Free Republic

An artificial intelligence researcher who left OpenAI to join Anthropic has decided to leave the industry, accusing both US companies of "playing with our lives" in the race to develop AI models capable of self-improvement.Jacob Coxon, 27, spent the past three years pretraining AI models, first at OpenAI and then, this year, at its rival Anthropic, which he considered more cautious in its approach. Pretraining is the stage where AI models absorb vast quantities of data."Neither company is acting responsibly. They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives," Coxon said on Tuesday."The people building AI earnestly...

To make matters worse, the convention is scheduled on the same nights as the season openers of the NFL, perhaps the one American institution that commands a more loyal following from Trump voters than does Trump himself.

Two paintings by the impressionist artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir have been stolen from a museum in the south of France. Two thieves broke into the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer early on Tuesday, seizing four paintings but dropping two of the works in the museum gardens as they escaped, local Mayor Bryan Masson said. The paintings, worth €9m (£7.7m; $10.4m), are the latest high-profile pieces to have been stolen in a string of recent heists in Europe which have thrust the security of art in galleries and museums into the spotlight. One of the most high-profile was in October last year, when...

A female juror in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial has defended the lone male holdout – admitting that he “was not the only one that was unwilling to see things from the other side.” The woman, who spoke to WBZ-TV on condition of anonymity, served as juror No. 5 in the high-profile Massachusetts trial, which ended Friday in a hung jury with an 11-1 split. “At the end of the day, there was so much doubt,” she told the outlet.

Repeatedly heckled by AfD MPs, the chancellor told Weidel that one in six skilled workers had a migration background, and if her party had its way then its policy would amount to "nothing other than an ethnic cleansing in the skilled trades based on skin colour and origin". While the government understood some deportations were needed, he said it made a careful distinction between those who contributed to German prosperity and those without permanent residency. Disruption by AfD MPs became so loud that at one point Bundestag President Julia Klöckner threatened to start expelling people from the chamber: "We are...

The Trump administration is drafting a rule that would allow certain married couples with a stay-at-home parent to qualify for federal child care assistance of about $9,000 per child annually, according to people familiar with the discussions who spoke with The New York Times. The reported proposal would expand eligibility under the Child Care and Development Fund, a roughly $12 billion Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) program that currently subsidizes care for children from low- and moderate-income parents while their parents work, attend school, or participate in job training.Under the draft rule, a new category of “parent-based child...

In April 1996, more than five years before he steered American Airlines Flight 11 into the North Tower, Mohamed Atta sat in a small Hamburg apartment and wrote his last will and testament. He was 27, an architecture student at the Technical University, the son of a Cairo lawyer, fluent in German, and living comfortably in one of the most affluent societies on earth. Nothing in his circumstances compelled him to dwell on death. Yet he gave detailed instructions for the handling of his corpse. “I don’t want any women to go to my grave at all during my funeral...

Kimi Räikkönen’s son Robin has taken a significant step in his racing career by joining the Red Bull Junior Team. The 11-year-old will officially become part of Red Bull’s driver development program from 2027 after establishing himself as a promising talent in karting. Robin has competed in karting from an early age and already achieved success across national and international Rotax and WSK competition as he begins following his father into motorsport. Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies said the focus would be on allowing Räikkönen to develop at his own pace rather than burdening him with expectations created by...

Oh, and what gifts Empress, consummate Bond villainess, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen bringeth, forsooth. It's no coincidence that, while visiting the land of seal stew, caribou, and polar bears, von der Leyen looks convincing as an Ice Queen. There she is, cracking her glittery, brittle, frozen smile as she attempts to evince a more human aspect among her prospective partners, so that they begin to believe they have a friend in her and the Brussels Borg collective. The beleaguered Danish Prime Minister came along for the ride and to help hand out the monies, all in...

Crude oil prices jumped 3% on Wednesday as fighting between the U.S. and Iran escalates in the Persian Gulf, raising investors fears that energy exports through the Strait of Hormuz will fall. Brent futures were up 3% at $100.86 a barrel by 8:29 a.m. ET. It is the first time the international benchmark has crossed the $100 threshold since July. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures traded 3% higher to $95.84. The U.S. military destroyed five Iranian crude oil tankers Tuesday in retaliation for attempted attacks on an American warship. The U.S. warship successfully evaded Iranian attack and no American personnel...

An Italian man is under investigation after authorities at Turin's Caselle airport discovered the head of an endangered crocodile concealed in his luggage. Officials from Italy's financial police squad in Turin said in a statement that the man was arriving from Miami by way of Istanbul. The financial police have been cooperating with customs officials for increased checks regarding trade in protected and endangered species, the statement said. Authorities found the head during a search of the passenger's luggage. Border authorities seized the head and placed the passenger under investigation for allegedly smuggling a specimen belonging to a protected species...

I have been getting long delays in opening Free Republic pages or threads. It can take up to 5-10 seconds. When posting a comment, I occasionally get a timeout error, sometimes even with the error it does post, and when I resubmit the post it without checking first by refreshing, I can sometimes get two posts. Occasionally it times out completely opening a window and I get an NGINX gateway error. This is happening on no other sites for me. I can ping any other number of Internet sites, and get 20 ms responses. Pinging freerepublic.com gives 60-70 ms responses....

The Trump administration is proposing to remove the federal tax-exempt status of private schools that use race-based admission or diversity, equity and inclusion in certain school policies and programsThe proposed regulation by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service would cover admissions, scholarships and loans, athletics, educational policies and other programs administered or supported by private schools. While the regulation is still open to public comment, if finalized, it would apply beginning on May 31, 2027.The regulation would apply to tax-exempt private elementary and secondary schools, colleges, universities, professional schools and trade schools. The Treasury Department...

I think that most people who read Hot Air are appalled by the subset of the population that has embraced Lindsay Clancy as a cultural hero. For most of us, the fact that Clancy clearly was having trouble with her mental health may help explain how she decided to kill her children, but for nobody I know does that excuse the fact that she chose to respond to her despair by killing her own children. I can understand, at some level, the feeling of empathy for Clancy's struggles; I cannot and will never understand turning her into a hero. There...

MADISON, WI — The Madison-based 115th Fighter Wing is reportedly deploying to the Middle East as the United States sends additional aircraft to the region amid its conflict with Iran. Air & Space Forces Magazine reported that F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters from the 115th are expected to arrive in the Middle East in the coming days. According to the report, the 115th will replace a Vermont-based F-35 wing and will be joined by F-16 aircraft from Ohio’s 180th Fighter Wing.

The Trump administration has gotten its fair share of "threats" from TDS-afflicted "entertainers" who say they are going to leave the country because of who is president. As the old saying goes, don't threaten us with a good time. The latest is Art Garfunkel, who will always be remembered as 'the guy who used to sing sometimes with Paul Simon.' “I don’t like America’s position at all,” the singer told the Guardian after being asked about issues “global heating” and “those in power.” He said about the former topic, "It's real that the planet is getting warmer, that the water’s...

Recently (May 2026) I did an update on the “homelessness” situation in San Francisco. The title was “The Homeless Industrial Complex Eats San Francisco For Lunch.” I have taken a particular interest in “homelessness” in San Francisco ever since that city had a big referendum back in 2018 to pass a special payroll tax supposedly to solve the “homelessness” problem once and for all. The result in San Francisco, you will not be surprised to learn, was that the Homeless Industrial Complex has since swallowed up all the new funding and much more, while the number of people identified as...

"Stand firm against the schemes of the devil" (Eph. 6:11). Satan wants to catch you off-guard. Yesterday we saw how Satan attacks God's Word. Today we will see how he attacks God's people. Persecution, peer pressure, and preoccupation are three weapons he employs with great effectiveness. Persecution should never take Christians by surprise because Scripture repeatedly warns us that it will come. For example, 2 Timothy 3:12 says, "Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." Yet such warnings are often overlooked in the health, wealth, and prosperity climate of contemporary Christianity. As the greed...

Iran’s oil shipments are plunging, tanker reserves are rapidly shrinking, and China is seeking alternative suppliers.Iran’s economy is coming under increasing pressure as damage to its oil exports, a weakening currency and shrinking access to foreign currency threaten one of Tehran’s most important sources of revenue. According to a report published Wednesday by Independent Arabia, the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian oil exports has significantly reduced Tehran’s ability to move crude from the Persian Gulf to international markets. The report said that since the blockade was renewed in mid-July, no major new shipments of Iranian crude have managed to pass...