Free Republic

Avalon Raceway Management on behalf of the Drew Family would like to update everyone on the unfortunate incident that occurred during the running of the Sprint Car C-Main on Friday December 12, 2025. The incident involved a part failure, with a sprint car wheel and tyre from the V34 entry of Brenten Farrer, entering the spectator compound in turn three of the venue. We ask that the privacy and health of those involved is everyone’s first thought. Most importantly all involved are in good health today and have been contacted via venue Management. One person involved, a long-standing and highly...

.... 1 January 1915 was a holiday for the mining community of Broken Hill. It was the height of the southern summer and about 1,200 men, women and children were looking forward to a picnic organised by the Manchester Unity Order of Oddfellows. They were to take a train the 15 or so miles from Broken Hill towards Silverton. Unbeknown to the miners and their families, two men had, for varying reasons, prepared an ambush. ..... AmbushAs the train, comprising forty open carriages, pulled up a hill two miles outside Broken Hill, it came into sight of the two men...

The Biden Presidential Library has recently suffered a series of setbacks caused by a lack of funding. The initial presidential library was envisioned to eclipse the Obama Presidential Library (aka Obama Death Star) however those plans have been scaled back significantly by the lack of donor largesse. Donations from persons pardoned in the last moments of his presidency have been severely curtailed when President Trump declared those autopen pardons null and void. Even with these setbacks, Slow Joe declared he will march forward with the project even though he will have to scale it back somewhat. The Biden Presidential Library...

Benjamin Erickson has been identified as the person authorities detained after the Brown University shooting at Providence, Rhode Island on December 13. (snip) Now, many social media handles have speculated about Erickson's political affiliation and whether he is MAGA and a Donald Trump supporter. To be sure, these are speculations from unverified profiles. Erickson's actual political leanings are not known since his details have not been publicly shared by authorities. He only remains a person of interest, and authorities have clarified that he is not in custody, merely in detention, as a person of interest in the case. Is Benjamin...

A man who survived the Bondi Beach attack has described the moment his best friend died a hero while trying to stop the alleged gunmen. Reuven Morrison, who serves as an assistant at Bondi's Wellington Street synagogue, put himself in harm's way after meeting his friend Vladimir at the Hannukah event at Bondi Beach on Sunday. An emotional Vladimir, who says he would have been caught up in the gunfire if he hadn't needed to find parking, said of the shooting: 'I saw everything and now my best friend is dead. He died in front of me.' Vladimir, who is...

Sen. John Fetterman broke with Democrats on Sunday, siding with Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham as he accused members of his party of embracing antisemitic rhetoric after a deadly terror attack during a Hanukkah celebration in Australia over the weekend. Appearing on "Sunday Morning Futures," Fetterman said he agreed "with virtually everything" Graham warned about earlier in the program. Graham had raised concerns about empowering Hamas by moving toward Palestinian statehood. "It’s an absolute betrayal for Israel and for the worldwide Jewish community," said Fetterman. "Whether it's France or Australia or any of these nations, our Western allies now calling for...

A father and son have been identified as the shooters behind the terrorist attack at Bondi Beach that has left at least 16 people dead. Naveed Akram, 24, and Sajid Akram, 50, opened fire on a Jewish Hanukkah event shortly before 7pm on Sunday. The 50-year-old was shot and killed by police, while the 24-year-old was shot before being taken into custody in a critical condition. The death toll on Monday morning has risen to 16, including a girl, 10, and man, 40, who both died in hospital. NSW Police say the dead range in age from 10 to 87...

There’s a quote, attributed to the intellectual Eric Hoffer, that describes much of what happens in Washington and the activist world: “Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.” Now the Justice Department has given us new evidence that Black Lives Matter, the cause that was so prominent in 2020, in what was sometimes called the great “racial reckoning,” actually began as a racket and went downhill from there.Do you remember when BLM was raising money that it said would be used to post bail for protesters unjustly arrested in demonstrations over...

Most establishment Democrats believe the party’s 2028 nominee needs to tack to the center, especially on social issues, to maximize the party’s chance to win. That looks sound on paper, but implementing it faces a serious obstacle: the party’s primary voters.Democratic Party primary voters are significantly more progressive and left-leaning than they were even in 2008. That fact was driven home in two high-profile mayoral races, in New York City and Seattle, where little-known progressive challengers easily defeated well-known establishment figures.Those contests are especially significant when one applies those results to the method by which Democrats traditionally apportion convention delegates....

A person detained in connection with a shooting at Brown University is reportedly from Wisconsin and not a student, having traveled to the area to commit the shooting that left two dead and at least nine wounded Saturday night. Authorities believe the individual traveled from Wisconsin to Rhode Island to carry out the shooting, according to CNN sources. The investigation remains ongoing. The person of interest was in custody Sunday after a shooting during final exams at Brown. The attack Saturday afternoon set off hours of chaos across the Ivy League campus and surrounding Providence neighborhoods as hundreds of officers...

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold: The hours-long suspension of CME Group's global futures trading platform on November 28 was not prompted by a cooling failure at a data center, as officially maintained, but by huge silver purchase orders from Chinese buyers, London metals trader Andrew Maguire tells this week's edition of Kinesis Money's "Live from the Vault" program. The Chinese orders, Maguire says, broke the silver price suppression scheme and required official intervention to avoid a declaration of force majeure on the New York Commodities Exchange and an explosion of metals derivatives internationally, an outcome no one in authority...

Could someone explain to me, like I am 8, why we need data centers, centralized processing, and AI ? Why? Who decided?

The person of interest taken into custody Sunday in connection to the deadly mass shooting at Brown University has been identified as Benjamin Erickson, law-enforcement sources told The Post. Erickson, 24, was nabbed at a local hotel room after a gunman opened fire at the Ivy League institution’s Providence, RI, campus during a final-exam study session Saturday. The shooter was armed with a handgun and fired more than 40 .9mm rounds during the chaos, law-enforcement officials said.

In Slovenia, the ancient Pust festival happens each year before Easter to mark the end of winter. Locals wear masks and costumes to chase away winter and celebrate the coming of spring. Images of the festival captured by photographer Ciril Jazbec offer a glimpse into a ritual that has great significance for the community. The Little-Known Ancient Festival to Chase Away Winter | 3:10 BBC Global | 717K subscribers | 95,245 views | March 5, 2025

Baosberg has planned contempt hearings over the administration's response to his orders, despite the Supreme Court previously shutting down his initial stays. The Department of Justice on Friday asked a federal appeals court to remove U.S. District Judge James Boasberg from an ongoing case over the administrations invocation of the Alien Enemies Act to deport members of Venezuelan gangs. Baosberg has planned contempt hearings over the administration's response to his orders, despite the Supreme Court previously shutting down his initial stays. The DOJ made its request to remove him in a filing to the Court of Appeals for the D.C....

New South Wales Police say 15 people, including a child, were killed in a shooting at Bondi Beach on Saturday - their ages range from 10 to 87 The attack happened while an event was being held to mark the start of Hanukkah - police say they're treating it as a terror incident The two gunmen were father and son, police say. The 50-year-old man also died at the scene while the 24-year-old remains in hospital in critical condition Prime Minister Anthony Albanese calls the attack "an act of pure evil" that "deliberately targeted" the Jewish community One video gives...

Reports and eyewitness accounts circulating since the Brown shooting claim the attacker shouted “Allahu Akbar” before opening fire. Police have not publicly confirmed the words, and most major outlets are using vague language like “he shouted something.” If authorities have audio, bodycam, or corroborated witness statements, they should release or formally clarify what was said—because it directly bears on motive and public safety. They have a suspect and lord knows how much video footage from CCTV but the only thing they shared is a grainy, short clip of the killer from the back. The shooting occurred in the classroom of...

What a difference a year makes. After devastating defeats in 2024, Democrats are closing out 2025 with wind in their sails. They won double-digit victories in the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races. And last week they got a stronger-than-expected showing in a Tennessee special election. Republicans and Democrats now talk openly of a likely tsunami of wins for Democrats in the 2026 midterms. If true, Democrats better get a surfboard and make plans to ride that big wave into the 2028 presidential election.That means creating their own version of the Republicans’ Project 2025.They will need Project 2027 for their...

President Herzog and Foreign Minister Saar say government ignored the rise of Islamist extremism and antisemitismAt least 12 dead in Australia, including suspected shooter, after Hanukkah event shooting Yael Eckstein, president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, reacted to the shooting that killed at least 12 people during an attack on a Hanukkah event in Australia. Israeli officials were quick to lay blame for the deadly shooting in Sydney, Australia, at the feet of the nation's government on Sunday, saying it had ignored "countless warning signs" of antisemitism. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu read aloud at a government...