Free Republic

Wagner warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin's business empire came under fresh assault yesterday as his media companies suddenly folded amid questions over his whereabouts. The mercenary chief has not been seen since shortly after the collapse of a mutiny by his Wagner Group fighters that rocked Vladimir Putin's regime eight days ago. Normally prolific on social media, Prigozhin was last heard from on Telegram a week ago, despite a rumoured sighting in Moscow. Under the deal that halted his rebellion, the former ally and one-time chef to Putin was to be allowed to go into exile in Belarus. His men, who have...

A New Jersey couple mysteriously vanished after venturing into the Pine Barrens. Gary Parker, 67, and his wife Lorraine, 60, of Warren Grove, N.J., drove into the protected wilderness reserve that covers more than a million acres — but didn’t return, according to reports

Dr. Anthony Fauci said Monday the coronavirus “will disappear” when the “majority of the population [are] vaccinated,” noting “we don’t know what that threshold is.” “When you get the overwhelming majority of the population vaccinated – and we don’t know what that threshold is – the virus will disappear, and then we won’t need to worry about it, at least in this country,” Fauci said when interviewed by USA Today. “If you don’t do that, you will get a smoldering level of infection that will just go right into the fall, get confused with influenza in the winter, and then...

One of the nation’s most influential sheriffs on illegal immigration warned Monday that immigrants freed by judges concerned about the coronavirus spreading in jails will disappear after the crisis is over. “The question many people ask is, ‘Are they going to turn themselves in after the COVID-19 incident is over?'” said Bristol County, Massachusetts, Sheriff Thomas Hodgson. “And the answer is, no, of course not,” he said. A local judge has ordered Hodgson to release dozens of illegal immigrant inmates he had been holding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He told a Center for Immigration Studies Zoom panel that most...

Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr launched a vicious Twitter thread response against Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying Thursday night, listing off several Chinese whistleblowers who were reportedly silenced by the communist government after speaking out about the coronavirus. “Could you un-disappear them so we could speak?” Carr blasted as he listed off the various whistleblowers in the thread, which included doctors Ai Fen and Li Wenliang and journalists Li Zehua and Ren Zhiqiang.

The family of Kristin Smart, the California college student who vanished 23 years ago after attending a party near her school, was reportedly told by federal agents to be prepared for news and to secure a family spokesperson. Denise Smart, the woman's mother, told the Stockton Record that she was contacted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was told to "be ready." "This is really going to be something you don't expect. We want to give you the support you need," she said she was told. The report said the FBI was not clear on what the development was,...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A new social media challenge is gaining popularity among teens but not so much with police. Although teenagers might think the newest social media challenge is cool, the "48-Hour Challenge" only does two things: causes panic in parents and wastes valuable law enforcement resources. **SNIP** Lacy and others are very concerned about the latest challenge, where teens dare their friends to disappear for 48 hours with the goal that their name and/or picture will show up on social media. The missing teen gets points for each like, share and other viewer interactions. "We are going to...

The Cuban Coast Guard reported, that they had captured an unmanned ship heading for the island, which is dared to be the SS Cotopaxi, a tramp steamer which vanished in December 1925 and has since been associated with the legend of the Bermuda Triangle. The Cuban specialists detected the ship surprisingly on May 16, close to a limited military zone, west of Havana. They made numerous unsuccessful endeavors to speak with the team, lastly prepared three watch vessels to block it. When they achieved it, they were amazed to find that the ship was really an about 100-year old steamer...

WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- Poland's new prime minister has broken with the practice of pro-European predecessors and has removed the EU flag from her weekly news conference. Beata Szydlo appeared Tuesday to brief reporters after the first working meeting with her Cabinet since the conservative Law and Justice party took power last week, and stood in front of Polish flags only. Asked about the change, Szydlo said that in these difficult times she is grateful that Poland belongs to NATO and the EU, but that government press briefings devoted to national matters will from now on take place "against the...

Where oh where have the Muslim migrants gone? That is the question German authorities are asking themselves after some troubling reports of disappearances. According to German press reports, keeping track of all the Muhammads and Alis pouring across borders is proving ever so tricky for European countries being flooded with people on the move from the Middle East and Africa.

Researchers have developed a new 'illusion coating' that could hide things by making them look like something else or even completely disappear. "Previous attempts at cloaking using a single meta-surface layer were restricted to very small-sized objects," said Zhi Hao Jiang, postdoctoral fellow in electrical engineering, Pennsylvania State University. Jiang and Douglas H Werner developed a meta-material coating with a negligible thickness that allows coated objects to function normally while appearing as something other than what they really are, or even completely disappearing. The researchers employ what they call "illusion coatings," coatings made up of a thin flexible substrate with...

13 planes vanish from radars over Europe As many as 13 planes flying over Europe vanish from radar screens in an "unprecedented" series of blackouts that lasted 25 minutes with claims air traffic control could have been hacked

The California Senate has erased the names and online archives of three suspended lawmakers entangled in criminal cases. The Senate removed pictures, video clips and legislative archives over the weekend involving Democratic Sens. Rod Wright of Los Angeles, Ron Calderon of Montebello and Leland Yee of San Francisco. All that remains on the websites is information about their Senate districts. The three men have lost the rights and privileges of a senator, which include having a Senate-maintained website, said Mark Hedlund, a spokesman for Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg.

1. The Post Office Get ready to imagine a world without the Post Office. They are so deeply in financial trouble that there is probably no way to sustain it long term. Email, Fed Ex, and UPS have just about wiped out the minimum revenue needed to keep the Post Office alive. Most of your mail every day is junk mail and bills. 2. The Check Britain is already laying the groundwork to do away with check by 2018. It costs the financial system billions of dollars a year to process checks. Plastic cards and online transactions will lead to...

For the first time since the fall of the Qaddafi regime, a trial has opened near Benghazi of civilians accused of supporting the former regime. Some of four dozen civilians are also accused of helping "loyalist" prisoners escape from their "revolutionary" captors. The military trial opened and adjourned just as quickly at a base just outside Benghazi. The defence team accused the court of incompetence and requested a transfer to civilian court. None of the accused, after all, faces war-related accusations. One wonders what kind of justice the new masters of Libya can deliver and how justice is to be...

Less than one day into his term as president, and Barack Obama is already illustrating why those who did not vote for him voted as they did. Obama is an extreme hypocrite. Notice, for example, this summary from http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090121/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_executive_pay concerning his desire to loosen up restrictions on releasing information under the Freedom of Information Act. Obama stated that "Just because a government agency has the legal power to keep information private does not mean that it should" and "For a long time now, there's been too much secrecy in this city." The order that he issued Wednesday is an attempt...

At some point during the first two years of his administration, President Obama stopped receiving the daily economic briefing that he requested when he took office. Former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs announced at this own first daily briefing reporters that Obama asked for the daily economic briefing, described then as comparable to the daily intelligence briefing the president gets every morning. “The president asked that this be added every day to his schedule,” Gibbs said at the time. Gibbs added that Obama believed it is “important that each day he receive the most up to date information as...

While astronomers are largely baffled by the question of how the universe began, they should probably hurry up and figure it out. In the far future, most of the evidence will be long gone, a new study suggests. Though future astronomers will likely have the benefit of advanced technology and a more sophisticated understanding of physics, they won't be able to take advantage of the last vestiges of evidence left over from the Big Bang. The trace signals from the explosion that set the universe in motion 13.7 billion years ago will likely be all gone 1 trillion years from...

President [Barry Hussein Soetoro] gave the White House press corps the slip last night. He’s done it again. How many times is this president going to give the White house press corps the slip before the people of the United States realize that there is a problem? What other president in the history of the United States of America has ever had to disappear with whereabouts unknown? (see previous post) If one remembers, and I do, this is supposed to be the most ethical, transparent, open presidential administration in the history of the United States of America. So why does...

Most people read a book then pick up and go. They simply disconnect their services with no forwarding address and leave. Big mistake; take your time and follow the below steps for making your escape last. Okay first step, do not use your home, work or cell-phone, and do not use your calling card. Do not use any of your credit cards to purchase anything in the place you are going to escape to. You should develop your plan at least six months before you hit the road. In the meantime have all of your services, cable, electric, phone bills...