Free Republic

WASHINGTON - A young teenager will spend the next seven years behind bars for her role in the beating death of a frail D.C. man on a street in Northwest last year. The 13-year-old was sentenced Wednesday. In court, she apologized before she was ordered held until her 21st birthday. All five girls involved in the beating death of 64-year-old Reggie Brown, a D.C. man who family says suffered from multiple disabilities and was battling to beat cancer, were between the ages of 12 and 15 when they committed the crime in October 2023. Despite their age, the girls are...

The James Webb Space Telescope (Credit: NASA) The James Webb Space Telescope has confirmed controversial Hubble Telescope measurements that seemingly contradict the standard model of cosmology, giving rise to what is known as the ‘Hubble Tension,’ according to new findings involving the most extensive study of the universe’s expansion ever conducted. Confirmation of the decades-long Hubble Tension, which reveals that the universe is expanding faster than cosmological models predict, has sent astrophysicists back to the drawing board in search of previously unknown physics that could account for the measurements, potentially rewriting the standard model. “The discrepancy between the observed expansion...

CNC-Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology researchers in Portugal report that regular, moderate coffee consumption (three cups per day) not only contributes to a longer life but also enhances the quality of those additional years by reducing the risk of major age-related diseases and maintaining better overall health. Coffee consumption's perception has shifted from potentially harmful to potentially beneficial over the last several decades. Scientific understanding of the underlying mechanisms by which coffee's primary components, namely caffeine and chlorogenic acids, influence fundamental biological processes and are understood to have alertness, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, though how these might be involved...

The pyramid structure has been hidden for centuries. Image credit: CINAH Hidalgo Construction workers have stumbled across the ruins of a large pyramid along the side of a highway in Mexico. After being alerted to the discovery, archaeologists collected dozens of other artifacts from the site that will be closely studied in the lab over the next few months. The structure was unearthed in June 2024 during the construction of a third lane on a federal highway in Hidalgo, east-central Mexico. Archaeologists at Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) headed to the scene to carry out an investigation....

The sweepstakes to land free agent Juan Soto came to a surprising end, as the star outfielder decided to retire from professional baseball and play for the New York Mets instead. Soto explained his decision to the press, noting that though playing professional baseball had been his lifelong dream, the opportunity to sign a 15-year contract for $765 million to enjoy a quiet retirement playing baseball recreationally for an amateur team like the Mets was too attractive to pass up. "I can now live comfortably while playing inconsequential games no one will watch or care about," Soto explained. "I am...

These asteroids are as small as 10 m across, making them the smallest asteroids ever observed in the main asteroid belt. An artist’s illustration of Webb revealing, in the infrared, a population of main-belt decameter asteroids. Image credit: Ella Maru / Julien de Wit. Asteroid discoveries are essential for planetary-defense efforts aiming to prevent impacts with Earth, including the more frequent megaton explosions from decameter impactors. While large asteroids (=>100 km) have remained in the main belt since their formation, small asteroids are commonly transported to the near-Earth object (NEO) population. “We have been able to detect NEOs down to...

A real-life "Succession" battle for Rupert Murdoch's media empire has ended with a Nevada court commissioner denying the billionaire's bid to change a family trust and give control to his eldest son. The case pitted the 93-year-old against three of his children over who would gain the power to control News Corp and Fox News when he dies. It has been reported that Mr Murdoch wanted to amend a family trust created in 1999 to allow his son Lachlan to take control without "interference" from his siblings Prudence, Elisabeth and James. A Nevada commissioner ruled Mr Murdoch and Lachlan had...

West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin (I) and Vermont Sen. Peter Welch (D) have introduced a resolution to impose 18-year term limits on Supreme Court justices, which would require some turnover on the high court every two years. Specifically, their resolution calls for a constitutional amendment to institute nonrenewable 18-year terms for new Supreme Court justices, with a new term starting every two years. It would implement a transition period during which 18-year terms would begin every two years regardless of when a current justice leaves the bench, according to an explanation issued by the senators’ offices. When a current justice...

A man who was twice sentenced to execution and twice avoided that fate died in a prison hospital over the weekend. Darryl T. Kemp, 88, died of natural causes Saturday at the California Medical Facility in Solano County, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

The electric motor might carry the hype banner at the moment, but some minds remain convinced that there's plenty of innovation left to be extracted from internal combustion. AIE is one of the rotary engine's biggest champions and has been advancing new rotaries via the latest manufacturing tools and techniques since 2012. Its latest release shows that Wankel engines can be a perfect fit for compact, power-demanding applications in robotics and aerospace. More palmable than a basketball, the 40ACS Wankel packs a power-to-weight punch in a package that disappears away in small spaces. The last time we looked in on...

Discover more about the policies that shaped a decade of hardship... and the lessons they hold for today...In 1940, Victor Records released the Dust Bowl Ballads, an album of songs written and performed by American folk singer Woody Guthrie. In two volumes and a dozen songs, the folk legend sang about the droughts that plagued North America in waves beginning in 1934 and ending in 1940.“On the 14th day of April of 1935, There struck the worst of dust storms that ever filled the sky. You could see that dust storm comin’, the cloud looked deathlike black, And through our...

As President Joe Biden's term in office winds down, he appears more relaxed, almost relieved. A week after the November 5 election, a broadly smiling Biden invited President-elect Donald Trump to meet at the White House. Both men agreed that the meeting was friendly, and afterward, photos were taken of a still-smiling Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden with Trump. But things do not appear as cordial between Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Jill and Joe Biden are refusing to even look at Kamala Harris tonight 😬 pic.twitter.com/qL6jftoLsu— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) December 9, 2024Joe and Jill Biden, Harris,...

The efficiency of a tooth-on-tooth geared transmission, with the smoothly variable gear ratios of a CVT – minus the belt friction and capable of going all the way down to a zero ratio without needing a clutch. That's a 'holy grail' level promise! Italian company Alter Ego, led by mechanical and automation engineer Edyson Pavilcu and assisted by kinematic studies undertaken at the Milan Technical University, says it's prototyped a beautifully complex new mechanism – the world's first geared CVT – that's 10% more efficient than a regular belted CVT. Indeed, the efficiency is on par with some manual transmissions,...

When Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton speaks, people listen. Whether those "listeners" are Republicans, Democrats, or members of the media, Cotton's words carry weight. This is not to suggest that "all of the above" agree with the Arkansas senator, but they do know that he's a no-nonsense, bottom-line guy. So when Cotton posted to X (formerly, Twitter) that he suspects that all of President-elect Donald Trump's nominees will be confirmed by the GOP-controlled Senate, chances are he had already done his homework before making such a statement.I expect our Republican Senate is going to confirm all of President Trump's nominees.—...

When Zach Schoffstall, a former supervisory senior resident agent in the FBI’s Salt Lake City Division, heard his bosses wanted to focus more on “domestic terrorism” and “hate crimes,” he tried to work with them. He brought the U.S. Attorney in Idaho two hate crime cases. The U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) declined to prosecute both. Instead, Schoffstall told the Daily Caller, the Attorney for the District of Idaho, Josh Hurwit, said he was more interested in appeasing the Biden administration by hosting seminars to talk about hate crimes. Later on, when the FBI pushed Schoffstall to execute a search warrant...

Virtually every single black family that loses an adult child due to some unfortunate altercation with police — even a child they haven’t seen in years — gets a multi-million-dollar payout courtesy of local taxpayers. It’s time for Daniel Penny to get that same deal.A New York City jury on Monday rendered an acquittal in the homicide trial of Penny, a 26-year-old and very handsome Marine who deserves to be carved into Mount Rushmore after he selflessly, heroically saved subway commuters from a raving lunatic declaring himself ready to go to prison or even die.Jordan Neely, 30, belligerently boarded a...

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, indicated she will confirm Pete Hegseth as the next secretary of defense on Monday. The announcement marks a stark pivot for Ernst, who has been leading a behind-the-scenes effort to tank Hegseth’s nomination. “I appreciate Pete Hegseth’s responsiveness and respect for the process,” Ernst said in a press release. “Following our encouraging conversations, Pete committed to completing a full audit of the Pentagon and selecting a senior official who will uphold the roles and value of our servicemen and women — based on quality and standards, not quotas — and who will prioritize and strengthen my...

ou can get an idea of how gobsmackingly awful the Syrian Civil War was (is?) and how stupid Germany's immigration policy is with this one simple statistic: nearly one in 20 Syrians lives in Germany. Syria's pre-civil war population of Syria was about 21 million people, and the latest figures show the Federal Republic serving as home to 972,460 Syrian refugees. All that seems to have come to an end along with the Bashar al-Assad regime this weekend. Berlin says it will "freeze asylum processing for Syrian citizens," according to an al-Jazeera report today. "The Federal Office for Migration and...

After the COVID-19 pandemic, we're all a little wary of biosecurity hazards, and the news out of Australia today isn't too comforting. In 2021, 323 vials containing samples of deadly viruses went missing from a lab in Queensland, Australia. The breach wasn't discovered until 2023, and for whatever reason—it sounds like red tape — an investigation is just now underway, over a year later. Health Minister Tim Nicholls announced the news on Monday. [snip] ...a statement: "I want to stress that there have been no public health incidents linked to these materials, so we have no evidence so far of...

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch losing a bid to change his family trust... Israeli tanks moving inside Syria along the border of Lebanon approaching to within 10 miles of the city center of Damascus... Accusations of sexual misconduct against the couple who run media outlet "PinkNews", an LGBT news website... French politics President Emmanuel Macron seeking to draw parties on the "Left" to form a new government... "The Golan Heights will forever remain an integral part of Israel" Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking... European countries moving away from asylum processing for Syrian refugees... In the US-China economic war Chines authorities...