Free Republic

President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that roughly 70 million American children under the age of 18 are now automatically enrolled in “Trump Accounts,” expanding access to the federal government’s investment initiative aimed at building long-term wealth for the next generation. The completion of the larger auto-enrollment rollout is a significant shift from the program’s original setup, which relied on parents actively filing paperwork to register their children. The transition to automatic enrollment follows new Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service guidance designed to streamline access and maximize participation nationwide. Under previous rules, parents or legal guardians were required to...

[Note: This is the Abstract of an ACM study, which I broke up into paragraphs for readability.] AI assistants are increasingly framed as digital coworkers rather than tools. In immersive settings such as VR, AI embodiment design choices can become salient social signals that shape human–AI interaction. We investigate how such choices influence users’ perceptions of and behavior toward AI coworkers by employing three functionally identical AI assistants varying in human-likeness and gender presentation. In a controlled study, 189 knowledge workers completed work tasks with them, provided ratings, and allocated monetary rewards; we additionally interviewed 34 participants. Our results show...

The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits fell to 197,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday. This was 2,000 lower than the the previous week’s revised estimate and 3,000 below the consensus forecast. New claims for unemployment benefits are a proxy for layoffs. These have been near the lowest levels in 57 years for the past several week. The four-week moving average of claims, which smooths out weekly volatility, fell to 198,000. This average was hit twice in 2022. Prior to that, average claims have not been that low since 1969.

He’s supposed to give Texas Republicans a run for their money in the U.S. Senate race. Ken Paxton is supposed to lose, if you believe the polling. So, where the hell is Democrat James Talarico? He’s been missing for almost two weeks. No, it’s not an Unsolved Mysteries episode, but politically, he’s been MIA from the campaign trail in a race where Democrats can’t have their people running silent and deep. Is it because we learned earlier this month that Talarico is a Marxist? Where is this guy (via PJ Media):

Young teenagers are less likely to identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual than they were a few years ago, according to a new analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. The decline is particularly striking among ninth-grade girls, according to Jean Twenge, a professor of psychology at San Diego State University who published her analysis of the 2025 data on her Substack “Generation Tech.” In 2021, 30 percent of ninth-grade girls identified as lesbian or bisexual. Last year, 17 percent did. “It really does look like a free fall,” Twenge said. “But what’s causing it is unclear.” Twenge...

CNN’s data analyst Harry Enten reported today that Republican voter registration has gone up significantly in several key swing states. This contradicts almost everything we are hearing about the midterms from Democrats and their liberal media allies. If all of these new Republican voters go out and vote in the midterms, the outcome could surprise quite a few people. Enten also devotes a few minutes to Florida and suggests that Republicans are pretty much a lock there to win. “When you take a look at how people are actually registering — this is not polling data — compared to where...

A scheduled military execution is set for December 3rd. We examine the procedures for the first such event in 65 years. The U.S. military justice system has scheduled the execution of former Army Major Nidal Hassan at Fort Hood. This event marks a significant procedural milestone, as it would be the first time in over six decades that the armed forces have carried out a capital sentence. Understanding how a firing squad operates requires looking at the specific regulations governing capital punishment. We break down the historical context and the legal framework that leads to this rare application of the...

Hinson faulted Turek for missing votes in the state House and for taking advantage of a per diem for state lawmakers even when he was not there. “You took the per diem, you stole from taxpayers, you should refund that money,” Hinson said. Turek did not respond to that criticism during the debate. You trash the president during the primary and now you’re doing ads saying you’re going to work with him,” Hinson shot back. “It’s a tale of two Tureks.”

With less than a month to go before the midterms, the questionable polls keep piling up. I've been saying for a while that I think the GOP will outperform the polls this year, and a fresh report from CNN backs that up. According to CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten, there's some incredibly good news for the GOP in both the short term and long term, which may matter more than the polls. CNN anchor John Berman set up the segment by noting that plenty of surveys show the races slipping away from Republicans. He then asked Enten what the...

A New Hampshire fisherman caught the state’s largest bluefin tuna weighing over 1,100 pounds — smashing a record that had stood for more than a decade. Brandon McGirl was hoping to reel in anything when he boarded the Out of Line, a Savage Charters NH boat captained by Jamie Savage, on Saturday for an overnight fishing trip out of Rye Harbor on the New Hampshire Seacoast, WMUR reported. “It was very difficult conditions to try and fish. It was a little bit rougher than we were hoping for,” McGirl told the outlet. The crew chased the fish for about a...

LDQUGROS LUN KTG RON VUOOAH. ARVHWOS GTK LUN U JTDGOWS. --QUWXDRN YH AUEUSHOOH

Gov. Kathy Hochul was one of a handful of Democratic governors to stockpile pills used in medication abortion amid fears the U.S. Supreme Court could restrict access three years ago. But a feared shortage of the drug never materialized. Now, 150,000 pills in the state’s possession have all expired — and not a single one was distributed. The state Department of Health says it will soon destroy its reserve of misoprostol pills, which is enough for 12,500 doses. That’s in contrast to California, which took steps to distribute its supply to providers, and Oregon, which reupped its stock at no...

The White House releases a behind-the-scenes look of China’s President Xi Jinping’s during the recent state visit. Hosted by President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, President Xi was welcomed to the White House for events on September 23-25, 2026. Chinese President Xi looks at framed image of an autopen in place of a President Biden portrait.Trump and First Lady Melania Trump visit the National Archives with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Madame Peng Liyuan in Washington, D.C.Trump and First Lady Melania Trump visit the National Archives with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Madame Peng Liyuan in Washington, D.C.

An upmarket restaurant in Portland has faced a violent backlash after seating a group of white supremacists. Police were called twice to Clarklewis, an LGBTQ+-owned restaurant in the Central Eastside, on Sunday after protesters confronted the diners and restaurant staff. The restaurant said its staff had no idea about the group’s alleged political affiliations when they arrived for a private brunch.(snip) Rogers made clear that the restaurant does not support white nationalism and said staff would not knowingly host a group with those beliefs. Rogers said one female employee quit on the spot after the confrontation, while other staff members...

I might have been wrong about Meghan Markle. I always assumed she was vain, vapid and utterly clueless. But is she, in fact, a comic genius? Because surely her newly released advent calendar is a joke. After years of going out of her way – in a very grandiose fashion – to protect her privacy, sharing only closely cropped snapshots of her guarded life in California, and even hiring a separate house when shooting her Netflix show With Love, Meghan, what has she gone and done? Slapped a rendering of her real Montecito mansion on the front of an advent...

The front lawn of an Indiana courthouse was torn up when a woman who was allegedly driving drunk decided to do donuts in the grass, authorities said. A 68-year-old woman was arrested for DUI and "numerous other charges" after she drove her car in circles on the Jennings County courthouse lawn, the sheriff's office said in a post on social media on Tuesday. "If you’ve had a few too many margaritas with dinner, please don’t get behind the wheel, and definitely don’t do donuts on the courthouse lawn," authorities said in the post. "We encourage everyone to enjoy themselves responsibly...

The Kingdom of Bahrain is a small island nation connected by a causeway to Saudi Arabia (15.5miles away) and once claimed by Iran (124 miles away). Wedged between these two larger regional powers, Bahrain has hosted a U.S. naval command headquarters since 1948. For decades, Bahrain has permitted U.S. access to its facilities and has hosted U.S. Naval Central Command (NAVCENT) and the U.S. Fifth Fleet at a base called “Naval Support Activity (NSA)Bahrain.” NSA Bahrain has long served as the logistical hub for U.S. maritime operations in NAVCENT’s area of responsibility and has hosted thousands of American soldiers, civilians,...

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) ran an impressive race on Sunday, and the internet can't stop staring at his shorts. Walz ran the Twin Cities 10 Mile for the second straight October with his daughter, Hope, as part of the annual Twin Cities Marathon Weekend. The scandal-plagued governor crossed the line in 1:26:15, an 8:45-per-mile pace, which put him 2,134th out of 9,559 finishers. (snip) But what I’m actually here to talk about is a photo Hope shared on Instagram from after the race. It’s a doozy, and it has social media buzzing. It shows the two of them after...

Two women consulted a man named Mark Stephen Asea for computer troubles. Asea runs a TikTok channel where he identifies as a "Demonologist," "Clairsentient," "Empath," "PTSD," "Grey Hat Hacker" and "Woodsman." Asea reportedly hacked their devices and began to post their personal information to his TikTok channel. Fox News reports, In a video reviewed by a detective, Asea allegedly rattled off details about one woman's devices and claimed to know her recent spending. ‘Let's talk about your actual password,' he said, according to a transcript in the affidavit. ‘How about we talk about the last 10 purchases you made online?'...

iPhone users across the country were urged to vote after consulting left-wing media sites on Tuesday. Apple News’ sent an alert to users that read “This personalized guide has all the information you need.” Clicking the alert then takes user to a page with a “How to vote” tab offering a “personalized guide to casting your ballot.” Users can enter their zip code to find coverage of the elections happening in their area. Visiting Fellow at the Heritage Foundation Robby Starbuck pointed out that much of the news provided “felt heavily biased in favor of Democrats.” For several zip codes...