Free Republic

An Oklahoma teen is on top of the world after winning a car last month at a funeral 30 miles away from her home — fulfilling the last wish of a woman she had never even met. ...She died suddenly on July 7, 2022 — and just a few weeks before had told her nephew that when she died, she wanted to gift one of her prized possessions — a 2016 Volkswagen Beetle — to someone who attended the funeral. "We put it in the local paper," Ingram said. "That her wish is that whoever comes to the funeral —...

An estimated 10,000 people answered a call to attend the funeral on Tuesday night of Bruna Valeanu, 24, a Brazilian immigrant to Israel murdered by Hamas terrorists during the ongoing assault on Israel that began on Friday. Valeanu was a student at Tel Aviv University and had lived in Israel for ten years when, while attending the electronic music festival Universo Paralello on Saturday, radical Islamist terrorists killed her hundreds of others. Valeanu reportedly only had two family members in Israel, her mother and sister Florica, so her family posted a request on social media for ten men to attend...

A murdered Ecuadorian cartel boss known as “El Fatal” was buried with hundreds of pistols, shotguns and rifles in his coffin so he could be “armed to the teeth in the afterlife.” Julian Sevillano, the 39-year-old reputed leader of “Los Fatales,” was with his 20-year-old daughter getting a regular car wash in Moroche last Wednesday when they were suddenly ambushed by gunmen, according to La Nacion. Both were killed in a hail of more than a dozen shots blamed on members of a rival gang, the outlet said. Sevillano’s relatives refused to leave the bodies for local police, however, instead...

A British father died in Jamaica after attempting a challenge at a hotel pool bar to try and drink all 21 cocktails on the menu, an inquest has heard. Timothy Southern, from Lichfield, Staffordshire, had drunk 12 of the cocktails when he went to his room at the Royal Decameron Club Caribbean, in Saint Ann. The 53-year-old was on holiday with his sister, children, and other relatives when tragedy struck in May, 2022. Loved-ones rushed to Timothy's room after the alarm was raised. One of them told his inquest: 'He was on his back choking. I put him in the...

An elderly Ecuadoran woman who woke up inside a coffin at her own wake is being treated at the same state hospital that declared her dead two days earlier, her son said on Sunday. A video posted on Twitter shows Bella Montoya, 76, in her open coffin breathing heavily while two men assist her. Her son, Gilbert Balberán, said “she was hitting the box” with her left hand after the five-hour wake. Balberán had to arrange for the donation of a coffin for the impoverished family after the Martin Icaza public hospital, in the coastal town of Babahoyo, declared Montoya...

VIDEOWe are losing the best of us! And the latest to cast off this mortal coil was the Saintly Shoplifter Banko Brown. Cut down in his (or her) prime he (or she) showed great potential. He (or she) had dreams of starting his (or her) own clothing brand and perhaps act as a mentor to troubled youth. And now he (or she) is gone. Yet his (or her) loving legacy lives on as you can see at his (or her) celebration of life funeral honoring the greatness that was Banko Brown. It was a sad day for the world will...

Several people have been shot outside a funeral home in Washington, DC, police said. The shooting broke out about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday outside the Stewart Funeral Home in Northeast Washington. It wasn’t immediately clear how many people had been shot.

Vice President Harris will attend the funeral on Wednesday of Tyre Nichols, who died after being beaten by Memphis, Tenn., police during a traffic stop. Harris will travel to Memphis for the services and was invited by Nichols’s family, the vice president’s office told The Hill. She will be joined by other Biden administration officials, including Keisha Lance Bottoms, director for the Office of Public Engagement, and senior adviser to the president Mitch Landrieu. Harris on Tuesday spoke by phone with Nichols’s mother and stepfather, RowVaughn Wells and Rodney Wells, to express her condolences, according to her office. Her attendance...

As we reported, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI died on Dec. 31.Normally, for the death of such a world leader, you would have the President in attendance at the funeral. So reporters asked White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre if Joe Biden would be going. The answer was more than a little embarrassing for the White House.Joe Biden will not attend Pope Benedict XVI’s funeral, per request of the Vatican. pic.twitter.com/Q7VcYEhnei— Kevin McMahon (@Kevin__McMahon) January 3, 2023Jean-Pierre mispronounced “Emeritus,” making it sound like an infection. Someone has to help her with how to pronounce what it is she’s trying to say,...

Williams was convicted of six murders, including one triple murder in 1989, but freed after almost 30 years in prison when his final murder charge was tossed because evidence of prosecutorial misconduct came to light. Williams was part of a funeral procession for formerly incarcerated friend Tyree Little in Philadelphia, his friends told the Philadelphia Inquirer. As he stepped out of his car on the 3000 block of Lehigh Avenue at around 2.20pm, he was shot once in the head. [snip]

BEIJING/SHANGHAI, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Hearses bearing the dead lined the driveway to a designated COVID-19 crematorium in the Chinese capital on Saturday while workers at the city's dozen funeral homes were busier than normal, days after China reversed tight pandemic restrictions. In recent days in Beijing the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant has hit services from catering to parcel deliveries. Funeral homes and crematoriums across the city of 22 million are also struggling to keep up with demand as more workers and drivers testing positive for coronavirus call in sick.

A woman has gone viral after sharing a video that seemingly shows them trashing their own father at his funeral, branding him a “racist, misogynistic, xenophobic” Donald Trump supporter. -snip “Dad, please know that I am grateful, and highly aware of what you have done for this family, [but] I still don’t miss you,” they declared. “When you died, I felt like there was a hole. I missed something, but it wasn’t you. It was the idea of what you could [have] become. I missed being able to hope and wish that one day you’d turn a corner and see...

Ana Navarro told her co-hosts Monday on ABC’s “The View” that the Saturday wedding of former President Donald Trump’s youngest daughter Tiffany Trump was a “MAGA funeral.” Co-host Sara Haines said, “Over the weekend, Donald Trump’s daughter Tiffany got married at Mar-a-Lago, and Ivanka posted a photo on Instagram where she cropped out Don Jr.’s fiancee Kimberly Guilfoyle of course. The internet went wild with speculation over this, and she reposted the photo in her stories and put her back in the frame a few hours later.” Haines asked, “Alyssa, you know both of them. Is there some scandal here?”...

How bad is the rise in mortality? So bad funeral companies are starting to worry. Today Service Corporation International, the largest for-profit funeral operator in North America, had its quarterly earnings call. SCI had another great quarter, you’ll be pleased to hear! So far in 2022 the company has made almost $500 million in profits - and its stock rose more than 10 percent today after its earnings report. (Death is your best investment!) ... the third quarter of this year, we did 15% more calls than we did in the third quarter of 2019. That is not what anybody...

Pittsburgh police said six people were shot outside a funeral in the city's Brighton Heights neighborhood Friday. All six victims were reported to be in stable condition, police said. The shooting happened just after noon outside a funeral service for John James Hornezes, Jr., one of the three killed in a shooting on Pittsburgh's North Side on Oct. 15. That service was being held at the Destiny of Faith Church on Brighton Street. A source says someone was driving by the church in a vehicle and fired shots. Police were not able to confirm that's where the shots came from...

The historic New Jersey funeral home where mobsters wound up after getting whacked in “The Sopranos” is facing a hit job itself. The Irvine-Cozzarelli Memorial Home in Belleville — which was discussed and featured in numerous episodes of the HBO Mafia drama — could be demolished as part of a redevelopment plan recently approved by township officials, NJ.com reported. It’s a controversial move, as the building on Washington Avenue where the storied business is located dates back to 1885 — and the local historical society doesn’t want to see it fitted for cement overshoes. “The place has incredible potential,” Michael...

President Biden may be the world’s most powerful man, but it didn’t ensure him a front-row seat at Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in London on Monday. The president and first lady Jill Biden were seated 14 rows back during the service at Westminster Abbey that drew 2,000 guests — including some 500 of the world’s presidents, kings, princes and prime ministers. Perhaps taken into consideration was that the couple was among the few dignitaries who were granted permission to travel in their own presidential limousine, nicknamed “The Beast,” for security reasons. Most other leaders, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau,...

President Joe Biden will travel to the Queen’s funeral in his own private car, despite his supposed climate concerns, while the Japanese Emperor and other world leaders take a bus. Japan’s Emperor Naruhito, representing the world’s most venerable monarchy, will take a bus to the Queen’s funeral along with a host of other world leaders — but green agenda advocate Joe Biden is too grand for this, and will make his way there in his own gas-guzzling armoured car.

UK authorities have clarified its position on VIP transport for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II after a leaked document claimed world leaders would be bussed to London to overcome traffic issues. Joe Biden will not be forced to take the bus when going to the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II next Monday, an official spokesman for the UK government has reportedly clarified.

There is currently no confirmed place for former U.S. President Donald Trump to join the mourners at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II next week in London, the White House said Monday. Only heads of state and their spouses or partners will be invited – meaning Joe Biden and his wife Jill will be among those attending the historic service in Westminster Abbey.