Free Republic

A 125,000-year-old site in Germany known as Neumark-Nord reveals the earliest evidence of one of our hominin relatives, Neanderthals, leaving a lasting mark on their landscape. Located about 22 miles east of Leipzig, Neumark-Nord was dotted with small lakes during an era 130,000 to 115,000 years ago when glaciers had retreated from Europe. Archaeological evidence suggests Neanderthals, who hunted and gathered, moved into the area to capitalize on the milder climate during that time, and altered their landscape through increased use. These hominins hunted and butchered animals, produced tools, collected firewood and built campfires in the Neumark-Nord region for about...

France shuts down nuclear plants - gas and power prices shatter records During routine maintenance, Electricite de France (OTCPK:ECIFF) ("EDF") found pipe defects on the safety injection systems for two nuclear facilities; both are shut down awaiting repair. As a result of the outages, EDF has revised 2021 annual EBITDA guidance from "more than 17.7b euros" to "17.5b - 18.0b euros." With yet another source of energy offline, European natural gas for January delivery continues its relentless march higher; prices now reaching $44 / mmbtu, Europeans will pay 900% more for natural gas in January 2022 than January 2021. In...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The newly crowned Miss America has made history, becoming both the first Korean American and the first Alaskan to hold the title in the competition's 100-year history. "I never could have imagined in a million years that I would be Miss America, let alone that I would be Miss Alaska," a beaming Emma Broyles told The Associated Press

Chinese Communist officials and state media responded angrily on Thursday to U.S. sanctions against Chinese firms for their alleged role in the fentanyl drug crisis. President Joe Biden imposed the sanctions against four Chinese pillmakers by executive order on Wednesday, to “help disrupt the global supply chain and the financial networks that enable synthetic opioids and precursor chemicals to reach the United States,” as Secretary of State Antony Blinken put it. Also subjected to Treasury Department action was an individual named Chuen Fat Yip, described as “one of the largest, if not the largest, producers of anabolic steroids in the...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Memphis woman was arrested and charged after police say she shot at a house and car last month in Whitehaven. According to an affidavit, the home owner heard a loud commotion in her front yard, located in the area of Tulane Road and Whitesboro Avenue. When she opened the front door of her house, she saw Jada Nichols, 23, getting out of her car with a handgun walking towards her son’s Infiniti vehicle. Thieves stole cars, motorcycles and trailer from Arkansas businesses, deputies say When the homeowner closed her front door, she heard several gunshots and...

"Amazon is killing brick-and-mortar retail." "Well, no, but... Amazon, Wish, and all those other online-only businesses are killing brick-and-mortar retail." "Well, no, but... Amazon, Wish, all those other online-only businesses, plus a lot of brick-and-mortar businesses themselves, like the online stores run by Best Buy, Walmart, JC Penney, etc. etc., all put together, are killing brick-and-mortar retail." For years, we have been told the above.… To explain why shopping malls and other brick and mortar retail is suffering so much today. It’s all a lie. What’s killing brick and mortar retail is crime. JUST ANOTHER TYPE OF COMPETITION Throughout the...

The student newspaper at an Ohio college known for its left-leaning politics published a column addressing the number of white students attending campus concerts. “When there are so few resources for non-white students on campus, it can be upsetting when concerts headlined by artists of color are dominated by white students,” wrote Kayla Kim, a first-year student at Oberlin College.... In the Dec. 10 column titled “Concerts Need to Be Better for Students of Color,” Kim claimed that whites, who comprise the majority of the student population, take over events by displacing black students in the front rows.... ...Kim also...

Liz Cheney just set the stage for the latest letdown. Donald Trump won’t be charged with insurrection, treason, or sedition. But obstruction may be on the table. History, it appears, is repeating itself—at least when it comes to the latest crusade to destroy Donald Trump and everyone around him. For nearly three years, the American people were warned that Donald Trump had been in cahoots with the Kremlin to rig the 2016 presidential election. Trump-Russia election collusion, the original “stop the steal” campaign—that is, until questioning the outcome of American elections was designated a criminal conspiracy after November 2020—dominated the...

Former President Trump evoked antisemitic tropes about Jews in excerpts of an interview released on Friday and claimed that they “either don't like Israel or don't care about Israel.” In the interview with journalist Barak Ravid, portions of which were played on an episode of the “Unholy: Two Jews on the news” podcast released on Friday, Trump said that "there's people in this country that are Jewish — no longer love Israel. I'll tell you, the evangelical Christians love Israel more than the Jews in this country,” Trump said in an interview He also used common antisemitic tropes about Jewish...

Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott announced on Friday that the construction of the state’s border wall has begun. “Texas has officially started building its own border wall,” Abbott tweeted. “Biden allows open border policies and refuses to enforce laws passed by Congress to secure the border and enforce immigration laws,” The governor added. “Texas is stepping up to do the federal government’s job.” Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin posted pictures of the first panels on Friday. “Texas has officially started building its own border wall. The first wall panels have gone up in Starr County in the RGV. State land,...

A global conflict between the great powers of the world is already "in full swing,” according to a senior Russian diplomat, and it's happening in cyberspace. "The war [in cyberspace] is underway and unfolding very intensively,” the Russian Foreign Ministry’s international information security director, Alexander Krutskikh, told a political science conference on Thursday. “The media rightly says that this [is] a Third World War, and what matters now is to calculate the damage and determine who will lose it in the end and what shape the world will eventually acquire as a result of this war.”... ...“No matter how hard...

This is a short learned and in-depth discussion on the use of preferred personal pronouns by a leading instructor in the field.

A SMUGGLER flew from Scotland to Israel with more than 300 baby lobsters in his suitcase. Somehow he managed to get his bizarre haul through Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv, without raising any alarms. He was caught with more than 300 baby lobsters in his suitcase His unusual operation was only rumbled after he was caught with the lobsters and officials launched a probe into where they’d come from. Experts revealed wildlife can only be brought into Israel under licence to protect native populations from infection. It’s claimed the smuggler could have wiped out Israel’s lobsters if he’d not been...

Explanation: An arid expanse of the Tengger Desert in north-central China, planet Earth fills the foreground of this starry scene. A widefield panoramic view, it was recorded shortly after moonset in the local predawn hours of December 14. Pictured in the still dark sky, stars of the northern winter hexagon surround a luminous Milky Way. Seen near the peak of the annual meteor shower, the startling flash of a bright Geminid fireball meteor was also captured on that night. Above the western horizon and just below bright star Capella, its dagger-like trail points back to the meteor shower's radiant in...

Soon to be former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, perhaps suffering brain from too much gourmet ice cream in her San Francisco industrial sixe freezer, was mystified in explaining the wave of lawlessness sweeping the country which liberals finally noticed when smash-and-grab looters switched targets from now-abandoned Walgreens drug stores to the high-end stores and shops patronized by the rich and famous like herself. Press Secretary Jen Psaki has blamed rising crime and shoplifting on the pandemic as if looters are hoping those Louis Vitton bags they are running off with are filled with monoclonal antibodies. No thought is given to...

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) has advanced a bill in the state legislature that would codify her executive orders limiting transgender athletes to competing only in categories that correspond to their birth gender. Noem filed the bill on Tuesday to limit K-12 girl’s school sports and state-funded colleges to allowing only natural-born girls to compete in girl’s categories, according to the Argus Leader.

The Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) recently warned residents about new ways criminals are gaining access to peoples’ homes and luring them into carjackings. The “department has seen an increase in robberies and specifically home invasions,” according to a recent email alert from the police. “Two or more suspects are following victims by car, to their home and robbing them. These suspects are reported to be armed and some victims have been physically assaulted.” According to MPD, carjackings are so common that it’s no longer safe to exit a vehicle if it’s involved in a fender bender. MPD described “bumping into...

The CEO of a major airline suggested during a congressional hearing this week that face masks provide little value on planes — a claim that was quickly amplified online. Citing high-quality filtration systems aboard planes, Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly stated that “masks don’t add much, if anything, in the air cabin environment.” But experts strongly disagree. Here are the facts. CLAIM: Mask-wearing on planes is unnecessary because advanced air filtration systems sufficiently reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission. THE FACTS: While it’s true that the common air filtration and distribution systems used in modern aircraft are highly effective at...

SEATTLE (AP) — Aerospace giant Boeing said Friday it’s suspending a company vaccination requirement for all U.S.-based employees. The Seattle Times reports the company adopted a COVID-19 vaccine mandate in October to ensure compliance with the federal executive order that required all employees of federal contractors to be vaccinated. The mandate faced opposition from a vocal minority of Boeing workers. In an internal company announcement, Boeing told employees its decision to suspend the mandate “comes after a detailed review of a U.S. District Court ruling earlier this month that halts the enforcement of a federal executive order requiring vaccinations for...

This site is famous for the Terracotta Army that was built to protect Qin in death However, his tomb has never been opened for fear of damaging the contents Chinese scientists have proposed to scan the complex with muon radiation This is formed when cosmic rays interact with particles in the upper atmosphere Measuring the muon flux will allow an image to be made like an 3D X-ray scan