Free Republic

CNN This Morning spotlighted a $6 million verdict and aired personal injury lawyer Mark Lanier’s comments, even as his firm says it has recovered “over $20 billion” for clients and typically charges whopping contingency fees of “between 33 and 40%” of recoveries. Host Audie Cornish turned to plaintiff Tammy Rodriguez, whose 11-year-old daughter died by suicide in 2021, and asked about criticism from a Wall Street Journal editorial describing such cases as a “social media shakedown” benefiting trial lawyers more than families. Rodriguez rejected that characterization, insisting the lawsuits are not financially motivated. “The attorneys that we have been involved...

A Los Angeles jury found Wednesday that Meta’s Instagram and Google’s YouTube harmed a young user with features designed to hook kids — in a bombshell verdict that “shakes Big Tech’s predatory business model to its core.” The high-profile case involved a 20-year-old woman who claimed she became dangerously obsessed with the apps at a young age because they were deliberately built to be addictive, using features like infinite scroll and autoplay. The tech giants were found liable for $3 million in damages. The multi-million-dollar judgment is likely to grow, as the jury of seven women and five men will...

@KenPaxtonTX Once again, John Cornyn is a coward who's silent. It's simple: cancel recess until the Save America Act is passed. Why is it always so hard for Cornyn to have the courage to do what's right? @JohnCornyn Doing what is right? Coming from a corrupt, self entitled, serial philanderer, that is rich. Judgement Day is coming.

Influencer faces legal action for alleged lewd act in central LondonBonnie Blue charged with outraging public decency in Westminster. Screengrab from YouTube video 'BONNIE BLUE IS PREGNANT'/Bonnie Blue Adult content creator Bonnie Blue has been charged with outraging public decency following an alleged incident in Westminster in December 2025. The 26-year-old influencer, whose legal name is Tia Billinger, is accused of performing a lewd act in a public space in central London. The Metropolitan Police confirmed that Billinger was charged via postal requisition on 16 March 2026 and is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 22 April....

After complaining for years that Gen Z grads are difficult to work with, bosses are no longer all talk, no action: Now they’re rapidly firing young workers who aren’t up to scratch just months after hiring them. The numbers are stark. According to a survey, six in 10 employers admitted they had already sacked the Gen Z workers they had hired fresh out of college. Intelligent.com, a platform dedicated to helping young professionals navigate the future of work, surveyed nearly 1,000 U.S. business leaders. It found that the class of 2024’s shortcomings are shaping how bosses hire next—and it’s not...

🚨BREAKING UPDATE: Sarasota woman was found guilty in federal court of making TikTok videos calling for Donald Trump supporters to be shot on sight. Desiree Doreen Segari, 41, was convicted of interstate communication of a threat to injure. In one video Segari said, “so if we all get our guns and use our second amendment right … and you see somebody with a MAGA hat, ‘pew pew’ that’s what we do, that’s the way, it’s the only way.” FAFO! She faces a maximum penalty of 5 years in federal prison. Her sentenci is scheduled for May 5.

Spain will launch a tool to measure hate speech on digital ‌platforms as part of a broader strategy ‌to increase oversight of social media companies, Prime Minister Pedro ​Sanchez said on Wednesday. The country announced a wider plan last month to regulate social media, including a ban on its use for younger teenagers and ‌measures to hold ⁠platform executives accountable for illegal or hateful content hosted on their services. The new ⁠tool, called HODIO — an acronym in Spanish for Footprint of Hatred and Polarisation — will allow the ​government to ​systematically track the presence, ​amplification and impact of ‌hate...

Planning to tie the knot in Spain? It’s highly expensive wherever you wed. But, if you are, you had better take it into account Hacienda (the tax agency). Newlyweds across Spain now face unexpected tax demands as Hacienda intensifies scrutiny on wedding gifts. Authorities now actively remind couples that cash and presents from guests qualify as taxable donations, potentially adding thousands to post-wedding bills. The idea behind this move is to close loopholes in revenue collection with digital transfers becoming more prevalent. Average weddings in Spain exceed €24,000, everything taken into consideration, including wedding meals alone consuming €13,000 to €14,000,...

There’s a conversation that’s bubbling just under the surface of pop culture right now that a lot of people are thinking about but very few are willing to say out loud. It centers around a term that used to exist only in uber-rich gossip circles, but now it’s spilling into the mainstream, and for good reason. We’re talking about “yacht girls.” For readers who are not obsessed with influencer lore, the phrase refers to hot young women, mostly professional models or social media influencers, who get invited to layabout on luxury yachts owned by extremely wealthy men. Sometimes the arrangement...

Shares in the financial technology company Block soared more than 20% in premarket trading Friday after its CEO announced it was laying off more than 4,000 of its 10,000 plus employees, reconfiguring to capitalize on its use of artificial intelligence. “The core thesis is simple. Intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company,” Jack Dorsey said in a letter to shareholders in Block, the parent company to online payment platforms such as Square and Cash App. “A significantly smaller team, using the tools we’re building, can do more and do it better,” he said. Dorsey’s...

Candace Gesner I believe that facebook has just now made itself irrelevant. I am finding that AI is mixing and remixing posts so that a person will not notice that their and everyone’s posts have been corrupted. I can no longer believe anything I am reading.

A Pennsylvania man is being accused by federal prosecutors of traveling to California to have sex with a 13-year-old girl in a plot that would have culminated in both their suicides if not for law enforcement intervention. Officials with the U.S. Department of Justice held a press conference and released a complaint surrounding the allegations against Matthew Edward Pysher on Monday morning. The complaint, filed Sunday in Los Angeles, charges Pysher, 18, with travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. According to the complaint, Pysher groomed and encouraged a girl, listed as “Minor Victim One,” to send him...

A newly granted patent to Meta is raising unsettling questions about the future of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital identity. The company’s developments suggest that social media users could continue posting, commenting, and even interacting with loved ones after death.

In the footage, the content creator can be seen primping for the camera, when all of a sudden her beauty filter comes off, revealing a mature face with a warm complexion. The virtual varnish is restored a few seconds later, revealing a small, pale countenance with perfectly symmetrical features. By then, the damage had allegedly been done. Social media reports claim that she lost 140,000 followers after the inadvertent peek behind the online curtain.

An accused pervert charged with grooming young girls in California has been linked to an extremist cult that wants to destroy civilization. Bryant Gonzalez from Downey, LA County, has been allegedly tied to “764,” an online network of creeps trying to tear apart society through the corruption and exploitation of minors. The network’s goals include social unrest and the downfall of the current world order, including the United States, according to the FBI. Gonzalez, 24, was busted in his hometown on Thursday and accused of sickening crimes against young girls aged 11 and 15. He allegedly groomed one of his...

The staff at Advent Cardiovascular ER tried everything in their power to save her but she was too unstable after four rounds of CPR. The ER physician was untiring in his and his team's efforts to keep her alive but there was too much going wrong all at once. To revive her at that point would have condemned her to life with severely compromised brain function. We were together 42 years. I placed an obituary for her on Legacy.com but family members and friends are dispersed over many areas of the country and I don't think they are seeing it....

Matt Bergman, founding attorney of Social Media Victims Law Center, said the Meta CEO's testimony is "a moment that families across this country have been waiting for." "For the first time, a Meta CEO will have to sit before a jury, under oath, and explain why the company released a product its own safety teams warned were addictive and harmful to children," Bergman said in a statement Tuesday. It’s the first of a consolidated group of cases — from more than 1,600 plaintiffs, including over 350 families and over 250 school districts — scheduled to be argued before a jury...

BRASÍLIA (9 February 2026) — A Brazilian woman, Isadora Borges, is facing criminal prosecution after posting comments on social media expressing her views on gender ideology, exposing her to a possible prison sentence of four to ten years. In November 2020, Isadora Borges made two posts on X (then Twitter), peacefully expressing her views against gender ideology. One comment stated that “transgender” women “were obviously born male.” Another stated: “A person who identifies as transgender retains their birth DNA. No surgery, synthetic hormone, or clothing change will change this fact…” Her comments quickly gained attention online, and prompted Erika Hilton,...

Russian soldiers and military bloggers have railed against the Kremlin after it restricted access to the Telegram messaging app. Widespread disruptions to the app were reported on Monday and Tuesday as Roskomnadzor, the Russian state media regulator, said it would levy its strongest restrictions on Telegram’s operations yet. The internet watchdog said the move would safeguard Russian citizens against “criminal and terrorist” content, in Moscow’s latest crackdown on the free internet. Roskomnadzor, which has for years crusaded for a “sovereign internet” liberated from Western influence, has over the past six months imposed new limits on Telegram and WhatsApp at least...

Discord has announced a major change coming to the service as part of its aim to improve teen safety features. Starting in March, all users globally will be required to submit age verification via a face scan or submitted ID, or be given teen-level access restrictions. Age verification across apps and social platforms has been an increased focus of legislative bodies around the world in the last couple years. In response, Discord has announced a major initiative to ensure that only adults see adult-designated content, while teens are restricted to age-appropriate access. To do this, Discord says all users worldwide...