Free Republic

The Emmy-winning team behind Syfy's Taken is reuniting for another science fiction classic. Steven Spielberg's Amblin Television is adapting Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World as a scripted series for the NBCUniversal-owned cable network, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. Brave New World — ranked fifth among the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th Century by Modern Library — is set in a world without poverty, war or disease. Humans are given mind-altering drugs, free sex and rampant consumerism are the order of the day, and people no longer reproduce but are genetically engineered in "hatcheries." Those who won’t conform...

A team of researchers working in Italy has found that simply spraying a spider with a carbon nanotube solution can cause the spider to spin stronger webs. In their paper they have uploaded to the preprint server arXiv, the team describes their experiments with both graphene and nanotube solutions and what happened when they sprayed it on ordinary spiders. As the researchers note, while silk production using silkworms has been quite successful, doing the same to harvest silk from spiders has not, (because of their territorial traits, the complex nature of the silk they make and their cannibalistic tendencies) which...

It's been a few days since Hillary's lawyer sent Trey Gowdy a letter, saying that she would testify later this month, but only for one day. Surprisingly, there's been no response from Gowdy. I wonder what's going on? This, IMHO, is a direct challenge to the committee.

Video....This report is unconfirmed, but comes from Saudi Arabia new services. It appears as though the Iranian navy has fired on and seized a US cargo ship.

Tim McGraw doubled-down on his planned July benefit concert for gun control group Sandy Hook Promise several weeks ago, asserting that he was supporting the “Sandy Hook community” with the concert, despite the fact that the benefit only supports Sandy Hook Promise.

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake on Wednesday asked the U.S. Department of Justice to probe city police practices and said officers will have body cameras by 2016. Rawlings-Blake, in a morning news conference, noted that complaints of police brutality have been down, and highlighted other improvements by the department. "We have seen results from these efforts," she said. But she said more efforts must be made to build on reforms that have already been put into place. "We have to get it right. Failure is not an option," she said. The mayor said the department of Justice will investigate what "systemic...

In the wake of the terror attack on Pamela Geller’s Mohammed cartoon contest and free speech conference, the media are ramping up their mantra that caveats come with free speech. They don’t seem to realize that free speech with caveats is no longer free speech. One journalist after another after another has pounded away about the need to be sensitive to others (“others” = Muslims) and not to do anything that might offend (“offend” = violence). Watching this cascade of sheer media madness has been like witnessing a hazardous waste site from a toxic explosion, belching globs of dhimmitude and...

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush may be the most popular Republican presidential hopeful nationwide, but he trails his rivals badly in the critical state of Iowa, according to a new poll released Wednesday. Only 5% of likely Iowa GOP caucus-goers told Quinnipiac University pollsters that they planned to vote for Bush, placing him No. 7 in the field of declared or potential 2016 candidates. Even worse for Bush: He may not have as much room to grow over the next year as other candidates do. One-quarter of Republicans said they definitely could not support Bush, the lowest ceiling of support...

Let's try some "are you a tea-party type?" litmus-test questions. Do you agree: - the government may not operate beyond what the Constitution clearly grants & empowers? - short of actual declared war, government should spend no more than tax revenue? - currency should be commodity-backed (gold preferably)? - direct federal taxation of citizens should be repealed? - human life, including right of continued existence, begins at conception; the "choice" is to create human life, not end it? - short of adjudicated felons & mental defect, ownership of weapons in defense of self/family/state shall not be restricted? - short of...

The future of the U.S. oil industry may well be taking shape north of this town on 15 square miles of windswept prairie above the Bakken Shale. It’s about as far from the industry’s wildcatting heritage as is thinkable. “Our idea was to build the world’s greatest oil factory,” says Chris Wright, the chief executive of Liberty Resources LLC. And if the U.S. oil industry is going to overcome several significant challenges, it may have to follow the lead of this small Denver-based company. The U.S. oil industry boomed when crude oil prices were high, but has entered a world...

Shell’s ambitious plans to finally return to the Arctic face yet another hurdle, one that could delay drilling once again. Shell is using the port of Seattle as its base for some of its vessels that it will use in the Arctic. Seattle has been a launching point for Shell in the past (and has hosted Alaskan drilling equipment for decades), but a new greener municipal government is taking a harder look at Shell’s operations. Spurred on by Shell’s error-ridden 2012 campaign in the Arctic that culminated in the grounding of the Kulluk, environmental groups have mustered up some political...

By the Grace of G-d 25th of Shevat, 5746 Brooklyn, N.Y. Greeting and Blessing: This is to acknowledge receipt of your letter of Jan. 26th, in which you write about a serious problem. As requested, I will remember you in prayer for the fulfillment of your heart's desires for good. While all blessings come from HaShem [G‑d], a Jew is expected to do what is necessary in the natural order. In the matter of the said problem, you surely know that there are doctors and psychiatrists who treat it, and have been successful in many cases. I know of a...

A coalition of advocacy groups from all sides of the political spectrum has joined forces to warn against Sen. Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) plan to renew expiring portions of the Patriot Act without changes. Traditionally conservative organizations such as FreedomWorks and Gun Owners of America joined the American Civil Liberties Union, NAACP and dozens of other groups to warn the Senate majority leader against his “clean” reauthorization of the national security law. “In the absence of meaningful reform, it is unacceptable to rubber stamp reauthorization of an authority that the government has used to spy on millions of innocent Americans,” the...

Like a Pringles vendor sounding an alarm about obesity, Pope Francis fashioned himself a feminist last week. You are not reading The Onion. It was an epic mismatch of messenger and message, and I say that as someone who is thankful for this pope, admires him greatly and believes that a change of tone even without a change in teaching has meaning and warrants celebration. But a change of tone in defiance of fact should be flagged (and flogged) as such. And neither Pope Francis nor any other top official in the bastion of male entitlement known as the Vatican...

TELL CONGRESS TO SAY NO FAST TRACK and stop Obama’s immigration-and-regulation agenda – Vote “NO” on Fast Track trade promotion authority. Fast Track paves the way for Obama to lock in his open borders agenda and outsources Congress’ lawmaking power to the White House and international authorities. No future President or Congress will be able to change the rules Obama…

The persistent problem of the so called Amendment to “Local Law 2” has been plaguing some people for several years. Although this problem has much wider national and international ramifications, the New York version of this problem has taken on a strange political hue. During the Purim Farbrengen (gathering) of 5746, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Shlita, addressed this issue. He touched upon the fundamental problem, its social, emotional and health risks, its psychological manifestations and its actual threat to society and individuals.1 At the same time, the Rebbe suggested clear-cut remedies and proposed a humane therapeutical approach, which takes account of...

Such glitches emerge with surprising frequency. It’s suspected that the reason why Nasa lost contact with the Deep Impact space probe in 2013 was an integer limit being reached. And just last week it was reported that Boeing 787 aircraft may suffer from a similar issue. The control unit managing the delivery of power to the plane’s engines will automatically enter a failsafe mode – and shut down the engines – if it has been left on for over 248 days. Hypothetically, the engines could suddenly halt even in mid-flight. The Federal Aviation Administration’s directive on the matter states that...

(CNSNews.com) – White House press secretary Josh Earnest acknowledged Tuesday that the U.S. cannot proscribe how Iran chooses to spend the money it will get as sanctions are eased under a proposed nuclear deal. But he said it was “common sense” to expect that the regime would use it to improve the ailing economy, rather than to step up funding for terrorism or destabilizing activities in the region. Earnest said what had brought the Iranians to the negotiating table in the first place was a desire to ease the effects of sanctions imposed by the international community over the nuclear...

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Bigotry and anti-constitutionalism on full display Muslims just can’t control themselves. You should know that. If you run a cartoon featuring the prophet Mohammad, or organize a displeasing art exhibit, you should simply assume that an Islamist is going to get all wound up and kill you. It’s your fault. You drew and displayed some doodle that they found offensive, and now you’ve paid the price. Appeasement is the only way forward. The rest of us should rein in our First Amendment rights to conform to the killers’ way of thinking. That’s the argument that the left has been trying...