Free Republic

I’m leaving Pittsburgh, on a flight to Denver, reflecting on the last 36 hours. The Energy and Innovation Summit has just concluded, where I was invited to sit on a panel and address a room full of big shots. When my mother learned I’d be attending an event with dozens of billionaires as well as the President of the United States, she asked me if I’d be wearing something appropriate. “I’ll be wearing a suit,” I said. “Good,” she said. “Do you have one that isn’t made of rubber?” “Yes, mom. I have several suits made from cotton and wool.”...

The codename: Project Solis. The work: nuclear fusion testing. The cost: $1 billion. The site: Albuquerque? For the past few months, local and state officials have discreetly been talking with Pacific Fusion, a California-based company that could set up a 225,000-square-foot nuclear fusion facility worth $1 billion in Albuquerque’s Mesa del Sol or another site in the city. With the research and development facility could come 200 permanent jobs and hundreds more construction jobs. The New Mexico Economic Development Department and Pacific Fusion officials announced on Wednesday a memorandum of understanding for the site. Officials had been working on the...

Former Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday joined calls for the Trump administration to release more files in the case involving disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.In an interview on CBS News’s “The Takeout,” Pence called for greater transparency out of the White House, while stressing the importance of protecting the names of victims involved.“The time has come for the administration to release all of the files regarding Jeffrey Epstein’s investigation and prosecution,” he told host Major Garrett.“It’s important that we protect the names of the victims,” he continued. “They should be excluded from any disclosure, but whether...

For long-time followers of fusion energy, Tokamak Hall is the high-water mark after decades of ups and downs. From an observation deck on the side, the surgically-clean, hospital-white room feels both like a cathedral and yet somehow too tiny for its lofty purpose. Commonwealth Fusion Systems, the company building it, says the room will soon hold a tokamak, the central donut-shaped device necessary for one approach to nuclear fusion. In the tokamak, scientists will heat up deuterium and tritium to 100 million degrees Celsius and fuse them together—producing heat that can be converted to electricity in the process. But as...

Right-wing activist Laura Loomer warned that President Donald Trump’s handling of the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein threatens to “consume his presidency” in an interview on Wednesday, a dramatic rebuke from a presidential confidante that illustrates the growing rupture in the MAGA coalition. She likened it to the intense media interest in ties between Trump’s first White House campaign and Russia, saying “I don’t want it to consume his presidency.” “Obviously, this is not a complete hoax given the fact that Ghislaine Maxwell is currently serving 20 years in prison in Florida for her crimes and activities with Jeffrey Epstein, who...

The ruling elites of the Islamic Republic of Iran are not known worldwide for their friendly, sunny dispositions; in fact, they have a long and ever-growing list of pet hates, including America, Israel, women (at least if their heads are uncovered and they’re out in public), and man’s other best friend, dogs. The ruling Iranian mullahs have now extended a ban that was already in effect in over twenty Iranian cities to the entire country: it is now against the law to walk the dog. That means, of course, that while private ownership of dogs as pets is ostensibly permitted...

NEW YORK, July 15, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- A new poll from HarrisX finds the New York City mayoral race shaping up to be a tight and competitive contest, with Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani statistically tied with former Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa in a four-way race. While Mamdani leads Mayor Eric Adams in a head-to-head race, the poll shows Cuomo defeating the Democratic nominee by a wide 15-point margin in a one-on-one contest. In a four-way race, Mamdani (26 percent) is tied with Cuomo (23 percent) and Sliwa (22 percent), all within the margin of error. Adams is...

VIDEOForget President Trump being just millimeters away from being killed. Forget about Corey Comperatore who actually was killed. Forget about the ones who were wounded. Scott MacFarlane of CBS News is the most vocal victim, at least in his own mind, of the Butler shooting. See, Poor Scott is now suffering from PTSD he got at Butler. Not from the shooting itself but because he thought the crowd was nasty towards him. Lack of politeness forced Scott to take trauma leave. Awwww! We must now all grieve in sympathy for a terrified snowflake who got his feelings hurt.

Despite facing cuts to academic research under the Trump administration, the US National Science Foundation (NSF) is financing a new $20-million supercomputer built by the Georgia Institute of Technology that will use AI to advance science, the university said Tuesday. The supercomputer, called Nexus, is intended to find new cures for diseases, better understand the human brain, and advance quantum computing. It will calculate more than 400 quadrillion operations per second. Georgia Tech will retain 10% of its capacity, while researchers from around the US can apply to use it as well. The funding is one of the more significant...

Preparations are underway to quickly transfer additional Patriot air defence systems to Ukraine, NATO's top military commander Alexus Grynkewich said on Thursday, as the country suffers some of the heaviest Russian attacks of the war so far. "We are working very closely with the Germans on the Patriot transfer", he told a conference in the German city of Wiesbaden. "The guidance that I have been given has been to move out as quickly as possible." U.S. President Donald Trump this week announced a toughened stance against Russia for its more than three-year war in Ukraine and promised new missiles and...

Last week, during one of ICE’s biggest worksite raids yet at a marijuana farm in California, a rioter pulled out a gun and shot at agents. Thankfully, no one was hit. However, the suspect has not yet been apprehended. Today, the FBI released a photo of the suspect. They are asking the public for any information pertaining to his identity and offering a $50K reward for info leading to his arrest. See for yourself: The FBI is releasing a new photo in order to identify a suspected protester who brandished a pistol and fired toward agents conducting lawful activity in...

Jeep-maker Stellantis said Wednesday it was pulling the plug on plans to build light vans using hydrogen fuel cells, saying it saw no prospects for it to be commercially viable. The company, whose stable of brands also includes Peugeot, Citroen and Fiat, had planned to begin serial production of commercial vans equipped with hydrogen fuel cells this summer at sites in northern France and southern Poland. "The hydrogen market remains a niche segment, with no prospects of mid-term economic sustainability," said Jean-Philippe Imparato, Stellantis's chief operating officer for the European region. The company cited limited availability of hydrogen refueling infrastructure,...

With the federal EV incentive set to expire at the end of September, Ford is urging its dealers to prepare for a rush of buyers. Ford warns dealers of upcoming EV rush Like most automakers, Ford is preparing for a shakeup under the Trump Administration. After the “One Big Beautiful Bill” was signed into law on July 4, the $7,500 and $4,000 tax credit for new and used EVs will no longer be available after September 30. In a memo sent to dealers this week, Ford warned, “demand is expected to increase as the deadline approaches for eligible vehicles.” The...

Daily Readings from the USCCB“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” Matthew 11:29–30For those first followers of Jesus, a “yoke” was a familiar term. Many would have worked with oxen and other animals on a regular basis to plow their fields. To do so, they would place a wooden yoke over the oxen, which was a form of harness that was also attached to the plow, making it easier for the oxen to till...

While the world was distracted by the Epstein debacle, legislators introduced the GENUIS Act that would permit the US government to regulate stablecoins. The GENUIS (Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act), primarily sponsored by Senator Bill Hagerty (R-Tennessee), permits the government to oversee, regulate, and define the $250 billion stablecoin market. Now, stablecoins differ from cryptocurrencies as they are pegged to a stable asset such as a fiat currency or commodity. Cryptocurrencies are allegedly allowed to freely operate on the market based on supply and demand. The GENIUS Act will peg stablecoins to the US dollar and...

The Biden administration's annual "Resource Adequacy Report" mentioned climate change 17 times. The Trump administration's report doesn't mention it at all. Energy Secretary Chris Wright says the latest report confirms the U.S. electricity grid is on an "unstable and dangerous path." The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released its annual “Resource Adequacy Report,” earlier this month, and it warns that blackouts are coming if the country carries out the Biden-era plan to retire fossil fuel power plants. That is not sitting well with climate activists. The report's executive summary opens with a declaration that the U.S. possesses “abundant energy sources...

In Stockholm, Sweden, the average wait time to rent an apartment is almost 10 years. New York City could be headed down this road if Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani delivers on his promise to freeze rents on the city’s 1 million rent-stabilized apartments.If he wins in November and implements even half of what he is running on, he will be the anchor that sinks New York City and the national electoral fortunes of Democrats. Anyone with influence and a spine within the Democratic Party should react accordingly.

A group of current or former Louisiana police chiefs and the operator of a Subway sandwich shop are accused of colluding in a decade-long scheme to falsify police reports to help foreign nationals get visas meant for crime victims or witnesses. A federal grand jury returned a 62-count indictment charging two police chiefs, a former police chief, a marshal and the restaurant operator on charges including bribery, mail fraud, money laundering, conspiracy and immigration fraud, a federal prosecutor said Wednesday. The scheme focused on getting U visas, which allow foreign nationals without any official status in the US to stay...

This is the Wednesday evening service at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills with Amir Tsarfati as the guest. Amir and Pastor Jack discuss the situation in the Middle East and all the things that led up to Oct 7 and what's been happening with other minorities in the Middle East in the countries around them. The video is 1:33;27 minutes long. It is long but is fascinating and contains a wealth of information.

His expedition found a “mountain of gold” at the bottom of the Atlantic. But he might never see a cent of the lost fortune. It was late in the summer of 1988 when Tommy Thompson finally located a big rusty paddle wheel buried in ocean floor sediment. Now he was banking on an even bigger discovery: a cache of 19th-century gold worth as much as half a billion dollars. On September 11, Thompson and a crew of explorers hunkered down aboard the Arctic Discoverer, a retrofitted Canadian icebreaking ship about 160 miles east of South Carolina. There they deployed an...