Free Republic

We have seen the future of AI via Large Language Models. And it's smaller than you think. That much was clear in 2025, when we first saw China's DeepSeek — a slimmer, lighter LLM that required way less data center energy to do its job and performed surprisingly well on benchmark tests against heftier American AI models. (Ironically, it was built atop an open source U.S. model, Meta's Llama). DeepSeek may have foundered on privacy concerns, but the trend towards smaller and smarter AI isn't going away. The evolution is on display again in TurboQuant, a compression algorithm that Google...

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the future of the Strait of Hormuz should be decided by Iran and Oman, describing the waterway as lying within the two countries' waters...He added that the strait "can be a waterway of peace" for safe passage, but said ensuring maritime security and environmental protection would require a joint mechanism between the coastal states.While parts of the strait fall within the territorial waters of Iran and Oman, it is classified as an international strait, granting ships and aircraft the right of transit passage under international law.The Strait of Hormuz is a critical global shipping...

Multiple sources have claimed that the Chinese government is suspiciously repositioning its military assets, signaling possible future activity around Taiwan. The reports come from the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, which tracks Chinese military might and defense systems. The China Airpower Tracker reportedly showed lines of typically retired Chinese fighter jets, which have drawn suspicion from experts. The J-6 fighter (also known as the Shenyang J-6) was first developed in the late 1950s. China retired the line of jets in the late 1990s, but now, experts say, China is retrofitting the old fighters to serve as unmanned craft and staging...

According to the campaign, more than 10,000 donors contributed during the quarter, and the $22.2 million raised in the first quarter was “unprecedented for a non-incumbent candidate” in Florida’s gubernatorial race. In January, his campaign reported raising $45 million during 2025, including $13.1 million in the fourth quarter alone. Florida Politics noted at the time that the total was the largest amount ever raised by a gubernatorial campaign at that point in the election cycle in Florida. Donalds has assembled a broad list of endorsements as he campaigns to succeed outgoing Gov. Ron DeSantis, who cannot seek another term because...

An explosive verdict was reached Wednesday night in the slaying of hero NYPD cop Jonathan Diller — with the jury acquitting the shooter of the top charge of first-degree murder and settling on manslaughter. Guy Rivera, 36, who fatally shot the officer and married dad outside a cell-phone store in Queens two years ago, was convicted on all of the lesser charges, including aggravated manslaughter, attempted murder of Diller’s partner and weapons raps. Rivera killed Diller in Far Rockaway on March 25, 2024, in a caught-on-video scuffle with New York’s Finest. Cops were investigating a suspicious vehicle when Rivera shot...

The heads of the International Energy Agency (IEA), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank said on Wednesday they would form a joint coordination group to strengthen their response to the severe economic and energy fallout from the war in the Middle East, according to Reuters. In a joint statement, the three institutions said the conflict had caused major disruption across the region and triggered one of the largest supply shortages in the history of global energy markets. “At these times of high uncertainty, it is paramount that our institutions join forces to monitor developments, align analysis, and...

President Donald Trump reportedly told Erika Kirk Wednesday to "sue" the critics who have defamed her since her husband's assassination last year. Erika Kirk took over her late-husband Charlie Kirk's Turning Point USA foundation as CEO and chair after he was fatally shot at a rally in Utah last September, but critics have heavily attacked the widow on social media since the shooting. Trump made the suggestion during a speech at the White House Easter lunch, when he spotted her at a table. "Hello, darling! Wow. There’s a good table. I like that table," Trump said, according to the Daily...

Vice President JD Vance said Wednesday the Justice Department will no longer "turn a blind eye" to fraud in the United States, regardless of how big or small the fraud is. Vance made the comment just before he swore Assistant Attorney General for National Fraud Enforcement Colin McDonald into office, who has been confirmed to help lead Vance's national fraud task force. The vice president claimed that the DOJ previously "turned a blind eye" toward fraud that was under an undisclosed dollar amount, but that McDonald has promised to ensure that "no fraud is small enough or big enough to...

Iran’s leadership is facing an escalating internal power struggle as the country’s economy edges toward collapse, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) increasingly consolidating control, according to an analysis by Iran International. The report describes what it calls the most significant political upheaval in Iran since the 1979 revolution, driven by a convergence of war, economic crisis, and a growing leadership vacuum. Together, these pressures are pushing the system away from its traditional balance between civilian government and unelected power centers toward what the analysis characterizes as a more overtly military-dominated structure. At the center of the tensions is...

@RandPaul Trump is right to reconsider NATO. Under Article II, the president has full constitutional authority to withdraw from any treaty without Senate approval. The 2023 Kaine-Rubio provision can't override the Constitution. It's his call to make. The Constitution says nothing about how to exit treaties, so that power remains with the president. The Founders designed it this way deliberately: hard to get in, easy to get out when an alliance no longer serves America's interests. Trump is forcing the conversation Washington refuses to have: do our alliances benefit America, or just trap us indefinitely? Alliances should serve our interests,...

Iranian media reported that a commander of a special unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was killed in strikes on Wednesday. They said Mohammad Ali Fathalizadeh, commander of the Fatehin special unit, was among those killed. No further details were immediately available. The Fatehin unit is part of the IRGC and its members receive advanced military training and have previously been deployed in conflicts such as Syria.

Hours before the Passover holiday on Wednesday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir issued an unusual letter to government officials, warning of a growing manpower crisis and calling on lawmakers to “fulfill your responsibility” by advancing urgent legislation to support both regular and reserve soldiers. “The central challenge we face in the current campaign is the expansion of IDF missions,” Zamir wrote, pointing to the need to defend border communities while proactively eliminating threats. He stressed that the military must be able to operate with “initiative and offensiveness” across multiple fronts. Zamir warned that a decision to shorten mandatory...

With the State Board of Education set to consider changes to Texas’ public school curriculum on social studies, Muslim activists are...planning to push for more inclusion of Islamic history and dogma.

There’s a lot of money in crises and if you’re wondering where that money went, ask the folks profiting from the crisis. The open borders invasion was bad news for a lot of people, but good news for some. Now there’s bad news to go with the good news. Federal prosecutors are investigating whether a New York City Council member and her sister, an aide to Gov. Kathy Hochul, accepted bribes or kickbacks in connection with the appropriation of city funds to a migrant shelter provider in a warrant that seeks evidence of possible criminal violations involving Councilmember Farah Louis,...

The gov't debt will kill this Republic unless the drunken-sailor spending by Congress stops. The best chance to stop it: perhaps the line-item veto. The debt is now over $37 trillion dollars! To put that into perspective, suppose each dollar is a second in time. Then: $1 million = 11 days, 13 hours, 46 minutes, 40 seconds $1 billion = 31 years, 8 months, 18 days, 1 hour, 46 minutes, 40 seconds $1 trillion = 31,688 years, 8 months, 18 days, 1 hour, 46 minutes, 40 seconds Congress MUST stop spending.

Adult dancers say they have "absolutely" seen an increase in their military and defense clients. Here's what that might mean. Sex workers have long been bellwethers for major shifts in the economy — and they’re also more in touch with military action than your average civilian. Even if you’ve managed to avoid the news and aren’t aware of the Trump administration’s war with Iran and the skyrocketing gas prices accompanying it, erotic dancers and sex workers are paying attention and noticing a shift. HuffPost spoke with members of the sex worker community about what they’re seeing right now and what...

Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote on X that all she heard from President Donald Trump's address to the nation on Wednesday night "was WAR WAR WAR." "I wanted so much for President Trump to put America First. That’s what I believed he would do. All I heard from his speech tonight was WAR WAR WAR," Greene wrote. "Nothing to lower the cost of living for Americans. Nothing to reduce our near $40 trillion in debt. Nothing to save Social Security, which goes bankrupt in just a few years. Nothing to lower the cost of insurance. Nothing to address jobs...

What’s more treacherous and treasonous than wishing your own country gets defeated in war, especially by a bunch of goat-molesting seventh-century pagan savages whose primitive mindset is matched only by their grotesque perversions? Well, the disgusting perversions part is merely a collateral reason why members of America’s donkey party seem to have such an affinity for Iran’s rulers – the mullahs, with their bizarre bestiality and grotesque handmaiden dogma, and the San Francisco Democrats, with their furry-friendly gender-spazz grossness, collectively share the worst figurative collective browser in the history of ever. Yet, it’s more than their joint commitment to degeneracy...

George Washington University estimates that students returning to campus will pay close to $100,000 in total costs this upcoming school year alone. All undergraduate students attending George Washington University (GW) for the 2026–27 academic year will pay $72,000 in tuition, a 3% increase from the previous year, the Washington, D.C.-based school announced in a Friday press release. The total estimated price tag balloons to $98,165 for returning resident students and $95,155 for new students living on campus when all costs are accounted for, the school’s student newspaper

Oil surged 10% Thursday as U.S. President Donald Trump warned of further military aggression against Iran in the next two to three weeks, dampening hopes for an imminent de-escalation in the conflict. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures for May were up 10% at $110.21 a barrel as of 8:13 a.m. ET. June futures for international benchmark Brent crude rose 8% to $109.25 per barrel. Trump in his speech attributed the increase in oil prices to the “Iranian regime launching deranged terror attacks against commercial oil tankers and neighboring countries that have nothing to do with the conflict.” He said...