Free Republic

A man accused of running a fraudulent autism center in Minnesota also purchased a semi truck with the money received from state services, prosecutors say. Abdinajib Yussuf pleaded guilty on Monday, March 2nd to one count of wire fraud. According to CBS, Yussuf opened Star Autism Center in St. Cloud Minnesota in 2020, claiming to provide one on one therapy to children with autism. A federal indictment states that Yussuf recruited parents to enroll their children into his center, even if they were not actually diagnosed with autism. If the parents agreed, Yussuf would work with a professional to qualify...

President Trump announced Thursday on social media that he was firing his homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, and wanted Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma to replace her. Mr. Trump said Ms. Noem, whose tenure had been marred by a string of controversies, would move into a previously nonexistent security role. Ms. Noem is the first cabinet member to be ousted in Mr. Trump’s second term. She faced intense questioning this week from congressional Republicans about a $220 million advertising campaign in which she figured prominently, and Mr. Trump on Thursday contradicted her testimony that he had signed off on the...

@amuse@amuseSABOTAGE? Why would a sitting GOP Senator wait until the filing deadline to announce his retirement? Montana GOP Senator Daines announced that he will not seek reelection just hours before the deadline for filing.March 4, 2026

Iran appeared determined to avenge the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior Iranian officials following the start of the US-Israeli assault on Saturday, as Tehran continued to strike back at Israel and United States military assets across the Gulf on Monday. After Khamenei’s death was confirmed by Iranian state media on Sunday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) vowed revenge and launched what it called “the heaviest offensive operations in the history of the armed forces of the Islamic Republic against occupied lands [a reference to Israel] and the bases of American terrorists”.

Prediction market Kalshi has drawn outrage for refusing to pay out winnings on a $54 million trade related to the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Many bettors assumed they had won big on wagers that Khamenei would be “out as Supreme Leader” by Saturday after he was killed in joint US-Israeli air strikes over the weekend. But Kalshi – an American prediction market that allows users to bet on politics, sports, foreign affairs and pop culture – announced it would not be paying out any winnings on those wagers, since its guidelines prohibit markets “directly tied to...

The Qatari MoD says the Qatar Emiri Air Force has shot down two Iranian Su-24s, as well as seven ballistic missiles and five drones. As the third day of combat operations against Iran draws to an end, the Qatari Ministry of Defense has announced that the Qatar Emiri Air Force (QEAF) has shot down two Iranian Su-24 Fencer tactical bombers on Mar. 2, 2026. These would be first two Iranian aircraft confirmed to have been shot down since the start of the conflict. Additionally, the MoD says the QEAF intercepted seven ballistic missiles through air defenses, while five drones were...

A coalition of Democratic-led states sued President Donald Trump on Thursday in the U.S. Court of International Trade, arguing that his newly imposed across-the-board tariffs are illegal. The suit is led by the Democratic attorneys general from Oregon, New York, California and Arizona along with attorneys general from 18 other states. They accused Trump of trying to “sidestep” a February Supreme Court ruling that overturned many of his tariffs by using a different statute, Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, as justification for new tariffs. “The President is attempting to use an obscure law as a tool for...

Paige Cognetti, the current mayor of Scranton, Pennsylvania, is running for Congress against incumbent Republican Rob Bresnahan. Like the rest of the midterm races, this seat is important and a must-win for Republicans. That's why people are questioning whether or not Cognetti really wants to represent the people of Pennsylvania in Congress, or if she's already on her way to being a D.C. insider. Just the other day, Cognetti was caught being driven away from a meet and greet event in a car with D.C. plates, which is odd for the Mayor of Scranton, isn't it? It takes about four...

March 5 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Thursday ruled that President Donald Trump had the authority to indefinitely suspend admissions of foreign citizens seeking to enter the United States ​under the U.S. refugee resettlement program.

A state employee who admitted vandalizing several Teslas in Minneapolis over a brief span last year received a one-day unpaid suspension from his job for his actions after he was spared prosecution in favor of a diversion program. -snip “Your behavior, as substantiated by the investigation, constitutes a violation of DHS’ and [the Minnesota Management and Budget’s] policies,” read the disciplinary letter sent to Adams on Jan. 21, one day before he served his suspension. The letter to Adams noted that state policy required he be “held to the highest standard of honesty, integrity, and ethical trust.” -snip. Adams explained...

One of the most ludicrous criticisms of President Trump’s war against Iran is that “he has no plan.” As we will see, the President’s future strategic and tactical actions are shrouded in utmost operational secrecy. As they should be. But the national press and our political commentariat - five days into this historic war - are demanding that the President tell us about all of his war plans. Should we tell the surviving Iranian Mullahs and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards what our warfighting plans, goals and strategic moves are? Asked another way, did Gen. Dwight Eisenhower and President Franklin Roosevelt...

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk signaled his country will eventually try to obtain its own nuclear weapons as Europe strengthens deterrence amid doubts over U.S. commitment to defending the continent. “Poland takes nuclear security very seriously,” the prime minister said ahead of a weekly government meeting on Tuesday. “As our autonomous capabilities grow, we will strive to prepare Poland for the most autonomous actions possible in this matter in the future.” Warsaw will not be “passive” as it also invests in nuclear power plants, according to the prime minister. Tusk said on Monday that his country was in talks with...

President Donald Trump on Thursday brushed off Texas Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton’s insistence that he will stay in the Republican U.S. Senate race even if Trump endorses his rival, incumbent Sen. John Cornyn. After Paxton said he won’t drop out of the May 26 runoff, the president reportedly suggested Paxton’s defiance could backfire by nudging him to support Cornyn.

This is for the benefit of those FReepers who inexplicably refuse to believe these protests are organized and paid for but who ludicrously and preposterously and insanely believe are the result of individuals who just all happen to walk into their local Kinkos or Office Depot and have signs printed on the spot and fastened to the exact same kind of wooden poles and then purely coincidentally all find themselves at the same street corner. 😀

"Tucker has lost his way,” Trump told me. “I knew that a long time ago, and he's not MAGA. MAGA is saving our country. MAGA is making our country great again. MAGA is America first, and Tucker is none of those things. And Tucker is really not smart enough to understand that."

Explanation: Earlier this week, Earth’s shadow swept across the full Moon in the year’s only total lunar eclipse. This stunning sequence combines images showing the Moon’s path across the night sky. Each lunar image captures our planet’s shadow gradually engulfing the Moon, culminating in its red glow. Sunlight scatters and refracts as it passes through Earth’s atmosphere toward the Moon. Shorter wavelength light (blue and green) scatters more efficiently, leaving red, orange, and yellow hues to paint the lunar surface. Tsé Bit'a'í (”rock with wings”, also known as Shiprock), located in Navajo Nation, provides a powerful volcanic foreground central to...

In major events in Jerusalem on February 16 and 17, the State of Israel and world Jewry celebrated the reclamation of the 3,000-year-old Mount of Olives, the historic burial site of more than 150,000 Jews over the ages; among them prophets, many great rabbis, and notable modern Israeli leaders. The events were sponsored by the International Committee for Har Hazeitim ICHH in conjunction with the Israeli government and Municipality of Jerusalem. The highlight of the two-day mission was the ceremony marking the completion of the first floor of the Visitor Education Center which ICHH is building in partnership with national...

President Donald Trump has spent months touting his planned White House ballroom, but this week the public gets its first chance to formally offer him their thoughts. The verdict: They don’t like it. Members of the public sent more than 35,000 comments about the project to the National Capital Planning Commission ahead of its Thursday hearing to review the ballroom, according to a Washington Post analysis of comments posted on the commission’s website. The “vast majority” of comments came from those who oppose the plan, commission staff said. The Post found that more than 97 percent of comments were critical...

Falling birth rates have governments worldwide in a state of panic. From Brussels to Tokyo to Beijing, policymakers are scrambling to reverse fertility decline, yet expensive pro-natal programs in countries such as South Korea and Hungary have delivered little results. To be clear, serious analysts do not claim that population decline mechanically produces economic collapse. But demographic aging does create real fiscal, labor-market, and growth headwinds. The more productive question is not whether demography matters, but which policy frameworks allow societies to adapt successfully to it. China and Singapore suggest that institutional design shapes how demographic pressures play out. Despite...

Circuit: Albert Park First Grand Prix: 1996, Number of Laps: 58, Circuit Length: 3.295 km, Race Distance: 306.124 km, Lap Record: 1:19.813 Charles Leclerc (2024)