Free Republic

Advocates for transparency on social media cheered this weekend when X, the app owned by tech billionaire Elon Musk, rolled out a new feature that disclosed what the company said were the country locations of accounts. The feature appeared to unmask a number of accounts that were portraying themselves as belonging to Americans but in reality were based in countries such as India, Thailand and Bangladesh.But by Monday, the effectiveness and accuracy of the feature were already in question, as security experts, social media researchers and two former X employees said the location information could be inaccurate or spoofed using...

An award-winning Canadian-American author whose career was tied to his apparent indigenous ancestry has recently learned that he has no Cherokee roots.Thomas King revealed the findings on Monday in an opinion piece published in the Globe and Mail newspaper. The announcement follows a mid-November meeting with King and members of the Tribal Alliance Against Frauds, a US-based group dedicated to exposing people who falsely claim American Indian heritage. The 82-year-old said he accepts the findings of a genealogist with the organisation but writes in the essay: "I feel as though I've been ripped in half.""Not the Indian I had in...

Scouting America responded on Tuesday to a reported memo from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth seeking to cut ties with the organization, saying it was “surprised and disappointed” by the potential policy change, as the military has given its support to the Scouts since 1937. Congress requires the Pentagon to support Scouting America’s Jamboree, lending trucks, ambulances and medical teams free of charge. “The Scouting movement has had a strong relationship with our nation’s military going back more than a century,” according to the group. “From the tremendous support of the West Virginia National Guard at our National Jamborees to Scout...

It looks like Indiana's Republican-led legislature is set to consider redistricting in the coming weeks. President Trump posted to Truth Social:It looks like the Indiana Senate Republicans will be coming back in two weeks to take up Redistricting, a very important initiative to balance out the Democrats’ endless “Sue to Blue” and Census rigging strategy that has stolen seats from Republicans, and given them to Democrats who would not have them if they played fairly. Radical Left Democrats have rigged the game for a long time — Remember, until the GREAT Speaker Newt Gingrich, Democrats controlled the House for 40...

Rioters outside Park East synagogue in New York recently chanted genocidal screeds such as “There is only one solution: intifada revolution” and “we don’t want no two states, we want all of it.”But rather than unequivocally condemn the rabid antisemitism inherent in the protests, New York City’s mayor elect Zohran Mamdani’s office chose to not only tokenize synagogues as “sacred spaces,” but to then also condemn the synagogue and its event guest, Nefesh B’Nefesh, an organization that strives to get Jews to move to Israel, as “promot[ing] activities in violation of international law.” (RELATED: The New York Times Sets a...

The Supreme Court might allow Texas to use its new GOP-friendly map for the 2026 election. Federal judges blocked the new map from taking effect, ruling that it appeared to be unconstitutional. WASHINGTON — The Texas redistricting case now before the Supreme Court turns on a question that often divides judges: Were the voting districts drawn based on politics, or race?The answer, likely to come in a few days, could shift five congressional seats and tip political control of the House of Representatives after next year’s midterm elections.Justice Samuel A. Alito, who oversees appeals from Texas, put a temporary hold...

Censures were historically rare rebukes against lawmakers. But members of the House are increasingly using them in ways their peers say are political.Republicans and Democrats in Congress spent much of last week voting to formally reprimand each other, and both sides are tired of the back-and-forth.Congress voted on as many censure measures last week as it did during all of the 118th Congress. On Monday, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Washington) lobbed a disapproval measure against retiring Democratic colleague Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García of Illinois. The next day, Rep. Ralph Norman, who is running for governor in the state of South...

Landlords could no longer rely on rent-pricing software to quietly track each other’s moves and push rents higher using confidential data, under a settlement between RealPage Inc. and federal prosecutors to end what critics said was illegal “algorithmic collusion.”The deal announced Monday by the Department of Justice follows a yearlong federal antitrust lawsuit, launched during the Biden administration, against the Texas-based software company. RealPage would not have to pay any damages or admit any wrongdoing. The settlement must still be approved by a judge.RealPage software provides daily recommendations to help landlords and their employees nationwide price their available apartments. The...

Summary Pentagon says it received 'serious allegations of misconduct' Trump had accused Kelly and other Democrats of seditious behavior Trump administration has purged top generals WASHINGTON, Nov 24 (Reuters) - The Pentagon on Monday threatened to recall U.S. Senator Mark Kelly, a retired Navy captain, to active duty status in order to prosecute him after what it described as seditious behavior by the former astronaut and decorated veteran. Kelly, who denies any wrongdoing and who said in a statement he would not be intimidated, joined five other Democrats in Congress with backgrounds in the U.S. military and intelligence community to...

A state court instituted a map that created one blue seat in the state.Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz said the Legislature is awaiting Gibson — who was appointed to the bench by former Gov. Gary Herbert, a Republican — to “wrap up her final decision,” at which point the Legislature will appeal to the state’s highest court. Legislators have also said they will attempt to impeach Gibson.This is the latest episode in a yearslong redistricting saga in Utah. In 2018, Utah voters passed Proposition 4, an anti-gerrymandering ballot initiative that created an independent redistricting commission, which the GOP-controlled state Legislature...

KEY POINTS Best Buy hiked its full-year sales and earnings outlook. The consumer electronics retailer said it saw tech upgrades and strong sales of computers, gaming consoles and smartphones during the fiscal third quarter. The company’s annual sales have declined for the past three years. Best Buy hiked its full-year forecast Tuesday, as it topped Wall Street’s quarterly sales expectations and customers turned to the retailer to upgrade laptops and splurge on new gaming consoles and smartphones. The consumer electronics retailer said it now expects revenue of between $41.65 billion to $41.95 billion for the full year, higher than its...

“There is a time when you have to take a stand for women’s sports.”The 2025 World’s Strongest Woman competition in Arlington, Texas, erupted into controversy after American competitor Jammie Booker — who won the Official Strongman Games World Championship over the weekend — was stripped of the title on Tuesday after organizers said Booker failed to disclose that he is a man.Booker was disqualified for violating the rules that mandate contestants compete in the division matching the sex they were born as.“It appears that an athlete who is biologically male and who now identifies as female competed in the Women’s...

A suspected terrorist accused of stabbing three people in Madrid before attacking police shouting 'Allahu Akbar' reportedly told his mum he was on a mission to 'kill Christians.'The 18-year-old, a Spaniard of Moroccan origin, remains in hospital after being tasered and shot by anti-terror police when he holed himself up in a flat following the triple stabbing and violently resisted attempts to arrest him.A judge at Spain's central criminal court is now investigating the incidents on Saturday afternoon as suspected Islamic terrorist crimes.Cops had told the judge the teenager, who is currently under police guard at Madrid's Gregorio Maranon Hospital,...

"Our delegations reached a common understanding on the core terms of the agreement discussed in Geneva," said Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council secretary, Rustem Umerov Ukraine said on Tuesday that it has agreed to the "core terms" of the U.S. peace deal proposal to end its war with Russia.Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council secretary, Rustem Umerov, posted on X: "We appreciate the productive and constructive meetings held in Geneva between the Ukrainian and U.S. delegations, as well as President Trump’s steadfast efforts to end the war."Our delegations reached a common understanding on the core terms of the...

https://babylonbee.com/news/chicago-judge-hoping-23rd-time-is-the-charm-for-rehabilitating-violent-criminalCHICAGO, IL — A Chicago judge ruled this week that a man previously arrested 23 times for various crimes would be totally rehabilitated if let off the hook this time around. District judge Madeline Cartwright let 42-year-old serial robber, strangler, vagrant, rapist, and child abuser Jaquen Marcus off the hook following his 23rd arrest, with the assurance that this time would be different. "I just know he's going to turn his life around this time," Cartwright said. "He's been in front of my bench for theft, larceny (whatever that is), assault, jaywalking, attacking an officer, making false arrest claims, racketeering...

Who wants to see that?Oh no, perish the thought. We can’t possibly lose our current action movie landscape in which painfully diverse casts including 5’2 girl bosses defeat entire armies using the power of special effects while delivering quips originating from a now MeToo’d writer who wrote them for a teenage girl show before infecting Marvel with his brand of dialogue.They’re so popular that movie theaters are standing empty.So you can see why Semafor’s story about Trump impacting the culture is set to strike terror into the hearts of wokes everywhere.But now Larry Ellison, one of Trump’s most prominent financial...

In light of actual progress toward a peace proposal in the Russo-Ukrainian War, warmongers scrambled to hurl their favorite smear at the Trump administration. According to them, anything less than a total crushing victory over Russia is no different than British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement toward Nazi Germany in 1938 and paves the way for further Russian aggression.We’ve heard this accusation thrown around time after time from neocons, Democrat politicians, the propaganda press, and really anybody who is personally offended when America stays out of a foreign conflict for more than two seconds. Continuing in that vapid...

The FBI only investigates threats to the DC system. The statements by the ‘seditious six’ could be viewed as threats to the continuity of government; ergo, it’s possible the FBI will take the threat seriously.WASHINGTON DC – The FBI and Department of Justice have contacted Capitol Police to schedule interviews with the six members of Congress who appeared in a controversial video urging service members to ignore orders they may deem illegal, Fox News has learned.Last week, a group of Democratic lawmakers with military and intelligence backgrounds, including Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich.; Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.; Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Pa.;...

As U.S. gunships patrol closely to Caracas, Venezuela's narcodictator, Nicolas Maduro, is seeing few efforts to help him from his big-gun friends, such as Russia, China, and Iran.His little-gun friends, though, e.g., Cuba, are where his real problems are. They're out to kill him.According to Axios (emphasis added):Oil-rich Venezuela has long been an opponent of the U.S. and has helped prop up Cuba's dictatorship, which furnishes security that helped install Maduro in 2013 and keep him in power. Venezuela also is an ally of Iran, China and Russia.Part of the challenge of persuading Maduro to leave, U.S. officials say, is...

The EU’s new plan to regulate speech, media, and elections.The European Union has just unveiled the so-called European Democracy Shield. The name, while promising, claims to “protect” democracy on the basis of two pillars which, on principle, should raise concerns: combating “disinformation” and “foreign interference.”To that end, the EU will create a new European Centre for Democratic Resilience, intended to collect data from Member States on information manipulation; foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI); and phenomena classified as disinformation. The same package also includes a European network of independent fact-checkers and a European Digital Media Observatory, which will be endowed...