Free Republic

A type of flesh-eating bacteria has killed four people in Florida so far this year. The state’s health department confirmed the deaths in a notice posted on the Florida Health website. A total of 11 people have contracted the bacteria in 2025, according to the same source. Vibrio vulnificus is part of a wider group of Vibrio bacteria, which are found in coastal waters, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states. This specific bacterium, Vibrio vulnificus, typically lives in warm, brackish seawater, and can enter open wounds when people are swimming. Another potential source of infection is...

A man convicted in connection with the heartless murder of an 8-year-old boy and his mother in Bridgeport, Conn., has been released from prison after being granted clemency by former President Joe Biden. Adrian Peeler, 49, conspired with his brother Russell Peeler Jr. to shoot and kill 8-year-old Leroy “B.J.” Brown and his mother Karen Clarke in 1999 and was sentenced to a combined 60 years in state and federal prison. After completing his state sentence in January 2022, Peeler was granted clemency by the outgoing Biden administration for his 35-year federal sentence on separate drug charges, which would have...

Democrat disloyalty to President Joe Biden sowed the seeds for the party’s spectacular loss to President Donald Trump in the last election, according to no lesser authority than Hunter Biden. […] The remarks are a part of a broader interview (former DNC Chair Jaime) Harrison did with Biden junior set for podcast launch on Thursday, according to The Hill. Hunter’s dire 2024 election post mortem on Democratic failures came within days of former President Barack Obama accusing the party of being weak and ineffectual in the face of Trump’s triumphs. …

A Sudden Dislocation in the Silver Market July opened with an alarm bell. The Exchange for Physical (EFP) premium for silver, which reflects the cost of converting COMEX futures into deliverable metal, surged from near-zero levels to between 60 and 80 cents per ounce. This kind of move does not occur in isolation. At the same time, spot silver jumped more than two dollars, pushing beyond $38 per ounce. These changes appeared within a 48-hour window. Us Metal War Silver Becomes Strategic As Premiums Explode 01 The market had not been showing extreme activity beforehand. There was no retail panic....

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) says Texas is racist and that black Democrat members of Congress should have special privileges such as not facing competition from white people.Incidentally, Crockett previously admitted she used her skin color to get hired.pic.twitter.com/XdJTduZJNv— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) July 15, 2025

Syria has been wracked by a new wave of deadly sectarian violence that has placed the spotlight on the Druze minority at the center of rising tensions with Israel. Dozens of people were killed this week after clashes between government loyalists and Druze militias in the southern city of Suwayda, prompting Syrian forces to intervene. That, in turn, triggered renewed Israeli airstrikes, as Israel – citing a commitment to protect the Druze – expands its footprint in southern Syria. .. Syria’s military entered Suwayda, a stronghold for the Druze community in the country’s south, on Tuesday after clashes broke out...

A senior representative of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) at the country’s top election authority has said a court cannot legally annul the Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) 2023 leadership vote, in remarks published by the Nefes daily on Saturday. Recep Özel, who represents the AKP at the Supreme Election Council (YSK), said any attempt by a civil court to overturn a YSK-validated leadership vote would “upend the entire system” and violate constitutional provisions governing election law. This adds a new layer of controversy to the politically charged case that could see former CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu return to...

It wasn’t all that long ago that Republicans were pretending they wanted the Epstein files released. Now it’s Democrats who are pretending that they want the Epstein files released. The reality is that no one wants the Epstein files released. The Dems last of all. Promises to release the Epstein files are sucker bait, because there’s nothing to release. Anyone who starts out promising to release them or the JFK/UFO files eventually ends up having to explain why there’s nothing there. I was writing about the Epstein case long before many of the current grifters and to state the obvious,...

During a meeting in March, Wilmington officials made a pitch to a team representing former President Joe Biden that four locations within his home city could become the site for a future presidential library, according to PowerPoint documents from the meeting obtained by Spotlight Delaware. City officials also said in the pitch documents that there was “an availability of construction funding” for the library development – an apparent reference to taxpayer money being available. It also followed a string of emails between the two sides that included one Biden representative asking for recommendations from Wilmington Mayor John Carney “about sites...

In a groundbreaking discovery published in The Planetary Science Journal, a team of astronomers led by the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian has confirmed the existence of a rare object located far beyond Neptune. Known as 2020 VN40, this trans-Neptunian object is in a unique orbital resonance with the giant planet Neptune. For every ten orbits Neptune completes, 2020 VN40 completes one orbit around the Sun. This rare alignment provides key insights into how objects in the outer solar system behave and evolve over time. The research, which draws from extensive observations made by the Large Inclination Distant...

The classic rock group known as the Steve Miller Band has announced that they are canceling all remaining dates on their current tour because of the weather, or more specifically, the ‘extreme’ weather conditions brought about by climate change. Rock and roll just isn’t what it used to be, apparently. The group made the announcement on Twitter/X. Variety reports:

LAFAYETTE — Five people, including several current and former head law enforcement officers, were taken into custody earlier in the week and indicted on an alleged scheme involving falsifying crimes to facilitate immigration visa fraud for profit, national and state officials announced Wednesday. Officials said four current and former law enforcement agents were taken into custody Monday as well as a Oakdale business owner. The following people are being indicted after the U.S. Attorney's Office in Shreveport returned a 62-count indictment for the alleged immigration conspiracy: - Oakdale Police Chief Chad Doyle - Oakdale Ward 5 Marshal Mike "Freck" Slaney...

California Governor Gavin Newsom has unveiled a plan to build low-income housing to replace property destroyed by the January 2025 Southern California wildfires. Newsom’s plan will put low-income housing in the heart of the rolling hills of Pacific Palisades, a highly affluent area of Los Angeles that overlooks the Santa Monica Bay. The priority is for “geographic proximity to the fire perimeters of the Eaton, Hughes, and Palisades fires,” Newsom explained. The California Department of Housing and Community Development’s Notice of Funding Availability for the $101 million pool details how funding will be awarded. Included is $101 million in funding...

Astronomers have discovered a massive new solar system body located beyond the orbit of Pluto. The weird elongated orbit of the object suggests that if "Planet Nine" exists, it is much further from the sun than thought, or it has been ejected from our planetary system altogether. The strange orbit of the object, designated 2023 KQ14 and nicknamed "Ammonite," classifies it as a "sednoid." Sednoids are bodies beyond the orbit of the ice giant Neptune, known as trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs), characterized by a highly eccentric (non-circular) orbit and a distant closest approach to the sun or "perihelion." The closest distance...

Archaeologists in western Poland have uncovered two massive prehistoric structures dubbed the "Poland pyramids," offering a remarkable glimpse into one of Europe's earliest agricultural societies.These megalithic tombs, estimated to be over 5,500 years old, were unearthed in the General Dezydery Chłapowski Landscape Park in the village of Wyskoć, located in the Wielkopolska region...Often referred to as "Polish pyramids" or "giants' graves," these megalithic tombs are large, elongated earth mounds built in a distinctive trapezoidal shape. Some measure up to 200 meters in length and rise to a height of four meters. The front of each mound is significantly wider and...

The European Commission has requested a meeting with X to discuss its artificial intelligence chatbot, Grok. Last week, European countries and lawmakers called on the Commission to amp up scrutiny on the social media platform after the AI chatbot spewed out antisemitic remarks. Those included glorifying Nazi leader Adolf Hitler as the best-placed person to deal with alleged “anti-white hate.” Poland’s Minister of Digital Affairs Krzysztof Gawkowski said the government would consider banning the app, later asking the Commission to take action in a letter. X said it had removed the posts and that the problem was not related to...

Federal prosecutor Maurene Comey, the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, was fired by the Justice Department on Wednesday, according to four sources familiar with the matter. It was not clear why. One of the sources said the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York cited Article II of the Constitution, which establishes the executive power of the president. Nick Biase, a spokesperson for the Southern District of New York, declined to comment. Comey prosecuted Sean “Diddy” Combs during his sex trafficking trial this year. She also played a role in the prosecution of the late...

Col. Douglas Macgregor is at pains to emphasize how the Narcotraficante Cartels pose a substantial risk to the security of the U.S. through its "soft underbelly". And Azerbaijan, as a remote government strongly involved with organized crime, has emerged as an important player in military attacks on U.S. opponent, Iran. Contrasts between these two criminal governments. The comparison between the Azerbaijani regime under Ilham Aliyev and the Mexican state nominally led by Claudia Sheinbaum, yet heavily penetrated by the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels, is not a contrast between a corrupt and a clean government—but rather a study in...

Sadiq Khan today hit out at Keir Starmer's plan to cut the number of foreign students coming to Britain in his latest clash with the Labour leadership. The London mayor used a visit to Ghana to say UK universities should remain 'open' to overseas students, after a new immigration clampdown was announced in May. It will see the amount of time post-graduate students can spend in the UK after completing their course cut from two years to 18 months. A new levy on income that universities generate from international students could also be introduced. It follows changes introduced by the...

BEAVERTON, Ore. (KATU) — An Iranian national was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Tuesday morning in a Beaverton preschool parking lot after dropping his child off. In an email, Angel Ignacio, a spokesperson for Guidepost Montessori school, confirmed the arrest. "We are deeply disturbed by what took place in our South Beaverton school parking lot yesterday. While we are still working to understand the full details of the situation, we can confirm that a law enforcement action occurred during school hours and involved the apprehension of a parent by federal agents," the statement reads in part....