Free Republic

Democrat Emily Gregory won the special election to represent a Florida state House district that includes President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home on Tuesday, according to Associated Press projections, a stunning upset that signals Democratic momentum ahead of the 2026 midterms. Gregory, a first-time candidate and fitness business owner, defeated Jon Maples, a Republican endorsed by Trump and aligned with his policies. Mike Caruso, the Republican who vacated the seat to become Palm Beach County clerk and comptroller, won the district by 19 percentage points in 2024. “Tonight’s result sends a clear message that people want Florida to move in a...

Special Counsel Jack Smith’s targeting of Kash Patel and numerous congressional Republicans as part of his lawfare against Donald Trump was worse than originally thought, new records show. Released Tuesday by Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, the new documents demonstrate that Smith and his team’s efforts to acquire Patel’s phone records during his time as a private citizen were far more extensive than previously reported. The bid to acquire such information came as part of Smith’s Arctic Frost investigation, which ultimately became his elector lawfare against Trump. Now-FBI Director Patel originally told Reuters last...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) spent nearly $19,000 in campaign cash last year on a shrink who specializes in controversial ketamine therapy. The socialist lawmaker hired Boston-based Dr. Brian Boyle, the chief psychiatric officer at Stella, a chain of mental health clinics focusing on “novel” therapies popular with Hollywood and Wall Street. Her campaign paid Boyle $11,550 in March 2025, another $2,800 in May, and $4,375 in October for a total of $18,725, Federal Election Commission records show. The expenses were marked as “leadership training and consulting.”It’s unclear what the sessions consisted of or who participated. Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign did not respond...

As construction nears completion on the long-delayed $850 million Obama Presidential Center, federal tax filings show the Obama Foundation paid CEO Valerie Jarrett $740,000 in 2024 while several former Obama White House officials collected six-figure salaries as foundation executives. The Obama Foundation — which will operate the 19.3-acre center on publicly owned Chicago parkland — paid its CEO more than any other major presidential foundation. Salaries and benefits soared from $18.5 million in 2018 to $43.7 million in 2024, as staffing expanded to 337 employees and annual revenue reached nearly $210 million. Jarrett, one of the Obamas’ closest advisors, took...

Large language models aren’t good at lots of stuff, like counting fingers or suggesting pizza recipes. But one thing that “AI” is quite good at is analyzing massive amounts of data and finding possible connections that aren’t immediately obvious. That makes it perfect for unmasking anonymous internet posts, according to a new research paper. Researchers at ETH Zurich and the MATS research fellowship associated with Berkeley ran a program [PDF], collecting data from sources with generally anonymous usernames, like Reddit. By collecting users’ posts across related but distinct movie subreddits, then feeding the LLM data from a Netflix data leak,...

Her father decided to have her born by way of an anonymous egg donor and a surrogate mother. His obsession about having a figure skating daughter was clear: ‘I spared no money, no time,’ Alysa was intentionally created for a single-parent household; she will never know what it means to have a mother. Is this a fair and ethical decision to make?

Gov. Gavin Newsom was on the pre-Super Bowl party scene Thursday night. Spies saw Newsom at two starry bashes. The politician was spotted heading into Rao’s pop-up, which is running this week before the big game. As Newsom entered, security was trying to sneak him in to keep him away from cameras and reporters asking him any questions. Our source overheard one of the guards say as they hustled Newsom by that they were trying to duck The California Post! The pop-up was a replica of Rao’s — the famed red sauce restaurant in NYC — and the night was...

A drag performer dressed as the Pope appeared during Northwestern University’s annual drag show, raising questions about religious sensitivity on campus. Northwestern’s annual drag show included a performance featuring Catholic imagery, drawing scrutiny over how religious beliefs are treated on campus. A drag performer dressed as the Pope appeared during Northwestern University’s annual drag show on Feb. 2 at Norris University Center, performing choreography that incorporated Catholic imagery while music played for a student audience. The event was organized by the Society of Trans and Non-Binary Students and the Rainbow Alliance and promoted as a cultural experience for students, including...

Pop star Billie Eilish has been hit with calls to either return her $3 million Los Angeles mansion to a Native American tribe or welcome migrants inside following her controversial Grammys declaration. The 24-year-old singer won a Grammy for her hit song Wildflower on Sunday, but it was her acceptance speech that got the country talking. 'As grateful as I feel, I honestly don’t feel like I need to say anything but that no one is illegal on stolen land,' Eilish said, referencing the colonization of the Americas by Europeans. As she stood alongside her brother Finneas, who co-wrote and...

Pretti is seen running to the intersection from the left and then screaming at ICE and breaking the turn signal.

“Alex Pretti was filmed spitting at a federal SUV, smashing its tail light and fighting with cops 11 days before the fatal shooting that shocked America. Lawyers for Pretti's family confirmed to The Star Tribune that the agitator in the footage on January 11 is, in fact, him. Pretti's attendance was confirmed with the help of BBC facial recognition software and published in a joint effort between the British public broadcaster and The News Movement. “

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison previously argued that Americans have no Second Amendment right to carry firearms at political protests. Ellison joined 16 other attorneys general from Democrat-led states in an amicus brief filed with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in January 2024, according to court records. The coalition argued states can ban firearms at political rallies and protests because such events attract violence. The group also contended that guns at demonstrations could intimidate people and discourage them from speaking freely. Ellison’s legal stance faced scrutiny Saturday when Border Patrol agents fatally shot Alex Pretti during an immigration enforcement...

A German politician has suggested that boycotting the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico could be a “last resort” in response to Donald Trump’s threats against Greenland. US President Donald Trump believes his country needs to acquire Greenland, the world's largest island, for national security reasons. The demands have been rejected by Greenland's leaders and by Nato member Denmark, of which the island is a semi-autonomous territory. Trump, meanwhile, has not ruled out using military force. In fact, Trump recently threatened to impose tariffs on countries that do not “go along” with his plan to annex...

We've spent several hours scanning through datasets of documents released by the Department of Justice. Here's what we've learned so far... "Thank you for believing me, I feel redeemed" That's what Maria Farmer, one of Epstein's earliest accusers, says in a statement to the BBC about her 1996 complaint to the FBI being included in the files today. In that complaint, Farmer said Epstein stole personal photos she took of her 12-year-old and 16-year-old sisters. She believed he sold the photos to potential buyers, and said he threatened to burn her house down if she told anyone about it, the...

One of President Donald Trump's top aides has some thoughts on Elon Musk. In a series of interviews with Vanity Fair published on Tuesday, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles weighed in on Musk's time as the de facto leader of DOGE, her thoughts on the Musk-led shuttering of USAID, and Musk's personality quirks. "The challenge with Elon is keeping up with him," Wiles told the outlet, calling Musk an "avowed ketamine" user who "sleeps in a sleeping bag" in an office building adjacent to the White House during the daytime. "He's an odd, odd duck, as I think...

White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles has been plunged into a PR nightmare of her own making after she divulged stunning details about Donald Trump and his top team. Wiles, renowned in Washington for her tact, appears to have made an astonishing slip-up after she revealed that Trump has an 'alcoholic's personality'. In the wide-ranging interview with Vanity Fair, she branded JD Vance a 'conspiracy theorist', ripped into Pam Bondi over the botched release of the Epstein files, and described Elon Musk as a ketamine-dependent oddball. The intimate details were released over many months to journalist Chris Whipple who...

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released “never-before-seen” images and videos of late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s notorious private island in the Caribbean Wednesday as official Washington waits for the Justice Department to hand over its files on the infamous case. The eerie images show several rooms in the disgraced financier’s luxury retreat on Little St. James in the US Virgin Islands, including one room that looks like a dentist’s operating office and is decorated with what appear to be masks of notorious historical figures.

A Democrat congressman was pictured looking at sexually explicit photographs while on a plane - in full view of a disgusted passenger. California Rep. Brad Sherman, 71, was seen in images circulating social media ogling images of scantily-clad women on his iPad while sat on a flight. An X user who first shared the images of Sherman on the aircraft wrote in a post seen by millions: 'Why did California Congressman Brad Sherman feel it was appropriate to look at porn on his iPad during a flight today?' 'His district deserves better representation than this!!' The social media post featured...

Pro Tip for CNN contributor Cari Champion: If you're going to criticize people who "don't really understand tennis," avoid making a glaring mistake of your own about the sport! Appearing on Monday's CNN This Morning, former ESPN host Champion was discussing the ongoing U.S. Open and commenting on how, in her opinion, women players get treated more harshly when it comes to bad behavior on the court, Champion ripped people who comment on the matter but "don't really understand tennis." But just moments later, Champion thrice alluded to Naomi Osaka as an "American" tennis player: You know what I'm excited...

Benny Johnson @bennyjohnson 🚨BREAKING: Zelensky met with Trump Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg this morning in DC. Wearing a t-shirt. From Anton Gerashchenko 10:17 AM · Aug 18, 2025