Free Republic

Iranian weightlifter Mustafa Rajaei was banned from participating in any sports event after he shook the hand of his Israeli competitor, Maksim Svirsky, at a World Masters championship in Poland, Iran's Weightlifting Federation announced on Wednesday. "The Weightlifting Federation strongly condemns the action of the veteran weightlifter of the Iranian team during the World Veteran Championship, which is against the ideals of the Islamic Republic of Iran,"...

National Public Radio was in a frenzy the other morning but it felt like the movie Groundhog Day: they were spreading tremendous alarm about the rise of Covid cases. We have to stop the spread, the announcer said, and that’s why masks are coming back to classrooms. However, they added, relief is on the way in the form of a new vaccine. Rinse, repeat — as the shampoo bottles say. This line of thinking — stop the spread to reduce strain on hospitals, mask up, and so on — is being echoed by all major media organs. Leading the way...

https://youtu.be/5JXJmDpmnxE?si=x3AI8S-HA-TKYzLA

There comes a point in every classic film fan's life when you realize you underestimated Ginger Rogers. You never, of course, diminished her talent, especially as Fred Astaire's dance partner over their nine or so RKO musicals in the '30s. But it's with a slight sense of shame that you realize that she was always far more than the second half of an onscreen entity known as "Fred and Ginger". Because her filmography provides so much evidence of her star power at a glance: Stage Door, Bachelor Mother, Primrose Path, Kitty Foyle, Roxie Hart, The Major and the Minor, I'll...

The impeachment trial, the first such proceeding here in half a century, will take place in the Texas Capitol and will delve into broad allegations of corruption against the state’s top lawyer. State senators will serve as jurors and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick as the presiding officer. Paxton and dozens of other witnesses are expected to be there on Day One. Arguably one of the most well-known state attorneys general in the country, Paxton has called the trial a political sham and likened it to his ally Donald Trump’s legal troubles. “[Republicans in name only] and far-left radicals have established...

Entitled Daughter Loses It When Finally Told 'No'

Is a suntan just as bad as a sunburn? Isn’t it good to get some Vitamin D from sun exposure?How bad is a suntan, really? And how do UV rays affect your skin? Although rates of indoor tanning have been dropping in the United States, many people still try to get a tan outdoors. According to a National Cancer Institute analysis of data from the 2020 National Health Interview Survey, about 39 per cent of women and 29 per cent of men in the United States had intentionally sought an outdoor tan in the past year. Yet while bronzed skin...

Taylor White was only 21 when her face was tattooed with obscenities against her will, leaving her with no other option than to cover up the unsightly markings with dark, black ink. Now, more than a decade later, the Florida resident is finally removing her blackout face tattoo with the help of a generous stranger, Karridy Askenasy, otherwise known as TheDadBot. White, who formerly worked in the body-modification industry and is attempting to transition into the mental health field, said her face tattoo became an obstacle for her to land a job, and she was hurt by the rejection. “I’ve...

The Deion Sanders era at Colorado started with a massive upset. The Buffaloes got a late fourth-down stop with 55 seconds left to hang on for a 45-42 win over No. 17 TCU in Fort Worth on Saturday. QB Shedeur Sanders — the son of the Pro Football Hall of Famer — set the Colorado single-game record for passing yards while two-way star Travis Hunter had 11 catches as a wide receiver and an interception as a defensive back. “I’m so thankful right now … man I’m loving these kids," Deion Sanders told Fox after the game. "Great joy for...

With just days to go before the start of the new school year, more than 100 schools in England have been told to shut buildings made with a certain type of concrete unless they put in place safety measures. Here is what we know so far about the material at the centre of all this. What is RAAC? Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) is a lightweight material that was used in roofs, floors and walls between the 1950s and 1990s, mostly on one and two-storey buildings. It is a cheaper alternative to standard concrete. It is quicker to produce, and...

Hobbits, elves and Middle-earthlings across the globe will mark the 50th anniversary of J.R.R. Tolkien’s death this weekend. The English scholar and author best known for the worlds he created in “The Lord of the Rings” and other books died of pneumonia on Sept. 2, 1973, at age 81. Tolkien had a remarkable career, one which continues to touch lives, not only in his literature, but through the relationships he fostered, including one with his fellow Oxford don C.S. Lewis. Last year, an article in the lifestyle magazine Town & Country said “It is impossible to overstate how much Lewis...

An investigation into a shooting Friday night in which two women were struck by gunfire during the White Sox-Athletics game at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago came to an almost unbelievable conclusion as to how the gun got into the ballpark. According to a report by Chicago-based ESPN 1000, two sources close to the investigation said the gun was brought into the stadium hidden in the rolls of a woman’s belly fat. ESPN reporter Peggy Kusinski said one of the women who was grazed by a bullet in the incident “snuck the gun in past metal detectors hiding it in...

Elon Musk is on the warpath against an elite Los Angeles school, the Crossroads School for the Arts & Sciences, which he accuses of “brainwashing” his child, who is now transgender and a self-declared communist. It’s not the first time Crossroads has been in the spotlight. Eighteen years ago, the school was exposed as a center of wacko far-left indoctrination by Andrew Breitbart in his debut book, Hollywood Interrupted. Breitbart’s book devoted nearly a whole chapter to Crossroads, an example of what the conservative firebrand considered “warped Hollywood child-rearing.” Even by the standards of the liberal education system, Breitbart found...

BATON ROUGE - Two women were arrested after they allegedly arrived at Melrose Elementary School and battered an officer who was arresting one of their sons. The East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office said they were called to respond to a fight on the campus. While they were responding, one of the students was put into handcuffs and school officials called the boy's mother. Shortly after, the boy's mother, Jamie Pate, 28, and her sister Darlene, 26, arrived at the school. Jamie Pate was "agitated" that her son was being detained and the two refused to leave school property. Deputies put...

Rebecca Watson lives in San Francisco. In this 12 minute YouTube video, she defends shoplifting from big box stores, and expands on a tweet that she had previously made about the subject:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FPZ0Zh0U20https://twitter.com/rebeccawatson/status/1442245355572105227This keeps getting promoted to me & I cannot stress enough that stealing from big box stores is fine. Did you know they have an entire playbook on how to avoid paying local taxes as they destroy independent businesses & abandon buildings? via @doctorow https://t.co/tCmhONpZJl https://t.co/QtJ3loNgp4— Rebecca Watson (@rebeccawatson) September 26, 2021Archive of tweet: https://web.archive.org/web/20210926215153/https://twitter.com/rebeccawatson/status/1442245355572105227Screen capture of tweet:

In the coming weeks, a Giant Food market in D.C. will clear its beauty and health aisles of all national labels. No more Tide, Colgate or Advil, only store brands. Shoppers also will have to present their receipts to an employee before exiting the store. It’s the regional supermarket chain’s most overt gambit against the rampant theft that’s plaguing retailers of all sizes. It’s also a potential last-ditch effort to avoid shutting down the unprofitable store on Alabama Avenue — the only major grocer east of the Anacostia River in Ward 8. “We want to continue to be able to...

Bill Richardson, a former two-term Democratic governor of New Mexico and later U.S. ambassador to the United Nations has died. He was 75. The Richardson Center for Global Engagement, which he founded, said in a statement Saturday that he died in his sleep at his home in Chatham, Massachusetts. "Governor Richardson passed away peacefully in his sleep last night. He lived his entire life in the service of others — including both his time in government and his subsequent career helping to free people held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad. There was no person that Governor Richardson would not speak...

Dollar General , Nordstrom , and Dick’s Sporting Goods all warned about the rising impact retail theft is having on their bottom lines-and they aren’t alone. More than a dozen retailers said inventory shrink, the industry term that encompasses merchandise theft and damage, was a problem this past quarter. That list includes major players across the sector, from big-box and home-improvement retailers to department stores and other specialty outlets. “The shrink environment has continued to worsen,” said Kelly Dilts, Dollar General’s (ticker: DG) chief financial officer, on a call with investors Thursday. Barron’s combed through 17 earnings conference-call transcripts in...

Legendary singer and songwriter Jimmy Buffett died on Friday at the age of 76 after struggling with an undisclosed health issue since 2022. The "Margaritaville" icon died peacefully Friday surrounded by his family, friends, music and dogs, according to a statement posted to his website and social media accounts. "He lived his life like a song till the very last breath and will be missed beyond measure by so many," the statement read. Buffett's cause and place of death were not provided. Buffett leaves behind his wife Jane Slagsvol and his three children: Savannah, Sarah and Cameron.

When former president Donald Trump’s media start-up announced in October 2021 that it planned to merge with a Miami-based company called Digital World Acquisition, the deal was an instant stock-market hit. *** With the $300 million Digital World had already raised from investors, Trump Media & Technology Group, creator of the pro-Trump social network Truth Social, pledged then that the merger would create a tech titan worth $875 million at the start and, depending on the stock’s performance, up to $1.7 billion later. *** “Everyone asks me why doesn’t someone stand up to Big Tech? Well, we will be soon!”...