Free Republic

Intricate color patterns are a defining aspect of morphological diversity in the Felidae. We applied morphological and single-cell gene expression analysis to fetal skin of domestic cats to identify when, where, and how, during fetal development, felid color patterns are established. Early in development, we identify stripe-like alterations in epidermal thickness preceded by a gene expression pre-pattern. The secreted Wnt inhibitor encoded by Dickkopf 4 plays a central role in this process, and is mutated in cats with the Ticked pattern type. Our results bring molecular understanding to how the leopard got its spots, suggest that similar mechanisms underlie periodic...

The traditional approach to health care takes “a purely anthropocentric view — that the human being is the centre of medical attention and concern,” the Lancet declares, whereas One Health “places us in an interconnected and interdependent relationship with non-human animals and the environment.” In its revolutionary proposal, the Lancet suggests that the life of a human being is not necessarily worth more than the life of any non-human animal One Health demands that we take a fundamentally different approach to the natural world, the journal contends, “one in which we are as concerned about the welfare of non-human animals...

Official flag flying days to promote ‘key’ LGBT events feature prominently in a schedule recently issued by the Scottish Government. LGBT dates singled out for special flag days – including the start of LGBT History Month, the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, and Transgender Remembrance Day – are only outnumbered in the 2023 calendar by Royal celebrations. Other significant flag-flying dates for Scottish Government buildings featured in the guidance include Armed Forces Day and St. Andrew’s Day. ‘Pride’According to the guidelines, main buildings that have four flag poles should fly the Saltire, the European flag, and flags indicated...

HALF MOON BAY, Calif. (KGO) -- Seven people are dead and one is critically injured following shootings at two farms in Half Moon Bay this afternoon, a source confirmed to ABC7 News. The shootings were reported at Mountain Mushroom Farm and Concord Farms. The suspect has been taken into custody, sheriff's officials said.

In Hunter v. United States Department of Education, (D OR, Jan. 12, 2023), an Oregon federal district court dismissed a suit brought by students who have attended a religious college or university challenging the application of the religious exemption in Title IX in a manner that allows religious colleges and universities to discriminate against LGBTQ students. Rejecting plaintiffs' equal protection claim, the court said in part: Plaintiffs have not alleged how the religious exemption fails intermediate scrutiny. Defendants point out that the Ninth Circuit has recognized “that free exercise of religion and conscience is undoubtedly, fundamentally important.”... Exempting religiously controlled...

Imagine Earth’s inner core — the dense center of our planet — as a heavy, metal ballerina. This iron-rich dancer is capable of pirouetting at ever-changing speeds. That core may be on the cusp of a big shift. Seismologists reported Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience that after brief but peculiar pauses, the inner core changes how it spins — relative to the motion of Earth’s surface — perhaps once every few decades. And, right now, one such reversal may be underway. This may sound like a setup for a world-wrecking, blockbuster movie. But fret not: Precisely nothing apocalyptic will...

There is A LOT going on inside this story, and the pair of indictments only scratch the surface.[WaPo – New York Times – ABC News]According to the DOJ, “A former Special Agent in Charge of the FBI New York Counterintelligence Division [Charles F. McGonigal, 54, of New York City] and a former Soviet and Russian diplomat [Sergey Shestakov, 69, of Morris, Connecticut] were arrested Saturday on criminal charges related to their alleged violating and conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and conspiring to commit money laundering and money laundering.Interestingly, there are two sets of indictments. The...

Let us pray that the Lord will deign to grant us a holy pope and holy rulers.(LifeSiteNews) — The following is Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò’s sermon on the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter in Rome. CATHEDRA VERITATIS Deus, qui beato Petro Apostolo tuo, collatis clavibus regni cælestis, ligandi atque solvendi pontificium tradidisti: concede; ut, intercessionis ejus auxilio, a peccatorum nostrorum nexibus liberemurPRAISED BE JESUS CHRIST Today the Church in Rome celebrates the feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, with which the authority that Our Lord conferred on the Prince of the Apostles finds in the Chair its...

~The FReeper Canteen Presents~ Road Trip: Fort Hood, TexasFort Hood is the Army's installation to train and deploy heavy forces. A 214,968-acre installation, Fort Hood is the only post in the United States capable of stationing and training two armored divisions.The post is the headquarters of III Armored Corps and First Army Division West and is home to the 1st Cavalry Division and 3rd Cavalry Regiment, among others.Fort Hood consists of three sections: the main cantonment, West Fort Hood, and North Fort Hood. The main cantonment is bounded by Killeen on the east and Copperas Cove on the west....

Teresa Yue Shen, 31, was one of seven activists arrested in Atlanta last week She previously worked for both CNN and Reuters as an intern before her arrest DailyMail.com can reveal her father is a Chinese media mogul in New Jersey ---------- An Antifa terror suspect who is part of the Atlanta cell is the daughter of a New Jersey-based Pharma China and a global diversity expert, DailyMail.com can reveal. Teresa Yue Shen, 31, was one of seven activists arrested at the future $90million Atlanta Public Safety Training Centre in a 'clearing operation' on last week. Mental health consultant Shen...

by Becca LondonAuthor J.K. Rowling went viral on Sunday after responding to a transgender activist who attacked her without provocation. On Sunday, Rowling criticized Scottish politicians for participating in a demonstration in which at least several "trans" activists person had signs reading "Decapitate TERFs" - among other disturbing slogans. A "TERF" is the Trans radicals' acronym for "trans-exclusionary radical feminist," or in other words, a woman who dares to notice that men who dress as women are not actually women.Mass outrage filled social media against these politicans for their gleeful smiles in front of signs calling for literal violence, and...

Censorship-hungry Twitter employees vented to the House Select Committee on Jan. 6 that their company wasn’t authoritarian enough when it came to curbing former President Donald Trump ahead of the 2021 Capitol riot, a newly released 122-page memo shows. “The Twitter Files,” however, prove Big Tech went out of its way to suppress the Republican president long before his ban from the platform on Jan. 8, 2021. When the Twitter staff, or “Tweeps,” gave witness testimony to the J6 Committee last year, they likely didn’t anticipate a fact-check of their public statements against their internal communications. Then Elon Musk acquired...

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) appointed two of his conservative critics to the House Rules Committee on Monday following this month’s protracted Speaker’s race, when the GOP leader agreed to increase the number of hard-line Republicans on the panel. McCarthy appointed GOP Reps. Ralph Norman (S.C.) and Chip Roy (Texas) to the powerful panel, giving them a seat on the committee that controls how bills are debated on the House floor after the pair voted against McCarthy’s Speakership bid on the first 11 ballots earlier this month.

Four border crossers, bused from Texas to New York City, were arrested this month after allegedly stealing nearly $12,500 worth of merchandise from a Macy’s department store. On Monday, the Nassau County Police Department in Long Island, New York announced the arrests of 19-year-old Wrallan Cabezas Meza, 30-year-old Jose Garcia Escobar, 21-year-old Miguel Angel Rojas, and 27-year-old Rafael Rojas for allegedly shoplifting at Macy’s.

Joe Biden is panicking. An astonishing fifth trove of classified documents was discovered in the president’s Delaware mansion Friday, not by his own lawyers this time, but during a more thorough, 13-hour search by the Department of Justice while he holed up in his beach house in Rehoboth, which ought to be next on the DOJ search list. Biden’s Attorney General Merrick Garland has had the audacity to appoint a special counsel to investigate Biden. His long-term trusted factotum Ron Klain is bailing out.

American aid to Ukraine has eclipsed the annual expenditure of “endless” wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. As the protracted war between Ukraine and Russia continues unabated, congressional lawmakers and President Joe Biden have appropriated $110 billion in military and economic aid to Ukraine. Some pro-Ukraine advocates have contended that the costs of aiding Ukraine’s fight with Russia amounts to “peanuts” in “grand strategy terms.”

Using a firestick I was getting it just fine on USATV247 until yesterday. Now it just says "we are closed". poof. Anyone have a link to another source. I like Tucker and Gutfield but I am afraid they have shut down my access.

Three teenage girls were arrested in connection to multiple fights at the Westfield Trumbull mall. Police say a 15-year-old girl was also charged with assaulting an officer after spitting on a trooper. Officers were called to the Main Street shopping center Saturday night due to multiple reports of a large fight. When officers arrived, they say they found large crowds of juveniles acting disorderly, loud, and disruptive. Additional officers were called to the mall from other agencies, including state police. Police say the teenage girls who were arrested are 13, 14, and 15 years old. All of the teens were...

In 2018, former US president Bill Clinton coauthored a novel with James Patterson, the world’s bestselling author. The President is Missing is a typical “Patterson”: a page-turner of a thriller, easy to read, with short chapters and large font. Patterson is accustomed to collaborative writing – much of his success can be attributed to novels he has written with others. (snip) Using ‘stylometry’ to establish authorship Using a technique called “stylometry”, it can be established that Patterson probably wrote most of The President is Missing. Stylometry uses computers to statistically analyse the frequency of words in a text. It can...

WASHINGTON ― The U.S. defense-industrial base is not ready for a battle over Taiwan, as it would run out of key long-range, precision-guided munitions in less than one week, according to a new report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.U.S. military aid to Ukraine has helped prevent a Russian victory against the neighboring nation, but that assistance has depleted Pentagon stockpiles and shown that the American defense industry cannot surge for a major war, the think tank found.“As the war in Ukraine illustrates, a war between major powers is likely to be a protracted, industrial-style conflict that needs...