Free Republic

Pinching pennies and landing a crew of astronauts on the Moon before a geopolitical rivalry aren't two endeavors that go hand-in-hand. The Trump administration released NASA's proposed 2026 discretionary budget last week. The federal space agency would see a $6 billion cut if implemented as written, roughly a 24% decrease compared to 2025. However, the White House is confusingly still committed to beating China to the lunar surface despite shuttering all the projects working towards that goal. The proposed 2026 budget has a 10% increase for human space exploration, but the $7 billion allocated won't be used for the significant...

Boeing is struggling to convert the two Boeing 747 planes initially ordered by a now-collapsed Russian airline.When Donald Trump was elected to a second term as President in November, he called Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg to check on the progress of the new Air Force One planes he ordered during his first term. Unfortunately for the failed steak salesman, the two new Boeing 747 planes won’t be ready until at least 2029, after Trump’s second term ends. Suggested Reading Tesla Is Underperforming And Wall Street Isn't Excited About It Elon Musk, Who Wants To Stop People 'Taking Advantage Of...

The SS United States is facing eviction from its mooring at Pier 82 in Philadelphia in a lawsuit filed by Penn Warehousing, the pier’s landlord. The ocean liner has been rusting away in the Delaware River since 1996 but has a storied past. In 1952, it broke the once-highly sought record for the fastest transatlantic crossing, the last passenger ship to do so. The SS United States Conservancy, a non-profit attempting to restore the ship, admits that relocation will be necessary but is still aiming to preserve the vessel. The potential eviction stems from rent increases that could be against...

Some cars just attract a certain type of buyer, don't they?A few weeks ago we talked about cars that looked dumb, but that doesn’t necessarily mean their owners are dummies themselves. That got me thinking: What cars are only driven by idiots? What cars are driven by the sort of people who can only breathe with their mouths wide open and their knuckles dragging on the ground? It’s a question that has kept me up at night since I came up with it yesterday, and now I want to know what you think. Whether that’s a wise idea or...

Twice in the last month, the President of the United States has claimed that the Pentagon has weapons even more powerful than nuclear weapons, with the ability to easily kill millions. He is either bluffing, confused, or is incapable of understanding the difference between conventional and nuclear weapons. President Donald Trump made the claim during remarks to commemorate the 18th anniversary of the September 11th attacks in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania. According to The Washington Post, Trump told an audience, emphasis mine: “The last four days, we have hit our enemy harder than they have ever been hit before,...

It's no secret famed Rat Packer Dean Martin is still about as cool as it gets, so it only makes sense he would choose a vehicle as cool and unique as a 1962 Ghia L6.4 as a mode of transportation. After getting his hands on the car, Martin decided his Ghia—one of 26 L6.4s built—still needed a little bit more unique personality and enlisted famed custom car builder George Barris to add a few subtle touches. Whether you love the styling of the Ghia or hate it, it's impossible to dispute it's one of a kind nature. Under the hood...

So I’m on vacation the other day, and I get a text message from my dad saying that he’s returning to the Lexus dealership service department for the second time in a day. This surprised me. My father would never willingly go to an automobile dealership twice in a single day. The man will sometimes go entire years without setting foot in a car dealer. He is, when it comes to cars, my polar opposite: he doesn’t care. He drives 6,000 miles a year and religiously maintains his vehicles at the dealership, documenting every service, every oil change, every fuel...

As I’ve noted elsewhere, the most amusing aspect of the whole #GamerGate phenomenon (background here and here and here) has been the angry progressive media types confusedly looking around trying to figure out how we got to a point where they would be targeted for boycotts and the like for casual comments they have made. As Varad Mehta noted, Crazy, right? They don’t quite understand the world they’ve created. They think it’s the worst thing in the whole world for Internet Tough Guys to make death and rape threats* and also that it’s cool to joke about Bristol Palin actually...

When it comes to inclusion and equal treatment of LBGT employees, Toyota is at the top of the list. And it helps that the majority of Toyota employees live in a tolerant state like California. But could that change when the company's U.S. headquarters move to Texas in a few years? Toyota is moving 5,300 employees from California (and some in New York and Kentucky) to Plano, Texas, a move Texas welcomed with open arms and an open pocketbook. It'll serve as a devastating blow to Torrance, Calif., who was apparently blindsided by the news. By all accounts, Plano seems...

An Acura forum member posted an idiotic screed about his wife's jealousy of his car, an Acura TL. His wife found it, hacked his account and used it to divorce him. Men complaining about their wives on car forums is about as common as old men complaining about kids trampling their yards. That's why this particular example, an Acura TL owner on the car forum Acurazine, is particularly egregious and stupid. In fact, it was so bad, other car-loving members of the forum were forced to remind their brother-in-automotive-arms that his beloved car is just a car, and that his...