Free Republic

On their last full day in space, the Artemis II crew began the morning with “Lonesome Drifter” by Charley Crockett as they approached Earth at 147,337 miles. NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen will continue preparing for their return to Earth set for Friday, April 10, including reviewing re-entry and splashdown procedures and conducting a return trajectory correction burn. Cabin configuration for re-entry Koch and Hansen will begin by stowing equipment they have had out during the mission, removing cargo and locker netting, installing and adjusting crew seats to...

A NASA scientist mysteriously died without any cause of death listed or autopsy — sparking questions about whether he was part of a pattern of deaths tied to the US space and nuclear program. Michael Hicks, who worked on a myriad of NASA space science missions, died in July 2023 at the age of 59 and worked at California’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) from 1998 to 2022. He assisted on the DART Project, the Near Earth Asteroid Tracking Project, the Dawn Mission, and the NASA Deep Space 1 Mission. It is unclear if there’s any foul play linked to Hicks’...

On Thursday’s Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough eagerly enlisted conservative voices—from Fox to Megyn Kelly to even Tucker Carlson—to do his anti-Trump dirty work. File it under: the enemy of my enemy is my friend. [snip] Brzezinski then introduced a lengthy clip of Megyn Kelly delivering a bleep-filled tirade against Trump’s social media posts on Iran. Amid widespread criticism of Trump’s use of an f-bomb in his Truth Social post on Iran, Kelly—ironically—delivered a profanity-laced rant of her own.Get the rest of the story and view the video here.

Singer Florence Welch has partnered with Planned Parenthood to advertise the abortion giant to fans who attend the next portion of the Florence + The Machine’s ongoing tour. Planned Parenthood announced the partnership on Monday and said that beginning on April, 8, more than a dozen of its affiliates will set up tables at multiple stops on the tour to talk with concertgoers about the kinds of “sexual and reproductive care” its centers provide. “Planned Parenthood health centers are a lifeline for millions of people, and they are relentlessly attacked,” Welch said in a statement. “Having access to a trusted...

Explanation: As the crew of Artemis II travelled towards the Moon this week, Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) was expected to have its closest approach to the Sun on Monday. At this point, comet and Sun would be closer than half the distance separating the Earth and Moon. The comet did not survive; the featured video was made with 40 hours of data and shows the comet plunging toward the Sun, like a moth to a flame. Observing the comet so close to our bright star requires a coronagraph, an instrument that blocks the Sun and is used for studies of...

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, My heart is heavy as I look toward Lebanon – a land long marked by faith, suffering, and perseverance. Lebanon is not merely another nation in conflict. It is home to one of the oldest and largest Christian populations in the Middle East, where the name of Jesus Christ has been professed continuously since the earliest centuries of the Church. In that sacred land stands the shrine of St. Charbel Makhlouf, a humble monk whose life of prayer, penance, and Eucharistic devotion has borne extraordinary fruit. Known as the “miracle monk of Lebanon,”...

...It is worth recalling St. Paul’s words that “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). Thus, the Church is truly universal and eternal and favors no state or nation over another out of principle... I recall visiting Rome’s Great Synagogue... The synagogue’s museum exhibit details the two-thousand-year history of the Eternal City’s Jewish community; we learn, for instance, that it was not Hitler nor Mussolini but Pope Paul IV who established Rome’s first ghetto. Yet the exhibit features...

Bay Area-based Philz Coffee says the company will remove Pride and other flags from all its cafes. SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A new policy by Bay Area-based Philz Coffee has some people upset as the chain says it will no longer allow flags of any kind in its stores, including Pride flags. What started out as a single cafe in the city's Mission District has since become a quintessential part of the San Francisco coffee scene. But after over two decades of building a solid customer base around the Bay Area, Philz Coffee is now disappointing many. "I think it's...

Apr 8, 2026 @shadihamid · Follow My new @washingtonpost column: Why do Muslims need to be like everyone else? A case against assimilation. DataRepublican (small r)@DataRepublican · Follow Hello Mr. Hasim,You've already reached levels of institutional validation that remain inaccessible to nearly all Americans: a professorship at Georgetown, a position on the Washington Post's editorial board.At that point, saying you still need to prove yourself is like Taylor Swift insisting no one listens to her music. If assimilation feels out of reach, it isn’t because the system has excluded you. By any reasonable measure, it has already brought you into...

This week marks the 161st anniversaries of Surrender and Freedom Day at Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, marking the beginning of the end of the Civil War. The park will host many events throughout the week to celebrate the anniversary and America’s 250th birthday. The grounds of the Appomattox Court House village have a deep history, especially surrounding America’s bloodiest war. On April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia was surrounded by General Ulysses S. Grant’s army near the village. The two met on the ground at around 1 p.m., and by 3 p.m., the...

A socialist Canadian lawmaker drew gales of mockery for showing just how woke she is — by casually dropping the acronym MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA+ while speaking at a live press conference. Leah Gazan, 53, uncorked the new ultra-lefty term while bemoaning $7 billion in budget cuts to a pair of federal indigenous departments.

A 22-year-old woman and her unborn baby were shot to death in a restaurant parking lot in Kentucky after she honked her horn at a man. Ava Woodcock died at University of Louisville Hospital on Tuesday after she was critically injured during a shooting the day before, which killed her unborn baby, according to the Glasgow Police Department, cited by Fox 10. Brandon Bond, 24, was arrested for allegedly shooting the pregnant woman. He was charged with murder, first-degree fetal homicide, and first-degree fleeing or evading police. Woodcock, who was the mother of a one-year-old, pulled into Annie's Restaurant parking...

Earlier this week, the Trump administration took another step toward liberating the economy by rolling back a Biden-era rule that needlessly hampered oil and gas production. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said that, with this and several other deregulatory actions, the administration “is unleashing domestic energy and revising burdensome, unworkable Biden-era oil and natural gas policies.” That’s the good news. The bad news is that President Donald Trump has barely scratched the surface of the gargantuan administrative state, and other Trump policies are raising the cost of doing business, a report released today by the Competitive Enterprise Institute shows. In its...

VIDEOHerbjorn Hansson, CEO of Nordic American Tankers, joins 'Squawk on the Street' to discuss shipping uncertainties related to the Iran war.

While preparing to write today’s stories for NRL News Today, I ran across “Please Laugh About My Abortion With Me” which ran in 2022. And while Alison Leiby wasn’t kidding, I wondered what the audience’s response was to her one-woman “comedy.” Prior to the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturning Roe, Alison Leiby tells us that “When I started performing the show at a tiny theater in Queens and at bars around the city, there were a lot of bombs and uncomfortable silences. Just saying the word ‘abortion’ can quiet a room. I saw crossed arms and scowls when I would...

The mayor of a North Carolina town says he’s not going anywhere despite town commissioners urging him to resign. Chris Carney, the mayor of Mooresville, is in the spotlight over an alleged incident caught on surveillance video inside the town hall in 2024. The incident, according to an IT employee who reported it, involved a man believed to be Carney entering the town hall with a woman described as a town communications consultant. The IT employee said the footage later showed Carney walking through the building without pants. The incident has since led to three lawsuits against the town, with...

(LifeSiteNews) — Planned Parenthood has released its 2024-2025 annual report, which revealed that despite a slew of fully-enforceable state abortion bans and numerous cuts to federal funding, the abortion giant has again managed to commit a record number of abortions in a nation without Roe v. Wade. The document, framed around the euphemistic theme that “care continues” despite “direct attacks on sexual and reproductive health,” reports committing 434,450 abortions and 2.27 million “birth control services.” By contrast, it lists a mere 3,038 adoption referrals. Notably, it boasts 320,390 telehealth appointments. What percentage were for abortions as opposed to other procedures...

[Catholic Caucus] German bishop says homosexuality is ‘part of God’s plan of creation,’ attacks gender rolesPro-LGBT Bishop Ludger Schepers argues support for patriarchy is a kind of ‘discrimination’ and warns a return to traditional gender roles represents a ‘threat to freedom and equality.’ A German bishop has raved against “patriarchy” and traditional gender roles while claiming sexual and gender “identity” is part of God’s design for humanity.Ludger Schepers, auxiliary bishop of Essen and “Queer affairs representative” of the German Bishops’ Conference, lamented in comments to the Catholic press agency KNA that the Church has “not only tolerated but actively promoted”...

If only Atlantic magazine had published just the first four paragraphs of its tribute to the Artemis II mission it would have been an inspirational piece. Unfortunately the author of the story on Tuesday, "An Incredibly Weird Time to Be Alive," was Charlie Warzel who has a history of leftist bias including his extreme anger at Twitter (now called X) for embracing free speech rather than maintaining its previous Orwellian censorship after Elon Musk bought it.The first four paragraphs, containing praise for the Artemis II mission sound normal although the subtitle does give a hint as to where Warzel's derangement...

Please Find a Film (that A.I. Can't Locate): In World War II, two soldiers form a strong bond, one, an orphan, who never had a home and has no one who cares for him or any place to go once the war is over; the other who has a strong home and community life but who dies before returning home causing a strong loss-reaction among his family. The orphan shows up at the deceased soldier's home and is welcomed to a home for the first time in his life. Washouts: Not "The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)". Not "The...