Free Republic

My latest song. Spring has (finally) sprung.

Scientists have discovered the world’s largest plant off the Australia coast — a seagrass meadow that has grown by repeatedly cloning itself. Genetic analysis has revealed that the underwater fields of waving green seagrass are a single organism covering 70 square miles (180 square kilometers) through making copies of itself over 4,500 years. The research was published Wednesday in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Scientists confirmed that the meadow was a single organism by sampling and comparing the DNA of seagrass shoots across the bed, wrote Jane Edgeloe, a study co-author and marine biologist at the University of Western...

A teammate of controversial transgender swimmer Lia Thomas said University of Pennsylvania officials warned women swimmers they'd face consequences for speaking out against the presence of Thomas — a biological male who identifies as female — on the women's swim team. “They’ve made it pretty clear if you speak up about it, your life will be over in some way, you’ll be blasted all over the Internet as a transphobe … you’ll never be able to get a job,” the teammate told Matt Walsh as part of his just-released "What Is a Woman?" documentary, according to the Daily Wire.

Sheep herders in the U.S. West have banded together to sue their employers, accusing them of operating an illegal cartel that artificially suppresses their wages, according to court documents filed Wednesday in Nevada. The case could have implications for how antitrust laws are applied to labor markets, according to legal experts, as the Biden administration pushes for greater competition in every sector of the economy. The suit alleges that ranches coordinate through the Western Range Association (WRA), a ranching trade group, to suppress sheepherder wages and avoid competing for labor.

A man who paid more than S$300,000 to a woman after she claimed she bore him twins has gone to court to find out if the children even existed. Suspecting that he may have been deceived, the man sought information relating to the birth and location of the twins, so that he can decide whether he can bring a lawsuit against the woman. The facts of the case were so unusual that High Court judge Lee Seiu Kin remarked in his written grounds of decision: "Reality, as some say, is sometimes stranger than fiction." Justice Lee issued the grounds last...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The ball was moving, the shots were falling and the arena was rocking in a very familiar third quarter for the Golden State Warriors. Then came the fourth quarter and a surprising collapse by the more experienced team as the Warriors dropped a rare Game 1 of a playoff series under coach Steve Kerr, losing the opener of the NBA Finals 120-108 to the Boston Celtics on Thursday night. The Warriors turned a 12-point lead after three quarters into an 12-point loss in a shocking turnaround that silenced a boisterous crowd that had been celebrating Golden...

@LindseyGrahamSC I stand ready to vote on ALL the proposals mentioned by President Biden tonight and encourage the Democratic Leader to bring them forward for votes. (1/2) @LindseyGrahamSC I also stand ready to work across the aisle to find common ground - something that was absent from President Biden’s address to the nation. (2/2)

A growing number of “family friendly” drag queen story hours and dance performances open to children are becoming a mainstay of June pride month celebrations. The social media account Libs of TikTok has posted dozens of viral tweets over the past weeks showing public schools, libraries, parks, gay nightclubs and even a Florida church including young children in pride events featuring professional drag queens. On Wednesday, Libs of TikTok shared flyers for the San Antonio Zoo’s second annual “Night Out at the Zoo” on June 17 — a “family-friendly ticketed event for all ages” that will feature performances by the...

Don McLean celebrates 50 years of "American Pie" with his new children's book, inspired by his hit song

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media. I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ~ 1 Timothy 2:1-2 Religion Forum threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind. Churchill: The Man Who Saved the Free World Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders....

I normally wouldn't think much about a politician saying this, but the look on his face gave me pause. Not that my opinion matters, but personally I am not usually an apocalyptic thinker, I think we must focus on repenting and confronting our sins for salvation regardless of world events. (click link for video)

Kuwait has summoned a top US diplomat in protest over tweets from the American embassy supporting LGBT rights, its foreign ministry says. US officials there had posted a rainbow flag and message of solidarity from President Joe Biden for Pride month. But Kuwait officials criticised the embassy for "supporting homosexuality" and demanded it didn't happen again. Rights for LGBT people are severely restricted in Kuwait and it is illegal there for men to be gay. In a pair of tweets published in English and Arabic on Thursday, the US Embassy in Kuwait quoted President Biden as saying all humans "should...

Britain pledged Thursday to send sophisticated medium-range rocket systems to Ukraine, joining the United States and Germany in equipping the embattled nation with advanced weapons for shooting down aircraft and knocking out artillery.Western arms have been critical to Ukraine’s success in stymieing Russia’s much larger and better-equipped military during a war now in its 99th day. But as Russian forces closed in on a key city in recent days, the Ukrainian government said its fighters needed better rocket launchers to prevail.A Kremlin spokesman again warned of “absolutely undesirable and rather unpleasant scenarios” if the latest Western-supplied weapons were fired into...

More than 4,000 Salesforce employees have urged their company's leadership to drop the National Rifle Association (NRA) as a customer. The employees made their request in an open letter addressed to company leaders including co-CEOs Marc Benioff and Bret Taylor, SFGate first reported, citing a copy of the letter it viewed. The employees delivered the letter a day after a teenager went on a shooting rampage in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, killing at least 19 students and two adults. "It's not in our power to get background checks or other gun control measures passed by Congress — but we...

<p>SUMTER COUNTY, Fla. - An argument between two men on the green at The Villages over golf etiquette led to one of them facing a battery charge, according to Sumter County deputies.</p><p>Richard Randell, 77, entered a not guilty plea for his alleged crime against his 84-year-old friend, court documents filed in late May confirmed.</p>

he Carolina Panthers' proposed $800 million practice facility project in Rock Hill, South Carolina, is officially dead after team owner David Tepper’s real estate company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware on Wednesday night. Tepper, who made billions in hedge funds, is the NFL’s wealthiest owner. The filing will not affect the NFL’s Panthers or Major League Soccer’s Charlotte FC in any way. It’s unclear at this point what will happen to the half-built practice facility. Tepper has invested more than $175 million into the facility, which is located 25 miles south of the team’s current downtown stadium...

The irony of life

[Catholic Caucus] Vatican Blocks Ordinations in Best French DioceseFréjus-Toulon Bishop Dominique Rey, France, has informed the priests of his diocese via a June 2 email that Rome has “requested that the diaconal and priestly ordinations planned for the end of June be postponed.”His email (below) was published by Diane Montagna on Twitter.com. The decision was taken after the anti-Catholic Neo-Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline of Marseille has led a visitation to the diocese.Rey is one of the few Catholic bishops in France. He has a relaxed approach to the Roman Mass and attracts many seminarians from all over France.

The groomers are everywhere these days, but nowhere are they more visible than at LGBTQ “Pride” parades, where every kind of debauchery imaginable is on full display in neighborhoods and on city streets around the world. A website called Fatherly warns in its Parenting section that pride parades are “filled with sights that may be new to kids, like public nudity and kink. Not to mention that Pride parades aren’t the most sober of places.”Pride Parades and the Pride festivals that follow are noisy and crowded. They’re filled with sights that may be new to kids, like public nudity and...

A Chicago alderman and mayoral candidate tore into fellow Democrat Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Thursday, accusing her of emboldening criminals with her soft-on-crime policies, which he blames for the city's deadly crime wave. Alderman Raymond Lopez, who is running to unseat the mayor in the fall elections, told "Jesse Watters Primetime" on Thursday that deadly shootings over Memorial Day weekend and other incidents offer a glimpse into the city's dangerous conditions under Lightfoot's leadership. "Chicago is in a state of lawlessness right now thanks to the policies of Lori Lightfoot, who has enabled and emboldened criminals to feel that they...