Free Republic

Lawmakers in several Western countries are now considering online age verification digital ID systems similar to those that recently came into force in Australia.The Australian model, which blocks children under sixteen from joining social media platforms and so forces all adults to submit ID to access platforms, has quickly become a reference point for politicians abroad who describe it as a child safety measure, while others warn it could normalize digital identity tracking.In the United States, Senator Katie Britt of Alabama said she hopes “Australia taking this step…leads the US to actually doing something.”Britt, a mother of two, is one...

The young woman identified as the first victim killed in Saturday’s deadly shooting at Brown University was Ella Cook, a 19-year-old sophomore and outspoken conservative activist whose death has sent shockwaves through both the campus community and conservative circles nationwide. Cook, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, was serving as vice president of Brown University’s College Republicans and was widely known for standing firm in her beliefs on one of the most ideologically hostile campuses in the country. Friends say she was thoughtful, kind, and unafraid to express her convictions, even when doing so made her a target for hostility or...

Ella Cook, a 19-year-old sophomore from Birmingham, Alabama, was a student at Brown University, tragically killed in the December 13, 2025, campus shooting. An active parishioner at the Cathedral Church of the Advent, she was remembered as a grounded, faithful, and bright light in her community. She served as Vice President of the Brown University Republican Club and was described by peers as a staunch conservative unafraid to express her views on a liberal campus. Prior experience included work at Oxbridge Academic Programs and Mountain Brook Creamery

An Alabama town angrily shot down plans to build a Muslim school in their area, with locals citing the 'cultural takeover' of Muslims in a Michigan city and as far away as the UK. Residents of Hoover in suburban Birmingham showed up in force at a zoning commission meeting Monday as the board voted on whether to allow the Islamic Academy to transform a local office building into a school and community center. Around 170 locals attended the meeting, with many opposing a motion to move the existing Islamic Academy in Homewood to Hoover. Citing traffic concerns and questioning the...

Two Chinese nationals and two U.S. citizens have been charged with a scheme to illegally export advanced Nvidia chips to China in violation of U.S. export controls, the Department of Justice said on Nov. 20.In a file photograph, the logo of Nvidia Corporation during the annual Computex computer exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan, on May 30, 2017. Tyrone Siu/ReutersLi Cham, 38, a California resident, and Chen Jing, 45, who resides in Florida on an F-1 nonimmigrant student visa, are the two Chinese nationals accused of the illegal exporting scheme. The two U.S. citizens are Ho Hong Ning, 34, a Florida resident...

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — Huntsville Police say the Madison County District Attorney’s Office determined no charges will be filed after an investigation into a shooting on Brahan Avenue on Tuesday night. Madison County Coroner Tyler Berryhill said one of the two people injured in the shooting on Brahan died at Huntsville Hospital. Berryhill identified the man who died as 34-year-old Demetrius Paige. HEMSI Spokesperson Don Webster said the call for the shooting came in at about 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday from the 2200 block of Brahan Ave SW. The department said one person was in custody on Tuesday night, but...

Not getting off “Scott” free. An Alabama police force playfully exacted revenge against a group of high schoolers who had covered their department headquarters — along with the rest of the town — with toilet paper as part of an elaborate senior prank. Heflin Police Chief Ross McGlaughn vowed to get back on the Class of 2026 when the students launched their overnight TP attack across the small Alabama city. The police department’s main building was dressed with rolls of toilet paper that covered the entrance, squad cars and the roof. “It’s just fun,” the student leaders told CBS News...

An Alabama man was arrested this week for allegedly planning attacks on synagogues in Alabama and surrounding states as well as public figures. Jeremy Wayne Shoemaker, 33, of Needham, Alabama, was arrested on Monday after the FBI and local agencies were alerted of “credible threats of violence” he made to local synagogues, the Clarke County Sheriff’s Office announced in a post on Facebook. During his arrest, law enforcement also seized “weapons, more than a suitcase full of ammo, body armor and other items related to the plans of violence” in Shoemaker’s possession, the office said. Following an investigation, the Clark...

A local LGBTQ+ activist in Prattville was arrested on Tuesday for chemical endangerment of a child after a naked toddler was found wandering alone in downtown Prattville. Adam Hunt, the president and co-founder of Prattville Pride, was one of three people arrested by police on Tuesday. According to a press release by Prattville Police, a “citizen was traveling down East Main St. at the intersection of Adell St. in Prattville when he noticed an unattended, unclothed, male toddler, walking in close proximity and in the direction of Main St. Main St. is one of the busiest streets in Prattville, which...

The plan to build a $14 billion data center south of Birmingham continues to fuel pushback and complaints about secrecy. The mayor and city attorney in Bessemer confirmed to AL.com that they signed non-disclosure agreements tied to Project Marvel, the codename for the data center project.But the city denied an open records request from AL.com to release copies of the NDAs to the public. They also declined to provide email communications between the mayor, city attorney, and the project’s developers and attorney dating back to 2024. “The City must respectfully decline to produce non-disclosure agreements, attorney-client privileged communications, or other...

...as the fourth largest aircraft manufacturing hub...IN THE WORLD. BOOMITY I'll bet y'all didn't see that coming. Neither did anyone else, except for a few visionaries back in 2008. That was when Airbus, as part of European consortium EADS, worked with Northrup Grumman to get in on the new, next-generation Air Force tanker deal, promised to build the bulk of the airframes in the United States, and won the initial contract for the project. Long story short, screaming and kicking by Boeing, years of skullduggery and John McCain machinations went on, and by 2011, EADS and Airbus had lost the...

Mutha Trucker, a YouTube news source covering the trucking industry has reported that Montgomery Transport LLC, a Birmingham, Alabama-based trucking company, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and ceased operations effective immediately. 1000 employees out of work as trucker files for bankruptcy The sudden shutdown has left hundreds of drivers stranded across America as the company’s leadership instructed them to halt operations. This abrupt closure represents a significant disruption in the trucking industry and has created immediate challenges for both drivers and clients dependent on Montgomery’s freight services. Details of the Bankruptcy Filing The company officially announced its Chapter 7 bankruptcy...

In 2020, California imported about 25% of its demand for electricity from Oregon, Washington, Nevada, and Arizona due to the capacity limitations of the three utilities that serve the State (Pacific Gas and Electric, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas and Electric). These capacity limitations resulted from the closure of fossil fuel plants and environmental restrictions imposed by regulatory authorities in California to meet climate change standards. New England, New Jersey, and New York combined imported about 30% of their demand from either neighboring states or Canada. Many utilities in PJM and MISO import electricity from TVA and the...

At least two people were killed, and a dozen others — including a child — were injured after gunfire erupted in a busy area of Alabama. Police responded to a “mass shooting event” in downtown Montgomery at around 11:30 p.m. local time on Saturday, Oct. 4, Montgomery Police Department (MPD) Chief James Graboys said in a press conference live-streamed online, per WSFA 12 News. Graboys confirmed that at least 14 people were struck in the incident, with two of the victims dying at the scene and three sustaining “life-threatening injuries." The remaining nine, he added, are not believed to have...

A mass shooting in downtown Montgomery on Saturday night left two people - including a teen - dead and a dozen others injured during what should have been a weekend of celebration in Alabama’s capital city. The gunfire erupted shortly after 11:30 p.m. Saturday near Bibb Street and Commerce Street. A total of 12 people were injured. Two people were killed - 17-year-old Jeremiah Morris and 43-year-old Shalonda Williams. Two juveniles are among those wounded. One has life-threatening injuries, police said, and the other suffered non-life-threatening injuries. In all, five victims remain in life-threatening condition, and seven sustained non-life-threatening...

ESPN host and analyst Paul Finebaum might run for office because of Charlie Kirk despite never being involved in politics. The SEC Network personality and host of "The Paul Finebaum Show" said in a recent interview that he is "considering" leaving the Disney-owned network to run for the United States Senate. Perhaps surprisingly, Finebaum said that he would run on the Republican ticket in Alabama, finding inspiration after Kirk was assassinated on Sept. 10. "I spent four hours numb, talking about things that didn't matter to me. And it kept building throughout that weekend," Finebaum said. "I felt very empty...

ESPN SEC Network host and analyst Paul Finebaum said he is “considering” leaving the Worldwide Leader to run for the US Senate on the republican ticket following the shooting death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. In a recent interview with OutKick’s Clay Travis, the 70-year-old Finebaum explained that “one or two people in Washington had reached out” to gauge his interest in politics — and that Kirk’s murder fueled a desire for him to be involved. “It’s hard to describe, not being involved in politics, how that affected me and affected tens of millions of people all over this country....

GORDO, Ala. — A photo in a Facebook post deemed racially insensitive that sparked an outrage in the community and resulted in the cancelation of the 101st edition of one of Alabama high school football's greatest rivalries originated not from a Gordo High School dress-up day, as the principal indicated in a statement, but rather came from the website of a faith-based camp more than 1,000 miles away, The Tuscaloosa News has learned. Gordo was scheduled to host Pickens County, its rival located 8 miles down the same country highway in rural West Alabama, on Friday, Sept. 26. The game...

The department chair of World Languages and Cultures at the University of Alabama in Huntsville expressed strong resentment in recent social media posts for fallen Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, attempting to belittle Kirk's well-established Christian faith. Leslie Maxwell Kaiura is a self-proclaimed "progressive Christian feminist and LGBTQ ally." "It is spiritually exhausting and demoralizing to see Christians praising a man who used racist, sexist, homo/transphobic language and minimized the problem of gun violence," she wrote. "Jesus never treated the marginalized people or the 'sinners' of his day with mockery or rejection." Kaiura shared a post, again attacking Kirk's...

A Montgomery Capitol Heights Middle School teacher was placed on administrative leave recently after posting a TikTok video mocking the death of conservative political organizer and activist, Charlie Kirk. Lauren Ogen, a Capitol Heights Middle School teacher, reportedly posted on TikTok that she told her daughter, "down with the bigots," after learning of Kirk's assassination while speaking at a college campus in Utah on Wednesday. "We need this right now. We really need this right now. As a community, we need this. We need this win," Ogen reportedly said on the video. "When we get home and (my daughter) does...