Free Republic

Former President Joe Biden joked about his age and shamelessly bragged about his record on illegal immigration during a rare post-presidency speech on Friday. “I’m getting pretty old,” Biden, 83, told the crowd in South Carolina, after he needed to pause his speech to cough. “Forty times two, plus a lot more.” Biden repeatedly insisted that voters shouldn’t be concerned about his age in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election. The former president dropped out of the race about a month after a disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump – which he blamed on a cold and not his...

In California’s notoriously expensive Bay Area, living out of one’s vehicle has increasing appeal. Recreational vehicle (RV) parks, once the domain of seasonal workers and adventurous retirees, now host local residents with full-time jobs aiming to cut costs — by avoiding high housing costs altogether. These days, RV parks are filling up even more with state residents aiming to save cash. Among them are brothers Stefan and Sebastian Goins, who recently made the leap to RV living after six years of rent hikes in their Pleasantville apartment. They drained their savings to buy a $24,000 32-foot long traveling trailer. But...

One of the great double-sided hits of the era paired ‘Long Tall Sally’ with ‘Slippin’ and Slidin.’’Little Richard burst onto the emerging rock‘n’roll scene in the new year of 1956 with “Tutti-Frutti,” the American Top 20 hit that lit the fuse for an explosive follow-up. One of the great double-sided hits of the era, “Long Tall Sally,” backed with “Slippin’ and Slidin’ (Peepin’ and Hidin’),” was released on February 27 that year. Like its predecessor, the Specialty 45 would end up in both the Grammy and Rock & Roll Halls Of Fame, and help spread the word about the unique...

Oleksandr Usyk will return to the ring in May when he defends his WBC heavyweight title against former kickboxing champion Rico Verhoeven at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. Two-time undisputed heavyweight champion Usyk, who holds the WBA, WBC and IBF belts, has not fought since stopping Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium in July. In a bout organisers have dubbed the 'Glory in Giza', 36-year-old Dutch heavyweight Verhoeven will be boxing for the first time since 2014 when he faces Usyk on 23 May. "I truly respect people who reach the very top in their sport," said Usyk, who is...

The BriefA California appeals court ruled Friday that Antolin Garcia-Torres, convicted in the 2012 kidnapping and killing of 15-year-old Sierra LaMar, may be entitled to a new trial because prosecutors improperly combined unrelated 2009 kidnapping charges with the murder case. The teen disappeared in Morgan Hill in March 2012 and was never found. Garcia-Torres was convicted in 2017 and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The man convicted in the 2012 kidnapping and killing of Morgan Hill teenager Sierra LaMar may get a new trial following a court ruling filed Friday. California's Sixth Appellate District Court...

Well, that was a whiff. The Padres, along with the state of California, struck out when free-agent pitcher Merrill Kelly spurned San Diego to stay in Arizona — even though the Padres dangled a better deal. The deciding factor? Punitive California taxes. “I love San Diego,” Kelly said. “It’s just, like I said, they take too much money out of my pocket, man. The taxes over there are a different level.” Indeed they are. California has long slathered on taxes like so much snake oil from politicians. Kelly, who inked a two-year, $40 million deal with the Diamondbacks, will save...

@redpillb0t RON PAUL: “There’s been a coup. We don’t have any resemblance to a government that believes in a republic. We don’t have honest money. We don’t have integrity. We don’t even have people in Washington who even pretend… to tell the truth.” “[I believe the coup began on] November 22, 1963.” IAN CROSSLAND: “What happened on that day?” RON PAUL: “That was the day Kennedy was murdered by our government. You know, by the CIA.”

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Agri-Business; End to Sex Slavery; Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. (1 John 5:14) I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ~ 1 Timothy 2:1-2 Religion Forum Threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to...

There were several reasons why streaming giant Netflix pulled out of the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery. You might want to add Susan Rice to the list. The former Obama national security adviser, UN ambassador, partisan Democrat and currently a Netflix board member made a splash last week, and not in a good way. Just as the Trump administration’s Department of Justice was weighing the antitrust merits of the deal, former Obama national security adviser, UN ambassador, partisan Democrat and currently Netflix board member Rice appeared last week on a podcast hosted by Preet Bharara, former US Attorney for...

Oman's foreign minister said US-Iran nuclear talks have made major progress, including agreement on zero stockpiling of enriched uranium and full IAEA verification, urging more time to finalize the deal.Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said Iran has agreed it would “never, ever” possess nuclear material capable of producing a bomb, calling it a breakthrough that puts a peace deal with the United States “within our reach.” Speaking to CBS News after meeting Vice President JD Vance in Washington, Albusaidi described the development as unprecedented. “The single most important achievement, I believe, is the agreement that Iran will never, ever have...

Industry boosters argue the U.S. is in a race with China for technological supremacy, and thus the sprint has existential stakes. But many Americans view AI through the lens of issues much closer to home: skyrocketing electricity bills, looming job displacement, teenage chatbot addiction. Last October, after 134,000 people signed a statement calling for a halt to the development of superintelligence, “I was thinking, why are we getting military people, faith leaders, and everyone signing?” says Max Tegmark, a physicist whose nonprofit organization, The Future of Life Institute, issued the statement. “And then it hit me: they’re all rooting for...

AI-driven power demand is surging far faster than expected, but a shortage of heavy-duty gas turbines is creating a bottleneck.Turbine makers like Siemens, GE Vernova, and Mitsubishi are ramping up production, but expansion projects could take up to 5 years.Without enough gas capacity, AI growth could slow or grids may turn back to coal, potentially delaying coal plant retirements.The surge in electricity demand in the world’s AI hotspots has prompted a comparable surge in demand for reliable supply. That surge was not expected. There are not enough gas turbines to secure that supply. This means the AI revolution would either...

On Thursday, Venezuela's "acting president" Delcy Rodríguez held a regime-sponsored event for young people, "Gran Encuentro con la Juventud Venezolana" (Great Meeting with Venezuelan Youth), during which she got up on stage in front of a crowd, flashing peace signs and wearing jeans and a t-shirt, and made a lot of big promises to the country's younger generations. It was giving "How do you do, fellow kids?" vibes. I assume this bit of propaganda was meant to counter the country's brave and growing youth opposition movement that has been standing up to the regime in recent weeks —marching, protesting, calling...

If it seems like I'm having a 'crack on feckless, mewling, treacherous Sir Keir Starmer Day,' why, yes - yes, I am.DIS GUYI think the inventory of what's left of the empire has to be so small now, with basically worthless dribs and drabs that he shouldn't be able to do any more harm.He's neutered it completely.And used subterfuge and dissemination the entire time for - this is the absolute killer part of the whole thing - deals that never had to be made.Back a year ago, in the spring, besides polishing the spit off the Chagos deal, Starmer was...

Well, that escalated quickly...As Ben Smith reported earlier on Friday, the Pentagon and AI giant Anthropic were in the midst of a showdown regarding the deployment terms of its Claude AI model in defense systems. The Pentagon wanted to authorize "all lawful use," but Anthropic had other ideas.Anthropic has drawn its line at two points: no domestic mass surveillance and no fully autonomous weapons operating without meaningful human oversight. Those limits are already written into its defense agreements. The Pentagon wants broader language that covers “all lawful use” once Claude is embedded.READ MORE: AI Is Already Embedded in Military Systems...

If the previously unindicted left-wing activists who stormed a church in Minnesota thought they were off the hook, they thought wrong. The Trump administration has dropped a slew of new charges related to the incident, targeting 30 people in total. According to FBI Director Kash Patel, over 20 arrests were made on Friday. 🚨 Today: 30 more individuals have been indicted under the FACE Act in connection to the January 18 targeting of Cities Church in Minnesota last month.As of this morning, the FBI executed a joint operation with our @HSI_HQ partners arresting over 20 of these individuals - with...

The ongoing tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have boiled over into what looks like a full-fledged war. Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, in a carefully crafted statement, took the Taliban to task for violating "the rights that Islam grants women" (can we guffaw at this point?); he reminded the Taliban that the Pakistani Army will not go away; and, in a final dramatic flourish, decalred that "open war” existed between the two countries.In a clearly worded post on X, Pakistan's Defense Minister Khawaja Asif has made the following statement:After NATO forces withdrew, it was expected that peace would prevail...

New genetic research is reshaping how scientists understand ancient relationships between early humans and Neanderthals. A study published in Science suggests that mating between Homo sapiens women and Neanderthal men occurred more often than the reverse, leaving a lasting mark on the human genome. The finding helps explain a long-standing mystery in genetics. Modern humans carry small amounts of Neanderthal DNA across most of their genome, but almost none on the X chromosome. These gaps, known as Neanderthal deserts, puzzled scientists for years. Modern humans and Neanderthals split from a shared ancestor about 600,000 years ago. Human ancestors evolved in...

Shares in the financial technology company Block soared more than 20% in premarket trading Friday after its CEO announced it was laying off more than 4,000 of its 10,000 plus employees, reconfiguring to capitalize on its use of artificial intelligence. “The core thesis is simple. Intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company,” Jack Dorsey said in a letter to shareholders in Block, the parent company to online payment platforms such as Square and Cash App. “A significantly smaller team, using the tools we’re building, can do more and do it better,” he said. Dorsey’s...

Last night, Keir Starmer’s governing Labour Party suffered a devastating by-election loss to the far-left Green Party. In the historic Labour stronghold of Gorton and Denton, a largely impoverished and working-class constituency on the outskirts of Manchester, the prime minister’s candidate took third place with 25.4 percent of the vote — falling short of the right-wing Reform UK candidate, who took 28.7 percent, and the victorious Green candidate’s 40.7 percent. The result is a gut punch to the prime minister, who has been reeling for months from a poisonous cocktail of historically low approval ratings (he is the most unpopular...