Free Republic

Explanation: Do we dare believe our eyes? When we look at images of space, we often wonder whether they are "real", and just as often the best answer varies. In this case, the scene appears much as our eyes would see it, because it was obtained using RGB (Red, Green, Blue) filters like the cone cells in our eyes, except collecting light for 19 hours, not a fraction of a second. The featured image was captured over six nights, using a 24-inch diameter telescope in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, in California, USA. The bright spiral galaxy at the center (NGC...

An ABC News investigative producer has not been seen by colleagues since April, when the FBI mysteriously raided his apartment in Virginia. He 'abruptly' left his job at the news network, withdrew from the book he was co-authoring about Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan, and has kept a low profile ever since. All the bureau will say is that a raid was carried out at his address on the day in question. The warrant that enabled the raid has not been made public, and Meek's attorneys are being tight-lipped about what they have been told. In a statement, attorney Eugene Gorokhov...

America’s Grave Sensus Fidei-less OpinionsIn private conversations, off-the-record interviews, and moments of candor, Catholic journalists have known what German Cardinal Gerhard Müller recently revealed in plain sight when discussing the Synod on Synodality on EWTN’s The World Over television program: Our Lady’s prophecy to Sr. Agnes Sasagawa in her apparition at Akita, Japan, a half-century ago is now an irremovable part of the ecclesial landscape: The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against other bishops.Of course, the first half of Mary’s prophesy has been...

FIRST ON FOX: The U.S. Department of State has awarded more than $20,000 for a cultural center in Ecuador to host "drag theater performances" in the name of diversity and inclusion. The State Department awarded a $20,600 grant on Sept. 23 to the Centro Ecuatoriano Norteamericano (CEN), a non-profit organization supported by the U.S. Embassy and Consulate in Ecuador, to "promote diversity and inclusion" in the region. The project at CEN, which started Sept. 30 and runs until Aug. 31, 2023, will include "3 workshops," "12 drag theater performances," and a "2-minute documentary," according to the State Department’s grant listed...

Former President Donald Trump signed legal documents describing evidence of election fraud that he knew were false, a federal judge indicated on Wednesday. U.S. District Court Judge David Carter wrote in an 18-page opinion that emails from attorney John Eastman, an architect of Trump’s last-ditch effort to subvert the 2020 election, needed to be turned over to the Jan. 6 select committee. Those emails, Carter wrote, “show that President Trump knew that the specific numbers of voter fraud were wrong but continued to tout those numbers, both in court and to the public.” The emails are among the files that...

Three people have been charged in connection with a robbery and fatal shooting in Reseda this summer, including a man who was arrested after allegedly dragging and killing a carjacking victim during a police chase in Inglewood. Joshua Reneau, 31, Derek Lateef Hall, 28, and Miracole Brown, 20, were each charged with one count of murder, five counts of assault with a firearm and two counts of second-degree robbery in the July 29 incident that left a suspect dead, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

At Sacred Heart University conference, theologians reengage with Vatican IILast week, Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut, marked the 60th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council by hosting a wonderful conference, "Vatican II and Catholic Higher Education: Leading Forward." The school, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary next year, was a fruit of the council, the first Catholic university under lay leadership in the country. The event was part of a growing body of evidence that a significant minority of U.S. Catholic theologians are reengaging with Vatican II, and ecclesiology more generally, in important ways.Massimo Faggioli of...

Iranian security forces have arrested 14 foreigners, including American, British and French citizens, for their involvement in anti-government protests, the semi-official Fars news agency said on Wednesday. -excerpt- "Citizens of 14 countries, including the United States, Russia, Austria, France, the United Kingdom, and Afghanistan, have been arrested in recent riots in Iran, of which Afghan nationals are the most numerous,"

A European astrophysics spacecraft stranded when Russia cut off access to Soyuz launch vehicles may instead fly on a SpaceX Falcon 9, NASA officials said Oct. 17. At a meeting of NASA’s Astrophysics Advisory Council, Mark Clampin, director of the agency’s astrophysics division, said his understanding is that the European Space Agency was leaning towards launching its Euclid mission on a Falcon 9 in mid to late 2023. NASA is a partner on Euclid, a space telescope that will operate around the Earth-sun L-2 Lagrange point 1.5 million kilometers from Earth to study dark energy, dark matter and other aspects...

STARKVILLE – Mississippi State University on Wednesday confirmed the death of football player Samuel Westmoreland, 19, of Tupelo, Mississippi. “One of the most profound lessons I’ve learned while leading this great university is that the tragic loss of one of our students diminishes all of our students—and all of us at Mississippi State feel the impact of Sam Westmoreland’s death,” said MSU President Mark E. Keenum. “My prayers are with Sam’s family and friends, with his MSU teammates and coaches, and with the Tupelo community during this most difficult time.” MSU Head Football Coach Mike Leach said: “The Mississippi State...

Classified US software is helping China get an edge over the former in the hypersonic weapons race, despite tight export controls on such technology. The Washington Post reported this week that blacklisted Chinese military research groups have been purchasing US software designed for computer simulations of hypersonic weapons tests. It uncovered 300 sales since 2019 of advanced software products from nearly 50 US firms to Chinese research groups involved in missile development programs. The report claims that US firms have received millions of dollars in funding from the Pentagon and circumvented US export controls by selling to Chinese private middlemen...

ORLANDO, Fla. – Earlier this month Gov. DeSantis signed an executive order making some election concessions to three counties ravaged by Hurricane Ian. Voting groups in the state are now calling on DeSantis to expand that order to almost 2 dozen other counties. The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan voting rights group, sent a letter Wednesday to DeSantis and Secretary of State Cord Byrd, asking for the extension. “Additional voting modifications are desperately needed across the state due to the domino effect of displacement. Many communities have been impacted and people have fled from their homes to different areas...

A Federalist review of DOJ press releases in 2022 revealed not a single announcement of the arrest or indictment of a pregnancy center arsonist. The Department of Justice under Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the indictment of pro-life activist Herb Geraghty on Oct. 14, bringing the number of apparently nonviolent pro-life protesters targeted under the FACE (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) Act by President Joe Biden’s DOJ this year to 22. Meanwhile, the agency has yet to announce a single arrest or indictment against any of the vandals or arsonists who terrorized and firebombed crisis pregnancy centers after the...

Fox News' show host Sean Hannity is holding a town hall meeting with Republican Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz this afternoon at the Valencia Ballroom in York. The event, which runs from 5 to 6 p.m., will also feature former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-South Carolina. The meeting will air tonight on Hannity's show at 9 p.m.

Senior U.S. military officials have worried in recent months that a Chinese military invasion of Taiwan could be just a few years away. The Navy’s senior officer warned Wednesday that it may come even sooner than that. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday, Chief of Naval Operations, said a cross-strait invasion of Taiwan could occur in 2023 or even before the end of the year.

Embalmer Richard Hirschman says, “something has changed with peoples’ blood” in the last two years. In an interview with UncoverDC contributor Daniel Bobinski on his Keep the Republic broadcast, Hirschman explained he not only began to see an increase in deaths by the fall of 2020 but also saw an “increase in clotting” during his embalming. Strangely, he also observed that even though the virus itself was less prevalent, the deaths remained high. Hirshman has been an embalmer and funeral director for 21 years. According to Hirschman, in January 2021, the shots became more prevalent in his area. Even though...

A wealthy family is attempting to implement a utopian experiment with the goal of settling 70 refugee families in the quaint French town of Callac, and while no member of the family actually lives in the town, they are willing to invest millions of euros from their fortune to make their vision a reality. Known as the Horizon Project, the scheme would be funded with money from the private Merci fund, which was created by Marie-France Cohen and is managed by her three sons. While the Cohen’s fund is reportedly spearheading the project, other financing would come from federal taxpayer...

The ACIP panel voted unanimously 15-0 for the CDC to recommend that children get the Covid-19 vaccines and boosters. The CDC is now almost certain to add the Covid shots to its ‘Childhood Vaccines Schedule,’ which schools often rely upon to mandate ‘vaccines’ in order to attend public school.

U.S. — In response to overwhelming feedback, Disney has announced a new vacation package in which families pay $3,000 to not visit any Disney theme parks. Currently, only Disneyland in Anaheim and Disney World in Orlando are covered under the new ticketing option. Fans are still required to visit Disneyland Paris. "I'm so thankful that Disney is finally listening to its fans and giving us an option to not spend money," said one Disney fan who lives in her car. "It was getting so expensive to renew my annual pass every year." Fans and non-fans alike are looking forward to...

Wow...sad.