Free Republic

French President Emmanuel Macron wants to pull off a grand diplomatic coup on Monday by collecting several Western countries together to recognize a Palestinian state, but he’s a long way from delivering a genuine breakthrough in Gaza. The limits to what he can achieve at the United Nations General Assembly are clear. European heavyweights like Germany and Italy will not be joining his initiative and there’s little prospect his efforts can sway U.S. President Donald Trump or Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the war. The big idea in New York is to trumpet the recognition of Palestinian statehood...

Like from a horror movie, in a chilling escalation of ongoing orca-boat interactions, a yacht belonging to a Lisbon-based sailing club sank off the coast near Costa da Caparica on Saturday, September 13, in the afternoon after being repeatedly rammed by a pod of killer whales, according to Portuguese maritime authorities and eyewitness accounts. A second vessel attempting to help the crew was also damaged in a separate incident nearby, leaving crews from both boats requiring rescue operations. The events, captured on video and widely shared across Portuguese social media, show the persistent and growing threat posed by these highly...

Orcas are behaving strangely, lately. Lately, there’s been a surge in incidents involving Orcas in the Oceans, from a pair of giant beasts killing 17 sharks in one day to a series of attacks on boats. Now, it’s reported that a pod of killer whales has ‘repeatedly rammed and sunk’ a small yacht filled with tourists out on the coast of Portugal. The targeted vessel was sailing off the coast of Fonte da Telha beach last Saturday, when the animals struck it. Daily Mail reported: “Footage shows several orcas chasing the boat before they start violently slamming against it, sending...

Portugal and other parts of Europe have been at the centre of one of the continent's worst wildfire seasons since records began in 2006, which has also turned into a breeding ground for misinformation. A post appeared on Instagram in August, alleging that immigrants receive €910 in benefits, compared to volunteer firefighters, who the user alleged receive no stipends. The account that published the picture is a self-professed supporter of the far-right Chega party and has more than 16,000 followers. The post has received 10,000 likes and has prompted other similar posts elsewhere on social media. For example, Chega MP...

VIDEOFatima was much different than I had imagined it would be. Most likely it is because my impressions of it were formed by the film, "The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima" starring Gilbert Roland. Therefore I expected a very small village. Well, there was a small village about 2 kilometers away from the Sanctuary of Fatima which you can see in this video. We also visited that as well.Anyway, later that day we left Fatima and took the bus to Porto without giving much further thought to Fatima UNTIL a few days later when something amazing happened. In fact,...

VIDEOIt's a good thing I recorded videos of Obidos during our Portugal trip because the memories of it were so magical as to seem to have been perhaps just a dream. No cars (except official vehicles) on the town's roads. It was like a trip back hundreds of years or more in time. it was weird because after we arrived at our historical hotel in the evening, the town seemed dead with almost nobody there. Imagine our surprise when the next morning, after our continental breakfast, we opened the hotel door and saw the streets filled with thousands of tourists....

A United Airlines flight was cancelled after a female passenger suffered an explosive bout of diarrhoea and vomiting that destroyed the aircraft's tiny bathroom. Writer and actor Meghan Reinertsen freely admitted she was to blame for the mid-air disaster, revealing she spent an hour and a half locked inside the lavatory during the July 2024 flight from Newark to Indianapolis. Reinertsen said the nightmare began moments before boarding her connecting flight home from Portugal, when she suddenly felt the first waves of what she later discovered was severe food poisoning.

VIDEOYes, it was truly a magical place. Sintra. Our next stop after Lisbon. Just seeing the photos or videos of Sintra doesn't do it justice. One must visit Sintra to feel its magical effects on the spirit. No wonder the royal family of Portugal chose to stay in the magic mountains of Sintra at the Palacio de Pena during the summers.

VIDEOThe BEST way to sightsee in Lisbon is on top of a double deck tour bus. You will have a panaromaic view of the city which makes for easy video recording and still camera shots. Also, as you can see, the streets of Lisbon are very narrow which makes it tough for most Americans to navigate while worrying about scratching or causing even worse damage to their rental cars. The weather on the day we toured Lisbon atop the tour bus was absolutely perfect with nary a cloud in the sky. At any time you want to get off the...

VIDEOAfter we visited Dos Jeronimos monastery we went to see the historic Belem Tower. Unfortunately, due to construction work on it, we were not allowed to go into the tower itself. However, I did take a few photos that reveals its unique architecture. After that a great tragedy was blessedly averted as I describe in the video. Let it serve as a warning to NEVER eat anything sold by street vendors in Portugal.

According to a Live Science report, archaeologists from the Center for Historic Shipwreck Preservation believe they have identified the wreck of a treasure-laden eighteenth-century Portuguese ship that was famously attacked by pirates off the coast of Madagascar. In 1721, the Nossa Senhora do Cabo departed India en route to Portugal with a cargo of gold, silver, and precious gems. It was also transporting the outgoing Portuguese viceroy and the Archbishop of Goa when it was captured by a group of pirates that included Olivier Levasseur (La Buse) and John Taylor. Divers located the ship's remains on the seafloor near the...

After participating with Francisco Pizarro in the conquest of Peru in 1535, Orellana moved to Guayaquil and was named governor of that area in 1538. When Pizarro's half brother, Gonzalo, prepared an expedition to explore the regions east of Quito, Orellana was appointed his lieutenant. In April 1541 he was sent ahead of the main party to seek provisions, taking a brigantine with 50 soldiers. He reached the junction of the Napo and Marañón rivers, where his group persuaded him of the impossibility of returning to Pizarro. Instead, he entered upon an exploration of the Amazon system. Drifting with the...

VIDEOI wasn't at all prepared for how incredibly YUUUUUUGE the Jeronimos Monastery in Lisbon would be. At least two full city blocks in length. So big that a single photo can't capture all of it. Even using my cell phone camera video to show you a panoramic hview of it fell short. The good news is that if you don't have the patience to wait several hours on line, the view from the outside is more impressive than the view on the inside where the building is divided into segments which permit only a smaller view. Therefore the BEST view...

VIDEOSome obsessions are harmful. Think Captain Ahab and his OBSESSION with a certain White Whale. However, other obsessions can be very positive. And in the case of Portugal, they can be congratulated for their OBSESSION with fresh squeezed orange juice. And don't just tell them that the orange juice is fresh squeezed, they have to VERIFY it with their own eyes.

It had been three days since Egypt and Syria launched a two-headed assault against Israel, and now,..Kissinger and the rest of Richard Nixon’s administration faced a decision with titanic consequences. Should they send a flagging Israel the tanks, jets, and other weapons it needed to win the war? Or let the belligerents duke it out as is? The president and his administration chose the former. For the Israelis, this was a deliverance that could have come from God himself. Simply put, America’s resupply saved Israel.... The whole of the U.S. government was caught unawares by the outbreak of the Yom...

“If I can’t build a church in their country, why do they have the right to everything here?” — With that cry, the people of Samora Corrêa took to the streets to reject the construction of an Islamic mosque, warning that Islam brings war, persecution, and the destruction of nations wherever it takes root. On Portugal’s national day—a day meant to celebrate the country’s proud heritage and enduring identity—hundreds of brave citizens in Samora Correia, a peaceful town in the Santarém district, took to the streets not with fanfare, but with a clear and defiant message: No to the mosque....

VIDEOHours after our rather hectic arrival in Portugal we finally got settled down in the Moov Hotel in the Oeiras district of the greater Lisbon area. I asked the person at the hotel desk if there were any restaurants within walking distance and he told us there was a pizza place and a restaurant called Casa Da Silva. Naturally we chose the latter in order to experience Portuguese food. Annnnnd WOW!!!It knocked my socks off including the fantastic house wine. Casa Da Silva would be a big hit in any city in the USA and yet Portugal, as we found...

VIDEOIn this second episode of my Portugal trip I warn viewers to avoid doing something that could easily turn into a horrible NIGHTMARE. My advice, at least in Portugal, is to AVOID renting cars. It could not only end up costing you an absurd amount of money, but it could also become afn extreme annoyance. Transportation in Portugal is inexpensive plus you meet a lot of interesting people on public trasport which would not happen if you are sealed in a car. Finally, in order to navigate many of the roads in Portugal, you have to drive in a manner...

German police will undertake a new search in Portugal this week as part of ongoing investigations into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. The search will reportedly take place in Praia da Luz, the town in the Algarve where she went missing nearly two decades ago. Madeleine was three years old when she vanished from a holiday apartment complex on 3 May 2007. Her disappearance sparked a Europe-wide police investigation, and has become one of the highest-profile unsolved missing person cases in the world. The Metropolitan Police said it was not involved in the new search, but was aware of the...

VIDEOHere is a summary of the WILD experiences I had in Portugal over the course of 11 days from May 20 to May 31 which feels more like a couple of months. This is just a summary of what I will show in more detail with photos and videos over the course of the next few weeks which will be posted on weekends. Some of what you are about to see and hear appears no where else and hopefully will save you a lot of money and grief if you decide to visit that magical country.I barely scratched the surface...