Free Republic

Archaeologists from the University of Haifa have unearthed a 1,600-year-old mosaic with a Greek inscription reading, "Peace on the elders," that may be the earliest evidence of a dedicated institution for the elderly.The discovery was made at the Sussita (Hippos) National Park near the Sea of Galilee, the primary Christian city in the region during the Byzantine period. The mosaic, dating to the late fourth or early fifth century CE, was discovered at the entrance to a public building.According to Dr. Michael Eisenberg, co-director of the excavation project, the finding provides "living proof that care and concern for the elderly......

President Trump ripped The New York Times on Tuesday morning over a report detailing the ballooning cost of his project to repair and renovate the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. “The Failing New York Times, which is one of the worst newspapers anywhere in the World, and is losing subscribers on an hourly basis, is now at it again,” Trump wrote in a lengthy, early-morning Truth Social post. “Just like they covered my Landslide 2024 Presidential Election Victory inaccurately, and without shame, constantly making major mistakes and incorrect predictions at every path along the way, they are now trying to justify...

U.S. — Longtime daytime talk show "The View" has announced that next season will feature an all-new cast of angry middle-aged women. After years of occasional changes among the show's personalities, ABC has moved to replace all five of the previous hosts, though it is sticking with the archetype of emotional middle-aged women. "We're ready for a fresh set of high-pitched, seething voices," said showrunner Denette Holman. "The chemistry we are seeing in the new group of hosts is wonderful. The rants, the cattiness, the imminent menopause, it's all there. We're looking forward to a great season." Focus groups...

Taylor Swift has earned recognition alongside hip-hop mogul Jay-Z and reggaeton superstar Bad Bunny on The New York Times' newly published list of the 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters. The unranked compilation, released Monday, represents the culmination of ballots submitted by hundreds of music industry experts before being refined by the newspaper's editorial team. The selection process aimed to identify artists whose compositions have shaped the American musical landscape over the past five decades. The comprehensive roster includes an impressive cross-section of American musical talent spanning multiple generations and genres. Dolly Parton, Mariah Carey, Carole King, and Stevie Wonder represent...

A New Hampshire woman says Planet Fitness canceled her membership after she complained about seeing a man in the women’s locker room last month. Judy Walcott, a longtime member of a Planet Fitness location in Concord, New Hampshire, told Fox News Digital she felt unsafe after encountering someone she believed was male in the women’s locker room near the shower area on April 11. “I was shaking. Like I was actually trembling because it freaked me out that bad,” she told Fox News Digital. Walcott said she reported the incident to a young employee at the front desk, who told...

If you live in Louisiana, don't forget to VOTE on Saturday! Oust Senator Cassidy! If he comes in third, he's gone!

The South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned the murder conviction of Alex Murdaugh, who was convicted in March 2023 of double homicide of his wife and son. The court ordered a new trial, saying that Mary Rebecca "Becky" Hill, who served as the court clerk in Colleton County, exercised "improper external influences" during Murdaugh's first trial. Murdaugh's attorney Dick Harpootlian said in a statement that Murdaugh will remain in custody. The state supreme court voted unanimously on the decision. "Although we are aware of the time, money, and effort expended for this lengthy trial, we have no choice but...

Israel is betting nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars that it can talk its way out of a reputation crisis. Lawmakers in Jerusalem approved a 2026 national budget at the end of March that includes roughly $730 million for public diplomacy — the broad category known in Hebrew as hasbara — more than four times the $150 million they allocated the year before… Most striking for a country long accustomed to bipartisan American support: 57% of Republicans under 50 hold negative views of Israel. Support has cratered among the religiously unaffiliated, Black Protestants and Catholics. Among American Jews, support has...

DoxyPEP is becoming less effective against gonorrhea as antibiotic resistance rises, even as protection against chlamydia and syphilis remains durable, according to study results published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. “We report a rapid loss of effectiveness of doxycycline PEP for prevention of gonorrhea in male individuals living with HIV or receiving HIV PrEP or PEP in Southern California,” the authors wrote, noting that their findings might merit revision of guidelines recommending doxyPEP for gonorrhea prevention. DoxyPEP refers to taking a single dose of doxycycline—an antibiotic related to tetracycline—as post-exposure prophylaxis within 72 hours after sex to prevent sexually transmitted...

Democratic lawyer Marc Elias appears to believe that Democrats do not need to stop at simply sacking and packing the Virginia Supreme Court in response to the adverse ruling on the radical gerrymandering plan. Elias reminded Democrats that they could eliminate the entire Virginia government under the state constitution.The demand for radical action was prompted by the Virginia justices, including one appointed by then-Democratic governor Mark Warner, who found the Democratic effort unconstitutional. It does not matter that leading Democrats, including Gov. Abigail Spanberger, also believed that the Democrats could be found in violation of the state constitution in pushing...

The South Carolina Supreme Court ordered a new trial in the killings of Murdaugh’s wife and son. The South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh’s double murder convictions and life sentence, ordering a new trial in the killings of his wife and son. In the latest twist in a winding legal saga, the state’s top court ruled that Murdaugh was denied his right to a fair trial because of Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca “Becky” Hill’s “improper external influences on the jury.” “Hill placed her fingers on the scales of justice,” the court wrote in...

South Carolina’s top court on Wednesday undid the murder convictions against Alex Murdaugh, the lawyer a jury had found guilty of murdering his wife and one of his sons in a trial that captivated the country. In a unanimous opinion, the state’s supreme court said that “shocking jury interference” by a court clerk who oversaw jurors during the 2023 trial meant that Mr. Murdaugh’s convictions must be overturned. The nearly six-week trial ended with his conviction in March 2023. Jurors deliberated for less than three hours before determining that he had killed his wife and son. Prosecutors had described the...

You get ten questions of current events. I got 8/10 right. See if you really are a 'News Junky'!.............

Mohammad Baghdadi Khan responded to criticism online by writing, "Who said councillors can’t drive cars like this?" A newly elected Green councillor in Bolton has posted video footage of himself driving a Lamborghini shortly after winning a seat in last week’s local elections. Mohammad Baghdadi Khan, also known as Baggy Khan, shared the video online following his victory in the Halliwell ward of Bolton, Greater Manchester, reports the Daily Mail. The footage shows Khan behind the wheel of a Lamborghini Huracan Spyder, a model that can cost up to £270,000. The clip also includes scenes from his election win. Reports...

BLUE MOUNDS, Wisc. – Ridglan Farms, a breeder of beagles for scientific experiments, has withstood attacks from the animal rights movement for years. Activists have broken into its buildings to document the conditions inside them, rescued some dogs, and pushed Wisconsin authorities to cite the company for animal abuse. On April 30, Ridglan finally buckled to the public pressure, handing the movement against animal testing one of its biggest triumphs. Big Dog Rescue and the Center for a Humane Economy announced that the groups reached an agreement to purchase 1,500 beagles for an undisclosed amount of money. The dogs are...

It’s safe to say the WNBA is the most toxic and dysfunctional professional sports league in US history. And the league is incapable of learning from its mistakes. As Joe Hoft reported earlier this year, Caitlin Clark was injurted in the 2026 pre-season opener for the Indianapolis Fever. They had their golden goose, and they ran it over. To date, rather than provide officiating that was fair and protected Clark, the league allowed women in the league to pull, push, hit, poke, hammer, and totally abuse Clark. The beatings and abuse took their toll. No one could have put up...

“Eff around and find out”: That taunt from Hakeem Jeffries celebrating Virginia’s gerrymander did not age well. On Friday, the House minority leader found out that Virginia’s Supreme Court was not quite as gleeful as he about Democrats’ attempt to virtually eliminate Republican representation in the purple state. The court just cooked the party’s infamous lobster, a district over 100 miles long that was designed to help devour the GOP’s slender majority in the House of Representatives. It also cooked the ambitions of Gov. Abigail Spanberger and the Democratic establishment, which tossed aside any pretense of principle in a raw...

More than 1,700 people are trapped aboard a cruise ship docked in France after a 90-year-old passenger died from suspected norovirus — just days after a separate virus killed three and sickened multiple others on a different cruise. Passengers and crew traveling on the Ambassador Cruise Line are being forced to remain on the vessel after arriving in Bordeaux on Tuesday, French authorities said. The quarantine comes after an elderly passenger died after roughly 50 people started showing symptoms of norovirus — a highly contagious stomach virus that causes diarrhea and vomiting. The ship, which is carrying mostly British and...

Suppose that you are a large U.S. state with a dynamic modern economy. Here’s an idea for a strategy for powering your electrical grid: Intentionally disinvest in your functioning fossil fuel generation plants; fail to maintain them adequately, and let them age into obsolescence. Meanwhile, encourage and even subsidize the development of solar panels as a replacement. After all, solar power is cheaper! Those who follow the policy of New York State with respect to our electrical grid will recognize this description as covering the essential elements of our strategy. In our case, the strategy was mainly enacted into law...

The ex-hooker who allegedly hired a hitman to kill his Chelsea art-dealer hubby coolly sat in Manhattan federal court Tuesday as prosecutors showed jurors grisly photos of the victim’s bloodied corpse. Daniel Carrera Sikkema, wearing a gray blazer over a white shirt, showed no emotion during opening statements at the kick-off of his trial — even as prosecutors displayed images of the body of his much older estranged husband, Brent Sikkema, who was riddled with stab wounds from the January 2024 killing inside his home in Rio de Janeiro. Federal prosecutors alleged that Sikkema, in his mid-50s, hired Cuban national...