Free Republic

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called for more “collective” action in her address to the U.N. General Assembly on Friday, especially on the issues of climate change, nuclear non-proliferation, pandemic response, and opposing wars of aggression such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Ardern’s authoritarian impulses were on display in her call for tighter regulations on Internet speech, although she insisted she values free speech and merely wishes to cleanse “disinformation” from international discourse.

The mission will be named Tianwen 4 and will see a larger probe destined for Jupiter and smaller spacecraft to be sent to make a flyby of distant Uranus. The pair will launch on a Long March 5 rocket and use a Venus flyby and two Earth flybys to fling the spacecraft on a trajectory for the outer solar system before separating and setting course for their respective targets. The main spacecraft will be dedicated to investigate the Jupiter system and will eventually enter orbit around the moon Callisto for a detailed investigation of the outermost of the Galilean moons....

The National Records and Archive Administration's acting archivist, Debra Steidel Wall, said in a letter to Congress Thursday that her agency would not share any information with them regarding the Department of Justice probe into documents seized by the FBI from former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida."I apologize if my response may not have been clear and thus caused confusion. My letter was not intended to deny the existence of such responsive documents or communications to Congress," Steidel Wall wrote to House Committee on Oversight and Reform ranking member Rep. James Comer, R-Ky. "Rather, its intent...

The Washington Post found a so-called “whistleblower” connected to liberal billionaire George Soros to stoke hysteria about how former President Donald Trump’s Twitter account threatened the planet. In a so-called “exclusive,” The Post found a Twitter truther to steal former Twitter executive Peiter “Mudge” Zatko’s thunder and make the issue about Trump rather than the Big Tech platform. “Jan. 6 Twitter witness: Failure to curb Trump spurred ‘terrifying’ choice,” was The Post headline. The leftist whistleblower — now identified by The Post as Anika Collier Navaroli — was reportedly a “former policy official on the team designing Twitter’s content-moderation rules,”...

Fellow FReepers, I welcome any and all advice on a sticky situation. I sold a small camping trailer through FB Marketplace. The buyer, a guy about 30, was almost obnoxious in pleading to come see it. After others fell through, I gave him the address and he came over. He was enthusiastic, but seemed somewhat naive to camping. We got along well. He had asked before if I would take a Zelle bank transfer, I pointed out that the $3000 price was more than Zelle would allow. So how about cash? He agreed, texted me that he was at the...

Friday, the AP reported that a group of Trump’s allies just formed a new super PAC that will replace the former president’s old political action committee. The new PAC is expected to serve as the primary vehicle for midterm spending on GOP candidates, and as the AP noted, it will likely play a role in the 2024 general election, should he choose to run. The best part? The new PAC’s name. According to paperwork filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on Friday, it will be called “Make America Great Again, Inc.,” or “MAGA Inc.” for short. Save America can...

Several factors increase the risk of heart attack, such as high blood sugar (hyperglycemia), obesity, abnormal cholesterol levels, high blood pressure (hypertension), and smoking. A study has quantified the impact of each factor associated with death from cardiovascular disease. Hyperglycemia correlated 5 to 10 times more than other factors. "Regardless of the control we used—and we tested variables, statistical models and methods of different kinds—diabetes was also associated with mortality from cardiovascular disease. Moreover, the association was not confined to the year analyzed but lasted for up to a decade," said Renato Gaspar. According to the authors, the findings provide...

Misinformation given to a group of migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., has raised calls for an investigation into whether Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis intentionally misled the asylum-seekers, potentially violating the law. The group of 50 were not only promised housing and employment — immigration law experts say they were given bad advice that could actually jeopardize their immigration status as they seek to remain in the U.S.

President Joe Biden stumbled into a confusing discussion on Friday about supporting the idea of defunding the FBI. “I sure in hell don’t think we should be funding the FBI either,” he said during his speech, without correcting his comment.

CNN anchor Chris Wallace said on this week’s edition of “The Axe Files” that Donald Trump’s “weird” rally last weekend in Ohio shows the former president is “going in a darker and more extreme direction.”

Early aggressive fluid resuscitation results in a higher incidence of fluid overload and does not improve clinical outcomes for patients presenting with acute pancreatitis, according to a study. Enrique de-Madaria, M.D., Ph.D. and colleagues randomly assigned 249 patients at 18 centers who presented with acute pancreatitis to receive goal-directed aggressive or moderate resuscitation with lactated Ringer's solution. Patients were assessed at 12, 24, 48, and 72 hours; fluid resuscitation was adjusted based on the patient's clinical status. The trial was halted due to between-group differences in the safety outcomes, with no significant difference in the incidence of moderately severe or...

HAPPENING NOW: There is so many people gathering to protest against the Oakville Trafalgar High School Teacher who wears big prosthetic breasts to school.

The Biden administration is expected to soon finalize a rule banning oil and gas leasing near a Native American historical site despite heavy opposition from local Indigenous leaders, who say the administration's rule would prevent them from collecting royalties on their land. The rule, which the Department of Interior (DOI) announced in November 2021, would implement a 20-year moratorium on federal oil and gas leasing within a 10-mile radius of the Chaco Culture National Historical Park located in northwest New Mexico. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said the rule, which would amount to a withdrawal of 336,000 acres of public lands...

Explanation: Ringed, ice giant Neptune lies near the center of this sharp near-infrared image from the James Webb Space Telescope. The dim and distant world is the farthest planet from the Sun, about 30 times farther away than planet Earth. But in the stunning Webb view the planet's dark and ghostly appearance is due to atmospheric methane that absorbs infrared light. High altitude clouds that reach above most of Neptune's absorbing methane easily stand out in the image though. Coated with frozen nitrogen, Neptune's largest moon Triton is brighter than Neptune in reflected sunlight and is seen at upper left...

Former President Donald Trump revealed in a recent wide-ranging interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity that he threatened to “obliterate” Taliban co-founder Abdul Ghani Baradar during intense talks while he was president, and then followed up that conversation by sending the Taliban leader a live satellite photo of his house. “I sent him a picture of his house,” Trump told Hannity. “He said, ‘But why do you send me a picture of my house?’ I said, ‘You’ll have to figure that one out.'” President Trump explained how he forced Baradar to back down, adding that he told the Taliban leader...

Armed police are going door-to-door while gun-toting mercenaries are guarding polling stations as Russian stages sham referendums in occupied Ukraine. 'Voting' is now underway in Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions on whether or not to become provinces of Russia - with the results fixed by Moscow. But, just to make extra sure, Kremlin officials, military police and hired guns are keeping a careful eye over the process - with Ukrainian politicians reporting that they are kicking front doors in to force people to cast their ballots. Serhiy Haidai, governor of occupied Luhansk, said some towns under Russian occupation have...

"The heads of the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics made an agreement on coordinating and synchronizing efforts to prepare for a referendum, which means that the process has in fact been launched, it’s now being formalized as work is underway to figure out all the mechanisms that need to be used to organize the vote," he noted....

Cutting protein intake can help control metabolic syndrome and some of its main symptoms, such as obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure (hypertension), according to a study. "The study showed that cutting protein intake to 0.8 g per kg of body weight was sufficient to achieve almost the same clinical results as restricting calories, but without the need to reduce calorie intake. The results suggest that protein restriction may be one of the key factors leading to the known benefits of dietary restriction. Protein restriction dieting may therefore be a more attractive nutritional strategy and easier to follow for people...

[Catholic Caucus] The Belgian bishops and the fight for Francis’ legacyThe Flemish bishops' plans for blessing same-sex couples are at the sharp end of a fight over the pope's reforming legacy, even though he's still in office.Belgium’s Flemish bishops published on Tuesday a text on the pastoral care of Catholics who identify as LGBT, including a prayer for the “love and fidelity” of same-sex couples widely understood as a text to be used for blessing for gay relationships. The francophone portion of Belgium’s episcopal conference is expected to issue its own version of the text soon.The prayer is predictably controversial,...