Free Republic

A cargo ship was struck by multiple small craft while sailing near the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, UK military officials said. The ship, which was not immediately identified, was hit right off the coast of Sirik, Iran, just east of the strait, according to the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre. All crew members were reported safe, with no group immediately claiming responsibility for the attack. Iran’s military, however, has repeatedly warned any ship that tries to navigate the strait would be attacked unless they pay a toll and prove they are not affiliated with the US...

I still remember fondly the time I got an A- on my 8th grade earth science paper. It was one of my proudest moments as a student. Meanwhile, as MIT boasts, some folks are, well, a bit beyond that. Physics is riddled with paradoxes: Think of how information leaks from supposedly inescapable black holes or how the conventional laws of physics break down at the quantum scale. Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski '13 believes that within these apparent contradictions, new discoveries await. Ah yes, "how the conventional laws of physics break down at the quantum scale." I think about that often! Well,...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California’s June 2 primary election is approaching, with ballots set to begin arriving for registered voters Monday. In the weeks leading up to Election Day, voters will receive four key pieces of mail: a state voter information guide, a county voter information guide, a sample ballot and an official ballot. “Democracy is a messy business, and it can take some work,” political analyst Steve Swatt said. “And it’s incumbent on us as voters to do our homework.” At the top of the ticket is the race to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom, a contest that analysts say remains...

Archaeologists in Egypt recently uncovered a massive statue believed to depict King Ramses II, the pharoah believed to be a major character in the Old Testament. The statue was found at the Tel Pharaoh site in Husseiniya Center, Sharqia Governorate, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said on April 22. The site is in Egypt's Nile Delta, northeast of Cairo. Officials also described the statue as "remarkable" in size, weighing between 5 and 6 tons and measuring over 7 feet long. In a translated statement, the ministry described the statue as being in a "relatively poor condition of preservation,"...

Compilation of television appearances by Orange Man Great.

The Times of India reports that researchers led by epigrapher K. Muniratnam Reddy from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) have decoded a Sanskrit inscription written in Brahmi characters on a seal discovered in what is now Pakistan. The translation reads, "Devadaruvane Svami Kotesvarah," indicating that the fifth-century a.d. seal belonged to a temple dedicated to Shiva, a principal Hindu deity. Reddy and his colleagues explained that the inscription refers to a pivotal story about Shiva set in the Devandaru forest that is recorded in a sacred text called the Skanda Purana. The seal is thought to be the oldest...

“Squad” Rep. Ilhan Omar’s name appears at least six times in recently resurfaced court documents from the $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud case, fueling speculation about whether the Minnesota socialist had a hand in the widespread scam in her district. The documents were part of the 2025 federal trial of Aimee Bock, the founder of the Feeding our Future nonprofit who was convicted of wire fraud, conspiracy, and bribery for masterminding the scheme that falsely claimed to serve millions of meals to children while pocketing federal funds through bogus food sites and shell companies. Bock is in custody awaiting...

Rattled supporters of Jimmy Kimmel are planning to roll out billboards near his network’s corporate headquarters after President Trump demanded that ABC ax the late-night host over his “hateful” joke aimed at the president and first lady. Lefty advocacy group MoveOn is targeting Disney and ABC offices in the Los Angeles area with the mobile billboards, urging new Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro to “protect free speech” and “stand firm against FCC Censorship.” MoveOn said the billboards will “circulate around Disney Headquarters, Disney-ABC Television Group, ABC 7, and Disney’s corporate office in Burbank, CA,” WDWNT reported. The campaign comes after Trump...

Dirty Harry was released near the end of 1971 and became an immediate hit, and just as immediately began a feud between its star, Clint Eastwood, and Pauline Kael, one of the most influential movie critics in America. In her review, published in the New Yorker on January 15, 1972, and titled "Dirty Harry: Saint Cop", Kael called the film "a kind of hardhat The Fountainhead" and "an almost perfect piece of propaganda for para-legal police power." "When you're making a picture with Clint Eastwood, you naturally want things to be simple, and the basic contest between good and evil...

Take a look back at Secretariat earning the first jewel of his Triple Crown run with a still-standing track record time of his historic Kentucky Derby win. https://youtu.be/LV4drumXbA4?si=WYW54bcTugE92Xqs

A benchtop fusion reactor increased neutron output by packing more deuterium into palladium with electrochemistry. Tabletop fusion reactor boosts deuterium-deuterium fusion rates by 15% using electrochemical loading in palladium. (CREDIT: UBC) Nuclear fusion usually brings to mind sprawling facilities, blistering temperatures, and machines built on a scale that can swallow budgets whole. This device does something stranger. It sits on a lab bench, runs at room temperature, and still produces a measurable fusion signal. Researchers at the University of British Columbia say their compact setup, called the Thunderbird Reactor, increased fusion rates by about 15% by packing more deuterium into...

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – Federal taxpayers helped build a $2.2 billion solar plant — now electricity customers are on the hook to keep it running. The Ivanpah Solar Power Plant, a sprawling facility near the California-Nevada border built with billions in federal support during the Obama-era economic stimulus program, is stuck in a costly dilemma. Both the Trump and Biden administrations — along with the utility company that buys its power — have sought to shut it down, saying it underperforms, produces expensive electricity and has been overtaken by cheaper energy sources. But California regulators have refused to allow it...

It is not a book you need. It’s not anywhere near the top of your to-read list. But you have to buy it. You already know where you’ll put it: on top of the pile of books on your bedside table.

For the past two years, New York and New Jersey infectious disease experts have been laser focused on prep and training for the upcoming FIFA World Cup games — with 1.2 million visitors from around the world set to watch 48 teams battle it out on the pitch. Across the US, those numbers skyrocket to 6-7 million. And with that massive influx of foreign visitors comes the threat of infectious — and sometimes deadly — diseases, including viral hemorrhagic fevers, RSV, tuberculosis, measles, varicella, hepatitis A, typhoid, malaria, SARS, hantavirus and even “high consequence” diseases with high mortality rates, like...

South Korea sent more troops to join the Vietnam War than any other country other than the United States, and since has joined other U.S.-led conflicts in the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, and Iraq. South Korea has dispatched 57,000 troops to 30 countries at the request of the United States or the United Nations. A late 2019 poll—in the midst of a contentious standoff in burden-sharing negotiations—indicated that 92% of South Koreans supported the alliance with the United States. Together the allies maintain formidable capabilities. The ROK armed forces today total 599,000 active duty troops. In 2020, South Korea had the...

Eric Swalwell, the disgraced former Congressman, is still using Snapchat as a channel for private communications despite it being the app that led to the end of his political career. The revelation came Friday in a report from the New York Times detailing Swalwell’s use of social media. “Mr. Swalwell is still using Snapchat. As recently as this week,” the Times wrote. “Mr. Swalwell communicated directly with a former intern on the app and asked her why she had taken a screenshot of their chat history.” The Times said the details were provided to them through images, though they said...

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan pair of female senators are rolling out new legislation to bar convicted sex criminals from getting taxpayer-funded annuities and retirement pay. Sens. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) have teamed up on the “No Taxpayer-Funded Pensions for Sex Criminals Act” in the aftermath of rape and sexual misconduct accusations that forced Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) to resign last month. “There should be absolutely no room for the tolerance of egregious sex crimes,” Ernst, herself a sexual assault survivor, said in a statement. “Allowing proven predators to continue collecting their pensions on the taxpayer’s dime only...

President Trump on Friday addressed seniors at The Villages in Florida and touted his second-term achievements that have made life more affordable for those in their golden years. “I’m much, much younger than the people in this room, but I feel I can relate to you anyway,” the 79-year-old president joked at the world’s largest retirement community, before rattling off policy after policy his administration has pushed to benefit seniors. Trump lauded the “largest tax refunds of all time” received by American seniors this year thanks to his One Big Beautiful Bill Act. **SNIP** The president then tore into former...

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson’s staff abruptly ended an interview with a local news reporter this week after he pressed her on rising gun violence and surveillance cameras in the city after a recent shooting. Chris Daniels of KOMO News asked Wilson about community concerns over increasing gun violence and whether additional surveillance measures might be reconsidered. The mayor was quickly cut off mid-response by a member of her staff. “I appreciate it, but let’s keep it on topic, OK?” the staffer told Daniels, stepping in as Wilson appeared poised to respond to a question about whether the shooting would change...

Taxpayer funded pro-illegal immigration groups are demanding millions of dollars from LA residents to help them attack ICE and fund day laborer hubs near Home Depot sites. The groups are already getting $1-million-a-year from LA City Council, and are now demanding a $2-million-a-year funding increase to help them fight against ICE operations and maintain buildings outside the hardware stores. The hubs offer everything from restrooms to free legal services and employment advice to day laborers, all paid for by nonprofits funded by taxpayers. Socialist councilmember Eunisses Hernandez has backed the move that would see groups like the Central American Resource...