Free Republic

Police say Troy McAlister was intoxicated when he ran a red light in a stolen car, killing Elizabeth Platt, 60, and Hanako Abe, 27 A career criminal is asking to swap prison time for a drug-treatment program nearly five years after his New Year’s Eve rampage in downtown San Francisco allegedly killed two pedestrians – reigniting fierce debate over California’s woke criminal justice practices. On Friday, Troy McAlister’s attorney, Scott Grant, asked the court to grant mental-health and substance-abuse diversion under California Penal Code §1001.36, which could allow McAlister to enter treatment instead of facing decades in prison if Judge...

Florida authorities released body cam footage on Monday that appears to show a dog leading a deputy sheriff to a woman reported missing by her husband that night. The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office posted footage of the September 25 incident on Facebook on Oct. 6. The video begins by showing a man at the door of a home in Destin, Florida, a town about 50 miles east of Pensacola. The man tells Deputy Devon Miller that his wife has been missing for an hour that evening. A spokesperson for the sheriff’s office said in an email that the woman is...

If you’ve ever wondered what power you really wield as a pedestrian in a busy city, read on… City life involves a lot of waiting – in queues in the supermarket, on platforms for trains and buses, at red lights in your car or bike, or in lobbies for elevators. But as I see it, time never moves as soul-crushingly slowly as it does when you’re waiting to cross a busy road.

The biggest high school district by enrollment and land area in the state of California voted 3-2 to adopt a Title IX resolution that would only allow female students in girls' sports, on Monday. The vote comes as the state's educational agencies face a lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Justice for alleged Title IX violations by allowing biological males to play in girls' sports. Kern High School District regularly enrolls more than 40,000 students and employs more than 1,700 staff per year across its 31 schools. Now, it becomes the 16th school district, individual school or board of education...

When Finland joined NATO in 2023, the small Nordic nation brought with it one of Europe’s most comprehensive defense systems, built over decades of preparing for the worst along its border with Russia. Instead of a large standing army, Finland relies on universal conscription, a vast trained reserve pool, and a society where everyone has a role in national defense. As Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo put it in 2025: “By joining NATO, Finland strengthened its own security, but also the stability and security of the whole Alliance. We have over 1,300 kilometers of border with Russia, but we also...

An analysis of the Russo-Urainian War in 2025. I look at events essentially from the draw down in Kursk to the overall trajectory of the combat lines. Finally, I take a look at constraints on the west and challenges faced.

A new analysis of artwork left behind by the enigmatic inhabitants of the abandoned Mesoamerican city Teotihuacan suggests the colorful pictures and shapes may constitute a rudimentary language that ultimately evolved into the language of the Aztecs.If the team of researchers behind the discovery can successfully decipher the "lost language," they believe it could offer clues about the identity of Teotihuacan's builders and the reasons they abandoned the once thriving metropolis...Previous excavations and decades of research have determined that Teotihuacan was founded sometime around 100 AD. Researchers have also determined that the massive complex of buildings and roadways likely supported...

Mask-wearing pro-Palestine protestors have shut down London's Tower Bridge as they chanted 'from the river to the sea' ahead of a Downing Street march. People waved Palestinian flags and set off flares as they blocked traffic before a static protest near the PM's residence. They chanted 'Zionism, terrorism' and 'get your hands off Palestine' as Scotland Yard imposed Public Order Act restrictions and ordered the demonstration to end at 8pm. The protest in the capital has been organised by pro-Palestine group Intifada 87, who have planned to protest outside the BBC's headquarters before heading to Downing Street. Some 50 protestors...

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - A man arrested after a crash that killed a University of South Carolina student earlier this year is now serving a prison sentence. Public court records show Rosali Fernandez-Cruz pleaded guilty to a count of hit and run resulting in death on Aug. 11. He was sentenced to one year in prison, with credit for 131 days served. Records from the South Carolina Department of Corrections show he is scheduled to be released in March 2026. The count was related to an April 2 crash in which Fernandez-Cruz hit 21-year-old Nate Baker while driving a truck...

Charlie Kirk furiously criticized 'bullying' Jewish donors and said he was considering 'leaving the pro-Israel cause' before his death, it was confirmed today. The bombshell revelation comes after Candace Owens released a screenshot of Kirk fuming in a group chat that Jewish donors were pulling funding over his links to Tucker Carlson. Turning Point spokesman Andrew Kolvet confirmed the authenticity of the screenshots on Tuesday during the latest episode of The Charlie Kirk Show, In the text messages, Kirk privately complained that a Jewish donor had withdrawn a $2 million investment into the organization because he refused to disinvite Carlson...

In the board game Taboo, a speaker seeks to lead listeners to a certain answer and must point the way using only words that the game allows. The game sets a predetermined goal and censors the speech that would best help teams to achieve it. Such rules ensure a fun game night, but when states deploy them, it crashes the party and violates the First Amendment. Just ask Colorado counselors. In 2019, Colorado enacted a law that restricts them from having certain conversations about gender and sexuality with clients under the age of 18. Any counselor who speaks the forbidden...

PORTLAND, Ore. — U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem landed in Portland on Tuesday for a visit to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building in the South Waterfront, which has been the site of ongoing protests in recent months and a focal point in the Trump administration's push to send National Guard troops to Portland. KGW has a crew at the scene and will keep this story updated; check back for new developments.

In response to the political assassination of national hero Charlie Kirk and the disturbing rise of leftist violence across the country, Attorney General Ken Paxton has launched undercover investigations into various groups affiliated with left-wing political violence known to be operating in Texas. “Leftist political terrorism is a clear and present danger. Corrupted ideologies like transgenderism and Antifa are a cancer on our culture and have unleashed their deranged and drugged-up foot soldiers on the American people,” said Attorney General Paxton. “The martyrdom of Charlie Kirk marks a turning point in America. There can be no compromise with those who...

The Supreme Court appeared inclined Tuesday to side with a Christian counselor who brought a First Amendment challenge to Colorado’s ban on “conversion therapy.” Several justices seemed concerned that Colorado’s law was “viewpoint discrimination” against counselors like the petitioner, Kaley Chiles, who aims to help minors feel comfortable in their body rather than agreeing with their gender dysphoria. Colorado’s Minor Conversion Therapy Law (MCTL), passed in 2019, defines “conversion therapy” as efforts to “change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity,” including behaviors, gender expressions and romantic attractions. Nearly half of all U.S. states have similar bans on “conversion therapy.”...

An incident involving sightings of aerial objects in Lithuanian airspace led to a temporary shutdown at Vilnius Airport over the weekend, according to investigators. The sightings, which officials have now confirmed were nearly two-dozen unauthorized hot-air balloons, delayed flights for several hours on Sunday. The balloons were reportedly carrying contraband cigarettes into the country’s airspace, investigators said. Officials with Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Center said the incursion was one of the largest of its kind in recent memory, impacting close to 6,000 passengers on Sunday morning. The incident unfolded amid heightened concerns over recent reports of alleged drone incursions in...

Calls for Macron’s resignation have gone mainstream. After his seventh chosen Prime Minister resigned a month after being appointed and just hours after presenting the ‘new cabinet’, French President Emmanuel Macron is in the deepest crisis of his troublesome mandate. The British Times writes that Macron has become a ‘lame duck running out of options.’ French newspaper Le Monde adds that Macron faces a hard choice of three scenarios: 1) appoint a new prime minister, 2) dissolve the National Assembly again and hold elections, or 3) – in the worst case – resign himself. Reuters reported: “France’s President Emmanuel Macron...

In today’s column, I examine a newly announced AI product and service named Tinker that is being brought out by Thinking Machines Labs. TML is a startup company that was co-founded by the famed Mira Murati (former CTO at OpenAI). The nascent firm has been widely lauded as a shining star of top-grade AI startups. Note that Tinker is the first-ever product from TML. Expectations were high. Everyone was excitedly sitting on the edge of their seats. What would this amazing startup put together? Could their first product knock our socks off? Might they reveal some incredible, earth-shattering AI capacity,...

The board is set. The pieces are moving. Two days ago, Donald J. Trump presided over a grand celebration marking the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Navy’s founding called: Titans of the Sea: A Salute to the Fleet. Trump headlined a massive rally-like gathering, joined by First Lady Melania Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Navy Secretary John Phelan. In his 45-minute speech, Trump explicitly mentioned Venezuela multiple times, celebrating that ‘the Navy has supported our mission to blow the cartel terrorists the hell out of the water’. He also hinted at land-based operations, saying the U.S. would ‘turn attention...

After October 7, friends called me ‘filthy Zionist.’ Longtime colleagues refused to work with me. This isn’t criticism of Israel. It’s about making Jews pariahs.After three months in a remote Amazonian village with no internet or phone signal, I returned to a small Colombian town on October 9, 2023—still in the rainforest, but now with internet—and checked social media for the first time. The jungle was still in my ears—squawking macaws, torrential rain, the low hum of a generator—when my screen filled with ima…

Recent images purportedly depicting the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS during its closest approach to Mars last week have erupted in controversy online, as many took to social media with theories about what the object’s unusual shape could mean about its nature and origins. The new images obtained last week by NASA’s Perseverance rover appear to show 3I/ATLAS streaking through the Martian night sky as it passed through the field of view of the robotic explorer’s Right Navigation Camera (Navcam) from its position in Jezero Crater. The recent imagery was originally uploaded to NASA’s multimedia page in raw format. Since that time,...