Free Republic

Elon Musk posted a poll on X on Thursday asking followers whether they support the idea of a new political party to take on the Republicans and Democrats. Why it matters: The richest man in the world is publicly feuding with the most powerful man in America, whom he spent record-setting sums to elect. We're about to find out what Musk is prepared to do about it. Driving the news: Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday that he was "disappointed in Elon" for coming out against his "Big Beautiful Bill." Trump speculated it was because the bill...

Every year, our nation sets aside the second Sunday in May to rightfully honor and pay tribute to the mothers in America. After all, if it weren’t for our mothers, none of us would be alive. This year, I was struck by the degree to which a growing portion of our society appears to believe that Mother’s Day should be updated to also include those who own pets; now referred to as “pet moms.” Yep, you read that right: some want pet owners honored right alongside actual mothers on Mother’s Day. Apparently, 60 percent of those who participated in a...

Artificial intelligence companies have been urged to replicate the safety calculations that underpinned Robert Oppenheimer’s first nuclear test before they release all-powerful systems. Max Tegmark, a leading voice in AI safety, said he had carried out calculations akin to those of the US physicist Arthur Compton before the Trinity test and had found a 90% probability that a highly advanced AI would pose an existential threat. In a paper published by Tegmark and three of his students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), they recommend calculating the “Compton constant” – defined in the paper as the probability that an...

A claim by the Russian Defence Ministry that Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin was "in the epicentre of a drone attack" has turned out to be a staged performance by the Kremlin. Russian state media claimed earlier this week that when Putin visited Kursk Oblast for the first time since the hostilities began in the area, his helicopter came "under fire from Ukrainian drones". In reality, this was not a combat incident but a meticulously staged event. Four sources within the government and the Kremlin told The Moscow Times that security officials promoted this shocking and "risky" episode in the media...

The Medical Council of Canada has claimed that American doctors are now fleeing in droves due to Trump administration policies. NPR wrote: The Medical Council of Canada said in an email statement that the number of American doctors creating accounts on physiciansapply.ca, which is “typically the first step” to being licensed in Canada, has increased more than 750% over the past seven months compared with the same time period last year — from 71 applicants to 615. Separately, medical licensing organizations in Canada’s most populous provinces reported a rise in Americans either applying for or receiving Canadian licenses, with at...

This proposal is the most realistic means for keeping the peace after an armistice. Bloomberg cited unnamed “people with knowledge of Kremlin thinking” to report that Russia will only demand that Ukraine restore its constitutional neutrality, “drastically cut back military ties with the NATO alliance”, limit its army, and freeze the front lines, albeit with some territorial swaps. Also, “The Kremlin’s position is that while individual NATO members may continue to send arms to Ukraine under bilateral security agreements, any such weapons should not be used against Russia or to recapture territory.” To be sure, Bloomberg might have either invented...

Story highlights Ilya Sutskever, the co-founder of OpenAI, and the man behind ChatGPT fears the advanced version of AI can trigger wars between world powers, and so there is a need for bunkers to safeguard the scientists.

The action at a rally on Saturday called on the Scottish Government to immediately appeal the ruling to the European Court of Human Rights. Each protester appeared topless with a red-painted right arm, symbolising solidarity with anti-fascist feminist movements across Europe, including actions by groups such as Femen France. Protesters also carried white roses, mourning what they describe as the death of transgender rights in the UK, and wore tape over their mouths to represent the censorship and silencing of trans voices in the legal process. One protester, Sugar, commented: “This ruling is not just a setback of humanitarian rights;...

PORTLAND, Me. — Miss Congeniality, Jordon Hudson is not. Bill Belichick’s 24-year-old girlfriend fell short yet again in the Miss Maine beauty pageant, placing third Sunday — and she couldn’t hide her disappointment. Hudson — who came in second in the contest last year — once again didn’t have quite the stuff to strut all the way to the crown.

Jasmine Crockett unveils a game called "Trump or trans," and the witness has to identify who is responsible for a number of horrible acts, Trump or a trans person. Spoiler alert: It's always Trump

BREAKING: Ukraine considers shift from dollar to euro amid geopolitical realignments — Reuters

From stopping dust and dirt getting into the eyes to prompting our blink reflex, eyelashes do more than just look pretty. Which makes it hard to explain the social media trend of men trimming down — or even entirely shaving off — their eyelashes in a bid to look “more masculine.” Videos posted to TikTok, Instagram and X in recent weeks show men braving blades very close to their eyes, in barber shops from Turkey to New Zealand, in a quest for stubby lashes. While some barbers are seen wielding buzzing electric clippers, others are freestyling with just a pair...

A Jeep Wrangler EV parked at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View burst into flames Thursday before spreading to three other nearby vehicles, according to the Mountain View Fire Department. Firefighters responded at 4:53 p.m. to the report of smoke coming from a parking lot charging station in the 1300 block of Shorebird Way. Arriving crews found an active fire involving the Jeep EV along with two Teslas and a Honda. Using a preconnected hose line, firefighters got the flames under control and prevented the spread to additional vehicles in the area, MVFD said. No injuries were reported in the fire....

Starting next year, male and female soldiers in 21 combat arms jobs will have to meet the same physical standards on the Army’s fitness test... The Army announced this week that male and female soldiers in 21 combat military occupational specialties will have to meet the same standards on the new Army Fitness Test, which also eliminates the standing power throw event, which soldiers dubbed the “overhead yeet.” Both men and women between 17 and 21 years old who serve in combat arms military occupational specialties will have to deadlift at least 140 pounds under the new changes — women...

Chuck Todd scoffed at the premise that the media failed to adequately cover the decline of former President Joe Biden ahead of the 2024 election. Speaking with Chris Cillizza on his Substack channel Monday, Todd — the former moderator of NBC’s Meet the Press — rejected the idea that media outlets dropped the ball and did not question whether Biden’s cognitive function was sufficient to run the country for another four years. “This is not a media failure,” Todd said. “This was a failure of the Democratic party. And the virtue signaling that some people have done to try to...

Not all airports are created equal. Some are soulless, clinical spaces with little more than bright blueish lighting and endless corridors. They are but a functional building from which to launch your next adventure. Others, however, can make your vacation experience special from the outset. The world’s best airports go above and beyond. They feature indoor gardens, rooftop terraces with runway views, or even playgrounds to keep the kids happy and occupied. These added luxuries and services have landed 100 airports on the Skytrax World’s Best Airports list this year, with Singapore Changi Airport taking the top spot for 2025....

For Tampa FL's residents who do NOT speak or read Spanish, Walmart's corporate overlords have just declared you to be an official minority. As of yesterday morning, Walmart's corporate (not sponsored) website comes up entirely in Spanish, with no obvious "Press 2 for English" option showing anywhere. Are they for real? A search online resulted in dozens of so-called "explanations" as to why this kind of thing might be happening to you on your computer. One explanation given was that a "business" might switch to Spanish as its default language in corporate communications if/when the demographic in a locality it...

President Donald Trump's approval rating has dropped to 40 percent, lower than all other presidents at this point in their terms, new polling released by Pew Research Center on Wednesday shows. Americans want Trump to govern less by executive order, listen to the courts, and don't like tariffs. Trump is losing ground with people on the fence. From February to April, his approval rating fell from 88 percent to 75 percent among people who supported him in the 2024 election but "not strongly," and from 44 percent to 31 percent among nonvoters. Of course, partisans will be partisans, and Trump...

April 21, 2025 – A leaked budget draft revealed the federal government has proposed to eliminate all funding for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline’s LGBTQ+ Youth Specialized Services – a federal program that provides emergency crisis support to LGBTQ+ youth considering suicide – effective October 1, 2025. Since being implemented in 2022, this program, funded through The United States Department of Health and Human Services, has provided more than 1.2 million crisis contacts with life-saving, LGBTQ+-inclusive crisis services. “Suicide prevention is about risk, not identity. Ending the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline’s LGBTQ+ youth specialized services will not just...

I just got a warning from "X" that a post I made goes against "X" rules. They showed some women and a man dressed as a woman. I posted this. "Clown actors used to dress as women for laughs. Fatty Arbuckle, Buster Keaton, Gary Grant, RED SKELTON and many others. They were for comedy. Now trannys want to be taken as serious. No, they are still clowns to be laughed at. Same for homosexuals." They posted this. Your post was detected by our systems and has had its visibility limited for violating the X rules. Specifically: We have determined your...