Free Republic

A handwritten document found stuffed in Aretha Franklin’s couch cushions is at the crux of a dispute over her multi-million dollar estate — with a Michigan jury seated Monday in the case tasked with deciding whether it’s a valid will. The panel was chosen to oversee the Oakland County Probate trial between the Queen of Soul’s sons Kecalf and Edward Franklin — who believe the 2014 document is valid — and their brother, Ted White II, aka Teddy Richards, who wants a handwritten from 2010 to be honored instead. Both documents were found in the “Respect” singer’s suburban Detroit home...

Videos of the rapes of 10 unconscious boys were found on the cellphone of a Tennessee soccer coach after he left it behind at a restaurant, police said Sunday. Camilo Hurtado Campos, 56, was booked on allegations of child rape and sexual exploitation of a minor, the Franklin Police Department said in a statement. He continued to be held Sunday on $525,000 bond, Police Lt. Charles Warner said. It's not clear whether Campos has legal counsel, and the local public defender didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Police described Campos as a popular soccer coach and a 20-year...

The movie franchise speaks to ethical issues at the very heart of anthropological thinkingPop culture’s most famous archaeologist, Indiana “Indy” Jones, returns to the big screen this summer. In this fifth installment, The Dial of Destiny, Harrison Ford once again stars as the titular character who defined public perceptions of archaeology. Producers have confirmed this will be the final chapter in Indy’s story. It’s also the first and only film in the series not directed by Steven Spielberg, though he remains an executive producer. Now directed by James Mangold, the flick premiered at the Cannes Film Festival with lackluster initial...

CLAIM: An organization is seeking online donations of human bodies as a way to end world hunger. AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The website for the Human Meat Project states in its terms and conditions that it is a conceptual art piece meant to “give an understanding of the importance of accepting any services’ policy and agreements.” Organizers of the project didn’t respond to messages seeking comment. THE FACTS: In a widely viewed video on social media, a woman describes with increasing horror a website that seems to promote cannibalism as a way to address some of the world’s most intractable ills.

VILNIUS, July 10 (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has agreed to forward to parliament Sweden's bid to join the NATO military alliance, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday, on the eve of a NATO summit in Vilnius. "I'm glad to announce ... that President Erdogan has agreed to forward the accession protocol for Sweden to the grand national assembly as soon as possible, and work closely with the assembly to ensure ratification," Stoltenberg told a news conference.

One year ago today, China made to clean up its image — with public health advocates, if not with human rights advocates — by executing* its former Food and Drugs minister for economic crimes. Zheng Xiaoyu, China’s drug regulation capo from 1994 to 2005 and only (“only”?) the fourth minister-level official to be put to death in China since the immediate aftermath of Mao Zedong’s reign, was sentenced for extracting bribes from pharmaceutical companies he nominally regulated in exchange for approving their worthless and/or unsafe products. One bogus antibiotic he rubber-stamped killed ten in China before it was pulled from...

Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb (D) blamed the Sunday morning shooting that wounded nine people on constitutional carry and Ohio Republicans and called for the state legislature to give him the ability to enact more gun control. The Cleveland shooting took place in the Warehouse District around 2:30 a.m. The shooter fled the scene after opening fire, as Breitbart News reported. There were no fatalities.

Bud Light is still reeling from the social media-led boycott against its brand.The Bud Light controversy has proven to have legs; and for the second month in the row the once-dominant brand is taking a back seat to one of its biggest competitors. Bud Light had been on a two-decade run as the country's most popular beer, but after the company decided to expand its marketing outreach with Dylan Mulvaney -- the transgender social media influencer at the center of the controversy -- a sustained boycott has cost the company its top spot. For the second month in a row,...

Ukrainian forces finally reaches the Russian "First Line of Defense", north-east of Robotyne; fierce fighting ensued and ongoing. With this "breakthrough", Ukrainian forces continue to pour troops in this direction to build on their momentum. However, the relatively long distance between Novodanylivka to the frontline, means that the Ukrainian forces were at the mercy of Russian artillery and airstrikes all along the way.

If struggling Disney had any hopes of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny breaking even at the box office, those hopes were dashed this weekend, as the fifth and final Harrison Ford swashbuckler fell to second place in the U.S. and Canada after just one week. According to Variety, Patrick Wilson’s fifth installment in the Insidious series knocked Indiana Jones off the top spot with a $32.6 million debut on 3,188 screens. Dial of Destiny earned just $26.5 million on 4,600 screens. Do the math: Indy earned about $5,760 per screen while Insidious: The Red Door did nearly double...

President Biden has a short temper and frequently lashes out at staff members with profanity-laden rants if they do not meet his expectations, according to a new Axios report. One official in the administration told the outlet that “no one is safe” from Biden’s wrath. Aides are reportedly known to meet with him in groups of two or more to defuse potential tension. Some of the president’s go-to attacks include, “How the ---- don’t you know this?” and “Don’t ----ing b------ me!” Aides have framed his outbursts as a desire for accuracy and competence, telling the outlet that many see...

Has Trump really turned on Kari Lake, one of his loudest cheerleaders? Arwa Mahdawi Arwa Mahdawi Her biggest political accomplishment was losing Arizona’s gubernatorial race in 2022 – and now Trump and his team think she might be too thirsty for attention Sat 8 Jul 2023 09.00 EDT Kari Lake’s career goes bung Let’s say you want to be vice-president of the United States but you don’t have any meaningful political experience and you’ve never held public office. What do you do? For most normal people, the answer would be to build your political career gradually. Start small, work your...

Today, Judge Terry Doughty, of the United States District Court for the Western of Louisiana denied the request for a stay of the injunction against the Biden administration in the case of Missouri v. Biden. The thirteen page order can be read here: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.lawd.189520/gov.uscourts.lawd.189520.301.0_1.pdf

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis defended his wife, Casey, Monday after left-wing commentators tastelessly dubbed her “America’s Karen” over the weekend. “My wife is an incredibly strong first lady of Florida, a fantastic mother and a great wife, and that threatens the left,” DeSantis, 44, told Fox Business Network’s “Varney & Co.” Over the weekend, MSNBC analyst David Jolly, a former Republican congressman from Florida, hurled the “Karen” epithet at the breast cancer survivor and mom of three during a segment on the channel’s “Saturday Show with Jonathan Capehart.” “Casey DeSantis is a fairly compelling political figure in Florida, and now...

The singer has the political talent to take stands – on gay rights, or child literacy – without losing her conservative heartland fans At 77, Dolly Parton is justly being celebrated, along with her more established virtues, for an ability to unite disparate groups. She has, it’s claimed, an equally strong fanbase in the Trumpian “Rust Belt” as among the gay clubbers of New York City, to pick two of America’s polarised stereotypes. Her London visit to promote a new rock-influenced double album and a book is proving just how broad that Parton cultural spectrum is. Gathered in a grand...

Three students are among the fatalities following the attack in Lianjiang county.Six people were killed and one wounded in a stabbing at a kindergarten in China's Guangdong province on Monday (Jul 10). "The victims include one teacher, two parents and three students ... and one suspect has been arrested," said a spokesperson for the city government in Lianjiang, where the incident occurred. SNIP A tall, thin man with his hands pinned to his back is seen being shoved into a police car in a video published by Sanxiang Metropolis Daily, run by the government in neighbouring Hunan province.

As I was reading Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung (aka The Little Red Book), I came across a particularly stunning quote in Chapter 2: Classes and Class Struggle: In the final analysis, national struggle is a matter of class struggle. Among the whites in the United States, it is only the reactionary ruling circles that oppress the black people. They can in no way represent the workers, farmers, revolutionary intellectuals and other enlightened persons who comprise the overwhelming majority of the white people. "Statement Supporting the American Negroes in Their Just Struggle Against Racial Discrimination by U.S. Imperialism" (August 8,...

Our Friends frequently write here about the loss of their dogs. I hope I’ve been sufficiently sympathetic as I’ve seen the loss of my own Lucy approaching. Now Lucy is gone after 14 years, and the pain is overwhelming to us. There are so-called experts who suggest that dogs don’t have the emotional capacity to be genuinely attached to people; that they have only a conditioned response to being fed and treated well. I think this is nonsense. Our dogs obviously have genuine emotional attachment to us. My Lucy wanted to be best friends with everyone she met because. She...

"We Don't Want to Convert Young People to Christ or the Catholic Church": Francis's New Cardinal Denies The Great Commission"Go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Known as "the Great Commission," spreading the Gospel and making converts is a basic duty of all Christians, as set forth by Our Lord in sacred scripture. At the beginning of his pontificate, Pope Francis reiterated this call in his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium.But the results of the Church's evangelization efforts during Francis's pontificate have been disappointing,...

A new study finds that whole-fat dairy — including cheese, whole yogurt and whole milk — can help to prevent heart attacks, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases. What’s more, the study found that unprocessed red meat “can be part of a healthy diet.” Those are the surprising results from experts who created a dietary ranking named the Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiological Healthy Diet Score. The PURE diet finds six food groups — fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, fish and whole-fat dairy — can lower the risk of heart disease.