Free Republic

The U.S. diplomat arrived in West Africa in mid-June with little fanfare, hopscotching along the Atlantic coastline for scheduled visits with senior government officials in the Ivory Coast, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Togo and Gabon, whose president greeted him inside an opulent seaside palace. The American, a career State Department official named Christian Ehrhardt, was an unlikely diplomatic VIP. For nearly two decades, he served as an officer in the agency’s security branch, focusing on embassy protection, before being summoned to Washington last year to lead a new initiative — the Office of Remigration. Since then, Ehrhardt, 41, has crisscrossed Africa, trying...

Denver socialist and city councilwoman Shontel Lewis said she's qualified to serve as the city's mayor because she was convicted of stealing food stamps, a crime she said made her familiar with "navigating all the ills of poverty." Lewis, the Denver Democratic Socialists of America's pick for mayor, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor theft in 2008 after stealing thousands of dollars in public benefits by using her position with the Colorado Department of Human Services East Food Stamp Office to reissue Electronic Benefit Transfer cards intended for others to her roommate and herself. She was sentenced to 18 months of probation...

The conventional wisdom says that the party that holds the White House always loses seats in the midterms. Since the GOP has such terribly slim margins, this makes it a virtual guarantee that the Democrats will win both houses of Congress this year, doesn’t it? Well, no, it doesn’t. To begin with, it really doesn’t “always” happen that way. There have been several occasions in the past century in which the party in the White House has gained seats in the midterms; who’s to say this won’t follow those examples instead? For example, just to look at the midterms of...

🚨 BREAKING: US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declares OpenAI management personally responsible for HuggingFace hack > "The Hugging Face incident, that is the responsibility of the OpenAI management, not a bunch of agents." > "It is humans who are responsible, not the AI." > "What we shouldn’t do on safety is to give these labs a liability exemption, which is what they are asking for." > "The best way to guarantee safety is that the creators are liable for what they build and generate." It’s OVER

In this week's Avid Space update, SpaceX continues to get ready for Flight 14 and preparations are underway to accelerate the production and testing of Starships, but red tape is getting in the way. We're Going To See A Lot More Starships Once Gigabay Comes Online! | 7:10 Avid Space | 251K subscribers | 60,686 views | September 20, 2026

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- Less than 24 hours after a 5-year-old was killed and two others were injured in a shooting in northwest Harris County, a suspect has been arrested, the sheriff's office said. Sheriff Ed Gonzalez confirmed on Sunday night that 47-year-old Jeremy Porter was arrested and charged with capital murder in connection with the shooting death of Zah'layah Walter. He was booked into the Harris County Jail. According to the Harris County Sheriff's Office, the shooting happened on Grant Road near Jones Road on Saturday around 11:30 p.m.

Four American startups have brought their first small nuclear reactors to life, each reaching the point where the reactor can sustain a controlled chain reaction. The companies are chasing a specific goal: generating power on-site for the electricity-hungry data centers behind the artificial intelligence boom. Reaching criticality is a significant technical milestone, though it remains a long way from a fully operational commercial power plant.

A funny thing happened on the Iranian President's way to the U.N... But before we get to President Donald Trump's newest and latest and most magnificent troll, please let me take a moment to remind you of just how high he set the bar for himself. Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Tex.) told the story to Sage Steele on a video podcast way back in 2024. "I want to leave Afghanistan," Trump is supposed to have said at a high-level meeting with the Taliban during his first administration. "But it's going to be a conditions-based withdrawal," unlike the rushed and bloody mess...

Lindsay Clancy’s attorney on Monday called on the judge who oversaw her mistrial to investigate the holdout juror, claiming he may have inaccurately filled out jury forms or answered questions during the selection process. Kevin Reddington, representing Clancy, also asked Judge William Sullivan to look at juror Michael Desronvil’s alleged domestic violence history and use of their cellphone during deliberations, according to a motion obtained by the New Haven Register. Judge Sullivan has agreed to impound jury information and questionnaires filed before the trial, but has not yet ruled on Reddington’s motion. Desronvil, a 48-year-old father, was the sole voice...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In the latest wave of legal turmoil enveloping the nation's capital, cable network CNN sued the Trump administration for allegedly violating its First Amendment rights to fabricate the news. CNN, MSNOW, and Politico expressed outrage after President Donald Trump expelled the outlets from the White House, arguing that his administration was denying them their constitutional rights to make things up and report them as facts. "He has no right to keep us from making things up," said CNN personality Kaitlan Collins. "It is the right — and indeed the duty — of major news outlets in the...

Explanation: When does a nebula look like a comet? In this crowded starfield covering over two degrees within the high-flying constellation of the Swan (Cygnus), the eye is drawn to the Cocoon Nebula. A compact star forming region, the cosmic Cocoon punctuates a nebula bright in emission and reflection on the lower right, with a long trail of interstellar dust clouds to the left, making the entire complex appear a bit like a comet. Cataloged as IC 5146, the central bright head of the nebula spans about 10 light years, while the dark dusty tail spans nearly 100 light years....

Video Transcript SummarySummary of Patricia Leidl’s testimony before the Allison Inquiry (Day Three, 10 September 2026) Patricia Leidl (age 64), a former World Health Organization communications director and researcher, testified about severe health problems she attributes to her second COVID-19 vaccine dose. She previously worked in WHO’s HIV department, for USAID, as an advisor to the UN Population Fund, and wrote the first draft of WHO’s 2002 report The State of the World’s Vaccines. In that report she had written that an effective coronavirus vaccine was unlikely because the virus mutates too quickly, and noted that vaccines typically take 7–15...

Attorney General Ken Paxton says he has successfully shut down a Houston “birth tourism” center following his lawsuit against the operation. De’Ai Postpartum Care Center was accused of operating an illegal scheme that imported foreign nationals to give birth for U.S. citizenship. The center catered to Chinese nationals, communicating with clients through Chinese social media and websites. It claimed responsibility for 1,000+ American-born babies. The operation went beyond providing its four residential locations. It “coached foreign nationals on how to evade immigration restrictions, including advising women to apply for visas ‘before pregnancy’ to avoid detection,” according to the Office of...

In a campaign speech, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz acknowledged that "the era of unconditional love that the US has shown to Europe since World War II are over. The generosity that every US president since Truman has shown toward Germany and our fellow European states has been ended by the cruelty of President Trump. Fortunately, the defensive shield from Russian aggression provided by US arms is no longer needed. The hundreds of billions that shield saved us permitted us to provide ample social welfare benefits that would otherwise not have been possible." Merz went on to mock Trump's "humiliation by...

ransomnote: I became interested in this content based on the 3 minute video excerpt in an x.com post which I will put in post #1. The content intrigued me so I found the whole video (1 hr 11 min), posted the video page description of it and had GROK summarize the transcript (below).TLDR: The midterm elections are framed as decisive. They will determine whether the United States continues shifting toward sovereignty or remains controlled, trapped, and fighting endless proxy wars. Scott Bessent chasing the money behind the Iran war somewhere nobody expected. Mark Carney walking out on Trump. Europe refusing...

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said her government will introduce legislation to limit the number of foreign students in classrooms and ban full-face coverings in schools. Appearing on Sunday at the Fenix, the annual national youth festival organised by Gioventù Nazionale, the youth wing of her Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, told her student supporters that Italian children should not become a minority in their own classrooms. “It’s unthinkable that in an Italian classroom, Italian children feel cornered because they’ve become the minority. It can’t be done,” she said, according to Corriere della Sera. The Italian premier said her Council...

I want to set the tour drama aside for a moment, because underneath the chanting and the flags is a premise nobody in that crowd seems to have actually examined: free Palestine from what, exactly, to become what, exactly? There has never been a sovereign Palestinian state. Not once, not ever, not under any government, any constitution, any flag flying over internationally recognized borders. The land in question passed from the Ottoman Empire to the British Mandate to a 1947 partition plan the surrounding Arab nations rejected outright, choosing war instead. From 1948 to 1967, the West Bank sat under...

21 September 2026 Saint Matthew, Apostle, Evangelist Feast Cathedral of Matthew the Apostle, Washington, DCReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Red. Year: A(II).First readingEphesians 4:1-7,11-13We are all to come to unity, fully mature in the knowledge of the Son of GodI, the prisoner in the Lord, implore you to lead a life worthy of your vocation. Bear with one another charitably, in complete selflessness, gentleness and patience. Do all you can to preserve the unity of the Spirit by the peace that binds you together. There is one Body, one Spirit, just as you were all called into one and the...

Jennifer Eckhart, a former Fox Business associate producer and podcast host, was found dead Friday at her Martin County, Fla., home, authorities said. She was 36. Eckhart appeared to have died by suicide, Martin County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Christine Christofek said in a statement. Eckhart hosted “REINVENTED,” a podcast that her website described as featuring prominent figures in business, sports and entertainment who had overcome adversity on their path to success. The most recent episode was posted in March and featured former Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg. Eckhart previously worked as an associate producer at Fox Business. In...

NATO endorsed an agreement between the US and Denmark to expand Washington's military presence in Greenland, potentially forestalling President Donald Trump's demands to take over the Arctic territory. The agreement provides a potential US veto power over Russian and Chinese investments on Greenland, makes permanent Washington's military presence, and allows for more US bases. The deal notably falls short of American ownership — an earlier demand by Trump that had strained NATO to its breaking point. The deal should "begin the process of healing," Atlantic Council experts said, though the specter of US aggression against treaty allies kicked off a...