Free Republic

It feels like the consent of the governed is slipping away in the U.S. The reason is so obvious we dare not acknowledge it or discuss it: those in power--elected and unelected--only give lip-service to "serving the public interest and common good." Beneath this flimsy facade of PR, every action serves the interests of a wealthy, politically potent elite or the self-interests of those in power.

Explanation: The center of the Lagoon Nebula is a whirlwind of spectacular star formation. Visible near the image center, at least two long funnel-shaped clouds, each roughly half a light-year long, have been formed by extreme stellar winds and intense energetic starlight. A tremendously bright nearby star, Herschel 36, lights the area. Vast walls of dust hide and redden other hot young stars. As energy from these stars pours into the cool dust and gas, large temperature differences in adjoining regions can be created generating shearing winds which may cause the funnels. This picture, spanning about 10 light years, combines...

First Lady Jill Biden staged a media photo-op with pallets of baby formula on Wednesday, as store shelves remain empty. “I’ve always said that food is love, but food is life too,” the First Lady said, appearing with the U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy.

On Wednesday Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) hit the brakes on the idea of a quick gun control vote, making clear a vote on more gun restrictions will have to wait. Breitbart News pointed to a report the New York Times published Tuesday which said Schumer was moving quickly to “force” a vote on gun control in the Senate. The Times noted, “Within hours of the shooting in Uvalde, Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, moved to clear the way to force votes in coming days on legislation that would strengthen background checks for...

The border city of Uvalde, Texas is mourning. Salvador Ramos, 18, shot and killed 19 fourth-grade students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School. They were all in one classroom. It’s a heinous crime. It’s a Sandy Hook-like situation. Ramos shot his grandmother before this rampage. The grandmother is said to have survived. We’re going to hear an earful about gun control, so-called assault weapons bans, and other anti-gun talking points from Democrats. And the result will always be the same—Americans will not torch their rights to appease a political class lusting for more power and control, especially after the...

K-12 schools must allow boys into girls’ private areas to obtain federal funds for lunches, breakfasts, and snacks, the Biden administration announced this month. A U.S. Department of Education spokesman told The Federalist the Biden administration’s press releases from several agencies announcing this policy will be followed by formal rulemaking in June. “It seems to be playing politics with feeding poor kids, which is really unfortunate,” John Elcesser, executive director of the Indiana Non-Public Education Association, said via phone amid weeks of attempting to sort out these new demands with government officials on behalf of private schools in his state....

Reproductive hormone levels in females with obesity may be partially restored by lowering blood glucose levels, leading to improved fertility. The study indicates that altered levels of reproductive hormones in a well-established mouse model of obesity may be partially restored by a common type 2 diabetes medication that reduces blood glucose levels. Many women with obesity that experience fertility issues also have altered levels of reproductive hormones. Currently there is no effective therapy to address this. Although fertility problems are well established in women with obesity, there remains a lack of effective and targeted treatments to address them. Obesity-related fertility...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) _ A senior U.N. environmental official says entire nations could be wiped off the face of the Earth by rising sea levels if the global warming trend is not reversed by the year 2000. Coastal flooding and crop failures would create an exodus of ″eco- refugees,′ ′ threatening political chaos, said Noel Brown, director of the New York office of the U.N. Environment Program, or UNEP. He said governments have a 10-year window of opportunity to solve the greenhouse effect before it goes beyond human control. As the warming melts polar icecaps, ocean levels will rise by...

A new Chinese dam would become the world’s tallest 3D-printed structure. Engineers believe they can build the dam within two years while eliminating the need for human laborers at the dam site. Artificial intelligence will control unmanned machinery to construct the overall structure. Chinese engineers will take the ideas of a research paper and turn it into the world’s largest 3D-printed project. Within two years, officials behind this project want to fully automate the unmanned construction of a 590-foot-tall dam on the Tibetan Plateau to build the Yangqu hydropower plant—completely with robots. The paper, published last month in the Journal...

Former President Donald Trump will speak at the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) Annual Leadership Forum this week in the wake of the horrific tragedy at a Texas elementary school, previewing an “important address to America.” “America needs real solutions and real leadership in this moment, not politicians and partisanship,” Trump said in an update to his TruthSocial account Wednesday. “That’s why I will keep my longtime commitment to speak in Texas at the NRA Convention and deliver an important address to America. In the meantime, we all continue to pray for the victims, their families, and for our entire nation—we...

According to new research, deep learning models based on artificial intelligence can identify someone’s race merely by looking at their X-rays, which would be impossible for a human doctor looking at the same photos. The findings raise several serious concerns concerning AI’s role in medical diagnosis, assessment, and treatment: Could computer algorithms mistakenly apply racial bias when analyzing photographs like these? An international team of health researchers from the United States, Canada, and Taiwan tested their AI on X-ray images that the computer program had never seen before after training it with hundreds of thousands of existing X-ray images annotated...

Amid chaos on many fronts, globalists march forward into the night. Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum convening in Davos, Switzerland, welcomed fellow globalists with this: “The future is built by us, by a powerful community, as you, here in this room.” Meanwhile in the United States we face soaring gas prices, shortage of baby formula, and the highest inflation seen in 40 years. The global elite would find more reality than their self-aggrandizing meeting if they drove to nearby France for the 75th annual Cannes Film Festival, where Tom Cruise drew a five-minute...

... The Pentagon admits all Ukraine ports are blocked by mines making shipping of goods and weapons impossible.

Joe Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order to reform policing just one day after a teenager fatally shot 21 people at a Texas elementary school. Biden also delivered remarks on the deadly Texas shooting. Then Biden began talking about how dangerous life is for black Americans. “So many black Americans wake up knowing they could lose their life in the course of just living their life — jogging, shopping, sleeping at home,” said Biden. Another divisive and grotesque speech by the ‘great unifer.’

Civility has long been removed from the current Fascist Democrats running their political operations. During a somber Texas press briefing today, Governor Greg Abbott was informing the public on the latest information about the Uvalde school shooting.Former failed senate candidate, and current democrat political candidate to challenge Abbott, Beto O’Rourke, having previously planned and informed the media of his intent, pulled a political stunt by interrupting the press briefing in order to make political statement advocating for a ban on firearms. {Direct Rumble Link} VIDEO:

On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” host and NBC News Chief Washington Correspondent and Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell argued that “there’s nothing in the Constitution at all about assault weapons.” And that law enforcement in the school shooting in Uvalde, TX couldn’t stop a shooter who was armed “with what appears to be something like an assault weapon.” After playing a clip of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) saying that armed law enforcement on school grounds is the most effective tool to keep students safe and that “inevitably, when there’s a murder of this kind, you see...

The banana republic of Pennsylvania officially ordered a recount in the GOP Senate Primary race in the state. Dr. Mehmut Oz leads by less than 1,000 votes over Dave McCormick. They are still counting votes 8 days after the primary election. They still don’t have all of the votes counted. Are they still coming in? On Monday former hedge fund CEO David McCormick filed a lawsuit to demand election officials count undated ballots that came in after the Tuesday election. On Wednesday state officials ordered a recount in the GOP Senate primary race.

Hassan Nasrallah, the head of the Hezbollah terrorist organization, has issued a threat to Israeli in advance of Jerusalem Day, when a flag dance is planned. Speaking to mark the anniversary of the IDF's withdrawal from south Lebanon, Nasrallah said that each and every breach of the sanctity of the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock will cause the region to "explode." "In a few days' time, certain events are to be held in Jerusalem that will bring about an explosion," Nasrallah said. "This is a provocation of the entire Arab..."

There is a lot of speculation about the Republican party’s chances of taking the momentum they have going into November and doing what was once thought unthinkable for this election cycle: flipping the Senate to red. The analyses I read — and I do read a lot of them — that break down how that just might happen all count Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) among the most vulnerable. My view from here in my native Arizona is that Kelly probably isn’t sweating too much. Last month, my friend and colleague Stephen Green gave his breakdown regarding the GOP’s Senate takeover...

Disgraced reality TV star Josh Duggar has been jailed for 12 years and seven months for downloading a vile trove of 'the worst of the worst' child porn. US District Judge Timothy Brooks handed the 151-month prison sentence at the Western District of Arkansas Federal Courthouse in Fayetteville at the end of a day-long hearing on Wednesday. Duggar, 34, has been in custody since December when a federal jury found the 19 Kids and Counting alum guilty of possession and receipt of child pornography. Members of the Duggar family, including father Jim Bob Duggar, 56, Josh's wife Anna, 34, and...