Free Republic

A new critical Internet security vulnerability has been announced, and it’s really, really bad. The PHP Foundation has revealed two serious vulnerabilities that could impact millions of websites. Security experts warn that failure to quickly patch the flaws could have dire consequences. Internet security and web administration teams around the world are scrambling to prevent widespread disaster. On Wednesday, the developers behind the much-used PHP programming language released emergency security updates designed to fix critical flaws that could be exploited to allow attackers to gain dangerous remote control of victim systems. The PHP Foundation detailed the two critical vulnerabilities—CVE-2026-109618 and...

Explanation: Looking toward the north from Mullion, New South Wales, Australia, the Andromeda Galaxy never gets more than a few degrees above the horizon. During the southern hemisphere spring, Andromeda is highest in the sky around midnight though. And in this telephoto scene from October 10/11, multiple exposures were used to reveal the spiral galaxy in tantalizing detail as it climbed above rolling Australian hills. Also known as M31, the Andromeda Galaxy is one of the brightest objects in the Messier catalog, but is only visible to the unaided eye as a small, faint, fuzzy patch. Digitally tracked and stacked...

(The Center Square) - Colorado voters will decide in less than two weeks whether to ban surgeries that change the genders of minors. If Proposition 135 passes on Nov. 3, doctors across the state will be prohibited from performing procedures to alter minors’ sex characteristics. Prop. 135’s description says a “Yes” vote would prohibit surgeries on minors that would “alter their biological sex characteristics as a treatment in response to a minor’s perception of sex or gender, and prohibits the use of government funds or health insurance to pay for the surgeries.” The bluebook ballot guide provided by the Colorado...

Congressman Keith Self (TX-03) introduced a bill to repeal the Diversity Immigrant Visa Lottery. The Diversity Immigrant Visa Lottery program offers permanent residence to up to 55,000 applicants annually from countries with historically lower levels of immigration to the US, many of them in Africa. A California judge ruled the U.S. State Department must reinstate the program after the Trump administration had suspended it last December after a Portuguese national who received a visa through the program was suspected of killing four people in two separate shootings in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. “We cannot allow activist judges to dictate our...

SENATOBIA, MS. (WMC) - The Senatobia police officer who shot and killed 1-year-old Kohen Wiley in a Walmart parking lot in June has resigned from the force, attorneys for the Wiley family told Action News 5. Officer Hunter Foster’s body camera footage, just released by the Mississippi Department of Pubic Safety, shows him running out of the store with other officers after a Walmart employee told him accused shoplifters were on the run. Within 13 seconds, Foster’s gun was aimed at the car with Wiley inside it. What the video shows Body camera audio captures officers shouting “Stop the car....

Lawsuit asks judge to delay finalization of vote if tossup election could have been swung by having two candidates named Dan Sullivan on the ballotWASHINGTON—President Trump said he asked the Justice Department to sue Alaska to prevent certification of the state’s Senate results if the Republican candidate loses, an extraordinary move by his administration to intervene legally in the 2026 midterm elections.The Justice Department filed the lawsuit in federal court in Alaska, citing the potential for voter confusion because the ballot there includes retiree Dan J. Sullivan Jr. in addition to the Republican incumbent Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, who is...

A major Democratic super PAC also pulled out of the race in the final weeks. Senate Majority PAC, which is aligned with Democratic leadership, announced a $42 million investment in the state earlier this year. A group tied to the super PAC spent $29 million before cutting its funds in mid-October. Saving America’s Future, a pro-Trump group run by former White House aide Taylor Budowich, last week gave $1 million to NC First, a super PAC that has been funding pro-Whatley television ads, according to campaign finance reports. The amount, however, is significantly less than what Republican-leaning groups have already...

What started with a Walmart driver’s tip about dozens of packages piling up at a Peoria home led investigators to a $1.2 million fraud scheme stretching from the Valley to Southeast Asia. The Walmart driver told police on Aug. 22 that he’d delivered 30 to 50 packages under different names to the same home in just a couple of days. Days later, a victim reported their Walmart account had been hacked and used to buy items. Those two reports sparked a two-month investigation that ended Thursday morning with six arrests, according to newly released court documents. Investigators say the group...

On Thursday's CNN This Morning, Mark McKinnon offered a snide suggestion about President Trump’s sexuality. Commenting on Trump’s habit of sizing up male physiques, McKinnon said: “Check Truth Social just to make sure he doesn’t have a Grindr account.”Get the rest of the story and view the video here.

The Trump administration has so far announced 43 equity stakes in firms producing everything from minerals to semiconductors, 36 of which were negotiated without explicit legal authority — and more are yet to come. The administration may be negotiating even more stakes under the radar, since SEC filings for unrelated deals mention the possibility of warrants. Unwinding the administration’s investments would prove legally and politically difficult — but Democrats likely won’t want to, at least not right away. They’re already weighing how to use equity stakes for their own ends, signaling that Trump’s government intervention in the private sector may...

According to Sheriff Grady Judd, a family that moved from Connecticut four months ago was attempting to buy dinner at a drive-thru when their credit card declined. Deputies said the father grew distracted while searching for another way to pay. PCSO said as he bent over to check his card, he removed a Glock handgun from his waistband and placed it on the vehicle seat. The 3-year-old child, who was playing in the backseat, grabbed the firearm and pulled the trigger, according to deputies. Officials said the father heard a loud pop before frantically running around the vehicle, while a...

A 17-year-old McKinney resident has been arrested and charged by the FBI for planning to assassinate U.S. Rep. Keith Self and carry out an allegedly ISIS-inspired terrorist attack in North Texas. According to reports, the bureau arrested the would-be assassin on October 5 after the individual obtained a firearm. Investigators said they believed the suspect planned the assassination for October 17. The suspect had been monitored by federal agents for some time at that point, and was believed to have been radicalized by online ISIS material. In a post to X on Wednesday, Self (R–McKinney) expressed his gratitude to the...

A former Mexican state attorney general could face trial for treason over accusations that he illegally launched a joint operation with the CIA without telling the federal government. The operation to dismantle a drug lab in the state of Chihuahua in northern Mexico in April drew attention after two CIA agents and two state officials died in a car accident on their way back. That raised questions about the Trump administration's actions on Mexican soil, and outraged President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has made a strong defense of national sovereignty a centerpiece of her administration. The state district attorney, César Jáuregui,...

The ICE agents who conduct home raids are charged with detaining and deporting criminal aliens and fugitive aliens. A fugitive alien is a noncitizen who failed to appear in immigration court. A criminal alien is any noncitizen convicted of a crime. In many cases, these raids result in the detention and sometimes deportation of immigrants who are neither criminal nor fugitive aliens – these are what ICE calls “collateral arrests.” When President Barack Obama took office in 2009, immigration home raids were commonplace.

Luka Doncic and newly acquired center Walker Kessler led the Los Angeles Lakers to a 127-105 rout of the Golden State Warriors ​in their season-opener on Wednesday in their first game since LeBron James' departure. The ‌Lakers began the new campaign after an offseason of major change, including James' exit and a sale of the franchise. James, who led the Lakers to the 2020 NBA title and became the league's ​all-time leading scorer while with the team, has signed with the Philadelphia 76ers. Golden ​State's Stephen Curry scored 16 points in a back-and-forth start, but ⁠the Warriors lost momentum when...

To make its impending victory last, my party should look to the center, not move further left. There is little question that President Trump and the GOP will lose this election. With Mr. Trump’s approval rating hitting a historic low for an incumbent president before the midterms, Republicans will cede control of the House and likely the Senate. What is still far from clear is whether Democrats will win. That question won’t be answered on Nov. 3 but over the next two years. The top story from the 2026 cycle will be the electoral opening Democrats seized—and will have to...

A group designated as a foreign terrorist organization is backing dozens of Democrat candidates in November’s election, including several seeking statewide office. CAIR Action, the political arm of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, has released a 17-page voter guide identifying its preferred and endorsed candidates across Texas, from the top of the Democrat ticket down to local races. Among those receiving the group’s “preferred” designation are U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico, gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa, attorney general candidate Nathan Johnson, agriculture commissioner candidate Clayton Tucker, comptroller candidate Sarah Eckhardt, and railroad commissioner candidate Jon Rosenthal. Lieutenant governor candidate Vikki Goodwin...

Medical laboratory operator Quest Diagnostics said it learned of a cyber breach of one of its systems this week, likely compromising some records for patients. In a Thursday regulatory filing, Quest Diagnostics reported “unauthorized access” to its Quanum Lab Services Manager, a platform where certain clients can place test orders and receive or look up their results. The company said it discovered the hack on Wednesday and notified federal law enforcement. How many patients and which particular records have been affected is still unknown. Quest Diagnostics said it believes “certain patient records” were accessed in the breach, but that the...

Elon Musk has reportedly poured $1 billion into the media empire behind CNN and Paramount, potentially giving the billionaire a powerful new foothold in Hollywood and sending shockwaves through an industry packed with his fiercest critics. The world's richest man has acquired a stake in Skydance, the entertainment giant controlled by David Ellison, according to people familiar with the investment who spoke to Semafor. The blockbuster deal could mark the beginning of a much larger alliance between Musk and the Ellison family, whose sprawling media interests include CNN, HBO, CBS and Paramount. And for liberal commentators who have spent years...

Soldiers and government officials say connections continued to fail if drones fly at high speeds KYIV—The Starlink system used by Ukraine’s military was suffering from low speeds limits early on Friday, despite President Trump saying that SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk had restored the service. Ukrainian drone units and government officials said connections with Starshield, a military-grade service using Starlink’s infrastructure, continued to fail in most of the country when drones flew faster than 161 kilometers an hour, equivalent to around 100 miles an hour.Some units had successfully tested drones at 200 kilometers an hour on Thursday, raising hopes that...