Free Republic

Five years ago today, a suicide bomber killed 13 Marines and 170 civilians in an attack on Kabul airport that came to symbolize the chaotic and ill-conceived withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. But the Abbey Gate bombing was only one part of the heavily flawed August 2021 evacuation. Afghan forces turned their weapons on civilians during the chaos, and local allies who had worked with US forces for decades were left to be slaughtered by the Taliban, according to “The Path to Zero,” a hard-hitting Wall Street Journal documentary out today. The feature is bookended by choppy bodycam footage...

The American left’s advocacy for tried-and-failed ideas, embrace of fair-is-foul and foul-is-fair morality and disdain for excellence has — surprise, surprise — rendered it incapable of rebuking its ascendant class of scoundrels, fraudsters and morons. Exhibit A: the celebration of Karen Attiah’s reinstatement at The Washington Post by a mouth-breathing arbitrator on Monday. After announcing the news on X, Attiah, a race-hustling antisemite who was let go last September over a series of jaw-dropping social media posts about the assassination of Charlie Kirk, was greeted like a war hero returning from the front. Jim Acosta called it “Great news!”; George...

A California man was busted Tuesday after cops allegedly found a guillotine in the back of his pickup truck near the US Capitol and the Supreme Court Building. Philan-Tam-Duy Le, 35, of Julian, California, had driven all the way from the Golden State to Washington, DC, before US Capitol Police spotted his pickup illegally parked along the 100 block of East Capitol Street shortly after 3 p.m. Then officers spotted the shocking cargo. A guillotine was sitting in the truck bed, according to USCP. Officers seized the device and arrested Le on a charge of carrying a dangerous weapon. He...

Two Pennsylvania residents have died due to measles, health officials said ​on Tuesday, the first such deaths in the ​state in 35 years, with 393 cases of ⁠the disease reported across 28 counties so far in ​2026. Both people were unvaccinated residents of Lancaster County, according to ​the Pennsylvania Department of Health, which did not release additional details, citing privacy concerns. “Because measles was largely eliminated in the Commonwealth for ​more than three decades, people are not familiar with ​this disease and don’t fully understand the potential severity of the ‌illness,” ⁠said Secretary of Health Debra Bogen. Measles has surged...

WASHINGTON — A former Southern Poverty Law Center chief finance officer declined to face charges in person that she fraudulently funneled $1.2 million in donor money to white supremacist groups. Heidi Beirich waived her right to appear at a virtual court arraignment in the Middle District of Alabama on 14 felony charges involving alleged wire fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering. Instead, her defense team appeared for the Zoom arraignment and entered a not-guilty plea before US Magistrate Judge Kelly Pate on all counts. Pate set a trial date of Oct. 5, which both prosecutors and Beirich’s defense attorneys indicated...

Wilhelm Dörpfeld was a German architect and archaeologist, a pioneer of stratigraphic excavation and precise graphical documentation of archaeological projects... In 1877, Döerpfeld became an assistant at the excavations of Ancient Olympia, Greece, conducted under Richard Bohn, Friedrich Adler, and Ernst Curtius. He later became the technical manager of the project. The group uncovered, among other artifacts, an intact statue of Hermes by Praxiteles. The excavations revived the memory of the ancient Olympic Games and contributed toward the establishment of the modern Olympic Games, in 1896. In 1882, Dörpfeld joined Schliemann, who was then excavating Troy... The two eventually became...

President Trump floated the possibility of rebranding Lake Ontario as “Lake America,” in a shot across the bow against Canada’s most populous province — whose premier threatened to cut off electricity and minerals to the US. “The United States is giving serious consideration to changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America in that we don’t expect to doing much business with Ontario any longer,” Trump declared on Truth Social Tuesday. On his very first day back in the Oval Office last year, Trump signed an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America,...

A woman who listed her home address as a local bar while running for Stockton City Council has dropped out of the race after she was arrested on multiple felony charges. Desiree Lynch, who was running for the District 5 seat, withdrew from the race Monday, effective immediately, according to her attorney, Allen Sawyer, KCRA News 3 reported. “Today Ms. Lynch resigned and withdrew from the race effective immediately,” Sawyer said in a statement. “In light of the legal process she is facing, there will be no other comment on this matter. Ms. Lynch is focused on taking care of...

Marketed as a Neolithic and Roman find, the site was in fact assembled with concrete and grouted stone blocks. A man in northern Italy has been sent to prison after Italy's highest court gave final confirmation to his conviction for illegally constructing a fake ancient theater and presenting it to the public as a genuine archaeological site, charging visitors an entrance fee of up to 40 euros. The structure still stands in Arcugnano, in the province of Vicenza. It consists of tiered stone seating built from stacked stones that were worked to look ancient. The columns are fake too, made...

The idea of a plane that can land on and take off again from water isn't a new thing. Landing on water is easy, but it's taking off again that's the trick, which is why flying boats, as they came to be called, were a common thing back before the country was so liberally dotted with airfields. The United States and other countries made heavy use of them, right up through the Cold War. But the idea goes back to the very beginnings of powered flight. There are two basic designs: a small airplane fitted with floats instead of wheeled...

Some of California’s most notorious killers, rapists and child predators now get a shot at freedom decades before their sentences are up thanks to the controversial elderly parole law. Inmates previously had to reach 60 and serve at least 25 years before qualifying, but legislation signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2020 lowered the threshold to 50 and 20 years, beginning in 2021, as California sought to ease prison overcrowding. But the change has since come under fire because criminals opening the door to parole for criminals handed sentences designed to keep them locked up for life. While inmates aren’t...

We admit it: It’s just delicious to see so many “commie cosplayers” exposed as frauds — and the hits keep coming. It turns out DSA-NYC co-chair Gustavo Gordillo not only has his parents paying for massive renovations of the $1.5 million home they bought for him and his brother in Bed-Stuy, he’s also using non-union labor for the work — and the local community board opposed the re-do plan as creating a structure out of whack with the block, with experts saying the planned “beach house” clashes with the historic district’s vibe. Then again, Gordillo got suspended from the IBEW...

Keith Moon was never interested in playing the drums like everyone else. The legendary The Who drummer, who once jokingly called himself “the best Keith Moon-type drummer in the world,” would have turned 80 today, Aug. 23, 2026. Born in 1946 in Wembley, London, Moon became one of rock’s most distinctive and influential drummers before his death at just 32. The Who’s official biography describes him as one of the most influential drummers in rock history. Moon joined The Who in 1964 after an impromptu audition and quickly developed a style that was almost impossible to mistake for anyone else’s....

WASHINGTON — A lefty teacher’s campaign to knock off longtime Rep. Richard Neal in western Massachusetts is gaining national attention as left-wing insurgents take scalps across the country in primary contests — but police records obtained by The Post reveal he has a colorful rap sheet. Jeromie Whalen, a 39-year-old high school journalism teacher, was arrested in multiple confrontations with authorities — accused of a drunk assault in a hospital emergency room and then nearly driving his pickup truck into a house at 4 a.m. while also under the influence. “I’m not going to say that I haven’t made mistakes...

WASHINGTON — Taxpayers are funding $230 million in largely Biden-era grants to study woke “intersectionality” — the assessing of factors such as race and class to rate “privilege’’ and potential discrimination, a new report says. The Defense of Freedom Institute and Legal Insurrection Foundation, both right-leaning policy groups, said their review found 249 records of federal-assistance spending — propelled during the Biden era — that used the keyword “intersectionality.’’ “Race-obsessed ‘Intersectionality’ doctrine provides the toxic fuel for radical anarchist groups like the Turtle Island Liberation Front, and is the mothers’ milk for destructive anti-American and anti-capitalist agendas that dominate campuses,”...

(Aug. 22, 2026) — INTRODUCTION The recent SCOTUS decision in Trump v. Barbara – holding, among other things, that if born here on U.S. soil, the child of an illegal alien or a foreigner unlawfully present here is nonetheless a U.S. citizen – continues to produce fallout. While technically not radioactive, the fallout is nonetheless unhealthy to the continued wellbeing of the Republic. If you doubt that, just read the dissenting opinions of Justices Thomas and Alito and the partial dissent of Justice Kavanaugh. Your humble servant has addressed the decision and the shortcomings of the majority opinion here. The...

Trumps Indy 250 a middle finger to the left lets go Racing Boys

Hertfordshire: A sealed cave rediscovered by accident - carved with Christian symbols, pagan marks, and apotropaic signs. This hidden chamber has been linked to Knights Templar theories, Holy Grail legends, Reformation-era secret worship, and the life of a medieval wayside hermit. Inside the chamber are carvings of knights, crucifixion scenes, protective marks, and a figure many identify as the medieval king Richard I - all cut directly into the chalk. Some theories point to Templar connections and the Holy Grail, others to hidden worship during the Reformation or a solitary hermit carving his devotion into the walls. What's certain is...

President Trump touted progress on the White House ballroom project on Saturday morning, a day after the Supreme Court temporarily permitted construction work to continue. “Tremendous work has been done on the magnificent BALLROOM/MILITARY COMPLEX being built on the grounds of the White House!” the president wrote on Truth Social, alongside a photo of the construction site. The ballroom project has faced a series of litigation and public scrutiny over reports that the Trump administration planned to use money appropriated by Congress to other agencies. Trump had previously told reporters that private donors would cover the $400 million construction project...

Iran appears to be losing its grip on the Strait of Hormuz while traffic through the critical waterway has exploded by nearly 400% over the last two weeks — as ships increasingly use a US-backed corridor to cross. Nearly 200 ships navigated the strait last week, up from 150 the previous week and just 40 two weeks earlier, according to data from the UK Maritime Trade Operations Center. The surge brings total traffic along the passage route to about 20% of pre-war levels, through which roughly 20% of the world’s seaborne oil flowed in peacetime. Activity in Hormuz ground to...