Free Republic

Social Security says it has corrected tens of millions of identity records in the largest database cleanup in its history. The changes involve missing death dates and citizenship information, raising understandable questions about what the effort means for people receiving benefits. The agency’s October 20 announcement reports progress on work underway since the beginning of the Trump administration. It does not announce a benefit cut, a new application requirement or a deadline for everyone to verify their Social Security number. The practical issue is accuracy. Better records can help prevent improper payments and identity misuse, while incorrect changes can create...

Liberal Justice Elena Kagan sharply criticized the Supreme Court’s conservative majority Tuesday, saying it undermined democracy in a series of rulings, including several that have prompted a new wave of legislative map-drawing that has increasingly eliminated competitive districts. Kagan, who has dissented in those cases, also took aim at the majority for striking down campaign finance restrictions and, as she put it, the “evisceration” of the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act that was enacted to protect minority voters. “Part of the reason why the court got it wrong was a kind of lack of the appropriate concern or understanding of...

This video reports on a major marriage fraud scheme uncovered in Massachusetts, where six individuals were arrested and charged by the US Department of Justice (0:00 - 0:51). Key Details of the Investigation: Mastermind: Jennifer Gonzalez is accused of orchestrating sham marriages for over a decade to help illegal aliens fraudulently obtain green cards and US citizenship (0:18 - 0:31). Financial Scope: Authorities state she charged between $38,000 and $40,000 per marriage, netting an estimated $6 million over ten years (0:32 - 0:51). She allegedly used these funds to purchase property and businesses in the Dominican Republic (0:52 - 1:40)....

Explanation: Jinkies, look at all those ghosts! It took 100 hours of observation and a special oxygen filter for today’s image to capture three faint nebulas hidden in the Cassiopeia constellation. IC 59 and IC 63, the original Ghosts of Cassiopeia, haunt the region near multi-star system γ Cassiopeia. Energetic light from γ Cassiopeia causes the hydrogen gas in IC 59 and 63 to glow red. Their dust reflects and scatters some blue-ish white starlight. Newly discovered Objects 1, 2, and 3 appear as blue phantoms, revealing the presence of ionized oxygen. But ionized by what? Like at the bow...

The announcement of the scheduled December 3 execution by firing squad of Nidal Hasan for his "Fort Hood" murder of 13 people and wounding of another 32 in 2009 has inspired Al Qaeda "to avenge this unwarranted slaying of a righteous Muslim. If the US dares to go through with this evil deed we will respond in kind by abducting Americans, killing them, and showing the video of their deaths to the world." "Trump may think that executing Hasan for successfully carrying out a jihad attack on infidels will deter us from our goal of conquering the world for Allah,...

The seventh-year pro had played in Tennessee’s first five games this season before being sidelined this past Sunday. ============================================================== The Tennessee Titans cut defensive lineman Jordan Elliott after he brought a gun to the team’s training facility in a “terrible lapse of judgement,” officials said Wednesday. Titans coach Robert Saleh defended Elliott and called his now-former player “a good man” who deserves another chance — but just not in Tennessee. “He’s a good man (who) had a terrible lapse in judgment that I recognize as a call for help more than a than a criminal act,” Saleh told reporters. “It’s...

In Virginia, a 64-year-old man was charged after he taped his wife to a chair in the basement so he could watch football upstairs. Terry Ward was arrested last Sunday night in Richmond after officers responded to a domestic call. According to the criminal complaint, his wife said he used tape to restrain her to a chair in the basement. Ward admitted he tied her up and left her there. She had marks and tape residue on both arms and told police she had been restrained for up to 45 minutes. He faces felony abduction and misdemeanor assault on a...

An antibiotic morning-after pill has been shown to be effective for preventing STIs among gay men, but some doctors worry about antibiotic resistance. This story discusses STIs and their symptoms. AYESHA RASCOE, HOST: Research shows that a new morning-after pill for bacterial STIs is highly effective for gay men. A possible downside - it could lead to antibiotic-resistant superbugs. Note - this story mentions sexually transmitted infections and symptoms. KQED's April Dembosky reports from San Francisco. APRIL DEMBOSKY, BYLINE: Tyler Toler (ph) has had the trifecta of bacterial STIs - chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis. TYLER TOLER: Itching, burning, leaking, not...

Former judicial discipline director Christopher Gregory triggers panic across the judiciary after filing confidential misconduct records revealing widespread corruption and multi-million dollar hush-money cover-ups.Link to ChatGPT Video Transcript SummarySummary: Alleged Judicial Corruption in ColoradoThe video alleges a long-running corruption scandal involving the Colorado Supreme Court, state judicial officials, and the Colorado Commission on Judicial Discipline. Its central claim is that senior officials concealed judicial misconduct, arranged a multimillion-dollar agreement with a former court administrator, and retaliated against an internal whistleblower.1. The alleged $2.75 million hush-money agreementMindy Macias, a former chief of staff for Colorado's judicial branch, was reportedly facing termination...

A Trump administration fraud task force has uncovered nearly $42 million in food stamp funds meant for needy families that were instead stolen to support criminal activities as well as the lavish lifestyle of a rapper with multiple arrests — including for repeatedly exposing himself to pee off his apartment balcony. Vice President JD Vance and members of the Departments of Justice and Agriculture held a press conference in Cincinnati Wednesday highlighting the cases involving more than 40 defendants operating schemes that bilked the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and related programs. “Two-hundred twenty thousand Americans could’ve eaten for the entire...

What should have been a moment of school pride has now sparked controversy, with a high school football game in Oregon drawing attention for all the wrong reasons. A confrontation involving two rival players has raised questions about sportsmanship, respect, and the lack of intervention from adults present at the scene.

Vice President JD Vance took questions from reporters on Wednesday and was asked about Vivek Ramaswamy’s highly controversial attack ad against Democrat Amy Acton, which has roiled the already nasty Ohio governor’s race. “Vice President, Daniel Bush with the BBC. Thank you. You mentioned after this you’re going to a campaign event. Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign put out a controversial ad featuring his opponent’s mother. Republicans, some are backing away from that. Do you think that that ad was appropriate?” Vance was asked during an Ohio press conference. “Well, I’ll be honest with you, whether the ad was appropriate or not...

A motorist was killed in a drive-by shooting on the George Washington Bridge in Manhattan Tuesday night, according to cops and sources. The driver was found shot in the head on the westbound upper level of the crossing around 7 p.m. after officers responded to reports of a crash, the Port Authority Police Department and sources said. He was rushed to Englewood Hospital in New Jersey and pronounced dead, according to law enforcement sources. The suspect fled and remained on the loose late Tuesday. Investigators are pouring over security camera footage for clues into the slaying. Nobody else was injured...

​ ‪@ProyectoRetic‬ and I captured the longest Reticulated Python ever captured in Puerto Rico 18'4". Reticulated Pythons are an Invasive Species in Puerto Rico the same way that Burmese Pythons are an Invasive Species in Florida. These non-native snakes are having devastating effects on the native wildlife of Puerto Rico and are also causing huge problems for the local residents, often eating their livestock and pets. These snake eat native wildlife and domestic animals all the time, and this particular Individual was originally spotted eating a homeowner's cat behind their house. Every single one of these huge snakes that we...

At the Farm Stand Yesterday Leftist Simpering, Islamic Accepting Accolades as Due So I was standing in line at the farm stand and in front of me were three Islamic women, in full garb, the full monty: veils, wimples, and floor length dresses. They were buying coffees and cookies. Anyhow. Average looking brown women. Up to them comes a thin old white woman. She starts telling them that they are SO BEAUTIFUL! She is raving about their SPECIAL BEAUTY. The women nod and suck it up. The woman is going on about this thinking she is just so liberal to...

Government websites in Europe and elsewhere went offline on Wednesday after the disclosure of critical vulnerabilities in a widely used programming language sent website operators scrambling to protect their systems. Developers of the PHP programming language said Tuesday they had identified two critical vulnerabilities and urged users to update their sites as soon as a fix was released. They said around 1345 GMT on Wednesday that a new version fixing the vulnerabilities was live. But with reports that hackers were exploiting the flaws to break into websites, government agencies in the Netherlands and Finland were among those that took sites...

Today we're doing something a little different. We're taking Curator's Corner on the road! Wiltshire Museum in Devizes has very kindly lent us the objects excavated from Bush Barrow for our upcoming 'The world of Stonehenge' exhibition. But before they were taken off display, we grabbed some time with director David Dawson, to find out what makes the Bush Barrow Chieftain such an important figure for our understanding of British prehistory and the world of Stonehenge. Stonehenge's Richest Man | The Bush Barrow Chieftain Curator's Corner S7 Ep2 | 7:34 The British Museum | 799K subscribers | 221,962 views |...

Artificial-intelligence tools helped find one of the most severe online bugs ever. Cyber experts are racing to patch it before hackers use AI to exploit it. First, artificial intelligence heralded the Bugmageddon. Now it is triggering an all-hands-on-deck cyber emergency. The creators of PHP, a technology that powers as much as 70% of the world’s websites, disclosed a critical security issue Wednesday that could be leveraged by hackers to take control of any system running its software. That would allow an attacker to steal information or launch a cyberattack on anyone visiting a hacked website.Security researchers found the vulnerability using...

Don’t forget to tip your robots. A recent TikTok has exposed an airport store for prompting customers to select an 18% tip at a self-checkout kiosk. Dr. Clay Moss, a longevity specialist, recently posted a TikTok where a self-service payment terminal automatically nudged him to tip. In an undisclosed airport, the doctor was stunned when he tried to purchase a bottle of water — which was already overpriced — and saw that he was automatically encouraged to tip — 18%. Dr. Moss showed the store’s kiosk, which revealed the software — that seemingly uses a preset function — prompting customers...

President is considering restoring a pool once used by Roosevelt, which would lead to the eviction of the media from West Wing, according to reports President Trump has suggested replacing the White House press room with an indoor swimming pool, effectively removing news outlets from the building, according to reports. Trump proposed the idea to Karoline Leavitt, the former White House press secretary, several times before she stepped down from her post in August, the New York Times reported, citing three people with knowledge of the discussions. “America is rightly distrustful of the fake news media because they fabricate stories...