Free Republic

Call it the Arc de Trump. President Trump posted an architect’s rendering of a huge triumphal arch to mark the nation’s 250th birthday – and his biggest change yet to the capital’s skyline. The stone arch would be constructed just across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial — soaring above that memorial’s 99-foot height — and add a major new element to DC’s public architecture. The online sketch depicts a massive monument that bears a strong resemblance to the Washington Square Park arch in Manhattan and the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The stone monument features carved wreaths, two...

When older adults living in nursing homes are prescribed the pain medicine tramadol alongside certain antidepressants, their risk of seizures may go up, according to a study. While this study found a link, it does not prove one causes the other. Tramadol is an opioid used to treat moderate to severe pain in adults. Some antidepressants that inhibit the CYP2D6 enzyme, called CYP2D6 inhibitors, can interfere with how the body metabolizes tramadol. When the CYP2D6 enzyme is blocked, tramadol is not metabolized properly and may build up in the body, potentially increasing the risk of side effects like seizures. Common...

CHICAGO - A WGN News creative services employee was accused of throwing an object at Border Patrol agents before being briefly detained on Friday. The incident occurred near Lincoln and Foster avenues in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on Chicago's North Side. Multiple videos of the incident were posted on social media. What we know: In the videos, the employee identifies herself as Debbie Brockman and mentions that she works for WGN. In a post on X, Gregory Bovino, commander-at-large of the U.S. Border Patrol, accused the WGN employee of "throwing an object at Border Patrol Agents conducting lawful duties." He...

Republicans have tried more than 70 times over the past 15 years to weaken or kill Obamacare. But their campaign keeps backfiring. The sweeping tax and spending bill President Donald Trump signed this summer got his party closer to that goal than ever before. Though never marketed as a repeal, it unraveled much of the law and is expected to eventually push millions of people who gained insurance since the Affordable Care Act’s passage off the rolls. Even that legislative achievement is proving politically fraught. As the partial government shutdown stretches into its second week, the White House and a...

A Los Angeles restaurant has been thrown into turmoil after an influencer launched serious accusations insinuating that they segregate Asian customers in one seating section. Cassidy Cho was dining at the Great White in Melrose, California, on September 27, when she claimed she noticed that she and all other guests who appeared to be Asian were seated in one secluded area of the restaurant. Cho posted a now-viral TikTok video detailing her experience at the establishment and showed that all the Asian customers were seated in the building's corner. 'I don't know if it's just me, but they put all...

A high-profile documentary on first lady Melania Trump now has a release date, with Amazon MGM Studios saying it’ll premiere in theaters in January. “Melania” will be released on Jan. 30 in U.S. theaters before streaming on Prime Video, the media giant announced Thursday. The documentary will offer “unprecedented access to the 20 days leading up to the 2025 presidential inauguration — through the eyes of the first lady-elect herself,” Amazon MGM Studios teased on Thursday. The first lady served as an executive producer on the big screen project. Plans for the Brett Ratner-directed doc were originally announced in January....

Artificial Intelligence is no longer a futuristic buzzword — it’s an everyday business tool. From generative AI platforms like ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot to machine learning models powering real-time analytics, customer service, and cybersecurity, AI has gone mainstream. But while most of the conversation has focused on data privacy, automation, and ethics, there’s another massive shift underway: AI is transforming the way we use the internet. As organizations across every industry embrace AI on a scale, they’re also encountering a new challenge: exponential growth in data transfer, processing requirements, and bandwidth demand. This is not a theoretical problem — it’s...

Peter Marks, the former top vaccine regulator who was ousted from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration earlier this year, has joined Eli Lilly (LLY.N), opens new tab, the drugmaker told Reuters on Tuesday. Marks will oversee molecule discovery and infectious diseases at Lilly, starting this month.

Explanation: A now famous picture from the Hubble Space Telescope featured these star forming columns of cold gas and dust light-years long inside M16, the Eagle Nebula, dubbed the Pillars of Creation. This James Webb Space Telescope NIRCam image expands Hubble's exploration of that region in greater detail and depth inside the iconic stellar nursery. Particularly stunning in Webb's near infrared view is the telltale reddish emission from knots of material undergoing gravitational collapse to form stars within the natal clouds. The Eagle Nebula is some 6,500 light-years distant. The larger bright emission nebula is itself an easy target for...

The school fired the longtime head coach on Sunday, less than 24 hours after a 22-21 home loss to Northwestern all but ended whatever remote chance the preseason No. 2 team had of reaching the College Football Playoff.Terry Smith will serve as the interim head coach for the rest of the season for the Nittany Lions (3-3, 0-3 Big Ten), who began the year with hopes of winning the national title only to have those hopes evaporate by early October amid a string of losses, each one more stinging than the last.

The Derry Township Supervisors on Tuesday approved a permit for a proposed solar farm along Newhouse Road after hearing objections to the project from several neighboring residents. The supervisors indicated they aren’t any more pleased about the proposed 27-acre solar array than residents are. But they said they are issuing the permit because the plan for installing 11,000 solar panels meets the requirements of a related township ordinance. “I’m like you,” Supervisor Don Kepple told solar farm opponents attending the township meeting. “I wouldn’t want this in my backyard. How can you say ‘no’ when everything is done right down...

Party members are being attacked in the streets, and AfD offices are being burnt down. Unable to steady the rise of the right-wing populist Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) through democratic means, extremist leftists are increasingly turning to violence. Two party members were attacked on Sunday, October 5th in Göttingen by two women and three men who recognised them as belonging to the AfD, leaving the pair “slightly injured.” The five perpetrators—aged between 23 and 49—are being investigated on suspicion of grievous bodily harm. Author Kolja Barghoorn described the incident as proof that “Germany has a massive problem with far-left extremist...

T-Mobile, the US telecom giant, announced on Monday that it has appointed its current Chief Operating Officer, India-born Srini Gopalan, as the company’s next Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective November 1, 2025. With this elevation, Gopalan joins the distinguished club of India-born CEOs heading some of the world’s most influential companies in the US, a group that includes Satya Nadella of Microsoft, Sundar Pichai of Alphabet and Google, Vimal Kapur of Honeywell, Raj Subramaniam of FedEx, Arvind Krishna of IBM, and Shantanu Narayen of Adobe.

Perhaps because it came out the year I was born, I have a hard time imagining a world without A Fistful of Dollars, Sergio Leone and the spaghetti western. It's easy to forget how much this single film changed not just the western but the movie hero, whose credibility forever afterward came with stubble and unkempt hair, abundant sarcasm and an implacably bad attitude. It became an article of faith that the only honest way to look back at the world arrayed against the hero was through a squint. By the time I actually understood what a western was, Leone...

House Speaker Mike Johnson said he spoke with Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) last week to tell her Republicans are “working around the clock” to bring healthcare prices down, after she vocally criticized Republicans throughout the week for the government shutdown and split from her party in deploring rising costs. “I had a thoughtful conversation with her on the phone the other night,” Johnson told host Shannon Bream on “Fox News Sunday.” Johnson said Republicans on the committees of jurisdiction were the ones leading discussions on the shutdown and healthcare subsidies — committees he said Greene isn’t a part of but...

A former maintenance worker says he once used a garden hose to prevent a potential explosion at the Tennessee bomb factory that was obliterated Friday in a mystery blast that likely killed 18 people. Greg McRee, 44, was hailed a hero in 2020 after dousing flames shooting from an industrial chimney at Accurate Energetic Systems (AES). His quick thinking, according to colleagues, stopped the fire from reaching a nearby stockpile of TNT boosters and blowing the building sky high. But instead of being rewarded, McRee says he was dismissed days later from his $28-an-hour supervisor job at the sprawling munitions...

Organisers plan to flood central London just a day after guns fell silent in Gaza, sparking fury over antisemitic chants and public disruption. Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators are expected to flood central London on Saturday—just a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect—prompting accusations that organisers are fuelling division. The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) will bus supporters from across the country to march through Westminster and Waterloo from midday. The demonstration comes less than 24 hours after a Trump-brokered peace deal brought fighting in Gaza to a halt, with Israel agreeing to withdraw troops from parts of...

(UPI) — Longtime Moody Blues bassist, singer and songwriter John Lodge died suddenly and unexpectedly at age 82 on Friday while surrounded by his family. His family announced his death in a prepared statement but did not say his cause of death. “It is with the deepest sadness that we have to announce that John Lodge, our darling husband, father, grandfather, father-in-law and brother, has been suddenly and unexpectedly taken from us,” his family said, as reported by The Guardian. “As anyone who knew this massive-hearted man knows, it was his enduring love of his wife, Kirsten, and his family...

Higher education leaders and public-school superintendents say they depend on skilled foreign workers to fill critical roles.President Trump’s $100,000 fee for new H-1B visas will have major consequences for tech companies and financial firms. But the effects of the new fee will also ripple across the education system and show up in classrooms across the country.Higher education leaders and public-school superintendents say the steep fee will hurt schools that depend on foreign workers to fill critical teaching roles. Some university and college presidents said it would impede their ability to hire faculty members through the visa program, which allows educated...

Ironically, the problems that are causing the waning of the TLM might be remedied were the TLM more widely available.For centuries, Catholics around the world attended the celebration of what is often called the Tridentine or Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) and was more recently called the Extraordinary Form of the Mass by the late Pope Benedict XVI. The English author and Catholic convert Evelyn Waugh wrote, shortly before the liturgical reforms promulgated by the Second Vatican Council, of the TLM’s influence on generations of Saints and martyrs. “This was the Mass for whose restoration the Elizabethan martyrs had gone to...