Free Republic

When launching a brand, even one as buzzworthy as Rivian, it helps to provide consumers with some peace of mind. The electric automaker is gearing up to launch its first two models—the R1T pickup truck and the mechanically similar R1S SUV—and both will come standard with one of the longest warranty coverage terms in the auto industry at eight years or 175,000 miles. The current industry standard for battery warranties is eight years or 100,000 miles. The long warranty coverage is specific to the trucks' battery pack and drivetrain components. That much coverage should help early adopters of the upstart...

Jill Biden pranked her staff, the Secret Service and reporters traveling with her on her plane, dressing as a flight attendant and serving ice cream bars in a disguise so good no one recognized her. The 69-year-old first lady, famed for her love of pranks and practical jokes, was flying home from California to Washington DC on Thursday. As food was being served to the press pool, a flight attendant with short black hair wearing a black pants suit, black face mask and a name badge reading Jasmine walked through the staff, Secret Service and press cabins passing out Dove...

An unprecedented water receding event took place in Dubrovnik, Croatia on March 29, 2021. Scientists associate this phenomenon with a rare occurrence… And suddenly the water disappeared in Dubrovnik, surprising many beachgoers and residents of the ancient city on the Adriatic Sea in southern Croatia. ‘Where did the water all go?‘, ‘Do we have to fear a tsunami?’ and ‘Is this normal?‘ asked many local eyewitnesses… They probably recalled the 1667 devastating earthquake that destroyed the entire city. Similar low tides were recorded across the Nin lagoon, one of the largest in Croatia. In the area, the low tide was...

If imitation is truly the sincerest form of flattery, some of America’s most popular food establishments have reason to be pleased — or do they? Knockoffs of the most recognizable names in fast food have popped up all over the world, often blatantly copying logos, naming conventions, and even key menu items — changing them just enough to avoid being a direct duplicate. And the results are often bizarre and hilarious. From Sunbucks to Mash Donald’s, here are some of the funniest fast food knockoffs that exist in other countries. Since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, government sanctions have prevented popular...

\ Artist's impression of Llukalkan aliocranianus. (Jorge Blanco and Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology) _________________________________________________________________ A dig in Argentina has unearthed a previously undiscovered species of dinosaur, and the tyrannosaur-like predator has been given a name to suit what we know about it so far: Llukalkan aliocranianus, or 'one who causes fear'. Able to grow as long as an elephant, and with sharp teeth and a powerful bite, L. aliocranianus would undoubtedly have been a fearsome sight for any other creature that happened across it during the Late Cretaceous period, which leads up to the extinction of the dinosaurs 66...

OVID could mutate into a new super variant which could beat vaccines, make people sicker and reinfect victims in a devastating new outbreak, leading experts have warned. Scientists told The Sun Online about the need to vaccinate as many people as possible and stick to the lockdown rules as it is feared the rapidly changing virus could overwhelm our current arsenal of vaccines. The experts hammered home the need to rob Covid of the rapid person-to-person transmission which helps it develop mutations. And they warned possible new variants in the future could make people sicker and re-infect people who had...

Spring rains often bring scores of earthworms to the surface, where they writhe on top of soil and sidewalks. But recently, heavy rainfall in a town near New York City was followed by something a little more unusual: a wormnado. A resident of Hoboken, New Jersey was out for a morning walk in a park near the Hudson River on March 25, when she spotted hundreds of worms spread along the walkway. The woman, who asked not to be identified, told Live Science that after her initial surprise she noticed something even more bizarre — a number of the worms...

CNN host Fareed Zakaria hijacked former President Donald Trump’s slogan “Make America Great Again” and slapped it on President Joe Biden’s gargantuan federal spending. Zakaria fawned in a new op-ed headlined, “How Biden’s New Deal can really make America great again.” He went on to pretend that “Trump claimed he wanted to ‘Make America Great Again,’ President Biden is attempting to actually do it.” Zakaria must have missed economist and The Lindsey Group CEO Lawrence Lindsey’s October 2020 op-ed headlined, “The Trump Boom Is Real.” But according to Zakaria, “Biden’s infrastructure plan is the first major fiscal program in five...

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg prepares for a photo opp, as he pretends to be "green." (video linked)

President Biden on Friday lamented that people are letting their guard down amid the coronavirus pandemic even though the country is not in the clear yet. "Too many Americans are acting as if this fight is over. It is not," he said Friday during remarks about the “promising” jobs report, which showed 916,000 jobs were added in March and the unemployment rate fell to 6 percent. He reiterated his stance that if Americans just complied with all of the government’s health edicts maybe they could have a small barbecue on Independence Day with close friends and family. "I've told people...

As Joe Biden and the Democrats push harder for tighter gun control across the country, many are pushing back on this idea. One America’s John Hines spoke with Dr. John Lott, the president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, to find out more.Gun control measures affect law abiding citizens.Informative five minute video.

An installation by sculptor Péter Szalay, dedicated to the Black Lives Matter movement, was pulled down on Friday morning in Hungary just a day after it was put on display. Standing at just a metre high, the 3D-printed work, which depicts New York's Statue of Liberty in rainbow colours, has already sparked controversy in the country among the government of Viktor Orbán. Erected on Thursday in the capital Budapest, Lady Liberty is portrayed bending the knee, stretching her right fist in the air and holding a plaque that reads: "Black Lives Matter".

WASHINGTON (AP) — Police locked down the U.S. Capitol on Friday afternoon after a report of gunshots in the area. U.S. Capitol Police say all Capitol buildings were being locked down “due to an external security threat” and staff members were told they could not enter or exit the buildings.

The coronavirus is subsiding, and by the White House’s glad admission, vaccination is moving smoothly. A healthy civilization would treat this as a cause for celebration. With the arrival of spring, the timing couldn’t be better. But for many, a return to normal is something to be dreaded. The imbecilic hypervigilance of Dr. Anthony Fauci has never been more tenuous, but the buffoon is not letting go. And while Joe Biden is awfully fond of boasting about the vaccine he had nothing to do with, as far as he’s concerned, normal life remains as elusive as it was in the...

New Court Filing — Ahmed Arbery had a history of claiming to be a jogger to cover up ‘criminal activity’New evidence introduced in the criminal case against the father & son in Georgia accused of murdering Ahmaud Arbery show that Arbery had a history of claiming to be a jogger to cover for criminal activities. #BLM pic.twitter.com/AHIqOPoCPn— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) April 2, 2021

Footage of a Jewish family, including a one-year old baby, in Manhattan being attacked by a man carrying a knife surfaced on Thursday, which appears to have been unprovoked. In the video, a man carrying an umbrella walks past the Hasidic couple and their baby in a stroller, until he turns and attacks the couple from behind, slashing both the mother and father. Upon stepping away from the suspect, the man also slashed at the baby, injuring her chin, according to the New York Post, citing local police. The couple then ran off as the man continued to chase them....

PayPal has started allowing U.S. users to spend their cryptocurrency holdings at millions of online merchants globally. The development means PayPal users who hold bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), bitcoin cash (BCH), and litecoin (LTC) in PayPal digital wallets can now convert their crypto holdings into fiat to make purchases. Reuters first reported the news. "This is the first time you can seamlessly use cryptocurrencies in the same way as a credit card or a debit card inside your PayPal wallet," PayPal CEO and president Dan Schulman told Reuters. "We think it is a transitional point where cryptocurrencies move from being...

It was in 1998 — a mere 23 years ago — that Hugo Chavez first got elected President of Venezuela. From the start, his program was explicitly one of vastly increased government spending, which was supposed to make the economy grow, reduce income inequality, eliminate poverty and bring about social justice. Chavez called the social programs his “Bolivarian missions.” Among some 30 or so such “missions,” big ones included blowout spending on education, subsidized food, subsidized housing and healthcare. In the early years, things seemed to be going swimmingly, at least if you believed the official statistics put out by...

China is facing mounting criticism from around the world over its treatment of the mostly Muslim Uighur population in the north-western region of Xinjiang. Human rights groups believe China has detained more than a million Uighurs over the past few years in what the state defines as "re-education camps". There is evidence of Uighurs being used as forced labour and of women being forcibly sterilised. The US is among several countries to have accused China of committing genocide and crimes against humanity through its repression of the Uighurs. China denies such allegations, saying it has been combatting separatism and Islamist...

A two-year-old boy and his baby sister were alone for three whole days in their Virginia home just feet away from where their parents and another teenager were slashed to death in a gruesome triple murder, according to testimony. James Herdman, a detective with the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office, testified during a preliminary hearing on Wednesday in court where three of the five Philadelphia men arrested in the case are being tried for murder. Body cam footage was played in court showing deputies arriving at the bloody murder scene on May 29, 2019.