Free Republic

When a team is dead-last in the standings, it’s usually the fans telling them that they stink, not the other way around. In this case it was the Oshawa Generals — currently sitting in the sewer of the Ontario Hockey League — that sent a nostril-flaring email to its loyal season-ticket holders, reminding them to shower before attending games at the Tribute Communities Centre in downtown Oshawa. “If you went to the gym or did something that produced body odour, please shower before attending the game,” the team’s director of ticket sales and service advised in the email. The email...

Lord Peter Mandelson has been asked to testify to the US Congress over his relationship with the paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein. A letter from two Democrat members of the House of Representatives called on the former British ambassador to Washington to answer questions from the House Oversight Committee as part of their probe into Epstein. The disgraced peer's links with Epstein have led to calls for Sir Keir Starmer to stand down as prime minister. The prime minister's judgement has been questioned by critics over his appointment of Lord Mandelson as US ambassador, a role considered the most prestigious posting...

A forensic pathologist who was present at Jeffrey Epstein’s post-mortem has called for a reinvestigation into the disgraced financier’s death, arguing that it was more consistent with strangulation than suicide by hanging.

An old newspaper page from 1986 has resurfaced on social media, showing math teachers protesting against the use of calculators in the classroom, until upper grades. Back then, the concerns were not only about students' academic dependency, but many feared that it would replace human skills and take away jobs that depended on manual calculation. Years later, the history appears to repeat itself. This time, the conversation has shifted from calculators to Artificial Intelligence, as an AI tool can take on tasks like -- writing, designing, teaching, and problem-solving, eventually weakening critical thinking, creativity and overall learning process. Just like...

Enjoy. I find it strange that there isn't more French influence in American culture given American history. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAuojdxNDp4

As you likely know by now, Jelly Roll has undergone a dramatic body transformation, losing nearly 300 pounds. But even though he insists he didn’t use GLP-1 drugs to help with his weight loss, some people still accuse him of not being truthful about it. Last month, Jelly Roll appeared on the cover of Men’s Health, where he spoke candidly about the speculation surrounding GLP-1 medications. He explained that he didn’t use GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic or Mounjaro to lose nearly 300 pounds, saying he instead chose to focus on confronting the emotional and psychological roots of his food...

I just watched a TV ad for the new Unrivaled woman's basketball league. A player comes on and says:...the new Unrivaled league is unpresidented I guess they don't allow the President to watch. Public education probably allows her to say this, but how does this slip by the ad company?

First Lady Melania Trump stepped into Valentine's Day early with a stop at the National Institute of Health on Wednesday (2-12) and was asked by a girl who was making crafts next to her what music she listens to. A bold question to ask the First Lady, but Trump did not hesitate in her response. Mrs. Trump replied, “I listen to all kinds of music. I like Michael Jackson, I like Pavarotti, I like Tina Turner, I like Miley Cyrus,” smiling as she placed a bit of extra emphasis on Cyrus’ name. Cyrus, of course, is the daughter of country...

Tapes containing the original, high-quality transmission of the Apollo 11 moon landing were wiped after being quietly shelved in an unmarked storage area by NASA. While other recordings of the historic 1969 mission survived, the revelation that at least some moon landing video disappeared has fueled wild conspiracies that NASA has been covering up what astronauts saw or even that the whole mission was faked. Now, the truth about these 'erased' tapes has been revealed by Tim Dodd, better known as the 'Everyday Astronaut' on YouTube, who said the lost footage was only a set of backup magnetic tapes containing...

After losing another massive Super Bowl bet, Drake has decided to stay away from sports gambling. The Canadian rapper wrote on his Instagram that he's "off sports betting" and is instead "sticking to what" he knows, accompanied by a video of him playing online roulette. Ahead of Sunday's Super Bowl, Drake revealed that he placed a $1 million bet on the New England Patriots to beat the Seattle Seahawks. "Bet against me if you dare," he wrote on Instagram (h/t People's Clare Fisher), seemingly playing into the "Drake Curse." Had the Patriots won, Drake would have taken home about $2.95...

Initially, archaeologists believed that humans began to live with cats about 9,500 years ago in... parts of the present-day eastern Mediterranean and Middle East. This timeline coincides with the beginning of the Neolithic era, when agriculture started to spread. The grains used in farming attracted rodents, which then enticed the wildcats to come and eat the rodents. Neolithic humans then likely kept the wildcats around to keep the rodents away, paving the way for domestication. Cat remains dating [circa 9500 years ago] have been discovered in present-day Cyprus, indicating that the animals were a part of daily life by then.Cats...

This is the untold story of America's first opioid crisis—and how Purdue Pharma copied the exact same playbook 120 years later. The corporate tactics, the targeting of women, the media manipulation, the blocked regulations. Every strategy that created the modern opioid epidemic was perfected in the Gilded Age, which was the period from about the late 1870s to the late 1890s, which occurred between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. CHAPTERS: 0:00 - The Drug You Could Buy Next to Flour 4:08 - Part One: God's Own Medicine 9:44 - Part Two: The Soldier's Disease 15:12 - Part Three:...

Allegations of bodies buried near Jeffrey Epstein's Zorro Ranch in Santa Fe County have emerged from millions of pages of documents related to the convicted sex offender's crimes, prompting calls for an investigation from New Mexico officials. "I'm gonna keep asking questions and keep poking around until I get an answer," New Mexico's Public Lands Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard told KOAT on Tuesday. These allegations originated from an anonymous email sent in 2019 to local radio host Eddy Aragon. The email claimed to be from a former staffer at Zorro Ranch, stating, "Did you know somewhere in the hills outside...

FIRST ON FOX: The Trump administration demanded answers from 7-Eleven’s COO following an altercation where U.S. Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino and federal agents were denied service at a Minneapolis gas station in late January. Michael Lynch, deputy administrator of the General Services Administration, sent a letter to Doug Rosencrans, 7-Eleven’s COO, on Feb. 5 requesting any information from a potential internal investigation into the altercation. Lynch noted that a federal government partnership could be in jeopardy between the Trump administration and the world's largest international chain of convenience stores. "As 7-Eleven, Inc./Speedway LLC locations accept the GSA SmartPay fleet...

Dubai-based global supply chain and port manager DP World’s Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem stepped down from his role as group Chairman and CEO following the release of his name in the Epstein Files, which had previously been redacted by the Department of Justice. DP World announced the Sultan’s resignation from the board on Friday, “effective immediately.” The company further announced the appointment of a new chairman and CEO. After the DOJ gave members of Congress access to view unredacted Epstein Files, Representatives Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) discovered that the DOJ had improperly redacted the names of Epstein’s...

It's uploaded by the channel Dr. Josh C. Simmons on February 13, 2026 (today, based on current timing), and has quickly gathered around 5,285 views and 323 likes so far. Key Points from the Video The core argument is that major tech companies (Microsoft, Alphabet/Google, Amazon, and Meta), which are NVIDIA's largest customers for AI chips, collectively announced roughly $690 billion in AI-related capital expenditures (CapEx) planned for 2026. Despite many of them beating earnings expectations recently, the market reacted negatively — wiping out about $1 trillion in combined market capitalization in a short period (described as "one week"). CapEx...

If a Sweetwater County judge won’t dismiss the animal cruelty case against Cody Roberts, his lawyer wants to bar any testimony about how Roberts allegedly ran a wild wolf down with a snowmobile and taped its mouth shut. Those are “prior acts” to what the state of Wyoming has outlined in its case against the Daniel man — namely, Roberts taking the wolf to the Green River Bar in Daniel and allegedly subjecting it to torment there, attorney Robert Piper writes in his motion filed Monday in Sublette County District Court. “Such alleged conduct occurred prior to the wolf’s alleged...

Elon Musk revealed the future of quantum computing will be on the Moon's permanently shadowed craters Quantum computing need extreme cold and near-perfect isolation to work The Moon’s permanently shadowed craters offer exactly that - Temperatures stay below −200°C, keeping qubits stable without massive Earth-based cooling systems - No atmosphere, no weather, no day–night cycles. Hardware stays in a steady, undisturbed state - No air, no vibrations, no human electromagnetic noise - meaning quantum information survives longer with fewer errors The Moon is not just for exploration It is actually a perfect home for the future of computing

Ran across this podcast outlining that viewership of the NFL halftime show collapsed 39% compared to last year. This from a ratings source used for advertising (and thus much more reliable as companies use this for real-$$ decisions.) It's pretty plain that profanity laws were also violated, so we'll see if LEO will give lawlessness a pass or hold them accountable.

SpaceX opened February 13 with a dual milestone at Cape Canaveral, featuring a successful Crew-12 astronaut launch to the International Space Station (ISS) and the first Falcon 9 booster landing at the company’s newly designated Landing Zone 40 (LZ-40). A SpaceX Falcon 9 lifted off at 5:15 a.m. Eastern from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, placing the Crew Dragon Freedom into orbit on the Crew-12 mission. The spacecraft is carrying NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, as noted in a report from Space News....