Free Republic

The new company, called Merge Labs, aims to merge humans and machines together through artificial intelligence and is raising funds at a $850 million valuation, according to FT. The startup reportedly is aiming to raise $250 million in total investment and OpenAI’s ventures team is expected to supply much of the new capital.

The space race is no longer prioritizing exploration but militarization and energy. The second space race will see the United States come up against Russia and China to place nuclear reactors on the surface of the moon. US Transportation Secretary and interim NASA Administrator Sean Duff declared that installing a nuclear reactor on the moon is the agency’s top priority. The reactor will generate a minimum of 100 kilowatts of electricity to support lunar missions and infrastructure, and NASA has a firm deadline—2029. Duffy also noted that the nation that reaches the moon first will have the ability to implement...

SummaryRaids at farms ensnare migrants who lived in the U.S. for decades One detained migrant said an agent in military garb hit him on the head, threatened him with gun DHS said 185,000 people have been deported from the U.S. this year Aug 12 (Reuters) - Yahir remembers growing up in Mexico without a bed or a stove. He didn’t own a pair of shoes until he was 10, and in the mid-1990s — when he was 13 — he crossed with a group illegally into the U.S. in search of work. He settled in California and worked on farms...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Mexico sent 26 high-ranking cartel figures to the United States Tuesday in the latest major deal with the Trump administration as American authorities ratchet up pressure on criminal networks smuggling drugs across the border. Those handed over to U.S. custody include Abigael González Valencia, a leader of “Los Cuinis,” a group closely aligned with notorious cartel Jalisco New Generation or CJNG. Another defendant, Roberto Salazar, is wanted in connection to the 2008 killing of a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy. Other prominent figures have ties to the Sinaloa Cartel and other violent drug trafficking groups. The transfers...

Abstract: The incidence of cancers has increased exponentially worldwide since the universal COVID-19 vaccination program began at the end of 2020. These cancers tend to present at an advanced stage, progress rapidly, and occur in younger patients. Additionally, some patients previously in remission have been reported to develop uncontrolled cancer relapses shortly after receiving a COVID-19 vaccination (usually a booster). The temporal association between these cancers and COVID-19 vaccination is undeniable. These observations have given rise to the term “turbo-cancers.” Although not a formally recognized oncologic classification, the term “turbo cancer” has gained traction among clinicians describing a pattern of...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The director of the agency that produces the nation’s jobs and inflation data is typically a mild-mannered technocrat, often with extensive experience in statistical agencies, with little public profile. But like so much in President Donald Trump’s second administration, this time is different. Trump has selected E.J. Antoni, chief economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation, to be the next commissioner at the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. Antoni’s nomination was quickly met with a cascade of criticism from other economists, from across the political spectrum. His selection threatens to bring a new level of politicization to...

President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Ukraine would reject any Russian proposal to give up the Donbas region in exchange for a ceasefire, warning it could be used as a springboard for future attacks. Zelensky was speaking ahead of a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday. Trump has said any peace deal would involve "some swapping of territories" and it is believed one of Putin's demands is that Kyiv surrenders the parts of the Donbas it still controls. Meanwhile Russia's troops have continued their summer offensive, making a sudden thrust near the...

Abstract. This article analyses the October 7th 2023 Hamas attack on Israel through the lens of the Genocide Convention, arguing that these actions constitute genocide under international law. Drawing on international case law, the analysis demonstrates how Hamas’ actions meet both the physical element and specific intent requirements for genocide, evidenced by its ideology, systematic policies and leadership statements. The article also examines how reverse accusations of genocide against Israel have functioned as a rhetorical shield to deflect recognition of Hamas’ own genocidal actions. It analyses the legal implications for state parties and the international community.

The Australian’s Foreign Editor Greg Sheridan discusses the Western left’s “obsession” with Israel and the Middle East. “Cowards like Albanese can jump on the anti-Israel bandwagon because Netanyahu has made Israel so unpopular,” Mr Sheridan told Sky News Australia. “Australia has absolutely zero influence in the Middle East, none at all. “We have a much more obsessive discussion about the Middle East than we have about the South China Sea, or the Philippines or anything like that, because the obsession of the Western left with Israel is a part of its obsession with identity politics.”

Forty-five percent of dementia cases are potentially preventable, and simple lifestyle choices including exercise, diet and social connection all contribute to your risk score. But what if these risk factors were leaving chemical warning signs of decline in your brain—long before any symptoms of dementia played out? Researchers believe they've found just that. The study used magnetic resonance imaging and MR-spectroscopy to measure the brain chemical levels of 79 healthy older adults. All participants had normal memory, thinking skills and cognitive function. What varied was their modifiable-dementia risk score—calculated from health and lifestyle factors such as physical activity, sleep, social...

President Trump’s sharp criticism of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday is sending chills across Europe, where leaders are working to guard against the worst-case scenario: Trump aligning with Russian President Vladimir Putin to force a bad deal on Kyiv.Trump blew past a deadline last week to impose punishing sanctions on Russia and its primary trading partners in exchange for the face-to-face meeting with Putin, set for Friday in Alaska.And while the president has expressed increased frustration with Putin and Russia’s attacks on Ukraine, he this week reverted to criticisms that Zelensky is to blame for stating the war.“[Trump] is...

The Texas House Democrats who abandoned their state in protest of the Republican-led redistricting effort will return home after Gov. Greg Abbott (R) took “emergency action” to begin removing the absent legislators as they refused to show up for work. Multiple sources revealed the news to ABC13 on Tuesday, though the exact date the Democrats will return to the state capitol in Austin was not confirmed. The state House had only 95 members present for the second day in a row on Tuesday, with Speaker Dustin Burrows (R) predicting that the session will end and a new one will start...

Several lefty, dark money organizations, including George Soros’, contributed more than $20 million to groups funding protests against President Trump’s crime crackdown in Washington, DC. Free DC, a “fiscally sponsored special project” of progressive nonprofits Community Change and Community Change Action, brought 150 demonstrators near the White House Monday to protest Trump’s plan to deploy National Guard troops in the district and federalize the city’s police department. “Do not obey in advance” and “Take up space” are among Free DC’s “guiding principles,” and the group urges supporters to “go outside at 8:00 PM and bang pots and pans, sing, chant,...

Researchers have identified a promising nonpharmaceutical treatment that rejuvenates aging brain cells and clears away the buildup of harmful proteins associated with Alzheimer's disease. In a paper, the team reports that a combination of naturally occurring compounds—nicotinamide (a form of vitamin B3) and epigallocatechin gallate (a green tea antioxidant)—can reinstate levels of guanosine triphosphate, an essential energy molecule in brain cells. In tests on neurons in a dish, the treatment reversed age-related cellular deficits and improved the brain cells' ability to clear damaging amyloid protein aggregates, an Alzheimer's hallmark. "As people age, their brains show a decline in neuronal energy...

DONALD “TACO” TRUMP, AS MANY CALL HIM, “MISSED” THE DEADLINE!!! CALIFORNIA WILL NOW DRAW NEW, MORE “BEAUTIFUL MAPS,” THEY WILL BE HISTORIC AS THEY WILL END THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY (DEMS TAKE BACK THE HOUSE!). BIG PRESS CONFERENCE THIS WEEK WITH POWERFUL DEMS AND GAVIN NEWSOM — YOUR FAVORITE GOVERNOR — THAT WILL BE DEVASTATING FOR “MAGA.” THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER! — GN

FBI Director Kash Patel has released a bombshell report that a Democratic whistleblower accused now California Sen. Adam Schiff of approving the leaking of classified information to target President Donald Trump. While this is only the unverified allegation of a single former staffer, the alleged conduct would involve criminal and unethical conduct of the highest order, if proven. The whistleblower is described as working for the House Intelligence Committee for over ten years and reported Schiff’s alleged conduct in 2017, according to documents obtained by Just The News. The staffer described Schiff’s conduct as “treasonous” and “illegal.” Schiff has previously...

What is the earliest spark that ignites the memory-robbing march of Alzheimer's disease? Researchers may have found an answer: lithium deficiency in the brain. The work shows that lithium occurs naturally in the brain, shields it from neurodegeneration, and maintains the normal function of all major brain cell types. The findings are based on experiments in mice and on analyses of human brain tissue and blood samples from individuals in various stages of cognitive health. The scientists found lithium loss in the human brain is one of the earliest changes leading to Alzheimer's, while in mice, similar lithium depletion accelerated...

Vikings fans cheered the return of JJ McCarthy earlier this week when the team defeated the Houston Texans. However, a section of the Skol is unhappy because the club introduced a male cheerleader. Female cheerleaders have been around for a long time, at both the college and professional levels. They play a key part in fan engagement and various other activities. It’s not as easy a job as it may appear. Participants undergo several rounds of evaluation and a year-round grooming process to have a chance to represent their teams. According to the sources in The Vikings, they added a...

Latin Jazz Pianist-Composer Eddie Palmieri, 1936–2025 By Frank AlkyeAug. 12, 2025 “I don’t guess I’m going to excite you; I know I’m going to excite you,” Palmieri said in an August 1994 DownBeat feature. Famed Latin jazz composer, bandleader and pianist Eddie Palmieri passed away in his New Jersey home on Aug. 6. He was 88. A product of the Spanish Harlem neighborhood in New York City, where he was born, and the Bronx, where he grew up, Palmieri brought the joy, complexity, grit and love of the music he heard around him as well as the sounds his parents...

President Trump has promised to move the homeless 'far away' from Washington DC, and now that federal agents are flooding the capital, local activists are outraged. More show notes: Protesters fight each other in DC over homeless. Locals upset over police/national guard in area and believe Trump overstepped his bounds. Others say crime is not going down and this needs to be done. Is New York next?