Free Republic

California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) reacted Monday evening to President Donald Trump’s proposed 100% tariff on movies made outside the U.S. by asking for a $7.5 billion tax credit for the industry instead. Trump made the tariff proposal Sunday as a way of shifting Hollywood production back to the U.S., after decades in which the industry sought to cut costs by filming in Canada or even as far away as South Africa. The president’s proposal drew applause from unions that represent “below the line” workers in the film industry, such as the Teamsters, which praised the president for taking American...

Massive airstrikes targeting Houthi-held Sana'a International Airport and al-Dailami airbase in Sana'a Over 15 strikes so far This after the IDF ordered an evacuation of the airport earlier

Latest statistics reveal alarming increase in rapes, reaching 5,206 incidents in 2024, nearly triple the figure reported six years ago ... Spain has seen an alarming rise in sexual violence over recent years, culminating in a record-high number of rapes, which reached 5,206 incidents in 2024, ... With an average of 14 rapes per day across the country, the figure nearly triples the 1,878 cases reported in 2019 when five daily incidents were reported. The upward trend has remained consistent year-over-year since 2018 ... Regional breakdowns show that communities like Catalonia, Madrid, and Andalusia report the highest numbers, although increases...

Have you ever walked through a city and wondered what might be hidden underneath? In this video, we explore the fascinating phenomenon of layered cities, where entire civilizations were built on top of one another. From the buried ruins beneath the Roman Forum and the Basilica of San Clemente to the multi-layered city of Troy and the sunken streets of Seattle, learn how history gets hidden underground and why street levels rise over time. Why Ancient Ruins Are Underground | 8:31 Primal Space | 1.54M subscribers | 85,234 views | May 3, 2025

Germany faces criticism from all directions for its authoritarian actions against the country's largest opposition party ... The German government appears to be seriously preparing for a ban of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party after the country’s powerful domestic spy agency classified the party as “definitely right-wing extremist.” Now, world leaders are reacting to the classification, with Hungarian Prime Minister saying he backs the party and its co-leader Alice Weidel. After the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) gave the AfD its new designation, which paves the way for a ban of the entire party, Orbán asked...

A team of chemists has achieved the unprecedented: stabilizing a notoriously reactive carbene molecule in water, validating a decades-old theory about vitamin B1 and offering a greener path for chemical manufacturing. Chemists have successfully generated an unstable molecule in water, a feat once believed to be impossible. Chemists have confirmed a 67-year-old theory about vitamin B1 by stabilizing a highly reactive molecule in water, a breakthrough that was long considered impossible. This discovery not only resolves a long-standing biochemical question but also paves the way for more sustainable and efficient methods of producing pharmaceuticals. The molecule involved is a carbene,...

Imagine walking into a store in the near future–not with cash, not with a card, but with your eyes. No wallet, no phone. Just your iris. It sounds like science fiction. But it’s happening now, and it’s called Worldcoin. This is no ordinary tech rollout. The project, co-founded by OpenAI/ChatGPT CEO Sam Altman, is expanding rapidly across the world, offering people free cryptocurrency in exchange for one thing: a scan of their eyeball.

Our southernmost continent is, we’ve been told, the suffocating canary in the global coal mine. The more ice loss in Antarctica, the greater trouble we’re in. So what do we make of a study which found that between 2021 and 2023, there was a record-breaking increase in the Antarctic Ice Sheet? We mark it down as another in a long line of misses from the global warming zealots. “Notably, four major glaciers in the Wilkes Land–Queen Mary Land region of East Antarctica reversed their previous pattern of accelerated mass loss from 2011 to 2020 and instead showed significant mass gain...

U.S. President Donald Trump will sit down with newly elected Prime Minister Mark Carney in Washington, DC, on Tuesday for the first meeting between the two since the Canadian’s election win. They’ll have a lot to talk about. The 60-year-old Liberal Party leader and former central bank governor pledged during the Canadian election campaign Trump would “never break” Canada, vowing Ottawa would look to forge new trading alliances with its southern neighbor even as he added the “special relationship” with the U.S. is “over.”

Germany's conservative leader Friedrich Merz narrowly lost a vote in the Bundestag to become the next chancellor in an unexpected setback that plunges Europe's largest economy into political uncertainty. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which finished second in the most recent election, demanded fresh elections after Merz's loss, the first time in German history that a chancellor-designate has failed to win in the first round of voting.

Germany’s Friedrich Merz has failed to win an initial parliamentary vote that would have confirmed his ascension to chancellor, an unprecedented and unexpected twist that extends political uncertainty for the country. Merz, who won an election in February and unveiled a ruling coalition last month, fell six short in a vote on Tuesday by lawmakers that had been expected to be a formality. He is expected to eventually find a path to power, but the result pitches Germany into yet more political chaos. February’s vote started a weeks-long period of politicking and negotiating, during which the country’s establishment was buffeted...

“‘When you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you’” (Matthew 6:3–4). The most satisfying, God-blessed giving is that which we do and then forget about. We do not wait for or want recognition—we’re not even concerned whether the recipient is grateful or not. The act should be so discreet that even our left hand will not realize what happened. The Old Testament describes giving as a part of God’s...

🇺🇸Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem 🇮🇱(5/6/25)[Prayer]Water, Rivers, and Streams in the BibleGenesis 2:4-74 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. 5 Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth[a] and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, 6 but streams[b] came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. 7 Then the Lord God formed a man[c] from...

Taliban took in $3.4 billion in revenue over past year, boosting cash supply in wake of Biden admin's Afghan withdrawal ... The Taliban took in $3.4 billion in revenue over the last year, boosting its cash supply by 14 percent amid the return of Afghanistan as a central safe haven for terrorist organizations across the Middle East, according to a U.S. government watchdog group. The repercussions of the Biden administration’s disastrous 2021 military withdrawal from Afghanistan continue to reverberate across the war-torn country, with multiple al Qaeda affiliates accessing American-supplied "weapons seized from the former Afghan National Army," according to...

Russia's oil price in roubles has fallen to a two-year low below the 4,000 rouble per barrel mark and some 40% lower than planned in the federal budget, data showed, piling pressure on the Kremlin, already saddled with a burgeoning budget deficit. -snip- According to Reuters calculations, the average price of Russia's mix of Urals and ESPO blends dipped on May 2 to $48.92 per barrel, or 3,987 roubles, which is more than 40% below the 6,726 roubles the government had originally planned for this year. That's the lowest since May 2023, according to Reuters data. It is also still...

A platoon commander who participated in the October 7th Massacre and was in charge of holding several Israeli hostages, as well as a Hamas sniper array commander, were photographed surrendering to IDF soldiers in Rafah.

At Vindolanda, small, portable phalli made of bone or metal were commonly worn as pendants around the neck, to ward off evil and aid fertility.According to experts, this particular object's smooth surface suggests the owner touched it often for good luck...Vindolanda Charitable Trust posted the find to its Facebook page, where it was met with some hilarious comments...It is now at an on-site laboratory where it will be cleaned before going being researched further and going on public display at Vindolanda in 2026.Just under an inch (2.5cm) in length, the phallic charm was constructed out of jet, a dark, semi-precious...

As pharmacy deserts crop up across western Washington, a large chain is biting the dust. Rite Aid CEO Matthew Schroeder briefed employees Monday that all stores would either close or be sold as the company files for bankruptcy,.. The media outlet stated funding from investors fell short, and the company faced a series of economic issues, including tariffs, more expensive supply costs, pricier landlords, and what Schroeder called a “dramatic downturn in the economy.” According to the court filing, as posted on Kroll, to support Rite Aid during bankruptcy, the company secured commitments from lenders to access nearly $2 billion...

6 May 2025Tuesday of the 3rd week of EastertideNotre-Dame de Québec CathedralReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: C(I).First readingActs 7:51-8:1'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit'Stephen said to the people, the elders and the scribes: ‘You stubborn people, with your pagan hearts and pagan ears. You are always resisting the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do. Can you name a single prophet your ancestors never persecuted? In the past they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, and now you have become his betrayers, his murderers. You who had the Law brought to you by...

A medieval cemetery unearthed near an airport in the UK has continued to raise questions for archaeologists, as the mystery surrounding it has multiplied.The discovery of the site at Cardiff Airport dates to the 6th or 7th Century and was announced last year.Dozens of skeletons were found lying in unusual positions with unexpected artefacts and now researchers have learned nearly all of those buried in the cemetery are women.While their bones have shown signs of wear and tear, there are also surprising signs of wealth and luxury. Mystery of medieval cemetery near UK airport runway deepens | 4:20 BBC News...