Free Republic

The National Weather Service’s reduction in weather balloon launches left forecasters on shaky ground last week as the central U.S. got hammered with hail and tornadoes, outside meteorologists told NBC News. The storms were one of the first tests of weather forecasts during severe weather since balloon releases were cut back in places like Grand Junction, Colorado; Omaha, Nebraska; and Green Bay, Wisconsin, among other sites. Balloon launches are time-intensive tasks, and many local offices were forced to cut back after the Trump administration trimmed the size of NWS by offering early retirements and laying off some probationary workers.

BRICS member China has unveiled the world’s first Gold ATM that melts, tests, and converts gold into instant bank transfers. The ATM has already witnessed long queues of people trying to sell off their generational gold. Users need to book an appointment to use it, and according to early reports, appointment slots are full until as late as May. The Gold ATM is operated by China’s Kinghood Group and is installed at a mall in Shanghai. The machine weighs, checks the quality, and analyses the Gold before dispensing the money equivalent to the price that was put in. The ATM...

Harvard Law professor emeritus Laurence Tribe claimed Tuesday on CNN’s “The Situation Room” that President Donald Trump’s actions against Harvard University are out of the “dictator’s handbook,” liking them to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. Host Wolf Blitzer said, “Harvard University is filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration, accusing the White House of violating the First Amendment and freezing federal funding to the school.” He asked, “Help us better understand the claim that Harvard is making.” Tribe said, “Well, the basic claim is one that really connects what’s going on here to what’s gone on throughout history when autocrats and...

The Tesla Model S is considered a mid-size sedan. Driving this electric make and model 100 miles per day will result in charging costs of $136.36 per month. Covering that same distance in a gas-powered Toyota Camry — at 32 miles per gallon and $3.90 per gallon — would total around $371 per month. Overall, it would cost approximately $235 more to drive the Camry.

Explanation: What's different about this Moon? It's the terminators. In the featured image, you can't directly see any terminator -- the line that divides the light of day from the dark of night. That's because the featured image is a digital composite of many near-terminator lunar strips over a full Moon. Terminator regions show the longest and most prominent shadows -- shadows which, by their contrast and length, allow a flat photograph to appear three-dimensional. The overlay images were taken over two weeks in early April. Many of the Moon's craters stand out because of the shadows they all cast...

Sen. Ron Johnson is actively investigating 9/11. A day after the Wisconsin Republican went on a far-right podcast promoting conspiracy theories about the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, a spokesperson for Johnson said the lawmaker is currently seeking information and documentation in order to hold hearings on the event nearly 25 years later. He would do so in his capacity as chair of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, one of Congress’s most storied and powerful panels with far-reaching jurisdiction that gives its chair wide latitude to probe a diverse array of matters. It has...

Paid Protests are being labeled "Grass Roots" but are in fact being funded and organized by globalist like George Soros.

VIDEOThe Spanish Legion was modeled after the French Foreign Legion yet it has several significant differences. Although the enlisted ranks of the French Foreign Legion are composed entirely of non-French citizens, the members of the Spanish Legion are almost entirely Spaniards. Another difference is that the Spanish Legion march is much faster than the French Foreign Legion march. In fact, as you can see, the Spanish Legion marches so rapidly that you can be forgiven if you think the video of their march is being played at fast speed although I assure you that it's not. The Spanish Legion uniform...

Dear FRiends, We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. This means no spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers. And because we are not a 501C, we have preserved our God-given, constitutionally protected right to free speech without government intervention. If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today: Click here: to donate by Credit CardOr here: to donate by PayPalOr by mail to: Free Republic, LLC...

Representative Robert Garcia (D-CA) said Tuesday on CNN’s “The Situation Room” that the Trump administration’s refusal to bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to the United States represented the president stepping over a red line. Garcia said, “I think what’s really, really, really clear to us is that this is more than just about immigration or deportations, this is about a red line in the sand that Donald Trump is now stepping over. the fact that he’s unwilling or unwilling to listen to the supreme court, of which he appointed conservative judges, justices to, is a fire alarm moment in this...

The Iowa House passed legislation Monday to legalize the use of psilocybin, the psychoactive compound found in “magic mushrooms,” for psychiatric treatment through a state program. House File 978, passed 84-6, would establish a Psilocybin Production Establishment Licensing Board within the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, operating in a similar fashion to the existing Medical Cannabidiol Advisory Board that oversees Iowa’s medical cannabis program. The board would grant licenses for the production and administration of products with psilocybin to people with certain mental health needs in the state. The bill also sets new requirements for who can access...

U.S. — In yet another step toward the advancement of protections for all people groups, activists announced today that MS-13 had officially been added to the LGBTQ+ acronym to ensure that the rights of violent foreign gang members were recognized. Civil rights groups hailed the announcement as a significant step forward in the ongoing crusade to see MS-13 gang members be given their rightful place in society among other persecuted groups after decades of mistreatment and ostracism. "MS-13 gang members are some of the most oppressed and vulnerable in our society," said LGBTQMS-13 activist Cherise Hargrave. "For far too long,...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered to halt his invasion of Ukraine across the current front line as part of efforts to reach a peace deal with U.S. President Donald Trump, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday citing people familiar with the matter. Putin told Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, during a meeting in St Petersburg earlier this month that Moscow could relinquish its claims to areas of four partly occupied Ukrainian regions that remain under Kyiv’s control, the report said citing three people familiar with the talks.

Peter Frampton arrives in the press room at the Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony at Barclays Center on November 3, 2023, in New York City. The musician turns 75 on April 22.

Democrats are waking up to the reality that while they used to operate with a monopoly on “trust,” even their voters are tuning out. Axios published a piece that felt like an obituary detailing how “America’s obsession with countering mis- and disinformation has withered as society grows skeptical of institutions once trusted with facts.” For years, the left controlled “professional fact-checking,” using it to control speech and approved narratives. Even the federal government was a part of the game by creating backdoors into social media companies to restrain Americans from posting unapproved thoughts. Still, Axios seems confused about why institutions...

Another day, another leak. More information on the second Hegseth Signal chat group was leaked to NBC News. As previously reported, three Hegseth aides placed on leave amid a probe into leaks were officially fired last Friday. Following the terminations, contents of another Signal group chat with Pete Hegseth were leaked to The Wall Street Journal. “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth created a Signal chat with his wife, his personal lawyer and others, and posted sensitive military information into it, people familiar with the matter said Sunday, a revelation that has added to the increasing scrutiny of the novice leader,” The...

More than 3,500 staffers are preparing to leave the Energy Department in coming days, gutting offices tasked with doling out billions of dollars... Roughly 77 percent of workers at the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, or OCED, took an offer to leave voluntarily... deeper cuts are likely on the horizon as DOE complies with the administration's push to shrink the federal footprint... OCED, for example, was allocated more than $25 billion under those laws, including for hydrogen hubs, carbon capture and battery projects.

The United States is proposing to recognize Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea and freeze the war's front lines as part of a peace agreement, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday, citing several people familiar with deliberations. The U.S. proposals were presented to Ukraine in Paris last week, according to the Post.

MOSCOW, April 22 (Reuters) - A powerful blast ripped through a Russian town east of Moscow on Tuesday where a weapons arsenal is located, local media and Telegram channels close to Russia's security services said, prompting the evacuation of several villages. Local authorities declared a state of emergency in the Vladimir region, where unverified video published on Telegram showed a huge fire ball and clouds of thick smoke rising into the sky.

The 20-year-old who allegedly opened fire on the Florida State University (FSU) campus had been prescribed medication for “emotional dysregulation”; it is unclear whether he had stopped taking medication at the time of the shooting. CNN reported that he “suffered from emotional dysregulation,” but noted that family members indicated “he had stopped taking some of the prescribed medication.” The Cleveland Clinic says: Emotional dysregulation isa brain-related symptom that means you have trouble managing your feelings and emotions. It’s often a sign of conditions that affect your brain or differences in how your brain developed or works today. It’s usually not...