Free Republic

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday announced the closure of the Global Engagement Center as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to shutter the “censorship-industrial complex.”“Today, it is my pleasure to announce the State Department is taking a crucial step toward keeping the president’s promise to liberate American speech by abolishing forever the body formerly known as the Global Engagement Center (GEC),” Rubio wrote in an op-ed for the Federalist, titled, “Rubio: To Protect Free Speech, The Censorship Industrial Complex Must Be Dismantled.”Rubio wrote that, in 2016, the Obama administration changed the GEC’s focus on combatting international terrorism cover...

A year after its censorship programs were exposed, the Global Engagement Center still insists the public has no right to know how it's spending taxpayer money. “You can look, but don’t touch!”The State Department is so unhappy a newspaper published details about where it’s been spending your taxes, it’s threatened to only show a congressional committee its records in camera until it gets a “better understanding of how the Committee will utilize this sensitive information.” Essentially, Tony Blinken is threatening to take his transparency ball home unless details about what censorship programs he’s sponsoring stop appearing in papers like the...

Today, members of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) gutted the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS). As of this afternoon, all staff members have been placed on administrative leave. They received a letter from the Director of Human Resources that the leave would be paid for 90 days and that no one will be allowed on IMLS property during that time... The union representing IMLS staff, AFGE Local 3403, indicated that the decision to fire staff came after a short meeting between DOGE and IMLS leadership. Everyone working at IMLS was required to return government property before exiting...

Gen. Richard Edward Cavazos was the first Latino four-star general in the Army. The U.S. Army base formerly known as Fort Hood in central Texas was officially changed to Fort Cavazos on Tuesday during a ceremony at the III Armored Corps Headquarters in honor of the first Latino four-star general in the Army, Gen. Richard Edward Cavazos. Cavazos retired from the Army after 33 years of service in 1984, and died in 2017. "General Cavazos was known around the Army as a battle proven warrior," Lt. Gen. Sean Bernabe, Commanding General of III Armored Corps, said at the ceremony. "A...

I bought a series of watercolors as a present for my wife because the artist exhibited in her home town of Cheltenham, UK. I originally thought he was from Cheltenham but now I'm thinking from what I read that he just exhibited there as part of exhibitions by the Royal Academy of Arts in 1864 and 1879. Anyway, in his watercolors he signed them J. Whitacre Allen del. 1895I've never seen that in a piece of art before. Granted, I don't look at many pictures that closely but I do have some original works hanging around and none of them...

DOVER, Del. (AP) -- A Delaware grand jury returned a sweeping indictment Monday against a pediatrician accused of serial molestation in what could be one of the worst child sex abuse cases in the nation's history. The 160-page indictment returned by a Sussex County grand jury charges Dr. Earl Bradley of Lewes with 471 counts of sexual crimes against 103 children. Attorney General Beau Biden said all of the alleged victims, including one boy, were caught on more than 13 hours of video recordings, some dating to 1998, that were seized from Bradley's office and home.

NEWPORT (CBS 3) ― State police say a trooper shot a naked Wilmington man who was beating him with his police radio. The trooper found 35-year-old Fabian Silvestre standing naked on Route 4 around 2:45 a.m. Wednesday. Police say Silvestre charged the trooper and after a struggle, the trooper used his pepper spray. Unaffected, police say Silvestre took the trooper's radio and beat him with it. Police say the trooper feared for his life and fired two shots, hitting Silvestre in the shoulder, but it did not stop him. A second trooper arrived and used a stun gun on Silvestre...

EOM

<p>LONDON (AP) - The British Broadcasting Corp. is reporting that six gunmen have been shot and killed by Indian security forces at New Delhi's main international airport. The report on the BBC Web site Thursday was attributed to airport officials.</p>

Round Rock (TX) – Still think that Dell is dropping AMD? Think again: TG Daily got to the bottom of the Dell/AMD rumors and discovered that Dell is far from dropping its AMD line-up. In fact, there will be a surprise in new products scheduled for a global launch next week, on February 19. Dell has developed a new line of AMD-based machines for businesses under the OptiPlex brand. At first sight, you won’t see a lot of changes from the old Dimensions C and E series, which were the first AMD system from Dell. The new features are under...

Oscars Best Original Song ''Al Otro Lado del Rio'' from The Motorcycle Diaries plagiarism?? it's not that original after all.

Gödel and Einstein: Friendship and RelativityBy PALLE YOURGRAU In the summer of 1942, while German U-boats roamed in wolf packs off the coast of Maine, residents in the small coastal town of Blue Hill were alarmed by the sight of a solitary figure, hands clasped behind his back, hunched over like a comma with his eyes fixed on the ground, making his way along the shore in a seemingly endless midnight stroll. Those who encountered the man were struck by his deep scowl and thick German accent. Speculation mounted that he was a German spy giving secret signals to enemy...