Free Republic

Social media platform Bluesky has picked up more than 700,000 new users in the week since the US election, as users seek to escape misinformation and offensive posts on X. The influx, largely from North America and the UK, has helped Bluesky reach 14.5 million users worldwide, up from 9 million in September, the company said. Social media researcher Axel Bruns said the platform offered an alternative to X, formerly Twitter, including a more effective system for blocking or suspending problematic accounts and policing harmful behaviour. “It’s become a refuge for people who want to have the kind of social...

Getting engaged is an exciting time for any couple - and many choose to share their joy with the world by publishing the announcement in local newspaper. However the loved-up men and women in the list below likely failed to realise just how comical their joined surnames would look in print - leading to some very unfortunate-sounding pairings. From Burns-Butts to Stoker-Daily and Drilling-Cousin, it will be a miracle if all of these couples ever actually made it down the aisle.

An Army investigator has recommended the death penalty for four soldiers accused of murder during a raid in Iraq. Lt. Col. James P. Daniel Jr. made the recommendation in report obtained Saturday by The Associated Press. Daniel found several aggravating factors that warrant a sentence of death in the case of four soldiers accused of killing three men during the May raid in the Salahuddin province. Staff Sgt. Raymond L. Girouard, Spc. William B. Hunsaker, Pfc. Corey R. Clagett, and Spc. Juston R. Graber, all of the Fort Campbell, Ky.- based 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, were...

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- A professor and outspoken anarchist has agreed to leave Yale University this spring, ending an appeal over whether his termination was politically motivated. David Graeber, one of the world's leading social anthropologists, said he will teach two classes next semester, then take a yearlong paid sabbatical after which he will not return. "Normally, you get a sabbatical on the condition that you come back and teach the following year," Graeber said. "I'm getting the sabbatical on the condition that I don't come back and teach." Yale spokesman Tom Conroy would not discuss the matter Wednesday but...