Free Republic

President Joe Biden escaped the confines of the White House and the travails of high office for a host of other diversions in 2023, spending more than a third of the past year ensconced at a getaway spot, a report Monday details. According to the New York Post, peripatetic Biden could be found on his absences from Washington, DC, at either one of his Delaware residences, a posh vacation site or Camp David, according to a review of public records by the outlet.

It might be easier than usual to spot the newest baby giraffe that's recently been born at a zoo in Tennessee - and even easier to give her a name. The unnamed baby was born on July 31 with no spots, making it the only known living spotless giraffe. Video shows the new calf playing and being nurtured by her mother, who continues to care for her while she makes her public debut. The Brights Zoo in Limestone, Tennessee, has debuted the baby giraffe after finding out just how rare she was. 'Giraffe experts believe she is the only solid-colored...

A nuclear scientist from Texas, who's credited with designing sensitive technology found in dozens of laser-guided weapons systems used by the U.S. military, was rescued from war-torn Ukraine. Members of the non-profit rescue organization, Project DYNAMO extracted John Spor from Russian-occupied territory deep in the country. Spor, was living in Mariupol, Ukraine, when the city was attacked and occupied by invading Russian forces in February. Following the siege and unrelenting brutal artillery and missile attacks, he fled his home and went into hiding. Chechen-Russian forces ransacked his home and hunted Spor for months, according to a spokesman for the organization.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s (D) office backtracked on Monday after the governor announced the state would provide millions of dollars in support to counties complying with her mask rules, as well as state inspectors to conduct “spot checks” for coronavirus mandate compliance in businesses across the state. “I want to focus on the counties doing the right thing, and that have been our allies in making sure that we ensure that people are compliant with our protocols related to masks,” Hochul said on Monday.

Scientists at Cornell University and the American Museum of Natural History have identified 2,034 nearby star-systems—within the small cosmic distance of 326 light-years—that could find Earth merely by watching our pale blue dot cross our sun. That's 1,715 star-systems that could have spotted Earth since human civilization blossomed about 5,000 years ago, and 319 more star-systems that will be added over the next 5,000 years. Exoplanets around these nearby stars have a cosmic front-row seat to see if Earth holds life, the scientists said in research published June 23 in Nature. "From the exoplanets' point-of-view, we are the aliens," said...

As part of its sixth orbit of Jupiter’s turbulent cloud tops, Juno passed close to Jupiter’s center (aka. perijove), which took place at 6:55 p.m. PDT (9:55 p.m. EDT). Eleven minutes later – at 7:06 p.m. PDT (10:06 p.m. EDT) – the probe flew over the Great Red Spot. In the process, Juno was at a distance of just 9,000 km (5,600 miles) from the anticyclonic storm, which is the closest any spacecraft has ever flown to it. During the flyby, Juno had all eight of its scientific instruments (as well its imager, the JunoCam) trained directly on the storm....

Trump supporters, I would like to celebrate the Session's endorsement, by giving F.R. a $10 spot. Would any of you like to join me, and help push the FReepathon over the top? 0050 = $00,500.00 0100 = $01,000.00 0250 = $02,500.00 0500 = $05,000.00 1000 = $10,000.00 Gotta go, I'm going to donate right now! Click on the graphic to join me...

Eric Hill, whose effort to entertain his young son with a simple drawing of a mischievous dog named Spot blossomed into a popular series of children's books that have sold more than 60 million copies, has died at his home in central California. He was 86.

Summary: When did humans really begin to control fire and use it for their daily needs? Scientists discovered in the Qesem Cave, an archaeological site near present-day Rosh Ha'ayin, the earliest evidence -- dating to around 300,000 years ago -- of unequivocal repeated fire building over a continuous period. These findings help answer the question and hint that those prehistoric humans already had a highly advanced social structure and intellectual capacity.

Details emerging from North Korea about Kim Jong-un's surprising public purging of his uncle from a top position indicate that it was a family affair with his aunt and brother, armed with a pistol, taking part in the arrests of ranking officials. ... "What you have to understand is that the North Korean dynasty is run by an absolute blood-based hereditary mindset," pointed out Lee Yun-keol, the president of North Korea Strategic Information Service Center. The purge drama was designed by Kim Kyong-hee, Jang's wife, and Kim Jong-un, Lee said. ... The South Korean media have also been reporting that...

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) spent approximately $900 million over the last 5 years for behavior detection officers to identify high-risk passengers, but so far, according to the General Accountability Office (GAO), only 0.59% of the passengers flagged were arrested, and among those, not one was charged with terrorism—zero. In 2003, the TSA started testing its Screening of Passengers by Observation Technique (SPOT) program, which was then fully deployed in 2007. About 3,000 behavior detection officers (BDO) “had been deployed to 176 of the more than 450 TSA-regulated airports in the United States” by fiscal year 2012 (Oct. 1, 2011–Sept....

Cal Worthington -- the legendary car dealer who became famous for his "Go see Cal" TV commercials has gone on to that great used car lot in the sky, TMZ has learned. Worthington -- who had dealerships in Long Beach, CA, Anchorage, Alaska, Phoenix, Houston, Sacramento and other cities -- died Sunday at his ranch in California.

Hoping for an education from some Freepers on history and future of silver and gold prices. When I look at the historical price of silver, it looks like we've seen this trend before in the late 70's and early 80's. Prior to this, it was under $10 an ounce, then spiked to about $50 an ounce, then back down to $10 for a couple of decades. My question is, why should we not expect it to drop back down to a historically baseline price of around $10 an ounce within the next couple of years? If you can answer that,...

Passengers flying through Boston’s Logan International Airport will notice the security screeners are chattier than usual, but it’s not an improved customer service policy. On Tuesday the Transportation Security Administration began a test-run at Logan of its SPOT program, which stands for Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques... “...The vast majority of passengers will experience a casual greeting conversation with the BDO as they go through identity verification,” a TSA spokesperson said. “A small portion of passengers may get selected for an extended, but still limited conversation.” Since its creation in 2007, TSA’s SPOT program has grown almost fifteen-fold. As...

Nobody could have foreseen the "tradition" being a safe haven escape to all the other "traditional" fiat-based garbage available to investors. Nobody. Next stop: $1950.

<p>"Some powerful interests who had been dominating the agenda in Washington for a very long time and they're not always happy with me. They talk about me like a dog. That's not in my prepared remarks, but it's true," he told a crowd largely consisting of union members.</p>

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People who think they may have H1N1 flu need to stay away from work, avoid sneezing on their spouses and children and now, they have someone else to worry about infecting too -- their pets...

Jupiter’s new black spot The black spot is at the top of this image. I just saw on Twitter (hard to believe I ever thought Twitter was useless) that Jupiter is sporting a new black spot near its south pole. You can see it in the picture here (click to go to the source and embiggen). People on Twitter (and on that site linked above) are speculating that this is the result of a large impact on Jupiter, similar to what happened in 1994 when comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 slammed into the big planet. But I think that’s premature; weather changes...

Today being the official end for another year of Israeli Apartheid Week, let's address the absurd lament from its enthusiasts that you can't criticize Israel today without being labelled an anti-Semite. Bull. First, let's dispense with "anti-Semite" -- a confusing term since Arabs can be Semites and many Jews aren't. Instead, let's call it what it is -- "Jew hatred." So, can people criticize Israel without being accused of Jew hatred? Of course.