Free Republic

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson laughed and seemed to encourage the notion that millionaires could leave the state of Washington while discussing her support for a progressive tax during an interview earlier this month. “I think the claims that millionaires are going to leave our state are, like, super overblown. And if — the ones that leave, like, bye,” she said, which prompted cheers and laughter from the audience at the Seattle University event, Seattle University Conversations, which took place on April 14. Wilson was asked if she believed progressive taxes were an “easy” and “promising” solution to the tax climate...

Alex says goodbye.............. 6 Minute Video at Link............

It was a real snoozefest. Former Vice President Kamala Harris put a saxophonist to sleep on stage Wednesday during a rant against the Trump administration at an awards dinner. Overtaken by fatigue, or boredom, the drowsy horn player drifted off right as Harris warned that “people would take to the streets if they tried to cancel elections,” video from the Public Counsel’s William O. Douglas Award Dinner in Beverly Hills, Calif., obtained by TMZ, showed. The footage, taken by an audience member, showed the musician had his eyes closed and head down for nearly a minute, all while sitting just...

For 25 years, Soviet pilots flew impossible missions—chasing an American aircraft that flew higher, faster, and more untouchable than anything in their arsenal. The SR-71 Blackbird operated at 85,000 feet and Mach 3.3. Soviet MiG-25 interceptors? They could barely reach 80,000 feet at Mach 2.8—and only for minutes before their engines burned out. This is the story of over 800 failed intercept attempts. Of pilots who whispered the truth in ready rooms while filing false reports for Moscow. Of the psychological toll of chasing excellence you can see but never reach. March 6, 1982: Major Mikhail Myagkiy climbs toward 80,000...

Geologists have discovered that the African continent will split apart sooner than we thought. An active rift has reached a "critical threshold" and will soon break apart, forming a new ocean. That said, 'soon' is a relative term – it'll still take a few million years more, but that's a blink of an eye on a geological scale. "We found that rifting in this zone is more advanced, and the crust is thinner, than anyone had recognized," says Christian Rowan, a geoscientist at Columbia University. "Eastern Africa has progressed further in the rifting process than previously thought." The most intriguing...

A remarkable archaeological discovery in eastern Norway has revealed the largest Viking Age coin hoard ever found in the country, offering new insights into trade, wealth, and political transformation during the late 10th and early 11th centuries.The hoard, uncovered in a field near Rena in Østerdalen, currently consists of 2,970 silver coins, with excavations still ongoing. Archaeologists believe the total may rise further as the site continues to be investigated under controlled conditions. The discovery is already being described as unprecedented in a Norwegian context.The coins originate from a wide geographical area, underscoring Norway's extensive international connections during the Viking...

A structure long interpreted as the remains of an early medieval fortification is now being reclassified as a Viking Age boat grave, suggesting activity at the site several centuries prior to Oslo's conventional founding date.The site lies beneath the medieval royal estate, historically linked to Harald Hardrada. He is often credited with establishing Oslo around 1048...The dating itself also comes into question. A coin hoard found near the top of the mound had been used as key evidence. But closer examination shows the coins were placed into an already existing feature. That detail suggests the mound predates the deposit.The shift...

A Roman ship that sank about 2,200 years ago off the Adriatic coast... known as Ilovik–Paržine 1, was found in 2016 near the Croatian island of Ilovik. Archaeologists have examined the hull and cargo before, but recent work has focused on the material used to seal the ship's exterior -- substances meant to keep water out and protect the wood from damage...Most of the coating was made from pine-based pitch, produced by heating resin from conifer trees. In one case, the material included beeswax mixed with pitch. This combination would have made the coating more workable and slightly more flexible...

0:56 VIDEO AT LINK............. She speaks the truth, but no one will listen to her..................

What happens when engineers build something that works perfectly — and the world still finds a way to make it disappear? The Napier Deltic was a genuinely bizarre piece of engineering: a diesel engine shaped like an equilateral triangle, with three crankshafts, thirty-six pistons, and no cylinder heads at all. Born out of postwar desperation at D. Napier and Son — a company that had built some of the most powerful aircraft engines of the Second World War and suddenly had no aircraft left to power — the Deltic went on to serve in Royal Navy minesweepers for over thirty...

The five-year survey finished ahead of schedule and with more data, hinting at unexpected dark energy properties. The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) has achieved its goal. Every single area of the sky that the collaboration set out to map has been mapped, and slightly ahead of its five-year target. DESI was set to gather data on 34 million galaxies and quasars. The final tally of the survey was 47 million galaxies and quasars, the largest high-resolution 3D map of the Universe ever assembled. The ultimate goal is to understand dark energy. Dark energy is a crucial component that is...

Archaeologists in Chile have uncovered a 16th-century silver coin, confirming the location of one of South America's most infamous failed colonial settlements at the site of Rey Don Felipe – later known as Puerto del Hambre, or "Port Famine".Located on the north shore of the Strait of Magellan, Rey Don Felipe was founded in 1584 with around 300 Spanish settlers. According to historical accounts, the extreme conditions led to the settlers starving or freezing to death, and by the arrival of English navigator Thomas Cavendish in 1587, the settlement was mostly in ruins.The coin, valued at eight reals and bearing...

Our own commercial shipbuilding industry has a lot of catching up to do. We should pass the SHIPS for America Act to support it as soon as possible. Last month an eye-popping headline came out of the Chinese shipping and logistics industry: Cosco, a state-owned shipping conglomerate based in Shanghai, had struck a deal with another state-owned firm – China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) – for 87 new vessels across all segments of its fleet. Maritime Executive said the order includes “ultra-large container ships, ultra-large bulk carriers, ultra-large oil tankers, grain transport ships, multi-purpose heavy lift vessels, MR tankers, ro-ro...

Unmanned Surface Vessels and Submarines Form Ghost Fleet's Core · U.S. Navy Plans 10 of Each by 2028 · Aegis Combat Systems and Multiple Missiles Onboard Deployed Ahead of Carrier Strike Groups.. Within and outside the U.S. military, critics frequently point out that aircraft carrier operations — long a showcase of America's supreme military power — have become dangerously vulnerable. The concern is that China has been building up its arsenal of long-range anti-ship ballistic missiles and hypersonic missiles capable of destroying U.S. aircraft carriers and Aegis destroyers, potentially cornering the United States in a contingency. China has completed development...

Archaeologists from the University of Warsaw have discovered a concentration of shipwrecks near the ancient port of Ptolemais in northern Libya... one of the five cities that formed the Pentapolis of Cyrenaica, established by the Ptolemaic dynasty between the late 4th and 3rd centuries BC. The city emerged as a major hub for maritime trade until the Arab conquest in the 7th century AD.Covering a stretch of over 100 metres, the large concentration of submerged material suggests that multiple shipwrecks accumulated over time as a navigational danger for ships approaching the harbour.After a 13-year hiatus due to the Libyan civil...

American officials are considering foreign designs and having U.S. warship components built in overseas yards as part of an expansive manufacturing study proposed in the Fiscal Year 2027 budget,... Specifically, the Pentagon has directed the Navy to consider Japanese and Korean shipyards and designs for use in the U.S. fleet, USNI News has learned. Earlier this week, when asked about the study, the now former Secretary of the Navy John Phelan told USNI News that the Department of the Navy was considering foreign shipyards for not only auxiliary supply ships, but also for work on U.S. warships... South Korea and...

Spanish archaeologists have documented over 30 shipwrecks in the waters between the Rock of Gibraltar and the port of Algeciras.This discovery follows a three-year study titled Project Herakles. Led by the University of Cádiz, the team identified 151 archaeological sites and 134 total wrecks, according to The Guardian...The researchers worked with colleagues from the University of Granada to document 34 specific wrecks.These vessels represent a diverse array of eras and cultures:Punic era: One ship dating back to the fifth century B.C.Roman period: 23 Roman ships and two late Roman ships.Medieval period: Four vessels, including three that may clarify seafaring practices...

In April, President Trump signed an Executive Order titled Restoring America’s Maritime Dominance. It aims to address the nation’s dependence on foreign manufacturers of commercial and military ships. To make this possible, we are going to have to restore conditions and levels of investment that haven’t been seen since the 1970s. That was the last time the U.S. had anything approaching global maritime dominance. The U.S. needs warships as well as containerships and bulk ships, and it needs them pronto. We don’t have the workforce required to mount the kind of resurgence the government is looking for, and costs are...

The United States has burned through thousands of missiles since the Iran war began on Feb. 28, diminishing the armaments needed in a potential future conflict with China tied to its tensions with Taiwan.The U.S. military has used 1,100 long-range stealth cruise missiles — nearly all of the total number left in Washington’s stockpile — and fired off more than 1,000 Tomahawk cruise missiles, The New York Times reported. The U.S. only produces roughly 100 Tomahawks a year, meaning under current production, it could take 10 years to replace.In addition, in less than eight weeks American forces have spent more...

Many European countries are in a pickle of their own making: they’ve allowed unfettered immigration (often by people who despise their Western values), they’ve gone all in on green energy despite the fact that it’s not ready for prime time, and they’ve embraced woke politics even more than some of the wide-eyed leftists in our own country. But the small northwestern Euro country of Belgium (population 11.8 million) is waking up to the unfortunate fact that a lot of what’s going on isn’t doing them any favors. They can do all the windmills and solar farms they want, but if...