Free Republic

A TikTok boat jumping challenge that sees people jump from the rear of the vessels while moving at high speed has been blamed for four deaths in Alabama. The challenge, which has been popularized on TikTok, involves individuals engaging in dangerous water activities. Those participating in the challenge launch themselves from the rear of a boat and into the wake behind it, as the boat continues to move. Now, officials in Alabama have said the new fad has claimed the lives of four people, after they broke their necks instantly. Officials said in the last six months, they had to...

The National Republican Congressional Committee quietly deleted a fundraising page Saturday that took aim at one of their largest donors, the parent company of Bud Light, Anheuser-Busch. The NRCC’s backpedalling follows conservatives calling for a boycott of the beer company after they partnered with transgender TikTok personality Dylan Mulvaney. On Saturday morning, the powerful committee that provides support to Republican congressional campaigns blasted out a tweet calling for supporters to donate to the NRCC and, in exchange, be given a custom drink koozie. “Thanks to Dylan Mulvaney, we can all finally admit that Bud Light tastes like water,” the NRCC...

Bud Light is facing heavy criticism after it revealed its sponsorship of transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, a biological man who recently celebrated 365 days of “girlhood.” Kid Rock shot up a bunch of Bud Light cans in a video, country music star Travis Tritt said he was pulling the beermaker from any sponsorships of his concert materials, and Anheuser-Busch, the maker of the beer, recently watched its market value plunge by $5 billion once Mulvaney’s deal became public.

After alienating "fratty" customers and hiring biological male Dylan Mulvaney to promote Bud Light, resulting in a $5 billion loss over the past few days, Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth is finally weighing in. "As the CEO of a company founded in America’s heartland more than 165 years ago, I am responsible for ensuring every consumer feels proud of the beer we brew, We’re honored to be part of the fabric of this country. Anheuser-Busch employs more than 18,000 people and our independent distributors employ an additional 47,000 valued colleagues. We have thousands of partners, millions of fans and a proud...

After nearly two weeks and a massive backlash to a promotional campaign with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, the Bud Light Twitter account finally posted again Friday. The beer giant's last tweet came on April 1, when they posted: 'Beers on us? Must be game time. For a chance to win, cheer on your team with #EasyToEnjoySweepstakes in the replies.' While they have gone a few days without tweeting in the past, the @BudLight is typically fairly active, as are their other regular social channels. The feed had tweeted 10 times in the prior seven days and is usually active during...

When the CEO of Anheuser-Busch interviews prospective recruits to the world's biggest brewing conglomerate, he has a favorite question. 'Tell me about a time that you didn't succeed or things didn't go as planned,' he likes to ask. If Brendan Whitworth ever finds himself asked the same question, he now has plenty of material to draw on. Whitworth, 46, has seen his biggest brand - Bud Light - engulfed in a firestorm of controversy since they teamed up with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney on April 1. Mulvaney was issued with her own special-edition can of the beer to mark her...

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A helicopter crash in a Kyiv suburb Wednesday killed 18 people, including Ukraine’s interior minister and three children, Ukrainian authorities said. There was no immediate word on whether the crash was an accident or a result of the war with Russia. No fighting has been reported recently in the Kyiv area. Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi, his deputy Yevhen Yenin and State Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Yurii Lubkovych were among those killed...

SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio man was killed by fireworks on Monday night, according to the San Antonio Police Department. It happened around 12:20 a.m. in the 800 block of Harriman Place on the city’s Southwest Side. The medical examiner’s office identified the man killed as Pablo Ruiz, 43. His cause of death was determined to be a head injury due to a fireworks mishap/incident. According to police, a witness and Ruiz were shooting fireworks and had been drinking when he decided to light a mortar-style firework from on top of his head. Police said the firework exploded from...

Sharks killed two female swimmers within hours of each other near a resort in Egypt’s Red Sea, officials said Sunday. Video showed Friday’s horrific attack on one of the victims, a 68-year-old Austrian — with an onlooker acknowledging bluntly, “She’s going to f–king die,” the Times of Israel reported. The woman, and a Romanian lady in her 40s, were separately found mutilated less than half a mile away from each other near the popular tourist area of Sahl Hasheesh.

Well, there's really no way to put this delicately. A Florida driver distracted by receiving intimate services from his passenger lost track of his surroundings and crashed head-on (it only gets worse from here, folks) into a FedEx delivery vehicle in Ft. Lauderdale on Thursday, resulting in "injuries to his private area," WPLG Local 10 reports. The man and woman were northbound in an SUV on North Ocean Boulevard when the driver apparently became distracted by his passenger's performance and crossed the center line, striking the delivery van as it traveled southbound near the intersection with Northwest 19th St. Neither...

A large study of more than 36,000 high-quality MRI brain scans has found that drinking four units of alcohol a day – two beers, or two glasses of wine – causes structural damage and brain volume loss equivalent to 10 years of aging. The science on alcohol consumption can be confusing and overwhelming. A quick scroll through our coverage over the years will tell you it directly causes cancer, but also reduces inflammation and helps to flush toxins out of the brain. It stunts growth in developing brains by nearly 50 percent, it permanently damages your DNA and is confidently...

A woman barred from boarding a flight to the Big Apple because she appeared drunk led police on a wild chase on her motorized suitcase — before allegedly spitting at a cop and defecating in a patrol car, according to a report. Chelsea Alston, 32, is seen on the bizarre pursuit in newly released bodycam video at Orlando International Airport, where she planned to board a Southwest Airlines flight in April 2021, WKMG reported.

Hernandez, Smith and a third unidentified man were drinking alcohol before the unidentified man went to bed. That’s when the other two found some rubber bullets and decided to shoot the sleeping man for a joke. They put a mattress on top of him and fired one of the rubber bullets at the mattress, waking him up, he said. Smith then told the man that he could fire one of the rubber bullets at him as payback. Smith put on a military-style helmet and a protective vest and was shot with one of the rubber bullets, before telling Hernandez that...

State lawmakers in California are considering a bill that would prohibit state agencies from spending taxpayer money at any of the hotels owned by President Trump or his family. The proposal, which was introduced by Democratic state Assemblyman Evan Low, would bar employees of any state agency from spending money at a Trump hotel while traveling for work. “Public officials, at any level, should not profit off the constituents that they were elected to serve and represent,” Low said in a statement. “No branch of government is above the Constitution, and this legislation will ensure that California taxpayers are not...

A 23-year-old man fell to his death Saturday while jumping between rooftops in North Philadelphia, according to police. The incident occurred just before 2 a.m. on the 1200 block of Buttonwood Street. Police identified the man as third-year Drexel College of Medicine student Vivek Subramani. Witnesses told police that they were jumping between the rooftops of their apartment building when Subramani did not make the jump, falling two stories down and hitting his head. Witnesses also explained they had been drinking earlier in the evening

The pervy jogger who slapped a TV reporter’s behind during a 10K in Georgia has been identified by officials — and banned from future races. Race organizers had immediately vowed to find the handsy creep who left WSAV-TV anchor Alex Bozarjian feeling “violated, objectified, and embarrassed” while she reported on Saturday’s Savannah Bridge Run. “Yesterday afternoon we identified him and shared his information with the reporter and her station,” the Savannah Sports Council tweeted, without revealing his name publicly. “We will not tolerate behavior like this at a Savannah Sports Council event,” the council said in another post. “We have...

One of the last sentences said by the 44-year-old man struck and killed by an Amtrak train in Longwood Friday was shouted to a friend as the two walked to a neighborhood pub: “Let’s race the train!” Alexander Javier, the 24-year-old friend, made it across the tracks. Todd Keller did not. The Longwood Police Department released details about Keller’s death Wednesday afternoon. According to the incident report, Keller and Javier had been drinking at Connolly’s Pub earlier in the night and had gone to Javier’s apartment for awhile before deciding to head back to the pub. The men were walking...

There's a better way to get rid of them. This man took matters into his own hands and put fire to what appears to be an ant nest in his backyard. Not surprisingly, this didn't go well. He blew up more than just ants in this DIY-gone-wrong (though luckily no humans—or dogs—were injured). To correctly get rid of those pesky ants, we've got a Popular Mechanics guide. When those irritating little ants start showing up in the house, raiding the kitchen for crumbs and making cozy homes in your walls, the natural reaction is to set an ant trap or...

A man has been injured after he fell into the caldera of the Kilauea volcano on Hawaii's Big Island, according to officials. The man fell from a 300-foot cliff after climbing over a permanent metal railing at the Steaming Bluff overlook to get closer to the edge, according to a press release from Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. He was rescued by park rangers. (MORE: Satellite images show effects of Kilauea volcano's latest eruption on Hawaii's Big Island) Another visitor reported that the man had fallen around 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. Search-and-rescue crews found him alive but seriously injured on a narrow...

Two men have been arrested on charges they set a 27-year-old friend on fire while he was asleep on a couch in what police described as a “prank that went terribly, terribly wrong." Brandon Perez, 23, of Hammonton, and David Sult, 24, of Mays Landing, face charges of aggravated arson, aggravated assault and conspiracy, police in Hamilton, Atlantic County said Wednesday. The Brigantine man was sleeping at Sult’s home on the 2900 block of Cologne Avenue in the Mays Landing section of Hamilton on March 15 when Sult and Perez intentionally lit him on fire, police said. Family members took...