Free Republic

Israel Police announce that missing mother and daughter Mali and Liel Yahalomi were located alive on a bus in Buenos Aires. Police official: They accumulated financial debts. ....The Israel Police announced on Friday evening that mother and daughter Mali and Liel Yahalomi, who had been missing since last Friday, have been found alive. Footage released by the Israel Police showed the two being located aboard a bus in Buenos Aires, Argentina. .....

The Japanese defense minister on Saturday prayed at Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine, seen by Japan’s Asian neighbors as a symbol of the country’s past militarism. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, despite repeated past pledges to visit on the day marking Japan’s surrender, has so far stayed away from the shrine to avoid exacerbating diplomatic tensions. Visits by Japanese politicians to the shrine, which also commemorates World War II war criminals, have been criticized by China and South Korea. They see it as showing a lack of remorse over Japan’s wartime atrocities. Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi has regularly visited the controversial shrine to...

US President Donald Trump urges Americans to accept slightly higher gasoline prices as the cost of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and said he would soon declare the Strait of Hormuz a US territory. The comments underscore the growing political risk for Trump as higher fuel prices collide with his campaign promise to lower energy costs, with Democrats already seeking to make the economic fallout from the Iran war an issue heading into the November midterm elections. In a speech in Garden City, Trump says Americans who had to “pay a tiny little bit more for your gasoline”...

Researchers at the Marquette Law School Poll recently identified a sharp generational decline in trust across the United States. Americans born before 1960 still hold onto a baseline assumption that their neighbors will not rob them, given half a chance. They are the most trusting demographic in the country. The numbers worsen with each successive generation. The cohort born in the 2000s registers the highest levels of distrust ever recorded by the project. A significant portion of young adults operate under the functional premise that everyone else is a threat. The situation gets significantly uglier from there. A comprehensive 25-country...

Prime Healthcare leaders cultivated ties to Biden, Obama, Harris, Newsom and other top Democrats while their hospitals marketed “Birth Packages in South Texas” to pregnant women abroad. Two Texas hospitals under investigation for allegedly marketing childbirth packages to foreign women belong to a politically connected healthcare empire led by a Biden-honored billionaire and a member of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s leadership network. Dr. Prem Reddy founded Prime Healthcare and created the nonprofit Prime Healthcare Foundation, which owns Mission Regional Medical Center and Knapp Medical Center, the two hospitals now under investigation. In 2024, Reddy received the Joseph R. Biden...

The Italian institute now lists NIH-funded research in its own procurement records, including work on vaccines and monoclonal antibodies for potential pandemic viruses. Just three months after leaving the federal government, Anthony Fauci took an advisory role at a newly created, Italian government-backed center devoted to vaccines and pandemic preparedness. Less than 18 months later, Fauci’s former agency awarded more than $44 million to a pandemic-vaccine research program co-led by the center’s scientific director, the same scientist Fauci had agreed to advise. Now, procurement records from the Italian institute provide an additional receipt: research connected to the NIH-funded program is...

From New York to California, the American left is proving that nothing succeeds like failure. From immigration to taxes to health care, politicians are playing to their past fiascos to push an even more radical agenda. Take immigration. Many, including the Democratic Socialists, have called for open borders or disbanding ICE. After the Biden administration chose to allow millions of undocumented people to enter the country, most Democrats are now calling for “pathways” to make them citizens. After all, they argue, there are too many to deport.We now know the open border was a choice. The Trump administration immediately stopped...

Billionaire investor Bill Ackman has made his biggest portfolio shake-up in years, unveiling six new stock picks as he looks beyond the handful of companies that have traditionally dominated his concentrated investment strategy. The Pershing Square boss has revealed new positions in Netflix, Visa, Mastercard, Alcon, Intercontinental Exchange and S&P Global, saying he believes the companies are positioned for strong earnings growth. The purchases were made from the second quarter onwards and will be held across Ackman's investment funds, including his newly launched Pershing Square USA, which began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in April. The move is...

15 August 2026 The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Solemnity Pfarrkirche Mariä Himmelfahrt, ca. 1715, BavariaReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: A(II).These readings are for the Vigil Mass on the evening before the feast.These readings are for the day of the feast itself.These readings are for the Vigil Mass on the evening before the feast.First reading1 Chronicles 15:3-4,15-16,16:1-2They brought in the ark of God and put it inside the tent that David had pitched for itDavid gathered all Israel together to bring the ark of God up to the place he had prepared for it. David called together...

Wasserman Schultz’s decision to run in one of a dwindling number of majority-Black districts after Republicans redrew her former seat has deeply divided colleagues. Florida’s primary next week will test whether Debbie Wasserman Schultz can survive her latest fall from grace within the Democratic Party she’s served for decades. Her run in the state’s 20th District has roiled the caucus: Wasserman Schultz, 59, is facing a crowded slate of challengers —several of them younger, several of them Washington outsiders — in an election cycle that has increasingly seen its voters oust longtime incumbents in favor of generational insurgents. ~~~~~ But...

SNL VIDEO AT LINK................

Developers are plotting a nearly 93,000-square-foot indoor rainforest with free-flying birds, sloths, snakes and exotic plants — smack in the middle of Arizona’s scorching Sonoran Desert. Dubbed Paradise Earth, the four-story attraction is planned for 10.5 acres of Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community land near Scottsdale and is being billed by its creators as the largest indoor rainforest in North America. The elaborate wildlife exhibit would also house freshwater fish, two-toed sloths, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates, according to a conditional-use presentation submitted to tribal officials.

Long-time readers may remember a piece I wrote two years ago on how Schleswig-Holstein sold their reliable diesel ferry for a song, spent 3.3 million Euro for a new emissions-free solar ferry that doesn’t work and increased carbon emissions on top of it all. Basically, the State Office for Coastal Protection in Schleswig-Holstein embarked upon a project some years ago to replace the Missunde II, an old diesel automobile ferry that connects the towns of Missunde and Brodersby … Missunde II: An ordinary diesel ferry. … with the hypermodern superclever very progressive Missunde III, which runs entirely on solar power...

Michelle Obama has found an unexpected similarity between Megan Thee Stallion and her youngest daughter, Sasha Obama. The former first lady welcomed Megan Thee Stallion to the August 12 episode of IMO with Michelle Obama & Craig Robinson, and the conversation quickly became personal.(snip) Michelle described Megan’s energy as something that “feels like family” and said the rapper reminds her of her youngest daughter.

LINK: Why Is Communism Making A Comeback In America? (From: The Way I Heard it with Mike Rowe) This is an hour and a half of discussion with the peerless Bill Whittle who is, in my opinion, the best communicator of Conservatism and its values in this country today. Mike Rowe makes the statements that Leftists would mouth and acts largely as a willing foil for Bill Whittle.In the context of current events, this is the best hour and a half you can spend. Watch this instead of a movie or a baseball game and pass it along! It is...

U.S. Central Command has unveiled Task Force Falcon Strike, a new multinational attack drone force for the Middle East. This unprecedented initiative integrates U.S. and regional militaries to deploy unmanned one-way attack systems across air, surface, and sub-surface environments. The move comes amid rising Iranian and Houthi drone attacks, prompting CENTCOM to seek a unified, multi-domain deterrent. Allies are being invited to join this coalition, which builds upon earlier U.S.-only efforts like Task Force Scorpion Strike. Falcon Strike will utilize advanced autonomous systems, including USVs, UUVs, and UAS, marking a significant shift towards a more aggressive, collective defense posture in...

A man who shot and killed four people in a Lancaster home before setting their house on fire and leaving their three dogs to burn to death will face life imprisonment.

Firefighters resumed aerial attacks on the Big Sur fire Friday, as the blaze has burned more than 4,000 acres and continues to impact the local community and economy. The fire, located about four miles south of Nepenthe’s restaurant near Highway 1, has been challenging to contain. Advertisement “So it’s a real wild card. If it gets going back there,” said Kirk Gafill, general manager of Nepenthe. “Fortunately, we haven’t had much in the way of wind events. So, you know, cautiously optimistic. It seems like they’re doing a terrific job advancing the containment and work on this fire and very...

[Catholic/Devotional Caucus] The Forgotten Customs of Assumption Day You have crowned the year with your bounty, and your paths overflow with a rich harvest; The untilled meadows overflow with it, and rejoicing clothes the hills. The fields are garmented with flocks and the valleys blanketed with grain. They shout and sing for joy.-Blessing of Herbs on Assumption DayThe Importance of the Liturgical Year The Church’s Liturgical Year is a harmonious interplay of feasts and fasts interwoven in both the temporal and sanctoral cycles that define the rhythm and rhyme of Catholic life. In days gone by, cycles of feasts punctuated...

Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon is speaking out about what he calls “outrageous” misconduct at Minneapolis polling sites after a conservative political commenter tried to impersonate Minnesota voters. In the video, Cam Higby, a member of the “Justice League,” is dressed in a burqa and using an accent to try to vouch for others. Higby says he was highlighting the state’s vouching laws. He alleges poll workers would let him vote under a random name; the video shows Higby leaving a polling place after being told he needed to sign an oath. The video also shows a worker explaining...