Free Republic

After losing another massive Super Bowl bet, Drake has decided to stay away from sports gambling. The Canadian rapper wrote on his Instagram that he's "off sports betting" and is instead "sticking to what" he knows, accompanied by a video of him playing online roulette. Ahead of Sunday's Super Bowl, Drake revealed that he placed a $1 million bet on the New England Patriots to beat the Seattle Seahawks. "Bet against me if you dare," he wrote on Instagram (h/t People's Clare Fisher), seemingly playing into the "Drake Curse." Had the Patriots won, Drake would have taken home about $2.95...

Initially, archaeologists believed that humans began to live with cats about 9,500 years ago in... parts of the present-day eastern Mediterranean and Middle East. This timeline coincides with the beginning of the Neolithic era, when agriculture started to spread. The grains used in farming attracted rodents, which then enticed the wildcats to come and eat the rodents. Neolithic humans then likely kept the wildcats around to keep the rodents away, paving the way for domestication. Cat remains dating [circa 9500 years ago] have been discovered in present-day Cyprus, indicating that the animals were a part of daily life by then.Cats...

As pathways to freedom have narrowed in immigration courts across the United States, a record number of detainees are giving up their cases and voluntarily leaving the country. Last year, 28% of completed immigration removal cases among those in detention ended in voluntary departure, a higher share than in any year prior, a CBS News analysis of decades of court records found. That figure only appears to be climbing as the Trump administration's immigration crackdown widens and detention populations swell. The percentage of voluntary departures among those detained grew nearly every month of 2025, reaching 38% in December. The analysis...

The Kremlin has set out proposals that could see Russia embrace the dollar again as part of a wide-ranging economic partnership with the Trump administration, according to an internal Russian document reviewed by Bloomberg. Article content The high-level memo, which was drafted this year, details seven points where, in the Kremlin’s view, Russian and United States economic interests could converge following a deal to end the war in Ukraine. It sees the two countries working together to champion fossil fuels over greener alternatives as well as joint investments in natural gas, offshore oil and critical raw materials plus windfalls for...

An AeroVironment LOCUST laser directed energy weapon owned by the U.S. Army was central to the chain of events that led to the recent shutdown of airspace around El Paso, Texas, according to Reuters. Though many questions still remain to be answered about how the flight restrictions came to be imposed, LOCUST was designed to respond to exactly the kinds of drones that regularly fly across the southern border from Mexico. Multiple outlets had already reported yesterday that the use of a laser counter-drone system was a key factor in the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) sudden decision to impose the...

New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani (D.) tapped as his health czar the founder of a left-wing nonprofit that registered patients in mental hospitals to vote. Mamdani selected Alister Martin on Jan. 31 to lead the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Martin, a former emergency room doctor, launched Vot-ER in 2019, a few months before the COVID-19 pandemic. The group creates materials for doctors to register their patients to vote in clinical settings. One of its earlier partners, the Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute, is an inpatient clinic for people with psychotic disorders. Citing the "therapeutic" benefits of voting, the...

~Welcome to the capital city of the European Union: JUST IN: Two Alabama women and their children were attacked on a train in Brussels, Belgium for being American The attacker reportedly approached them with a knife and asked if they were American, when they confirmed, he threatened to kiII them. pic.twitter.com/cD7Ybhxtsk The train is filled with both Flemings and Walloons, but, in a rare display of comity, both seem, objectively, to be on the side of the knifeperson. Perhaps the State Department could arrange for any American tourist in Europe to be issued with his own Vance-sized Milano motorcade. On...

US District Judge John deGravelles ordered the release into the community of four previously convicted criminals who were being held by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). All had final orders for their deportation. The individuals and their crimes are... Ibrahim Ali Mohammed (Ethiopian) — sexual exploitation of a minor. Luis Gaston-Sanchez (Cuban) — homicide, assault, resisting an officer, concealing stolen property, and robbery. Ricardo Blanco Chomat (Cuban) — homicide, kidnapping, aggravated assault with a firearm, burglary, robbery, larceny, and selling cocaine. Francisco Rodriguez-Romero (Cuban) — homicide. Judge deGravelles explained "President Biden knew of their crimes, but he still allowed...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom called on world leaders attending the Munich Security Conference in Germany to think about a future without President Donald Trump. Newsom's comments on climate policy reflected the larger theme of his message for Europe. "I hope if there is nothing else I communicate today: Donald Trump is temporary. He'll be gone in three years," Newsom said. He added, "It's important for folks to understand the temporary nature of this current administration in relationship to the issue of climate change and climate policy." He slammed the Trump administration's rollback of the 2009 "endangerment finding" and accused the...

This is the untold story of America's first opioid crisis—and how Purdue Pharma copied the exact same playbook 120 years later. The corporate tactics, the targeting of women, the media manipulation, the blocked regulations. Every strategy that created the modern opioid epidemic was perfected in the Gilded Age, which was the period from about the late 1870s to the late 1890s, which occurred between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. CHAPTERS: 0:00 - The Drug You Could Buy Next to Flour 4:08 - Part One: God's Own Medicine 9:44 - Part Two: The Soldier's Disease 15:12 - Part Three:...

BREAKING: SUSAN COLLINS WILL BACK SAVE AMERICA ACT -- WON'T BREAK FILIBUSTER U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) is throwing her weight behind the House-passed SAVE America Act, saying the revised bill strikes the right balance between election security and voter access — while making clear she won’t support scrapping the Senate’s legislative filibuster to get it across the finish line. In an exclusive comment to @TheMaineWire, Sen. Collins said she supports the current version of the SAVE Act, which would require proof of citizenship to vote in U.S. elections. Collins said she will support the version of the SAVE Act...

Federal immigration officers arrived at the Woodland Village Apartment Complex in Lindenwold on Monday morning, causing fear among fourth and fifth grade students waiting at their school bus stop, according to the Lindenwold School District. What we know: Ring camera video posted on a community Facebook page shows children running away from the bus stop and yelling "ICE, ICE" as multiple enforcement vehicles arrived at the apartment complex, according to the Lindenwold School District. Officials said the presence of federal officers led to confusion and fear, causing students to flee the area.

Allegations of bodies buried near Jeffrey Epstein's Zorro Ranch in Santa Fe County have emerged from millions of pages of documents related to the convicted sex offender's crimes, prompting calls for an investigation from New Mexico officials. "I'm gonna keep asking questions and keep poking around until I get an answer," New Mexico's Public Lands Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard told KOAT on Tuesday. These allegations originated from an anonymous email sent in 2019 to local radio host Eddy Aragon. The email claimed to be from a former staffer at Zorro Ranch, stating, "Did you know somewhere in the hills outside...

“We have an amazing group of people before me, very proud of you,” Trump said. “I have no higher honor in life than to be your commander in chief.”During his remarks to the troops, President Trump joked that the Abrams tank was named in honor of failed Democrat Stacey Abrams.“We’re also purchasing 30 new and modified Abrams tanks. Named in honor of Stacey Abrams!” Trump said to laughter.“Congratulations, thank you very much for a great name, Stacey,” Trump said.

The European Parliament has adopted a non-binding resolution setting out the European Union’s priorities for the upcoming session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, including language recognising trans women as women within the framework of EU gender equality policy. The resolution was approved on 12 February by 340 votes in favour, 141 against and 68 abstentions. The adopted text forms part of the European Union’s negotiating position ahead of the 70th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, which will take place in New York next month. The Commission, established in 1946...

🚨 BREAKING: 🇫🇷 More than 40 antifa members beat a young French conservative to death in France. He was on the security staff protecting Collectif Némésis (@Coll_Nemesis), an organisation campaigning for women’s safety. Antifa killed him.

🇺🇸 The DOGE team dropped the largest Medicaid dataset in history: 10.32 GB of aggregated claims, procedures, and payments (2018–2024) open-sourced for anyone to download and analyze. Goal: crowdsource fraud detection in an $800B+ program. Already spotlighting cases like Minnesota’s $20M autism therapy scam and massive outliers. The hunt for waste, fraud, and abuse just got crowdsourced. Source: @doge_hhs, @elonmusk

Kitco News) - In a historic shift for state level finance, Texas has officially moved from a passive storage model to an active, state run bullion supply chain. The rollout, announced live from the Texas State Capitol, introduces a first of its kind dot gov storefront that allows the public to purchase state branded gold and silver directly from the Comptroller office. The initiative marks the first time a U.S. state has facilitated a closed loop system for precious metals, bridging the gap between manufacturing, vaulting, and direct to consumer sales. Texas is the first state to facilitate a closed...

NEW: Two people start playing bumper cars on the I-20 in Villa Rica, Georgia. Someone in a red truck was seen driving very slowly in the left lane when a driver in a box truck tried to run them off the road. "Some Villa Rica Georgia, Monday morning road rage. Yes I called 911 and gave them the footage," the man who witnessed the incident said. Video: ccaldwell5 / tt

Recent contributions to America by the moonbattery-addled Minneapolis area include the George Floyd riots, the politically motivated railroading of innocent police officers, Somali colonization, multi-$billion welfare fraud, the anti-ICE campaign to disable our defense from foreign invasion, the escalation of liberal “journalism” to an attack on a church during service, and Ilhan Omar. Let’s see what it has for us now. Via Bring Me the News: The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) says there are currently 13 confirmed cases of TMVII, and 27 suspected cases, all within the Twin Cities metro area. The disease was first detected in the state...