Free Republic

13 March 2026 7:54 PM Today the Ides of March survives as a powerful historical metaphor. What was once simply a day for settling debts and observing rituals became one of the most famous dates in historyFew dates in history carry the dramatic weight of the Ides of March. Falling on March 15, the phrase is forever tied to political intrigue, betrayal and the assassination of one of ancient Rome’s most powerful leaders, Julius Caesar. In the Roman calendar, the term “Ides” referred simply to the middle of the month. While the Ides fell on the 13th day in most...

...the idea behind the Leonardo da Vinci DNA Project, which aims to accurately answer a simple question: since we couldn't sequence Leonardo's DNA in the 1500s, are his bones at Amboise Castle really his?To get there, the team plans to compare DNA from Leonardo's remains with profiles from his living relatives -- and, if the samples check out, assemble more of Leonardo's genome.Because the legendary Renaissance artist had no children, researchers Alessandro Vezzosi and Agnese Sabato of the Leonardo Da Vinci Heritage Association started with old-school genealogy, publishing Genìa Da Vinci. Genealogy and Genetics for Leonardo's DNA. Their tree follows...

A Los Angeles high school’s “secrecy policy” kept a California couple in the dark about their only child’s gender identity, helped “sever” the family’s relationship — and ultimately drove the teen to suicide, his parents alleged. Dylan Parke was already struggling to fit in as a sophomore at Palisades Charter High School in Los Angeles in 2019-2020 when he told school staffers he would use she/her pronouns and go by the name “Aria,” as he transitioned into a woman. Parke had been diagnosed with depression, was in mental health treatment and “appeared easily influenced and preoccupied with how others perceived...

OLYMPIA, Wash. — This story was originally published on MyNorthwest.com. The third “No Kings” march and rally has been scheduled for March 28, as participants will march toward the Washington State Capitol in protest of the “unconstitutional and unaccountable behavior of our federal government.” The event will begin at 11 a.m. and run until 3 p.m., including a march followed by a rally that features speakers, music, and sign-waving, Olympia Indivisible (OI) and Evergreen Resistance (ER) announced. OI and ER, along with several other coalition partners, have invited neighbors and friends to join together peacefully at the State Capitol Campus...

He lives here, he lives here not. Instead of plucking daisy petals, let’s reason it out. Does Rep. Eric Swalwell live with his wife and kids in a posh spread near the Capitol they bought for $1.2 million in 2020? Or does the wannabe gov reside in one rented room in Livermore, Calif. — not far from swanky hotels he frequents — in the district he represents? With fraud a hot issue in California, Swalwell’s approach seems to fit right in. But should he be governor? (The SEIU, which just endorsed Swalwell, seems to think so –– which means he...

Iranian officials threatened to “pursue and kill” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Israel unleashed a round of extensive missiles towards western Iran Sunday morning. “If this child-killing criminal is alive, we will continue to pursue and kill him with full force,” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps wrote online about Netanyahu, according to the Associated Press, citing the state-run IRNA news agency. The threatening pledge was made days after the 76-year-old Israeli leader declared that the US and Israel were destroying Iran and reshaping the Middle East. “We are in historic days, days that will be recorded in the annals...

China has been helping Iran in its war against the US and Israel, Iran’s foreign minister boasted Saturday — days after confirming his country has also been aided by Russia. “Russia and China are our strategy partners, and we have had close cooperation in the past, which is still continues [sic], and that includes military cooperation as well,” Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told MS Now. The two American adversaries have been accused of providing the Islamic Republic with intelligence regarding the locations of US military assets during Operation Epic Fury. The foreign minister revealed China’s involvement in the war...

Live Science reports that about 30 inscriptions written in three ancient Indian languages have been studied in six different tombs in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. Ingo Strauch of the University of Lausanne said that these inscriptions have been dated to between the first and third centuries A.D., when Egypt was a province of the Roman Empire and a tourist destination. One inscription, written in Sanskrit, was left by a man named Indranandin, who identified himself as a messenger of King Kshaharata. "It is possible that Indranandin arrived by ship at Berenike [on the east coast of Egypt], perhaps together...

The Obama Foundation is looking for 100 unpaid volunteers to work alongside the former president’s highly paid cronies at the $850 million Obama Presidential Center in Chicago when it opens in June. Officials are pitching the no-paycheck gigs as rooted in former President Barack Obama’s legacy of civic engagement. The recruitment campaign comes after Fox News Digital reported that the organization’s CEO, former top Obama aide Valerie Jarrett, was paid $740,000 in 2024. Foundation officials told Fox News Digital the volunteers will complement about 300 full- and part-time employees at the long-delayed center, which the organization is promoting as a...

Explore our masterpiece guide to Bach’s ‘Goldberg Variations’ featuring Lang Lang’s studio and live recordings of the monumental work.It consists of 30 variations on one aria, it lasts over an hour without a break, and it’s hundreds of years old. It’s also one of the biggest challenges available to pianists and harpsichordists. Does this piece sound likely to enjoy an unstoppable surge of popularity? You’d better believe it, because Johann Sebastian Bach’s keyboard marathon known as the Goldberg Variations has never been more often heard and loved than it is today. Legend suggests that it was created for the...

Online sleuths think they have uncovered missing retired Air Force general William Neil McCasland’s anonymous social media account — which claimed another general was murdered for his dealings with nuclear material. McCasland, 68, went missing from his Albuquerque, NM, home on Feb. 27 — which is the same day that the person behind a conspicuously credentialed X account centered on spacecraft and advanced science made their last post. The account @tmbspaceships claims to be run by a “retired 38-year active duty” United States Air Force with a PhD in engineering — listing the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT), the...

Two secret battlefield letters written by George Washington during one of the toughest winters of the Revolutionary War have recently surfaced and are now up for sale — just in time for America’s 250th birthday celebration this July 4. Four years into the American colonist’s bloody struggle to break free from British rule, Gen. Washington, from his headquarters in Morristown, NJ penned the letters revealing how the Continental Army tried to monitor loyalist activity and British troop movements across the Hudson River during the winter of 1779 to 1780. Those messages, carefully preserved by descendants of Revolutionary War soldiers, are...

Rudyard Lynch, host of “WhatIfAltHist,” explains how World War I turned Western civilization against honor culture and paved the way for the bureaucratic states of the 20th century. In the aftermath of mass mobilization and industrialized trench warfare, Woodrow Wilson’s vision of the global technocracy began to take shape, coming into full force after the even greater devastation of World War II. The organic, honor-based social order of the old world gave way to a managerial system that wields power by creating its own reality.

A survivor and witness to the atrocities of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas massacre in Israel delivered a blistering broadside to Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s wife after she “liked” a social media post claiming the rapes of Israelis during the terror rampage were a “mass hoax.” “My message to Mrs. Mamdani is simple: political narratives should never cloud your judgment when it comes to the facts of October 7th. Real people suffered, were raped and were killed,” Tali Biner told The Post Friday from a bomb shelter in Israel. “I was there.” Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji liked a February 2024 Instagram...

According to a statement released by the University of New Hampshire, Meghan Howey and Michael Palace of the University of New Hampshire compared temperature data collected by Landsat 8 satellite thermal sensor between 2014 and 2024 and the locations of burial mounds built between A.D. 1200 and 1600 in what is now Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. The researchers discovered that the Anishinaabeg, who lived in the Great Lakes area, built burial mounds near more circular-shaped lakes that warmed later in spring and cooled later in fall. Placement of the mounds may therefore have been associated with a longer maize growing season,...

A spate of fires and disasters has befallen the city's historic architecture over the years, raising questions about whether these are freak accidents or a symptom of wider issues. "Each time these collapses or fires happen, the same conversations happen and everyone agrees it's terrible and we should do something about it," says Matt Loader, co-founder of architecture firm Loader Monteith. "Then 18 months later it happens again somewhere. "Our Victorian city is disappearing, a piece at a time." Demolition of the remains of the Union Street building began on Friday. Niall Murphy, director of Glasgow City Heritage Trust, told...

The Trump administration has signed an executive order to ​resume oil drilling operations off the Southern California coast, citing national energy security concerns. The order, which invokes a Cold War-era Defense Production Act, will prove controversial despite the potential to bring down gas prices, which are now the highest in America. Gov. Gavin Newsom also flagged the state would challenge the order in the courts. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright is now permitted to take actions under the Defense Production Act. California’s price for a regular gallon hit an average of $5.416 on Friday. That’s far above the national average...

While some argue for destroying the terminal through which 90% of Iran’s oil exports flow, others caution of a global market ‘tailspin’ Wed 11 Mar 2026 02.00 EDT Share Kharg Island – through which 90% of Iran’s oil exports flow – is arguably the country’s most sensitive economic target but the export terminal has so far remained untouched throughout the US-Israel bombing campaign. Experts say bombing or capturing the site with US forces would be likely to cause a sustained increase to already surging oil prices, as it would amount to taking the entirety of Iran’s daily crude exports offline....

Iran could attack Americans with “thousands” of sleeper cells hiding across the country, along with innovative drone assaults never before seen in the country, a former top US fighter pilot cautioned after intelligence reports suggested strikes on California were possible. “It’s not a matter of if — it’s a matter of when,” retired Top Gun Navy fighter pilot Matthew “Whizz” Buckley told The Post, warning that Americans were vulnerable to Iranians hungry to retaliate after the US killed the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader and unleashed war across the Middle East. Chief among the dangers are scores of Iranian agents who...

New Yorkers who are used to getting what they want are languishing on private school waitlists or having to make due with their bottom choice kindergartens and preschools — and they’re not happy about it. A pandemic-era baby bump coupled with concerns about public schools made for a boom in applications for the limited number of slots at private kindergartens and preschools. When decision letters went out last month it was, according to some, a bloodbath. Moms are “losing their minds,” right now, education consultant Sharon Decker told The Post. Another admissions consultant, Alina Adams, notes that so-called “top tier”...