Free Republic

Police have located a white van they believe is connected to the gunman who opened fire at a ballroom dance studio in Monterey Park on Saturday night, killing 10 people and injuring 10 others. Multiple police cars surrounded the vehicle in Torrance on Sunday morning and shots were fired, law enforcement sources told The Times. It was not known who was in the vehicle or whether there were any injuries. About 20 minutes after the shooting, a “male Asian suspect” with a firearm walked into another dance hall in the neighboring suburb of Alhambra, Luna said. “Some individuals wrestled the...

Can you prove that CO2 can hold enough heat to change the temperature of the atmosphere? Yes, scientists have been able to prove that CO2 can indeed hold enough heat to change the temperature of the atmosphere. The phenomenon is known as the “greenhouse effect” and occurs when certain gases in the atmosphere (such as CO2) trap heat from the sun’s rays. This in turn warms the Earth's surface and the atmosphere around it. Scientists have found that increasing levels of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have caused the EWarth’s temperature to rise. This is known as...

A Houston resident’s proposed license plate has been rejected by the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, with the state agency saying the application included a “vulgar” phrase, KTLA sister station KXAN reports. Catie Cryar applied for a license plate that read “LVTOFU,” according to a release from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). A PETA spokesperson said the license plate “does not contain profanity and is ‘designed to inspire more people to try tofu.'” However, a Texas DMV spokesperson said the phrase contains “a common acronym for a vulgar term.” “When reviewing a personalized alphanumeric pattern, the department...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said the U.S. “genuinely” hopes to forge a united front with Israel to combat the Iranian threat. Last week’s visit to Israel by U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan came at a “special time, one of serious challenges to our national security, and of serious opportunities for peace with our neighbors,” Netanyahu said at the start of the cabinet meeting.

Since President Trump boarded Air Force One for the final time in January 2021, establishment Republicans have been clamoring for an alternative to be their 2024 nominee. Despite his outsized influence over the party, these recovering NeverTrumpers (and patronizing “Neo-NeverTrumpers”) claim to want a reasonable alternative: a candidate who carries the mantle of “Trumpism” without all the baggage. This, according to their worldview, is in an effort to better appeal to those independents or voters who would otherwise perceive the former president as too divisive, but still appealing to voters who appreciate the Trump Administration’s “many successes.” They play to...

Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) said on Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that President Joe Biden’s invitation to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to discuss the debt ceiling was a “good thing.” Partial transcript as follows: MARGARET BRENNAN: Right. And that may take some time. I want to ask you about some of the business that Congress will have to get to soon. As you know, the White House wants a clean lift to the debt limit with no strings attached. Senator Manchin said it’s a mistake for the White House to refuse to negotiate with Republicans. Do you think...

Cao was a great candidate for the House, and he might be Republicans' best hope to flip a Senate seat and send Kaine out to pasture. As many learned during his 2022 campaign, a four-year-old Cao and his family fled to the United States as refugees from communism just before the fall of Saigon. He then went on to graduate from the Naval Academy and become a Navy Captain (now retired) working with Special Forces around the world. "The U.S. gave me a home, a flag to stand under, and an opportunity," Cao noted during his run. "I’ve been committed...

President Biden seems to attract classified documents the way some people think motor homes attract tornadoes. They just inexplicably happen. After Biden publicly declared that he has “no regrets” in the discovery of unlawfully stored classified material in various locations, he assured citizens that the special counsel investigation would soon peter out when they find that “there is no there there.” Well, there turns out to be more there and the “there” is yet another find in a private residence of Joe Biden. A search of Biden’s home in Wilmington on Friday found six new clearly marked classified documents, bringing...

Herneitha Rochelle Hardaway Richardson (Silk) from Diamond and Silk gave an emotional dedication on Saturday at the memorial for her sister Ineitha Lynnette Hardaway (Diamond) in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Silk spoke from the heart and called President Trump “Her President” and thanked him for being there. She told the story of her sister’s sudden death and her strong will. The two women were from a big family and Diamond’s death was sudden and unexpected.Silk talked about the vaccines and how people are dying suddenly since the vaccines were pushed on the American people. Diamond died of sudden heart failure only...

Julio had this story first. A left-wing agitator encamped near Atlanta’s future training facility for law enforcement, dubbed "cop city," was killed this week as police executed a raid. The forested location is the new ground zero for leftists hoping to impede the construction of the new building. The city is looking to complete the center later this year. Left-wingers have flocked to the area, setting up barricades and occupying the location in a situation reminiscent of the CHAZ zone in Seattle during the 2020 election. When police arrived, a confrontation ensued as the protester refused to leave his tent....

Former President Donald Trump delivered one of the eulogies at the funeral celebrating the life of Ineitha Lynette “Diamond” Hardaway, one of his biggest supporters and champions since the early days of his candidacy.Known as “Diamond” from the social media duo “Diamond & Silk,” Hardaway passed away unexpectedly earlier this month at the age of 51. At the time of her death, the former president praised her as a “magnificent” woman. He said on his Truth Social account:Really bad news for Republicans and frankly, ALL Americans. Our beautiful Diamond, of Diamond and Silk, has just passed away at her home...

A prominent atheist group has issued multiple complaints accusing an Indiana sheriff’s office of “[pushing] Christianity onto inmates” after hundreds of detainees have been baptized in recent years. An attorney for the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation has fired off multiple letters to former Decatur County Sheriff David Durant accusing the Decatur County Detention Center of “multiple constitutional violations” by “promoting Christianity and coercing detainees into participating in religious exercises.” On Dec. 29, the sheriff’s office posted photos on its Facebook page of dozens of inmates being baptized. […] Durant, who left office on Jan. 1 following a four-year term...

Rural hospitals have a new option to get millions of dollars in additional funding from Medicare if they agree to drop all inpatient care — but so far Colorado health care facilities aren’t jumping to take the money. Under the federal program, rural emergency hospitals must keep an emergency room staffed around the clock, but can’t offer inpatient beds. In exchange, they get extra payments, estimated to average around $3 million a year, to support outpatient and emergency care. It’s a drastic trade-off, but one that, in Colorado, would require regulatory and legislative action before any hospitals could take advantage...

ChatGPT has alarmed high-school teachers, who worry that students will use it—or other new artificial-intelligence tools—to cheat on writing assignments. But the concern doesn’t stop at the high-school level. At the University of Pennsylvania’s prestigious Wharton School of Business, professor Christian Terwiesch has been wondering what such A.I. tools mean for MBA programs. This week, Terwiesch released a research paper in which he documented how ChatGPT performed on the final exam of a typical MBA core course, Operations Management.

Bronchial asthma, a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways that is reversible in certain cases, usually presents with cough, difficulty of breathing, and wheezing. Although most people can successfully control asthma using inhaled corticosteroids, approximately 10% of patients are resistant to treatment. Recent evidence has suggested a link between excessive intake of fatty acids and exacerbation of asthma, but the details of the relationship had remained elusive. A study focused on the function of an enzyme called ELOVL6, which is responsible for the biosynthesis of long-chain fatty acids in humans. Dysfunction of ELOVL6 has been linked to various immune-related conditions,...

Over in Europe, this year’s iteration of the regular smug gathering of our intellectual superiors and social betters, the annual World Economic Forum, has ended. The world’s leaders, corporate tycoons, and professorial thinkers staged a massive confab where they attempt to tell us how to live and save the planet, along with other commands of comportment. That they are mostly lightly regarded is surpassed only by the reality that they should be ignored entirely.

Kinney County, Texas, Sheriff Brad Coe is pleading for help from his colleagues in three states as his department is overwhelmed by the surge in illegal foreign nationals who are "wreaking havoc in our communities.” Coe sent letters to sheriffs in all 254 counties of Texas, all 75 counties in Arkansas and all 77 counties in Oklahoma asking for help to defend his residents from the surge in illegal immigration. The border crisis “has made all counties a border county,” he argues, and it’s “imperative that we stand ready here at the border in order to protect and serve.” Kinney...

Democrats in Connecticut have introduced legislation that would allow women to skip the physical ability test for becoming firefighters. Hamden Mayor Lauren Garrett said that "fewer than 15% of women are able to pass this test. Such discrimination is intolerable." Leah DiNapoli, a retired New Haven firefighter, called the proposed law "absolutely insane. Pulling people out of burning buildings requires strength. Diminishing the standards for becoming a firefighter endangers the lives of both the general public and the weaker firefighters the lowered standards will recruit." Garrett argued that "we're trying to balance two separate objectives here--saving lives and achieving greater...

I can’t think of a worse example of a corporate CEO misreading his customer base than this via the Robb Report (Hat tip: Ed Driscoll, Instapundit) “At some point in time, Harley Davidson will be all-electric,” the executive [Harley-Davidson CEO Jochen Zeitz] recently told Dezeen. “But that’s a long-term transition that needs to happen. It’s not something you do overnight.” Zeitz’s pronouncement seems guaranteed to make a not-insignificant portion of the manufacturer’s customer base cringe. For many enthusiasts, the thing that really sets a Harley apart from other motorcycles—American-made or otherwise—is a thunderously loud internal combustion engine. But the company...