Free Republic

Why did British police patrol the streets unarmed while officers in New York considered carrying a gun essential to doing their job? In this 1966 report, ITN’s Peter Woods explores the stark differences between British and American policing. NYPD officers react with disbelief to Britain’s largely unarmed police force, with one lieutenant describing the idea as “sort of ridiculous” and predicting chaos if New York officers were expected to work without guns. The report also follows firearms training at the New York Police Academy and shows unarmed British police searching for Harry Roberts, wanted in connection with the murder of...

I was working in a public space when a nearby conversation caught my attention. One student told a colleague that she would be taking several difficult classes the next semester. He responded, “just use AI, and the classes will be really easy.” I sighed in disappointment. Approximately 80% of undergraduate students worldwide use generative artificial intelligence to help with their coursework. AI can be a powerful tool for students in higher education, but only if they have already developed the ability to read and write effectively and to think critically. These fundamental skills are best developed independent of generative AI...

Today, 40 years ago, four armed men hijacked a Mumbai-Frankfurt-New York flight during its stopover in Karachi, triggering a 17-hour hostage crisis. The standoff ended in a bloody commando assault that killed several passengers, including 23-year-old Indian flight attendant Neerja Bhanot, who later came to be known for her extraordinary bravery in saving lives. Pan Am Flight 73 was a Mumbai-Frankfurt-New York flight carrying 379 passengers and crew when it was hijacked during its stopover in Karachi on September 5, 1986. The four hijackers had disguised themselves as airport security personnel before storming the aircraft. Hindustan Times reported the following...

Explanation: Pluto is more colorful than we can see. Color data and high-resolution images of our Solar System's most famous dwarf planet, taken by the robotic New Horizons spacecraft during its flyby in 2015 July, have been digitally combined to give an enhanced-color view of this ancient world sporting an unexpectedly young surface. The featured enhanced color image is not only esthetically pretty but scientifically useful, making surface regions of differing chemical composition visually distinct. For example, the light-colored heart-shaped Tombaugh Regio on the lower right is clearly shown here to be divisible into two regions that are geologically different,...

While it might have only been visible in hindsight, it's hard to deny that westerns in the '50s and '60s had an elegiac tone that grew slowly but implacably. It was there in Shane and The Searchers and suffused The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and The Wild Bunch. By the time Sergio Leone completed his reinvention of the western with the Dollars trilogy and made Once Upon a Time in the West it was the whole premise of the movie. Budd Boetticher made the six acknowledged westerns in his Ranown Cycle between 1956 and 1960 and by the time...

Illicit Iranian funds are flowing through U.S.-dollar clearing accounts, creating an enforcement dilemma for Washington As the Trump administration tightens its economic squeeze on Iran, it faces a surprising weak link in its campaign to cut off the regime from the global financial system: America’s own banks. Billions of dollars of Iranian funds are flowing through clearing accounts at American banks each year, Western officials and researchers say, despite sanctions that prohibit anyone subject to U.S. law from taking part in almost all financial activity linked to Tehran. Iran accesses the accounts through foreign partners that maintain relationships with U.S....

U.S. — The State of Massachusetts has officially been ruled incompetent by reason of insanity. The landmark decision, handed down this morning by the United States Supreme Court, has ruled that the entire state is unfit to hold trials, engage in civil service, or do anything else besides make clam chowder. "We find the entire state grossly incompetent due to being completely insane," announced Chief Justice John Roberts. "The entire state needs to be shut down and prevented from doing anything whatsoever until it gets help. We have ordered a large, large fence to be built around the entire state...

Rome authorities have tightened security around the Colosseum and other popular tourist attractions in the Italian capital due to a rise in crime. In late August, the area around the ancient amphitheater was officially declared a "red zone" - an increase in the presence of law enforcement officers and their powers were expanded. The special regime will be in effect until at least December 24, 2026, write CNN. The reason for the increased security was, in particular, a series of incidents in the Colosseum area. In July, about 50 young people attacked police officers using fireworks, as a result of...

A mega-dinghy carrying 140 migrants has reached the UK from Normandy after what is believed to be longest-ever Channel crossing by people smugglers. On Sunday, the French coastguard said it had detected the vessel, which was shadowed by a number of rescue boats in case it got into difficulties. It said authorities would not intervene at sea because of the risk to life with so many migrants on board. The launch site – a beach east of Cherbourg in the Baie de la Seine – was around 230 miles from Calais. It reflects a change in tactics by people-smugglers, who...

Scientists are weeks away from results that could either confirm or shatter one of history’s most enduring biblical mysteries.Noah needed incontrovertible proof. He got it. “And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.” (Genesis 8:11) Now, we need incontrovertible proof that his legendary Ark has been unearthed. >>>“Current data increases the likelihood that it is Noah’s ark with each passing day,” the archaeology professor told the Turkish news agency iHA.He is leading an international team...

Dr. Amy Acton, a Democrat running unopposed in her party's primary for Ohio governor, faces some steep challenges in the coming general election. She is trying to be the first Democrat in 20 years to win the office in a state that has become dominated by Republicans. Her presumed opponent, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, has national name recognition and a personal fortune that he is plowing into his campaign. But Acton's most formidable obstacle may be a ghost from her recent past: the COVID-19 pandemic. Acton, a physician, was Ohio's public health director when the coronavirus hit the United States in...

In defiance of medical advice to eschew the Internet, I am briefly out of my coma and attempting to catch up on world affairs. I see Operation Epic Fury has evolved into Operation Economic Outcast, as the US sanctions first imposed on Iran in, oh, November 1979 are apparently starting to bite. .. how's Operation Economic Outcast going? The picture at right is from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's summit this week in Bishkek. I doubt many readers have heard of Bishkek, possibly because until 1926 it was known as Pishpek. But I gather it's the capital of some no-name stan...

Video of the cargo plane that crashed at/near Miami International airport in Florida. Casualties unclear

... A Ukrainian arms factory had supplied the military with thousands of defective mortar rounds. But even as the officials noticed that weapons were arriving faulty, Ukraine’s Defense Procurement Agency continued to award Mr. Shyman’s factory new contracts. Seven of Ukraine’s top 10 military contractors won new business despite open criminal investigations for fraud, failures to deliver on earlier deals or the arrest of chief executives for corruption. Companies won contracts without demonstrating that they could supply the weapons, or without licenses to deliver them. Auditors identified 18 companies that signed deals despite defaulting on previous agreements. Six of those...

Exit poll shows Alternative für Deutschland on 44.4% of vote in Saxony-Anhalt after huge turnout, with votes still being counted

Residents of an upscale Queens neighborhood are enraged over a brazen serial squatter who moved into a local $1.1 million home — and it’s not the first time he’s pulled off the scam, according to a report. Accused con man Vernon Glass parked himself in the million-dollar home in the quiet, tree-lined community of Bayside more than two years ago, after the 2018 death of elderly homeowner and longtime resident Richard Klibschon, ABC Eyewitness News reported. *** The home at 2340 205th St. had remained vacant after Klibschon, who lived alone and had no family, passed away, according to the...

[Catholic Caucus] Ahead of ‘Amoris’ meeting, plans uncertain Some leaders are uncertain what to expect at an October meetingJust one month ahead of a global meeting of bishops in the Vatican on Amoris laetitia, some episcopal leaders have told The Pillar that they have not received information about what to expect or how to prepare, and are eager to learn the pope’s plans for the scope and approach to the discussion.The Dicastery for the Laity, Family, and Life published in July the thematic framework for an October meeting on Amoris laetitia, involving the leadership of bishops’ conferences from around the...

An attempted robbery on Sunday evening on Kanfei Nesharim Street in Jerusalem's Givat Shaul neighborhood ended in a shooting. According to witnesses at the scene, a civilian who was withdrawing cash from an ATM was attacked by a mugger armed with a knife. The victim pulled out his pistol and shot the mugger. According to the witnesses, the civilian finished withdrawing cash when the robber approached him holding a knife and attempted to take the cash. In response, the civilian pulled out his gun and shot at the suspect. The suspect, a 30-year-old man, was severely wounded. Magen David Adom...

[Catholic Caucus] Italian cardinal writes foreword for pro-transgender book Cardinal Domenico Battaglia previously allowed an LGBT activist to address congregants during a ‘Te Deum Mass’ at the Naples cathedral. Pope Francis-appointed Cardinal Domenico Battaglia of Naples has written the forward for a pro-LGBT book on “transgender people.” Battaglia’s forward was translated by Elisa Belotti for New Ways Ministry, an LGBTQ+ activist group promoting the normalization of homosexuality and transgenderism within the Catholic Church. Battaglia’s words are carefully chosen, leaning towards the acceptance of transgenderism while failing to mention the Church’s explicit teaching on the subject. He wrote that we find...

With his 2004 box office hit “The Passion of the Christ” returning to theaters this month, Mel Gibson says the long-awaited follow-up will be a broader exploration of the world surrounding the biblical account of Jesus’ resurrection. “The Passion of the Christ” will return to theaters nationwide for a limited one-week engagement from Sept. 10-17. The landmark biblical epic has been newly remastered in 4K for the re-release and will include a behind-the-scenes sneak peek at “The Resurrection of the Christ: Part One,” which is slated to hit theaters May 6, 2027. First released in 2004, “The Passion of the...