Free Republic

Key PointsA senior U.S. Secret Service official said the "threat environment" for the agency's protectees, who include President Donald Trump, "is the highest we've ever seen."There have been about 10,000 cases involving threats to government officials, including Supreme Court justices, so far in 2026, the official said. That represents a 40% increase in such cases over the same period last year.The briefing came ahead of Friday's rescheduled annual dinner for the White House Correspondents' Association at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington. Trump is set to attend.The WHCA dinner in April was interrupted when a gunman stormed through a security checkpoint...

We've gone through all of this before with Anthropic. Back in April, Anthropic limited the release of its latest model, called Mythos, to major software companies because it was concerned it could do massive damage in the wrong hands....rather than make it widely available to Claude users, Anthropic gave 12 tech companies access via Project Glasswing, which it described as "an effort to secure the world's most critical software".They include cloud computing giant Amazon Web Services, device manufacturers Apple, Microsoft and Google, and chip-makers Nvidia and Broadcom...In a video released alongside Project Glasswing's launch, Anthropic boss Dario Amodei said it...

In another case of “the internet is not real life,” Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” opened above expectations last weekend, dominating the box office with a massive $264 million global launch. This despite a months-long campaign from far right individuals on social media lamenting Nolan’s decision to cast Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy (a character who is in the film for all of three minutes) and Elliot Page as Achilles (Page did not, in fact, play Achilles). The conservative backlash intensified when Elon Musk endorsed complaints against “The Odyssey” and kept tweeting about how the film was doomed to fail....

A "digital missionary" who has long been creating Christian content was initially highly skeptical of artificial intelligence (AI). However, an experience using AI to create images changed his opinion of it, and he began to reconsider its potential. Gradually, he started applying AI in church ministry and was later invited to share practical AI applications in different cities. At the beginning of 2023, when ChatGPT had just been released, Brother Thomas's first reaction was doubt. A few months later, one of his close friends introduced him to AI tools and especially encouraged him to give them a try.

The past few weeks have seen the bond market start asking a question the stock market has mostly been happy to ignore: Who can actually afford the AI buildout? On July 9, S&P Global Ratings gave its answer for one of the biggest spenders. It cut Oracle Corp.'s (NYSE: ORCL) long-term credit rating to BBB-, the lowest rung of investment grade and just one notch above junk. The stock has since fallen to around $125, down nearly 30% over the past month and nearly 50% over the past year. What makes the downgrade worth more than a passing glance is...

A social media-savvy Louisiana pastor and author was convicted of stealing over $340,000 from his congregations to fund his gambling and personal expenses.Dale Sanders, 56, was found guilty of a 25-count indictment charging him with wire fraud, access device fraud, and obstruction of a federal investigation after a five-day jury trial last week, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Sanders, of Kenner, withdrew funds held in one church’s bank accounts and ltransferred them to his own pocket to subsidize his lavish personal expenditures — including gambling, dining, and living expenses, prosecutors said. Sanders worked...

Cotino was imagined before it was built. Walt Disney Imagineering created the creative vision, storytelling, design language, and lifestyle framework for the community before DMB Development and homebuilders transformed those ideas into a real neighborhood. Disney is not the developer or builder. DMB Development serves as the master developer, while third-party builders construct and sell the homes. Disney's role is centered on creative direction, placemaking, branding, and resident experiences—not building the community itself. The desert—not Disney characters—is the main inspiration. Imagineers designed Cotino around Rancho Mirage's landscape, Walt Disney's personal connection to the Coachella Valley, mid-century modern architecture, mountain views,...

NEW YORK, NY— New York City landlords are challenging the City’s first two-year rent freeze for regulated apartments, arguing the decision could make it harder for owners to maintain buildings as costs continue to rise. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday by a group of small property owners, targets the Rent Guidelines Board’s June decision to keep rents unchanged for roughly 1 million rent-stabilized apartments. The owners claim the board ignored its own research and acted to fulfill Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s campaign promise to “freeze the rent.” Small Property Owners of New York, whose members are among the plaintiffs in the lawsuit,...

I’m not sure if Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) wanted the speakership, but he turned out to be the right person for the job. Speaker Johnson continues to impress by passing numerous pieces of legislation with razor-thin majorities. The man gets things done. He’s a closer.

A Canadian Sikh man has received an apology from a gym chain after he was kicked out from one of its locations for wearing a ceremonial kirpan knife. Gurpartap Singh Sangha recorded himself being ordered to leave a GoodLife Fitness gym in Windsor, which is just across the Detroit River along the US-Canada border. He posted the video to his 21,000 followers on TikTok, where it has been sparking controversy and going viral, receiving 2.2 million views as of Wednesday morning. 'Racially singled out by a good life employee,' a caption edited onto the video said. 'You’re kicking me out...

From the outside, this was shaping up as a strong year for wartime Ukraine. Ukrainian drones are burning Russia’s refineries and starving occupied Crimea of fuel. Moscow’s summer offensive has stalled on most parts of the front, and Ukraine is taking back territory. In Washington, a president who spent last year berating Kyiv has warmed to it again. But suddenly last week, President Volodymyr Zelensky dismantled what looked like a winning team — removing his popular defense minister, his prime minister and, late Tuesday, the acclaimed commander in chief of his armed forces. Zelensky, the comedian turned president who has...

A longtime deli in South Jersey is temporarily closed after thieves stripped copper wiring and piping from the building, disabling its refrigeration systems and forcing the disposal of roughly $20,000 worth of food, the business said. Somerdale Cold Cuts has served the community since 1976. The family-owned deli on North Warwick Road has been closed since owner Johnny “Gabagool” Audry discovered the theft, which occurred overnight on July 12, according to the business’s Facebook page. The thieves never entered the building, Audry said, but they removed enough copper from the exterior refrigeration equipment to disable both the deli’s walk-in refrigerator...

A Chicago Cubs fan who smacked another spectator who did not stand for The Star-Spangled Banner is speaking out after a video of the incident went viral. The video drew strong and divided reactions on social media, with public opinion split on the older man's actions. Now, he has spoken out on the incident, which happened during the 10-1 win against the Minnesota Twins at Wrigley Field on Sunday, in various interviews. Robert Chavez claimed that an important element of the story is missing. In the video, he is seen yelling at the younger man - who was not identified...

US House of Representatives passes a $1.15T defense bill with provision deepening Pentagon-Israel weapons tech cooperation and funding $750M for joint defense programs.

Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) said Wednesday that a photo from Abdul El-Sayed’s Detroit rally told him “all he needs to know” about the progressive candidate’s standing with black voters in Michigan’s Democrat Senate primary.Clyburn, who is backing Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), was reacting to a photo from the rally. His comments landed 13 days out from the August 4 primary, with establishment Democrats pressing their advantage over El-Sayed.“I saw a picture that concerned me coming out of Michigan. I saw the rally,” Clyburn said. “I didn’t see a single person that looks like me. That tells me all I need...

Tweaker Geographic Episode 125: “TweakFairy”

~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~ ~ Remembering Our Troops!! ~ Welcome Aboard! Future service members participate in a swearing in ceremony held during the Wings Over Wayne air show at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina. The Wings over Wayne Air Show and Science and Technology Expo is a biennial event and has grown to be the largest free air show in North Carolina. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Leighton Lucero) Canteen Mission StatementShowing support and boosting the morale ofour military and our allies' militaryand family members of the above.Honoring those who have served...

"Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government.” —George Washington, Farewell Address, Sept. 19, 1796France has completed the investigation America has yet to undertake. In May 2025, the French Interior Ministry published “The Muslim Brotherhood and Political Islam in France,” the product of a mission assigned to senior officials a year earlier. The inquiry examined political Islam, the Muslim Brotherhood’s role in spreading it, and...

In the skies over eastern Ukraine, an aging F-16 fighter jet has reportedly scored a rare victory against one of Russia’s most advanced warplanes, the Su-35. The US has finally confirmed what the Ukrainians claimed earlier this month: a Ukrainian F-16 fighter, donated by NATO, may have downed a Russian Su-35 Flanker-E, the backbone of the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS). “I want to highlight the incredible work that the Ukrainian industrial base is doing. It ranges from their surface-to-air capabilities to their air-to-air capabilities. I’ll note that recently we had the first air-to-air kill where a Ukrainian F-16 shot down...

Progressive firebrand Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has surged to the front of the prospective 2028 Democratic presidential field in New Hampshire, edging Pete Buttigieg and leaving Kamala Harris far behind in a new poll. Ocasio-Cortez drew 22% support among likely Democratic primary voters in the University of New Hampshire Granite State Poll released Wednesday, one point ahead of former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and 17 points ahead of former Vice President Kamala Harris. Ocasio-Cortez gained seven points since the February survey, while Harris and California Gov. Gavin Newsom lost ground — another sign of the New York lawmaker’s growing strength among...