Free Republic

White men seeking to join the Royal Air Force were described as "useless white male pilots" in leaked emails that expose the pressure placed on recruitment officers to improve diversity. A number of selection boards to place new recruits on courses - a crucial part of maintaining the fighting strength of the RAF - were also cancelled if they did not include women or ethnic minorities, according to the messages, which have been seen by Sky News. It can also be revealed the air force is paying £5,000 each to 31 white men - a total of £155,000 - who...

Florida Gov. and GOP presidential nominee Ron DeSantis has successfully sucked the pleasure out of many of life’s little joys, from drag brunches to Disney adult TikTok. And thanks to the passage of SB 1438, or the Protection of Children Act, DeSantis may now be bringing the ax down on furries. On Wednesday, the organizers behind Megaplex, an Orlando-based convention for furries — people who enjoy dressing up as or making art of anthropomorphized creatures — posted a statement on Twitter regarding its policy for admitting minors. The statement was in response to SB 1438, which makes “knowingly admitting a...

A political movement in the U.S. is encouraging municipalities and states to adopt ranked choice voting as a supposedly more representative voting method. In new research, David McCune and Adam Graham-Squire analyze the theoretical and historically observed flaws of ranked choice voting and argue that politicians and voters must weigh both its benefits and shortcomings when considering adoption. Should more cities and states adopt ranked choice voting (RCV) for municipal and state elections? Is RCV a “good” way to select election winners? These questions are not easily resolved, as the answer depends on what one wants from a voting method...

Howie’s poll question of the day yesterday asked “Who is the biggest piece of white trash in America?” The results are in: Hunter Biden. Endless transgressions – criminal and otherwise — have been committed by Hunter Biden. In fact, I am hard pressed to find anything that the President’s son has done that could be considered a moral or personal achievement. Certainly, we can’t praise him for his brief affair with his dead brother’s widow, although President Biden and Dr. Jill thought it was just charming. In a statement released after that scandalous story broke, Sleepy Joe gave his public...

WASHINGTON -- The Biden administration will end most of the last remaining federal COVID-19 vaccine requirements next week when the national public health emergency for the coronavirus ends, the White House said Monday. Vaccine requirements for federal workers and federal contractors, as well as foreign air travelers to the U.S., will end May 11. The government is also beginning the process of lifting shot requirements for Head Start educators, healthcare workers, and noncitizens at U.S. land borders. The requirements are among the last vestiges of some of the more coercive measures taken by the federal government to promote vaccination as...

Former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi has been rushed to hospital with suspected respiratory problems, Italian media has reported. LaPresse news agency, Sky TG24 and Corriere della Sera reported the news, without citing sources. Berlusconi has had a series of health problems in recent years, most recently recovering from COVID-19 in 2020. He told reporters after being discharged from a 10-day hospital stay then that disease had been “insidious” and was the most dangerous challenge he had ever faced. He has had a pacemaker for years, underwent heart surgery to replace an aortic valve in 2016 and has overcome prostate cancer....

Minnesota regulators said Thursday they're monitoring the cleanup of a leak of 400,000 gallons of radioactive water from Xcel Energy's Monticello nuclear power plant, and the company said there's no danger to the public. The leak was first detected in November of last year. "Xcel Energy took swift action to contain the leak to the plant site, which poses no health and safety risk to the local community or the environment," the Minneapolis-based utility said in a statement. While Xcel reported the leak of water containing tritium to state and federal authorities in late November, the spill had not been...

The week of last Thanksgiving, Michael Larkin, a business owner in Hamilton, Ohio, picked up his phone and answered a call. It was the local police, and they wanted footage from Larkin’s front door camera. Larkin had a Ring video doorbell, one of the more than 10 million Americans with the Amazon-owned product installed at their front doors. His doorbell was among 21 Ring cameras in and around his home and business, picking up footage of Larkin, neighbors, customers and anyone else near his house. The police said they were conducting a drug-related investigation on a neighbor, and they wanted...

Former President Donald Trump on Friday slammed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over a past move to end a prized ethanol mandate, foreshadowing a likely primary clash to come in Iowa, the state that will kick off the entire process. "Why on earth (farmer's love earth!) would the wonderful people of the GREAT State of Iowa vote for Ron DeSanctimonious when he voted and fought to KILL Ethanol (and will definitely do so if given the chance) ..." Trump wrote in part in an early morning post on his social media platform, Truth. DeSantis, Trump concluded, would "beg for mercy" in...

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- The San Jose Police Department is investigating after a suspect in possession of explosive material was arrested. He's now believed to be responsible for blowing up two PG&E transformers. The suspect has been identified as 36-year-old San Jose resident Peter Karasev who made his first court appearance on Friday. SJPD says the investigation began with two separate incidents involving explosive devices between December and January. On Jan. 5, officers responded to the 6000 block of Snell Ave. on a report of a damaged transformer. A PG&E employee said an explosion occurred the night before around...

President Joe Biden's mental health is declining; that's no secret. However, it is alarming when he can't make it through an interview without stumbling over his words or being unable to recall whether he's already talked to someone. During an interview with ABC on the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, Biden said that he has "talked to everyone that there is to talk to" but can't remember who he has spoken to. Host David Muir asked Biden if he plans to travel to Ohio and has talked to the mayor. "I can't recall whether I've — I don't...

Queensland is launching a global recruitment drive for hundreds of police officers over the next five years, as the state's police minister acknowledges difficulties attracting new recruits. Under an agreement struck between the state and federal governments, the Queensland Police Service (QPS) has approval for 500 international recruits to join the service each year for five years. The recruits will complete a fast-tracked training course of three to four months and then be stationed across Queensland. The program will give recruits a pathway to permanent residency and citizenship. Commissioner Katarina Carroll said those wanting to be recruited would be required...

When Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida convened a round-table discussion about the news media this week, he spared no effort to play the part, perching at a faux anchor’s desk in front of a wall of video screens while firing questions to his guests like a seasoned cable TV host. But the panel’s message was as notable as its slick presentation: Over the course of an hour, Mr. DeSantis and his guests laid out a detailed case for revisiting a landmark Supreme Court decision protecting the press from defamation lawsuits. Mr. DeSantis is the latest figure, and among the most...

A POLICE van has been torched during a protest in Liverpool over migrants staying in hotels. Footage shared on social media shows hundreds of people gathered outside the Suites Hotel in Knowsley. The hotel is being used to house migrants. Staff from refugee charity Care4Calais said they became trapped in a car park. They described the protest as "out of control". Police said they were "facilitating an initially peaceful protest" and a group who opposed them at about 6.30pm on Ribblers Lane. Scenes then turned ugly, however, as missiles were thrown towards officers and a police van was set on...

[snip] "We propose a limit of between 10,000 pounds and 20,000 pounds per individual as the appropriate balance between managing risks and supporting wide usability of the digital pound," [BoE Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe] said in a speech to members of UK Finance, a banking industry body. A limit of 10,000 pounds would mean that three quarters of people could receive their pay in digital pounds as well as holding pre-existing balances in the same account, while a 20,000 pound limit would allow almost everyone to use digital pounds for day-to-day transactions, Cunliffe said.

The White House and the CIA have responded to a report that CIA Director, William Burns, offered Russian President Vladimir Putin a fifth of Ukraine's territory to end the ongoing war as part of a peace plan drawn up on behalf of President Joe Biden. A CIA official told Newsweek that claims in the report from Swiss-German newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) that Burns took a secret trip to Moscow in January and that there was a peace proposal put forward by the director on behalf of the White House were "completely false." Last month, Burns traveled in secret to...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — The Providence Public School District is investigating an email sent to Mount Pleasant High School employees. The assistant principal at the high school sent an email Thursday night asking staff to help a student who they said came to the U.S. illegally. Several people took to Twitter to share the email. “We have a student who came to America with ‘Coyote,’ which is a group that helps people,” Assistant Principal Stefani Harvey said in the email. “This group gives you a time frame to make a payment of $5,000 to those, who bring them into the...

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) joined TikTok on Wednesday to complain about being kicked off the House Intelligence Committee — though TikTok is a Chinese-owned app increasingly seen as a national security threat. In the video, Schiff asks for money from supporters, claiming that Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) banned him from the committee “all for doing my job, for holding Trump accountable, and standing up to extreme MAGA Republicans.” [snip] It is not clear what device Schiff used to create and post his video. As of Thursday morning, it is the only video on Schiff’s TikTok page, where...

PHOENIX - A bipartisan group of Arizona lawmakers have introduced legislation to study the possible benefits of psychedelic mushrooms for mental health and various other disorders. If House Bill 2486 is passed, a research advisory council would be established to study the impacts of the drug. The bill would not legalize mushrooms for recreational use. Clinical trials would be conducted to evaluate the effects of mushrooms on PTSD, depression, long-term symptoms of COVID-19 and other conditions. Lawmakers would seek $30 million for a three-year study. Read the bill here: https://www.azleg.gov/legtext/56leg/1R/bills/HB2486P.htm

More than a dozen House Republicans introduced legislation declaring that the COVID-19 pandemic is over. The Pandemic Is Over Act, from Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., simply states that the public health emergency declared by the secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) in 2020 in response to COVID "shall terminate on the date of enactment of this Act." [snip] "The COVID-19 pandemic is over," Guthrie said. "Despite President Biden admitting this in September, his administration just authorized the 12th extension of the COVID-19 public health emergency. It is long overdue for President Biden to end the COVID-19 public health emergency...