Free Republic

Violet, 5, wants to know: what was life like before refrigerators? And Ellinor, 6, asks: how did they make ice in the old times? In this episode, we learn about the history of ice harvesting and the industry that built up around it, where ice cut from lakes in New England was shipped to as far away as India and the Caribbean.

Terrible news from The Associated Press. Media Nation correspondent J.A. passes along this note from Anthony McCartney, the AP’s global entertainment and lifestyle editor. AP to end its weekly book reviews Dear AP book reviewers, I am writing to share that the AP is ending its weekly book reviews, beginning Sept. 1. This was a difficult decision but one made after a thorough review of AP’s story offerings and what is being most read on our website and mobile apps as well as what customers are using. Unfortunately, the audience for book reviews is relatively low and we can no...

The furious wife of a philandering Staten Island principal blew the whistle on her husband’s affair with a younger teacher at his school, where he helped his lover win tenure... Principal Anthony Cosentino, 43, engaged in a “consensual sexual relationship” with the married staffer, Jacqueline Sinodinos, 28, the Special Commissioner of Investigation for city schools found in a newly released report accusing him of possibly violating the city’s conflict-of-interest rules. The scandal broke up two marriages. Both Cosentino’s wife and Sinodinos’ husband filed for divorce. .... Cosentino, 43 .. remained on the DOE payroll making $187,632 despite what SCI Anastasia...

The Trump administration’s suspension of grants at UCLA totaling $584 million has imperiled research in an array of subjects. Professors at the university said that some researchers rely on the funding to pay their salaries, and the loss of the money could be devastating. Their medical research focuses on potentially lifesaving breakthroughs in cancer treatment, and developing tools to more easily diagnose debilitating diseases. Their studies in mathematics could make online systems more robust and secure. But as the academic year opens, the work of UCLA’s professors in these and many other fields has been imperiled by the Trump administration’s...

I remember like yesterday when Dr. Paul called me into his Member office in 203 Cannon with a draft of his famous “What If” speech. He had written it in his own hand and he asked me to go over it and clean it up a bit. Not unusual for how he writes: from the heart. And afterward I spent a good deal of time in his office with a stopwatch making sure he could deliver it under the five minute rule. Shuffling the papers. What do we have to cut. Which paragraph could be spoken a bit faster. I...

In the ever-evolving world of artificial intelligence, OpenAI’s ChatGPT has become a household name, but recent data reveals a telling pattern in its usage that underscores the tool’s controversial role in education. According to a report from Futurism, published on August 8, 2025, OpenAI’s platform experiences significant drops in activity during weekends and summer months—periods when schools are typically out of session. This fluctuation suggests that a substantial portion of ChatGPT’s traffic may stem from students using it for homework assistance, or more pointedly, cheating. The numbers are stark: usage plummets by as much as 20-30% on non-school days, aligning...

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/08/mamdanis-plan-schools-draws-angry-backlash-new-york/New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani continues to make waves with his radical agenda. This time he’s targeting charter schools, producing some strong reactions from parents and residents.In an exclusive report by The New York Post, the newspaper wrote that Mamdani “plans to declare war on charter schools if he’s elected mayor,” according to a survey he answered June before the Democratic primary.The state assemblyman said he would “fight efforts to open more charters, which largely educate minority, working-class students, and even opposed the schools sharing space in city-owned buildings,” the article read.“I oppose efforts by the state to...

Several weeks ago, I had a serious health scare. The emergency appointment and ultrasound were attended alone. I did a ring-around of my friends and sisters, but they were away or otherwise occupied. All I wanted was someone to hold my hand and give me a bit of moral support, but on a sweltering hot day, I sat alone in the hospital waiting room – a solitary figure among a sea of cosy couples, with only my Kindle for company as I bounced off the walls with anxiety. While the scare turned out to be just that, the stark realisation...

Strzok travelled to London 2 days after Crossfire Hurricane was open and 1 day before Obama met with Brennan and Comey to agree how to proceed on the Hillary Plan. Durham report shows that Strzok, Pientka, British intelligence officials and FBI's UK liaison knew straight away that Downer "tip" which was the pretext to open the investigation of the Trump campaign was rubbish. Peintka (SSA1) and Strzok knew it was rubbish, and admitted so in internal communications. Yet the FBI proceeded with it in furtherance of the Hillary plan with the full on investigation, on orders of Obama/Comey.

Body camera footage shows that an Alabama teen fatally shot by a Homewood police officer in June was armed with a gun when he was killed, the Jefferson County District Attorney said Wednesday. D.A. Danny Carr said he has ruled the shooting death of 18-year-old Jabari Peoples justified. No charges will be filed and the case will not be sent to a grand jury, Carr said. Carr announced his decision immediately after meeting with Peoples’ family at 2 p.m. Wednesday. The family was shown the law enforcement footage of the fatal June 23 shooting in Homewood Soccer Park. The family...

Researchers are trying to “vaccinate” artificial intelligence systems against developing evil, overly flattering or otherwise harmful personality traits in a seemingly counterintuitive way: by giving them a small dose of those problematic traits. A new study, led by the Anthropic Fellows Program for AI Safety Research, aims to prevent and even predict dangerous personality shifts before they occur — an effort that comes as tech companies have struggled to rein in glaring personality problems in their AI.

Japanese walking is becoming the latest fitness craze - taking over trendy workouts like Pilates, yoga and spin classes. The exercise consists of bursts of slow and fast walking which increases your heart rate. Also known as the '3-3 walking workout', you walk with intensity for three minutes, then slow down for the next three. This is repeated five times, totalling 30 minutes. It was developed by Professor Hiroshi Nose and Associate Professor Shizue Masuki at Shinshu University in Matsumoto, Japan, to help elderly people get the health benefits experienced by athletes undertaking high-intensity interval training. The three minute benchmark...

The strangest words in the English language Cattywampus Originating in the Colonial United states and still used in the deep South, cattywampus means something that is in disarray, that is askew, or something that isn’t directly across from something.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order requiring colleges to submit data to prove they do not consider race in admissions.In 2023, the Supreme Court ruled against the use of affirmative action in admissions but said colleges may still consider how race has shaped students’ lives if applicants share that information in their admissions essays. Trump’s Republican administration is accusing colleges of using personal statements and other proxies to consider race, which conservatives view as illegal discrimination.The role of race in admissions has featured in the administration’s battle against some of the nation’s most elite...

“The View” co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin described former Vice President Kamala Harris’ interview with Stephen Colbert as a “microcosm” of everything that’s wrong with the Democratic Party after its loss in 2024. “I was struck by, I’m going to try not be too harsh on this. This interview felt like a microcosm of everything that’s wrong with Democrats post-election. I’m going to CBS and this sort of trying to make a point that they fired Stephen Colbert, which many on the left called an attack on democracy, a man who was making $20 million a year, someone I hold in...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Members of the United States Secret Service were reportedly awestruck today, as they witnessed President Donald Trump performing the seemingly impossible feat of walking casually on a moderately sloped roof. Trump took an impromptu stroll on the White House roof on Tuesday, blowing the minds of veteran Secret Service agents who had previously thought that no human being could ever be capable of surviving such a brazenly dangerous thing. "How? How is that even possible?!" one Secret Service agent was heard gasping. "I've heard stories about how President Trump can do things no other mortal man can...

Longtime progressive activist Katie Wilson will face off against incumbent Mayor Bruce Harrell in November's general election after securing the top two places in Tuesday's nonpartisan mayoral primary. Wilson secured around 46% of the vote to Harrell's 45%, according to reporting from FOX 13. "Tonight, we got results that were even better than we hoped, and it's likely to only get better," Wilson wrote on X. "Seattle, you showed up! It's clear that voters want change. This is your city. Join the campaign, and let's get this done!" Widely known for her role in helping establish and continuing to lead...

Altman warned that AI has already rendered voice, face and other biometric authentication methods ineffective, urging immediate adoption of new identity technologies. Developed by Altman’s company Tools for Humanity, World ID verifies users via iris scans and stores their identity data using blockchain, aiming to distinguish real humans from AI bots online.

In 399 BC, Athens, the cradle of democracy and philosophy, tried and killed a seemingly innocent man in one of the most controversial trials in history. The defendant, Socrates, was a 70-year-old philosopher whose teachings profoundly influenced the city’s youth and intellectual landscape. His execution by drinking poison hemlock remains a poignant episode in Western philosophy. Understanding why Athens killed Socrates reveals much about its sociopolitical and cultural dynamics. The charges: impiety and corrupting the youth Athenians charged Socrates with two primary offenses: impiety, or not believing in the gods recognized by the state, and corrupting the youth of Athens....

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a heated exchange with CNN's Jake Tapper, Representative Nancy Pelosi adamantly denied engaging in insider trading, stating that her husband Paul takes care of that. Pelosi has long been dogged by allegations of using insider trading to amass her fortune, but Pelosi assured the nation that she has never participated in any such criminal activity and instead has her husband do it. "I have never once traded stocks using information gained through my Congressional seat, and find such accusations ludicrous and abhorrent," said a fiery Pelosi. "My husband does is the one who takes care of...