Free Republic

After years of disruption and vandalism, consequences have finally arrived for "Just Stop Oil" protesters. I'm not just talking about some motorists throwing them out of the street either, as satisfying as that usually is. This time, actual prison sentences were handed down. In October 2022, two women entered the National Gallery in London and threw soup onto a famous Van Gogh painting. They then glued themselves to the wall while ranting about climate change. Video of the incident went viral at the time. Phoebe Plummer, 23, and Anna Holland, 22, were arrested for their deeds, though it wasn't immediately...

The U.S. government has given Chinese and Russian entities at least $1.3 billion for various research programs over the past five years, according to an analysis released Wednesday by Republican Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst and watchdog group Open the Books. The analysis revealed that millions of taxpayer dollars have been given to, among others, a Chinese software developer for military tech support, a Russian health insurance provider that has since been sanctioned and Chinese agriculture companies. And it showed the federal government gave $2 million, more than previously reported, to the Chinese state-run Wuhan lab studying bat coronaviruses. "Washington’s continued...

REDLANDS - A police officer shot and killed a neighborhood cat he thought was a mountain lion Thursday after two cougar sightings were reported in the same area over the last eight days. Animal control officers were sent to a home in the 1500 block of Crestview Road about 11:30 a.m. They were met by a police officer who emerged from a home carrying an AR-15 assault rifle. The officer told Redlands Animal Control Supervisor Gayle Lipes he had shot the cat, which he described to her as very large and resembling a wild animal. "Why the hell did you...