Free Republic

Eight-year-old Phung Xuan Vu and his 10-year-old brother were responsible for fetching food for their family, which was in the constant grip of hunger. They were living in Vietnam in the 1980, so this required ration cards. One of the family's most important possessions was a booklet of vouchers for food. As the older child, Vu's brother took care of the booklet, knowing that if he lost it, the family would have nothing to eat. The vouchers inside were printed on waxy yellow tissue paper. They meant the difference between going hungry and having something to eat, although it was...

The Shroud of Turin is the most studied object in the world – and for good reason. If authentic, this linen cloth would constitute physical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus. Not so fast comes the gut reaction from many Christians, concerned that such a theory skirts dangerously close to venerating a spurious relic. Besides, hasn’t the science concluded this is simply a medieval forgery?But the truth is, there is little consensus on the Shroud’s authenticity. After thousands of hours of research, study and tests, opinion is still divided among both scholars and enthusiasts. And so the intriguing possibility remains...

Limpy the Coyote, Yellowstone's best-known animal con artist, is teaching other critters how to beg tourists for food. Wildlife observers say other coyotes have been picking up on the scam and following Limpy’s lead. Limpy the coyote, also known as Tripod, frequents the roadside in Yellowstone National Park, where he tries to score snacks by looking pathetic for tourists. (Photo Courtesy Isabella Smedley) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As Yellowstone National Park gears up for its forthcoming peak season, one of its best-known grifters — Limpy the coyote — is at it again. And he’s starting to bring friends along. Limpy, also known as...

RNS) — Shaun King, a onetime Christian pastor who has sparked controversy in the past with his strident liberal activism, converted to Islam with his wife, Rai, over the weekend. Video of King saying the shahada, the Muslim profession of faith, appeared on X Sunday evening, as did separate footage of him speaking about his embrace of Islam at the Valley Ranch Islamic Center in Irving, Texas. In various clips, King was accompanied by Omar Suleiman, founder of the Yaqueen Institute and imam at VRIC (and a Religion News Service columnist). Suleiman noted that he and King have had “multiple...

Scientists in Brazil have engineered a cow to produce human insulin in its milk, making history as the world’s first transgenic cow capable of such a feat. Though still a long way off, the researchers hope that this bovine breakthrough could open doors for sustainable insulin production and help tackle the world's insulin supply problems. For now, the achievement is just a proof-of-concept – but with additional testing and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval, it could be scaled up to rival current insulin production methods, which involve genetically modified yeast and bacteria. "Mother Nature designed the mammary gland as...

An F-35A Lightning II assigned to the 354th Fighter Wing (FW) takes off during an Agile Combat Employment exercise on Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, July 13, 2021. Agile Combat Employment exercises ensure the 354th FW is able to deploy, disperse and maneuver combat capability to create dilemmas for near-peer adversaries. Photo: US Air Force / Airman 1st Class Jose Miguel T Tamondong The Warzone reported that the full-rate production decision came more than four years later than planned, with the primary reason for the latest holdup being delays with the Joint Simulation Environment tests. Those tests, the source mentions,...

Daily Wire personality Candace Owens endorsed a centuries-old conspiracy theory about Jewish rabbis drinking the blood of Christians on X last week. Owens has emerged as an outspoken critic of Israel — and then later the Jewish people — in the aftermath of the October 7 terrorist attack. In November, she mistakenly claimed that Muslims in the Israeli capital of Jerusalem are confined to the Muslim Quarter and then feuded with her Jewish colleague Ben Shapiro over the war between Israel and Hamas. “You cannot serve both God and money,” declared Owens in what was widely viewed as an anti-Semitic...

Several electoral and demographic factors in North Carolina could put the red state in play for President Joe Biden in November, political experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation. Democrats are setting their sights on North Carolina as opposed to other battleground states like Georgia for a rematch with former President Donald Trump. The narrow margin Trump won by in 2020, population changes in the state and the election of Republican gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson might put North Carolina back on the map for Biden this cycle, according to political scientists and state operatives. “Looks like at this point, North...

Former President Trump signaled his opposition Thursday to legislation that could ban TikTok in the U.S. despite his previous support for banning the social media app. In a post on Truth Social, the former president claimed a TikTok ban would benefit Facebook and its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, who serves as CEO of its parent company, Meta. “If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business,” Trump said. “I don’t want Facebook, who cheated in the last Election, doing better. They are a true Enemy of the People!” Facebook banned Trump in January 2021 in the wake...

The right was wrong about virtue-signalingThe question is never “will we virtue-signal?” but “whose virtues will be elevated?”A video of a family with four “transkids” went viral across social media this week. Many conservatives were justifiably appalled and pointed out that the chances of randomly having four children with severe body dysmorphic disorder in the same family are incredibly low. Commenters on the video suggested that the mother must be mentally ill and acting out Munchausen syndrome by proxy. But this demonstrates a serious failure of the right to understand human nature. The mother of those four children was not...

The likelihood of former Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard becoming Donald Trump's running mate is rising by the day. In an interview with Jesse Watters over on Fox, Gabbard made no secret of her willingness to serve as Trump's vice presidential nominee if she was asked."You're being considered for a VP slot, is that something you are open to?" Watters asked during "Jesse Watters Primetime.""I would be open to that," she responded. "My mission is to serve our country. I want to be in a position to solve problems."🚨New: Tulsi Gabbard says she is open to being President Trump’s VP in...

One of the basic rules of war is that you always keep two fronts going simultaneously. The first is the obvious battlefield. However, the second is communication. Suppose you DO NOT keep communication open through the back channels. In that case, there is NEVER the possibility of PEACE, and the war then becomes concluded only when one side is obliterated. This is what has taken place, and the demonizing of Putin is HIGHLY dangerous, for it shows there is no intention of peace. You cannot keep calling someone a piece of shit publicly and then expect the people to accept...

The battery will not catch fire or explode in response to punctures or even gunshots, unlike some current batteries that can be unsafe if damaged or exposed to high temperatures, says Chinese startup Betavolt ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chinese company Betavolt claims to have developed a battery that could power mobile phones that never need to be charged and drones that can fly forever. Photo: Betavolt.tech ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A Chinese startup claims to have developed a new battery that could power smartphones for 50 years without the need for charging. Beijing-based Betavolt said its nuclear battery is the first in the world to realise...

Interim Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 is expected to announce a working group that will consider a policy of institutional neutrality, a move that comes just months after the University became embroiled in controversy over its response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.A formal stance of neutrality, in which Harvard would refrain from making political statements as an institution, would be a marked shift from the University’s current approach to politics. It would also, in theory, help the University avoid the pressure it’s faced in the past to take political positions on contentious issues — such as the...

Lankford’s ‘compromise’ border bill legalizes the invasion... The legislation waters down existing immigration law and provides the president with toothless emergency powers, all while lavishing billions more tax dollars on Ukraine. You’ve got to hand it to Senator James Lankford (R-Okla.) and Mitch McConnell’s other lieutenants in the Senate. They really did manage to solve the illegal immigration crisis. They’re simply going to make the invasion legal. In exchange for us agreeing to an endless flow of illegal immigrants across the southern border, Democrats will get another $60 billion for Ukraine. Some call that bipartisanship, but we call it disenfranchisement...

THE DEATH of Alexei Navalny, Russia’s foremost opposition leader, in a Siberian gulag on February 16th would by itself have served as a shock to Europe. But for leaders gathered at the Munich Security Conference, an annual gathering of defence and security bigwigs, Mr Navalny’s demise was just one of several ominous developments for the continent. On February 17th Ukraine’s army, starved of American ammunition by Congress’s failure to pass a supplemental aid bill, was forced to withdraw from the eastern town of Avdiivka. That handed Vladimir Putin his first military victory in almost a year.The deadlock in Congress reflects...

The far-right social media network Gab now hosts a Hitler chatbot, sparking fears over AI’s ability for online radicalisation. There is no point arguing with Adolf Hitler, who only self-victimises and is, unsurprisingly, a Holocaust denier. This is not the real Hitler risen from the dead, of course, but something equally concerning: an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot version of the fascist dictator responsible for the mass genocide of European Jews throughout World War II. Created by the far-right US-based Gab social network, Gab AI is host to numerous AI chatbot characters, many of which emulate or parody famous historical and modern-day...

I’m finding it hard to single out an event or a piece of news that stands out as the most important of the week. Of course, people who move in different circles may be able to point to something. The horrors continue in Gaza - so much so that I can’t read about them for the moment - need a rest. The Houthis are still not vanquished and the risk of escalation in the Middle East is about the same as last week, in my humble opinion. The Scary Narrative has probably been less successful than the West hoped for...

A very long essay, but crucial to understanding where we are. One would think that by now all these anti-woke conservatives and moderate liberals would have learned at least some of the bitter lessons from the last decade about how political power and cultural change actually work, but I guess not. … They could have recognized by now that this is not a simple political issue with a political solution, but they have not…. No, the Revolution is far from over. [Here are] twenty reasons to get woke and despair. 1. One does not simply walk away from religious beliefs....

Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed, “Ukraine is obviously a satellite state of the U.S.” in an interview with journalist Tucker Carlson published on Thursday. “Ukraine is obviously a satellite state of the U.S. It is evident,” Putin asserted in an interview with Tucker Carlson on Tuesday. Watch Below (time code — 01:58:15): Putin was responding to a question from Carlson, who asked, “Are you worried that what’s happening in Ukraine could lead to something much larger and much more horrible? And how motivated are you to call the U.S. government and say, ‘Let’s come to terms’?”“I already said that we...