Free Republic

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Republican state senators outvoted impassioned Democratic opposition late Thursday to advance a proposal to add language to the Pennsylvania Constitution stating explicitly that the document does not guarantee any rights relating to abortion or public funding of abortions. The chamber’s Rules Committee teed up the package of proposed amendments that would also require voters to show ID at polling places and have gubernatorial candidates choose their own running mates. A vote of the full Senate could occur Friday. The Democratic floor leader, Sen. Jay Costa of Allegheny County, said he saw the abortion bill as “designed...

Researchers in Germany have demonstrated quantum entanglement of two atoms separated by 33 km (20.5 miles) of fiber optics. This is a record distance for this kind of communication and marks a breakthrough towards a fast and secure quantum internet. Quantum entanglement is the uncanny phenomenon where two particles can become so inextricably linked that examining one can tell you about the state of the other. Stranger still, changing something about one particle will instantly alter its partner, no matter how far apart they are. That leads to the unsettling implication that information is being “teleported” faster than the speed...

The University of Sydney’s gunpolicy.org labels Japan’s gun controls as “restrictive” and notes they include an handgun ban, an “assault weapons” ban, and a ban on private gun sales. Certain rifles and shotguns are the only guns that the Japanese people are allowed to own, but the process to legally obtain one of those is arduous...Moreover, the would-be gun owner’s family history is searched...In light of these and other gun controls, Reuters describes Japan as a “mostly gun-free nation.”

YouTube wildlife documentarian Coyote Peterson has posted photos of what he claims is a “Bigfoot skull” that he found in British Columbia. Peterson broke the news on Facebook, explaining that he found “a large primate skull in British Columbia”, smuggled it through customs and TSA, and has placed the skull “in a secure location awaiting primatologist review.” According to Peterson, he though it was a bear skull when he found it, but is now “100% sure” it is not. He also warns that he is “sure these pics will be taken down… as will probably the video by government...

On the same day of the mass shooting in Highland Park, five people in Chicago were injured by gunfire and another died. Over the long weekend, Chicago saw 68 people shot and eight killed. The Chicago violence, down by 14 percent from a year ago. according to the city's police chief, drew passing attention while the governor of Illinois and vice president converged on Highland Park to offer condolences and raise their voices about how “enough is enough.” Even the pope offered prayers. Highland Park isn't experienced with such violence. Not a single murder was logged between 2000 and 2020,...

AUSTIN (KXAN) — An abortion provider plans to move its four Texas clinics, including one in Austin, to New Mexico in the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade. According to a GoFundMe set up by Whole Woman’s Health, the organization explained “our patients need a Whole Woman’s Health to go to now that Texas has cruelly taken away this basic healthcare need,” but it needs money to relocate. The Texas Tribune reported in early July the Texas Supreme Court ruled the state can enforce its abortion ban from 1925, meaning abortion providers could face fines and lawsuits if...

The Chinese capital Beijing appears to have backed off a plan to launch a vaccine mandate for entry into certain public spaces after pushback from residents. While not explicitly saying it had dropped the plan, a city official was quoted in state media late Thursday saying that people could enter venues with a negative virus test result and a temperature check, as has been the norm. They also said vaccinations would continue on the principle of "informed, voluntary consent." An unidentified official in the pandemic control office said residents of the city could enter any sort of public venue with...

Leaders of the U.S. Bishops’ Conference (USCCB)...in a statement signed by the chairs of the Bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, the Committee on Pro-Life Activities,... The Catholic bishops of the United States “support a total ban on assault weapons and limitations on civilian access to high-capacity weapons and ammunition magazines,” they declare.

Georgia authorities on Thursday released a video showing someone leaving an explosive device next to a rural monument conservative Christians criticized as satanic and others dubbed "America's Stonehenge" that heavily damaged the pillars so much so that they were demolished. The Georgia Guidestones monument near Elberton was damaged by an explosive device, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said, and later knocked down "for safety reasons," leaving a pile of rubble in a picture that investigators published. Surveillance footage showed a sharp explosion blowing one panel to rubble just after 4 a.m. Investigators also released video of a silver sedan leaving...

In 2019, Teen Vogue published this article on how to get an abortion if you're a teen. Now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned, we're publishing this update on how to navigate abortion restrictions as a teenager. On Friday, June 24, the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, ending the constitutional right to an abortion and creating chaos across the country as trigger bans began going into effect in some states, while other states hostile to abortion moved to ban it. For pregnant people in the seven current states that have near total abortion bans in effect, it’s...

NASA has a provided a tantalizing teaser photo ahead of the highly-anticipated release next week of the first deep-space images from the James Webb Telescope – an instrument so powerful it can peer back into the origins of the Universe. An engineering test image. (NASA, CSA, and FGS team) The US$10 billion observatory – launched in December last year and now orbiting the Sun a million miles (1.5 million kilometers) away from Earth – can look where no telescope has looked before thanks to its enormous primary mirror and instruments that focus on infrared, allowing it to peer through dust...

New York Times editorial board member Mara Gay found the silly side of the overturn of Roe v. Wade in her signed editorial Tuesday, “The Republican Crusade Against Sex,” penning an eye roll of a rant evaded the issue. In it, she pretended that those who think abortion is murder are just anti-sex prudes, while ignoring that Europe, including supposedly oh-la-la France, which had tighter restrictions on abortion until the high court’s ruling in the Dobbs case. That said, it began with a case of TMI — too much information (click “expand”): One day I hope to become a mother....

Study found that taxpayers shelled out $4 for every $1 in wages and benefits received by workers from the Paycheck Protection Program. Taxpayers paid $4 for every $1 in wages and benefits received by workers in jobs saved by the federal government’s pandemic Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), according to a new study by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The Fed study also found PPP didn’t support jobs at risk of disappearing, and money flowed disproportionately to wealthier households. “The PPP was a very large and very timely fiscal-policy intervention, saving about 3 million jobs at its peak in...

Joe Biden is to sign an executive order offering protections to millions of American women denied the constitutional right to an abortion. The move signals the start of a White House fightback after the supreme court last month struck down Roe v Wade, its landmark ruling that for half a century had legalised abortion nationwide. The president, who condemned the court’s decision as a “tragic error”, is due to speak about the executive order from the Roosevelt Room at the White House on Friday morning. According to a fact sheet released by the administration, Biden’s order will safeguard access to...

Two days ago, Germany's second-largest town of Hamburg told residents to prepare for hot-water rationing during certain times of the day due to "an acute gas shortage."Now, Germany's largest landlord has warned tenants that when the heating season starts in autumn, they will only be able to turn their heat up to 17C (62.6F) between the hours of 11pm and 6am.In a Thursday announcement, Vonovia said the move was intended to save energy and gas use during the current crisis. The company added that the change won't affect daytime temperatures, and that access to hot water won't be affected, meaning...

The Wisconsin Supreme Court today ruled that absentee drop boxes are illegal in the state. The court ruled 4-3 that the drop boxes can only be placed INSIDE election offices.

At least ten more churches and pro-life organizations were vandalized since last weekend as violence targeting people who work to protect unborn babies continues across America. They include Birthright pregnancy center in St. Paul, Minnesota; Care Net of Puget Sound Pregnancy Clinic in Kenmore, Washington state; and Problem Pregnancy and Clearway Clinic, both in Worcester, Massachusetts. The churches were Holy Ghost Catholic Church, Notre Dame Catholic Church and St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church, all in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin; St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church in Bloomer, Wisconsin; and the Bible Missionary Church and the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses, both...

Yet, here we are again. With the Senate Armed Services Committee passing this provision in the yearly NDAA bill and the House set to consider legislation next week, we will see if Democrats — with the potential support of Republicans — will once again push forward legislation to force our daughters to the front lines.

OSIRIS REx Spacecraft Leaving Bennu Surface NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft leaving the surface of asteroid Bennu after collecting a sample. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/CI Lab/SVS Scientists have learned something astonishing after analyzing data gathered when NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft collected a sample from asteroid Bennu in October 2020. The spacecraft would have sunk into the asteroid had it not fired its thrusters to back away immediately after it grabbed its sample of dust and rock from Bennu’s surface. “Our expectations about the asteroid’s surface were completely wrong.” — Dante Lauretta, principal investigator of OSIRIS-REx Unexpectedly, it turns out that the...

A Texas-based insurance company is bucking the corporate trend of paying for employees’ abortions in the wake of the Roe v. Wade reversal. Texas-based Buffer Insurance announced last week that it will pay the costs for employees who give birth and also financially help those who want to adopt. ”Secular companies are paying the travel costs for employees to abort babies out-of-state. Today we are announcing that Buffer will pay the costs for our employees who birth babies,” the company announced on Instagram. “Buffer will provide paid time off for all employees to have maternity and paternity leave with their...