Free Republic

Women in Gaza are being traded for food and forced into marriages with their rapists, according to a pair of reports from the United Nations — underscoring the critical importance of President Trump’s Board of Peace in the war-torn enclave. There was a 123% increase in the number of early and forced marriage incidents across Gaza in the first quarter of 2026, with women between the ages of 18-59 suffering 68% of all gender-based violence (GBV) in the Palestinian enclave, the United Nations’ Population Fund (UNFPA) found. Researchers spoke to women who said young girls were married off to rapists,...

Researchers have begun drilling into a mysterious, boat-shaped formation in the mountains of eastern Turkey, hoping an underground robot will unearth the answer to one of biblical history’s biggest mysteries. Members of the Noah’s Ark Scans expedition believe the Durupinar formation, located in eastern Turkey near Mount Ararat, could mark the final resting place of the vessel described in Genesis. “Good morning from the outer rims of Noah’s ark,” the project’s marketing and fundraising director, divisive Christian activist Lauren Witzke, wrote in a Tuesday update. “Core drilling has begun and the big bang evolutionists are already in damage control mode,”...

The French actor and director had been in unbearable pain since a polypropylene prosthesis was fitted in 2023 after a right groin hernia. Aged 43, he was euthanised this Tuesday in Namur, Belgium. Actor and director Arnaud Denis, left severely disabled after the insertion of an anti-hernia implant, chose to end his life by euthanasia in Belgium on Tuesday at the age of 43 to put a stop to his suffering, his lawyer Philippe Courtois told AFP. "The decision taken by Arnaud Denis was made in consultation with three doctors in Namur. His body could no longer carry him. He...

ransomnote: I'm concerned about potential abuse of Apple's ear bud technology, carefully designed with extensive built-in electrodes to obtain 'Mind Tapping' information from consumers. With voter ID gaining popularity, might Apple's 2023 patent point to the next gen 'alternative' to stealing elections?In a 2023 patent, Apple identified technology for a "Biosignal Sensing Device Using Dynamic Selection of Electrodes (Your earbudes can acquire information from your brain in a 'non-ivasive' manner.) Below I pulled together some information (Apple's patent, Grok, related articles) to try to determine if this patent was just the sensing portion of what actually became 'sensing-responding' technology (e.g.,...

As Xi Jinping visits President Trump in Washington, his country lags behind the United States on A.I. development in key areas — but Beijing has advantages elsewhere.There is no shortage of issues on the table for possible discussion as President Trump prepares to welcome the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, for a state visit beginning Wednesday evening, including the Iran war, Taiwan and tariffs.But no topic has captured global fascination in recent weeks more than whether the two sides can reach any agreements around the pace of artificial intelligence development. The rapidly shifting debate about the risks of A.I. has so...

Vice President JD Vance was reportedly the anonymous White House source behind a story that President Donald Trump’s administration is now pointing to as evidence for why Politico deserved to lose its White House access. The revelation, first reported Wednesday by Oliver Darcy’s Status, adds a striking wrinkle to the administration’s defense of its Friday decision to boot Politico from the White House grounds alongside CNN and MS NOW. The Washington Post reported just minutes earlier that the White House had identified six Politico stories in a Tuesday letter laying out its case against the outlet, accusing it of reporting...

The designer who became famous for her “Tax the Rich” message allegedly still hasn’t learned a basic financial lesson: pay your debts. Aurora James, who outfitted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) in her jaw-dropping 2021 Met Gala gown — a floor-length, ivory white dress with the words “Tax the Rich” emblazoned on the back in a stunning shade of red — allegedly owes more than $1 million for a ritzy gala benefitting her nonprofit, court records show. James, 42, and her nonprofit the 15 Percent Pledge are facing a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court from high-end event planning company The Gathery,...

A medical watchdog group is asking the Department of Health and Human Services to investigate Planned Parenthood’s medical coding practices, which they say could point to fraud. Do No Harm says Planned Parenthood affiliates may have used improper billing codes when prescribing cross-sex hormones to gender-confused young people, according to a new investigation. “Planned Parenthood affiliates may be deliberately miscoding services to mask their true purpose and to facilitate the improper reimbursement of cross-sex hormone treatments,” Do No Harm wrote in a letter to HHS Inspector General Thomas Bell that was exclusively reviewed by The Daily Wire. The watchdog group...

An island meeting, texts between the leaders of Canada, France and Norway reveal an emerging alliance: ‘We’re in’Norway’s prime minister thumbed out a text message to an increasingly familiar contact on his phone—a fellow head of government he hoped would join a nascent plan of Western leaders to design a new framework to regulate artificial intelligence.Jonas Gahr Støre said that within 10 minutes, Canada’s Mark Carney had texted back: “Of course. We’re in.”Around the same time, Carney was discussing AI regulation with French President Emmanuel Macron on the French Atlantic archipelago of St. Pierre and Miquelon just off Newfoundland, as...

Connecticut Sun center Brittney Griner’s estranged wife Cherelle responded to her July 30 divorce filing in Fulton County (Ga.) after eight years of marriage, according to TMZ. Cherelle, a 34-year-old lawyer, is asking the court to award her financial support and explained that there is a “substantial disparity” in income — and she reportedly is “unable to meet her reasonable financial needs on a monthly basis without continued support.” Brittney signed a one-year, $1.19 million maximum contract with the Sun for the 2026 season, according to Spotrac. Cherelle listed the separation date as July 24, 2026, as did Brittney in...

A shady trio was spotted emerging from a manhole just steps from the hotel where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to stay during the United Nations General Assembly, cops and sources said. The three unidentified men were spotted around 4:35 a.m. climbing out of the underground pit on Park Avenue near East 61st Street on the Upper East Side, authorities said. They fled in two vehicles that headed north on Park Avenue, police said. Netanyahu and other dignitaries are expected to stay at the Loews Regency New York down the block, sources said. It was not immediately clear...

It was a rather dreary October afternoon in 2011 when I turned to my computer to watch a rough cut of Jefferson’s Secret Bible, a documentary for the Smithsonian cable television channel. I was the Under Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, and the film was about the conservation of a precious artifact, a book known as the “Jefferson Bible” that would soon go on display at the National Museum of American History. After his retirement to Monticello, Thomas Jefferson had carefully cut out selected passages from Greek, Latin, French and English versions of the Bible, then pasted them in four...

The well-known journalist from Capiate Julio Jara did not hold anything back and told the story of the image that left everyone with their mouths open in the middle of lunch. "The photos are real. I have the original photos," the interviewee began by telling Crónica, assuring that the capture is not an invention or joke. The mysterious postcard was taken on Saturday afternoon by her friend's mother, a respected retired lady from the center of Capiatá. "Because there was a contrast between the dark clouds and the sky, the image was very spectacular... that's why the lady captured the...

Brendan Carr@BrendanCarrFCCChairman, Federal Communications Commission.Washington DC fcc.gov/about/leadersh…Joined July 2014 Brendan Carr@BrendanCarrFCCNEWAs part of our ongoing efforts to crack down on illegal robocalls and text, the FCC has published step-by-step guides that enable consumers to turn on blocking and filtering tools.They are specific to your type of phone and carrier.Find them here: https://fcc.gov/blockitSeptember 22, 2026

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) told a local television news station in Shreveport, Louisiana, this week that President Donald Trump needs to bring the war in Iran “to a resolution.” “It’s been a priority and an objective of every administration, for nearly 50 years, to ensure that Iran didn’t have a nuclear capability. Now that’s done. Operation Epic Fury was an epic success,” Johnson said dutifully, later adding: The world is safer because of it. But now we’ve got to bring that to a resolution. And the Strait of Hormuz not being open affects commerce. It directly affects gas prices...

They will not say this on a swing-state mailer. They will talk about groceries and “affordability” and holding crooks accountable. Fine. Read the platforms. Read what House Democrats have already promised for Day One if they take the gavel.Then read what the Democratic Socialists of America put in writing this summer and what their national co-chair confirmed on live television. And to those who think the Democratic Socialists are not the "mainstream" Democrat Party, I would encourage you to pay closer attention. The days of Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries are numbered, and will be effectively over if the Democrats...

Take heart, we only need to wait approximately 60-days until we see a major price decline in diesel and gasoline prices in the USA. Once the midterm election is over, prices will begin their retreat with the finished collapse mid-January. The non-pretending reality exists within a generally non-western perspective that current “market prices” are not driven by oil supplies, refining capacity or the other various justifications used by the speculators, traders and various regional spot-market control systems. The prices are being controlled in order to influence political outcomes. Once those political influence operations are concluded, the stakeholders in the market...

More IRGC Leaders killed and more actions in the Strait of Hormuz.

Explanation: A once-in-a-lifetime crater has appeared on the Moon! A comet or asteroid roughly the size of a humpback whale (approximately 10-20 meters, 30-60 feet) crashed into the Moon sometime between April and May of 2024. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), with its monthly monitoring of the Moon, captured today’s images of the lunar surface before and after the event. The resulting crater, named after Apollo-era lunar scientist McGetchin, is two soccer fields across. Craters of this size are only expected once every 132 years! Follow up thermal imaging revealed a large cold spot that surrounds the warm crater. Surface...

Apple is making a much clearer bet on local AI computing with its latest Mac mini and Mac Studio desktops. Announced on August 25, 2026, the new machines are built around Apple’s new M6 and M5 Ultra chips, with the company emphasizing on-device AI, AI agents, large language models and professional workloads rather than treating AI as simply another feature. The new Mac mini starts at $899, while the Mac Studio starts at $2,499. Both are available for preorder, with availability beginning September 22. The bigger story, however, is not just faster Macs. Apple is increasingly positioning its desktop hardware...