Free Republic

After more than 100 years in business, the flagship Neiman Marcus store in Downtown Dallas is closing. News of the closure broke Tuesday when the company’s new owners announced they were being forced to close the landmark location. Saks Global acquired the Dallas-based luxury brand last year.

I know a vanity, but who were the worst presidents? My 5, Biden(obama's 3rd term) Carter LBJ FDR(1932-40) Just to go back through history, Millard Fillmore.

Yossi Klein Halevi, senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute, describes how anti-Zionists in academia have systematically challenged the moral basis of the Jewish/Zionist story. He exhorts us, the Jews of the world, to mount a credible defense of our story. But do we Jews know our own story? Edward Robinson, a prominent American archeologist of the 1800s, did not think so. Robinson was the first to identify the archeological ruins of Bar’am, a site in northern Galilee near the Lebanese border, as synagogues. The primary structure, built in the third century CE, was still in use in the 13th...

A letter written by George Washington, providing rare understanding of his confidence in regular Americans to fight and win the revolutionary war, has been put up for sale on Presidents Day. The first US president penned the document as leader of the Continental Army in 1777, shortly after British forces ransacked a vital military supply depot in Danbury, Connecticut – a devastating action that fellow general Samuel Parsons wrote him was “an event very alarming to the country”. The handwritten reply, hidden from public view for decades in a private collection in New England, shows that Washington refused to consider...

EYE-WATERING MOMENT: RFK Jr. delivers an emotional tribute to President Trump after being sworn in as HHS Secretary. “For 20 years, I’ve gotten up every morning on my knees and prayed that God would put me in a position where I could end the childhood chronic disease epidemic in this country. On August 23rd of last year, God sent me President Trump. “He’s now given me—he’s kept every promise that he’s made to me. He’s kept his word on every account and gone way beyond it. I’m so grateful to you, Mr. President. A lot of people told me that...

0:00 Introduction 1:35 Rowena (Belle's Niece) Speaking 2:25 Belle Buford Thom Collins Speaking This is Belle Buford Thom Collins, born in 1878, speaking about her childhood in 1880s Los Angeles. Her father, Cameron E. Thom, was the Mayor of Los Angeles between 1882 and 1884. Mrs. Collins' niece, Rowena, is the person speaking in the beginning of the recording. Audio has been remastered. This was recorded on November 26, 1964. The original tape contained several gaps, so some areas begin in mid-sentence. All photographs are of early Los Angeles, between the 1870s to the late 1890s.

Luke Farritor, one of the few employees at Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, rose to fame in the tech world after solving a 2,000-year-old riddle that has stumped every historian and archaeologist so far - and he did it with the power of artificial intelligence. 'Wonderkids' in the technology world are certainly not a rare occurrence, as often the best and brightest begin honing their skills from an early age, but young 'genius' Luke Farritor separated himself from the rest by achieving something that many had wrestled with for over 2,000 years. For centuries historians and archaeologists had wrestled...

Often the difference between winning and losing in pro football comes down to one play. In each of the previous 58 Super Bowls, you can point to one play that, had the outcome of that play been different, it may have resulted in a different team hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. The Eagles and Chiefs will look to make the defining play in Super Bowl LIX, joining the following list of plays that helped determine who won each of the previous 58 Super Bowls. The following plays not only helped determine the outcome of each Super Bowl, they helped mold the...

The Times of India reports that the dating of charcoal and pottery discovered with iron objects at the burial site of Sivagalai in southern India indicates that the Iron Age began in Tamil Nadu some 5,300 years ago. The testing, including accelerometer mass spectrometry and optically stimulated luminescence dating, was conducted by three different laboratories. It had been previously thought that iron was first worked in the Hittite Empire, in what is now Turkey, around 1380 B.C. “The recent radiocarbon dates indicate that when [the] Indus Valley experienced [the] Copper Age, south India was in [the] Iron Age,” said archaeologist...

Julius Franklin Howell (January 17, 1846 - June 19, 1948) joined the Confederate Army when he was 16. After surviving a few battles, he eventually found himself in a Union prison camp at Point Lookout, Maryland. In 1947, at the age of 101, Howell made this recording at the Library of Congress.

Jack the Ripper's murder spree claimed the lives of countless women A researcher has claimed to have definitively identified Jack the Ripper through DNA evidence, sparking calls for an official inquest into the infamous murders. Russell Edwards says he has obtained a "100 per cent DNA match" linking the killer to Aaron Kosminski, a Polish barber who emigrated to London. "It's very difficult to put into words the elation I felt when I saw the 100 per cent DNA match," Edwards said. "This brings closure and it's a form of justice for the descendants," he added. Russell Edwards says he...

Many can identify with the immense relief that accompanies downsizing later in life. After years of slogging at the coal face and raising children, an empty nest can mean the chance to move to a smaller place with lower bills and experience the heady rush of freedom. Sir Thomas Ingilby certainly knows the feeling: he recalls the moment of handing over the keys to his Yorkshire home as akin to 'a giant weight being lifted off my shoulders'. It was extraordinary,' the 69-year-old muses. 'I've never felt anything like it. It really was like a physical sensation.' Then again, the...

The Depression of the 1930s was more than an economic crisis. All of American society was upended, as economically hard times forced people to question their deepest beliefs about America and the American experiment. Perhaps capitalism wasn't the way to a better society. Millions of intellectuals and ordinary people toyed with the idea that Communism may be a viable alternative economic and social model. This was before the horrors of Joseph Stalin and Soviet Communism were exposed and Communism discredited. America's left-wing intelligentsia embraced Communism. The Soviet Union's fight against Nazi Germany, supported enthusiastically by American Communists, blinded many of...

He was known as the most charismatic and consequential president of the post-war 20th century. His contagiously positive demeanor, moral resoluteness, and clear focus, as well as his ability to radiate hope, optimism, and an ambitious “let’s get this done” attitude, though commanding, pragmatic, and firm when he needed to be, enabled him to take on the threat of the most dominant and occupying force in the world since the beginning of that century; The Soviet Union. As communism spread throughout the world not only in the Soviet Union, but in Cuba and other parts of the world as well,...

NATIONAL HOT PASTRAMI SANDWICH DAY Pastrami lovers across the country look forward to their favorite sandwich on January 14th as they recognize National Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day. #HotPastramiSandwichDay Popular delicatessen meat, pastrami is usually made from beef. Others make their pastrami sandwich with pork, mutton, or turkey. Before refrigeration, butchers originally created pastrami as a way to preserve meat. To make pastrami, they placed the raw meat in brine. Then they partially dried it and seasoned it with various herbs and spices to be smoked and steamed. A wave of Romanian Jewish immigration introduced pastrami (pronounced pastróme), a Romanian specialty,...

If you have expertise in reading cursive, then there’s an opportunity that might peak your interest. The National Archives is looking for someone who can transcribe (or classify) more than 200 years’ worth of U.S. documents. Which historical documents must be transcribed? A team within the federal agency is looking for volunteers to read and transcribe records from Revolutionary War pension records that include applications and other records related to claims for pensions and bounty land warrants. Other historical materials include immigration documents from the 1890s and Japanese evacuation records. What they're saying: Suzanne Isaacs, a community manager with the...

The new study, led by Kirsten Bos and Johannes Krause of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, analyzed ancient DNA from skeletal remains in Mexico, Peru, Argentina, and Chile. Using state-of-the-art paleopathology techniques, the researchers reconstructed five genomes of Treponema pallidum, the bacterium responsible for syphilis and its related diseases, yaws and bejel. These genomes date back as far as 9,000 years, predating Columbus's voyages."We've known for some time that syphilis-like infections occurred in the Americas for millennia, but from the lesions alone, it's impossible to fully characterize the disease," explained Casey Kirkpatrick, a postdoctoral researcher at the Max...

PPresident Joe Biden is the second-worst president in American history, a Gallup poll found Tuesday. Biden and his aides are trying to make the case that he will be remembered as one of the greatest presidents of all time, but that does not appear to be supported by data. Fifty-four percent of Americans say Biden will be remembered as a “below average” (37 percent) or “poor” (17 percent) president. Only 19 percent say he will be remembered as “outstanding” (6 percent) or “above average” (13 percent). Twenty-six percent think he will be regarded as “average.” Compared with nine recent presidents...

NATIONAL BEAN DAY Green, red, kidney, lima, or soy are just a few of the different kinds of beans recognized on National Bean Day on January 6th. #NationalBeanDay This day celebrates the bean in all sizes, shapes, and colors. We've been cultivating beans (legumes) since the early seventh millennium BC. And today, just as throughout the Old and New World history, beans provide a significant source of protein. Not only are beans an exceptionally healthy meal and snack choice, but they supply an excellent source of fiber. They are low in fat and are high in complex carbohydrates, folate, and...

In this Behind-The-Scenes video from Star Trek (The Original Series - TOS), we learn how The U.S.S. 1701 Enterprise flies in space, which is reminiscent of the Red Hot Chili Peppers Song, Californication, which lyrics say, "Space may be the final frontier, but it's made in a Hollywood basement..." Seriously, this takes place at Desilu Studios, and we learn the Bluescreen techniques used with front lighting, back lighting, rear lighting, and how intricate it was. (All of these Star Trek scenes are from The Roddenberry Vault Blu-Ray Set). Enjoy.