Free Republic 2nd Qtr 2026 Fundraising Target: $81,000 Receipts & Pledges to-date: $6,946
8%  
Woo hoo!! 2nd qtr 2026 FReepathon is now underway!!

History (General/Chat)

Brevity: Headers | « Text »
  • Jill Biden bid staggering amount of money for ‘Heated Rivalry’ Season 2 cameo: ‘It was worth a shot’

    04/17/2026 3:56:40 PM PDT · by Libloather · 6 replies
    NY Post ^ | 4/17/26 | Connor Surmonte, Carlos Greer
    Jill Biden bid a whopping $35,000 for a cameo in Season 2 of “Heated Rivalry,” but was outbid by some more diehard fans of the show. The former first lady tried her luck at securing a walk-on role on the HBO Max sports romance during the NYC LGBT Center’s annual Center Dinner gala Thursday night. “Dr Jill Biden was a surprise guest tonight – and just bid $35k for a walk on [sic] role in Heated Rivalry season 2!” former Teen Vogue editor-in-chief Versha Sharma tweeted after the event. However, the 74-year-old educator was ultimately outbid by $90,000. “Final winners...
  • Mystery of Oregon family who vanished in 1958 while going to get a Christmas tree is finally solved [The Martins]

    04/17/2026 2:52:38 PM PDT · by Ezekiel · 38 replies
    Daily Mail ^ | 17 April 2026 | By JENSEN BIRD
    Detectives finally discovered the fate of the family who vanished in their car almost 70 years ago on their way to find Christmas decorations in Oregon. The group of five went missing in December 1958 in a case that gripped America. Two of the children were found dead months after the disappearance, but the other members had not turned up. But now, parents Kenneth and Barbara, and daughter, Barbie Martin, have been identified from human remains found in the Columbia River, officials said.
  • New DOJ fraud division thwarted $340M in benefit schemes during first week

    04/17/2026 2:02:46 PM PDT · by Libloather · 10 replies
    NY Post ^ | 4/17/26 | Josh Christenson
    WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice announced Friday that its National Fraud Enforcement Division (NFED) thwarted fraud schemes targeting $340 million in taxpayer funds in its first week on the job — with more than $10 million paid back in restitution. The NFED’s first big win was the sentencing of Abdullahe Nur Jesow April 9 to three years and seven months in prison for his role in bilking taxpayers out of $250 million meant for a child nutrition program that operated out of a bogus headquarters in Minneapolis during the COVID-19 pandemic. The funds weren’t spent by the co-conspirators —...
  • How did the Strait of Hormuz get its name? Here's the real origin story

    04/17/2026 12:52:16 PM PDT · by CondoleezzaProtege · 4 replies
    India Today ^ | Mar 2026 | Roshny Chakrabarty
    Long before modern geopolitics turned the strait into a global flashpoint, there was a thriving port city called Hormuz. It sat on the southern coast of present-day Iran and later moved to an island nearby for security reasons. Medieval travellers wrote about it with awe. Merchants from India, Persia and the Arab world docked there. It became one of the richest trading hubs in the region between the 13th and 16th centuries. The waterway gradually took the name of the port. In other words, the strait was named after the city, and not the other way around... Most historians trace...
  • Trump plan for Triumphal Arch moves step closer to reality

    04/17/2026 10:21:32 AM PDT · by Libloather · 24 replies
    Fox News ^ | 4/17/26 | Alex Nitzberg
    The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts on Thursday gave preliminary approval to President Donald Trump's plan for a massive new triumphal arch monument in the nation's capital, according to the New York Times. The outlet reported that the body holds an advisory role regarding the project's design, but does not wield enforcement authority. The Associated Press reported that the commission approved the concept for several projects, including the arch. The federal agency next will review updated designs for all three projects at a future meeting before taking any final votes. The proposed monument features a giant arch topped with a...
  • 19th century remains discovered by Sand Lake homeowner [NY]

    04/17/2026 8:11:42 AM PDT · by SunkenCiv · 28 replies
    CBS6 Albany ^ | Thursday April 16, 2026 | Felix Day
    Human remains discovered during an excavation near Burden Lake Road in Sand Lake have been determined to be historical, according to New York State Police.On April 15, 2026, a property was being excavated in the area of Burden Lake Road when remains were discovered and reported, according to State Police.The site has been turned over to the New York State Museum's Department of Anthropology.According to the NYS Museum, museum's archaeologists were alerted in accordance with the New York State Unmarked Burial Site Protection Act of 2023.We're told the NYS Museum crew at the scene can confirm the remains are believed...
  • The Greatest Explorer - You've NOT Heard of - Just VANISHED [15:59]

    04/17/2026 6:10:57 AM PDT · by SunkenCiv · 3 replies
    YouTube ^ | July 14, 2025 | Paul Whitewick
    Paul Whitewick explores the incredible journey of Pytheas, an ancient Greek geographer who first mapped Britain and ventured into the Arctic Circle. Despite being largely forgotten and doubted by contemporaries, this explorer's detailed observations of the North and tidal patterns were ultimately proven accurate. The Greatest Explorer - You've NOT Heard of - Just VANISHED | 15:59 Paul Whitewick | 246K subscribers | 91,617 views | November 30, 2025
  • NYC mayor touts ‘socialist’ wins in first 100 days alongside Bernie Sanders ("you eventually need a socialist to clean up the mess")

    04/17/2026 3:54:53 AM PDT · by Libloather · 43 replies
    Fox News ^ | 4/13/26 | Bonny Chu
    New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani marked his first 100 days in office Sunday alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders, a democratic socialist, touting what he described as sweeping achievements driven by government intervention. Mamdani cited key wins, including securing $1.2 billion for universal childcare, advancing plans for five publicly owned grocery stores, pursuing legal action against landlords and boosting investment in services such as sanitation and infrastructure. In a reference to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her critique that socialists "eventually run out of other people’s money," Mamdani defended his administration’s approach. "I have thought often of the Margaret...
  • Chinese researcher on US visa pleads guilty to smuggling E. coli into the country (labeled 'woman's underwear')

    04/17/2026 3:20:48 AM PDT · by Libloather · 31 replies
    Fox News ^ | 4/15/26 | Michael Dorgan
    A Chinese researcher was sentenced to more than four months in prison after pleading guilty to smuggling Escherichia coli (E. coli) into the United States, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday. Youhuang Xiang, 32, a former Indiana University postdoctoral researcher and Chinese national, admitted to concealing E. coli DNA in a shipment from China that was falsely labeled as women’s underwear, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana. Prosecutors said the FBI also uncovered evidence that Xiang was a member of the Chinese Communist Party and had lied about that affiliation to immigration authorities. Authorities said the...
  • Justice Thomas warns progressivism is existential threat to founding principles in rare public remarks

    04/17/2026 3:05:04 AM PDT · by Libloather · 16 replies
    Fox News ^ | 4/16/26
    Speaking at UT Austin to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas urged young people to have courage and reject growing 'cynicism' and hostility in the US. (Credit: C-SPAN)
  • Hedy Lamarr’s WWII Invention Helped Shape Modern Tech

    04/16/2026 8:45:24 PM PDT · by CondoleezzaProtege · 51 replies
    National World War 2 Museum ^ | Apr 2025 | Erica Lansberg
    Hedy Lamarr lived a remarkable life as an actress of Hollywood’s Golden Age after leaving Europe shortly before the start of World War II. Fleeing a restrictive marriage in Austria in 1937, Lamarr arrived in Hollywood and skyrocketed to fame, starring in films like Algiers (1938), Ziegfeld Girl (1941), and Samson and Delilah (1949). However, only late in her life was she recognized for a lesser-known aspect of her work: inventing. During World War II, she invented a “Secret Communication System,” together with avant-garde composer George Antheil. The system used the concept of frequency hopping to guide torpedoes in a...
  • Tax refunds swell thanks to Trump’s worker-friendly deductions in the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’: ‘He knows what he’s doing’

    04/16/2026 5:40:01 PM PDT · by Libloather · 30 replies
    NY Post ^ | 4/16/26 | Khristina Narizhnaya, Alex Mitchell, Anna Young
    It’s One Big Beautiful refund. Americans are rolling in the dough this tax season thanks to a bevy of new reforms passed by the Trump administration that have boosted returns by double digits. More than 53 million taxpayers cashed in after taking advantage of new deductions included in President Trump’s signature “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” including tax-free tips and overtime, cheaper car loan interest and senior write-offs. The tax breaks translated to a surge in refunds — as filers in 2026 took home, on average, $3,462, or 11.1% more than last year, IRS data shows. The numbers are even...
  • Trump DOT yanks $73M funding from NY for ‘failing’ to vet foreign truck drivers

    04/16/2026 1:31:26 PM PDT · by Libloather · 20 replies
    NY Post ^ | 4/16/26 | Josh Christenson, Vaughn Golden
    The Trump administration is yanking $74 million in federal highway grants from the Empire State for refusing to comply with the feds’ demand that it boot immigrant truck drivers with expired work authorizations off the roads, The Post has learned. The US Department of Transportation warned Gov. Kathy Hochul’s Department of Motor Vehicles, in a bombshell letter on Thursday, that continued non-compliance could lead Washington to withhold another $147 million in highway funding grants. “I promised the American people I would hold any state leader accountable for failing to keep them safe from unvetted, unqualified foreign drivers. I’m delivering on...
  • Eric Swalwell donors footed $500K in hotel bills, including rooms where alleged rapes happened

    04/16/2026 12:34:11 PM PDT · by Libloather · 38 replies
    NY Post ^ | 4/16/26 | Josh Koehn, Annie Gaus
    Accused sexual abuser Eric Swalwell spent a whopping $500K of donor cash inside luxury hotels — including the rooms where he allegedly raped two women — according to campaign financial records reviewed by The California Post. The disgraced politician racked up close to $36,500 in hotel expenses over the last 12 months — billing 70 different charges in the US and Mexico, according to the records. Swalwell’s hotels of choice included the Intercontinental Mexico City, where he spent $4,300 meeting with deported resident Miguel Hildago; Hotel ZIggy in West Hollywood, the Roosevelt Hollywood, the exclusive Ned Nomad in New York...
  • Stanford researchers lay out first genetic history of Rome

    04/16/2026 9:06:17 AM PDT · by SunkenCiv · 10 replies
    Stanford News Service ^ | November 7th, 2019 | Nathan Collins
    Stanford researchers and their European colleagues drew on ancient DNA to construct the first genetic history of Rome...Those genetic data reveal at least two major migrations into Rome, as well as several smaller but significant population shifts over just the last few thousand years...Notably, DNA analysis revealed that as the Roman Empire expanded around the Mediterranean Sea, immigrants from the Near East, Europe and North Africa pulled up their roots and moved to Rome...An analysis of some of the earliest samples more or less comports with what has been found around Europe -- they represent an influx of farmers primarily...
  • Submerged Harbor Structures Examined Off Greece's Southern Coastline

    04/16/2026 8:00:34 AM PDT · by SunkenCiv · 8 replies
    Archaeology Magazine ^ | April 6, 2026 | editors / unattributed
    According to a Greek Reporter article, archaeologists led by Panayiota Galiatsatou of Greece's Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities have investigated a submerged harbor complex off the eastern coast of the Peloponnese. The platform had been built in shallow water in order to take advantage of the natural harbor and nearby defensive hill. Pottery recovered from within the platform suggests that it dates to the Roman period. This year, the research team examined structures that had been built on top of the platform. These features have roughly square shapes and are made of stones. The team members now think that the stones...
  • Barbegal Mill, Aqueduct: Roman flour mill complex near Arles

    04/16/2026 7:22:08 AM PDT · by SunkenCiv · 15 replies
    Provence Beyond ^ | since 1995 | Russ Collins
    The Barbegal Roman Mill was a flour mill complex powered by 16 waterwheels, fed by two aqueducts bring water to Arles. The mill was located on a hillside near the village of Fontvieille, and was considered "the greatest known concentration of mechanical power in the ancient world"...operated for a couple of hundred years, from the end of the 1st century until the end of the second century. The mills had a capacity to produce 4.5 tons of flour a day, enough to provide bread for all 12,500 inhabitants of Arles (Arelate) at the time...The Barbegal mill complex was built in...
  • Carlson's Amalek misinterpretation: What "bloodline" do Nazi Germany, fanatical genocidal: Islamic Republic regime, its proxies or radical Arab "Palestinian" groups have in common?

    04/16/2026 5:18:29 AM PDT · by Milagros · 28 replies
    Apr 2026
    Carlson's Amalek misinterpretation: What "bloodline" do Nazi Germany, fanatical genocidal: Islamic Republic regime, its proxies or radical Arab "Palestinian" groups have in common? Amalek Tucker lies Tucker’s Amalek Smear Crumbles: Netanyahu Slams Iran's Regime as Amalek — Not the Arab “Palestinians” Carlson Obsesses Over. Bloodline Lie Busted: Carlson Claims Genocide-lie, Netanyahu Applies Amalek to Non-Arab Iran.
  • Shakespeare's 'missing' London house is FOUND after 400 years: Floorplan confirms the exact address in Blackfriars where The Bard spent his later years

    04/16/2026 3:58:39 AM PDT · by Adder · 23 replies
    Daily Mail ^ | 04/15/2026 | Xantha Leatham
    Much of William Shakespeare's life is shrouded in mystery – but a key riddle has just been solved, thanks to a newly discovered floorplan. A historical document found in the London Archives reveals the precise location of The Bard's only property in the capital. It can now be pinpointed to 5 St Andrew's Hill – a quiet Blackfriars street close to his workplace at the nearby theatre and within stumbling distance of a pub.
  • DC US Attorney calls for any victims of California Rep. Eric Swalwell to come forward

    04/15/2026 9:36:01 PM PDT · by Libloather · 6 replies
    AOL ^ | 4/14/26 | Katie Barlow
    WASHINGTON - California Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell has formally resigned from Congress as new accusers allege that he raped and sexually assaulted them. Now, D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro told FOX 5 in an exclusive interview that she wants to hear from any potential victims in the District. Big picture view What many may not know about D.C. and Pirro's office, in particular, is that she serves as both the federal prosecutor and the equivalent of a local district attorney. She's concerned, given the recent victims who continue to come forward accusing Swalwell of rape and sexual misconduct, that there...