Free Republic

Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti fired up the first espresso machine in space over the weekend. She posted a selfie on Twitter from the International Space Station on Sunday, sipping from a cup designed for use in zero-gravity. ... Cristoforetti, who returns to Earth next week after a six-month mission, almost did not get any space coffee. The experimental espresso maker, nicknamed ISSpresso after the space station’s initials, was scheduled to arrive in January but did not get to orbit until April because of a shipment backlog. Lavazza, the Italian coffee manufacturer, and the engineering firm Argotec, which teamed up on the...

The threat of foreign fighter recruitment is greater today than it has ever been. The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is proving lethally effective in drawing extremists from around the world to their ranks, and in the United States, ISIL is targeting the Somali-American community in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota. There are more than 40,000 Somali-Americans and immigrants in Minnesota. This growing immigrant community is facing substantial challenges, including weak family structures, lack of education, racism and violent crime. In this mix of chronic community challenges, young people can be unsure of their personal identity, leaving them vulnerable...

President Obama on Monday took a shot at the media for its coverage of last week’s violence in Baltimore, saying news outlets too often focus only on looters and rioters rather than on those who are trying to solve the complex problems plaguing America’s cities. In a speech at Lehman College in New York City, the president said lack of economic opportunity for young people of color in inner cities helped fuel the protests that have been seen in Baltimore, Ferguson, Missouri, and elsewhere across the country in recent months. Mr. Obama said it’s vital that the nation turn its...

"We'll have 100 high-tech 3D printers running 24 hours, 7 days a week," said CloudDDM's founder Mitch Free. And it'll need just three employees: one for each of the eight-hour shifts.

Texas' elected officials treaded carefully Monday as they reacted to a shooting on Sunday in Garland that left two gunmen dead outside a contest featuring cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. Some called it an attack on free speech, while others simply thanked law enforcement and said they were monitoring the situation. Speaking with reporters Monday morning, Gov. Greg Abbott called the shooting a "heinous crime" that struck at the heart of the First Amendment. He added he would not feel differently if the shooting had happened in connection with an event mocking Christianity. "What Christians believe is we need to...

This morning on Fox and Friends, Donald Trump asked if there isn’t some less provocative way for Pamela Geller to make her point without ‘taunting them’, saying that’s what she’s doing. Idiot.

On May 9, Liberty University will celebrate the accomplishments of the Class of 2015 during its 42nd annual Commencement Exercises. More than 17,500 degrees will be awarded. The university is preparing for an expected 34,000 guests at the main ceremony at Williams Stadium. More than 7,700 master’s degrees and over 500 doctoral degrees will be awarded, including 60 degrees from Liberty University School of Law. Liberty will recognize over 5,400 graduates who are active military, veterans, or spouses of service members. Commencement will begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 9. This year’s keynote Commencement speaker will be former Florida Gov....

A taxpayer watchdog group is calling for an ethics investigation into meetings between Hillary Clinton's team and key Senate Democrats inside official Senate offices where political activities are barred. The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust has asked the Senate Select Committee on Ethics to probe the "apparent breach of ethics rules" stemming from an April 21 Clinton strategy session in a room just off the Senate floor. The group said that the rules need to be reinforced because it appears that "ongoing" strategy sessions are planned between the Democratic frontrunner and Senate supporters. "The taxpayers expect and deserve that...

It was the good war, fought by the Greatest Generation. It was a war for the survival of civilization. It was the deadliest conflict in history. It was America's finest hour. May 8 marks the 70th anniversary of VE Day – the end of World War II in Europe. Images flash before us – Neville Chamberlain waving a piece of paper said to guarantee "peace for our time," Hitler giving a stiff-arm salute at a Nuremberg rally, a Czech woman weeping as panzers rolled into Prague, a smiling FDR wearing his naval cape, his cigarette holder at a jaunty angle,...

Speaking of Texas, we're really getting a sad picture of right-wing paranoid extremism. A planned military exercise called Jade Helm 15 is seen as a cover for an Obama administration operation to take over the state. And if you're a Republican Texas politician like Gov. Greg Abbott or Sen. Ted Cruz, you have to act as if these are legitimate concerns. Not that he distrusts the military exactly, Cruz said, but "we have seen, for six years, a federal government disrespecting the liberty of the citizens. That produces fear, when you see a government that is attacking our free speech...

A series of victories by Islamist rebels against the Syrian regime is raising the prospect of a sea change in the momentum of a war in which the endurance of Bashar al-Assad has for years seemed to many as a given. Substantial territorial losses by the regime in the northern city of Jisr-el-Shugur and beyond, after the city of Idlib also fell to rebels, coupled with a relatively successful series of advances around the southwest of Damascus, are the result of new levels of cooperation among rebel groups that have spent the past years fighting each other for supremacy, to...

NEW YORK (AP) - A 25-year-old police officer shot in the head over the weekend while attempting to stop a man suspected of carrying a handgun died Monday from his injuries, the third New York City officer slain on duty in five months, Police Commissioner William Bratton said. Brian Moore, who was in a coma after undergoing brain surgery following the Saturday evening shooting, was pronounced dead at a Queens hospital with his family at his bedside, including a father, uncle and cousin who were police officers. Dozens of uniformed officers stood at attention outside the medical center and lined...

Albuquerque police arrest man accused of beating, raping 75-year-old Ernest Casias Ernest Casias ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) – The man accused in of beating and raping an elderly woman is now behind bars. Albuquerque Police have arrested 56-year-old Ernest Casias. In early March, police found a 75-year-old woman at her apartment near Academy and McKinney. A co-worker called APD, saying she hadn’t seen her show up. According to police, she had been raped and then violently beaten. According to the criminal complaint, Casias and the woman may have been working to start a business and that she had already paid Casias around...

Two years ago, a majority of U.S. Supreme Court justices ruled it was a terrible thing for the federal government to dictate the definition of marriage to all 50 states. Despite the fact it was done lawfully via a bill passed through both houses of Congress, and signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1996. Two years later, the same five justices who made up that majority are poised to reverse themselves, and say it's perfectly fine for the federal government to dictate the definition of marriage to all 50 states. Provided it's done so unlawfully by judicial fiat...

At a 2014 Buckingham Palace presentation Prince Charles said, "It is baffling, I must say, that in our modern world we have such blind trust in science and technology that we all accept what science tells us about everything – until, that is, it comes to climate science.” “All of a sudden, and with a barrage of sheer intimidation, we are told by powerful groups of deniers that the scientists are wrong and we must abandon all our faith in so much overwhelming scientific evidence.” He also referred to the “headless chicken brigade” who were carrying out “the barrage of...

RUSH: We have the ISIS shooting in Garland, Texas, to deal with. Pam Geller is the leader of the group that was conducting this little convention, and she was fascinating on CNN this morning, being grilled, interrogated by the former Fox News infobabe Alisyn Camerota who has now moved over to CNN. BREAK TRANSCRIPT RUSH: "Two gunmen were killed Sunday after opening fire on a security officer outside a ... contest for cartoon depictions of Prophet Muhammad in Texas and a bomb squad was called in to search their vehicle as a precaution, authorities said." Now, I left out a...

Am I hearing Obama correctly? While speaking at My Brother's Keeper, Obama complained about lack of jobs for blacks. He then called for more investment in black communities to help solve this problem. Strangely absent from his remarks was the impact illegal immigration has had on jobs available to the LEGAL citizens of this country, INCLUDING blacks. Did Obama forget that it is largely because of HIS overturning of our immigration laws that blacks can't find jobs??? Why won't the black community speak out against Obama's immigration policies? Do they fear insulting their soul brother in the White House?

A 35-year-old man who faces two attempted murder charges after allegedly shooting a New York City police officer in the face spent eight years in prison for the same offence, it has been revealed. Demetrius Blackwell was reportedly approached by Officer Brian Moore and his partner in an unmarked police car on Saturday night after he was seen adjusting his waistband suspiciously.

Washington (AFP) - The group behind the Prophet Mohammed cartoon event in Texas where police killed two gunmen Sunday has a history of making provocative statements about Islam that it says are aimed at defending "freedom" and critics see as antagonizing Muslims. The American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), led by provocative activist Pamela Geller, offered a $10,000 prize in a competition to draw a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed. Depicting the Prophet Mohammed is seen as offensive by many Muslims. Such satirical images have prompted violence in the past including in Paris this year when 12 people were gunned down...

I cannot believe I’m writing this. I mean, when you think about it, how much sense does it make that Carly Fiorina is running for president? With chances less than zero of getting beyond New Hampshire, let alone Super Tuesday, Fiorina began making the cable news show rounds in recent weeks. Name a hot bed issue and there she was, under the studio Klieg lights, nattily dressed and ready to rattle off a litany of conservative talking points. That has always been the “Fiorina Way,” after all: toe the party (or company) line even as the boat sinks. For now...