Free Republic

Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) said Wednesday on CNN’s “The Lead” that President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) as his attorney general was a “red-alert moment for American democracy.” Murphy said, “I was walking off the Senate floor just moments ago when the news was announced. You could literally hear the jaws dropping to the floor of Republican senators who are now going to be in a position to stand up to Donald Trump in a way that they have been unwilling to.”

Geneticists from Trinity College Dublin, together with an international team of researchers, have deciphered the prehistory of aurochs – the animals that were the focus of some of the most iconic early human art – by analysing 38 genomes harvested from bones dating across 50 millennia and stretching from Siberia to Britain.The aurochs roamed in Europe, Asia and Africa for hundreds of thousands of years. Adorned as paintings on many a cave wall, their domestication to create cattle gave us a harnessed source of muscle, meat and milk. Such was the influence of this domestication that today their descendants make...

"It turns out that the Zeravshan Valley, known primarily as a Silk Road route in the Middle Ages, was a key route for human expansion long before that—between 20,000 and 150,000 years ago," explained Prof. Zaidner. "This region may have served as a migration route for several human species, such as modern Homo sapiens, Neanderthals, or Denisovans, which may have coexisted in this area, and our research aims to uncover who were the humans that inhabited these parts of the Central Asia and the nature of their interactions."The archaeological team excavated three areas at Soii Havzak, unearthing layers of human...

Stopping by your favorite coffee chain can feel like a treat or, for some, it's a daily habit. We get it—coffee is a must-have for many, and it's one of the most popular beverages enjoyed around the world. Whether it's a caramel Frappuccino with whipped cream and caramel drizzle or an iced vanilla latte topped with cold foam, everyone has their go-to coffee order.

~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~ ~ Remembering Our Troops!! ~ Ready! Aim! Fire! CAMP SHELBY, Miss. – US Army Sgt. Justin Ross, a 304th Military Police Battalion Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC) Soldier and Engagement Skills Trainer (EST) instructor, performs systems checks on the M249 Squad Assault Weapon training equipment at the EST site on Camp Shelby, Mississippi on August 10, 2024. The EST is designed to simulate live weapon training events that directly support individual and crew-served weapons qualification, including individual marksmanship and escalation-of-force exercises in a controlled environment. Ross is just one of approximately 1,100 Soldiers,...

President Biden's smiling face during his meeting with President-elect Trump at the White House on Wednesday caught the attention of social media, sparking speculation that the incumbent Democratic president appeared happy to hand over the reins to Trump after his party pressured him to drop out of the presidential race in July. At the Oval Office meeting, Biden and Trump both pledged a smooth transition between administrations after the contentious end to the 2020 election. "I look forward… to having a smooth transition. We'll do everything we can to make sure you're accommodated, what you need," President Biden said as...

It is no secret that protein is a macro that you simply can't do without, especially if you are trying to manage your weight, muscle mass, or blood pressure. And for protein seekers, jerky is a go-to snack that packs a punch in the protein department—some jerkies even provide a whopping 16 grams of protein per serving). What makes jerky appealing to many is that, unlike other go-to protein-packed snack options like hard-boiled eggs and cheese, jerky is shelf-stable, completely eliminating the need to keep your nosh at a cool temperature for safety reasons. The smoky and satisfying taste that...

A senior official at COP29 climate change conference in Azerbaijan appears to have used his role to arrange a meeting to discuss potential fossil fuel deals, the BBC can report. A secret recording shows the chief executive of Azerbaijan's COP29 team, Elnur Soltanov, discussing "investment opportunities" in the state oil and gas company with a man posing as a potential investor. "We have a lot of gas fields that are to be developed," he says. A former head of the UN body responsible for the climate talks told the BBC that Soltanov's actions were "completely unacceptable" and a "betrayal" of...

Grand Total: $2.189 TRILLION of our Tax Dollars Wasted. List and Receipts Below The problem is not that we aren’t taxed enough— it’s that our government lights cash on fire Here is some absurd garbage your US taxes paid for: $1.2 Trillion Wasted - Interest on our National Debt Paid Annually PROOF: https://x.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1848464997526937666 $521 Billion Wasted - The Feds lose as much as $521 billion annually just due to acts of fraud PROOF: https://x.com/Blake_Hall/status/1831401750932369744

Trouble is brewing for Eighty Eight Coffee Co. in Manchester, New Hampshire. The local restaurant and coffee shop is a popular spot for students and residents alike, but the city is trying to take ownership of the property for a sewer project through eminent domain. "My parents have owned the property since ’99," Corey Tong, one of the owners of the coffee shop, told CBS News Boston. "In 2023, they reached out to us to say they wanted this property as part of the Cemetery Drain Brook Tunnel." According to the city, the Cemetery Brook Drain Tunnel Project includes construction...

Senate Republicans reacted with alarm and dismay to President-elect Donald J. Trump’s decision to nominate Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, for attorney general, and several said they were skeptical...

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill reacted to the news that President-elect Trump intends to nominate Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fl., to be attorney general with a mix of support, disbelief and silence Wednesday. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she was "shocked" to hear Gaetz was tapped to lead the Department of Justice. "Obviously the president has the right to nominate whomever he wishes," Collins said. "But this is why the Senate's advise and consent process is so important." "I'm sure that there will be many, many questions raised at Mr. Gaetz's hearing, if in fact the nomination goes forward," she added. If...

Dennis Prager is best known for founding PragerU, a conservative site that offers 5-minute video breakdowns of issues that matter to conservative voters. As an American conservative talk show voice and podcast host, Dennis, through PragerU has had influence over the political sphere for well over a decade.Yet it's not his politics making headlines this week. It's his health. Colleague Mark Davis called for prayers for Dennis on X (formerly known as Twitter), and Dennis's Instagram explained that he was dealing with a health issue. Here's what we know about what happened to Dennis and why fans are praying for...

International Man: What are your overall thoughts on Trump’s second term? How do you expect it to differ from his first term? Doug Casey: Thank heavens Kamala lost. If she’d won, the Jacobins would have cemented their hold on the country, and it would have been “game over.” We would have seen an acceleration of cultural decline, vastly higher taxes and regulations, and a serious push to shut down free speech. It feels like morning in America again. But unfortunately, morning only lasts six hours. You’ve got to remember that roughly half the country voted for Kamala, despite her total...

Paxton accuses Dr. M. Brett Cooper, an associate professor of pediatrics at UT Southwestern Medical Center who also practiced at Children's Medical Center Dallas, of prescribing various levels of testosterone cypionate to 15 patients between the ages of 14 and 17. Most patients listed in the lawsuit were between 16 and 17 years old. In the 34-page lawsuit filed in Collin County, Paxton calls Cooper a “scofflaw” and “radical gender activist” — a reprisal of similar labels he used in his first two lawsuits against Dr. May Lau of UT Southwestern and Dr. Hector Granados of El Paso. Paxton has...

A Blue Origin employee married to a prominent trans author and journalist has been accused of killing her elderly father with an ice axe on Election Night.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk was handed a major win Tuesday evening when President-elect Donald Trump announced that the Tesla and SpaceX CEO would co-lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency” with Vivek Ramaswamy. The announcement reinforces the closeness that Musk has managed to achieve with Trump, even after the election. But for some people in Trump’s orbit, Musk’s presence has felt overbearing. Musk has been so aggressive in pushing his views about Trump’s second term that he’s stepping on the toes of Trump’s transition team and may be overstaying his welcome at Mar-a-Lago, according to two people familiar with the...

South Dakota Senator John Thune—not Senator Rick Scott, the preferred choice of some in the Make America Great Again (MAGA) faction—will be the next Senate majority leader following a vote by Senate Republicans on Wednesday. Thune, who has been serving as minority whip, has previously criticized President-elect Donald Trump but has supported an overwhelming majority of his policies. Here's how Thune has voted under the past two administrations. Thune's Voting Record During Trump's First Term During President-elect Donald Trump's first term, beginning in 2017, Thune largely voted in line with Trump's positions. In the 115th Congress, from 2017 to 2019,...

....Through the increasingly common process known as “ballot curing,” campaigns are contacting voters whose ballots were not counted because of a technicality and giving them a chance to correct their mistakes. That could mean asking them to correct their address or add their signature to an envelope they forgot to sign. The stakes are especially high in California’s battleground districts, where voters could determine which party will control the House of Representatives next year. Of the 11 congressional races nationwide where the Associated Press has not called a winner as of Wednesday, five are in California. Republicans need only one...

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