Free Republic

A boutique Manhattan condo building that drew celebrity buyers including Chelsea Clinton, NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon and Jennifer Lopez also had an unlikely early investor: convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Documents from the recently released Epstein files reveal that the disgraced, and deceased, financier quietly backed the luxury conversion of 21 E. 26th St. in NoMad, a historic property overlooking Madison Square Park later marketed as the Whitman. The five-story Neo-Georgian building was transformed into just four full-floor residences and a duplex penthouse, a design that helped lure a roster of high-profile buyers when sales launched in 2013, according to the...

Some of the United States’ most important historical documents are beginning a first-of-its kind journey Monday as part of the country’s 250th anniversary commemoration. Typically housed in highly controlled vaults under the watch of preservation experts at the National Archives, documents such as the 1783 Treaty of Paris that formally ended the Revolutionary War and the 1774 Articles of Association that urged colonists to boycott British goods are rarely moved. But those documents, signed by George Washington, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and other American revolutionary leaders, will be making their way across the country and put on display for free...

Prediction market Kalshi has drawn outrage for refusing to pay out winnings on a $54 million trade related to the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Many bettors assumed they had won big on wagers that Khamenei would be “out as Supreme Leader” by Saturday after he was killed in joint US-Israeli air strikes over the weekend. But Kalshi – an American prediction market that allows users to bet on politics, sports, foreign affairs and pop culture – announced it would not be paying out any winnings on those wagers, since its guidelines prohibit markets “directly tied to...

A coalition of Democratic-led states sued President Donald Trump on Thursday in the U.S. Court of International Trade, arguing that his newly imposed across-the-board tariffs are illegal. The suit is led by the Democratic attorneys general from Oregon, New York, California and Arizona along with attorneys general from 18 other states. They accused Trump of trying to “sidestep” a February Supreme Court ruling that overturned many of his tariffs by using a different statute, Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, as justification for new tariffs. “The President is attempting to use an obscure law as a tool for...

In major events in Jerusalem on February 16 and 17, the State of Israel and world Jewry celebrated the reclamation of the 3,000-year-old Mount of Olives, the historic burial site of more than 150,000 Jews over the ages; among them prophets, many great rabbis, and notable modern Israeli leaders. The events were sponsored by the International Committee for Har Hazeitim ICHH in conjunction with the Israeli government and Municipality of Jerusalem. The highlight of the two-day mission was the ceremony marking the completion of the first floor of the Visitor Education Center which ICHH is building in partnership with national...

It was just confirmed that President Trump has a HIGHER approval rating than both Barack Hussein Obama and George Bush at this point in their 2nd terms — RealClearPolitics

Stalin Kicked The Bucket: Ray Anderson [1953] Old Joe kicked the bucket, he's long gone He won't worry us from now on He lived in a place they call Moscow His number came up and he had to go Yes, old Joe's dead and gone He stayed around too long And nobody now can save his hide 'Cause old Joe laid right down and died Old Joe won't worry us no more He killed the helpless by the score Now I hope he's satisfied Since old Joe's taken his last ride Yes, old Joe's dead and gone He stayed around...

---SNIP--- The New York Times’ Terence Smith, writing about Iran in 1984, described the use of child soldiers by Iran to clear minefields. Young boys, aged 12-17 years, wore red headbands with the words ‘Sar Allah’ in Farsi (Warriors of God) and small metal keys that the Ayatollah declared were their tickets to Paradise if they were martyred in their mission. Many were sent into battle against Iraqi tanks without any protection and bound by ropes to prevent desertion. They were the first wave, making the way for Iranian tanks by clearing barbed wire and minefields with their bodies.

It’s hard for taxpayers to stomach! The Baltimore mayor’s office spent more than $890,000 on lavish meals and parties — including crab feasts, catered “farewell” bashes and massive tabs at Ravens football games, according to a report Wednesday. Mayor Brandon Scott’s administration blew taxpayer cash on over-the-top perks for staffers — including $52,589 on grub in the Mayoral Suite at Ravens and Orioles games — in a gross violation of the city’s “public funds” rules, according to baltimorebrew.com. One of the elaborate meals was served at a $3,636 farewell “office party” for Scott’s former campaign manager Marvin James, which featured...

Sen. Tim Sheehy sprang into action Wednesday, helping law enforcement officers subdue an “unhinged protestor” who began “fighting” at a hearing at the US Capitol Building, the Montana Republican explained. Dramatic video of the incident shows the protester — later identified as Green Party Senate candidate Brian McGinnis — resisting multiple Capitol Police officers trying to remove him from a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL, is seen jumping into the scrum and trying to yank the 44-year-old McGinnis, who was wearing a US Marine Corps uniform, out of the room. The situation only calmed down...

Kamala, who? A well-known Iranian-American activist who has survived several assassination attempts blasted Kamala Harris after the former vice president criticized President Trump over the deadly US-Israeli strikes on Iran. “Who are you?” asked Masih Alinejad, delivering the stinging rebuke while speaking with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo. “I am tired of seeing some politicians here in America, especially Democrats, making this about their own politics, scoring political points like Kamala Harris,” she lashed out. “Suddenly, she kept quiet about the massacre. Suddenly, she found the voice condemning the targeted military strike against the killers. So when ordinary people get...

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters on Wednesday that “everybody in America” should watch how their representatives vote on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill expected to come to the floor on Thursday. “You better watch that board. And everybody in America better watch that board. Anybody who votes to block funding for the homeland, it is shameful,” Johnson said. “I don’t know how to describe it. It speaks to a long record of Democrats’ deliberate efforts to undermine America’s safety and the essential operations of DHS.” Democrats have demanded that the White House significantly reform its immigration...

According to a statement released by Leiden University, a groundbreaking ancient DNA study has provided new information about a pivotal transitional period in prehistoric Europe. The research underscored the remarkable genetic stability in the Low Countries and shed new light on the mysterious origins of the so-called Bell Beaker culture. A team of geneticists and archaeologists analyzed the genomes of 112 individuals who lived in the Rhine–Meuse region of the Low Countries -- today's Netherlands, Belgium, and northwestern Germany -- between 8500 and 1700 b.c. The data revealed that when Europe's first farmers arrived from Anatolia around 4,500 years ago,...

ILULISSAT, Greenland (AP) — Fisherman Helgi Áargil no longer knows what to expect on Greenland ‘s fjords, where he spends up to five days at a time on his boat with his dog, Molly, and the ever-changing northern lights in the sky as company. Last year, his boat got stuck in ice that broke off the nearby glacier. This year, it’s been very wet instead. His income is just as unpredictable. An outing could bring him around 100,000 Danish kroner (about $15,700), or nothing at all. The Arctic’s rapidly changing climate is bringing more questions for Greenland, the semiautonomous territory...

U.S. Senate Republicans rejected a bill to halt the war against Iran in an early show of support for Trump’s campaign. The resolution, which failed 47-53, demanded congressional approval before any further attacks. A twin bill in the House also faces an unlikely path against a GOP majority when lawmakers vote on it Thursday morning.

HAVANA (AP) — Cuba said Wednesday it has filed terrorism charges against six suspects it claims were aboard a Florida-flagged speedboat that is alleged to have opened fire on soldiers in waters off the island’s north coast. The Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement that the suspects of Cuban origin remain in pretrial detention, adding that it will ensure “due process” as it continues to act “in defense of our people and the country’s institutions.” The government has said 10 heavily armed Cubans from the U.S. who were on board the boat opened fire as they tried to infiltrate the...

Deep in the Taurus Mountains, an unexcavated ancient city still waits. Selge: hidden, silent, and far older than Rome itself. This is its story. Selge: The Unexcavated Ancient City Hidden Above the Canyon | 21:44 Rumiseus -- Lost Civilizations | 426 subscribers | 392 views | March 1, 2026

Scientists think they may have discovered an ancient Roman board game with a little help from artificial intelligence. Did AI Just Solve an Ancient Roman Mystery? | 14:14Dig It With Raven | 76.7K subscribers | 12,122 views | March 1, 2026

A new method of studying the contents of soil samples has revealed Stone Age people in Sweden were buried in decorated fur-and-feather clothing.More than seven millennia ago, Stone Age mourners in what is now Sweden buried a boy with a crown of woodpecker feathers and, in another grave, interred a woman with multicolored fur-and-feather footwear, a new study finds.These details were unearthed thanks to a newly developed technique that can identify traces of hair and feathers in soil taken from ancient graves, the researchers said...In the study, published Feb. 20 in the journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, Kirkinen and colleagues...

When it comes to striking Iran, Donald Trump has been consistent for 47 years. Look at this clip from October 1980 when he called for military intervention to free American hostages taken during the Iranian Revolution. Also FYI: during his 2016,2020 and 2024 presidential campaigns, he consistently said multiple times that Iran "will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon." Below is the 1980 transcript: Donald Trump in 1980: "When you get the respect of other countries then the other countries tend to do a little bit as you do and you can create the right attitudes. The Iranian...