Free Republic

For nearly three decades, a onetime Compton gang leader named Duane “Keffe D” Davis has been one of the most vocal theorists about one of the most debated celebrity killings ever. Rapper Tupac Shakur was at the height of his fame when he was fatally shot Sept. 7, 1996, while riding to a Las Vegas nightclub in a BMW driven by Death Row Records boss Marion “Suge” Knight. The events surrounding that night have been exhaustively investigated and recounted in numerous stories, documentaries and police investigations. But the mystery about exactly what happened has endured. This week, Davis is on...

A young man who once wondered if he would live past 1941 will be turning 105 years old Saturday. James (Pat) Bollich grew up in Louisiana. He trained at Fort Polk and arrived in the Philippines in November, 1941, less than a month before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Jamie Bollich wrote, “U.S. and Filipino forces retreated to the Bataan Peninsula when the Japanese invaded the Philippines, but after four months their food and ammunition ran out and the 70,000 troops were forced to surrender.”

Daily Readings from the USCCBSolemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Mass during the Day“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me and holy is his Name.” Luke 1:46–49Today we celebrate one of the great solemnities on the Church’s liturgical calendar: the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Belief in her bodily assumption first took root in the early Church among...

Japanese Crown Prince Akishino, the younger brother of Emperor Naruhito, on Thursday said he has “mixed feelings” about the government’s revision to the Imperial House Law that reinforces a rule dictating only men can become emperor. “I believe there is no difference between men and women” in serving the roles of the imperial family to respond to social needs, Akishino said at a news conference ahead of a trip to Paraguay later this month to mark the 90th anniversary of Japanese emigration to the South American country. The comments by Akishino, the next in line for the throne, come just...

"Love . . . is not jealous" (1 Cor. 13:4). Jealousy thrives in a climate of selfish ambition. Jealousy is an insidious sin that cries out, "I want what you have, and furthermore, I don't want you to have it." It replaces contentment with resentment and spawns a myriad of other sins. The Corinthians, in truth, were jealous of one another's spiritual gifts. First Corinthians 12:31 literally says, "You are earnestly desiring the showy gifts, but I show you a more excellent way." The word translated "earnestly desiring" is translated "jealous" in 1 Corinthians 13:4. It means "to boil" and...

If you look at a map of the 2024 presidential election results, you can draw a squiggly line down the state of California, splitting it in two from north to south. The coastal area of the state voted overwhelmingly blue, while the inland area is almost entirely red (with the exception of three small counties bordering Nevada). Many of the rouge-colored counties flipped from blue to red in that most recent election, but new research analyzing the state’s political leanings has mapped out some core findings from California’s political divide. A recent report from the Public Policy Institute of California...

Former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, the official Joe Biden publicly threatened and forced out of office in 2016, claims in his book Biden’s Corruption and War: The True Story of the 1 Billion Dollar Prosecutor that hundreds of billions of American taxpayer dollars connected to Ukraine were recycled through political interests and “globalist networks.” According to a Blaze Media column citing Shokin’s first-person account, massive sums of U.S. aid intended for Ukraine were recycled through political and globalist networks. He alleges $350 billion in American taxpayer money was diverted into these opaque channels amid the chaos of war. Arms...

Calls to poison centers involving liver injuries caused by medications, supplements, alcohol and other substances jumped nearly 400% between 2000 and 2024, according to a new study from UVA Health published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. Researchers led by UVA's Christopher P. Holstege, MD, looked at liver damage caused by "xenobiotics," foreign substances not naturally found in the human body. This category includes drugs, food additives, alcohol and environmental pollutants. More than 80% of the liver injuries required inpatient care, with the majority of cases stemming from medications. Acetaminophen was the most frequently implicated substance. "Xenobiotic-induced liver injuries reported to...

I am a Marvel Comic Universe SUPERHERO. I AM CAPTAIN FREE-STUFF!My superpower is to acquire expensive things and pay nothing!Here is my Marvel Comic Universe picture. BTW, the face actually looks a lot like mine, without glasses and if I let my facial hair grow:So, why am I Captain Free-Stuff? Well, I will tell you! After purchasing my new home, I have, in addition to the 1620 sq ft upstairs, another 1620 sq ft of semi-finished basement. I plan to cut out about 7-800 sq ft and make it an elegant downstairs apartment. It has double-glass doors that allow entry...

Dick Cheney’s heart problems were never a national secret. I was Mr. Cheney’s cardiologist for 27 years, including his two terms as vice president. During his time in the White House, he needed stents, a defibrillator and medical treatment for an arrhythmia and a blood clot in his leg. After the defibrillator was implanted in his chest in 2001, he would frequently show visitors to his West Wing office a sample device provided to him by the manufacturer.

Democrats have edged closer to vowing to end Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).At its summer meeting in Austin, Texas, on Aug. 13, the Democratic National Committee's Resolutions Committee approved a resolution that calls for the abolition of ICE, an agency at the center of the Trump administration's immigration law enforcement effort.It could be approved by the full DNC as Democrats mull their message ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.The resolution, which passed 25 to 12, was introduced by Michele Johnson, a DNC committeewoman from Louisiana.In 2024, the website of the New Orleans Democratic Socialists of America described Johnson as a...

The Dallas-Fort Worth Airport has reportedly scrapped plans to install Islamic footwashing stations, Fox News reported. The news follows Texas Gov. Greg Abbott directing a review of state grants that operate airports in Texas after Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport reportedly planned to build ablution facilities for Islamic washing rituals. Abbott posted on X. “Government-owned airports cannot favor one religion over all others. DFW plans to install Islamic wudu washing facilities are illegal. I've directed a review of all state grants to both airports for possible revocation, and referred DFW & IAH to USDOT for investigation.” Abbott said he referred DFW...

DFW said it will not proceed with the proposed ablution washing stations in Terminal D after accelerating its review

Who knew a first-grade science question could so thoroughly upend a $5.5 billion enterprise? And yet the WNBA, whose first letter stands for women, can’t seem to shake the media firestorm over the meaning of sex. Now, weeks into what should have been a non-controversy — Sophie Cunningham’s declaration of support for men playing in their own league and not in hers — the leadership of the league is convening an emergency meeting to debate what should be the most obvious data point in the sport: who’s eligible to play in the WNBA.Of course, the league, under the spineless leadership...

Earlier today, I wrote about Marco Rubio vs. Delcy Rodríguez making public statements about Fidel Castro on X. I joked that it was the best way to end the week — Delcy stirred up a little drama, and our dear Secretary of State reminded her who she's currently working for: This is the best way to end the week. 🤭 pic.twitter.com/2AMrwcKUIa— SarahDownSouth (@SarahDownSouth) August 14, 2026Well, I stand corrected. There's a better way to end the week in Latin American news coverage, and it's the release of several more political prisoners in Venezuela. I was incorrect before. This is the...

As more and more Democratic Socialist candidates win primaries, their anti-Israel rhetoric gets louder and more pronounced. American Jews have traditionally been a reliable voting bloc for Democrats. But as the party embraces new candidates who seem to have no love for Israel, Jewish leaders are becoming increasingly concerned. The recent primary victory of Abdul El-Sayed has Jewish leaders in Michigan sharing that concern. So much so that on Monday, several of those leaders sent a petition to the Michigan Democratic Party, asking for assurance of the safety of Jewish delegates at the convention. The petition, signed by roughly 200...

HEADLINES: More bad news for El-Sayed; Fraud investigations exploding; All military branches hit recruiting targets months early The News of Today is the History of Tomorrow

A Pablo Picasso painting stolen while on loan from the Guggenheim Museum more than six decades ago has resurfaced, and the museum has gone to court to get it back. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation filed suit in New York State Supreme Court this week, according to Hyperallergic, against Massachusetts residents Lawrence Jay Handler and Wendy Cohen Handler, who the museum says currently possess Femme dans un fauteuil (Woman in an Armchair), a small 1918 painting that disappeared from the University of Pittsburgh in 1961. The story begins on February 5 of that year, when a graduate student and dormitory...

You said:H.Res.414 calculates slavery reparations for the years of 1619 up to 1865. What is the argument for why the United States should pay on behalf of the British Empire?ChatGPT said:There is an important distinction here: H.Res. 414 does not actually argue that the United States should compensate people for slavery because Britain committed it. Its argument is that the United States, after independence, inherited and continued the institution and therefore assumed responsibility for its own conduct and its continuing consequences.The key passage is unusually explicit. It says that, beginning with the nation's founding in 1776, federal policies "produced and...

The Food and Drug Administration this week escalated a recall of 1.6 million cartons of eggs over potential salmonella contamination to its most serious classification. On Wednesday, the FDA designated the incident a "Class 1" recall, which the agency applies to product recalls "in which there is a reasonable probability that the use of or exposure to a violative product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death." The eggs were first recalled on July 22 by North Manchester, Indiana-based Midwest Poultry Services because they could be contaminated with salmonella. The eggs were sold under various brand names at retailers...