Free Republic

Amazon Echo device’s recent response to voters’ questions regarding the reasons to vote for Kamala Harris and Donald Trump caused backlash last month after it became apparent it was biased. The virtual personal assistant known as “Alexa” began spewing out positive reasons as to why people should vote for Harris but failed to give any for Trump.

Senior Meta Engineer Reveals Anti-Kamala Posts Are "Automatically Demoted,” Admits Shadowbanning Tactics "Say your uncle in Ohio said something about Kamala Harris is unfit to be a president because she doesn't have a child, that kind of sh*t is automatically demoted,” reveals @Meta Senior Software Engineer, Jeevan Gyawali ( @JGyawali ), to an undercover @OKeefeMedia journalist during a hidden camera date. He confirmed, “The person would not be notified,” but would see a decline in their post engagement and impressions, explaining that Meta’s “Integrity Team” is responsible for controlling content through “civic classifiers,” a system that “shadowbans” posts without notifying...

Mike Pence stuck his head up this week to take a whack at Trumpism, urging Republicans to reject “protectionist tariffs” and “isolationism” while “unashamedly” recommitting to anti-abortion positions.It’s a sign of what he’s up to behind the scenes as well. (snip) The former vice president’s Wall Street Journal op-ed taking veiled shots at Trump’s policy priorities is just a hint of what Pence is thinking as he waits for the 2024 election to play out. But the big question for Pence is: Is there still a place for him in today’s GOP?The answer isn’t even clear to his fans: Pence...

Former national security adviser John Bolton said Thursday that former President Trump has trouble differentiating between fact and fiction. “Look, Trump can’t tell the difference between what’s true and what’s false,” Bolton said on CNN’s “The Source with Kaitlan Collins.” “It’s not that he lies a lot, because to lie, you have to do it consciously. He just can’t tell the difference.”

Ukraine is on its way to being able to “stand on its own feet” militarily, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday, noting that more than 20 other countries have pledged to maintain their own military and financial aid to the country even if the U.S. were to withdraw its support under a different president. Blinken for the first time directly addressed the possibility that former President Donald Trump could win the November election and back away from commitments to Ukraine. Trump’s public comments have varied between criticizing U.S. backing for Ukraine’s defense and supporting it, while his running mate,...

Paul Ryan, one of the most prominent national Republicans in Wisconsin history, is also notable as one of leading Republicans to reject the GOP’s current standard bearer, former President Donald Trump. Ryan, of Janesville, represented Wisconsin’s First Congressional District for 20 years and served as speaker from 2015 to 2019, when, after three years of clashing with Trump, he did not seek re-election. (He currently serves in a number of corporate roles.) In a 30-minute interview with Milwaukee Magazine in late May, Ryan shared his views on Trump’s rematch with President Joe Biden, the state of the GOP, national affairs...

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Tuesday that the U.S. will soon announce an additional $2.3 billion in security assistance for Ukraine, to include anti-tank weapons, interceptors and munitions for Patriot and other air defense systems. Austin’s remarks came as Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov met with him at the Pentagon. And they mark a strong response to pleas from Kyiv for help in battling Russian forces in the Donetsk region. Austin said the aid will come through presidential drawdown authority, which allows the Pentagon to take the weapons from its stocks and send them more quickly to Ukraine.

Former National Security Advisor John Bolton said Thursday on CNN’s “Newsnight” that advocates for a second Trump term were “deceiving people” on his foreign policy. Host Abby Phillip asked, “Former President Trump said in an interview tonight he once again praised Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader. And this comes right after Vladimir Putin and Kim just struck this week a defense deal. I wonder, what does the alliance between Kim and Putin look like if Trump is elected again? He seems to constantly want to butter up this dictator. Bolton said, “Well, the Putin-Kim meeting in Korea was...

Anti-America First Sens. Mitt Romney (R-UT), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) will reportedly not attend a meeting with former President Donald Trump on Thursday in Washington, DC, citing a scheduling conflict. Trump’s return to Washington is the first time he will visit Capitol Hill since leaving the presidency, vanquishing primary rivals and raising huge sums of money following intense court battles. The three senators, who often opposed Trump on policy and worked against him politically, will not join Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and other high ranking Republicans in meetings with the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Politico Playbook reported...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Monday he thinks most Americans would not have to face the gun charges for which President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, is currently on trial in Delaware. In remarks to HuffPost, Graham defended the president’s son against the gun charges but said he thinks the second indictment Hunter Biden faces, charging him with tax crimes, is more legitimate. “I think any average American who’s done their taxes like Hunter Biden would have probably faced prosecution,” Graham said about the tax case, which is slated to go to trial in California in September. “However, I don’t think...

WASHINGTON ― Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Monday defended President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, from federal charges relating to a gun purchase in 2018. The younger Biden is standing trial in Delaware this week for illegally purchasing and possessing a gun while abusing or being addicted to drugs, a violation of federal law. He’s also facing charges in California for failing to pay his taxes. “I think any average American who’s done their taxes like Hunter Biden would have probably faced prosecution, however, I don’t think the average American would have...

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said he laughs at the term “America first,” an increasingly common phrase heard in the Republican Party regarding U.S. foreign policy that he finds “disorienting.” Romney said during an interview with MSNBC’s “The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle” earlier this week that growing isolationism in the GOP is “unimaginable” considering its past leaders, like former Presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, as well as former Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). Romney argued the term, popularized by former President Trump, “flows” in from talk radio and TV, where “outrageous” things are embraced by the party’s...

The US is "rushing ammunition, armoured vehicles, missiles [and] air defences" to Ukraine's front line, Anthony Blinken has said.During a trip to Ukraine, the US secretary of state announced that $2bn would be spent to speed up delivery. His comments came as Russian advances forced Ukrainian to retreat from several villages in the Kharkiv region. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has cancelled all his foreign trips to concentrate on the new incursion. Speaking in Kyiv on Wednesday, Mr Blinken said weapons would be rushed to the front lines to "protect soldier, to protect citizens". He said that the air defence systems,...

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that military aid to Ukraine was not charity, adding that it created jobs in the United States. Host Kristen Welker said, “I want to ask you about your legacy. You said just this week that you often feel like the only Reagan Republican left. As you prepare to step down from your leadership position this year, what are your greatest concerns about the future of the Republican Party?”

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) reportedly said the House of Representatives would cobble together a Ukraine aid bill while speaking with Republican senators on Wednesday during a retreat on Capitol Hill. The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reported on the conversations that occurred at the Library of Congress during the annual Republican Senate retreat and emphasized the speaker “cautioned that what comes out of the House will look substantially different than the $95 billion foreign aid package the Senate passed last month.” Per Bolton, Johnson suggested a lend-and-lease program during the meeting but did not mention whether border security measures would be...

The European Commission will propose on Tuesday ways for the European Union to boost its arms industry so it can shift to “war economy mode” in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Thierry Breton, the European industry commissioner, will lay out proposals to encourage EU countries to buy more weapons together from European companies, and to help such firms increase production capacity, according to EU officials. “We need to change the paradigm and move into war economy mode. This also means that the European defense industry must take more risks, with our support,” said Breton, previewing the package. Breton, a...

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) wanted to talk about Ukraine and the need to stand up to Russian aggression before taking any questions from The Hill during a Wednesday interview. The veteran Senate GOP leader, a day removed from what he saw as a significant victory in the Senate’s passage of aid to Ukraine and Israel, said showing resolve to deter foreign aggression is the “single biggest issue we’ve had in a long, long time.” The Senate bill, approved Tuesday in a 70-29 vote, faces an uncertain future in the House after Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) issued a scathing...

After Wednesday’s meeting at the White House with President Biden and 20 congressional leaders, McConnell declared that he was done trying to placate Ukraine skeptics in Johnson’s conference. There’s roughly $110 billion on the table that would bolster Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky’s defense against Russia, along with helping Israel and Taiwan, and provide billions of dollars to shore up the U.S. border along Mexico.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned Congress on Tuesday during a private briefing that if they do not pass more aid to Ukraine, it would “very likely” lead to U.S. troops fighting a war in Europe.

There has never been a finer person in American politics than former Vice President Mike Pence. He represents the best of conservatism and humanity. His voice will be important for years to come in the Republican party and advancing conservative principles and a strong America. God bless Mike and Karen Pence.Oct 28, 2023