Free Republic

Deniz Goktas was detained by authorities at the Istanbul airport for his comments in a YouTube video which has now garnered over 9.6 million views.

California is drawing a line in the digital sand. Starting 2027, public schools in the Golden State can’t have AI teachers for K-12 students. The latest amendment to the state’s education code, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last month, clarifies that all staff and contractors recruited by public schools should be “natural people.” Assembly Bill 2148 says that while AI can still be used as a supplemental learning tool like a tutoring software, the actual legal “employee” or “contractor” delivering instruction and services must be a human. The original bill proposed a blanket ban on using AI and educational technology...

A giant Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton sold for $50.1 million at an auction in New York on Tuesday, marking a new record price for a dinosaur fossil. The T. rex, nicknamed Gus, is a towering figure, standing at 12.5 feet fall and roughly 38 feet long, according to Sotheby's, the auction house that hosted the historic bid. Composed of 183 different bones, in addition to dozens of rare rib specimens that aren't included in technical bone counts, the assembled fossil is among the largest and most complete T. rex skeletons ever discovered, the auction house said. Gus was auctioned off as...

Democratic Senate contenders are dramatically out-raising their Republican peers, according to Federal Election Commission data — with Georgia’s Jon Ossoff and James Talarico in Texas leading the pack. Eight of the top 10 Senate candidate fundraiser this year are Democrats, whose top contestants have raked in $574 million, compared to the Republicans’ $336 million, per the FEC. Incumbent Sen. Ossoff (D-Ga.) is the biggest fundraiser on both sides, having raked in a jaw-dropping $77 million as of June 30, and has a staggering $42.5 million in cash on hand. He’s raised nearly $98 million as a Senate candidate, including the...

July 4 marked the 250th birthday of the United States of America, the 102nd birthday of On the Waterfront and Exodus star Eva Marie Saint, and 50 years since Israeli commandos rescued 102 hostages at Entebbe airport in Idi Amin’s Uganda. Unlike Eva and the USA, that milestone failed to get the attention it deserved, and in 2026 the reasons will prove enlightening. On June 27, 1976 in Athens, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) hijacked Air France flight 139 en route from Tel Aviv to Paris. The PFLP’s Jayel al-Arja and Fayez Abdul-Rahim al Jaber joined...

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Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on Saturday slammed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s post commemorating two U.S. service members killed in Jordan as a result of Iranian strikes. “Godspeed, heroes. Their sacrifice only stiffens our resolve,” Hegseth wrote on social platform X. Greene said it was inappropriate to deem their deaths a “sacrifice.” “Sacrifice?? What the f— are you talking about?? They did not willingly sacrifice themselves. They were killed because of the war you, Trump, and the admin, are waging on behalf of a FOREIGN COUNTRY, Israel,” Greene wrote in a response on X. “You mean their deaths fuel...

Two earthquakes measuring 5.2 and 5.7 in magnitude struck the Kuzaran area of Kermanshah province in western Iran on Monday morning. The first earthquake, with a magnitude of 5.2 at Richter scale, occurred at a depth of 13 kilometers. A second, stronger 5.7-magnitude quake struck the same area at 7:18 a.m. local time. No official reports of casualties or damage have been released so far. Assessment teams and emergency response units have been dispatched to evaluate conditions in the affected areas.

Daily Readings from the USCCBSome of the scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” He said to them in reply, “An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet.” Matthew 12:38–39Imagine if Jesus had responded differently to the scribes and Pharisees, saying, “Yes, I will perform a sign right now. Whatever you ask of Me, I will do.” Suppose they then asked Him to part the Sea of Galilee—just as Moses parted the Red Sea—and walk through on dry...

As Republicans expose fraud in the tens of billions in Medicaid and other welfare programs, Democrats’ response is to... duck. They made it glaringly obvious last week as Sen. Rand Paul chaired a Senate Homeland Security Committee meeting: Nearly all the panel’s Dem members were total no-shows; only Sen. Gary Peters attended at all, and only long enough to ask a few questions before heading for the door. The hearing actually covered two very different fraud topics: - Independent journalist Nick Shirley reviewed his welfare-fraud discoveries, including blatant abuses of Medicaid by New York adult day cares. - Undercover-video specialist...

David Lammy is taking legal action to block publication of foreign nationals' crime rates in England and Wales, provoking claims of a "cover-up". The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is seeking to overturn a ruling by the Information Commissioner that data revealing the full scale of foreign offending in England and Wales from 2018 to 2024 should be published. The Centre for Migration Control (CMC), a think tank, asked the MoJ to reveal the total number of convictions broken down by nationality and offences for the seven years under Freedom of Information (FOI) laws. But the MoJ claims the cost of...

The agency’s subtler tactics in recent months aimed to lull citizens into complacency. Arrests, detentions, and deportations have all increased under new DHS Director Markwayne Mullin. As a U.S. Senator from Oklahoma, Markwayne Mullin enjoyed a reputation for confrontation and theatricality. He often donned a cowboy hat on the Senate floor (a no-no for a body that prizes decorum) and strode the hallways of the Capitol bouncing a rubber stress ball. During a 2023 Senate hearing, the former mixed martial arts fighter challenged Teamsters President Sean O’Brien to a fistfight, taunting him to “stand your butt up.” In a...

The definitional lines between globalization and globalism have long been blurred. For its part, globalization is best defined as a process or series of processes that integrate the world economically, politically and socially. Globalism’s critical role But what is globalism? Quite often, the term is used synonymously with the word “globalization,” as if the two words were interchangeable. To be sure, the word “globalist” has come to be a battle cry — primarily on the political right, but is also one on the political left. The “globalist” charge is alternatively (ab)used to describe either the creation of some imaginary and...

Feckless and clueless, Donald Trump is lost in Iran, unable to find a way out of the disastrous war he started. Once again, the US military is pummelling the country and, increasingly, its civilian infrastructure. As before, this unlawful bludgeoning strengthens the resistance of a hardline regime that cares little for its people’s suffering. How often have Trump and Pete Hegseth, the Pentagon’s wildling lord of bones, hailed a bogus victory? The president claimed this week to be “winning big”. No one believes him. Even as it counts the vast human and economic cost of his Persian folly, a watching...

Zohran Mamdani, the Marxist Twelver Shi’ite mayor of New York City who wants to empty out the prisons, defund the police, and replace cops with social workers, has suddenly become a law-and-order guy. While he wants all manner of thugs, felons, and psychopaths menacing the law-abiding citizens of his once-great city, the callow authoritarian does have one man he is determined to put behind bars: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The New York Post reported Saturday that Mamdani “says he’s still weighing whether he can arrest Benjamin Netanyahu when the Israeli prime minister is scheduled to visit the Big Apple...

Is Immigration Becoming a Catholic Dogma? Inside Pope Leo XIV’s New Agenda As Pope Leo XIV's allies travel across America promoting a new immigration initiative, Gaetano Masciullo argues the Church is transforming prudential political questions into moral absolutes—with profound consequences for Catholic social teaching and the common good.The United States Tour of Mattia FerrariOn July 15, several outlets reported the news of a very particular tour that Mattia Ferrari, an Italian priest and coordinator of the World Meeting of Popular Movements (WMPM), is carrying out from the end of June across 21 cities in the United States, starting from California...

Sausalito’s new city manager was arrested early Saturday on suspicion of felony burglary after Marin County sheriff’s deputies responding to a noise complaint found her aboard a yacht that authorities say belonged to someone else. Elaine Forbes told deputies she was having “a bad morning” and insisted they leave what she claimed was her boat, the Marin Independent Journal reported. Forbes, 53, was taken into custody less than three weeks after starting as Sausalito’s top administrative official. The arrest came two days after the Sausalito City Council placed her on administrative leave following a closed-session meeting. Deputies responded to the...

Join together with Fellow FREEPERS to Pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media.'And this is the Confidence that we have in Him, that, if we Ask Anything According to His Will, He Heareth us.' 1 John 5:14 Religion Forum Threads Labeled [Prayer] are Closed to Debate of Any Kind.Psalm 72:12-14He will Take Care of the Helpless and Poor when they Cry to Him;For they have No One Else to Defend them.He Feels Pity for the Weak and Needy, and will Rescue them.He will Save them from Oppression and from...

So Trump's speech landed like a tree in the forest with no one listening. What could have made it more viral? I was thinking he could have started it with: "As I am speaking, the FBI is currently arresting hundreds of people connected to voter fraud..."