offered a promotion, according to an investigation.A young woman working at a hospital in Florida drew blood, administered medications and started IV lines, treating about 4,500 individuals over seven months. She did her job so well that she was offered a promotion at the start of this year.But when the hospital, AdventHealth Palm Coast Parkway in Palm Coast, Fla., checked the status of the woman’s nursing license, they discovered that she had an expired certified nursing assistant license, that she...

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday that aims to allow private equity, real estate, cryptocurrency, and other alternative assets in 401(k) retirement accounts. The order smoothes the way for private equity and other fund managers to tap into trillions of dollars of Americans' retirement savings. It could open up a vast new funding source to managers of alternative assets outside of stocks, bonds, and cash, though critics say it also could bring too much risk into retirement investments. "The Securities and Exchange Commission must consider ways to facilitate access to alternative asset investments by participants in...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order requiring colleges to submit data to prove they do not consider race in admissions.In 2023, the Supreme Court ruled against the use of affirmative action in admissions but said colleges may still consider how race has shaped students’ lives if applicants share that information in their admissions essays. Trump’s Republican administration is accusing colleges of using personal statements and other proxies to consider race, which conservatives view as illegal discrimination.The role of race in admissions has featured in the administration’s battle against some of the nation’s most elite...

Israel currently controls about 75% of Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he wants Israel to take full control over the Gaza Strip, but not to govern the enclave. “We intend to, in order to assure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free of Gaza and pass it to civilian governance that is not Hamas and not anyone advocating the destruction of Israel,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox News. Israel has been at war with Hamas since the group launched a surprise attack on Oct. 7, 2023, killing more than 1,200 people and...

Mayor Muriel Bowser has a go-to strategy when President Trump fires off a surprise D.C. takeover threat: sealed lips. Why it matters: After the alleged assault of an ex-DOGE staffer, Washingtonians might reasonably wonder if the city is one high-profile crime away from forfeiting its local democracy. What I'm hearing: Trump's missives to "FEDERALIZE" the District sound doomy, but Bowser isn't acting like the sky is falling. Bowser stuck to it after Trump said on Truth Social on Tuesday that "we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City" if D.C. "doesn't get its act together."...

Summary Trump says CEO of Intel is highly "conflicted" and must resign Trump's demand marks rare presidential intervention in corporate leadership Reuters in April exclusively reported on Tan's Chinese investments Intel shares close down 3% Aug 7 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday demanded the immediate resignation of new Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, calling him "highly conflicted" due to his ties to Chinese firms and raising doubts about plans to turn around the struggling American chip icon.Reuters reported exclusively in April that Tan invested at least $200 million in hundreds of Chinese advanced manufacturing and chip firms, some...

WASHINGTON — President Trump is planning to deploy federal law enforcement on the streets of the nation’s capital as early as Friday to crack down on violence committed by gangs of roaming “youths,” the White House confirmed to The Post. “DC residents can expect to see an increase in federal enforcement starting as early as tomorrow,” an administration official said Thursday, adding that operational details were still being finalized. The move comes after a well-known former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffer, Edward Coristine — also known as “Big Balls” — was attacked by teenagers as he intervened to thwart...

he Japanese automaker posted a nearly $1.6 billion operating profit loss, as it writes off losses from its EV efforts and tariffs. The ‘Power of Dreams’ brand is taking a massive loss Japanese automotive giant Honda is rethinking its strategy regarding electric vehicles as it absorbed red-ink losses stemming from their development and the impact of U.S. tariffs. In the first quarter of its 2025-2026 fiscal year (April 1 to June 30, 2025), Honda took a one-time charge of ¥113.4 billion (~$780 million) related to its EV-related troubles. In total, the impact of the EV charge and its exposure to...