Free Republic

Do you spend too much time in your car? Your local state authorities think you do — and they’re quietly pushing through laws that will give them the power to do something about it. Meet Massachusetts Senate Bill S.2246. Introduced by state Senate Majority Leader Cynthia Creem, it sets the stage for a future where the government tracks and potentially limits how many miles you drive each year. This isn’t a fringe proposal — it’s working its way through the legislature right now, and similar ideas are being tested in other states across the country. Is this really about emissions...

TLDR: The American Bar Association has spent decades pushing sweeping gun control—from penalties on victims who don’t report stolen guns, to redefining the Second Amendment as “militia-only,” to backing bans, mandates, and red flag laws—despite no evidence these measures reduce crime.Punishing victims: ABA wants criminal/civil penalties if gun owners don’t “promptly” report lost or stolen guns, despite no evidence that it reduces crime.Rewriting the Second Amendment: In 1994, ABA pushed the “militia only” interpretation to justify more restrictions on private ownership.Decades of bans and mandates: From “assault weapons” to .50 cal rifles, red flags, permits, microstamping, and doctor questioning—ABA has...

LONDON — Tech giants must be allowed to burn more fossil fuels if the U.K. is to become a global AI leader, British ministers were told this summer. The warning was raised at a meeting in late June between Technology Secretary Peter Kyle, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband and executives from leading U.S. tech firms. The suggestion — that on-site gas fuel cells could provide an “interim measure” to get around lengthy waits for a connection to the electricity grid — exposes the tensions the U.K. faces as it tries to be both a climate leader and an “AI maker.” Achieving...

In the wake of the 12-day war between Israel and Iran, the regime appears to be turning inward — escalating repression with chilling speed. According to Kasra Aarabi, director of IRGC research at United Against Nuclear Iran, the Islamic Republic is accelerating toward what he said is a "North Korea-style model of isolation and control." "We’re witnessing a kind of domestic isolation that will have major consequences for the Iranian people," Aarabi told Fox News Digital. "The regime has always been totalitarian, but the level of suppression now is unprecedented. It’s unlike anything we’ve seen before." A source inside Iran...

Supermarkets will reportedly be required to make significant changes to their stores as part of a government crackdown on obesity. The Government plans to introduce a health food standard for supermarkets to make the average shopping basket 'slightly healthier' and ease pressure on the NHS. Public health experts say that cutting 50 calories a day would lift 340,000 children and 2 million adults out of obesity, which is one of the root causes of diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Major supermarkets will have to report on healthy food sales and 'increase the healthiness of sales in communities across the UK',...

Government planes leaving for Oman, Khamenei abdicated in favor of IRGC. IRGC bigwigs defecting to Crown Prince. Trump says well beyond cease fire. Victory is goal now, no nuclear weapons. Transcript linked below video.

President Donald Trump announced, “We now have complete and total control” of Iranian airspace and that the U.S. knows “exactly where” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “is hiding.” Trump’s announcements came in a string of Truth Social posts. “We now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran. Iran had good sky trackers and other defensive equipment, and plenty of it, but it doesn’t compare to American made, conceived, and manufactured ‘stuff,'” Trump wrote. “Nobody does it better than the good ol’ USA,” he added. Trump then said the United States knows where Khamenei is located.

The Department of Defense (DoD) has repeatedly voiced intention to maintain “appropriate human levels of judgment” over autonomous and AI-enabled weapon systems, but those who study frontier AI technologies have identified many challenges to aligning AI with human intentions. While questions of AI alignment occasionally smack of science fiction, frontier AI developers grapple with these challenges for product optimization and safety. Two challenges relevant to military AI applications have emerged recently: sycophancy and emergent misalignment . In the technical sense, sycophancy is the tendency of AI models to offer responses that are pleasing to their users at the expense of...

Unfortunately, Raskin was not arguing that people really need to learn to use their guns against terrorists more quickly and with deadly accuracy, which is the lesson that any normal human being would have to stop crazed Islamist terrorists from setting Jews on fire. Instead, he really went on television to argue that the attack in Colorado, in which an enraged Islamist attacked Jewish protesters, is a prime example of why we need more gun restrictions and stricter background checks for gun purchasers.

Oregon Senate Democrats passed a bump stock ban late last week and the legislation also allows local municipalities to ban the carry of firearms in buildings where public meetings are held. A bump stock ban once existed at the federal level but the Supreme Court of the United States struck it down on June 14, 2024. In the majority opinion for the bump stock decision, Justice Clarence Thomas made clear the ban faltered in claiming bump stocks turn semiautomatic firearms into machine guns: Semiautomatic firearms, which require shooters to reengage the trigger for every shot, are not machineguns. This case...

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) predicted Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Democrats would win the majority in the House of Representatives in the 2026 midterm elections. Jeffries said, “Let me make clear that the House is a separate and co-equal branch of government, the Congress. We don’t work for Donald Trump. We don’t work for the administration. We don’t work for Elon Musk. We work for the American people and we have a responsibility to serve as a check and balance on an out-of-control executive branch. That’s the constitutional blueprint that was given to us by...

Japan has announced plans to roll out a stricter online screening system for foreign visitors in an effort to eliminate illegal immigration entirely. The system, modeled after the US Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), will be operational by fiscal year 2028, according to Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki. At a news conference last week, Suzuki said “strong measures” were necessary to address increasing concerns over poor behavior by some foreign visitors. The new electronic screening system will apply to citizens from 71 countries currently exempt from visa requirements for short-term visits. . . . The Asahi Shimbun reported that Japan’s...

Journalism has experienced its share of revolutions, from Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the movable-type printing press in 15th-century Germany to the high-speed presses of the 19th century to the disruptions of radio, network television and cable television as primary sources for live, breaking news. Yet even as competition soared and the number of daily newspapers declined, local news thrived as an industry. In a 1990 Washington Journalism Review article, former Chicago Tribune editor James D. Squires called newspapers “the most profitable legal business in America.” Then came the internet.

Nearly 80 flights have been cancelled and more than 40 delayed at Newark Liberty International Airport after yet another an equipment outage brought more chaos to the NYC-area hub. A 45-minute ground stop was ordered on Sunday morning by the FAA following the outage at Newark’s air traffic control facility, officials told WABC. It comes after a radar malfunction on Friday morning brought Newark to a standstill briefly on Friday morning. The number of flights in and out of the airport will be reduced for the “next several weeks,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told NBC’s “Meet the Press,” following travel...

On Tuesday, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) pushed for more gun control in her state, claiming, “Guns are the number one killer of young people in America.” Whitmer made the comments in Lansing, with members of the gun control lobby gathered behind her for Annual Advocacy Day. For years the left was called out for claiming guns were the number one cause of death for children in America. Breitbart News showed this claim to be false when President Joe Biden first made it on June 2, 2022. We noted the claim was based on reported 2020 CDC data, then dug...

Illinois bureaucrats are here to protect your kids... from you. People can’t get out of Illinois fast enough. Only two other states lost more residents between 2023–24, and the state has actually lost population for 10 years in a row. The tax burden, weather, heavy regulation, and crime levels all contribute to its residents seeking an exit. So, taking this mass exodus into account, you’d think the state would try to appeal to the families that remain. Well, think again. The Cubs (and maybe even the White Sox) are more likely to win another World Series before Illinois considers the...

Sam's Club stores is axing all self-checkouts from its 600 stores — in favor of controversial new technology. The Walmart-owned warehouse chain, often seen as Costco's biggest rival, is rolling out AI-powered 'Scan & Go' tech that lets shoppers skip the line and walk straight out the door once they're done shopping. The move is controversial because it uses a network of cameras and sensors to track shoppers and their carts. In addition, the checkout-free experience requires all customers to use a smartphone and download the store’s app. This could pose a challenge to older shoppers who may struggle with...

The center-right Demokraatit Party won the most votes in Greenland’s parliamentary elections, a surprise result as the territory went to the polls in the shadow of President Donald Trump’s stated goal of taking control of the island one way or another. Both Demokraatit — the Democrats — and the second place party, Naleraq — “Point of Orientation” — favor independence from Denmark, but they have differences on the pace of change. Demokraatit’s upset victory over parties that have governed the territory for years indicates that many in Greenland care just as much about healthcare, education, cultural heritage and other social...

President Trump announced Friday that two Fox News personalities will join the board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts – exactly one month after he axed existing members and appointed himself chairman of the iconic cultural institution. Trump, 78, said Fox News anchors Laura Ingraham and Maria Bartiromo will serve on the 33-person Kennedy Center board of trustees to usher in “America’s Golden Age.” “I am thrilled to announce that Laura Ingraham and Maria Bartiromo will be joining our Kennedy Center Board – This completes our selection,” the commander in chief wrote in a Truth Social...

Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) said Monday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that President Donald Trump was violating of The Impoundment Control Act passed in 1974. Co-host Joe Scarborough said, “So since you’re on the Appropriations Committee, you’re the perfect person to ask. Is the continued impoundment by DOGE of funds authorized and appropriated by Congress, is that a constitutional violation of Article I powers?” Baldwin said, “It absolutely is. And it is so clear in Article I that Congress makes the laws, passes the budgets and the appropriation bills. And it is the administration, the president, who implements and administers those....