Free Republic

National Democrats are going after San Antonio-area congressional candidate Maureen Galindo, placing a last-minute ad buy against her amid backlash over antisemitic comments she made on social media. The spot, which began airing Friday ahead of Tuesday’s primary runoff, dubs Galindo “MAGA Maureen," highlighting what they say is Republican meddling in the race after a super PAC with suspected GOP ties began boosting her with supportive ads earlier this month. It’s paid for by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and is the group’s first spending in the runoff, totalling $34,000. The group is hoping to prevent her from becoming the...

A new study found that when you lose your virginity may impact how well you age later in life, including outcomes like frailty and misery in older adulthood. “Our findings suggest that the timing of first sexual intercourse may be connected to aging through multiple psychological, behavioral and disease-related pathways,” first author Kaixian Wang said in a press release. They found that those with genetic signals tied to earlier loss of virginity tended to have less favorable aging-related outcomes, including higher frailty and poorer longevity-related measures. SNIP “Frailty index, miserableness, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) appeared...

A legal battle that began before the iPhone was invented ended Thursday as the Indiana Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from the city of Gary over a ruling that killed a lawsuit against 11 gun manufacturers. The city initially filed its suit in August 1999 seeking not just money for alleged damages caused by the gun manufacturers’ “negligence,” but also for the court to order the manufacturers, including Smith and Wesson, Glock and Beretta, to take various measures that anti-Second Amendment groups had not been able to achieve via legislation. In a statement released Thursday, Brady United, formerly...

Long before the fiery pits and pitchforks of Christian Hell haunted the religious imagination, the afterlife in ancient Hebrew thought was a muted, shadowy place known as Sheol. The Hebrew Sheol and the Greek HadesIn early Hebrew belief Sheol was not a realm of torture or glory but a land of forgetfulness—where all the dead, both righteous and wicked, shared a common fate. In many ways, Sheol resembled the Greek Hades—not in its geography or grandeur but in its indifferent stillness for humans. It was a silent cavern of shadows, where even the most luminous of biblical figures—Adam, Moses, David—drifted...

The mystery of how Egypt’s pyramids survived thousands of years of earthquakes may partly come down to smart engineering, according to a new study that examined how the Great Pyramid of Giza responds to seismic vibrations. Researchers found that the Pyramid of Khufu has a natural vibration frequency that differs sharply from the surrounding ground, helping reduce the risk of dangerous resonance during earthquakes. The study, led by Mohamed ELGabry and published in Scientific Reports, analyzed ambient seismic noise recorded inside the 4,600-year-old pyramid. Researchers said the findings may explain why the structure has survived centuries of earthquakes with little...

Ancient DNA extracted from human remains in Peru shows that long-distance migration along the Pacific coast began centuries before the Inca Empire expanded into the region. A study published in Nature Communications traces this movement to at least the 13th century, offering new insight into how coastal communities formed and connected long before any imperial force arrived. Jacob L. Bongers, an archaeologist at the University of Sydney and lead author of the study, analyzed genome-wide data from 21 individuals buried in the Chincha Valley of southern Peru. The results show that early inhabitants carried genetic ancestry from populations living about...

A wild brawl broke out at an Ohio kindergarten graduation after a woman was accused of taking up too many seats and blocking other parents' views on their children's big day. Craig Mays, one of the parents attending the Thursday morning ceremony at Queen of Apostles School, said the fight started when a separate family grabbed their own chairs and began creating their own seating space. That made his daughter's mother unable to see, causing the confrontation to escalate with 28–year–old Jessica Anderson, who was seated just behind them at the ceremony in Toledo, about 240 miles north of Columbus,...

A fire at a Staten Island dockyard sparked a massive explosion that left 16 people — including 13 firefighters and two emergency medics — hospitalized on Friday, according to the FDNY. The blaze ignited in the basement of a metal building at the rear of the coastal facility in Mariners Harbor around 3:30 p.m., fire officials said. Just over 50 minutes later — well after the inferno at the Richmond Terrace dockyard near Andros Ave. had risen to a two-alarm fire — the building was suddenly rocked by an explosion that fire officials described as “major.” One civilian and two...

It's not a big secret that California's gas is so expensive compared to most of the rest of the country because of its taxes and regulations. But Chevron drove that point home when they explained to drivers why the gas is always more in California with signs they put up at their stations. The signs carry messages like: “Sacramento policies did this. Now, you pay more." Others saying, “California has the highest gas taxes and fees in America.” Chevron spokesperson Ross Allen explained more. “They have a 61-cent excise tax on every gallon of gasoline. That’s the highest in the...

Watch live as SpaceX debuts the latest version of its revolutionary Starship launcher on the 12th test flight for the program. Liftoff of the Version 3 integrated Starship vehicle from a new launch pad at Starbase in Texas is scheduled during a launch window that opens at 5:30 p.m. CDT / 6:30 p.m. EDT / 2230 UTC on Friday, May 22. The mission will see splashdowns of the Super Heavy booster (Booster 19) in the Gulf of Mexico and the Starship upper stage (Ship 39) in the Indian Ocean. The Starship upper stage will deploy 20 Starlink simulators, similar in...

President Donald Trump offered a cryptic excuse Friday for missing his son Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding later this weekend, which comes amid bubbling international tensions. Trump confirmed he will not be attending his son’s wedding to Palm Beach socialite Bettina Anderson, citing “circumstances pertaining to Government” without providing details.

Tulsi Gabbard resigned as President Donald Trump’s Director of National Intelligence on Friday, citing her husband’s recent diagnosis with bone cancer. While both Gabbard and Trump put out releases citing Gabbard’s husband’s illness, Reuters reported that Gabbard “had been forced out by the White House.” Reuters ran with the initial headline, “White House forced top spy Gabbard to resign, source says,” and included the line, “A source familiar with the matter said that ​Gabbard had been forced out by the White House.” Gabbard’s chief of staff as DNI, Alexa Henning, shared Reuters’s report and wrote, “Just when you think you...

If that addict on your street were your own son, what would you do? That is the defining question that guides my 5 step plan to fix the homelessness problem in LA. We *must* end this evil racket of corrupt politicians and NGOs who profit off the misery of these poor souls. They launder money and feed them more drugs, so they can keep their customers locked in this hell on our streets. We have a moral obligation from God to help them and make our city safe and clean for everyone. Karen Bass and Nithya Raman have forsaken this...

Richard Childress Racing has elected to suspend use of the No. 8 and will run the No. 33 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and beyond. Kyle Busch was instrumental in the design of RCR’s stylized No. 8 and it has become synonymous with Kyle and an important symbol for his fans and the NASCAR industry. No one can carry it forward to the level that he did. The No. 8 is reserved and ready for Brexton Busch when he is ready to go NASCAR racing.

Stocks rose Friday as Treasury yields eased, resulting in a winning week for Wall Street despite heightened volatility. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 294.04 points, or 0.58%, to end at 50,579.70. The 30-stock index hit an intraday all-time high and posted another record close. The S&P 500 rose 0.37% to settle at 7,473.47. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.19%, ending at 26,343.97.

Iran has asserted expanded control over the Strait of Hormuz, publishing a map showing its claims extending into the coastal waters of the United Arab Emirates and Oman, and holding talks with Oman about sharing fees from ships traversing the waterway. The move was denounced on Friday as unacceptable by US Secretary of State Mario Rubio, who urged all countries to oppose it, and prompted a letter of protest from five Gulf states. US President Donald Trump on Thursday stressed, “We want [the Strait of Hormuz] open, we want it free. We don’t want tolls. It’s an international waterway.” Iran’s...

Mary, a veteran Silicon Valley marketer who can’t find a job, considers herself a victim of an H-1B visa program run amok. Her story, a U.S. native replaced by a foreign-born employee who is willing to work at a significantly lower wage, has become commonplace, particularly in the tech industry. Adding insult to injury, she says, her CEO, who hails from India, told her to train the man he selected to replace her before laying her off.Despite stints at Google and Cisco and two years of job hunting, Mary can no longer compete in a job market saturated with foreign-born...

The South Carolina Senate just killed a critical motion to expedite the Trump-backed congressional redistricting effort, putting the entire push for a bold 7-0 Republican map in serious jeopardy as Democrats and their weak-kneed GOP enablers drag their feet past the start of early voting on Tuesday, May 26. State Rep. Adam Morgan blasted the vote and sounded the alarm: “South Carolina Senate KILLS motion to expedite Redistricting! This puts the entire effort in serious jeopardy. 6 Republicans voted with Dems to kill it… The motion would [have] suspended Rule 15b to allow immediate cloture. Without this they can drag...

Hell hath no fury like a Republican senator scorned by his own party’s president. After Sen. Bill Cassidy fell far short in his Louisiana primary, the longtime Republican lawmaker delivered a concession speech that took some unsubtle shots at the president who orchestrated his defeat. “When you participate in democracy, sometimes it doesn’t turn out the way you want it to,” the senator said. “But you don’t pout, you don’t whine, you don’t claim the election was stolen.”In the same concession speech, the Louisianian said, “Let me just set the record straight: Our country is not about one individual. It...

The incident occurred on Friday outside Rick's Coffee Bar on the 5400 block of 43rd Avenue South, when police said Ferrier interrupted the theft of his vehicle. Janaya Samiah Frost, top left, and Riniyah Brinique Allen, bottom left (Hennepin County Sheriff's Office); Right: Amos Ferrier/Rick's Coffee Bar Minneapolis police say they’ve arrested two women in connection to the death of Amos Ferrier, who died after attempting to stop his vehicle from being stolen. The incident occurred on Friday outside Rick’s Coffee Bar on the 5400 block of 43rd Avenue South, when police said Ferrier interrupted the theft of his vehicle....