Free Republic

Explanation: What created this unusual hole in Mars? Actually, there are numerous holes pictured in this Swiss cheese-like landscape, with all-but-one of them showing a dusty, dark, Martian terrain beneath evaporating, light, carbon dioxide ice. The most unusual hole is on the upper right, spans about 100 meters, and seems to punch through to a lower level. Why this hole exists and why it is surrounded by a circular crater remains a topic of speculation, although a leading hypothesis is that it was created by a meteor impact. Holes such as this are of particular interest because they might be...

Brice Oligui Nguema, the leader of Gabon’s transitional government and the military figure who led the 2023 coup, has claimed a decisive victory in the country’s presidential election, securing 90.35% of the vote, according to provisional results released by the Ministry of the Interior on Sunday.

American pastor Josh Sullivan was abducted at gunpoint during a church service in South Africa. The 34-year-old Tennessee native was delivering a sermon at Fellowship Baptist Church in Motherwell, Eastern Cape, when four masked gunmen stormed the sanctuary on Thursday evening. The congregation, including Sullivan’s wife and six children, witnessed the terrifying ordeal as the assailants forcibly removed him from the pulpit.

WASHINGTON — The White House has released the results of President Donald Trump’s physical examination, showing that the president is in good health. The president underwent the first medical check up of his second term on April 11 at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, conducted by Captain Sean Barbella, a physician with extensive combat trauma experience who specializes in emergency and tactical medicine. “I performed and supervised the comprehensive exam, which included diagnostic and laboratory testing, as well as consultations with fourteen specialty consultants, all in accordance with U.S. Preventative Services Task Force recommendations,” Barbella said...

The technology sector, or at least a key part of it, breathed easier on Saturday after President Trump said that various industries, including semiconductors, computer hardware, and smartphones, would be exempt from the steep reciprocal tariffs put in place this month. The reprieve, however, may only be temporary, according to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Lutnick, a key proponent of tariffs to re-spark U.S. manufacturing, provided more insight into technology sector import taxes on Sunday. His message renews uncertainty for major U.S. technology companies, including Apple, Dell, and Nvidia, which depend heavily on overseas production to keep costs low. After OpenAI's...

Speaking in Kraków on the National Day of Remembrance for Victims of the Katyn Massacre, Duda laid a wreath at the Katyn Cross and paid tribute to over 22,000 Polish officers executed by the Soviet NKVD in 1940. "It was genocide – a premeditated extermination of a vital part of Poland’s elite," Duda said. "They [Soviet Russia ed.] managed to kill them, but never managed to erase the memory of their heroic stance from our nation’s consciousness." The president condemned both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union for attempting to destroy the Polish state, quoting Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov’s...

The comedian, 63, recently detailed having a friendship with Lyle Menendez, 57, who along with his brother Erik Menendez, 54, was convicted of the 1989 murders of their parents Kitty and Jose Menendez. “He started calling me on a regular basis from the tablet phone thing they have,” O’Donnell told The New York Times on Saturday. “He would tell me about his life, what he’s been doing in prison and, for the first time in my life, I felt safe enough to trust and be vulnerable and love a straight man.” The brothers were sentenced to life in prison without...

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that President Donald Trump’s tariff exemptions on technology products like phones, computers and chips were temporary. KARL: Let’s start with that news late Friday that this exemption on electronics, smartphones, laptop computers and the like. What’s the thinking? Why the exemption? LUTNICK: Well, if you remember, over the past couple of months President Trump has called out pharmaceuticals and semiconductors and autos. He called them sector tariffs. And those are not available for negotiation. They are just going to be part of making sure we reshore the core national security...

The pro-Trump channel Newsmax defamed Dominion Voting Systems by falsely accusing the company of rigging the 2020 presidential election, a Delaware judge ruled Wednesday. But it’ll be up to a jury to decide whether Newsmax intentionally smeared Dominion with “actual malice” and must pay millions of dollars in damages. Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis handed down several key pretrial rulings in Dominion’s favor, weeks before a jury trial that is scheduled to begin on April 28. An out-of-court settlement is always possible. That’s how Dominion’s similar lawsuit against Fox News ended in 2023, with a record-breaking $787 million agreement....

When the history of our time is finally written, assuming there’s someone around to write it (AI?), one can imagine how the historians may interpret the Democrats’ obsession with pseudo-sex-switching.“They believed boys could become girls merely by wishing it, and they persecuted those deviating from this orthodoxy.”“It’s why the Democratic Party died.”Depending on your point of view, that’s a very optimistic or very pessimistic vision of the future. But what it also is, many say, is a reason why the Democrats lost the 2024 election. After all, the MUSS (Made-up Sexual Status, aka “transgender”) agenda is the most bizarre of...

DEI: Fort McCoy’s Colonel Sheyla Baez Ramirez refuses to display SecDef and POTUS photographs. When will she be relieved from command?

The Trump administration’s move to exempt smartphones, computers and other electronics from sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs is only a temporary measure, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sunday, indicating those devices would be covered by upcoming sector-based tariffs. “This is not like a permanent sort of exemption. [Trump’s] just clarifying that these are not available to be negotiated away by countries. These are things that are national security, that we need to be made in America,” Lutnick told ABC’s “This Week.” Customs and Border Protection, which handles the collection of tariffs, posted a notice late Friday that certain electronics would be exempted...

Fasting has shown its potential to reduce colorectal cancer risk by triggering cellular changes that may slow tumor growth, with a study demonstrating a 20% improvement in overall survival. However, lifestyle changes alone aren't enough for prevention. Fasting has been shown to activate autophagy, the body's natural process of cleaning out damaged cells and regenerating healthy ones. According to a review, autophagy plays a key role in preventing cancer development by maintaining cellular health and reducing oxidative stress. By clearing away cells that might otherwise turn cancerous, fasting may help the body maintain a more stable and resilient internal environment....

Any good accountant knows that when the organization pushes back against an audit they are hiding something. (Leftist) Harvard University professors are suing to block the Trump administration’s review of nearly $9 billion in federal contracts and grants awarded to the Ivy League school. The review is part of the government’s crackdown on what it says is antisemitism on college campuses. Via Reuters.

Federal authorities allege a Wisconsin teen murdered his parents in order to “obtain the financial means and autonomy necessary” to assassinate President Donald Trump. According to Waukesha County authorities,17-year-old Nikita Casap was previously arrested in March on two counts of first-degree murder, along with two counts of hiding a corpse. Casap is also being charged with theft of property amounting to over $10,000 and the misappropriate of identification to obtain money. Casap’s stepfather, 51-year-old Donald Mayer, and his mother, 35-year-old Tatiana Casap, were found dead in their home on March 1st by the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department. After the discovery,...

13 April 2025 Palm SundayInterior of the chapel of San Hermenegildo in the cathedral of Seville, (Spain). In the foreground you can see the tomb of Cardinal Juan de Cervantes (1382-1453), and on the left the Baroque altarpiece of the chapel, which is dedicated to San Hermenegild.Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Red. Year: C(I).This gospel is read at the procession with palms before Mass.GospelLuke 19:28-40Blessings on him who comes in the name of the Lord.Jesus went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany,at the mount that is called Olivet,he sent two disciples,saying, ‘Go into...

Hundreds of protesters marched Saturday afternoon from San Francisco’s Embarcadero Plaza to City Hall in an event aimed at fighting fascism and promoting democracy. The People’s March for Democracy, an annual event organized by Juanita More and Alex U. Inn, was started in 2020 to bring together people to support LGBTQ communities and center a pride event in activism, which the leaders say are its “original roots.”

He was 24. The cause of death is suspected to be suicide... Lacy’s death comes months after he was arrested for his alleged involvement in a crash that killed a 78-year-old man in December. A grand jury was scheduled to begin hearing the case on Monday... He was accused of speeding in a 2023 Dodge Charger and crossing the center line in a no-passing zone, causing other drivers to swerve, which led to the death of Herman Hall. Lacy then allegedly fled the scene. “The driver of the Dodge, later identified as 24-year-old Kyren Lacy of Thibodaux, recklessly passed multiple...

QUANG NINH, Vietnam — When Le Ngoc Tham became sales manager for a new industrial park in northern Vietnam, the goal was to turn it into an easy alternative for manufacturers leaving China to avoid the tariffs of the first U.S.-Sino trade war. Three years later, with less than half of the 1,716-acre project completed, dozens of companies interested in leasing the land are having second thoughts. The source of hesitation is President Trump’s latest tariffs, which, as announced earlier this month, included a 46% tax on imports from Vietnam, the country’s eighth-largest trading partner. But even though Trump announced...

ETFs tracking the U.S. dollar are gaining investor attention as the greenback faces increased pressure amid increasing global trade tensions and indications of a weakening U.S. economy. As sentiment turns bearish at a record pace, ETFs such as Invesco DB U.S. Dollar Index Bullish Fund UUP -0.90% are becoming crucial tools for investors trying to deal with the volatility. The most popular dollar ETF is UUP, which provides exposure to the greenback versus a basket of currencies including the euro, yen, and pound. It’s constructed to profit when the dollar rises — but has underperformed in recent days as bearishness...