Free Republic

Democrat House leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) believes attacking diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives is akin to directly attacking the United States of America, making the remarks during a National Action Network speech this week. “And when you attack diversity, equity, and inclusion, you attack the United States of America,” Jeffries proclaimed, defending DEI initiatives prizing ethnicity and sexual orientation over actual skills or merit. Jeffries claimed that Democrats have the “high ground” on the issue. “I’m so thankful that Reverend Sharpton and the National Action Network continues to lean in,” he said, explaining that he also believes the attacks...

An entitled Oregon shoplifter has sued a grocery store after a clerk beat him up for stealing a cart full of corn dogs and cookies. Joshua Merkel is asking for $10,000 to cover the medical expenses and mental anguish he claims was inflicted during the foiled heist in southwest Portland. Merkel has sued Albertson's grocery store and cashier Matthew Cooper for allegedly attacking him outside the store, leaving him with a black eye and a shattered jaw. The incident happened two years ago, but Merkel filed a civil lawsuit, seen by The Oregonian, last month in Multnomah County Circuit Court....

The toilet on board the Artemis II spacecraft has reportedly broken down again, leaving the four astronauts on board with no working bathroom on their return to Earth. NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen will reportedly now have to switch to a diaper-like alternative for the remainder of the trip back to Earth. The space agency later confirmed that the toilet was not working as the Artemis flight reached day six in their ten-day mission. NASA has previously said that in the event the space capsule's toilet stopped working, the astronauts would...

A Chinese researcher at the University of Michigan took his own life after being subjected to 'hostile questioning' by federal agents, it is claimed. Danhao Wang, an assistant research scientist in the school's College of Engineering, died on March 20 inside the university after falling to his death. Police said they are investigating his death as a 'possible act of self-harm', with the China Ministry of Foreign Affairs claiming he took his life after 'hostile questioning'. A statement, which did not name Wang, said that the postdoctoral scholar took his life 'after being subjected to hostile questioning by U.S. law...

Health researchers are sounding the alarm after noticing more people refusing life-saving blood transfusions because they come from vaccinated donors. In a study out of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 15 patients or families of patients who needed blood transfusions rejected them because they requested blood from donors who were not vaccinated. The majority of patients were children or teenagers. The refusal led one patient to go into shock, another to develop anemia and others to have their surgeries delayed. Now, doctors involved say they fear more Americans, spurred by vaccine-suspicious health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, will follow. Over a...

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday Donald Trump’s mocking comments about his marriage did not merit a response, calling them “neither elegant nor up to standard”. […] On Wednesday, Trump made fun of the French president and his wife at a private lunch as he lambasted NATO allies for not joining the war against Iran. The US president imitated a French accent and said that Macron’s wife “treats him extremely badly” and that Macron was still “recovering from the right to the jaw”. On a visit to Seoul, Macron, who was accompanied by his wife Brigitte, said Trump’s comments...

In a move that feels less like a corporate transaction and more like the final punchline to a 40-year industry rivalry, AMD announced Wednesday that it has agreed to acquire Intel, the company it has spent decades chasing, imitating, undercutting, suing, licensing from, and lately outperforming. The all-stock transaction, which AMD described as a "once-in-a-generation opportunity to unify x86 innovation," would combine the two companies under a single umbrella just a few years after such an outcome would have sounded ridiculous. For most of modern computing history, Intel was the empire and AMD the scrappy survivor, the perpetual second source...

Identical twins who had sex with the same woman within four days of each other can’t know for sure who fathered her child, a UK court ruled recently. Only one of the brothers can be listed on the birth certificate for the child, but right now it is “not possible” to confirm who the biological parent is, the Court of Appeals in London said, according to reports. The baby’s mother and one of the twins sought court intervention to grant him parental responsibility after the other brother was registered as the tot’s father on the paperwork based on a past...

The bullet that killed conservative commentator Charlie Kirk did not match the rifle used by suspected killer Tyler Robinson, a bombshell new court filing states. Robinson, 22, is facing capital murder charges and a potential death sentence for Kirk's murder at Utah Valley University on September 10. But his defense attorneys now argue that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives 'was unable to identify the bullet recovered at autopsy to the rifle allegedly tied to Mr Robinson.' The defense team may now offer the ATF firearm analyst's testimony as exculpatory evidence, they said in a motion filed on...

This thread is about EO 14247. I just got my tax returns back and I am told that all of my 2026 estimated taxes for Federal and State must be electronic. That is, they must be sucked out of an account by ACH transfer. No more mailing of checks. However, the government will graciously accept my mailed in check for what is due on the return itself. I checked with CoPilot, and it said that EO 14247 of March 25, 2025 mandates that all payments to the Federal Government (including estimated taxes) must be electronic via a portal (IRS.Gov/Payments, I...

As Russia and China race to expand their fleets of icebreakers, NATO countries are scrambling to keep up. And at the center of this growing Arctic power game stands an unlikely key player: Finland. According to Business Insider, a senior Norwegian military official recently warned that NATO is falling behind Moscow and Beijing in the ability to operate in the High North. Icebreakers – specially built ships that can cut through thick polar ice – are crucial in any future Arctic conflict. They secure access to sea routes, enable troop movement, and protect supply lines in frozen waters. Russia currently...

NBA and NFL players are involved in a truly remarkable story after being scammed by a catfish pretending to be a famous adult actress. The NFL Players Association is now speaking up and make players aware of shady characters. The nature of the statement from the NFL PA stems from a fraudster targeting many stars and their personal information. The Athletic detailed a shocking account recently regarding various NBA and NFL players being targeted by a man that posed as an OnlyFans creator. Kwamaine Jerell Ford allegedly pretended to approach top athletes and gain their trust for the purpose of...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom praised Elon Musk as this generation's Thomas Edison — then accused the Tesla CEO of surrendering the electric vehicle market to China. "It breaks my heart," Newsom said on a new episode of "The Axios Show," describing Musk as "one of the great disappointments" of our time. Why it matters: China already holds 70% of the global EV market. Newsom argues Musk — the man who pioneered America's EV industry — is now accelerating that dominance by pivoting Tesla toward robotics. "I think this is Trump, not just Elon Musk," Newsom added, referring to the administration's...

A Utah mother has been hit with felony charges months after she allegedly kidnapped an 11-year-old boy who she claimed was bullying her autistic son. Shannon Marie Tufuga, 40, has been charged with child kidnapping and aggravated child abuse, according to court records. On September 17, 2025, Tufuga was driving around Provo looking for her son's alleged bully, identified only by his initials in the charging document filed Monday. When Tufuga found the boy, she stopped in front of him while he was riding his bike and made him 'get into her vehicle', according to the charging document. Per the...

President Donald Trump, who is in the midst of pressuring senators to curb the use of mail-in voting, voted by mail ballot in Tuesday’s special election in Palm Beach County, Fla. The Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections website indicates that Trump, who is registered to vote at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Palm Beach, “voted by Mail Ballot” in a special election between Democrat Emily Gregory and Republican Jon Maples for a seat in the state legislature. A spokesperson for the office confirmed to The Washington Post that the “information [on the site] is accurate.” Trump’s decision to vote by...

Cursive has been on the upswing for years now. More than two dozen states now require cursive instruction in schools after the 2010 Common Core standards omitted the skill. Kenerson, a multilingual teacher at Holmes, started the middle school cursive club when students couldn't read her writing on the board. They just stared at her blankly, she said. "I realized they didn't know how to write or read in cursive," Kenerson said. For an educator who firmly believes that quotes deserve to be written in cursive, and has a new one on her board each month, Kenerson wanted to give...

Influencer faces legal action for alleged lewd act in central LondonBonnie Blue charged with outraging public decency in Westminster. Screengrab from YouTube video 'BONNIE BLUE IS PREGNANT'/Bonnie Blue Adult content creator Bonnie Blue has been charged with outraging public decency following an alleged incident in Westminster in December 2025. The 26-year-old influencer, whose legal name is Tia Billinger, is accused of performing a lewd act in a public space in central London. The Metropolitan Police confirmed that Billinger was charged via postal requisition on 16 March 2026 and is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 22 April....

A candidate for the US Senate has been convicted of throwing a tarantula down the stairs of her basement in a Home Alone-inspired bid to scare an alleged squatter. Marisa Simonetti, 32, who is running as an independent in the upcoming Senate election in Minnesota, was convicted on Friday of misdemeanor counts of domestic assault, harassment and disorderly conduct. The charges stemmed from the tarantula incident, which occurred in 2024. At the time, Simonetti told NBC News that she got the idea from the 1990 movie Home Alone, starring then-child actor Macaulay Culkin. In the film, Culkin's character, Kevin McCallister,...

The White House has registered the domain 'aliens.gov,' sparking fresh speculation that President Donald Trump's long-awaited UFO disclosure may be imminent. The domain, linked to the Executive Office of the President, was flagged on Wednesday by an automated tracker of federal websites. However, it is also listed in the government's official .gov registry maintained by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Registry records show it was recently added under the White House Office alongside other official government sites, confirming it as a legitimate federal web address, though its purpose has not been publicly disclosed. In February, Trump directed federal agencies,...

In January, Doug Fulop was riding home from a night out in San Francisco when a man crossed the street in front of his car, doubled back and began screaming at him. The man punched the car’s windows and tried lifting up the vehicle. He then yelled that he wanted to kill Mr. Fulop and the other two passengers for giving money to a robot. A taxi driver would have simply driven away. But Mr. Fulop’s vehicle had no driver — it was a self-driving Waymo. “We felt helpless,” said Mr. Fulop, 37, who works in the tech industry. Self-driving...