Free Republic

The Olympic flame was lit Thursday in an ancient temple in one country in crisis and solemnly sent off carrying international hopes that Brazil's political paralysis will not taint the Rio Games that start in barely 100 days. As the flame was kindled in the 2,600-year-old Temple of Hera at Ancient Olympia, International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach and Rio organisers sought to rally support.

Kansas Governor Sam Brownback offered options on Wednesday for dealing with sinking revenue for the state's current and next budgets, including the sale of tobacco bonds. With the fiscal 2016 revenue estimated to drop by nearly $94 million and fiscal 2017 revenue expected to be $134.7 million less than previously projected, the Republican governor said Kansas could raise about $158 million through its first sale of bonds backed by its share of a 1998 multi-state settlement with U.S. tobacco companies.

The Russian M240 240-millimeter mortar, along with its vehicle-mounted counterpart the 2S4 Tyulpan or “Tulip,” is possibly the largest-caliber tube artillery, not including rockets, used in combat today. Its massive shells were intended to smash apart heavy military fortifications, but just as often they have been employed to rain devastation upon densely-populated urban areas.

In a triumph of common sense, historical awareness, and crazed enthusiasm for a Broadway rap musical, the Treasury Department has announced that Harriet Tubman will replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill, which will void a previous decision to take Alexander "Hamilton" Hamilton off the $10. (Update, 4:45 p.m.: Treasury says there will still be some sort of image of Jackson on the back of the bill.) This is great news, and it brings up another important question: Which historical figure should our current president, Barack Hussein Obama, replace when we honor his legacy by putting him on an item...

The Cleveland Browns are trading the No. 2 pick in this year's NFL draft to the Philadelphia Eagles for five selections over the next two years. The Browns get the 2016 first-round pick (No. 8 overall), the Eagles' third-round and fourth-round picks in 2016. They also get the Eagles' 2017 first-round pick and the Eagles' 2018 second-rounder.

Dwayne 'Pearl' Washington, who went from New York City playground wonder to Big East star for Jim Boeheim at Syracuse University, has died age 52. Washington died on Wednesday of cancer, the university said.

A victorious Donald Trump coming out of the Republican National Convention would have a hard time raising the money he needs to beat the Democratic presidential nominee in November. Interviews with leading GOP fundraisers, donors and outside conservative groups reveal that Trump is so deeply disliked by large parts of the Republican Party’s donor community that he will have trouble winning their favor in a general election. Then, he’d need more than $1 billion to defeat the money machine of the Hillary Clinton campaign, the presumptive Democratic nominee.

The German and Dutch armies and navies are poised to “merge”, creating the nucleus of the European Union’s longed for pan-EU military force. Pointing to German ministerial statements spelling out the creation of an EU Army as the ultimate goal, critics say Britain’s military will not be able to avoid being sucked in if the country remains within the Union. The German government has revealed that Dutch and German land armies and navies are set to move towards “closer integration”, with two Dutch units already coming under German command. Last month the Dutch 43rd Mechanised Brigade was subsumed into the...

A mass child marriage ceremony in India has been captured on camera - showing young brides crying as they are forced to wed. The heartbreaking video was taken in Chittorgarh, a city in Rajasthan, northern India, a state in the country that is prevalent for child marriages. In one clip a young girl of around ten-years-old is desperately crying and pleading for help as her father drags her around the customary ceremony.

As states and school districts grapple with laws or allowances around transgender bathroom use, one retail giant has made its stance public. In a statement on its company website Tuesday, Target declared its commitment to “equality and equity.” “Inclusivity is a core belief at Target,” the statement said. “Most relevant for the conversations currently underway, we welcome transgender team members and guests to use the restroom or fitting room facility that corresponds with their gender identity.”

After weeks of racking up victory after victory in the delegate fight, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was left completely out in the cold Tuesday night in New York. As Donald Trump scored what is likely to be a near-sweep of his home-state's New York delegates with more than 60 percent of the popular vote with 98.5 percent of precincts reporting as of Wednesday morning, Cruz received less than 15 percent overall, and only cracked 20 percent in two congressional districts.

UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor announced his retirement from mixed-martial arts on Twitter Tuesday. The announcement follows McGregor witnessing last week a Brazilian mixed-martial artist take a beating in the cage that led to his death. The 27-year-old posting the retirement tweet while in Iceland training struck some as a strange setting to call it quits, leading to speculation of a publicity stunt or a call of a UFC bluff on money.

The United States Commission on Civil Rights strongly condemns recent state laws passed, and proposals being considered, under the guise of so-called “religious liberty” which target members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (“LGBT”) community for discrimination. North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory recently signed into law H.B. 2, legislation blocking local governments from passing anti-discrimination rules that grant protections to gay and transgender persons. The law also repeals existing municipal anti-discrimination laws which protected LGBT people from bias in housing and employment. Critically, the new legislation also forces transgender people to utilize public bathrooms and changing facilities based on...

Johnny Manziel has been fired by his new agent Drew Rosenhaus. It was revealed last Wednesday that Rosenhaus had told Manziel he would not continue their relationship unless the disgraced quarterback agreed to enter a facility to receive treatment for his alleged substance abuse issues. Manziel responded by spending the weekend partying in Coachella. This is now the second agent to fire Manziel is as many months. ESPN was the first to report the news.

Theranos, the embattled blood-testing laboratory, said on Monday that federal officials were conducting a criminal investigation into the company, adding to a series of questions from officials about its inner workings. In a note to outside partners, the company said that the Justice Department had requested documents and that the investigation was active. The note also said that the Securities and Exchange Commission was investigating the company.

The New Yorker‘s James Surowiecki writes this week about how Big Business has been a massively effective force for gay rights. He writes that progressives are used to seeing Big Business as the bad guy, but the pro-LGBT activist role corporations have taken on complicates matters. More:

The administration of Gov. Ralph DLG Torres defended the CNMI’s new gun control laws on Friday as a law that could be “a role model” for other U.S. states and jurisdictions facing seemingly uncontrolled and continued gun violence. The administration was responding to queries regarding its position on recent reports that the a legal challenge to the new law, Public law 19-42, was likely, particularly over a provision that asseses a $1,000 excise tax on pistols.

The Iranian Ground Forces revealed new vehicles on 13 April including the Tiam tank, which appears to be a fusion of US and Chinese tanks. The Tiam's hull is that of a M47M, a variant of the US M47 that uses the engine from the M60A1 tank. The M47M was produced in Iran from the early 1970s and Iran unveiled a modified version called the Sabalan in April 2014. The Sabalan was armed with what looked like a 105 mm L7-type rifled gun instead of the original 90 mm.

Nat Turner, a former slave in America, leads a liberation movement in 1831 to free African-Americans in Virginia that results in a violent retaliation from whites.

The U.S. Armed Forces operate a wide array of sophisticated weaponry, in many cases superior to anything else in the world. But while the new destroyers, carriers, or the F-22 might have no equal, the U.S. Armed Forces face a significant gap in their capabilities: the total lack of any conventional submarines.