Free Republic

Jan. 25 (UPI) -- A statue that went missing from Louisville, Ky., nearly 30 years ago has been returned to the city by a man who had it in his back yard. David Greer said his father worked on a renovation project in 1996 at the Belvedere, an elevated event space in downtown Louisville, when he brought the statue home. "Dad said they tossed it to the side and he asked if he could have it, and they said, sure. That's where it began its life at [our] house," Greer told WLKY-TV. The statue depicts the Greek god Pan playing...

This video is one of many in a series created from an interview conducted by Edward C. Ezell with Eugene Stoner in 1988 at ARES Inc. in Port Clinton, Ohio. All the footage is courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Archives. All I have done is cut some of the waiting time between tapes out and tried to fix the audio. Otherwise, what you are seeing is entirely unadulterated. Feel free to ask any questions about the various topics of the video in the comments. I will do my best to answer them.

A small town lawyer from West Virginia was in for an extraordinary surprise when he discovered a 253-year-old pre-Revolutionary War fort hidden inside the walls of his Monroe County plantation home. John Bryan, 43, a self-described history buff and amateur archeologist, purchased the property in 2019 with a hunch that the large white clapboard farmhouse was built around an old log fort known as Byrnside's Fort. 'We had to buy the property first before being able to take a crowbar to it to see if the logs were inside the walls.' It was originally built in 1770 by an early...

Native American groups did not support the removal of a statue of William Penn from Welcome Park in Philadelphia prior to the Biden administration’s now-abandoned effort to do so. William Penn was an English Quaker who moved to the American Colonies in 1682 and founded the British colony of Pennsylvania, during which time he maintained friendly relations with Native Americans of the Lenape tribe. The National Parks Service recently canceled plans to remove Penn’s statue from federal property at Welcome Park, in Philadelphia’s downtown historic district, amid strong political and public backlash against the plan, though representatives for a native...

Jack LaLanne (born September 26, 1914, San Francisco, California, U.S.—died January 23, 2011, Morro Bay, California) American exercise and nutrition guru, television personality, and motivational speaker. During his childhood, LaLanne suffered from poor health and erratic behaviour, which he would come to believe was caused by a sugar addiction. As a teen, he attended a lecture by nutritionist Paul Bragg, after which LaLanne cut sugar from his diet and embarked on an exercise routine. These lifestyle changes would come to define his decades-long quest to promote healthy living in America. In 1936 he opened the first public health club (later...

It’s time to stop debating history and facts with people who only care about the exercise of raw political power.div class="article-content"> The news that the Biden administration planned to remove a statue of William Penn in a federal park in Philadelphia that commemorates the founding of Pennsylvania, and that the purpose of the removal was to “provide a more welcoming, accurate, and inclusive experience for visitors,” should at this point not come as a surprise.Once the removals and destruction of Confederate statues and memorials began a few years ago, it was inevitable that all historical figures from America’s past, even...

NATIONAL APRICOT DAY Apricot lovers from all over the United States observe National Apricot Day every year on January 9th. #NationalAprcotDay Related to the peach, the apricot's velvety flesh is quite similar. However, the texture of the golden-orange fruit is firmer, and the flavor more tart than its cousin's. Since we easily preserve the apricot, we enjoy this versatile fruit all year long - fresh, canned, and dried. Apricots are found the world over but originated in northeastern China near the Russian border in ancient times. Later, the fruit was introduced to Europe and Armenia. The apricot found its way...

Former Vice President Mike Pence said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the Republican Party needed to move on from the leadership of former President Donald Trump, who will be judged by history. When asked about January 6, Pence said, “I would say to every American, as I did during my presidential campaign, that I know I did my duty that day to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. I kept my oath. And they also simply need to look to the facts that the Capitol Hill police endured great hardship and great harm. I...

Hi everyone, A little post Christmas cheer for these days of Biden (the Rutabaga) and the dead economy: E-mail me at Larry@wildworldofhistory.com and I will send you your pick of any of these four ebooks: 1) American Entrepreneur, my history of American business and entrepreneurs 2) A Patriot's History of the Modern World, vol. 1, 1898-1945 3) A Patriot's History of the Modern World, vol. 2, 1946-present 4) The Rhythm of History: my autobiography.

Why is the connection between snow and Christmas so strong? Experts say it’s because songs, stories and images come back year after year and have created the tradition of an idealized white Christmas holiday. Christmas tales and carols have long since invoked images of silver bells, horse-drawn sleighs, and, of course, snow. The association of snow with the holiday and its yuletide charm, for those celebrating across the United States, is not due to a consistent white winter wonderland, however. In fact, nearly half of the contiguous U.S. historically has had a 50% chance or less of actually seeing a...

FALLS CHURCH, Va. — A federal judge on Monday issued a temporary restraining order barring removal of a memorial to Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. A group called Defend Arlington, affiliated with a group called Save Southern Heritage Florida, filed a lawsuit Sunday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, seeking the restraining order. A hearing has been scheduled for Wednesday. Work to remove the memorial had begun Monday before the restraining order was issued, but the memorial remains in place on cemetery grounds. A cemetery spokesperson said Monday that Arlington is complying with the restraining order, but referred all...

A Trump-appointed federal judge has temporarily halted removal proceedings for the Confederate memorial at Arlington National Cemetery that began Monday, the Associated Press reported. Defend Arlington filed a lawsuit in a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, on Sunday for a temporary restraining order, the AP reported. Work had already begun to remove the bronze elements of the memorial in accordance with recommendations in the Congressionally-mandated Naming Commission’s final report to scrub Department of Defense (DOD) assets of any symbolism that could be seen to honor the Confederacy. A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, according to the AP. The memorial has...

The world's first flight officially took off from North Carolina’s Outer Banks on this day in history, Dec. 17, 1903. The Wright brothers were allegedly the first to successfully fly a powered and controlled airplane in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, after years of experimenting with the concept of flight. Brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright began testing out flying in 1899, while Samuel Langley of the Smithsonian did the same, according to the National Park Service (NPS). Langley’s attempts were underwritten by the War Department yet were unsuccessful, since his efforts relied on the brute power of the machines to keep...

I may be Jewish but I think I give the best Christmas present. I am a coin collector and I enjoy giving my Christian friends an ancient coin known as the widow’s mite. I will be doing it again this Christmas. According to Mark 12:41-44 (King James):

Tim Wollack and his daughter, Henley, were on a fishing trip at Lake Michigan when they thought they saw an elusive Green Bay octopus hovering beneath their boat, the Wisconsin Historical Society said in a Facebook post. But what they actually uncovered was a shipwreck that had been missing for more than 152 years. Officials believe the boat is the George L. Newman. “Working with Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Conservation Warden Mike Neal, the shipwreck was investigated with Video Ray ROV on December 4,” the society noted in the post. “The wreck is of a wooden three masted sailing...

ifteen years ago today, an Iraqi journalist stood up in the middle of a press conference in Baghdad and shouted in Arabic, “This is a farewell kiss from the Iraqi people, you dog!” and then proceeded to hurl his shoes, one after the other, at then-President George W. Bush. The gesture by the journalist, Muntadhar al-Zaidi, had dire effects on his own life — a risk he was well aware of beforehand — but it lives on in the public imagination worldwide as perhaps the most effective individual protest against America’s bloody and ultimately disastrous invasion and occupation of Iraq....

Silver has been used for thousands of years as ornaments and utensils, for trade, and as the basis for many monetary systems. Of all the metals, pure silver has the whitest color, the highest optical reflectivity, and the highest thermal and electrical conductivity. Backstory. Whenever you read some precious metals expert discussing the industrial uses of silver, here is the typical spiel that goes: "Silver is essential in jewelry, electronics, medical, solar, electric vehicles, and Green Energy storage systems (i.e., batteries)." Very good, Captain Obvious, but it's my fervent belief that military and aerospace usages of silver gobbles as much...

Every school child in Colorado is taught about the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864. On a wintry day in November of that year, an untrained and undisciplined territorial militia attacked an Indian camp near the eastern border of the territory leaving 150 to 200 dead. The tragedy has long been the subject of roiling debate about who or what was to blame. When the History Colorado Center opened a new exhibit on the event in 2012, visitors were offered competing perspectives of Indian, soldier, and settler. The exhibit was immediately assailed by native activists for not taking an exclusively “indigenous...

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is a non-political respite. No matter what, you won’t be flamed, and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack...

1941: The following personnel were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions during the Japanese attack on the Hawaiian Islands. Capt. Mervyn S. Bennion, USS West Virginia BB48 Ens. Francis C. Flaherty, USS Oklahoma BB37 BMC Edwin J. Hill USS, Nevada BB36 LCDR Samuel G. Fuqua, USS Arizona BB39 RADM Isaac C. Kidd, BatDiv 1, aboard USS Arizona BB39 Ens. Herbert C. Jones, USS California BB44 AOC John W. Finn, VP14 at NAS Kaneohe Bay RMC Thomas J. Reeves, USS California BB44 LCDR Donald K. Ross, USS Nevada BB36 MM1 Robert R. Scott, USS California BB44 CWT Peter Tomich,...