Free Republic

The Starship test flight encountered problems approximately 30 minutes into its uncrewed journey. Starship’s ninth flight test launch. - SpaceX/X ===================================================================== On May 27th, SpaceX launched the ninth test flight of its 403-feet (123-metre) Starship megarocket. Despite reaching orbit, the vehicle then lost attitude control, resulting in an uncontrolled reentry and its third consecutive failure. After lifting off from Starbase, Texas, at 7:36 p.m. Eastern, the Starship test flight encountered problems approximately 30 minutes into its uncrewed journey. An onboard fuel leak caused the mega-rocket to spin uncontrollably in space, leading to an earlier-than-planned re-entry into the atmosphere. SpaceX announced...

Every year, postsecondary institutions of all kinds distribute hundreds of billions of dollars in student financial aid across the United States—not to mention the tens of billions in aid allocated by state governments and institutions of higher learning themselves. Such aid ranges from loans with well-below-market interest rates to flat-out grants (such as Pell Grants), the lion’s share of which are propped up by taxpayer dollars. Since the end of the Second World War, America has invested heavily in higher education, for good reason. But a recent spike in financial-aid fraud is syphoning taxpayer dollars away from their intended purpose:...

Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “All In” that if Republicans passed President Donald Trump’s spending bill as is, they would “get smoked” in the 2026 midterm elections. Host Chris Hayes said, “Josh Hawley, Republican, Missouri, wrote a big op-ed in The New York Times saying Medicaid cuts are a bad idea. Does that end up mattering in the Senate?” Murphy said, “I think it’s a great question, Chris because the Republican Party still does essentially operate like a cult. And that’s not fundamentally different in the Senate than it is in the House. I mean, yes, you’ve...

It was an extraordinary scene. Donald Trump, recently re-elected as president of the United States, found himself surrounded by women and girls in the East Room of the White House. The date was 5 February 2025, and Trump was signing an executive order entitled ‘Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports’. As the US president took to his desk and prepared his pen, he invited his all-female audience to draw closer. ‘Secret service is worried about them?’, he joked. ‘If we have to worry about them we have big problems.’ There was laughter, applause, a hubbub of palpable relief that an...

Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov claimed on Wednesday that United States President Donald Trump is "not being informed enough" about the war in Ukraine. He said Trump is unaware of Ukraine's "massive terrorist attacks against peaceful cities" in Russia and that he "does not fully understand that the Russian Federation is striking exclusively at military infrastructure facilities or the military-industrial complex" in Ukraine. Trump has been critical of Russia's strikes on Ukraine, stating that Russian President Vladimir Putin is "needlessly killing a lot of people" and attacking Ukrainian cities "for no reason whatsoever." Ushakov added that the Kremlin monitors all...

The MenstruAI app analyzes the image to detect even subtle changes in color intensity, translating them into readable health insights. Colour changes on the sanitary towel can be interpreted by eye or photographed with a smartphone and evaluated directly in the app. The prototype has a dot with a control dot on the test strip for each biomarker. Lucas Dosnon and Josef Kuster / ETH Zurich (AI-generated) ================================================================================= A new technology developed at ETH Zurich is transforming a long-overlooked source of medical data — menstrual blood — into a powerful health-monitoring tool. Dubbed MenstruAI, this innovative system integrates a non-electronic...

A former Minot Air Force Base Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile officer who was involved with a 1966 UFO incident in the Minot missile field, will be a member of a “UAP (unidentified aerial phenomena) and Nukes Panel: Disturbing Confrontations Over Nuclear Bases” on Friday during the Contact in the Desert Conference. Dave Schindele of Mukilteo, Washington, a retired Air Force captain, will be among several panelists, including Robert Salas, also a former Air Force missile officer. Salas was involved in an event at Malmstrom AFB, Montana, in 1967, similar to the one Schindele was involved in at Minot AFB in...

“‘“And forgive us our debts”’” (Matthew 6:12). God will not forgive our sins if we do not confess them. John makes that condition clear when he declares, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Confession simply means we agree with God that our sins are evil and defiling and we do not want them to taint our walk with Christ. Our sinful pride makes it difficult to confess sin, but it is the only way to the free and joyful Christian life...

Japan is reportedly planning to import nearly $7 billion worth of U.S.-made semiconductors in a move that could significantly benefit chipmakers like Nvidia Corporation amid ongoing trade negotiations with the Donald Trump administration. What Happened: Japan has proposed purchasing up to 1 trillion yen ($6.94 billion) in U.S. semiconductor products, reported Reuters via Asahi newspaper, which cited unidentified sources. The Japanese government would subsidize domestic companies that purchase the American chips, the report said. The plan is designed to help reduce the U.S.'s approximately 10 trillion yen trade deficit with Japan. Japan's chief tariff negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, is expected to...

What is the Third Commandment? The Third Commandment is: Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day. Which is the Sabbath day? Saturday is the Sabbath day. Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday? We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea (A.D. 336), transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday. Why did the Catholic Church substitute Sunday for Saturday? The Church substituted Sunday for Saturday, because Christ rose from the dead on a Sunday, and the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles on a Sunday. By what authority did the Church...

28 May 2025 Wednesday of the 6th week of EastertideChurch of Saint-Bernard de Menthon, commune of Menthon-Saint-Bernard, FranceReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: C(I).First readingActs 17:15,22-18:1I proclaim the God you already worship without knowing itPaul’s escort took him as far as Athens, and went back with instructions for Silas and Timothy to rejoin Paul as soon as they could. So Paul stood before the whole Council of the Areopagus and made this speech: ‘Men of Athens, I have seen for myself how extremely scrupulous you are in all religious matters, because I noticed, as I strolled round admiring your...

The Department of Education (ED) under the Biden administration used an obscure hiring gimmick to bring in nearly 200 attorneys while pushing radical policies that faced persistent legal opposition. The Biden administration used the Schedule A hiring process, which provides an expedited path by bypassing the usual competitive process and negating the requirement that appointments be made based on merit. ED hired 193 attorneys from Jan. 20, 2021 through April 30, 2024 mostly staffing the department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), according to documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT) and shared...

House Republicans have inserted a provision into the recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act that could significantly limit judicial oversight of the executive branch. The provision, found on page 562 of the 1,118-page bill, would effectively remove judges’ ability to hold parties in contempt for defying court orders. The new measure specifically targets injunctions and temporary restraining orders, requiring litigants to provide a security bond before a judge can exercise contempt powers. This requirement would apply to all orders, including those issued before the law’s enactment, potentially affecting numerous existing cases against the Trump administration.

What if stupidity isn’t about intelligence at all, but about surrendering the will to think? In this chilling and timely video essay, we explore Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s theory of stupidity — a terrifying insight into how smart, well-meaning people can become blind instruments of destruction. Drawing on Bonhoeffer’s life, the psychology of conformity, Milgram’s obedience experiments, social media echo chambers, and the rise of AI-driven misinformation, we reveal why stupidity isn't a lack of intellect — it's a surrender of critical thought. 👉 Why do intelligent people support dangerous ideas? 👉 How does groupthink override personal judgment? 👉 What does it...

The University of Florida must not make a mistake in hiring the president who will replace Ben Sasse. To do so could destroy one of the crown jewels of American higher education, a model of excellence and the plain common sense so sorely lacking on campus. The haste with which the Gator trustees will vote upon their sole finalist, Santa Ono, and the Board of Governors will make final their decision is ill-advised. There are cases in which the presentation of a sole finalist to the board ends successfully, but it is a risky procedure. When controversy over a candidate’s...

Russian president Vladimir Putin has acknowledged crop shortages as pressure on the country’s economy continues to mount. Pressure is mounting on Russia amid labour shortages, international sanctions, record interest rates, and inflation, but Putin’s admission of shortages of key crops marks a milestone in the nation’s woes. Speaking yesterday in a televised meeting, he said: “Yesterday, I met with representatives from various business sectors, including agriculture. It turns out that we don’t have enough potatoes. “I spoke with Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko. He said, ‘We’ve already sold everything to Russia’.” Potato shortages have become a serious problem in neighbouring Belarus, with...

The United Nations warned Wednesday there is a 70 percent chance that average warming from 2025 to 2029 will exceed the 1.5 degrees Celsius international benchmark. The planet is therefore expected to remain at historic levels of warming after the two hottest years ever recorded in 2023 and 2024, according to an annual climate report published by the World Meteorological Organization, the UN's weather and climate agency. "We have just experienced the 10 warmest years on record," said the WMO's deputy secretary-general Ko Barrett. "Unfortunately, this WMO report provides no sign of respite over the coming years, and this means...

In a brief return to Britain, I was concerned to see that London has undergone a dramatic demographic change. The city of my birth is visibly more Muslim than it was even four years ago. On the Tube, I saw more hijabs than baseball caps. The Muslim niqab -- with its full face covering -- is no longer rare. For decades, Brits have not been allowed to question the wisdom of importing large numbers of people into a western society who do not share western values. (Brits who do so on social media risk going to prison). Instead, there was...

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US President Donald Trump’s envoy, Keith Kellogg, on Wednesday scolded a top Russian official for stoking fears of World War Three after Trump warned President Vladimir Putin was “playing with fire” over Ukraine. -snip- US envoy Kellogg quoted Medvedev’s post and said it reckless. “Stoking fears of WW III is an unfortunate, reckless comment... and unfitting of a world power,” Kellogg said on X. “President Trump @POTUS is working to stop this war and end the killing. We await receipt of RU Memorandum (Term Sheet) that you promised a week ago. Cease fire now.”