Free Republic

President Donald Trump welcomed 16-year-old lifeguard Ryder Williams and 10-year-old Nathaniel Rai to the Oval Office to honor Ryder’s heroic rescue of Nathaniel, who nearly drowned in the Santa Cruz, California, surf last month. The rescue, which was caught on camera and went viral, showed Nathaniel clinging to Ryder as the lifeguard struggled to bring them both safely back to shore. “And he saved this young gentleman,” Trump said, referring to Nathaniel. “Who I had a long talk with. I said, when you have made it without him? And he said, not really. Right? Not really. It was trouble.” During...

Pennsylvania authorities have announced charges against 14 individuals in connection to a lengthy drug trafficking investigation that reportedly involved two Penn State fraternities. Investigators identified former students Agostino Abbatiello, of Westbury, New York, and Thomas Michael Robinson, of Pittsburgh, as the two alleged ring leaders behind the operation.

Since 8:46pm this evening, Guatemala's Fuego volcano has been erupting non-stop - possibly signaling a new phase in its eruptive behaviour. We are paying close attention. Welcome to our historic 24/7 live stream of the magnificent Fuego Volcano, one of the most active volcanoes in the world! For the first time ever, experience the raw power and breathtaking beauty of Fuego live in stunning 4K resolution.

The Department of Homeland Security called out a “depraved freak” sex offender and illegal immigrant whom the agency said it recently deported after he abused his own daughter in Democrat-run Virginia. Records from the Albemarle County Circuit Criminal Division show Mexican national Marcelo Vasquez Reyna was convicted in March after pleading guilty to a charge involving a parent violating a child between the ages of 15 and 17. The incident took place in 2018. He was sentenced to five years and six months in prison, with five years of the sentence suspended. Local outlet ABC 7 reported that Vasquez Reyna...

A hydrogen-powered streamliner has become the world’s fastest hydrogen vehicle, reaching an average speed of 406.32 mph (653km/h) over two runs on Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats. The JCB Hydromax’s run was verified by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, motorsport’s international governing authority, and stands as the fastest speed ever recorded by a hydrogen combustion engine. Andy Green, a 64-year-old former Royal Air Force officer who already holds the world’s outright land speed record after topping 760 mph in an earlier run, drove the Hydromax to the new mark. The run more than doubled the previous hydrogen combustion record of 185.5...

The man is believed to have been hiking in the isolated Rocca Capra area of the volcano, in the Valle del Bove, around 1,400 metres above sea level.A 29-year-old American tourist has died after being hit by lightning while hiking on Mount Etna in Sicily. The man was struck on Sunday as a severe thunderstorm swept across the volcano. He was rushed to a hospital in Catania by a firefighter helicopter but was pronounced dead. His identity has not yet been made public. An emergency call came in shortly before 8 pm. He had been in the isolated Rocca Capra...

Los Angeles Lakers governor Jeanie Buss is contesting her siblings' vote to sell the family's remaining 17.8% share of the Lakers, according to a letter from her lawyer obtained by ESPN. The Buss family siblings in a statement earlier Monday said they had voted to sell their remaining shares to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger at the same $12.5 billion valuation that Mark Walter agreed to last week. They believed they had the right to sell based on a tag-along provision that had been included in the previous sale to Walter in June 2025. Sources told ESPN that provision gave...

Burger King may have stumbled onto a revolutionary new strategy for saving a struggling fast-food chain: Make the food better. Gee, wild concept, right? It’s been a long road for the meat royalty. Burger King was losing ground quickly while McDonald’s dominated the burger wars and Wendy’s was elbowing its way into second place. Burger King’s restaurants were outdated, franchisees were struggling, locations were closing, and some of the chain’s menu experiments were making a disaster. So Burger King finally went back to the thing that made it Burger King in the first place. The Whopper. And they didn’t just...

AI and alcohol have three main similarities, according to Beijing bar owner Song De: hallucinations, bubbles and distillation. As AI enthusiasm sweeps across China, Song hopes his bar can ride the wave. He opened AGI Bar, ‌named after the concept of artificial general intelligence where AI systems surpass human intelligence, last year in Zhongguancun, the capital's high-tech neighbourhood ‌in Haidian district. It is now a hub for Beijing's AI developers, investors and students. "You'll see people sitting around a table coming from different labs, competing companies, and different universities, all ​chatting about industry trends right here," said Song, an independent...

This is not a joke. Surprisingly, the Internet Web Domain DSA.COM is up for sale. I don't know how long it's been available, or who is the current owner. It's being brokered through GoDaddy's domain sales subsidiary Afternic. Latest suggested price is only $1250. which is pretty cheap for a domain like that. So what would you do with it? It would make a great parody site. Or put up some good political articles that run counter to the DSA's positions. Or maybe just post a bunch of funny political memes. Check it out: https://dsa.com will take you to the...

Iran’s oil exports have dropped to nearly zero under the renewed US naval blockade, according to analysis from a former senior US Treasury official — who predicts that the economic impacts could hit the elite and destabilize the regime within two to three months. Iran’s ability to ship oil out of the Strait of Hormuz to offset its current economic woes has hit a wall under the new blockade, with little to no activity seen at its Kharg Island hub, according to recent satellite images. As Iran and the US attempt to use economic pressures to see who will blink...

Lead Anchor at CNN Jake Tapper comes out and admits THEY ALL KNEW Joe Biden wasn’t really President and calling the shots. He says there was an elite inner circle of advisors who would make the decisions and “steer the country.” He gives the names of the people in that group. Again, the mainstream media ALL KNEW Joe Biden wasn’t making decisions. “Tell me about the word choice, and then tell me about those people who were really calling the shots around the president.” Jake Tapper “So the Politburo, not a term we came up with, it's a term from...

This is Grammy-winning artist Pras Michel shaking hands with Barack Obama in 2012. Just officially reported to prison to begin a 14-year federal sentence after prosecutors proved he helped funnel millions in illegal foreign money into Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign.The operation: Prosecutors proved Michel accepted more than $100 million from Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho in a covert influence scheme tied to influencing U.S. elections. The laundering network: Michel used straw donors to secretly route foreign cash into Obama’s 2012 campaign, bypassing federal election laws designed to prevent foreign influence in American elections. The verdict: A federal jury convicted him...

WASHINGTON — A Democratic Socialists of America candidate running for Congress in Florida appeared to cut a weekend TV interview short when the journo started fact-checking his allegation that Israel is committing genocide. Wannabe House member Oliver Larkin, who is vying to unseat Dem Rep. Jared Moskowitz, pointed to the United Nations, Amnesty International and some Israeli human-rights organizations in trying to make the claim, but top “This Week in South Florida” host Glenna Milberg wasn’t having it. “That is factually incorrect,” she bluntly told him. “There’s the definition of genocide in the UN. The UN has said this does...

She’s breaking for Bruce. A dyed-in-the-wool Democratic donor who previously contributed to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s campaign is raising funds for her Republican gubernatorial opponent Bruce Blakeman, The Post has learned. Bonnie Englebardt Lautenberg, a professional photographer and philanthropist who’s the widow of late New Jersey Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg, plans to hold a fundraiser for Blakeman’s campaign, she confirmed Monday. “It’s the talk of the Hamptons,” said one Democrat who expressed surprise. “It’s a good get for Bruce.” The tongue-wagging switcheroo is all the more surprising given that Lautenberg, 79, donated $1,000 to Democratic incumbent Hochul’s re-election campaign in July...

President Donald Trump’s administration announced Monday that it is pausing all border construction in Big Bend National Park following bipartisan backlash over the project’s potential impact on the West Texas wilderness. CBP is pausing all construction activity in Big Bend National Park while I visit and conduct a personal, on-the-ground evaluation. CBP is firmly committed to protecting America, and that includes our national treasures like Big Bend National Park (BBNP). We know the current and… pic.twitter.com/UkmzvTluwH — CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott (@CBPCommissioner) August 17, 2026 U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott announced the halt, adding he had just...

Shocking video captured a vicious fight that sent two women's hijabs flying off inside a Target store. Footage of the scrap has been heavily circulating online, racking up tens of thousands of views and comments across several uploads. The two women, who appeared to be wearing traditional Muslim attire, could be heard shrieking as their hijabs lay on the ground while they tried to rip out each other's hair. Several bystanders attempted to break up the brawl, except for a security guard who appeared to wait a little too long before stepping in. The asset protection associate, wearing a high-visibility...

The earthworm eels look, well, just like an earthworm. Image credit: Ishan Agarwal (CC BY) ========================================================================== Avideo of an unusual earthworm-like fish posted on TikTok has resulted in the description of an entirely new species. Named Gangaichthys indonepalicus, the fish is thought to live deep underground in aquifers, making studying these animals almost impossible. “We came across a video posted on the social media platform TikTok in 2024 from the India-Nepal border area that showed a tiny, apparently stygobitic fish, with little melanin and reduced eyes, that had emerged from a borewell (a machine-drilled shaft used to access groundwater from...

President Trump ripped “Fox News Sunday” anchor Shannon Bream over on-air guests, charts and polls that he said weren’t reflective of the successful measures undertaken by his administration. “In any event, Shannon’s ‘show’ is beyond redemption. Fortunately, MAGA, which is close to 100% of the Republican Party, understands that, and watch her ‘Ratings’ start to fall,” the president wrote Sunday on Truth Social. “Watching FoxNews with Shannon Bream is always like watching the Worst of Fake News CNN. I don’t know Shannon, but she always seems to pick guests, charts, and ‘polls’ that are negative, never talking about all of...

Explanation: This total solar eclipse appeared not only poetically beautiful but scientifically interesting. Usually the solar corona appears white, and to some observers the corona of last week's total solar eclipse did appear this pearly color. But this time, totality observers in Spain saw a corona that appeared unusually golden. For one reason, from Spain, the totality occurred when the setting Sun was near the horizon. That low, sunlight travels through a large amount of air which scatters out blue light. An unusual amount of smoke in the air from nearby forest fires acted as a second filter, further scattering...