Free Republic

What really happened to Malaysian Airlines fight MH370? 10 years ago... Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared from radar on 8 March 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia to its intended destination in Beijing. But It never arrived and neither did the 227 passengers and 12 crew members whose family members have been in anguish ever since. What happened to their loved ones? Who's covering up the real story? 10 years have now passed and we finally might have some leads as to what caused this disappearance. Ashton Forbes has in many ways devoted his life to...

The H-1B visa program plays a critical role in the U.S. economy, allowing American companies to hire highly skilled foreign workers in specialized occupations. Whether you’re an employer looking to bring in top talent or a foreign national seeking to work in the United States, understanding the H-1B visa process is essential. This comprehensive guide will walk you through every aspect of the H-1B visa, from eligibility requirements to application procedures and beyond.…What Is the H-1B Visa?The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows U.S. employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in specialty occupations. These occupations typically require a...

President Joe Biden reportedly wanted the Department of Justice to target then-former President Donald Trump for prosecution far sooner and more aggressively than it did, and regrets naming Merrick Garland as Attorney General. The report, published in the Washington Post on Saturday, echoes reporting nearly three years ago by the New York Times, which suggested in 2022 that Biden was frustrated with the slow pace of Garland, a “ponderous judge.” The Post noted: << In private, Biden has also said he should have picked someone other than Merrick Garland as attorney general, complaining about the Justice Department’s slowness under Garland...

Magnus Carlsen, the world's top chess player, has quit the World Rapid Chess Championship being held in New York after refusing to change out of jeans to abide by a dress code. The Norwegian chess grandmaster was fined $200 on Friday and given a warning by the International Chess Federation (FIDE), the governing body for international chess championships, to change into acceptable attire or be disqualified. Five-time world chess champion Magnus Carlsen says he will not defend his title World Five-time world chess champion Magnus Carlsen says he will not defend his title Carlsen told chess channel Take Take Take...

If Team Biden had called out the phony reports of famine and "genocide" from the start, and fully backed Israel's defensive war, the fighting might well have ended by now, writes the Post Editorial Board. Team Biden is slamming a report that warns of famine in northern Gaza. What a difference an election makes. Team Biden is blasting claims of famine in Gaza ... Indeed, if Team Biden had called out the phony reports of famine and “genocide” from the start, and fully backed Israel’s defensive war, the fighting might well have ended by now. On the bright side: A...

Merry Christmas, dear readers! It’s that magical time of year when we pause to reflect on the past and celebrate the moments that made this year special.As a media covering the latest from the Linux and FOSS ecosystem, we’ve kept you updated with the most important developments in this vibrant field. Now, as 2024 comes to a close, let’s take a moment to look back at the highlights that defined this year.2024 in Review: Key Moments in Linux and FOSSThis year has brought plenty of exciting developments in the Linux and open-source world—most of them overwhelmingly positive. Of course, not...

Historian Norman Naimark argues that today's narrow definition of genocide is Stalin's lasting legacy Murder on a national scale, yes – but is it genocide? “The word carries a powerful punch,” said Stanford history Professor Norman Naimark. “In international courts, it’s considered the crime of crimes.”

The human ability to walk and run efficiently on two feet arose around 2 million years ago with our Homo erectus ancestors. But our earlier relatives, the australopithecines, were also bipedal around 4 million years ago. Given the long arms and different body proportions of species like Australopithecus afarensis, though, researchers have assumed that australopithecines were less capable of walking on two legs than modern humans. In a study published online Dec. 18 in the journal Current Biology, a team of researchers modeled the skeletal and muscular anatomy of Lucy to determine her maximum running speed, the energetic costs associated...

The Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) yesterday reported that a house cat has died from H5N1 avian flu after eating raw frozen pet food, which has prompted the voluntary recall of raw pet food that was sold nationwide through distributors in 12 states as well as in British Columbia. The development is part of a growing number of avian flu infections in cats, including new detections in pets from a second California county. Genetic match between cat and raw food viruses In a statement, the ODA said the house cat that tested positive for H5N1 died after eating raw food....

"When Will Trump Take Office? On MLK Day, Unfortunately," The Intelligencer's senior editor Margaret Hartmann lamented in a new piece. Hartmann noted the "depressing" news that President-elect Donald Trump will be sworn in to his second, non-consecutive term in office on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The presidential inauguration sometimes falls on the federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr., which takes place on the third Monday of January each year, close to King’s birthday on January 15. "If you’re not a big fan of Donald Trump, you’ve probably gotten used to hearing a lot of stupid and/or depressing political...

We knew that Squid Game would be huge when it returned for season 2, given that season 1 was the most-watched Netflix series ever by a significant margin. But now it has set an entirely new record.We don’t know viewership yet, it’s too early for that, though of course that’s going to be enormous. Rather, the record in question is that Squid Game season 2 is the first series to debut at #1 in all 93 countries where Netflix is available. That’s everywhere from the US, of course, to Cyprus to Honduras to Kenya to Oman to Thailand. The entire...

A young North Carolina woman was doused in gasoline and set on fire by a sick suspect who then fled — leaving her heartbroken mother wondering, “How could they do this to my baby?” Ashanti Downey, 20, was rushed to the emergency room the night of Dec. 16 with second-and third-degree burns down the right side of her body, according to WRAL News in Raleigh-Durham. Staffers at Central Carolina Hospital in Sanford called the Harnett County Sheriff’s Office at about 7 p.m. to report the horrific act, which happened as Downey walked along Highway 27 toward a Dollar General in...

Science has been corrupted. I hate to say it, but it’s the only conclusion I can reach after months of researching cousin marriage — a ban on which was debated in parliament last week. It’s been a period of frustration, obfuscation and institutional omerta: the antithesis of the open inquiry described so eloquently by Plato and Popper. Let me start by telling you about Dr Patrick Nash, a somewhat shy legal academic who in 2017 came across an intriguing finding. He noticed that much of the “extremism” emanating from Pakistani communities seemed to have a “clan” component. The perpetrators were...

Elon Musk admitted that the H1-B visas are “broken” and floated a potential fix as he sought to cool a raging civil war within the MAGA base over the immigration program for highly skilled foreign workers. Just a day after vowing to “go to war on this issue” and telling detractors to “F— yourself,” Musk, the world’s richest man, acknowledged some of the criticisms of the program getting abused and argued that the US should make it more costly to hire foreigners. “Easily fixed by raising the minimum salary significantly and adding a yearly cost for maintaining the H1B, making...

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has called on Russia to “admit its guilt” for unintentionally shooting down an Azerbaijani airliner, an incident that killed 38 people and injured 29. - snip- “First, the Russian side must apologise to Azerbaijan. Second, it must acknowledge its guilt. Third, those responsible must be punished, brought to criminal responsibility and compensation must be paid to the Azerbaijani state as well as to the injured passengers and crew members. These are our conditions,” he said, adding that the first demand had already been addressed with Putin’s apology. Putin and Aliyev spoke by telephone call again on...

More than 1,000 people were shot — fatally and non-fatally combined — in Democrat-run Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during 2024. WHYY reported that homicides were down in Philly during 2024 compared to 2023. As of December 25, 2024, the city had accumulated “847 nonfatal and 220 fatal shooting victims,” for a total of 1,067 victims. Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker (D) commented on the gun violence, saying, “Every shooting and homicide in Philadelphia personally pains me as your mayor and my administration.”

Dr. Leana Wen, who said during the COVID pandemic that Americans should be forced to take a vaccine, says Biden should be pushing a Bird Flu injection on “vulnerable” people before the Trump inauguration

Louisiana implemented new educational choice scholarships, accountability systems, and programs during 2024. The Louisiana Giving All True Opportunity to Rise scholarship program, or GATOR, was signed into law this year to provide educational scholarship accounts to families across the state so they can have more choice in what schools their children attend. The funds can also be used for tutors, online school tuition, curriculum or even to fund a hybrid program where a student attends a private school part time. Although the program is a major project for the department of education, it doesn't officially start until 2025 as some...

It is the twentieth anniversary of the famous Boxing Day tsunami, which swept a quarter-of-a-million people to their death. So for our new and invariably somewhat obnoxious feature - "As I said twenty years ago" - I thought I'd run a twenty-year-old column which, just for once, is not about everything I got right but about one big thing I got wrong. Back then, I wrote about what seemed a fairly non-partisan assertion: the ability of America and its closest allies to get a grip on disaster and make things better very quickly. A decade or so later, I began...

There are now more military troops in the NYC Subway than on 9/11, making many people question if NYC is actually as safe as were told it is...