Free Republic

Thad Roberts was a 25-year-old intern at NASA's Johnson Space Center when he promised to give his girlfriend the moon. But unlike so many young lovers before him, he actually delivered on that promise. In 2002, Roberts enlisted his girlfriend Tiffany Fowler (who was also a NASA intern at the time) and another intern named Shae Saur to help him break into Johnson Space Center and steal 17 pounds of moon rocks worth up to $21 million. The trio used their NASA IDs to slip into the space center after hours and make off with a 600-pound safe containing moon...

Authorities in Edison say they executed the township’s largest asset seizure to date during a raid Thursday at a massage parlor suspected of prostitution and money laundering, recovering more than $750,000 — including $600,000 in cash sewn inside a giant teddy bear. The yearlong undercover investigation led by the Edison Police Department’s Vice Unit targeted Bliss Spa on Woodbridge Avenue and the Edison home of its manager, 47-year-old Daniela Diienno. Police said they recovered $650,000 in cash — most of it concealed inside the stuffed animal — as well as a 2025 Tesla Model Y, a Rolex and a Cartier...

Campaigners say the true rate of paternity fraud - the intentional misidentification of a child's biological father - remains unknownMen are being left heartbroken after investing time, resources, love and energy into raising children they believed were theirs - only to find out it was all a lie. This breach of trust not only impacts the men who were falsely led to believe they were fathers but also deeply hurts the children involved and others connected to the situation. Paternity fraud refers to the deliberate misidentification of a child's biological father. One of the most shocking aspects of this issue...

Several of the key voter groups that provided President Donald Trump’s most important electoral gains in November are recoiling from him as his term moves past the 100-day mark. But it remains unclear how much Democrats can benefit from these growing doubts. In 2024, Trump improved his performance among some big voting blocs that have historically favored Democrats, including Latinos, younger men, non-White voters without a college degree, and, to some extent, Black men. Trump’s advances generated exuberant predictions from an array of right-leaning analysts that he had achieved a lasting realignment and cemented the GOP’s hold on voters of...

The United Kingdom does not have a blasphemy law, but that didn’t stop the Criminal Prosecution Service trying their best, leading to something of a volte-face (about-face) after backlash. 50-year-old Hamit Coskun was charged with acting with intent to cause “harassment, alarm or distress” against the “religious institution of Islam” by the UK’s Criminal Prosecution Service (CPS) this week after allegedly burning a copy of the Qur’an outside the Turkish consulate in London. Yet after a short campaign by free speech activists, including the Free Speech Union, which is supporting Coksun, and Conservative leadership candidate Robert Jenrick, the charge has...

Researchers have found a new way to test for water contamination. And it's thanks to our poop. In late 2024, researchers from Chungnam National University and Gyeongsang National University published their findings on a new technique for detecting fecal contamination in water using human viral DNA, known as microbial source tracking (MST), in the journal Water Research. And while this may make you let out a little "ew" under your breath, it's critical to know that fecal contamination is, in fact, a significant issue both globally and here in the United States. The World Health Organization explained, "In 2022, globally,...

An evil animal abuser who tortured animals including bunnies to death on YouTube has launched a GoFundMe to try and stop Donald Trump deporting her. Anigar Monsee, 28, was convicted of felony animal cruelty on Wednesday and faces seven years behind bars - but is now playing the victim on her fundraiser. 'Hi, my name is Anigar Monsee, and I’m a single mother doing my best to raise my daughter on my own,' wrote Monsee, a Liberian national who now lives in Delaware. 'Right now, I’m facing the most terrifying moment of my life—I may be sent to jail or...

Famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, often outspoken for his liberal viewpoints, has continued to fuel speculation that he's veering right. In a Thursday X post, Dr Tyson showed off an image of his wife's bullet-riddled target paper from their trip to a shooting range in Nevada. On the surface, it would seem like a perfectly innocent post taking pride in his wife, Alice Young, after their day of target shooting. That post comes less than two weeks after Tyson triggered a liberal meltdown on social media after posing with one of Trump's Make America Great Again hats. Tyson, an astrophysicist,...

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Researchers have created the first laboratory analog of the 'black hole bomb', a theoretical concept developed by physicists in the 1970s. If there's one thing black holes are known for, it's their insatiable, inescapable gravity. Stuff goes into a black hole. From beyond the event horizon, this is, as far as we know, true. But from the space around a black hole, you might be able to get something. As Roger Penrose proposed in 1971, the powerful rotational energy of a spinning black hole could be used to amplify the energy of nearby particles. Then, physicist Yakov Zel'Dovich figured out...

Moniece Slaughter has gone on a serious rant online after her car was reportedly broken into. But it’s not just about the robbery; her comments about Black people have sparked major controversy and have a lot of people talking. After falling victim to a car break-in, she went on a scorched-earth rant that had social media gasping, critics furious, and Black Twitter calling for accountability. According to reports, Moniece took to her Instagram Story on Wednesday (April 30th) to vent about the people who broke into her truck and stole her belongings, including production equipment, a full talent wardrobe, props,...

(LEX 18) — 50-year-old Kentucky Powerball jackpot winner James Farthing has been charged with battery on a law enforcement officer after he allegedly kicked a Florida police officer in the face during a bar fight, according to arrest affidavits. According to the affidavits, Farthing and his girlfriend, 42-year-old Jacqueline Fightmaster, were both arrested on Tuesday after the reported fight at TradeWinds Resort at St. Pete Beach, just days after Farthing won the jackpot at a Clark's Pump N Shop in Georgetown. An arrest affidavit states that around 11 p.m., during an argument, Farthing allegedly punched a hotel guest in the...

A non-binary Canadian's $70,000 gender affirming surgery - that will see her keep her penis and get a vagina constructed - will be fully funded by taxpayers, a top judge ruled. K.S., who was born a male at birth, uses female pronouns but does not identify as either fully male or fully female Dr. Irena Druce, an endocrinologist at the Ottawa Hospital, submitted a 'Request for Prior Approval for Funding of Sex-Reassignment Surgery' - which cost $10,000 to $70,000 - for K.S. after completing multiple assessments on her along with Yael Sela, a mental health counselor. Together, they determined K.S....

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has said his country deserves respect from the US and will only enter trade and security talks with President Donald Trump "on our terms". Speaking exclusively to the BBC as the polls were closing, Carney said he would only visit Washington when there was a "serious discussion to be had" that respected Canada's sovereignty. Carney and Trump have since spoken and agreed to meet in the near future, according to the Canadian prime minister's office. "The leaders agreed on the importance of Canada and the US working together – as independent, sovereign nations – for...

There can never be a place for racism and hate in France, President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday after the brutal stabbing to death of a Muslim in a mosque in the south of the country. […] The attacker, who is on the run, stabbed the worshipper dozens of times and then filmed him with a mobile phone while shouting insults at Islam in Friday’s attack in the village of La Grand-Combe in the Gard region. French Prime Minister François Bayrou had already denounced what he described an “Islamophobic atrocity”. The alleged perpetrator sent the video he had filmed with...

A Brooklyn woman said she was left terrified after being chased and stoned by a mob of Orthodox Jewish men who mistook her for an anti-Israeli protestor. The woman, who remained anonymous over fears for her safety, told the Associated Press she was afraid for her life when she was set upon by the mob on Thursday night near the global headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. The chaos unfolded after Israel's hardline security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir gave a speech at the headquarters, which was met with furious protests outside the building. One other woman was reportedly left bloodied in the...

… (NBC’s Meet The Press) Host Kristen Welker said, “Let’s talk about what you have called your oligarchy, and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez have been crisscrossing the country warning of an oligarchy. Senator, you told the New York Times, ‘One of the aspects of this is to get people to get engaged in the political process and run as independents outside of the Democratic Party.’ As someone who twice ran in the Democratic presidential primary are you trying to strengthen the Democratic Party or Senator, are you trying to start a third party?” […] … (Sanders) continued, “What Democrats lack right...

Jolene Dawson, a wildly aspirational trendsetter on TikTok, spent approximately $8,000 (AUD $12,000) to make herself look as much like a cat as a human can, turning to “experimental” procedures to flare her nostrils and accentuate her cheekbones much like that of a feline. But when the 29-year-old from Gold Coast, Australia, looks back on the cat-astrophe meow, she regrets it, she told Jam Press, citing the painful side effects. Over the course of her transformation, Dawson claimed that her body began to “reject” the filler as it migrated throughout her face, where it was not intended. Meanwhile, a new...

A sizzling hot model claims to have so many issues with men trying to engage with her — that she’s taken to wearing a fake wedding band. Influencer Ju Isen insisted that the easiest way to avoid unwanted attention has been to slide the bogus bling on her finger — before leaving her home. The Brazilian beauty, who boasts 2.6 million Instagram followers, alleged that male suitors would approach her everywhere she went — the gym, supermarket, pharmacy and even her local swimming pool. “I was tired of the constant approaches – it was nonstop, even when I clearly wasn’t...

A 13-year-old Missouri boy was suspended from school after he posted a picture of Dr. Pepper cans in the shape of a rifle on Snapchat. The teenager, only identified as W.G., shared the image of his 'can art' to his personal account on September 14, and two days later his belongings were searched and he was suspended from Liberty Middle School for three days after they deemed it to be 'threatening' and an act of 'cyberbullying.' The photo did not contain any 'threatening language or anything that would suggest harm to anyone or anything,' it continued. Despite this, school officials...