Free Republic

A Southern California homeowner discovered a hidden camera disguised with fake grass on his property — part of a growing trend in which burglars plant covert cameras in yards in the area to monitor homes and track when residents leave... George Nguyen, who is a homeowner in West Covina, California, was watering the hedges in his front yard after dark on Friday (April 25) when he noticed a light coming from one of the bushes. However, when Nguyen investigated further, he discovered that the light was coming from a well-hidden device — with a lens and a green light —...

CNN — The US Food and Drug Administration is poised to sign off as soon as this week on updated Covid-19 vaccines targeting more recently circulating strains of the virus, according to two sources familiar with the matter, as the country experiences its largest summer wave in two years. The agency is expected to greenlight updated mRNA vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech that target a strain of the virus called KP.2, said the sources, who declined to be named because the timing information isn’t public. It was unclear whether the agency simultaneously would authorize Novavax’s updated shot, which targets the...

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with Russian media on Thursday that former Secretary of State John Kerry approved of Russia’s 2014 annexation of the Crimean peninsula, believing the residents were overwhelmingly in favor of “reuniting” with Russia. According to Lavrov, Kerry’s main criticism of Russia’s actions was to suggest holding another referendum to reinforce the legitimacy of annexation. Russia’s RT.com summarized Lavrov’s comments to the RBK news service: I won’t reveal a big secret if I say that John Kerry was telling me in April 2014: ‘Everything is clear. Everything happened the way the Crimean people...

On Saturday, Iran initiated a barrage of drones and ballistic missiles at Israel. Thankfully, most of them were successfully intercepted and caused minimal damage. Of course, in a stunning move, President Biden is pushing Israel not to retaliate. It's hard to imagine why Biden would do that, except when you consider that Joe Biden has been appeasing Iran since his days as Barack Obama's vice president. With that in mind, it's also not surprising—though it's still shocking— that Joe Biden not only had prior knowledge of Iran's assault on Israel but also technically gave it the green light under certain...

A team of researchers has traced neural activity from the eyes to the brain in mice to find out why green light helps to reduce pain. In their paper, the group describes studying each part of the visual neural system in mice, from the back of the eyes to the brain, to learn more about how light can impact sensations in the brain. Prior research and anecdotal evidence have suggested that green light, particularly green light generated by LEDs, can reduce pain levels in people with conditions such as arthritis, migraines and fibromyalgia—but the reasons have remained a mystery. In...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals panel has lifted a judge's hold on the Justice Department's ability to use classified records seized from former President Donald Trump's Florida estate in its ongoing criminal investigation. The ruling from a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit is a victory for the Justice Department, clearing the way for it to immediately resume its use of the documents as it evaluates whether to bring criminal charges in its investigation into the presence of top-secret government records held at Mar-a-Lago after Trump left the White House.

President Biden is rejecting calls from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. The White House said Tuesday that the designation could have “unintended consequences for Ukraine and the world” and undermine the U.S. ability to support Ukraine at the negotiating table. “We do not think this is the most effective way to go or the strongest path forward,” White House press secretary Karine Jeanne-Pierre told reporters.

President Joe Biden said new sanctions on Russia were about 'increasing the pain' on Russian President Vladimir Putin – whom he termed a 'brute' during a tense exchange with a reporter at a press conference in Brussels Thursday. -snip- 'I did not say that sanctions would in fact deter him. Sanctions never deter,' Biden lectured. 'You keep talking about that.'

California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) on Friday night signed a bill that would allow judges to decide whether to list a man as a sex offender for having oral or anal sex with a same-sex minor. The bill lowers the penalties for adults who have sex with ‘willing’ same-sex minors. A Judge could decide if the adult has to register as sex offender if the offender is within 10 years of age of the victim.

The chief of police for Fort Lauderdale just said only TWO arrests from last night's riots. He also said no one was arrested for assaulting cops even though lots of cops were hit by fireworks and bricks.

It's time (beyond time, actually) for Trump to be bold and green light the country getting back to work. That will put huge pressure on the cities, counties and states that did their own lockdown. The unemployment and suffering are going to be epic as it is. The time to end this is NOW. This virus is no different than anything else that has come our way and we never shut the government down in the past. The idiot talking heads like Fauci, have been WRONG, just like the Imperial College modelling. All agenda driven. Also, I think cuomo is...

President Donald Trump gave the order to kill Iran's Quds Force leader Qasem Soleimani a few days ago following a Hazbollah mob's attacks on the United States' embassy in Baghdad. Now that Soleimani is dead, we're learning that this isn't the first opportunity a nation has had to kill the Iranian terrorist. According to a January 2018 report from the Israel newspaper Haaretz, leaders in Israel were prepared to kill Soleimani back in 2015 but the Obama administration put an end to the plan. Just as Israel was "on the verge" of killing Soleimani, the Obama administration alerted Iranian officials...

A recent study, published in the Astrophysical Journal, offers potential explanations for the appearance of a green blob near the galaxy's center, which appeared and disappeared within weeks. The main goal of the NuSTAR observations was to examine a supernova -- a huge star explosion. The green blob, known as an ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX...didn't appear during the first observation, but showed up during a second one 10 days later. Another space telescope, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, then looked again and found the object, ULX-4, had quickly disappeared. "Ten days is a really short amount of time for such a...

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is calling for New Yorkers to support a measure that would allow illegal immigrants to acquire a driver’s license, making the desperate plea in a video posted to Twitter on Thursday. On Wednesday, the Democrat-led New York State House passed a bill– dubbed the “Green Light” bill– which would allow illegal immigrants in the state to acquire a driver’s license. It passed with overwhelming support– 86 to 47. The bill is expected to struggle in the state Senate, with many concerned over the potential for abuse. Voter fraud is among those concerns. “There...

The U.S. military must figure out how to keep Iraq from breaking apart while also preventing neighboring Iran from turning Iraq into a proxy state.. It makes no sense for a nation to treat its enemies kindly and its allies harshly. Any nation that tries this foolish approach will see its enemies grow stronger and more dangerous, and will lose its allies when it abandons them. ... The man most responsible for the failure of the U.S. to give adequate support to the Kurds is Brett McGurk, President Trump’s special envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIS. He held...

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said that Iran has fulfilled its initial obligations under the terms of the nuclear deal reached with world powers last July, paving the way for the first stage of sanctions relief. The IAEA's announcement came just hours after a breakthrough prisoner swap with the United States saw four American citizens freed in return for the release of seven Iranians jailed in the US. IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano hailed the announcement as "an important day for the international community." Sanctions relief to Tehran will see billions of dollars in trade and unfrozen funds...

‘Rite for the Blessing of a Child in the Womb’ approved by RomeWASHINGTON (March 26, 2012) -- The Vatican has approved the publication of the "Rite for the Blessing of a Child in the Womb," which will be printed in English and Spanish in a combined booklet and should be available for parishes by Mothers' Day. The U.S. bishops who collaborated on the development of the blessing welcomed the announcement of the recognitio, or approval, by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in Rome. "I'm impressed with the beauty of this blessing for human life...

Senate Dems give health care green light in early a.m. vote.

An effort to recall Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger moved ahead Thursday when Secretary of State Debra Bowen certified an organizer's recall petition. The campaign to unseat the governor is being waged by Edwin Snell, a San Bernardino County resident who runs a political action committee called Recalls California. The recall petition claims Schwarzenegger "no longer represent(s) the interest of the people and has betrayed the trust of the voters." Proponents of the recall drive now have 160 days to gather signatures of 12 percent of the state's 8,679,416 registered voters, with a final filing date of Oct. 14. Once the signatures...

ALEXANDRIA, VA—Erick Turcios-Lazo, also known as “Scorpion,” age 22, was sentenced today to 120 months in prison to be followed by 3 years of supervised release. Turcios-Lazo was found guilty on Jan. 22, 2009. Dana J. Boente, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Joseph Persichini, Jr., Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by United States District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema. Turcios-Lazo was indicted on Sept. 18, 2008, by a federal grand jury on conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering charges. The jury trial began...