Free Republic

One person’s trash dramatically turned into another’s treasure as workers in Belgium happened upon a gold hoard worth more than $10 million while installing a sewer line in a building they were renovating. “Our first reaction was actually disbelief,” Kobe, an 18-year-old student worker, told Belgium outlet VRT. “Of course, we hadn’t expected to find gold.” At the time, the construction crew was renovating a building in the city center of the Flemish community of Sint-Gillis-Dendermonde, located about 40 miles from Brussels. During the building rehab, workers were removing the foundation to make way for a sewer pipe when they...

INSANE: Democratic Socialist Of America’s Frances Gill called to defund the police and eventually abolish it. Gill is a psychiatry resident at Los Angeles General Medical Center and a member of the Democratic Socialists of America’s National Political Committee (NPC) for the 2025–2027 term (representing DSA-LA). She has been active in DSA since around 2017

CHICAGO -- Joshua Báez always believed this day would come. And he has absolutely made the most of it. The Cardinals' young slugger is now the first player in history to homer three times in his MLB debut. On the first Major League pitch Báez saw, Cubs left-hander Matthew Boyd challenged him with a 93.4 mph fastball up in the zone. Báez jumped on it, launching a two-run homer a Statcast-projected 449 feet to dead center field. The ball left his bat at 108.6 mph and gave the Cardinals a 3-0 lead. Then, to make the day even more memorable,...

Explanation: Known for its bright and fast meteors, the annual Perseid Meteor Shower comes to planet Earth's skies from a radiant in the heroic constellation Perseus. The popular northern summer celestial spectacle is created as grains of dust cast off along the orbit of periodic comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle vaporize in Earth's dense atmosphere, tracing brief, but beautiful streaks through the night. Taken near the shower's peak of activity on August 12, this composite image recorded two bright perseid meteors and one meteor's watery reflection from a location near the coastal village of Grisslehamn, Sweden. Almost as bright as Altair, brightest star...

Researchers are shell-shocked at the latest marine discovery. Dolphins have been filmed using shells to ensnare their prey off the coast of Australia, marking the first time this clever tactic has been caught on camera, per a bombshell paper in Marine Mammal Science. “The second I saw that shell in the air, I immediately knew what was happening,” the study’s head author, Alexis Levengood, a marine mammal biologist at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, told ScienceAlert. Levengood said she and her team were on a research vessel off Hervey Bay when they spotted a female Pacific bottlenose...

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...

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...

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...

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.

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...

No shoes, no shirts, no teens … no problems. A Jersey Shore beach town banned all unaccompanied minors from night activities in a citywide crackdown to stop dangerous gatherings that have led to brawls and underage drinking. The Cape May City Council unanimously voted to implement curfews in the city, which block anyone under 18 without an adult from beach access starting at 8 p.m. and from any other public space in the city after 10:30 p.m., according to the newly passed ordinances. “The Cape May Police Department would like to remind residents, visitors, and families about several new City...

A progressive New York City lawmaker says shoplifters should be left in peace to steal items like toothpaste and soap. Emily Gallagher - a Democrat Socialist member of the New York State assembly - shared a clip on her X account that also villainized drugstores, which have been forced to lock products in plexiglass cases because of rampant theft. Gallagher wrote that 'no one should be arrested - much less jailed' for stealing toothpaste' and said in a speech that such thefts were just 'crimes of poverty.' Speaking at an event, she continued: 'People who were stealing things like toothpaste,...

Umberto Longo, appointed to the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, appears repeatedly in Masonic records. Pope Leo has appointed a historian who appears repeatedly in Masonic records to a Vatican historical committee. On August 13, Pope Leo XIV appointed Umberto Longo, director of the Italian Historical Institute for the Middle Ages and professor of medieval history at Sapienza University of Rome, as a member of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences.The appointment comes despite documentary evidence connecting him to Freemasonry, including records from the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite and later appearances by Longo at events organized within the sphere...

Much of America is freaking out over the Marxist takeover of the Democratic Party, but for anyone who paid attention, this wasn't hard to foresee. It has been coming for generations. Both Yogi Berra and the great physicist Niels Bohr are credited with saying that "predictions are hard, especially about the future." Currently, much of America is freaking out over the Marxist takeover of the Democratic Party, but for anyone who paid attention, this wasn't hard to foresee. It has been coming for generations. If the party elders had not bent the rules so ruthlessly, Bernie Sanders and his DSA...

A Tennessee teacher who was named Teacher of the Year has quit after accusing the school district of directing her to change a failing student’s grade. Samira Hardcastle, named the 2025-2026 Teacher of the Year at John F. Kennedy Middle School in Antioch, Tenn., submitted her letter of resignation in May after eight years teaching art in Metro Nashville Public Schools. “District leaders asked me to fabricate grades for a parent who sat in the office for hours until her daughter’s failing grades were changed,” Hardcastle said in an impassioned speech at Tuesday’s school board meeting. “It creates false entitlement....

A routine summer afternoon took a terrifying turn when a Boston trash collector went to pick up his coworker at a designated pickup spot in Boston — but he didn’t show. Concerned, he called his coworker, Karl Timolus. The voice on the other end, however, wasn’t Timolus.