Free Republic

The Supreme Court just issued a unanimous ruling, and the case behind it has everything: Twitter, Saudi dissidents, federal prosecutors, and a fake invoice. The decision came down June 11, 2026, in Abouammo v. United States, No. 25-5146. Justice Elena Kagan wrote for a 9-0 Court, reversing the Ninth Circuit and sending the case back. Legal reporter Katie Buehler summed up the ruling this way: The defendant is Ahmad Abouammo, a former Twitter employee accused of giving confidential information about Saudi dissidents to a high-level Saudi official. According to the Court, the Saudi official wired Abouammo $300,000. Later, after Abouammo...

Nearly 5,000 criminal cases were launched last year against everyday citizens for criticizing politicians online. Germans have had enough. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz - ODD ANDERSEN / AFP.The German Criminal Code’s controversial Section 188, which prohibits social media users from insulting or even criticizing politicians online, has become a hot topic in Germany again after a Facebook user was fined for over €2,000 for calling Chancellor Merz a “liar.” Pollster INSA conducted a country-wide survey to discover what Germans actually think about the law, and found widespread opposition. According to the poll, a plurality (43%) of Germans want the complete...

KAN Israel News, citing an Iranian-linked news network, reports that $3 billion was transferred from Abu Dhabi to Tehran aboard a private Boeing 737. According to the report, Iran agreed to halt direct attacks on Israel after receiving a U.S. message, delivered through Qatar, in from further strikes in Lebanon. The funds were reportedly flown to Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport aboard UAE Royal Jet aircraft A6-RJF, which was tracked traveling from Abu Dhabi to Iran. At this stage, the flight itself was genuine (it happened during Irans airspace closure) and the presence of a UAE delegation in Tehran has been reported...

Graham Platner thought it would be smart to snap at Sen. John Fetterman, claiming the Pennsylvania Democrat’s tanking approval ratings have nothing to do with the whole hoodie-and-cargo-shorts vibe and everything to do with his support for Israel and the occasional vote that doesn’t toe the progressive line. This may well be the first time we've seen the unhinged, bigoted, sexist, Nazi deviant actually lash out at criticism on X. Granted, we imagine his handlers were ok with them going after Fetterman because he supports Israel. Platner tried so hard here. Man, we sincerely hope someone else wrote this because...

A new Texas law allows companies with SAE Level 4 or higher autonomous vehicles to offer commercial driverless transportation. Tesla wasted no time in self-certifying their vehicles. On the same day the law went into effect, Tesla officially self-certified their FSD software on their robotaxi vehicles as Level 4 compliant. For years, Tesla’s Autopilot and FSD software, even in Texas, has navigated the consumer market under the constraints imposed by a Level 2 driver-assist system. And while Tesla now operates in Texas as a level-4 system, this does not change the level-2 designation for consumer vehicles. Taking Responsibility While many...

A Democratic National Committee staff member is believed to be behind a profane X post targeting White House adviser Stephen Miller that was published from the DNC’s official account. Paulina Mangubat, 30, a DNC senior digital strategist who previously worked as digital content and creative director for the Democrats, serves on the team responsible for managing the party’s @TheDemocrats X account, which has 2.4 million followers. Her LinkedIn profile says she graduated from Barnard College in 2017 and previously worked as digital and creative director for woke Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.

Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket explodes on launch pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida

Yes, Elon Musk is significantly richer than the combined wealth of all British billionaires. As of early May 2026: Elon Musk's net worth is approximately $800–840 billion (Forbes real-time estimates around $789B–$839B recently, with peaks above $840B). All UK billionaires combined: There are roughly 54–55 British billionaires with a total net worth of about £185 billion (~$230–245 billion USD). Musk's fortune alone is roughly 3–3.5 times the total wealth of every UK billionaire. Even the top UK individuals (e.g., Michael Platt ~$19–21B, Jim Ratcliffe ~$17–18B, James Dyson ~$15B) are each a small fraction of Musk's wealth. Key Context Net worth...

Michigan Democrat Mallory McMorrow, a candidate running for US Senate, deleted thousands of tweets, some of which defended “coastal elites” and were critical of “Middle America,” after The Post first reported on them last year. Morrow, 39, purged her X account of roughly 6,000 posts, including all her tweets posted prior to 2020, CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski reported on Wednesday. The journalist noted the social media cleanse came after The Post’s April 2025 scoop on McMorrow’s tweet history. The deleted posts even included jabs at the purple state she is now running to represent. “Aaaand it’s snowing. Screw you, Michigan. #NYCtoLA,”...

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, one of President Donald Trump’s most influential but least public-facing advisers, launched an X account Tuesday to share updates from inside the administration. "I’m joining X to share occasional updates about the work we do at the White House. We are relentlessly focusing on advancing President Trump’s agenda and delivering on promises to the American people," her first post read. "I welcome different viewpoints. Follow along for insights and information." Her newly formed account has amassed nearly 300,000 followers since its launch this week. Wiles is seen very often with the president, sitting...

AI-rmageddon is here.On Saturday (25), the founder of ‘Software as a Service platform’ (SaaS) PocketOS, Jer Crane, wrote an X article to warn others about the ‘systemic failures’ of flagship AI and digital services providers.Crane was led to write the public warning after an AI coding agent deleted his firm’s entire production database, and a cloud infrastructure provider’s API wiped all backups.This erased months of consumer data essential to the firm and its customers.Tom’s Hardware reported:“’Yesterday afternoon, an AI coding agent — Cursor running Anthropic’s flagship Claude Opus 4.6 — deleted our production database and all volume-level backups in a...

In December I listened to an interview with Ben Sasse that stopped me in my tracks. And another in February. And another recently. That last one in particular not only challenged me, but ultimately has shifted something deep in me. It’s not hyperbole to say that I think Ben Sasse is currently the most interesting person in the world. Ben Sasse, the former senator from Nebraska, former president of the University of Florida, a man who by any measure had built the kind of life most people spend their whole careers chasing, sat in the most recent interview across from...

In addition to Elon Musk, former X CEO Linda Yaccarino was called in for questioningPARIS, April 20. /TASS/. American entrepreneur Elon Musk chose not to show up at the Paris prosecutor's office for questioning regarding his social platform X as per a relevant summons, Le Canard Enchaine newspaper reported. "The billionaire owner of social network X ignored a summons to the Paris prosecutor's office, where he was supposed to appear on April 20," the newspaper notes. In addition to Musk, former X CEO Linda Yaccarino was called in for questioning. "By noon, no one showed up," the newspaper added. Earlier,...

. @RCPolitics SECRET SERVICE EXCLUSIVE: ONLYFANS CREATOR POSTS WHAT APPEARS TO BE A SECRET SERVICE AGENT'S ID ON SOCIAL MEDIA, ALLEGES HE'S LIVING A "DOUBLE LIFE" A woman identified as Brittney Jones this weekend posted on Facebook and her BritneyJonesxx Instagram account what appears to be a photo of a Secret Service agent’s USSS ID with a statement claiming that the agent is her “boyfriend” who “lives a double life” protecting the president “by day” and making “adult content” with her “by night.” Jones, who appears to be the same woman who accused former Patriots Wide Receiver Stefon Diggs of...

DC is in full meltdown mode after Eric Swalwell announced on Monday he would resign from Congress amid explosive sexual misconduct allegations — sparking a firestorm of speculation from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. The bombshell departure of the high-profile Trump critic came via a somber written statement in which Swalwell apologized for his conduct and admitted to “mistakes in judgement” while still pushing back on the most serious accusations — including an ex-staffer who claimed he raped her. But his attempt to control the narrative quickly unraveled. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) torched Swalwell in a series...

This might be the most brutal community note of all time

The battle between Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) and the GOP’s right flank is heating up, with hard-line House conservatives throwing their support behind his primary opponent after the moderate Republican called two of them “scumbags” on national television. Gonzales kicked the hornet’s nest over the weekend when, during an interview on CNN, he went after Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Bob Good (R-Va.) — “it’s my absolute honor to be in Congress, but I serve with some real scumbags” — launching personal attacks on the conservative duo. “Matt Gaetz, he paid minors to have sex with them at drug parties....

A vile nurse who was fired after she went on an unhinged antisemitic rant in Times Square once traveled to Iran and bashed the US as the “most criminal, evil entity on the planet.” Clad in a headscarf, Jennifer Koonings rambled about New York City’s potholes while praising the “beauty” of Iran in the July 17, 2025 clip posted to the X account of the Sobh Festival, which is organized by the Iranian state media. Koonings, 35, made the trip nearly a month after the United States bombed Iranian nuclear sites in Isfahan and Fordow. The nurse went on to...

Sir Sadiq Khan has accused social media giants of tarnishing London’s reputation by allowing a “dark blizzard of disinformation” to spread on their platforms. The Mayor of London has claimed that sites such as X, Facebook and Instagram are fuelling lies about the capital online, specifically when it comes to crime and racial segregation. Such disinformation is damaging the capital’s standing as “one of the most successful multicultural societies on Earth”, he told the Cambridge Disinformation Summit on Thursday. “Disinformation has become an industry: an ‘outrage economy’ organised around a ‘division dividend’ which allows people to profit from poison,” he...