Free Republic

In the same way that scientists have studied Antarctica for what insights could prove valuable for a Mars mission, the Whale-SETI group said its studies with humpback whales can help them develop “intelligence filters” used in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. A team that includes a UC Davis professor and a scientist with SETI, the organization that searches the cosmos for signs of alien intelligence, has cited a breakthrough here on Earth – a 20-minute “conversation” with a humpback whale in the wild. The Templeton Whale-SETI group said its findings on what it calls “non-human intelligence communication” could help in...

Former Biden White House press secretary MSNBC host Jen Psaki said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the White House wanted Hunter Biden to stop talking in public after defying the House Oversight Committee’s subpoena to give closed-door testimony. Anchor Kristen Welker said, “Jen Psaki, you had this surprise press conference by Hunter Biden this week. Did it help, or did it hurt?”

Robust political discussions may not be on the menu for many Americans preparing to celebrate Thanksgiving. A Quinnipiac University poll released Monday found that about 6 out of 10 voters, or 61 percent, said they hope to avoid talking about politics during the holiday celebrations. However, the poll also said 29 percent of voters said they are eager to talk about politics. “A healthy dose of ‘zip it’ will be on the menu as voters acknowledge that if they plan on ‘talking turkey’ over the big meal, it will be about the food and not about politics,” Quinnipiac University Polling...

President Joe Biden said Monday he did not lie in his repeated claims of never speaking with Hunter Biden about the family’s international business deals — despite mounting evidence to the contrary. After hosting an event in the East Room at the White House about the nation’s economic challenges, Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich asked President Joe Biden, “Did you lie about never speaking to Hunter about his business deals?” “No,” Joe Biden replied: Q: "Did you lie about never speaking to Hunter about his business deals?" BIDEN: "No" pic.twitter.com/mWC3Xtd8sS — RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 26, 2023

Chuck Grassley took off the kid gloves yesterday and issued a warning to President Joe Biden about his alleged bribery scheme. Chuck said: “Last week, I came to the Senate Floor to give a speech about the Biden Justice Department and FBI playing games with the American people by hiding the FBI-generated 1023 document from Congress. “Director Wray was going to be held in contempt for refusing to produce the 1023 that I told Chairman Comer about. Then, instead of contempt, the FBI committed to showing the 1023 and related documents to Congress. “So, the FBI showed but didn’t provide...

American officials will hold talks “this week” with Russian leaders about negotiations to release former Marine Paul Whelan, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Monday. “With respect to the question of whether we’ve had engagement with the Russian Federation on the Whelan case, we will have an engagement with them this week,” Sullivan told reporters. Sullivan was not asked about and did not address the case of American Marc Fogel — who like Whelan was left behind last week when President Biden signed off on a prisoner swap in which the US released convicted arms trafficker Viktor Bout...

Ana Navarro told her co-host Friday on ABC’s “The View” that Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) should not question Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s qualifications for the Supreme Court because he does not have the “moral standing” to do so. Goldberg said, “What’s crazy is the Republicans like Josh Hawley are already trying to derail her path to the bench, claiming that there’s past cases that show she let sex offenders off too easy, and he takes issue with the fact that she defended Guantanamo detainees, which is the law.”

Speaking, singing and possibly even breathing too close to people might spread the novel coronavirus even before people feel symptoms, according to findings in a study from Asia published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The analysis sheds new light on person-to-person transmission of COVID-19, as more than 90 percent of Americans hunker down at home to stem the spread of the virus. The new report, published Wednesday in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, documents seven "clusters" of cases in Singapore, the island city-state off the southern tip of Malaysia. The outbreak, researchers say, most...

RUSH: We had a call, I don’t know, about an hour ago. It was from a gentleman who wanted to know if there is — and if there is, who — a singular person or organization that gives the Democrat Party its orders. Its marching orders, its talking points, its agenda on legislative items and that kind of thing. Is there one person? The reason he asked is because they’re all saying the same thing all the time, and he’s curious how that happens, and particularly in the media. You know, we have shared with you… We started it. We...

Could be. It makes sense.

One of the things I fuss about a lot (especially at Buffer) are words—very simple words, in fact. Should it say “Hi” or “Hey?” Should it be “cheers” or “thanks?” How about “but” or “and?” There are many occasions when Joel and I sit over one line and change it multiple times, until we feel it really sits right. This is partly to improve our metrics for click rate and others. It is also to simply create the right emotion. The one key question we ask ourselves is: “How does this make you feel?” The question might sound very...

8 years of GWB and all I saw was dead soldiers on the nightly news Then Obama had command for 8 years and the dead soldiers disappeared, even as the death toll tripled Now Trump is in charge and traitor soldiers are being molly coddled and given a pat on the bum.

Riley is an Eclectus Roratus Parrot - who can talk! He communicates with me like a human as he understands the meanings of his words learnt. In this video, I have a wonderful chat with him about a few things.

The new Hello Barbie, showed off at the New York Toy Fair on Saturday, will actually be able to listen to kids’ words and change its own language to adapt to their preferences, BBC reports. Tell Barbie you like dancing, and she’ll mention dancing in a later conversation, for example. A speech-recognition company called ToyTalk is programming Barbie’s speaking and listening capabilities. The necklace on the doll will feature both the microphone and the speaker that help enable the conversations. Hello Barbie will retail for $74.99 when it launches, likely in time for the holiday season. The doll requires a...

One of the more frequent concerns expressed by many Catholics is level of talking and other noise in churches in recent decades. Many of us who are a bit older remember a time when to walk even into a rather full Church was to walk into a realm of great silence. People just didn’t talk in church. One would enter, find their pew, genuflect, and then kneel for private prayer before Mass began. When Mass concluded, one might kneel for a brief while for prayer, but then leave quietly, not talking until in the vestibule or outside the church. Even...

**SNIP** ...the NSA evidently compiled a two-page document, dated November 22, giving instructions for discussing the highly secretive agency with “family and close friends”. Among the points officials are “authorized to share” this holiday season: “The NSA’s mission is of great value to the nation”; it performs its missions “exceptionally well”; and its employees are “loyal Americans with expert skills”. NSA officials did not respond to questions about the talking points, their preparation and their veracity. While most of the talking points simply provide that level of uncritical assurance, several pass along disputable or disputed claims – things that can...

1. Hey remember when you said that Obamacare was going to work great, and then, when people asked you how it actually worked, you sort of implied they were stupid for not knowing, and yet you never provided any evidence that you had any idea of how it was supposed to work yourself? Yeah, you were wrong to do that. 2. Remember when you called me crazy for saying Obama wanted to "spread the wealth around," based on not a scrap of evidence except for Obama himself saying he wanted to spread the wealth around? Yeah, there's a NYT article...

Here is a copy of the Democratic talking points at the House Ways and Means Committee hearing today in Washington DC. Democrats handed this out to the press before the hearing. Democrat Sander Levin, the ranking member on the committee, said the IRS targeting scandal is not a partisan scandal.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein says the talking points used on the Sunday news shows following the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, were wrong, adding that the administration should have been quicker in calling it a terrorist act. “I think the talking points were wrong,” the California Democrat who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Sunday on NBC´s “Meet the Press.” “I think the talking points should not be written by the intelligence community.” “Unfortunately," she added, "the word extremist was used which isn’t not as crystal clear as terrorist.”

“I wasn’t involved in the talking points process.... As I understand it, as I’ve been told, it was a typical interagency process where staff, including from the State Department, all participated, to try to come up with whatever was going to be made publicly available, and it was an intelligence product.” — Then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Jan. 23, 2013 This column has been updated New information is raising questions about the development of the administration’s talking points on the deadly attack on the diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, which left four Americans, including the ambassador, dead. Readers may...