Free Republic

An Air Force experiment to test drones trained on artificial intelligence (AI) ended badly for the human operator in a simulated mission when the drone bucked the operator’s commands, U.S. Air Force Col. Tucker Hamilton said at a conference in May. Air Force researchers trained a weaponized drone using AI to identify and attack enemy air defenses after receiving final mission approval from a human operator, Hamilton, who serves as the Air Force’s chief of AI Test and Operations, explained at a summit hosted by the United Kingdom-based Royal Aeronautical Society. But when an operator told the drone to abort...

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a warning of “a heightened threat environment,” including possible attacks against such institutions as churches and the police, as the 2024 election draws closer. Just The News reports that the Memorial Day bulletin issued by the DHS also warned of political violence that could be sparked by “legislative or judicial decisions pertaining to sociopolitical issues.” “The United States remains in a heightened threat environment,” the bulletin declares. “Lone offenders and small groups motivated by a range of ideological beliefs and personal grievances continue to pose a persistent and lethal threat to the...

U.S. tennis player Sloane Stephens says the racism she’s faced has “only gotten worse” over the years. Speaking Monday at the French Open, Stephens told reporters of being on the receiving end of racist attacks, saying, “It’s obviously been a problem my entire career. It’s never stopped. It’s only gotten worse.” “Obviously when there’s FBI investigations going on with [what] people are saying to you online, it’s very serious,” Stephens, 30, said during a news conference following her first round win against Karolina Pliskova.

Former FBI agent Peter Strzok, a key figure in the “Russia collusion” hoax, attacked Breitbart News contributor Peter Schweizer on Thursday for his work on alleged corruption by Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden. Strzok, who had been one of the agents assigned to investigate Trump for supposed links to Russia, before his incendiary anti-Trump text messages with a lover were discovered, took to Twitter to attack Schweizer’s work: If you have the slightest concern about the FBI’s relationship with Christopher Steele, you should be losing your mind about the FBI’s relationship with Peter Schweizer. New reporting from...

Media reports on alleged scandals surrounding Justice Clarence Thomas reveal the Left’s desire to destroy his credibility, legal experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation. After the ProPublica report on Thomas’ acceptance of expense-paid trips from his friend, billionaire real estate developer Harlan Crow, which Thomas said his colleagues assured him was not reportable, multiple other reports were released accusing Thomas of wrongdoing. Lawyers told the Daily Caller News Foundation the reports are incomplete, amounting to a smear campaign aimed at swaying public perception, joining two federal judges who also criticized the reports this week. “With each new hit piece,...

BOZRAH, Conn. (AP) — An estimated 100,000 hens died in a weekend fire at a Connecticut farm owned by one of the country's largest egg producers, Connecticut officials confirmed Monday. It's one of several such fires that have killed millions of chickens around the country over the past decade. The blaze Saturday at the Hillandale Farms property in Bozrah, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Hartford, drew dozens of firefighters from the area and took hours to put out. The cause remains under investigation. No people were injured.

CNN anchor Don Lemon said Friday on “CNN This Morning” that former President Donald Trump’s “racist” attacks on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and New York Attorney General Letitia James were “really disturbing.” Partial transcript as follows: LEMON: This is really disturbing to me because he’s been doing this for a while, and I think we can’t talk enough about it, where he’s been calling these prosecutors who happen to be African-American, saying that they’re racist. He called Alvin Bragg a Soros-backed animal. He’s turning to his old tricks here of, you know, being racist or racist-adjacent, using that type...

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigeg lashed out at critics on Sunday, calling Fox News’ Tucker Carlson — born and raised in California — a member of the “East Coast elite” who did not understand the working class. Buttigieg has come under fire lately for his mishandling of a toxic trail derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. He has also been slammed for being on unannounced parental leave during the cargo crisis of 2021, and for being on vacation in Portugal last year as a rail strike loomed — while pretending that he was still in the country.

A division of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation indicated in a recent study that physical attacks on the U.S. power grid spiked by 71% in 2022 over the previous year, reported the Wall Street Journal. According to the grid oversight body's Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center division, vandalism, ballistic damage, and intrusion drove the increase. NewsNation noted that Duke Energy Florida experienced several "substation intrusion events' in September. For instance, on Sept. 21, an intruder busted into the Zephyrhills North substation in Pasco County, Florida, sabotaging equipment that resulted in a nine-minute-long outage. Substations convert high-voltage electricity into...

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Friday filed a complaint seeking a court injunction to stop union members from trespassing at a South Side newspaper distribution center, two days after asking the court to force Mayor Ed Gainey and police officials to uphold the state’s trespassing law. Since a strike by the unions began in October, the complaint said the Gateway View Plaza depot on West Carson Street has been the scene of confrontations between striking Post-Gazette union members and independent contractors, examples of which were detailed with pictures of punctured tires and broken car and door windows in the complaint. The...

Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Gov. Ron DeSantis’ governing style was “incredibly destructive.” Anchor Jake Tapper said, “Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, your gubernatorial colleague, is widely expected to run for president in 2024. Like you, he won re-election last year by double digits in a state that in the past has have been very competitive. He’s increasingly leaning into some hot-button cultural issues, education, racial issues. Do you think that he poses a real threat to Democrats if he ends up being the Republican nominee?” Whitmer said, “I don’t really know Ron...

Alyssa Farah Griffin told her co-host Thursday on ABC’s “The View” that Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) was “overhyped” as a potential 2024 presidential candidate. Griffin said, “On DeSantis, I think he is so overhyped. I’m just going, to be honest, I’ve seen Trump take out every mini version of Trump for the last five years. I think right now, the party wants something other than Trump. They want Trump light, so they are boosting and hyping DeSantis. He doesn’t do national interviews. He does nothing on the national stage. I think he will implode once Trump goes after him and...

It is believed the girl, from Perth, was riding jet skis with friends on the river when the incident happened. Insp Paul Robinson, from Western Australia Police, said it was possible the girl had jumped in the water to swim with dolphins seen nearby. Fisheries experts say it is unusual to find sharks in that part of the river, Mr Robinson said. This is believed to be the first fatal shark attack in the Swan River since a 13-year-old boy was killed in January 1923. Australia typically records about 20 shark attacks each year, with most in New South Wales...

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D) posted a video to Twitter on Saturday in which she pushed an “assault weapons” ban in response to two shootings carried out with pistols. Klobuchar cited the January 21, 2023 Monterey Park shooting (11 killed) and the January 23, 2023 Half Moon Bay shooting (seven killed). She did not mention that both shootings occurred in stringently gun-controlled California, which has had an “assault weapons” ban since the 1990s. Nor did she mention that both shootings were carried out with pistols.

Hundreds of Roman Catholic churches have been attacked since the violence that erupted nationwide following George Floyd’s death in May 2020, according to a Catholic nonprofit. Since May 2020, there have been nearly 300 attacks against U.S. Catholic churches as far afield as Emmonak, Alaska, with the most recent tally at 275 as of Sunday, according to a tracker from CatholicVote. The religious nonprofit organization noted that “while the riots and looting mostly died down in the summer of 2020, the attacks on Catholic churches have continued and escalated.” The attacks against churches include arson, broken windows, decapitated statues and...

In the United States, dozens of food processing plants suspiciously caught fire over the past year. Remarkably, no one was present at the time of the fires. The Eco Health Alliance whistleblower, bioterrorism expert, military veteran, and scientist Dr. Andrew Huff has a possible explanation for the food supply fires. Huff has access to government information about simulating a food supply attack. The information comes from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Food and Agriculture Sector Criticality Assessment Tool (FASCAT). This also includes which places are particularly at risk.According to Huff, who authorities have harassed due to the nature of...

Nearly all U.S. House Democrats voted against a resolution condemning attacks against anti-abortion facilities and churches. The vote came after a report was published showing violence escalated against churches and pro-life groups last year ahead of and after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The House passed the measure Wednesday mostly along party lines. Three Democrats voted for it: Reps. Vicente Gonzalez of south Texas, Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington. The resolution “condemns recent attacks of vandalism, violence, and destruction against pro-life facilities, groups and churches” and “calls upon the Biden Administration to use...

Last week, we looked at the story of an actual domestic terror attack on a pair of electric substations in North Carolina. We still have no idea who the person (or people) who carried out that attack were, but law enforcement is continuing to investigate. As it turns out, however, North Carolina was far from the only state to witness attacks in this fashion. Between January and August of this year, there were 106 reported attacks on power stations, substations, and other elements of the power grid. And they’re happening all over the country. Fortunately, few have been as effective...

Startling surveillance video shows a raccoon attacking a 5-year-old girl in Connecticut. Rylee MacNamara's mother heard the screams of terror and raced to the rescue. They didn't know if the raccoon was rabid - but it was aggressive. The chaotic scene unfolded Friday morning in Ashford - just east of Hartford. "I was going out to get on the bus and a raccoon was there and it tried to attack me," said Rylee. Rylee's mom was swinging the animal around and warning neighbors to keep their distance. Then, using all her might, she flung the critter into her front yard....

A 56-year-old homeless Florida man was arrested Tuesday after attempting to set tents on fire and attacking a person with a metal grate. Adrian Nelson Yarbrough, 56, Marathon, was charged with disorderly intoxication, battery, damage to property, attempted arson, and aggravated assault. The Sheriff’s Office was called to 20th Street at approximately 11 p.m. regarding a man who was yelling at people, attempting to set tents on fire, and threatening to kill people. The investigation found that Yarbrough got into an argument with several victims there. He poured water on their tents, telling them it was gasoline. According to deputies,...