Free Republic

On the back of COVID-related production delays and massive Hollywood strikes, the next 12 months will be a strange mix of long-awaited content and out-of-the-blue oddities. More than half of last year’s list has yet to appear, so there is likely to be a lot of interesting film and TV to come. I’m ignoring most of the big franchise stuff as it has recently proved to be utterly disappointing. Instead, we have lots of strange, creative and original work to look forward to including an apocalypse musical, an android exploring human emotions, and a story about a clone who lives...

How The Associated Press could admit to being financed by eco-extremist donors and yet still claim to be neutral when it comes to its climate change reporting defies common sense. The AP website lists as one of its “current philanthropic supporters” the “KR Foundation,” which boasts of how it’s “[s]upporting a rapid phase-out of fossil fuels.” The organization, which is based in Denmark, is financing the equivalent of roughly $300,000 USD to AP spread out between the years 2022 and 2024 for its Global Scholars Network. The Washington Free Beacon, which first broke the news, noted that despite AP’s false...

The man arrested last week for carrying a machete at the U.S. Capitol is an illegal immigrant from Venezuela who was caught and released in 2022 under the Biden administration‘s lenient border policies. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Tuesday it has custody of Jose Leonardo Marquez-Marquez, 23. He was arrested the day after Christmas by police after he was found with a machete, knife and brick at the Capitol. ICE officers apprehended him on immigration charges the next day.

The African Matabele ants are often injured in fights with termites. Their conspecifics recognise when the wounds become infected and initiate antibiotic treatment. A Matabele ant tends to the wound of a fellow ant whose legs were bitten off in a fight with termites. (Image: Erik Frank / Universität Würzburg) The Matabele ants (Megaponera analis), which are widespread south of the Sahara, have a narrow diet: They only eat termites. Their hunting expeditions are dangerous because termite soldiers defend their conspecifics – and use their powerful mandibles to do so. It is therefore common for the ants to be injured...

Multiple state capitols have received bomb threats that led to brief evacuations or lockdowns as police investigated, but no evidence of explosives has been found. Connecticut, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi and Montana and are among the states that evacuated statehouse offices or buildings on Wednesday morning. Lawmakers in Kentucky and Mississippi have begun meeting in legislative sessions. The warnings came after a spate of false reports of shootings at the homes of public officials in recent days.

Pat McAfee is clearing some things up after comments made by Aaron Rodgers on The Pat McAfee Show that linked Jimmy Kimmel to the Jeffrey Epstein list of associates. McAfee addressed the controversy at the top of his show on ESPN, noting that the ABC late-night talk show host had threatened legal action. The sports commentator said that he and his staff had been “free wheeling” after coverage of the Rose Bowl, taking note that his show doesn’t have a format and “there is an opportunity to talk about damn near everything for three and a half hours.”

GOP presidential primary candidate Nikki Haley said Wednesday she had assumed it was a “given” that the Civil War was about slavery when giving her controversial answer on the topic last week. “What I should have said immediately was that the Civil War was about slavery, but I just assumed that that was a given, and I went on and said it was also about the role of government and about the rights of people economically, socially and otherwise,” Haley said in a Fox News interview Wednesday. The former United Nations ambassador and South Carolina governor faced backlash for her...

Explanation: What is that unusual red halo surrounding this aurora? It is a Stable Auroral Red (SAR) arc. SAR arcs are rare and have only been acknowledged and studied since 1954. The featured wide-angle photograph, capturing nearly an entire SAR arc surrounding more common green and red aurora, was taken earlier this month from Poolburn, New Zealand, during an especially energetic geomagnetic storm. Why SAR arcs form remains a topic of research, but is likely related to Earth's protective magnetic field, a field created by molten iron flowing deep inside the Earth. This magnetic field usually redirects incoming charged particles...

Former President Donald Trump is vowing to shift 'massive proportions' of law enforcement to immigration enforcement – and said he will use a Federalist era to remove suspected gang members and drug dealers from the country. Trump, who ran his 2016 campaign on a pledge to build a border wall and a vow to kick out Mexican 'rapists,' touted his latest hardline proposals in an op-ed in the Des Moines Register. Trump has been stepping up his events there in the final weeks before the Iowa Caucuses, while sitting on a polling lead.

Contact: Communications Office NewsMedia@flhealth.gov 850-245-4111Tallahassee, Fla. — On December 6, 2023, State Surgeon General Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo sent a letter to the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Dr. Robert M. Califf and Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Mandy Cohen regarding questions pertaining to the safety assessments and the exit disclaimer icondiscovery of billions of DNA fragments per dose of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. The Surgeon General outlined concerns regarding nucleic acid contaminants in the approved Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, particularly in the presence of lipid nanoparticle complexes,...

After a record-breaking year for Taylor Swift, the pop star attended a Gaza fundraiser with celebrity friend Selena Gomez in December. The event was hosted by Ramy Youssef on his tour “Ramy Youssef: More Feelings.” While the comedian traveled to several major cities such as Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia during the standup tour, Swift’s and Gomez’s presence at his Brooklyn, N.Y., show stirred public controversy as tensions continue to rise in the Middle East. Partway through his tour, Youssef announced on Instagram that “100 percent of the proceeds for the remainder of the ramy youssef: more feelings standup tour will...

Former Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) said Wednesday on ABC’s “The View” that the Confederate President Jefferson Davis “had some class” because he didn’t attempt to run for office again unlike former President Donald Trump. Partial transcript as follows: WHOOPI GOLDBERG: I mean, you’ve seen what the lengths that the people have gone through to make sure his feet don’t touch the ground. Do you think that letting him get away with being an insurrectionist is the right way for us to let the country know how we — what are going to do it next time we get another one?...

Nearly 100 percent of political donations from self-identified fact checkers—including those whose employers claim journalistic neutrality—go to Democrats, a Washington Free Beacon analysis of federal campaign finance disclosures found. The Free Beacon reviewed political donations over the past four election cycles from those who identified their occupation as "fact checker." $22,580 of the $22,683 in political donations that came from self-identified fact checkers during that time—a whopping 99.5 percent—went to Democrats and liberal groups. Only three of the fact checker donations made during that period went to Republicans. Top recipients include socialist Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, who during the seven-year...

At least six state capitols across the country received bomb threats early Wednesday morning, prompting evacuations and lockdowns, though no dangerous items were immediately discovered. Evacuations and lockdowns were reported at state capitols in Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, Connecticut and Michigan due to apparent bomb threats. It’s not clear whether or how the incidents might be connected. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear posted on X, formerly Twitter, that the Kentucky State Police (KSP) was investigating a threat and had evacuated the state capitol in Frankfort. “While everyone is safe, KSP has asked everyone to evacuate the state Capitol and is investigating...

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) and his wife Texas state Sen. Angela Paxton (R) are the latest victims of swatting, a form of harassment, which occurred on New Year’s Day. A false report of a “life-threatening” situation was made on New Year’s Day, prompting authorities to show up at their McKinney home. However, neither were home at the time. “On New Year’s Day, a currently unidentified caller made a false report to 911 describing a life-threatening situation at our home in McKinney,” they Paxtons said, according to Fox News Dig

Sen. Bob Menendez is facing additional allegations contained in a superseding indictment returned Tuesday in New York. The new allegations accuse Menendez, who has pleaded not guilty to all prior counts, of making positive comments about Qatar in exchange for items of value, including luxury wristwatches. The luxury wristwatches Menendez was allegedly offered were valued between $10,000 and $24,000, according to the new indictment. “How about one of these,” the indictment quoted co-defendant Fred Daibes as saying in a message he sent to Menendez along with photos of the watches. Menendez and Daibes had attended an event in Manhattan hosted...

Prospective Dutch Prime Minister Geert Wilders has threatened to rescind the country’s apology for slavery, as he continues haggling with various parties to form a coalition government. “The apologies for the history of slavery and the police actions, as made by the king, will be withdrawn,” Wilders had warned in his election manifesto, according to The Times newspaper of Britain. Wilders, the leader of the far-right Freedom Party (PVV), shocked political experts when his party won the Dutch general election, but he first needed to create a coalition of parties to form his government or face another election. Those closed-door...

A regularly prescribed class of heart medications might be capable of treating one of the most common forms of muscular dystrophy, a new study in mice suggests. Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is caused by abnormal RNA that affects the function of calcium channel receptors, which help convert impulses from nerve cells into chemical signals that guide muscle movement, the researchers explained. Given that, a type of heart drug called a calcium channel blocker might be able to eliminate the "noise" caused by this abnormal RNA, they reasoned. These drugs successfully eased DM1 symptoms in lab mice bred to have...

During the special military operation we are liberating Russian territory. How do you feel about Western countries helping our enemy? Vladimir Putin: The point is not that they are helping our enemy. They are our enemy. They are solving their own problems with their hands. That is what it is all about. This has been the case for centuries, unfortunately, and continues to be the case today. Ukraine itself is not our enemy whereas those who want to destroy Russian statehood and to achieve, as they say, a strategic defeat of Russia on the battlefield, are mainly in the West,...

The Babylon Bee sits down with Siaka Massaquoi to talk about how the FBI recently separated him from his pregnant wife at the airport and arrested him over charges related to January 6th. What really happened on January 6th and what was Siaka doing at the Capitol Building?