Free Republic

Former President Trump on Friday argued he should be cleared of wrongdoing for his handling of classified documents after the Justice Department said it would not bring charges against former Vice President Mike Pence on the issue, despite vast differences in their cases. “Just announced that they are not going to bring charges against Mike Pence on the document hoax,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “That’s great, but when am I going to be fully exonerated, I’m at least as innocent as he is.”

The refrain across much of the Deep South for decades was “Thank God for Mississippi!” That’s because however abysmally Arkansas or Alabama might perform in national comparisons, they could still bet that they wouldn’t be the worst in America. That spot was often reserved for Mississippi. So it’s extraordinary to travel across this state today and find something dazzling: It is lifting education outcomes and soaring in the national rankings. With an all-out effort over the past decade to get all children to read by the end of third grade and by extensive reliance on research and metrics, Mississippi has...

Authorities are working to determine the cause of death of a humpback whale that was found on Long Island.At about 4 p.m. Thursday, June 1, the carcass of the whale floated into Shinnecock Bay in Southampton. Southampton Town Police officers and staff from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Atlantic Marine Conservation Society then arrived on the scene. The animal was eventually towed out of the bay, back into the ocean and the carcass was secured to the beachfront, west of the inlet, Southampton Town Police said. Heavy machinery is being brought in to drag the whale onto...

In a new study, a team led by Assistant Professor Yoshitaka Kondo investigated the amount of dietary protein needed to improve metabolic health in mice approaching old age. The team recruited young (6 months old) and middle-aged (16 months old) male C57BL/6NCr mice who were fed isocaloric diets with varying protein content (5 to 45 %) for two months. After two months, the effect of varying protein diets was assessed based on measurements of skeletal muscle weight, liver and plasma lipid profiles, and self‑organizing map (SOM) cluster analysis of plasma amino acid profiles. The team observed that the consumption of...

A "kind, authentic" Fairfield County man is being remembered for the impact he had on his hometown, which is now moving to make his legacy a permanent part of the community.Shamus Paco Sims, age 41, died suddenly at his home in Stratford earlier this year, according to his obituary. Months later, his loved ones are working to immortalize his legacy by renaming a skate park in his hometown after him. Sims "led the charge" to build a skate park in his hometown of Port Townsend, WA in 2006, according to Michael Todd, parks and facilities manager of Port Townsend Parks...

Ming Lin, MD, says he wants an admission of wrongdoing instead of millionsMing Lin, MD, the emergency medicine physician from Washington state who was fired early in the COVID pandemic for publicly airing alleged safety concerns, said he has broken with his lawyers over their advice to settle his case. In a Facebook postopens in a new tab or window, Lin said his lawyers "have asked me to accept a monetary settlement as they have abruptly determined that a trial would be too costly and is not worth the financial risk." Lin told the Cascadia Daily Newsopens in a new...

On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “José Díaz-Balart Reports,” Senior Adviser to President Joe Biden Gene Sperling commented on the recent jobs report and stated that “there’s a lot to feel good about” because jobs are still being created and that “we’ve seen inflation now at 3.3% average over the last six months” in headline numbers, so “We’ve seen inflation continue to come down.” Sperling said, “I think there’s been a decent amount of resilience. We’ve seen inflation continue to come down. The last six months, inflation averages 3.3%, so, to have an economy where jobs are still growing, where unemployment...

Explanation: Big, beautiful spiral galaxy M101 is one of the last entries in Charles Messier's famous catalog, but definitely not one of the least. About 170,000 light-years across, this galaxy is enormous, almost twice the size of our own Milky Way. M101 was also one of the original spiral nebulae observed by Lord Rosse's large 19th century telescope, the Leviathan of Parsontown. Assembled from 51 exposures recorded by the Hubble Space Telescope in the 20th and 21st centuries, with additional data from ground based telescopes, this mosaic spans about 40,000 light-years across the central region of M101 in one of...

For men with large prostates, the Aquablation procedure is safe, with durable efficacy, according to a study. Naeem Bhojani, M.D. and colleagues reported five-year safety and efficacy outcomes of the Aquablation procedure for treatment of symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia and large-volume prostate glands. Data were included for 101 men with moderate-to-severe benign prostatic hyperplasia symptoms and prostate volumes between 80 and 150 mL (mean volume at baseline, 107 mL), who underwent a robotic-assisted Aquablation procedure. The researchers found that the study successfully met its safety and efficacy performance goal at three months, which was based on transurethral resection of the...

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis slammed a heckler during a Friday event in South Carolina where he defended parental rights legislation. “We’re not going to let them impose an agenda on our kids, we’re going to stand up for our kids,” DeSantis said in response after a heckler appeared to shout the word “fascist” at him during his speech. “We’re gonna make sure to do it right. That’s what we’re gonna do!”

News of a recent alleged assassination attempt on Russia’s leader, Vladimir Putin, raises the question: what kind of Russia might emerge after him? It is tempting to believe that, if Putin were killed, or otherwise removed from power, for example in a palace coup, Russia would shake off its dictatorial shackles, normalize its relations with the West, and advance down the democratic road. Such thinking is mistaken. History suggests there are slim prospects of Russia doing so. The surest guarantee that Russia will not reform along democratic lines is the power of its security and intelligence services. At key junctures...

At Saticoy Elementary School in North Hollywood, days of controversy over a Pride event came to a head Friday morning when parents on both sides of the issue squared off. Supporters and opponents of a scheduled Pride Month assembly at the school took to the street outside the school, with city and school police stepping in to separate the dueling protests as the intensity ratcheted up between the sides.

A black woman on TikTok has gone viral for her controversial take on the Citi Bike incident that made headlines earlier this month. Over the weekend, TikTok user @BlkGirlTragic posted a video on the platform explaining her thoughts on the viral incident where a white hospital employee attempted to take a Citi Bike that was already reserved by a Black teenager, per Newsone. The Tiktoker said she believes the incident shows how “white women are one of the most dangerous groups in the United States and abroad." She also called out those defending the hospital employee's behavior, citing the alleged...

In a reversal of its election integrity policy, YouTube will leave up content that says fraud, errors or glitches occurred in the 2020 presidential election and other U.S. elections, the company confirmed to Axios Friday. Why it matters: YouTube established the policy in December 2020, after enough states had certified the 2020 election results. Now, the company said in a statement, leaving the policy in place may have the effect of "curtailing political speech without meaningfully reducing the risk of violence or other real-world harm." "Two years, tens of thousands of video removals, and one election cycle later, we recognized...

The collateral damage of net zero is now getting uncomfortably close to home. First Dutch farmers were threatened with compulsory purchases to satisfy EU emissions targets, fomenting a new revolt in the process. Now it’s Ireland’s turn, where the government is reportedly looking at plans to cull around 200,000 cows to meet its climate targets. The scheme would be a bit like voluntary redundancy, with farmers offered financial inducements to give up their cows. British beef and dairy farmers are now very jittery. It seems increasingly clear that there is an eco-modernist agenda to do away with conventional meat altogether....

A World War II veteran from Nebraska recently had an extra special 100th birthday party. All Alfred Zieg wanted for his birthday was a hamburger and a strawberry milkshake from his favorite fast-food chain, Runza. Runza said they learned of his request from an article in the Lincoln Journal Star. On Alfred's 100th birthday Wednesday, a Runza location in Lincoln made his request happen. The restaurant had a special table for Alfred with birthday balloons and decorations, plus a cake and a card. Runza shared an adorable video from Alfred's party on social media. "We are honored to have served...

Pinnacles National Park recorded its busiest April ever and busiest month since it became a national park. In April, the park saw 56,339 recreational visitors. That's the most recreational visits in a single month since Pinnacles was designated as a National Park in January 2013. Data on visits to Pinnacles, which date back to 1979, show only one month with more visitors than April 2023: May 2011. In May 2011, when Pinnacles was only a national monument, the park saw 59,878 visitors. Winter-spring is Pinnacle's busy season, mainly because of the cooler temperatures. In 2022, the park saw almost 10,000...

More good Pride Month news coming from the corporate world! Target is paying the price for pushing transgenderism on kids. JP Morgan just downgraded Target's stock as an ongoing boycott of Target has hurt the stores' bottom line, losing them TENS OF BILLIONS of dollars. According to CNBC, JP Morgan Chase is downgrading Target's stock because the conservative moms' boycott is actually working. JP Morgan Chase thinks Target may be in for turbulent times ahead. The bank downgraded the retail giant to neutral from overweight Thursday, with a $144 price target, down from $182. The firm's new forecast implies about...

Now, the committee appointed by the district to review the complaint and decide if the Bible is appropriate for students to access has made its determination: High schools in Davis will keep the religious text on the shelf. But it will be removed from elementary and middle schools for containing “vulgarity or violence.” That decision on the book challenge — which gained national attention when it was first reported on in March — will take effect immediately, said Davis School District spokesperson Christopher Williams in an email to The Salt Lake Tribune this week. He believes there are seven or...

An educator at El Dorado High School in Placentia, California was captured on video giving students explicit instructions during class on how to have pleasure during anal sex, and where to find sex toys that will stimulate the prostate gland. The video, posted to the Instagram account @edhscaughtlacking, shows the educator, sitting atop a desk in front of a classroom full of students, discussing why anal sex is pleasurable for gay men, with an enlarged image of a prostate gland behind her.