Free Republic

October 13th is the day that marks the death of one of the most important defenders of Macedonia’s struggle for freedom, the Hellenic Army Officer Pavlos Melas. Melas, born in 1870 in the French city of Marseille, was the son of Michael Melas, an elected MP for Attica and mayor of Athens. At an early age, Melas decided to go to Athens to study and later joined the Hellenic Army, graduating from the Hellenic Army Academy as an artillery lieutenant at age 21. In 1892, he married Natalia Dragoumi, the daughter of a famous politician from Macedonia’s city of Kastoria,...

Peter Thiel, the billionaire political svengali and tech investor, is worried about the antichrist. It could be the US. It could be Greta Thunberg. Over the past month, Thiel has hosted a series of four lectures on the downtown waterfront of San Francisco philosophizing about who the antichrist could be and warning that Armageddon is coming. Thiel, who describes himself as a “small-o orthodox Christian”, believes the harbinger of the end of the world could already be in our midst and that things such as international agencies, environmentalism and guardrails on technology could quicken its rise. It is a remarkable...

A diet rich in the amino acid cysteine may have rejuvenating effects in the small intestine, according to a study. This amino acid, the researchers discovered, can turn on an immune signaling pathway that helps stem cells to regrow new intestinal tissue. This enhanced regeneration may help to heal injuries from radiation, which often occur in patients undergoing radiation therapy for cancer. In their new study, the researchers began by feeding mice a diet high in one of 20 different amino acids. Among these amino acids, cysteine had the most dramatic effects on stem cells and progenitor cells (immature cells...

Hamas tells Red Cross that release of hostages will begin at 8:00 a.m. (10pm Pacific/ 1am Eastern). The report also mentioned that a technical meeting was held last night between Hamas and the Red Cross team to arrange the handover. Herzog to give Trump presidential medal of honor, highest Israeli civilian award US President Donald Trump will receive Israel’s highest civilian honor from President Isaac Herzog for his role in brokering the Gaza ceasefire and securing the release of hostages.

Pennsylvania was supposed to be the energy state that got it right.Thanks to the Marcellus Shale formation, natural gas made Pennsylvania a net exporter of electricity. Fracking enabled Pennsylvania to power homes and industry not just here, but across the entire Mid-Atlantic. The state’s natural gas built modern power plants, attracted investment, and helped America move toward energy independence.So how is it that Pennsylvanians are still paying more for electricity every year?Over the past five years, electricity prices in Pennsylvania have risen 45%. It is a tick lower than the national average of a 46% price increase. However, that is...

The Epoch Times on Oct. 7 received an envelope containing a white powder that appears meant to intimidate the publication.The yellow-colored envelope contained an Epoch Times newspaper and a small clear ziploc bag containing a white powder. The Epoch Times alerted the New York Police Department, which took the items for testing. Results of the investigation are pending. Federal authorities were also notified.The Epoch Times newspaper being printed in Wayne, N.J., on Jan. 23, 2024. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch TimesThe envelope bore official Chinese postal markings indicating it either originated from China or was returned from China - at the same...

On Friday, President Trump made two posts on Truth Social in response to China’s announcement of stringent export controls on rare earth elements (REE) and related processing equipment. In the first post, he appeared to threaten to cancel his meeting with Xi at the upcoming APEC summit in South Korea. More importantly, in his second post, he announced an additional 100% tariff on Chinese imports in response to Beijing’s economic coercion, effective November 1 or earlier. If implemented, this would bring the total tariff rate for China to 130%.pic.twitter.com/5TcdNuNWv2— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 10, 2025pic.twitter.com/TtnPx2l2er— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47)...

WASHINGTON — Former National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan somewhat begrudgingly credited President Trump for successfully brokering a peace agreement between Israel and Hamas that had been elusive to former President Joe Biden. Sullivan contended that “time and circumstance” enabled Trump to get it done and claimed that the basic framework was similar to the concept that the prior administration had in mind to end the Israel-Hamas war. “It’s only now, after all that time, that we have gotten to a deal,” Sullivan told CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday when pressed on why Biden wasn’t able to get the deal...

A study found that stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT), a form of high-dose radiation delivered in just five sessions, after prostate surgery is safe and as effective as traditional, longer courses of radiation in preventing prostate cancer from returning. After prostate surgery, some men remain at risk of their cancer coming back. Radiation therapy can lower this risk, but the standard approach usually involves daily treatments for several weeks, which can be burdensome for patients. Researchers have been exploring whether SBRT, already a proven option for men who have not had surgery, could also be safe and effective in the post-surgery...

When I wrote on Saturday that the foreign policy establishment is in utter shambles, I'm not sure I expected them to respond with such utter shamelessness. Yet, here we are, with former Secretary of State Antony Blinken giving Joseph Robinette Biden credit for the recently negotiated Gaza peace deal. No, I'm not kidding, and that's not even the worst of it. As RedState reported, the deal will see the release of the remaining hostages, with Israel not having to vacate Gaza. Instead, they'll pull back to a predetermined line inside the territory, forming a buffer zone to ensure the disarmament...

Steve Bannon asked the Supreme Court to overturn his contempt of Congress conviction for refusing to testify before the House select panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, his attorneys said Friday. In a petition, Bannon’s attorneys urge the justices to decide two issues that he has pressed in his defense — whether the government must prove a defendant knew his conduct was unlawful and the whether the composition of the Jan. 6 panel affected its authority to issue subpoenas. Convictions for contempt of Congress are rare, and a case about it at the Supreme Court is...

U.S. GDP growth in the first half of 2025 was almost entirely driven by investment in data centers and information processing technology, according to Harvard economist Jason Furman. Excluding these technology-related categories, Furman calculated in a Sept. 27 post on X.com GDP growth would have been just 0.1% on an annualized basis, a near standstill that underlines the increasingly pivotal role of high-tech infrastructure in shaping macroeconomic outcomes. Furman’s findings, shared online and echoed by financial analysts including Robert Armstrong of the Financial Times‘ Unhedged (the same writer who coined the term “TACO trade’), echo several months of observations on...

Political activist Tommy Robinson is to appear in court after he was charged with failing to provide police with the Pin to his mobile phone. The 42-year-old, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is to attend the trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday. He was charged after an incident at the Channel Tunnel in Folkestone on July 28 2024, where he was accused of “frustration” of police counter-terrorism powers. Under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act, police are allowed to stop anyone passing through a UK port “to determine whether they may be involved or concerned in the commission,...

US Vice-President JD Vance has warned of further workforce cuts in addition to the thousands of jobs already axed if the government shutdown is not resolved. "The longer this goes on, the deeper the cuts are going to be," Vance told Fox News. "To be clear, some of these cuts are going to be painful." Democrats said Republicans were punishing people by refusing to attach health insurance subsidies to the spending bill. Hundreds of thousands of federal employees are already on leave without pay as the shutdown approaches its third week. No congressional vote is scheduled that could reopen the...

The Gold Rush in Manhattan’s Diamond District Buyers and sellers are flooding the crowded Midtown block that holds more than 2,600 businesses By Joseph Pisani | Photography by John Taggart for WSJ Oct. 11, 2025 12:00 pm ET So many customers flocked to a New York City gold dealer this past week that staff had to ask people to wait outside. “I’ll go through this all day long,” said Chief Executive Ben Tseytlin, about the people piling into his shop, Bullion Exchanges. Some were there to sell gold, but increasingly people are coming to buy, he said. It is one...

Conservatives have long championed the principle of "peace through strength," a doctrine rooted in the belief that a strong, resolute nation deters aggression and fosters stability. This approach, exemplified by leaders like Ronald Reagan and Menachem Begin, prioritizes military readiness, clear moral conviction, and unwavering support for allies to secure peace without capitulation. Unlike policies that rely on appeasement or concessions, conservatives understand that weakness invites conflict, while strength commands respect. Ronald Reagan: Defeating the Soviet Threat. Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States, embodied "peace through strength" in his confrontation with the Soviet Union. In the 1980s,...

Not all moisturizers are equal when it comes to scar management, according to new research. Tanja Klotz researches the effects generic moisturizers have on hydration and transepidermal water loss (TEWL) for people with active, linear, widespread or keloid scarring. Normally, water passively evaporates from the skin's surface, but when the skin barrier is impaired by factors like harsh skincare, environmental damage, wounds or scars, the water loss increases, leading to dehydration and increased scar activity. Eight common moisturizing products were tested on normal skin in a scar model, with the findings published in the journal Burns. "We tell recovering patients...

Michael Snyder's update of Pacific typhoons heading east to clash with cold Gulf of Alaska air.

Research has found the first clear evidence that the "good" gut bacteria Bifidobacterium breve in pregnant mothers regulates the placenta's production of hormones critical for a healthy pregnancy. In a study in mice, the researchers compared the placentas of mice with no gut bacteria to those of mice with Bifidobacterium breve in their gut during pregnancy. Pregnant mice without Bifidobacterium breve in their gut had a higher rate of complications including fetal growth restriction and fetal low blood sugar, and increased fetal loss. This gut bacteria seems to play a crucial role in prompting the placenta to produce pregnancy hormones...

The Washington Post revealed on Saturday that, despite fierce public condemnation of Israel by Arab governments during the Gaza war, several of those same countries secretly maintained close military and intelligence cooperation with Jerusalem. According to leaked U.S. documents obtained by the newspaper and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), at least six Arab states — Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Qatar — took part in a classified regional defense framework known as the “Regional Security Construct.” Kuwait and Oman were listed as potential future partners.The mechanism, established under the coordination of U.S. Central...