Free Republic

An Effingham tornado damaged or destroyed about 60 properties, including a museum housing historic Corvettes. No deaths were reported as the recovery begins.

George Santayana famously said that those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. The same is true for judicial overreach. Those judges who yield to the temptation to counter policies that are not to their liking are likely to repeat such excesses of power. That is why the recent decision of U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley in Boston is so concerning. While there are good-faith reasons why some have objected to the removal of slavery and climate change exhibits from national parks and monuments, this is not about the merits but the authority to make such changes. Kelley’s recent...

Mayor Zohran Mamdani and first lady Rama Duwaji have been invited to the Met Gala — but won’t be attending, sources tell Page Six. New York City’s mayor is traditionally invited by the Metropolitan Museum of Art to the lavish event every year, but we’re told that Mamdani, 34, won’t be joining Condé Nast’s Anna Wintour and her coterie of celeb guests on Monday, May 4. “He’s not coming,” said a source. “And it would be foolish if he did … can you imagine? It goes against everything he believes in.” Indeed, the event is being financially subsidized by Amazon...

The George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, Los Angeles Behold, the George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Exposition Park, Los Angeles. Of course the darn thing had to look like a space ship, because George Lucas made the very $5.3-billion fortune that enabled him to aggrandize himself in this museum on the space movie franchise Star Wars. The 300,000 square-foot building contains 35 galleries and two movie theaters. Note the “environmental” roof-scape! What’s that narrative? Answer: The “green” roof is there simply to mollify the climate zealots on the LA planning board and allow Hollywood bigshots to enjoy their...

Not content with dominating the music scene, Taylor Swift is apparently now taking on the art world, with hundreds of her fans making the pilgrimage to a German museum to catch a glimpse of a certain painting. Earlier this month, the Grammy winner released the music video for her latest single The Fate Of Ophelia, the opening shot of which seems to have been inspired by artist Friedrich Heyser’s painting depicting the iconic Shakespearean character. Heyser’s painting now lives in Museum Wiesbaden in Germany, and dedicated Swifties have been paying it a visit in their droves much to the surprise...

Thieves broke into the Louvre museum in Paris and stole priceless jewelry before escaping on motorbikes, French officials said Sunday. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez called the heist a "major robbery" that "lasted seven minutes." Speaking to France Inter, he said the thieves "entered from the outside using a basket lift" and "a disc cutter" to slice through glass panes containing precious jewels. "The investigation has begun, and a detailed list of the stolen items is being compiled," the ministry said in a statement. "Beyond their market value, these items have inestimable heritage and historical value." The museum posted on X...

WASHINGTON—In the parking lot of the Smithsonian’s smallest museum, 18 of 29 spots were full. But inside, there were no couples on first dates or hordes of tourists milling about the exhibits. In fact, there were no visitors there at all. Just 18 employees waiting for something to do. On a sunny, late-summer day, this reporter stood outside the museum — located in a Washington, D.C., slum, far from any tourists — from noon to 3:00 p.m., ready to count visitors. But there was no one to count. At 12:28 p.m., one woman entered while screaming into her cell phone,...

In a few days, car enthusiasts and film buffs will have a chance to own some incredible pieces of American cinema. After four years of existence, Colorado’s Rodz & Bodz Movie Cars & More Museum closed for a third time this month. Later this week, on Friday, August 22, more than 60 film-used and replica movie cars will cross the auction block. Along with them will be over 400 pieces of movie memorabilia and road art. It’s a sad speedbump for one of the lesser-known, but great museums in America, but these cars will get to live on with collectors....

The suspected terrorist charged with gunning down two Israeli embassy workers in Washington Wednesday is associated with radical socialist groups funded by the far-left Chinese sympathizer, millionaire Neville Singham and his activist wife Jodie Evans. Elias Rodriguez, 31, who allegedly confessed to killing the couple outside the Capital Jewish Museum and chanted “free, free Palestine!” was part of that network through his association with the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), a Communist political organization that has fielded presidential candidates since 2008. In 2018, Rodriguez also raised $240 in a GoFundMe campaign to join the March to Fight Poverty in...

A Democrat representative reportedly invited the father of the anti-Israel suspect accused of murdering two Israeli Embassy staffers in Washington, DC, on Wednesday to President Donald Trump’s joint address in March.

Although the Trump administration has made significant inroads toward eradicating the taxpayer-supported spread of transgender ideology across America’s youth, some examples of the insidious practice still remain. Most recently, New York’s Museum of Natural History began drawing harsh criticism from parents and others who oppose an eight-minute video being played on a loop inside the museum. “Dragfox,” a stop-motion-animated production, tells the story of a fox who takes a “magical journey” with a cross-dressing boy wearing his sister’s dress. The thinly veiled pro-trans message wasn’t lost on a slew of parents and children’s advocates, as the New York Post reported:...

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin is canceling a year-old museum dedicated to the EPA’s history — citing its $315-per-visitor cost to operate. The museum is located on the ground floor of the environmental agency, but recorded very little foot traffic, despite its prime location just a block north of the Smithsonian’s Natural History and American History museums on the National Mall. “The scarcely visited museum cost a whopping $4 million taxpayer dollars to build in accordance with Smithsonian standards and more than $600,000 annually to operate,” an EPA official said. “It had less than 2,000 external visitors between May...

ALBERT LEA, Minn. (KTTC) – The History Center of Freeborn County was visited by the Albert Lea Police Department and St. Paul Police Department’s bomb squad after live grenades were found in an exhibition collection. No one was injured and authorities quickly ensured the grenades wouldn’t pose a danger.

The F.B.I. director Kash Patel told bureau officials on Friday that he wanted to send 1,000 agents from the Washington area to field offices across the country, with another 500 support staff reassigned to the bureau’s sprawling campus in Alabama, people familiar with the matter said. ...In a statement, the F.B.I. said: “Director Patel has made clear his promise to the American public that F.B.I. agents will be in communities focused on combating violent crime. He has directed F.B.I. leadership to implement a plan to put this promise into action.” ...“I’d shut down the F.B.I. Hoover Building on Day 1...

Lithgow Small Arms Factory Museum Under Threat The world-famous Lithgow Small Arms Factory Museum (LSAFM) in Australia is threatened by a combination of police bureaucracy and clueless or hostile management. On August 25, 2024, thieves broke in and stole 27 antique and collectible pistols. At this time, 18 of the pistols have been recovered.One of the two displays the 27 pistols were stolen from. There were dozens of such displays in multiple rooms in the Museum. This correspondent visited the wonderful museum in 2019. It is an incredible example of cultural heritage and history. It contained thousands of invaluable historical...

The Bigfoot Discovery Museum in the Santa Cruz Mountains will close after 20 years as its owner retires. "It's going to be weird for me. Yeah. I'm so used to this, and I've been doing this for so, so long. To suddenly have it all go away, and everything is going to be strange," said owner Michael Ruggs. The iconic museum, located alongside Highway 9 in Felton, has embodied Santa Cruz's quirkiness for twenty years. As Ruggs retires, the museum will retire alongside him. "Well, anywhere from 30 to 70 people come in the door and, they'll check everything out,...

MONROE, CONNECTICUT – The world’s most famous paranormal-investigating couple left behind a museum full of real-life “haunted” relics they collected in their adventures – including the creepy doll that inspired the horror movie “Annabelle.” Late husband-and-wife couple Ed and Lorraine Warren, who are now immortalized as characters in “The Conjuring” series of movies, kept an occult museum on their property that is no longer open to the public. But those lucky enough – or unlucky enough – to get a look inside are surrounded by occult items like haunted fragments of crashed Eastern Airlines Flight 401, an organ that plays...

On Sunday, August 25, 2024, thieves broke into the Lithgow Small Arms Factory Museum, in Lithgown, Australia. They broke into display cases and stole 27 antique and collectable firearms. The police have recovered 13 of the 27 firearms which were stolen.From Police.nsw.gov.au/news:Drug and Firearms Squad detectives with assistance from Chifley and South Coast Police Districts have charged three men for their roles in the alleged theft of 27 guns during a break and enter of a Lithgow Museum last week.Police were called to the Lithgow Small Arms Factory Museum on Methven Street, Lithgow, about 3.30am on Sunday 25 August 2024,...

A curious four-year-old boy visiting the Hecht Museum in Israel with his family inadvertently smashed a jar that predates the time of Biblical main characters King David and King Solomon. The boy’s father told the BBC that his son was simply “curious about what was inside,” so he pulled at the large piece of ceramic crockery to get a better look. To the family’s credit, they quickly owned up to the boy’s folly and spoke to a nearby security guard. To the museum’s credit, Dr. Inbal Rivlin, the institution’s general director, invited the boy and his family to visit the...

A seething mob of anti-Israel protesters busted inside the Brooklyn Museum Friday, where they set up an encampment, made their way to the roof and draped a banner from the side of the building declaring the war in Gaza “genocide.” The intruders — who were the vanguard of a massive demonstration nearly 1,000 people strong — scaled the building and rappelled down inside of the art museum with climbing equipment, police sources said. Hundreds of others surrounded the museum. A number of protesters on the roof draped a giant banner reading “Free Palestine Divest From Genocide” over the front of...