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A decorated CIA officer testified before the U.S. Senate on Wednesday that Dr. Anthony Fauci deliberately manipulated intelligence community analyses on COVID-19's origins, steering federal investigators away from the lab leak theory and toward a predetermined conclusion of natural origin. The fix was in from the beginning: Fauci hand-picked the experts, shaped the process, and leveraged a network of grant-dependent researchers to make sure the intelligence community reached the answer he wanted. The hearing confirmed what millions of Americans long suspected: The government lied, and it knew it was lying. CIA special operations officer James Erdman III, a 13-year Agency...

Sounds like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) has conceded defeat in the 2026 redistricting battle, but like George Costanza and the Jerk Store, he’s already plotting his revenge in 2028. If you take a deep breath, you can smell the failure laced with no small amount of humiliation… “In advance of 2028, where we will have additional states that will come online, including but not limited to New York, New Jersey, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Illinois, and Maryland,” says Jeffries. “That’s at least seven states. We will be able to unleash a decisive and forceful response to what they are...

The King and Queen of Pop resume their royal residences together on the Billboard Hot 100, as Michael Jackson charts four classics sparked by the new hit biopic Michael, and Madonna returns with her new collaboration with Sabrina Carpenter, “Bring Your Love.” When did MJ and Madge last share spots on the Hot 100? More than 22 years ago. On the Jan. 3, 2004, chart, Madonna ranked at No. 83 with another high-profile team-up: “Me Against the Music,” with Britney Spears (the Princess of Pop). Jackson that week held the anchor spot, No. 100, with “One More Chance.” They first...

FRANKLIN COUNTY, Ala. (WAFF/Gray News) - An Alabama woman was arrested after calling 911 and admitting to fatally shooting her husband of 15 years. Investigators say she later told them she was simply bothered and annoyed by him. Franklin County deputies responded to a Russellville home after receiving a 911 call from 65-year-old Sheri Mitchell-Clutts just before 7:30 p.m. Sunday. There, they found 69-year-old Timothy Clutts dead in his recliner with a single gunshot wound to the chest. Investigators say when Mitchell-Clutts called 911, she told dispatchers she felt threatened throughout the day leading up the shooting, but when investigators...

Are Israeli prisons deploying trained dogs to rape Palestinian prisoners? According to New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, the answer appears to be yes. In a lengthy column published Monday, Kristof recounts a sordid tale from a source he identifies as a “Gaza journalist.” He writes that on one occasion, the journalist “was held down, stripped naked, and as he was blindfolded and handcuffed, a dog was summoned. With encouragement from a handler in Hebrew, he said, the dog mounted him.”

Kevin Warsh was confirmed as the next Federal Reserve chairman on Wednesday — even as surging inflation has begun to box the central bank into one of its toughest corners in years. The Senate on Wednesday voted 54-45 to elevate President Trump’s pick to Fed chairman, with Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) the only Democrat to cast a vote in his favor. A day earlier, lawmakers approved Warsh to a 14-year term on the Fed’s Board of Governors in a narrow 51-45 vote. Warsh is expected to replace outgoing Chair Jerome Powell by the end of the week — inheriting an...

The adult son of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) launched a vile antisemitic and homophobic tirade at Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) at a DC bar Tuesday night, saying at one point that the Iran war was “about the gays and the Jews, and I hate them both, and I don’t care if they die.” In a phone conversation recounting the evening, Lawler told The Post that he was sitting at a popular DC bar with a friend and a reporter for NOTUS, which first revealed the incident involving William Paul. “So Rand Paul’s f—ing son is sitting next to us at...

A former New York Supreme Court justice and a Brooklyn real estate developer have been charged in an alleged $6.5 million investment fraud scheme tied to a purported New Jersey commercial real estate deal, according to a federal criminal complaint unsealed in the Eastern District of New York. Federal prosecutors said former Kings County Supreme Court Justice Edward Harold King and developer Sam Sprei, also known as Yechiel Sprei, Shimon Sprei and Eli Shapiro, conspired to defraud investors by falsely claiming their money would be securely held in escrow for a bankruptcy-related property auction in Freehold, New Jersey. According to...

From a stunning report that confirms, again, skeptics’ concerns over the deadly impact of the COVID-19 shots created by pharmaceutical companies and sold for billions of dollars to the American government during the pandemic, it’s known that federal officials linked those shots to child deaths at the time – and the Biden administration kept it a secret. Investigative journalist Catherine Herridge has reported online the Joe Biden administration “suppressed” details about COVID shot pediatric deaths as well as the total death count. She cited a study done on children who died, of which a number died of the effects “possibly”...

According to an analysis by independent astronomer Bill Gray, developer of the Project Pluto software used to track near-Earth objects, the spent SpaceX rocket stage will crash into the Moon on 5 August 2026 at about 06:44 UTC (02:44 EDT).Gray reports the impact should occur around Einstein crater, a heavily impacted area at the threshold between the lunar near side and far side."The motion of space junk is mostly quite predictable; it simply moves under the influence of the gravity of the Earth, Moon, Sun, and planets. We know those with immense precision," Gray explains.At the same time, solar radiation...

Alphabet’s glitch-plagued robo-cab subsidiary has yet another speed bump. Waymo has recalled 3,800 autonomous taxis after identifying a bug that allowed the vehicles to drive into standing water, per a letter on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) website. According to the NHTSA, which is probing the mishap, the software recall applies to Waymo vehicles that use the company’s fifth and sixth generation automated driving systems (or ADS). The recall was prompted by an incident that occurred on April 20, when a self-driving car drove into a flooded creek in San Antonio amid inclement weather and was swept away,...

On Wednesday’s Morning Joe, co-host Willie Geist dropped explicit adult-film terminology while bashing President Trump’s diplomatic approach to China. Discussing Trump’s upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Geist said with a noticeable smirk and hesitation: “Trump is lavishing praise on Xi ahead of this meeting, which is a strange thing for the art of the deal guy, to give all this, you know, this fluffing, if you will, of President Xi.” In porn industry terminology, a “fluffer” is the person whose job is to arouse the male performer off-camera right before filming. Geist’s pause and smirk made it clear...

Explanation: The New General Catalog of star clusters and nebulae really isn't so new. In fact, it was published in 1888 - an effort by J. L. E. Dreyer to consolidate the work of astronomers William, Caroline, and John Herschel along with others into a useful single, complete catalog of astronomical discoveries and measurements. Dreyer's work was largely successful and is still important today, as this famous catalog continues to lend its "NGC" to bright clusters, galaxies, and nebulae. Take for example the star cluster known as NGC 188 (item number 188 in the NGC compilation). It lies about 6,000...

DNA testing has finally revealed that two mysterious individuals -- a young boy and a teenage girl entombed together in a rare Anglo-Saxon double burial -- were brother and sister, according to a report by The Independent. The pair initially drew attention two years ago when they were discovered in Cherington, Gloucestershire, because of the unusual way they were laid to rest. Both children had been placed gently on their sides. The young girl faced her brother and had been propped up in a way, perhaps on pillows, that made it look like she was watching over her younger sibling...

According to a statement released by the University of York, researchers have identified rare traces of dyed purple textiles in two Roman infant burials. Known as Tyrian purple, the extremely costly colorant was manufactured by crushing thousands of murex marine sea snails and was typically reserved for use by emperors, royalty, and members of the aristocracy. However, experts were able to detect its presence on garments wrapped around two small children who died and were buried around 1,700 years ago. Their remains are held in the collections of the York Museums Trust. The dye was identifiable through chemical analysis because...

Republicans’ support for President Donald Trump's war on Iran fractured on Wednesday. Senate Democrats have tried to splinter off Republicans from their near-unified backing of Operation Epic Fury for months with a campaign of attrition, putting war powers resolution after war powers resolution on the floor ever since fighting began. And after two months of trying, they finally got some in the GOP to flip on Trump with Sen. Jeff Merkley's, D-Ore., latest attempt. Still, it wasn’t enough to terminate ongoing operations in the Middle East. Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Rand Paul, R-Ky., who has consistently...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Agri-Business; End to Sex Slavery; Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. (1 John 5:14) I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ~ 1 Timothy 2:1-2 Religion Forum Threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to...

According to a statement released by the University of Southampton, a crannog in shallow waters in Loch Bhorgastail on Scotland's Isle of Lewis has been evaluated by researchers from the University of Southampton and the University of Reading with a technique called stereophotogrammetry, which involves stitching together photographs taken at different angles to create a high-resolution 3D model. The study determined that the structure began as a circular wooden platform, measuring about 75 feet in diameter, that was topped with brushwood. Neolithic pottery was also discovered in the area surrounding the crannog, enabling archaeologists to date this first construction of...

According to a Herald Scotland report, National Trust for Scotland archaeologists, assisted by volunteers, recovered a piece of copper alloy from a stone structure in Highland Scotland's Ben Lawers National Nature Reserve that may have been used to distill whisky in secret to avoid paying taxes that had been levied beginning in the 1780s. The researchers suggest that the copper part is a piece known in Gaelic as An Gearradan, or the collar connecting a still to its lyne arm, which controlled how much vapor returned to the pot and therefore controlled the flavor of the finished product. The team...

Iran’s football federation has shared a list of conditions with FIFA surrounding the country’s participation in the upcoming 2026 World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico, including a ban on LGBTQ+ pride flags. The Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI) told FIFA that it would compete in the competition “without any retreat from our beliefs, culture and convictions” and insisted that the hosts “must take our concerns into account”, as per Out Sports. The list of 10 demands for Iran’s participation comes after the FFIRI’s president, Mehdi Taj, was denied entry to Canada before the FIFA...