Free Republic

John Coltrane’s sessions for the Prestige label proved to be supremely fertile and prolific, marking the saxophonist’s creative rebirth.It’s 1958 and John Coltrane is looking to rebuild his career. The reputation of the Philadelphia-raised musician, then 32, had seemed in serious jeopardy a year earlier, after his heroin addiction got him fired from Miles Davis’ group. As a rising star of the tenor saxophone – the man who had lit up a clutch of Davis albums recorded for both Prestige and Columbia during 1955-56 – the high-flying Coltrane seemed an indispensable component of the trumpeter’s band, but the shock of...

Whatever Trump did after the 2016 presidential election, it seems safe to say that it did not retroactively promote his victory.Last January, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg summed up his case against Donald Trump this way: "We allege falsification of business records to the end of keeping information away from the electorate. It's an election interference case." That gloss made no sense, because the records at the center of the case—11 invoices, 11 checks, and 12 ledger entries that allegedly were aimed at disguising a hush-money reimbursement as payment for legal services—were produced after the 2016 presidential election. At that...

Aardwolves — the "weird cousin" of the hyena world that has peg teeth and only eats insects — are an evolutionary mystery, stemming from a ghost lineage that scientists haven't been able to figure out. Aardwolves, which translates as "earth wolves" in Afrikaans, are the smallest of the four hyena species. (Image credit: pjmalsbury via Getty Images) Name: Aardwolf (Proteles cristatus) Where it lives: Savannah and grasslands in eastern and southern Africa What it eats: Termites and ants Why it's awesome: Unlike their meat-eating relatives, these solitary, nocturnal little hyenas survive on a diet almost entirely made up of termites....

The Nazi occupying forces massacred civilians in Crete. Credit: Bundesarchiv, CC BY-SA 3.0 de/Wikipedia Greek scientists have recently identified 18 people who were executed by the Nazis in Crete through DNA analysis. In the Battle of Crete during the World War II occupation of Greece, the German forces faced substantial civilian resistance. The inhabitants of Adele, a prosperous lowland village in the northeastern part of the Rethymnon regional unit, resisted fiercely and had formed an armed resistance group. As a consequence, the German forces surrounded the village on June 2, 1941, and arrested 18 male civilians (including two fathers with...

Remember that catchy NYC tourism campaign, “I loooove New Yoork!” I can almost picture President Biden croaking out the catchy tune, but with one word changed: “I loooove Iraaan!”Iran is the number one state sponsor of worldwide terrorism. They call America the ”Great Satan,” and their stated goal is to wipe Israel off the map. But don’t tell that to Joe Biden, who doesn’t want to upset the Mullahs in case it might hurt his increasingly remote reelection chances. The befuddled octogenarian president actually is demanding that European countries concerned about the Islamic Republic’s nuclear weapons program stand down and...

Only 14.5% of adult patients with moderate or severe asthma are prescribed the recommended SMART combination inhaler regimen and over 40% of academic pulmonary and allergy clinicians have not adopted this optimal therapy, according to research. By 2021, both the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program and Global Initiative for Asthma had updated their guidelines to recommend the use of a single combination corticosteroid (ICS) and formoterol (a long acting beta agonist) inhaler for both Maintenance And Relief Therapy for moderate to severe asthma, or SMART. In the United States, ICS-formoterol inhalers include Symbicort (budesonide-formoterol) and Dulera (mometasone-formoterol). Under the...

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — WARNING: The story contains graphic details. A Flowery Branch man was sentenced to 30 years in prison last week in Gwinnett County for raping a teenage girl and stabbing her 86 times. Zachary Iona, 22, pleaded guilty to rape, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, statutory rape, child molestation, and possession of a knife during the commission of a felony in Gwinnett County Superior Court. Iona and his attorneys negotiated a plea for a life sentence of 30 years in prison, followed by five years of parole and mandatory sex offender registration. [snip] After he left, the girl...

“Squad” members Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Cori Bush (D-MO) appeared to confuse Memorial Day — a day to honor fallen American service members — with Veterans Day, a day to honor those who have served. Omar posted on X from her congressional account: On #MemorialDay, we honor the heroic men and women who served our country. We owe them more than our gratitude — they have more than earned access to quality mental health services, job opportunities, housing assistance, and the benefits they were promised. Bush posted on her congressional X account: This #MemorialDay & every day, we honor...

The “massive immigration wave” on President Joe Biden’s watch is straining public schools across the United States, the Wall Street Journal details. Since 2021, the Journal reports, “as many as one million children … have arrived with their families or on their own” to the United States, most through the nation’s porous southern border where nearly eight million migrants total have been encountered thus far under Biden. As a result, public schools where migrant children are resettling have been hit with financial and staffing burdens they have not experienced before. Specifically, the Journal chronicles the school district of Stoughton, Massachusetts,...

WASHINGTON — President Biden made a surprise nighttime visit to the Delaware home of Hallie Biden on Sunday — just before she’s due to serve as one of the most important witnesses at first son Hunter Biden’s federal trial for alleged gun crimes. Biden stopped by Hallie’s home around 8 p.m. for a brief private talk eight days before the 54-year-old first son’s trial is scheduled to stand trial beginning June 3. Hallie dated Hunter at the time of his alleged gun crimes and is one of a dozen expected witnesses.

You have surely heard that your search results on Google (with 92 percent share of the search market) reflect not your curiosities and needs but someone or something else’s views on what you need to know. That’s hardly a secret. And on Facebook, you are likely inundated by links to official sources to correct any errors you might carry in your head, as well as links to corrections to posts as made by any number of fact-checking organizations. You have likely also heard of YouTube videos being taken down, apps deleted from stores, and accounts being canceled across a variety...

An Israeli air strike killed at least 45 people in a tent camp in the Gaza city of Rafah, doctors said, drawing condemnation from European leaders on Monday, who urged implementation of a World Court ruling to halt Israel’s offensive. French President Emmanuel Macron voiced his outrage on Monday over the Israeli strikes and demanded an “immediate ceasefire”. “These operations must stop. There are no safe areas in Rafah for Palestinian civilians,” Macron said on X in English. I call for full respect for international law and an immediate ceasefire.” Israel has kept up attacks on Rafah despite a ruling...

On Monday’s “CNN News Central,” New York Times White House and National Security Correspondent, author, and CNN Political and National Security Analyst David Sanger stated that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is likely correct that the Rafah operation that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has ordered Israel to stop is “central to wiping out Hamas” and he thinks that the ICC is correct that the collateral damage from the operation isn’t worth the number of terrorists that Israel would kill. Sanger said, “[I]f in fact, the Israelis did what they said they did, which was kill two terrorists who were...

[Catholic Caucus] Cardinal Fernández calls for change to Catholic condemnation of homosexuality as ‘intrinsically disordered’VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández issued a call for the Catholic description of homosexual acts as “intrinsically disordered” to be changed, saying a “clearer” expression would be better.Speaking at an April 8 press conference launching the Congregation (now Dicastery) for the Doctrine of the Faith’s (CDF) new text Dignitas Infinita, Fernández fielded questions regarding homosexuality and the Catholic Church’s teaching on the topic. READ: Cardinal Fernández’s Dignitas Infinita condemns abortion, gender theory but is silent on homosexualityThe cardinal was asked if it is...

President Biden has received criticism from Democrats and Republicans this week over his response to an Israeli airstrike that killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza on Monday. On Tuesday, Biden, 81, said he was “outraged and heartbroken” over the deaths of the aid workers delivering food to Gaza’s population, but didn’t signal any change in approach to his administration’s backing of Israel in its war against Hamas. The president, in his public statement, pinned the blame squarely on Israel, demanding an investigation that “must bring accountability” and accusing the Jewish state of not having “done enough to...

Denmark recently capitulated, forfeiting its hard-fought freedoms to those who hate it. According to a recent report:Denmark’s parliament has passed a bill that makes it illegal to burn copies of the Quran in public places... The bill, which prohibits “inappropriate treatment of writings with significant religious importance for a recognized religious community,” was passed with 94 votes in favor and 77 opposed... In practical terms, it will be forbidden to burn, tear or otherwise defile holy texts publicly or in videos intended to be disseminated widely. Those who break the law risk a fine or up to two years in...

Dakota Johnson and Justin Timberlake had a successful evening on Saturday Night Live this weekend, with surprise appearances from Jimmy Fallon, as well as Shark Tank judges Mark Cuban and Barbara Corcoran. But many viewers were surprised – and somewhat confused – to see Dave Chappelle standing onstage during their goodbyes. The comedian appeared to join the cast on stage for no reason at all. To the far left of the stage, SNL cast member Bowen Yang, who has become an audience favorite since joining in 2018, can be seen standing far from the cast, unsmiling. In a video from...

Researchers from Ewha Womens University in Seoul, South Korea have managed to create a powerful chemical composition that can eradicate tumor cells, findings in the journal Angewandte Chemie reveal. The scientists created the promising new cancer-fighting drug by manipulating calcium levels in the cells — supposedly the the key to an “anti-tumor” formula. Typically, too many calcium ions are harmful and will suffocate elements of healthy cellular composition like mitochondria, known by every 9th-grade biology student as the cell’s powerhouse. But now, scientists have found a way to use that harmful over-influx to ward off and destroy tumor cells in...

Jan. 25 (UPI) -- A statue that went missing from Louisville, Ky., nearly 30 years ago has been returned to the city by a man who had it in his back yard. David Greer said his father worked on a renovation project in 1996 at the Belvedere, an elevated event space in downtown Louisville, when he brought the statue home. "Dad said they tossed it to the side and he asked if he could have it, and they said, sure. That's where it began its life at [our] house," Greer told WLKY-TV. The statue depicts the Greek god Pan playing...

One of two Florida burglary grand theft suspects with a long criminal history bragged that he would be out of jail shortly after his arrest before he realized he was taken into custody in a county where the law is enforced by a no-nonsense sheriff with a tough-on-crime platform. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said his deputies spotted a stolen Dodge Ram just after 1 a.m. Wednesday. The driver, identified as Tamari Lucas, 24, a Tampa resident, and a passenger eventually stopped the truck and fled on foot, authorities said. [snip] Judd said. Upon his arrest, Lucas allegedly told the...