Free Republic

Today in horrific news, a Polish couple vacationing in Portugal fell to their deaths while taking selfies on a cliff. The couple and their children had been visiting cliffs at Cabo da Roca when the tragic incident occurred, WILX 10 reports. They fell from the cliff top into the Atlantic Ocean, where rescue workers were eventually able to retrieve their bodies. The couple’s children are now reportedly in the care of Polish diplomats, and have visited with psychologists. Sadly, this isn’t the first time a selfie has turned fatal. Earlier this month, we reported on the man in Mexico who...

Missouri’s Constitutional Amendment 5 passed yesterday with 62% of the vote and 3712 of 3898 precincts reported. It’s a clear statement of support for the right to keep and bear arms, clarifying that it’s a fundamental right; that it protects ammunition and accessories as well as firearms, and that the state is obligated to protect that right. The amendment could lead to the Show Me State becoming a constitutional carry (no permit or license required to keep or bear arms) state like Vermont and Arizona . . . First, here’s the ballot question and the actual amendment: Official Ballot Measure...

An honest mistake. Could have happened to anyone: " The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has angered Muslim staff by hosting a hog roast to celebrate the Commonwealth Games beneath the windows of its Arabic TV service. The Sun on Sunday reports that a whole pig was spit-roasted in the courtyard of New Broadcasting House in London, with the smell of pork drifting up through the windows of the mainly Muslim office. Workers described their “horror” at spotting the pig on their lunch break. Islam forbids its followers from eating pork as pigs are considered “unclean” animals. The hog roast also...

A Falcon 9 rocket is set for liftoff from Cape Canaveral early Tuesday, continuing a jam-packed sequences of launches by SpaceX for commercial and government customers after a slow start to the year. The 22-story rocket will loft the AsiaSat 8 communications satellite into geostationary transfer orbit, a drop-off point for most large telecom payloads heading for operating posts 22,300 miles over the equator. Liftoff from Cape Canaveral's Complex 40 launch pad is set for 1:25 a.m. EDT (0525 GMT). The launch window extends until 4:11 a.m. EDT (0811 GMT). Forecasters predict generally favorable weather, with a 30 percent chance...

Scientifically, nice (heterosexual) guys might actually finish last. A study published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin recently found that while men were attracted to nice-seeming women upon meeting them, women did not feel the same way about men. Researchers from the University of Rochester, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya in Israel investigated a possible mechanism explaining why women and men differ in their sexual reactions with receptive opposite-sex strangers.

“Get ready for the New England power shortage,” reads the headline in The Spectator. “Governors are already meeting in emergency session.” “In a hell-bent campaign to rid itself of any form of dirty, messy “non-renewable” energy, New England has been closing down coal and oil plants for the last decade,” the article warns. “In 2000, 18 percent of New England’s electricity came from coal and 22 percent from oil. Today it’s 3 percent coal and 1 percent oil. Meanwhile, natural gas — the fuel that everybody loves until you have to drill for it — has risen from 15 percent...

The National Science Foundation has committed $10 million to build robots that will act as “personal trainers” for children, in an effort to influence their behavior and eating habits. The NSF grant said the project is necessary due to “critical societal problems.”

Following in the footsteps of the record-setting cool air mass in mid-July, a second blast of air with polar origins will invade the eastern U.S. to close July. Like the original, the sequel will be glorious. This taste of September may not be quite as strong mid-July’s version, but should produce temperatures 10-20 degrees below normal across a large swath of the eastern U.S. by early Tuesday.

“For anybody wanting to take a peek at the Winter 2014/15 forecast by Matt Holliday of Firsthand Weather (wonderful meteorologist and AGW sceptic), here it is (on Facebook),” says Caroline in West Virginia.

There are enough signatures that have been to place on the ballot to break California up into six States.

Political correctness has now reached an entirely new stratosphere: The University of Wisconsin-Madison believes grades should be apportioned based on race: Campus Reform reports: The policy, named the “Framework for Diversity and Inclusive Excellence,” calls for “proportional participation of historically underrepresented racial-ethnic groups at all levels of an institution, including high-status special programs, high-demand majors, and in the distribution of grades.” Huh? UWM professor W. Lee Hansen wrote about his concerns with the ridiculous politically correct policy late last week: “Professors, instead of just awarding the grade that each student earns, would apparently have to adjust them so that academically...

On July 13, 1984, the young stars of The Last Starfighter saw their careers blast off into outer space, as a friendship was born that carries on three decades later. Today marks the 29th anniversary of the original theatrical release of the groundbreaking sci-fi classic The Last Starfighter, so we figured it’s a perfect time to take a fun look back at the film through the eyes of its stars, Lance Guest and Catherine Mary Stewart, both of whom attended a Q&A panel at the second Blood at the Beach Convention in Virginia Beach in 2012. Guest plays Alex Rogan,...

To launch the high quality TV channel TNT in Belgium we placed a big red push button on an average Flemish square of an average Flemish town. A sign with the text "Push to add drama" invited people to use the button. And then we waited... Discover here what happened or visit http://www.tntdrama.com for more info. First it happened in Belgium. Then again in the Netherlands.

Orbital Sciences is gearing up for liftoff of a commercial cargo craft packed with more than 3,000 pounds of supplies for the International Space Station. Launch from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia is set for 12:52 p.m. EDT (1652 GMT) Sunday. Rocket: Antares Payload: Cygnus (Orb-2) Launch date: July 13, 2014 Launch time: 9:52:14 a.m. PDT/12:52:14 p.m. EDT (1652:14 GMT) Window: 5 minutes Launch site: Pad 0A, Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, Wallops Island, Va. ISS capture: July 16 @ 1037 GMT ISS departure: Aug. 15 Re-entry: TBD

The mainstream media tries to pretend that ice remained on Lake Superior “only” into June. “How about July?”asks reader E Stephens. “We should name icebergs still floating in Lake Superior in July after infamous AGW scientists. This one is Gavin,” says Tilly LaCampagne via Twitter. See photo dated 11 July 2014:

Four satellites for O3b Networks, a company which provides broadband connectivity to the developing world, are ready for launch Thursday on top of a Russian Soyuz rocket from the European-run spaceport in French Guiana. Liftoff is set for 1855:56 GMT (2:55:56 p.m. EDT). Rocket: Soyuz 2-1b Payload: O3b F2 Date: July 10, 2014 Time: 1855:56 GMT (2:55:56 p.m. EDT) Launch Site: ELS, Guiana Space Center, Sinnamary, French Guiana Live launch coverage at the link! ArianeSpace Launch Press Kit

As Operation Protective Edge entered its second day on Wednesday, the Israel Air Force attacked terror sites in the Gaza Strip, while residents of greater Tel Aviv heard sirens and explosions. Sirens wailed in 20 different municipalities, including Tel Aviv, Rishon Letzion, Modi'in, Ashdod, Ashkelon, and the Eshkol regional council. Residents of Ra'anana also reported hearing sirens. The Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepted at least two of the missiles, though residents of Tel Aviv heard more explosions. The remnants of a rocket intercepted by Iron Dome fell on a road in Ness Ziona. The Hamas military wing has claimed responsibility...

BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, has signed a contract with a start-up that it has been nurturing through its Labs accelerator programme in a bid to measure audience engagement with its media content. The start-up, known as CrowdEmotion, uses facial coding webcams to capture people’s emotions and see how they react to certain TV shows. The BBC Worldwide Insight team said it plans to run CrowdEmotion trials on a number of BBC TV shows, including Top Gear and Sherlock – two of the organisation's most popular and lucrative series. David Boyle, executive vice president at BBC Worldwide...

Pickup trucks customized to spew black smoke into the air are quickly becoming the newest weapon in the culture wars. "Coal Rollers" are diesel trucks modified with chimneys and equipment that can force extra fuel into the engine causing dark black smoke to pour out of the chimney stacks. These modifications are not new, but as Slate's Dave Weigel pointed out on Thursday, "rolling coal" has begun to take on a political dimension with pickup drivers increasingly viewing their smokestacks as a form of protest against environmentalists and Obama administration emissions regulations. Last month, Vocativ noted many coal rollers focus...

Video at link.