Free Republic

Tom Stoppard did something no writer had ever done before: He wrote his masterpiece at the age of 82, after having written other masterpieces that would have been the capstones of any other writer’s career in his thirties, his forties, his fifties, and his sixties. That masterpiece was Leopoldstadt, and it was first staged in January 2020—45 years after the initial production of his first unambiguously great work, the astoundingly inventive and thrillingly alive farce called Travesties. It had come to the stage eight years after Stoppard had stunned the theatrical world at the age of 29 with Rosencrantz and...

Sen. Cory Booker has married his fiancé Alexis Lewis in Washington, DC, less than three months after announcing their engagement in an Instagram post. Only close family were present as the New Jersey Senator, 56, tied the knot on Saturday in an interfaith ceremony blessed by both a pastor and a rabbi — Lewis is Jewish and Booker Christian, according to the New York Times..... The pair were introduced in May 2024 by a mutual friend known for matchmaking, the Times reported. Ms Lewis, 38, who was living in LA at the time, went on a blind date with Booker...

A NEW poll has put Keir Starmer's Labour Party in fourth place behind Reform, the Greens and Conservatives. The Find Out Now survey carried out this week put Labour on just 15%, a staggering three points behind the Greens as Zack Polanski's party continues to surge in popularity with voters. The poll of 2717 people put Reform UK on 33%, the Greens on 18%, the Conservatives on 16% and the LibDems on 11%. Labour came just 12% ahead of the SNP, who voters can only opt for in Scotland. Translated into seats, it means Reform would win a General Election...

More than 400 employees of the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) accused Gov. Tim Walz of failing to act on widespread fraud warnings and retaliating against whistleblowers. The Minnesota Department of Human Service Employees account, which says it consists of more than 480 current staff members at the Minnesota DHS, wrote on X that Walz is "100% responsible for massive fraud in Minnesota." "We let Tim Walz know of fraud early on, hoping for a partnership in stopping fraud but no, we got the opposite response. Tim Walz systematically retaliated against whistleblowers using monitoring, threats, repression, and did his...

The Praise and Worship Band at the church I attend recently sang “Come, Jesus, Come.” Here are the words to the Chorus: Come, Jesus, come We’ve been waiting so long For the day You return To heal every hurt and right every wrong We need You right now Come and turn this around Deep down I know this world isn’t home Come, Jesus, come Here are the words to the verses: Sometimes I fall to my knees and pray Come, Jesus, come Let today be the day Sometimes I feel like I’m gonna break But I’m holding on To a...

The 2025 Atlantic hurricane season proved to be consequential, even though no hurricanes made landfall in the U.S for the first time since 2015. Prior to the start of the season, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted above average activity in its initial Atlantic hurricane season outlook, with 13 to 19 named storms, six to 10 hurricanes, and three to five major hurricanes, Category 3 or stronger. This season, the Atlantic basin produced 13 named storms, five of which became hurricanes. This included four major hurricanes with maximum sustained winds reaching 111 mph or greater. Considering that a...

Documents revealing how infamous Nazi doctor Josef Mengele, known as the “Angel of Death,” led an open post-war life in Argentina were found among a massive trove of evidence released and declassified earlier this year by President Javier Milei. Mengele was notorious for his role as a commander in Auschwitz, where he conducted brutal medical experiments on prisoners, especially twins, under the guise of scientific research. Eyewitnesses — including some contained in the declassified Argentine files — describe his extremely cold-blooded and macabre, sadistic nature, including torturing and testing on twins in front of one another after sending their parents...

A series of important new discoveries have been revealed in Southeast Turkiye, announced to the world this week marking the 5th anniversary of the Taş Tepeler project. As well as revealing new structures, carvings and T-pillars at the sites in this video, stunning artefacts and statues from Göbekli Tepe, Karahan Tepe, Sefer Tepe, Sayburç and Gürcütepe have been placed on display at Karahan Tepe's visitors centre all dating back to over 11,000 years old. Major Discoveries at Göbekli Tepe, Karahan Tepe, Sefer Tepe & Sayburç | Taş Tepeler | 17:09 MegalithomaniaUK | 243K subscribers | 38,014 views | November 29,...

What is AI Sycophancy? AI sycophancy is a term used to describe a pattern where an AI model “single-mindedly pursue[s] human approval.” Sycophantic AI models may do this by “tailoring responses to exploit quirks in the human evaluators to look preferable, rather than actually improving the responses,” especially by producing “overly flattering or agreeable” responses. What Happened in April 2025? On April 25th, 2025, OpenAI released an update to GPT-4o. The new update exhibited sycophantic behavior that manifested in the form of endorsing harmful and delusional statements, forcing OpenAI to roll back the update four days later. The company explained:...

SNIP Netanyahu had submitted a request for a pardon to the legal department of the Office of the President, the prime minister’s office said in a statement. The president’s office called it an “extraordinary request,” carrying with it “significant implications.” Netanyahu is the only sitting prime minister in Israeli history to stand trial, after being charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate cases accusing him of exchanging favors with wealthy political supporters. He hasn’t been convicted of anything. Netanyahu rejects the allegations and has described the case as a witch hunt orchestrated by the media,...

The United States government launched a new media bias-tracking website on Friday, aimed at "exposing" outlets and journalists whose work is deemed "false and misleading" by the White House, placing them in an "Offender Hall of Shame." A "media offender of the week" section is centrally featured on the website, displaying multiple well-known mainstream United States media outlets accused of misrepresenting and exaggerating "President Trump’s Calls for Democrat Accountability." Categorized as an offense of "misrepresentation" and "omission of context," the website details the outlets and reporters accused of the claim, elaborating on "the offense," the White House-designated "truth," and "key...

Detroit Lions legend and Hall of Fame NFLer Lem Barney is alive and well, according to his family, despite widespread reports that he had died at the age of 80. The NFL's official website shared news of Barney's death on Saturday lunchtime, carrying a statement from Hall of Fame president and CEO Jim Porter paying tribute to his legacy. Remarkably, his son Lem Barney III has now told TMZ that reports of the Lions icon's death are incorrect - and he is instead 'alive and well'. Barney III even claimed he has spoken to his father today, with his around-the-clock...

DETROIT — A professor at Ferris State University was arrested in Detroit on Tuesday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, the agency said. Sumith Gunasekera was living in the U.S. illegally, according to ICE. He also was convicted of sex crimes in Canada and Nevada, per a release by the agency. In 1998, Gunasekera was arrested twice over a three day period: first for allegedly uttering death threats on August 28, 1998; then again on August 31 for allegedly inviting a minor to sexual touching. He was convicted of both charges that November and spent 1 month behind...

A wannabe social media influencer went viral this week when he handed out 18-inch machetes and booze to homeless people in Austin and New Orleans in a bizarre stunt he insisted was for their benefit. Keith Castillo — who goes by “povwolfy” — posted a video on Thanksgiving to TikTok and Instagram that garnered more than 14 million views. “Here, want one of these?” Castillo says as he distributed the potentially deadly weapons. “Hell yeah, man,” one man responds as he accepts the free blade. One woman asks for “one more.” A caption reads, “Keeping the homeless in the streets,”...

The madman accused of shooting two National Guard troops in Washington, DC, last week was likely “radicalized” after he came to the US, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem revealed. Afghan Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, who previously worked on one of the CIA’s “Zero Units” in Afghanistan before being allowed into the US in 2021, was arrested last Wednesday for the shooting rampage, which killed one National Guard troop and critically wounded another. “I will say we believe he was radicalized since he’s been here in this country,” Noem told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “We do believe it was...

Confidence in Minnesota's social safety net has been shaken by fraudsters who authorities say have stolen more than $1 billion in public funds from programs meant to feed children, assist the homeless and provide autism therapy. Over the last five years, people mostly within Somali communities have gotten rich by running companies that bill the state for millions of dollars in social services that were never actually rendered, The New York Times reported. Federal prosecutors say of the 86 people that have been charged, 59 have been convicted so far in what they describe as three separate fraud schemes. One...

JP Morgan moved its entire Gold trading desk from New York to Singapore LAST THURSDAY!!! What is going on???

I am SERIOUSLY betting that our crime stats nationwide are ridiculously skewed against white people. They listed the Afghan would-be Texas car bomber as “white.” What a joke.

Whatever happened to Britain, or the UK, or England, or whatever they’re calling it? We can’t even agree on what it’s called. But what happened to England, the England that, if you’re over 50, you grew up learning about, the England that controlled the world, the England that ran the largest empire in human history at the end of the first world war? Britain, which is an island in a pretty inhospitable climate, controlled something like a quarter of the Earth’s surface – and not controlled in the way the United States controls the rest of the world with an...

One day before Americans across the country celebrate Thanksgiving, 22 attorneys general sued the Trump administration over eligibility changes to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. What You Need To Know On Wednesday, 22 attorneys general sued the Trump administration over eligibility changes to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP Their complaint alleges the U.S. Department of Agriculture acted unlawfully when it issued guidance prohibiting refugees and asylees with permanent legal status from accessing food benefits Filed in a U.S. District Court in Eugene, Oregon, the lawsuit stems from Oct. 31 USDA guidance that said asylum...