Free Republic

The Biden administration said Friday that the U.S. will open an embassy in the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu in its latest move to blunt China’s increasing influence in the Indo-Pacific. The new embassy in Port Vila will be the fifth diplomatic mission that the U.S. has either opened or announced that it will build in the region over the past three years as it seeks to confront what it sees as a threat or challenge from China. “Consistent with the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy, a permanent diplomatic presence in Vanuatu would allow the U.S. government to deepen relationships with...

In Nevada, vehicles can heat up quicker than in other parts of the country, which raises concerns if a child or pet is left inside. Now a new bill is being discussed in the legislature that could give the power to save a child or pet in distress. “It would mean everything, probably life or death,” said resident Glen Lanier. According to Kidsandkids.org an average of 38 children across the county die of heat stroke every year after being left in a car. Lanier told 8 News Now he would jump into action to save anyone stuck in a hot...

Former President Donald Trump could be facing several years of incarceration if he is found guilty of any charges brought against him in a historic indictment in New York. The 45th president's legal woes have been snowballing for several years, with another legal probe still ongoing in Georgia as well as a possible federal investigation. If Trump, who is 76, is jailed over the claims he paid hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels then he will most likely end up at Rikers Island jail – which houses some of the city's most notorious criminals. …… Lawlor, who chaired the...

Explanation: Shrouded in a thick atmosphere, Saturn's largest moon Titan really is hard to see. Small particles suspended in the upper atmosphere cause an almost impenetrable haze, strongly scattering light at visible wavelengths and hiding Titan's surface features from prying eyes. But Titan's surface is better imaged at infrared wavelengths where scattering is weaker and atmospheric absorption is reduced. Arrayed around this visible light image (center) of Titan are some of the clearest global infrared views of the tantalizing moon so far. In false color, the six panels present a consistent processing of 13 years of infrared image data from...

John Medway downed vodka and argued with his wife in front of their three children onboard the flightA drunken dad who slurred 'the Mancs are terrorising me' after terrifying passengers on board a Ryanair flight has been banned by the airline. John Medway was flying home from a family holiday in Fuerteventura to Liverpool John Lennon Airport on January 12 when his erratic behaviour started to terrify other passengers. The 32-year-old of Breck Road, Poulton, appeared at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court today after he had pleaded guilty to entering a flight when drunk. The court heard how an hour into the...

A federal jury on Friday convicted pro-Trump troll Douglass Mackey of plotting to trick voters out of casting a ballot during the 2016 presidential election. The case, which sought to address if any of the toxic stew of Internet disinformation during the 2016 election rose to the level of a crime, has been closely watched by both anti-extremist groups and right-wing politicians and pundits. Mackey, 33, of West Palm Beach, Fla., who gained fame on the Internet as the Twitter user “Ricky Vaughn,” posted two images made to look like fake Hillary Clinton ads telling people they could vote by...

The killing of six people, including three children, has produced some very odd fallout. Transgender Aiden/Audrey Hale shot and killed 6 people in Covenant School in Nashville. But the real victims are transgender people. Trans Activists hold up 7 fingers in a moment of silence for the Nashville shooting. The 7th finger was for the SHOOTER, the one who killed 3 kids and 3 teachers. They want us to feel sympathy and honour the death of the Trans Shooter pic.twitter.com/aiuJaCczH2… — Oli London (@OliLondonTV) March 31, 2023The Biden administration's hearts go out to the trans community Karine Jean-Pierre: “Our hearts...

A Belgian man reportedly ended his life following a six-week-long conversation about the climate crisis with an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot. According to his widow, who chose to remain anonymous, *Pierre - not the man’s real name - became extremely eco-anxious when he found refuge in Eliza, an AI chatbot on an app called Chai. Eliza consequently encouraged him to put an end to his life after he proposed sacrificing himself to save the planet. ...

Iowa, Arkansas getting slammed. Texas under warning as well. Live coverage.

Today, we honor and celebrate the achievements and resiliency of transgender individuals and communities.

B.C.-born former Paralympian Arley McNeney died suddenly last week, her family revealed Tuesday. She’s being remembered as a passionate advocate for social justice, equality, accessibility and inclusion—as well as a devoted mother to her daughter Dottie. “I can’t put words to the love Arley has for Dot,” Denver McNeney wrote in a tweet announcing his sister’s death. Born in New Westminster, McNeney, who also went by Arley Cruthers, played for Canada’s national wheelchair basketball team from 2001 to 2007—winning two World Championships and a bronze medal at the 2004 Paralympics. She later went on to win two U.S. national championships...

Finland will formally be welcomed into Nato “within days” after Turkey’s ratification of the Nordic country’s accession to the western defence alliance, the Nato secretary general has announced. “All 30 Nato allies have now ratified the accession protocol,” Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday. “Finland will formally join our alliance in the coming days.” The move brings to an end decades of Finnish neutrality over Nato, and has been driven by concern over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Finland shares a border with Russia. In a statement after the Turkish vote, the Finnish government said joining the alliance would strengthen the country’s...

McDonald, like a half-dozen other people whose medical events are shown in the trailer for the anti-vaccine film "Died Suddenly," did not die as a result of the Covid-19 vaccine.Three minutes into the trailer for the widely debunked anti-vaccine film “Died Suddenly,” comedian Heather McDonald is shown collapsing on stage. In the background, a voiceover from people identified as “whistleblowers” lays out the film’s mission statement. “It’s the new bullet. It’s the new form of warfare,” the voice of a man in a darkened room says about the Covid vaccine. “The dead can’t speak for themselves, so therefore, I have...

Fifth Week of Lent John 10:31–42Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus declares, “The Father is in me and I am in the Father.”Charles Williams stated that the master idea of Christianity is “coinherence,” mutual indwelling. If you want to see this idea concretely displayed, look to the pages of the Book of Kells, that masterpiece of early Christian illumination. Lines interwoven, designs turning in and around on each other, plays of plants, animals, planets, human beings, angels, and saints. The Germans call it Ineinander (one in the other).How do we identify ourselves? Almost exclusively through the naming of relationships: we are...

[Catholic Caucus] Another ‘Revolution’ in the ChurchPope Francis recently spoke about the Synod on Synodality with Argentine journalist Elisabetta Piqué of La Nacion. He talked specifically about his 2018 Apostolic Constitution Episcopalis Communio [EC], which established new canonical norms for the Synod of Bishops:Ten years ago a serious reflection was undertaken, and a document was written, I signed it, with theologians with me, it was a community thing. This marked out a stage: “we have arrived so far, now something more is missing.” And we did not explicate what was missing, but little by little it became evident, and it...

A judge in Delaware has ordered a jury trial in Dominion Voting Systems’ blockbuster lawsuit against Fox News, setting the stage for one of the most consequential defamation decisions against an American media company in decades. Lawyers for Fox and Dominion faced off in court during a two-day hearing for summary judgment last week, with each side unsuccessfully arguing the court should rule in their favor and forgo a jury trial that is expected to span weeks and could further bring to light internal discussions at the network following the 2020 election. Dominion is suing Fox for $1.6 billion in...

A security researcher has claimed that he was able to hack into Microsoft’s Bing search engine in order to change the top results to whatever he chose. Hillai Ben-Sasson, who works as a researcher at cloud security firm Wiz, was also able to take over millions of Microsoft Office 365 accounts, which he claimed gave him access to users’ Outlook emails, calendars and MS Teams messages. “I hacked into a Bing CMS that allowed me to alter search results and take over millions of Office 365 accounts,” Mr Ben-Sasson wrote. His Wiz research team spotted the vulnerability within Microsoft’s cloud...

Amid escalating legislative attacks on transgender people across the U.S., and coinciding with Trans Day of Visibility, Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington and Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts reintroduced the Transgender Bill of Rights with resolutions in both the House and Senate. The resolutions, if passed, would not directly grant rights or protections to trans citizens, but affirm “that it is the duty of the Federal Government to develop and implement” a wide range of pro-trans legislation. Protections called for in the resolutions include amending the Civil Rights Act to explicitly cover gender identity. ...

The National Archives has admitted that approximately 1,170 pages of records from President Joe Biden's time as vice president were found at the Penn Biden Center in November 2022, and the agency said it does not have custody of any records discovered at Biden's homes in Delaware. The America First Legal Foundation highlighted the revelation Thursday by publishing a letter that the National Archives sent to the conservative legal group in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. The Archives told the legal group it "must deny your request in full for approximately 1,170 pages" found at the Penn...

SOUTHLAKE, Texas - The Carroll ISD school board decided to cut ties with the state's association of school boards over its diversity and inclusion policies. It's another escalation from a district facing several federal civil rights investigations for discrimination. TASB has a membership fee, and districts can pay additional fees for other services. The reason the board voted 5-1 to leave the association next year is that they feel it’s taken political stances on issues that do not align with the district. The move comes after a group of Republican Texas lawmakers sent a letter out to districts in January...