Free Republic

(Bloomberg) — US supplies of gasoline are being shipped out of the country to travel thousands of miles via the Bahamas before finally ending up in California, a state battling shrinking fuelmaking capacity and high pump prices. Shipments on the circuitous route are increasing. California imported more gasoline in November than ever before, with more than 40% coming from the Bahamas.

WASHINGTON (TNND) — House Intelligence Chairman Rick Crawford is raising concerns about two alleged unauthorized biological lab sites discovered on U.S. soil, one in Reedley, California, and another near Las Vegas, saying the cases raise questions about biosecurity and oversight, according to reporting from Just the News Not the Noise. The latest development came after federal agents executed a search warrant at a Las Vegas–area vacation rental in early February 2026. Investigators say the property may be connected to an earlier lab discovered in California, prompting renewed scrutiny from lawmakers and federal agencies. **SNIP** What investigators found in California The...

Does anyone have a recollection of Tom Smith, the bear researcher, telling of a time when he and another were doing bear research and the companion shot a handgun but missed all the shots at the bear? I have a vague recollection, but cannot find a source. I thought it was in an interview by Tom Smith, maybe in a hunting or outdoor publication. If anyone remembers such a thing, please reply.

Full video without the music. At one point the poster says "He's running!" a second later and he is no longer running....

The Trump administration is preparing to grant refugee status to a man who burned a Koran outside the Turkish consulate in London and is now facing further legal proceedings in the UK.Hamit Coskun, 51, previously had a conviction for a religiously aggravated public order offence overturned after he set fire to a copy of the Koran during a protest in Knightsbridge.However, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is challenging that ruling at a High Court hearing scheduled for Tuesday.A senior U.S. administration official told The Telegraph that it was “one of several cases the administration has made note of.”Coskun, who sought...

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, is intensifying pressure on Senate colleagues to advance the SAVE America Act, a Republican-backed election integrity bill that would mandate proof of citizenship to register and a photo ID to vote in federal elections.***"The longer we wait, the harder it'll get to pass the SAVE America Act," Lee wrote Sunday night on X. "Senate Republicans should rip off the Zombie Filibuster next week."***"By requiring Voter ID and proof-of-citizenship, the SAVE America Act will ensure that our federal elections are decided by U.S. citizens — and U.S. citizens alone."Under current Senate rules, most legislation cannot be voted...

A young girl was killed and four other people were hospitalized after a gunman opened fire in the middle of a high school hockey game in Rhode Island on Monday afternoon. The full number of wounded was not immediately known, but the suspect in the broad daylight shooting died at the scene, WPRI reports. The mayor’s office said that authorities aren’t searching for any additional suspects, according to a statement obtained by WJAR. The shooting was reported at Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, RI. The arena is home ice for the Johnson and Wales Wildcats hockey team. Students from Coventry, Johnston,...

Florida Republican Randy Fine has been heavily criticized for an errant social media post that appeared to express his preference for dogs over Muslims. Pundits from both sides of the aisle - from Jake Tapper to Megyn Kelly - rushed to denounce the Sunday X post as Islamophobic. 'If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one,' Fine initially wrote. The comment was slammed as 'disgusting bigotry' by CNN's Tapper, while Huffington Post contributor Yashar Ali described Fine as 'one of the most horrible people in public office' Fine, 51, responded to...

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nancy-guthrie-family-cleared-as-suspects/?ftag=YHF4eb9d17 Family cleared ad suspects, today

[Catholic Caucus] Women Heading Vatican Dicasteries Marks “Spirit-Led” Ecclesial Development - Cardinal OuelletThe appointment of laypeople to positions of authority in the Roman Curia is not a temporary concession, BUT an ecclesiological advance and a "Spirit-led development", “conservative” Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for Bishops, wrote on VaticanNews.va (February 16).Cardinal Ouellet acknowledges the “unease about a papal decision” given that nuns are now in positions reserved to bishops as there is a “close link between the ordained ministry and the function of governing the Church”.BUT: He has “no doubt” that Pope Francis’ gesture is promising for the...

Bill Maher told CNN that President Trump routinely “yells” at him via text for remaining a part of the “lunatic left” following their buddy-buddy dinner at the White House last year. The host of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” – who faced heated backlash from leftist viewers for dining with the president last April – laughed when CNN’s Elex Michaelson asked about his relationship with Trump in an interview posted to YouTube Saturday. When asked whether Trump texts him, Maher exclaimed: “Yes, yelling at me!”

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers discovered more than $6.8 million worth of cocaine hidden inside a Valentine’s rose shipment at the Texas-Mexico border. The massive drug bust at Laredo’s World Trade Bridge on February 10 yielded approximately 516 pounds of cocaine concealed among fresh flowers. Officials reported the haul contained enough cocaine for roughly 190,000 lethal doses. A CBP officer flagged the tractor-trailer for secondary inspection after it arrived at the crossing. The driver had declared the cargo as roses and fresh flowers. Officers deployed a canine team and non-intrusive imaging technology during their search. They discovered 211 packages...

WASHINGTON (TNND) — Florida GOP Rep. Randy Fine faced backlash over the weekend for a post on X where he implied dogs were preferable to Muslims. “If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one,” Fine wrote on X Sunday evening. He added context in a second post where he shared a screenshot of a tweet that reads, “Finally, NYC is coming to Islam. Dogs definitely have a place in society, just not as indoor pets. Like we’ve said all along, they are unclean.”

A man who was jailed for trying to gouge a Seattle shop owner's eyes after brutally beating his girlfriend with a liquor bottle has been freed from jail just eight months after he carried out the horrific attacks. Jibri Kambui, 28, attacked Jennafah Dawn Singer outside her art and jewelry shop on June 15 last year during a pop-up event. He approached her after he was seen screaming at event attendees and trying to break into people's cars, KIRO reported. Singer turned away from him and tried to go inside to call 911, but Kambui quickly grabbed her from behind...

Bungled link handed over sensitive docs, and when recipient didn't cooperate, police opted for cuffs iconDutch police have arrested a man for "computer hacking" after accidentally handing him their own sensitive files and then getting annoyed when he didn't hand them back. The Politie said on Monday that a 40-year-old man from Ridderkerk was arrested on Thursday after he wound up with confidential documents thanks to what officers acknowledge was their own cock-up. The chain of events reads less like a breach and more like an own goal. In connection with a separate investigation, the man contacted the police...

https://x.com/WallStreetApes/status/2022898940035899849 Wall Street Apes@WallStreetApesIt’s all coming out. Linkedin Billionaire Reid Hoffman’s name appears 2,600 times in the new Jeffrey Epstein FilesElon Musk was rightThe Biden Admin was letting top Democrat donors and Jeffrey Epstein clients sponsor DOJ investigationsElon Musk reveals “The SpaceX lawsuit was funded by Reid Hoffman, who is a major Dem donor and also a Jeffrey Epstein Client”Think about that, Democrats let their donors use our law enforcement to target their enemiesElon Musk explains the SpaceX DOJ investigation went on for YEARS, he explains in details the Weaponization of law enforcementAnd it was sponsored by a top Democrat...

Far-left New York City Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is being widely mocked for erroneously claiming that Venezuela is “below the equator” while trying to show off her foreign-policy chops in Germany. Venezuela sits just above the equator, but that didn’t stop the Democratic socialist — who majored in international relations at Boston University — from making the embarrassing gaffe while speaking at a Technical University of Berlin panel Sunday. “[Nicolas] Maduro canceled elections. He was an anti-democratic leader,” Ocasio-Cortez said, describing the Venezuela elections that took place under the Maduro regime and which many international organizations have said were rigged.

Though rarely honored these days exactly on Feb. 22, his actual birth date, “Presidents’ Day” is officially still Washington’s birthday. And that’s entirely right and proper, as our first chief executive deserves every American’s gratitude. Amid today’s bitter political discord, all should consider Washington’s example. Yes, he — and the entire generation of the Founders — achieved greatness that none of their successors could hope to match.

Explanation: How is RXJ0528+2838 creating such shock waves? A recently discovered white dwarf star, the farther left of the two largest white spots, RXJ0528+2838, was found 730 light-years away from Earth. Most stars, when done fusing nuclei in their cores for energy, become red giant stars, the cores of which live on as faint dense white dwarfs that slowly cool down for the rest of time. White dwarfs are so dense that the only thing that stops them from collapsing further is quantum mechanics. In about 5 billion years, our Sun will become a white dwarf, too. The featured image,...

A new report accuses the social studies curriculum of the School District of Philadelphia as being anti-Semitic and anti-American due to the curriculum’s new focus on looking at history through oppressor and oppressed categories. The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis published a report Wednesday criticizing the SDP’s social studies curriculum for allegedly attacking Western values and institutions, specifically “capitalism, racism, and settler colonialism.” The report alleged the move toward “anti-racist, decolonizing curriculum” encouraged teachers to openly attack America, Zionism, and Israel in their classrooms, according to a Wednesday X post by CAMERA’s accou