Free Republic

DENVER — The US Marine Corps revealed today that the F-35B stealth fighter that captured the nation’s attention after going missing for a full day in September 2023 pulled off its inadvertent technological vanishing act due to an electrical malfunction — though the service still said the surviving pilot was to blame for the plane’s eventual crash. According to the Marine Corps, on Sept. 17, 2023 the F-35 pilot was attempting to climb out of a “missed approach in instrument meteorological conditions and heavy precipitation near Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina,” when he ejected from the plane. The release said...

16 SWAT officers hospitalized after blast at training facility in Southern California An explosion during a California training exercise sent 16 members of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department SWAT team to the hospital... The FBI Special Agent Jerry Crowe Regional Tactical Training Facility south of Los Angeles hosts firearms training and qualifications tests for the bureau and local law enforcement agencies, Eimiller said. The FBI will lead the investigation, Gonzalez said.... ...

The clerk of the Fulton County, Georgia, court system acknowledged Tuesday accidentally releasing what appeared to be a list of criminal charges against Donald Trump before he was actually indicted, and sought to deflect blame amid mounting criticism from Republicans who have seized on the blunder to characterize the case as rigged. After refusing to explain what happened for more than a day after Reuters posted the document the media outlet said was published on the court’s website, clerk Che Alexander’s office said she was doing a “trial run” of the court’s filing system on Monday “in anticipation of issues...

A South Korean art student consumed a $120,000 piece of art that comprised a banana duct-taped to a wall because he was "hungry," according to media reports.

On Wednesday afternoon, a cement mixer work accident claimed the life of a man in Florida. The incident took place at Foley Products Company in Cantonment at approximately 4:30 p.m. As per Escambia County reports, the man was operating the cement mixer when it was switched on, and he got entangled inside it. Initially, the county stated that he suffered severe injuries and needed to be rescued from the machine. However, he was later pronounced dead. According to Eric Gilmore, the Public Safety Director of Escambia County, they are awaiting the appropriate authorities to conduct their investigation. Once they complete...

HUNT VALLEY, Md. (SBG) — UPDATE 10/5/21: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention removed their 2021 holiday guidance Tuesday and said the update was a mishap. The agency said its recommendations for virtual gatherings that mirrored 2020 guidance does not reflect this year's, and new suggestions are coming soon. Original story from Monday below. Despite vaccinations, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still recommends people celebrate Thanksgiving virtually this year. Updated guidance states that attending gatherings for events and holidays still increases the risk of getting and spreading COVID-19, especially with the threat of the highly transmissible delta...

CAIRO - A giant container ship remained wedged sideways in the Suez Canal on Friday as signs of its potentially huge global economic toll emerged with shipping rates rising and cargo ships being rerouted away from the vital waterway. The Ever Given, a Panama-flagged vessel whose length is nearly the height of the Empire State Building, has been stuck in the canal since Tuesday, creating a massive traffic jam on both sides of the waterway that connects Asia to Europe. On Friday morning, the canal’s service provider, Leth Agencies, said in a tweet that the Ever Given “remains grounded in...

Baltimore firefighters have evacuated two medical research buildings due to possible tuberculosis contamination. A Johns Hopkins Medicine spokeswoman says the fire department is investigating 'the possible release of a small amount of tuberculosis' in an internal bridge between two cancer research buildings. Officials did not say how it might have been released.

<p>The Port Authority is sweatin’ on the dock of the bay.</p> <p>The underground loading dock to 1 World Trade Center, future home of Condé Nast, can’t be finished in time for the media company and other tenants to use the planned 13 cargo bays to move in equipment to build out their space, Realty Check has learned.</p>

A man has been decapitated in a horrific accident at a chicken processing factory in Melbourne, Australia. Mr Sarel Singh, 34, was killed instantly when he was sucked into a machine and decapitated in an incident that has now placed the entire poultry processing industry under review. The factory was already under investigation over claims of unlawful and unethical treatment of its majority migrant workforce, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Lateline programme reported. Mr Singh's brother, Harry, said that Sarel had migrated from India four years ago 'in the hope of finding a better life in Australia'. But Sarel had told...

You would think that military professionals would rely on something other than Google Maps in determining where countries have their borders. However, down in Central America, there's apparently been something of an international incident, after a Nicaraguan military commander, using Google Maps as his guide, brought his troops into Costa Rica. He insists that he was just following what Google Maps said, and that he never intended to go into the neighboring country. Yet... the report also notes that there was a Costa Rican flag there, which the Nicaraguans took down and replaced with their own flag. You would think,...

DODGE CITY — A visitor to Boot Hill Museum thought he'd stumbled on a photo opportunity Wednesday, but he wound up in the hospital instead. The tourist, a 69-year-old man from Parks, Ark., put his head into a noose at the museum's "Boot Hill Hanging Tree" and was having his photo taken, Dodge City Police Chief Robin James said in a news release. He apparently lost consciousness and slumped into the noose, and two women who were with him were unable to remove him. "Fortunately, they were able to summon help from people at the museum who removed the man...

Getting ready for Christmas? "In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians called it 'Christmas' and went to church; the Jews called it 'Hanukah' and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People passing each other on the street would say 'Merry Christmas!' or 'Happy Hanukah!' or (to the atheists) 'Look out for the wall!'" ~ Dave Barry "Christmas at my house is always at least six or seven times more pleasant than anywhere else. We start drinking early. And while everyone else is seeing only one Santa Claus, we'll be seeing...

Behind North’s jubilation was anxiety Questions arise over rocket science technological advances by Pyongyang April 08, 2009 South Korean intelligence sources said there was confusion and anxiety behind North Korea’s celebratory facade after what it claimed a successful satellite launch on Sunday. An intelligence source told the JoongAng Ilbo that Pyongyang was “in a state of confusion” following the rocket launch. Officials from the United States and South Korea have said no object entered orbit, but the source said that wasn’t the reason for disquiet in the North Korean capital. According to the source, North Korean officials were on the...

A MALFUNCTION has forced a Qantas jet to return to Perth, prompting concerns for the second time in three months that interference from a defence station in northwestern Australia may be to blame for a mid-air drama on the national carrier. Qantas flight 71 was on route to Singapore with 277 passengers about 8.30am last Saturday when it had to return to Perth after the jet's autopilot disconnected because of a problem with a unit that supplies key information to flight control computers. The Airbus A330-300 was 45 minutes into the journey and about 380 nautical miles south of the...

". . . After performing the usual impressive Demo, the Superhornet came in to land. Almost immediately upon touching down there was a loud "BANG" - he blew a tire. He got the jet slowed down and held it in the runway until the other tire gave way, then she broke loose. The back end came around, and you could see him fighting it and adjusting into it as much as possible, but things progressed and the plane spun around. He did almost a complete 360, then the tail end went off the runway and into the dirt. The stabs...

A very bizarre aviation mishap involving a Cessna Citation on a downwind approach to a wet runway, a recipe for a disaster. It's a miracle this thing did not flip or come apart when it ran out of pavement. To make matters worse the #2 engine seems to run awqy on them, water taxiing through the bay. Not for dialup freepers, it is pretty large. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V06LBgfuxgA&mode=related&search=

LEXINGTON, Ky. — A commuter jet carrying 50 people crashed in a field and caught fire shortly after taking off Sunday morning. Authorities said a crew member was the only survivor.

U.S. vice president Cheney issued a warning after shooting mishap WASHINGTON (AP) - Vice President Dick Cheney has been given a warning citation for breaking Texas hunting law by failing to buy a $7 US special permit, following an investigation into Cheney's accidental shooting of a fellow hunter. The warning came from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department after it investigated Cheney's accidental shooting of a fellow quail hunter Saturday on the private Armstrong Ranch in the south part of the state. The department found the accident was caused by a "hunter's judgment factor" when Cheney sprayed another hunter...

          Thunderbirds performance cut short after object falls from plane August 20, 2005 — The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds canceled an aerial performance Sunday because of safety concerns following a midair accident at the Chicago Air and Water Show that sent an object on one of the group's F-16s plummeting into Lake Michigan.   The aerial acrobatic team cut short their performance Saturday when two of the jets made contact while they were flying in formation and a missile rail was dislodged. On Sunday, the team announced that it would not perform again until an...