Free Republic

A former Wyoming VFW commander accused of stealing his own war helmet had no idea there was a felony warrant for his arrest until he was taken into custody at an airport in front of his family. Richard Knapp, 59, told Cowboy State Daily in a Friday phone interview that he, his wife, Nathalie, daughter, son, and son’s girlfriend were returning to the United States to visit Knapp’s mother and various sites after moving to the Netherlands a couple years earlier. When they landed at Washington Dulles International Airport on July 23, Knapp said, authorities arrested him and took him...

The Federal Aviation Administration has officially lifted the nationwide ground stop after flights were halted for roughly four hours, the agency announced Friday evening. [snip] Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called on Congress to provide the Trump administration with $50 billion to “fix” the nation’s air traffic control system. “It's the old hardware that went down. And I think the question for the American people is, do you want your Congress to fund this?” Duffy said after the FAA lifted a nationwide ground stop on air travel. He continued, “We had a down payment — President Trump asked for it in...

SpaceX booster explodes (Screenshot via @CSI_Starbase on X) ===================================================================== SpaceX’s Starship booster exploded during a test flight at Starbase, Texas, after the company aborted an attempt to catch it during a test flight. The massive Starship rocket launched successfully, but the booster failed to return to the tower and instead went into the ocean. The explosion was reportedly intentional. Via @CSI_Starbase on X: VIDEO AT LINK.................. Per Space.com: Flight 15 lifted off from SpaceX‘s Starbase facility here in South Texas at 5:47 p.m. ET (2247 GMT; 4:47 p.m. local Texas time). The towering Super Heavy booster and Ship upper stage...

A new AI-supported air traffic system was rolled out to all of FAA’s control centers three days before an extremely rare ground stop halted planes across the US Friday, according to the agency. The new technology — known as Strategic Management of Airspace or “SMART” — was expanded to 22 air route traffic control centers across the country Tuesday, according to the Washington Times. The tool merges about 200 “data streams” — focused on flight paths, schedules, weather and other factors — onto a single platform to anticipate airspace constraints and other issues, the outlet reported. A flight map on...

A crucial test this week could bring SpaceX one step closer to revolutionizing spaceflight — or cast new uncertainty on the company’s boldest ambitions. SpaceX will for the first time attempt to bring every part of its massive Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, back to dry land — intact — during a mission set to launch on Friday between 5:45 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. ET. The aim is to develop a fully reusable launch system, a goal the company has deemed the “holy grail” of rocketry because it would eliminate the need to throw away multimillion-dollar rocket parts...

Promising images coming in from a sonar scan of the SS United States! She appears to have landed upright, more to come today as crews conduct further scans and divers confirm its orientation. *** What you’re seeing here can be best described as a cross cut section showing the multiple deck levels of the ship. They appear to all be horizontal, which is indicative of the ship being upright with the uppermost deck sitting around 55 feet of water.If so, this is exactly what everyone has worked so diligently to accomplish and what divers around the world hoped to be...

Imagine calling 9-1-1 nine times for a home invasion and rape in progress. And nobody comes. For hours. Welcome to Chicago. On November 6, 2026, a 19-year-old woman named Yizel was home alone in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood when an armed man broke in, forced her into the bathroom, and raped her at gunpoint. He stole her phone and bag and then left. Her family called 911 repeatedly. EMS arrived. The Chicago police did not. Dispatch records show the 911 center received nine calls. The Gresham District was in “Radio Assignments Pending” status—no patrol cars available. The attack reached the...

The issue, which took years to diagnose, may cause an unintended arm workout in the middle of a drive. * More than 635,000 Honda Pilot, Acura MDX, and Acura TLX vehicles have been recalled due to a software issue that could disable power steering while the car is in motion. * Honda has received one injury report and 146 warranty claims related to the issue so far, according to NHTSA documents. * Owners of affected vehicles will be notified via mail by December 14 and should schedule an appointment with a dealer to install the software fix at no cost....

Here are a few options: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWB3dDnFxG0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVHj8iJW_J0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAkjzuSRdMY

For over 400 years, this brass padlock has remained firmly sealed at the bottom of the sea. But scientists have finally cracked its code, after using cutting-edge CT technology to solve the four-letter sequence that has kept it locked since 1583. A team from Cardiff University were able to peer into the lock's internal mechanism without causing any damage. They identified the correct letter combination -- ANCE -- and successfully opened the historic artefact... Experts believe the lock once secured a treasure chest containing valuable possessions aboard the Ann Francis, a ship that was wrecked during a violent storm. The...

According to a statement released by Bournemouth University, Iron Age British ruler Verica was actually female and not male, contrary to long-held assumptions. Verica ruled the Celtic tribe called the Atrebates in the first century A.D. and was a central figure in the Roman invasion of Britain. After she was ousted from power in A.D. 40, she fled to the Roman emperor Claudius and convinced him to invade the island three years later. The new research was led by Bournemouth archaeologist Miles Russell, who said that the patriarchal mindset of nineteenth-century classical historians is largely to blame for the confusion...

More than 700 coins were discovered at three sites near the Drava River in southwestern Hungary by archaeologists from the Rippl-Rónai Museum, Hungary Today reports. Most of the coins have been dated to the rule of the emperor Constantine (A.D. 307–337), but silver coins dating to the reigns of the emperors Antoninus Pius (A.D. 138–161), Severus Alexander (A.D. 222–235), Aurelian (A.D. 270–275), and Probus (A.D. 276–282) have also been identified. One coin, known as a "consecration coin," is thought to have been minted to mark the death of Claudius II (reigned A.D. 268–270) and his deification. Pottery, brooches, and fragments...

OKALOOSA COUNTY, Fla. (WKRG) — Okaloosa County announced the sinking of the SS United States off the coast of Destin has officially been moved up to Wednesday due to unsafe weather conditions. According to a county news release, the SS United States will be sunk on Wednesday, Nov. 11, with operations to begin at 1 p.m. The release said the sendoff ceremony originally scheduled for 1:30 p.m. is canceled. >>> “While the weather may have changed our plans, it has given this historic occasion an especially meaningful date. On Veterans Day, as we honor the men and women who served...

In 2008, workmen digging trenches for electrical cables in the Estonian island town of Salme uncovered human bones and a variety of objects that they piled next to their trench. At first the bones were thought to be from a soldier killed in World War II, but archaeologists realized that the objects dated to the Viking period. A small team of archaeologists working under Marge Konsa, an archaeologist at the University of Tartu, started excavating and soon found the hull of a ship. Nearly all of the ship's timber had rotted away, leaving behind only discolorations in the soil. But...

Broken pieces of limestone from a 4,400-year-old tomb in Egypt carry one of the earliest known Egyptian autobiographies. In it, an official named Khuwy presents himself as an honest man who was close to the royal couple. An Egyptian official who lived some 4,400 years ago wanted to be remembered as a man who never took anything from anyone. His words survive only in fragments, but those fragments may help show where a long Egyptian habit began: carving your own life story on the walls of your tomb. The man was called Khuwy. His tomb was uncovered in 2019 at...

Excavations within the medieval Great Church of Jesus in northern Sudan's Old Dongola uncovered a section of the original cathedral floor for the first time, according to an IFL Science report. Old Dongola was the capital of Makuria, a flourishing Nubian kingdom that converted to Christianity in the sixth century A.D. The cathedral once dominated the ancient metropolis, measuring 154 feet wide and 187 long, and standing over six stories high. It was one of the most monumental and important Christian buildings in Nubia, likely serving as the seat of the Bishop of Dongola, one of the most senior Christian...

The Mainichi reports that another thirteenth-century shipwreck has been discovered off Takashima Island, after two others had previously been identified in 2011 and 2015. It is believed that all three vessels went down during the 1281 Battle of Koan, when the Mongol-led Chinese Yuan Dynasty attempted to invade Japan. The recently investigated ship originally measured around 100 feet long and was equipped with living quarters, likely serving as the mother ship of the fleet. Among the items recovered by archaeologists were five dice and 29 small cards used to play koppai, a game that originated in China. "The koppai cards,...

Ivory Tools 400,000 Years Old Discoveries That Rewrote History | 54:57 History with Kayleigh Movies and History with Kayleigh | 31,350 views | November 3, 2026

In an eerie retelling of the Arthurian legend of Excalibur, archaeologists have found a 3,300-year-old sword at the bottom of a lake. The weapon was found during an underwater excavation at Lake Mezzano, a small volcanic lake in central Italy, where it had been submerged for millennia with its blade still sharp. Experts believe the sword, which dates to around 1300 BC, may have been deliberately deposited as part of a ritual offering, a practice already linked to several Bronze Age European sites. The discovery was announced by Italy's Superintendence of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the Province of...

Over 7,000 years ago, Neolithic farmers crossed the Mediterranean from Iberia into North Africa. Carrying Cardial Ware pottery, domesticated crops and livestock, these European migrants established communities in Morocco and mixed with indigenous Maghrebi hunter-gatherers. Archaeology and ancient DNA shows how farming spread through migration, cultural adoption and later movements from the Levant. Including the remarkable spread of the R1b-V88 paternal lineage from Mesolithic Europe and Neolithic Iberia into the Green Sahara, and ultimately to populations living around Lake Chad today. How DNA Reveals Neolithic Europeans Colonized Africa 7,000 Years Ago | 22:05 Dan Davis History | 392K subscribers |...