Free Republic

One week after Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt began pressing the U.S. military to immediately strike the Japanese homeland. The desire to bolster moral became more urgent in light of rapid Japanese advances. These included victories in Malaya, Singapore, the Philippines, Wake Island, Guam, and the Dutch East Indies, as well as sinking the British battleships Prince of Wales and Repulse. Only improbable, audacious ideas warranted consideration, because submarines confirmed Japan placed picket boats at extreme carrier aircraft range. One idea even involved launching four engine heavy bombers from China or Outer Mongolia to strike Japan and fly on to Alaska....

As they have for 110 years in a row, residents and emergency crew members met early Monday morning at Lotta’s Fountain in San Francisco to mark those who died and suffered during the great quake and fire on 1906. Except this year was different. It was the first time that no original survivors were left. The death of Bill Del Monte earlier this year at age 109, marked the end of the last 1906 survivor — an inevitable page turning in the long tale of the Bay Area’s most famous catastrophe. Still, a sizable crowd gathered at the gold fire...

Gallivan was one of the first women to sign up for the Marine Corps during the 'Free a Man to Fight' campaignOne of the first female World War II Marines celebrated her 100th birthday. Family, friends and fellow Marine veterans held a tea party for centenarian Glady Ruth Gallivan at the Veteran’s Village of San Diego. "I cannot believe it," she told NBC 7 Saturday. "It's amazing to think someone would do this just for me." Gallivan decided to enlist in the service in 1943, saying there was little chance of advancing in her job at Nordberg Manufacturing. “I was...

Some of us are old enough to remember the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court confirmation battle. We were shocked when reports first surfaced that Thomas, a well-regarded former chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, was being accused of sexual harassment. But then we heard his accuser’s ever-changing and uncorroborated testimony, and we compared it with the testimony of a dozen close female colleagues who effusively praised Thomas as a boss known for how well he treated the women around him. We learned that his accuser Anita Hill’s testimony was contradicted by data and evidence. Thomas won his confirmation battle....

We’ve all found wrapped-but-unlabeled steaks that have been buried in a deep, dark crevice of a freezer for an unknown number of years and have attempted to revive them to a state where they can be grilled and served with copious amounts of steak sauce. Scientists with the British Antarctic Survey and the University of Reading would scoff at this trivial effort. They dug into the Antarctic permafrost and extracted frozen moss that they determined, using carbon dating, to have been frozen for over 1500 years. The icy moss was placed in an incubator, given an ideal environment and, within...

The cave, declared a UNESCO World Heritage site two years ago, was discovered in the south of France in 1994... Now, scientists have assembled more than 250 radiocarbon dates made from rock art samples, animal bones and the remains of charcoal used by humans... The newly synthesized data suggest the first period of human occupation lasted from 37,000 to 33,500 years ago. The second prehistoric occupation began 31,000 to 28,000 years ago and lasted for 2,000 to 3,000 years, the researchers wrote... The two groups, separated by millenniums, had no connection with each other, they said. The first round of...

Central Banks China Federal Reserve Hayman Capital Kyle Bass Kyle Bass Lehman Monetary Policy Reality Recession Yuan Hayman Capital founder Kyle Bass sat down recently for a conversation with Maria Bartiromo and Gary Kaminsky on Wall Street Week. He covered a variety of topics such as NIRP, income inequality, and the U.S. presidential race. As our regular readers know, Kyle correctly predicted the housing crisis, and is now calling for the yuan to be dramatically devalued. On the growing use of negative interest rates as a central bank policy tool, he pointed out that while the central planners have their...

A new study released last week included new evidence that links and further authenticates two holy relics that millions of Christians believe offer physical proof of the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But before we explore the research and the relics, let us recall a New Testament passage concerning faith in Christ and the need for physical evidence. I mean the familiar story of “doubting Thomas” (John 20:24–29). The apostle Thomas was absent when the resurrected Christ appeared to some of the apostles. On hearing the astonishing news, Thomas declared, “Unless I see the nail marks in...

...In his Poor Richard's Almanac, May 1757, Ben Franklin wrote: "Work as if you were to live 100 years; pray as if you were to die tomorrow." Benjamin Franklin cited the Spanish Empire's downfall in The Way to Wealth, 1758: "If you would be wealthy, says he...think of saving as well as of getting: the Indies have not made Spain rich, because her outgoes are greater than her incomes." Franklin expounded the dangers of debt in The Way to Wealth, 1758: "God gives all things to industry. Then plough deep, while sluggards sleep, and you shall have corn to sell...

...In recent years, dental calculus has emerged as an unexpected, but valuable, long-term reservoir of ancient DNA from dietary and microbial sources... Very little dental calculus was required for analysis--fewer than 25 milligrams per individual. This makes it possible to obtain high quality genetic ancestry information from very little starting material, an important consideration for archaeological remains... Although dental calculus preserves alongside skeletal remains, it is not actually a human tissue. Dental calculus, also known as tartar, is a calcified form of dental plaque that acquires human DNA and proteins passively, primarily through the saliva and other host secretions. Once...

First, don't be intimidated, because it's easy! Easy Method:1 4-5lb Corned Beef Brisket from the market in the Cryo bag1/4 cup black pepper corns1/4 cup Coriander Seeds2 Tbsp Mustard Seed1 Tbsp Garlic PowderDirections:1. Unwrap brisket, rinse and soak in large pan of fresh cold water for 1 hour2. Combine all seeds and pepper corns into a coffee grinder and grind courseAdd to little bowl with other ingredients and stir. That's your rub.3. Remove brisket, dry thoroughly and cover in the rub. Let sit in fridge for 1-2 hours...dry4. Start you smoker during this time. Smoke at 250deg (I use mesquite,...

The People’s Republic of China is run by people who like to celebrate anniversaries. The marking of the centenary of the foundation of the Communist Party in 2021–despite not happening for another five years–in some senses has already started, enshrined in the centennial goals that Xi Jinping and his colleagues have been heralding for the last year or so. Anniversaries for the start of reform (40 years in 2018), the 40th anniversary of the death of Mao Zedong (September this year), and a dozen other large and small things litter the calendar of leaders, taking up a surprising amount of...

In traveling to Europe this week, I am going to a place that is experiencing both an influx of Muslim refugees at the same time that it is experiencing terrorist acts by Muslims. In one sense, this is a very old story. Muslims invaded Europe in the 8th century, seizing Spain and penetrating France. Muslims also invaded Europe from the southeast, penetrating as far as Vienna in the 17th century. Europe invaded Muslim lands during the Crusades in the 12th and 13th centuries. The Europeans again mounted major penetrations in the 19th and 20th centuries. These were accompanied by lesser...

The head of Britain’s digital espionage agency has apologized for the organization’s historic prejudice against homosexuals, saying it failed to learn from the treatment of World War II codebreaker Alan Turing. In a rare public speech, GCHQ chief Robert Hannigan told a gathering organized by the rights group Stonewall that the agency’s ban on homosexuals had caused long-lasting psychological damage to many and hurt the agency because talented people were excluded from working there. […] The speech offered a poignant tribute to Turing, the gay computer science pioneer and architect of the effort to crack Nazi Germany’s Enigma cipher. Turing...

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Sweet Home Alabama Recorded Live: 7/2/1977 - Oakland Coliseum Stadium - Oakland, CA Personnel: Ronnie Van Zant - vocals Allen Collins - guitar Gary Rossington - guitar Steve Gaines - guitar Artimus Pyle - drums Leon Wilkeson - bass Billy Powell - piano Cassie Gaines - vocals Jo Billingsley - vocals Leslie Hawkins - vocals Summary: Just three and a half months before the fateful plane crash that killed Skynyrd members Steve Gaines, his sister, backing vocalist Cassie Gaines (of the Honkettes), and lead vocalist Ronnie Van Zandt, Lynyrd Skynyrd played this 4th of July weekend program...

Taxes may be as certain as death, but they've changed a lot. Over the centuries, governments have levied taxes on everything from facial hair to the right to cover up—and officials accepted payments of beers, beds, and even broomsticks. Here, from history, are a few taxes we’re glad to not have to pay anymore: Rome's Toilet Tax Ancient Romans valued urine for its ammonia content. They found the natural enemy of dirt and grease valuable for laundering clothes and even whitening teeth. And like all valuable products, there was a scheme to tax it. Emperor Vespasian (r. A.D. 69-79) earned...

Waking supervolcano makes North Korea and West join forces Rare example of collaboration with isolationist regime's researchers helps reveal secrets of one of the world’s largest volcanoes By Andy Coghlan If it blows again, it could make Vesuvius look like a tea party. Now, in a ground-breaking collaboration between the West and North Korea, vulcanologists are gaining new insights into Mount Paektu, on North Korea’s border with China, and whether it might blow its top any time soon. If it does, the outcome could be catastrophic. Paektu’s last eruption, a thousand years ago, is the second largest ever recorded, topped...

While planning the lunar landings, Nasa had a decision to make: What route would they use to reach the Moon? It was one of many that needed to be made, but little did they know then, it would have an important effect of the survival of the ill-fated Apollo 13 crew. This Sunday, 17 April, marks the safe return of James Lovell, “Jack” Swigert and Fred Haise after almost 88 tense hours on board their critically wounded craft thanks to that stroke of luck. The drama started unfolding at almost 56 hours Ground Elapsed Time (GET), meaning it was the...

Nat Turner, a former slave in America, leads a liberation movement in 1831 to free African-Americans in Virginia that results in a violent retaliation from whites.

THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AT FRONTPAGE MAG It takes a certain chutzpah to insist that food lines are actually a good thing--but that's exactly what Bernie Sanders did in 1985 when he was the mayor of Burlington, Vermont. An old video of Sanders, a self-described "democratic" socialist, has surfaced in which he speaks favorably of the Marxist government of Nicaragua. The video was recorded in August of 1985, just weeks after he visited Nicaragua at the invitation of the left-wing junta. Sanders went beyond decrying American involvement in that nation's dirty civil war and actually praised the Soviet-supported Sandinistas,...