Free Republic

The latest report from the California High-Speed Rail Authority projects costs for the initial segment at $35 billion, which exceeds secured funding by $10 billion. Other segments of the system are likely to have their projected costs increase, too. The state hopes it will get more federal aid.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell joined a chorus of widespread attacks on Fox News host Tucker Carlson for his portrayal of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol since he accessed more than 40,000 hours of security footage. Carlson and his team had exclusive access to the security tape surrounding the attack thanks to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, drawing concerns the host would use the tapes to spread a new wave of disinformation. McConnell said he aligned himself with remarks issued earlier Tuesday by U.S. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger to his rank-and-file slamming Carlson's "offensive and misleading conclusions" about...

Russia could supply fighter jets to Iran, significantly improving the Iranian air force and its aging stable of aircraft. The reports that Moscow could be considering this unprecedented move came last week as Iran tensions with the US, Israel and the region are peaking. In addition it came a year after Russia invaded Ukraine. Russia has received drones from Iran - might Russia be paying Iran “in kind” for the drones, by sending some old fighter jets? US warnings came true US warnings about Russia’s moves and Iran-Russia ties in the past have been borne out. Thus, reports that Moscow...

Attorney General Rob Bonta has been sued by parental rights non-profit group Our Watch on Tuesday over a recently passed law that made California a refuge state for transgender children and their families from other states that criminalize youth “gender-affirming care” treatments. The group says that the law is unconstitutional and interferes with parental rights. Transgender health care, also known as “gender-affirming care,” includes the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of physical and mental health conditions, as well as sex reassignment therapies, for transgender individuals.

Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)Click to share on Copy (Opens in new window) serena williams Shutterstock Serena Williams revealed in an interview that her 5-year-old daughter Olympia doesn’t like to play tennis—and how she’s encouraging her to pick up the racket If your mom was the greatest tennis player of all time, would you want to follow in her footsteps and take up the sport? I mean, imagine the...

A Gillette woman won an argument with her boyfriend last week by dropping him off at the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office, where authorities arrested him on three outstanding warrants. A 27-year-old woman on Feb. 27 was driving her car while her 32-year-old boyfriend, Levi Wazelle, yelled at her, according to the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office. Lt. Paul Pownall told Cowboy State Daily that Wazelle was yelling at the woman and would not get out of her car – so she drove him to the sheriff’s office. While the girlfriend met with deputies, Wazelle fled on foot. There were three municipal...

The study carried out by Rambam researchers found that there is no connection between the amount of insulin in children and their tendency to obesity.Carbohydrates have taken a lot of flak in recent years, but they are not all bad and are not necessarily responsible for causing obesity, according to a new study at Rambam Healthcare Campus in Haifa. Simple carbs like white bread, pasta and rice, corn syrup and all types of sugar – whose beneficial nutrients have been eliminated – are digested quickly. The study was conducted by Rambam researchers led by Dr. Rana Halloun, a senior...

Worries about the safety of New York City's deli clerks and bodega workers have Mayor Eric Adams making an unusual request: Members of the public should lower their face masks to reassure store workers they're not criminals, Adams and other city leaders said on Monday. "We are putting out a clear call to all of our shops, do not allow people to enter the store without taking off their face mask," Adams said in an interview with radio station 1010 WINS. "Once they're inside, they can continue to wear it if they so desire to do so," Adams said of...

On Monday, Georgia Power announced that the Vogtle nuclear reactor Unit 3 has started a nuclear reaction inside the nuclear reactor. Technically, this is called “initial criticality” and is when the nuclear fission process has started splitting atoms, generating heat. Vogtle’s Unit 3 reactor will be fully in service in May or June, Georgia Power said. The last time a nuclear reactor reached the same milestone was almost seven years ago when the Tennessee Valley Authority started splitting atoms at the Watts Bar Unit 2 reactor in Tennessee, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. “This is a truly exciting time...

A newly resurfaced video of a DoorDash driver who refused to give a man his food after he only tipped her $8 for a delivery in 2021 has gone viral. The video, which was been viewed nearly one million times on YouTube, shows Ring camera footage of the woman yelling at the man for the seemingly measly tip when she went on a 12-and-a-half mile trip for the food. According to the woman, the man “must not realize” how far she traveled to collect the food. The woman explained that she had to drive to Commack, Long Island to pick...

A researcher using laboratory mice at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro has had his research privileges terminated after allegations surfaced that the rodents were not being cared for properly. Concerns about the mouse colony, used as part of a federally funded cancer study, were first reported by a staff member in 2021 and only brought to light last week in a written complaint to New Mexico Tech President Stephen Wells from Michael A. Budkie, executive director of the animal rights organization Stop Animal Exploitation NOW!, or SAEN. The complaint asked Wells to “take immediate action...

Between 20,000 and 30,000 Russian troops have been killed and wounded in the battle for the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut since it began last summer, Western officials say. The epic nature of the battle is out of all proportion to Bakhmut's strategic significance, they add. But after more than six months of grinding, horrific fighting, the future of Bakhmut still hangs in the balance. Since the fighting began, some 90% of its pre-invasion population has fled.

A woman on TikTok claimed that her parents made a typo on her birth certificate, and she didn’t find out about the mistake until she was 15 years old. Gabby Mayor, who goes by the username @gabbbbb16 on the social media platform, shared more about the mishap in a video that has already reached over two million views. In the five-second clip, she sat in a pair of pajamas as she stared off into space, with music playing in the background that featured the echo of different voices. “Thinking about how my parents made a typo on my birth certificate...

Geography often shapes culture. In most of the Indonesian island of Java, incredible fertility has long produced the bounteous harvests of a happy people, when they get their fair share. But the fruitful plains are always overshadowed by magnificent hills and mountains some of which are active volcanoes. Both the island and the people are able to erupt. Australia can be defined by being mostly desert. (70% is arid or semi-arid.) What about America? How many culturally significant geographies are there?

WASHINGTON — Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Monday released security video from the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, using footage provided exclusively to him by Speaker Kevin McCarthy to portray the riot as a peaceful gathering. Carlson acquired the tapes as part of a push by McCarthy, R-Calif., to win the speaker’s gavel. When McCarthy was struggling to gather the votes to lead the House, Carlson used his program to list two “concessions” he could make to win over far-right Republicans. “First, release the January 6 files. Not some of the January 6 files and video —...

Ten pieces of climate propaganda from February 2023 exposed and debunked. The full PDF version (needed to click through to the links) is here.

Sam Fox's sister Vanessa has died suddenly aged 50 after being rushed to hospital following a heart attack. The younger sister of the Page 3 legend died on Saturday. Her death came nine days after she collapsed at her home. Ahead of her 2017 autobiography Forever, Sam told how Vanessa saved her after their alcoholic dad Pat attacked her. She said: “I thought he was going to kill me and begged him to stop. When I tried to get up he kicked me so hard in the stomach it winded me and he wouldn’t stop. My sister Vanessa heard what...

Millions of people in the U.S. are now facing the precipice of a hunger cliff. Starting in 2020, the pandemic pulled back the curtain on the tattered state of the U.S. safety net and the millions of families who were falling through. Hunger rates were expected to soar like they did during the Great Recession. But that’s not what happened. Thanks to a pandemic expansion of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, millions of Americans kept food on their tables during an unprecedented public health and economic emergency. These “emergency allotments” made food easier to access and increased the number...

Washington — Senate Republicans on Tuesday refuted Fox News host Tucker Carlson's portrayal of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, saying his characterization of the events as "mostly peaceful" is at odds with the reality they experienced as a mob of former President Donald Trump's supporters breached the building. Carlson claimed surveillance video from the scene showed "mostly peaceful chaos" inside the Capitol. While a "small percentage" of the rioters were "hooligans" who committed vandalism, he said, most were "orderly and meek," and he equated them with "sightseers." But some Senate Republicans pushed back on Carlson's depiction....

The friends and family of a Hastings man who died suddenly, aged only 23, are running in this year’s Hastings Half-Marathon to raise awareness of a heart condition.Dan Parris died on February 22, 2021 due to Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome (SADS), his older brother Matt said. He had never been diagnosed with any heart conditions and seemed to be in perfect health, his family said. He left his wife-to-be Holly and baby daughter Olivia. Matt said: “To date, Dan’s exact cause of death is still unknown but has been attributed to SADS. This year his friends and I are running...