Free Republic

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Wednesday blamed Republicans for the “chaotic” situation at the U.S.-Mexico border, claiming that GOP lawmakers “literally refuse to act” even as the House will vote tomorrow on sweeping border security legislation. “The president has been dealing with a system that has been broken for decades,” Jean-Pierre told reporters. “Since day one he put forth a comprehensive immigration plan, legislation, and he is using the tools that are in front of him to deal with the challenge at the border.” “Republicans in Congress, in particular, refuse, they literally refuse to act,” she asserted. “They...

City workers in Phoenix finally began clearing out the massive homeless encampment known as The Zone on Wednesday although one city official has confirmed that there is not enough space in public shelters for those being moved. A local homeless charity said that as of Tuesday night there were around 740 people still living in The Zone, with some having moved out already prior to the clean-up. However, there are just 35 beds available in city shelters, reports the Phoenix New Times. Many residents of The Zone have said that they have heard that hotel rooms will be booked for...

Humans inherited genetic material from Neanderthals that affects the shape of our noses, finds a new study led by UCL researchers...The researchers newly identified 33 genome regions associated with face shape, 26 of which they were able to replicate in comparisons with data from other ethnicities using participants in east Asia, Europe, or Africa.In one genome region in particular, called ATF3, the researchers found that many people in their study with Native American ancestry (as well as others with east Asian ancestry from another cohort) had genetic material in this gene that was inherited from the Neanderthals, contributing to increased...

WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump raged on social media early Wednesday against both his accuser and the judge who ruled against him in a sexual abuse and defamation civil case, just hours after he was found liable for a 1996 incident. “The partisan Judge & Jury on the just concluded Witch Hunt Trial should be absolutely ashamed of themselves for allowing such a travesty of Justice to take place,” Trump, 76, posted to Truth Social at 1 a.m. Wednesday. The 45th president went on to claim that US District Judge Lewis Kaplan should have allowed more evidence to be...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz19y9a9bsQ

Best known as the supposed birthplace of Marco Polo... the latest discovery, which has been posted on Facebook by the Univerity of Zadar - a translation of which is below.In the underwater archaeological research of the submerged Neolithic site of Soline on the island of Korčula, archaeologists found remains that surprised even them. Namely, under the deposits of sea mud, a road was discovered that connected the sunken prehistoric settlement of the Hvar culture with the coast of the island of Korčula.These are carefully stacked stone slabs that were part of a four-meter-wide communication that connected the artificially created island...

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has updated its stance on masks and is now recommending wearing masks for up to six months a year in health care settings. “CDC is in the early stages of developing metrics that could be used to guide when to implement select infection prevention and control practices for multiple respiratory viruses,” the CDC said in a May 8 update to its recommendations for health care personnel during COVID-19. “Some facilities might consider recommending masking during the typical respiratory virus season (approximately October-April),” the agency said. The recommendation for six months of...

Home News Transphobia is on the rise in the US. Meet the transgender people planning to relocate to Europe because they can no longer stand the 'hostile environment.' Isobel van Hagen May 7, 2023, 7:48 AM CDT Willgohs in Iceland/ Willgohs in North Dakota Rynn Azerial Willgohs in Iceland, left, and Willgohs in North Dakota at a vigil she organized for a trans woman who was violently attacked in Minneapolis. Rynn Willgohs The nonprofit TRANSport provides support to transgender Americans who want to leave the country. The group has received more than 100 applications from potential émigrés in the past...

The finds are part of a deposit which are believed to be from a collection owned by the Kleniewski family, who lived in the Palace of Kluczkowice until the German invasion of Poland during WW2.According to diaries written by Maria Kleniewska, she describes visiting Egypt in 1904 and spending four months in Cairo and visiting Alexandria. What happened to Maria after the war is unknown, her husband died in WW1, whilst her son who inherited the estate was killed in WW2.The researchers suggest that the family may have hidden the artefacts to safeguard them from the German SS in 1942,...

A Republican border and immigration bill set to come to the House floor Thursday would represent one of the biggest clawbacks of asylum rights in decades if enacted, experts warn. The GOP is aiming to pass the bill May 11 — the same day President Biden is set to lift Title 42. It’s a move that will restore some access to asylum rights for the first time since the start of the pandemic, even as the administration rolls out new limitations on who and how people seek such protections.

The other day I got a WhatsApp from a lesbian friend. “I’m worried lesbians are seen as anti-trans,” she said. This is someone who, even in her thirties, has struggled to embrace the word ‘lesbian’. There is already so much shame and stigma around the word ‘lesbian’. In fact, the harmful stereotypes associated with the word have directly caused the majority (68%) of us to delay coming out. Lesbophobic tropes that we’re man-hating or unattractive are really just homophobia and misogyny rolled into one. Several lesbians I know now say they feel torn about using the word – even though...

At the annual White House correspondents dinner, President Biden boasted that one of the jobs he got done in the last year was "to get Tucker Carlson off the air." The mainstream media audience was mostly uncertain of how to respond, but a few boos were heard, to which Biden responded by saying "what are you booing about, like you think that's not reasonable? Give me a break. I was elected to unify this country. Carlson's continued criticism of me undermined our nation's unity and our democracy. It was my sacred duty to silence him in whatever way that I...

Excavations were conducted by Cotswold Archaeology in preparation for a housing development by Taylor Wimpey at Bidwell West, located next to Houghton Regis and Dunstable.The team found a medieval timber-framed building and a series of medieval enclosure ditches, in addition to the tableman which was made from a cattle mandible.Tablemen were used to play various board games, where two players would typically roll dice and move their pieces across rows of markings. The word ‘tables’ is derived from the Latin tabula which primarily meant “board” or “plank” and was first introduced to Britain during the Roman period.One of the more...

A teenage girl was killed and nine others injured in a frenzied stabbing spree at a Polish orphanage this week, authorities said. The victims were attacked late Tuesday when a 19-year-old man entered the residence in Tomislawice, near Lodz, armed with a sharp object, authorities said. “We know that the most serious wounds were suffered by a 16-year-old girl, a ward of this orphanage, who died on the spot,” police spokesperson Aneta Sobieraj explained. Thirteen people, including one employee, were at the orphanage at the time of the attack. Four victims were treated at the scene, while five others were...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Wednesday highlighted his administration’s latest efforts to combat the nation’s border crisis via Senate Bill 1718, which essentially makes the Sunshine State the largest state in the country to do full E-Verify for employment.

Alyssa Farah Griffin told her co-host Wednesday on ABC’s “The View” said the Republican Party had a moral obligation to “walk away” former President Donald Trump after a Manhattan jury found he sexually abused and defamed columnist E. Jean Carroll. Griffin said, “I credit Asa Hutchinson for being one of the few Republicans with a backbone in this because a GOP frontrunner running for president was found liable for sexual battery and defamation. We have a moral obligation as a party to walk away from this man. And I remember, I was coming up as a kid in the ’90s...

No questions will be off-limits on Wednesday night at the CNN town hall with Donald J. Trump. He can put 15 people of his choice in the audience but none are allowed to ask questions. And his team has not had a hand in guiding how the event will go, according to two people briefed on the discussions. All of this adds up to no small amount of risk for the former president during the prime-time event, his advisers say — a risk they see as worth taking. They expect tough questions from the CNN anchor and moderator, Kaitlan Collins...

The former US Army sergeant convicted in the shooting death of a Black Lives Matter protester in Texas was told he will spend over two decades behind bars. Daniel Perry, 36, was sentenced to 25 years in prison Wednesday for shooting US Air Force veteran Garrett Foster at a BLM rally in downtown Austin on July 25, 2020, the Texas Tribune reported. Perry was convicted of murder last month, prompting Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to pledge to pardon the former soldier and rein in “rogue District Attorneys.” “After three long years, we’re finally getting justice for Garrett,” the victim’s mother,...

A man shot innocent victims outside a shopping mall. The attacker was killed by an off-duty policeman who happened to be nearby. We’re hearing all kinds of claims about what we should do to be safer. Let’s look at each of those claims one at a time. It is hard to make things better, and easy to make them worse.

Most antidepressants used for chronic pain are being prescribed with "insufficient" evidence of their effectiveness, scientists have warned. A major investigation into medications used to manage long-term pain has found that harms of many of the commonly recommended drugs have not been well studied. Among the drugs studied were amitriptyline, fluoxetine, citalopram, paroxetine, sertraline, and duloxetine—with only the latter showing reliable evidence for pain relief. Professor Tamar Pincus said, "This is a global public health concern. Chronic pain is a problem for millions who are prescribed antidepressants without sufficient scientific proof they help, nor an understanding of the long-term impact...