Free Republic

Gary Sinise, the star of “CSI: NY,” has revealed that his son, McCanna “Mac” Sinise, died at 33. Mac died Jan. 5 after a five-and-a-half year battle with chordoma, a rare form of cancer. On Tuesday, the Gary Sinise Foundation took to Instagram to share a picture of Mac with the caption, “In Honor & Memory of McCanna ‘Mac’ Sinise 1990-2024.” Sinise, 68, had Mac with his wife, Moira Harris – the couple has been married since 1981, and also have daughters Sophie and Ella. Sinise, who has won an Emmy, a Golden Globe and a Tony, is also known...

Marty Krofft, who with his brother Sid produced memorable kids shows “H.R. Pufnstuf” and “Land of the Lost” — as well as the 2009 feature based on the latter — has died. He was 86. Krofft died of kidney failure Saturday in Los Angeles, Calif., a family representative told Variety. Often referred to as the King of Saturday Mornings, Krofft and his brother also produced a number of primetime variety shows, including “Donny and Marie” and “Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters.” Sid and Marty Krofft began their careers producing children’s television with “H.R. Pufnstuf,” a live-action program about a...

Robert Clary, a French-born survivor of Nazi concentration camps during World War II who played a feisty prisoner of war in the improbable 1960s sitcom “Hogan’s Heroes,” has died. He was 96. Clary died during the night Wednesday of natural causes at his home in Beverly Hills, niece Brenda Hancock said Thursday. “He never let those horrors defeat him," Hancock said of Clary's wartime experiences as a youth. “He never let them take the joy out of his life. He tried to spread that joy to others through his singing and his dancing and his painting.” When he recounted his...

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is barred from receiving the Eucharist in the Archdiocese of San Francisco because of her efforts to codify federal protection for abortions, according to a May 20 statement from Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone. “I must make a public declaration that [Pelosi] is not to be admitted to Holy Communion unless and until she publicly repudiate her support for abortion ‘rights’ and confess and receive absolution for her cooperation in this evil in the sacrament of Penance. I have accordingly sent her a Notification to this effect, which I have now made public,” Cordileone wrote in...

Father George Rutler is a renowned religious figure in the Catholic Church. He has dedicated his entire life to the lessons of God and has remained committed to teaching those lessons to fellow Catholic believers. From obtaining several degrees from numerous universities to preaching the word of the Lord to churches across New York City, Rutler has made a name for himself amongst the community. [snip] In 2020, Rutler was accused of sexual assault by a 22 year old woman. It was announced at the end of May 2021 that those charges have officially been dropped. Crisis magazine reported that...

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (KABC) -- A special honor has been awarded to a Hollywood hero. Gary Sinise, known to many as beloved "Lieutenant Dan" in the classic film "Forrest Gump," was given the Patriot Award at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley. It's the highest honor given out by the organization, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. In the years since Sinise made "Forrest Gump," he's spent his off-camera time raising money for veterans groups.

Victor Espinosa, a lecturer in sociology at Ohio State University, has been telling students that they are forbidden from using the term ‘illegal immigrant’ to describe immigrants who did not enter the country through the legal method. Because – drum roll – it is offensive. Mr Espinosa has written to at least one student telling them they ‘will not be allowed to use the term illegal to refer to an unauthorized immigrant’ because it ‘dehumanizes, marginalizes and racializes the people it seeks to describe.’ In his wisdom and generosity, Espinosa grants that students may use the term illegal immigration –...

Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has died, a court spokesperson confirmed. He was 87. A liberal champion, Reinhardt was appointed to the bench by President Carter in 1980. He authored key liberal court opinions on hot-button topics ranging from abortion and marriage equality to assisted suicide and immigration. At the same time, the opinions made him a target of criticism from conservative corners — and of regular reversal from the Supreme Court.

The restored tomb in which Jesus’s body is believed to have been interred after his crucifixion will be officially unveiled at a ceremony at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s Old City on Wednesday. “If the intervention hadn’t happened now, there is a very great risk that there could have been a collapse,” Bonnie Burnham of the World Monuments Fund, which had oversight of the project, told Associated Press. “This is a complete transformation of the monument.” The delicate restoration was carried out by a team of about 50 experts from the National Technical University, which previously worked...

The U.S. Geological Survey confirms a 2.0 magnitude earthquake was recorded Monday afternoon in Dallas. The epicenter was located between Walnut Hill Lane and Manana Drive, just west of Interstate 35E, close to MoneyGram Soccer Park at Elm Fork just after 4 p.m. The quake hit just about 2.7 miles north of the former site of Texas Stadium. It follows two earthquakes that occurred over the weekend in Irving.

Breaking - more to follow

SPENCER, Mass. -- For more than a century, Catholic Cistercian monks known as Trappists have been brewing and selling what many beer lovers consider some of the best in the world. Eight monasteries - six in Belgium and one each in Holland and Austria - produce the only beer recognized by the International Trappist Association as authentic Trappist beer. And starting Thursday, the 63 brothers of St. Joseph's Abbey - about an hour's drive west of Boston - will join them, selling the first Trappist beer brewed outside Europe. Their ambitious venture was hardly met with enthusiasm by their exacting...

Ray Briem, the longtime KABC-AM talk show host who ruled all-night radio for nearly three decades with his phone calls to the famous and the quirky and his opinionated banter slamming liberals, championing conservative causes and extolling the big-band music he loved, died Wednesday at his Malibu home. He was 82. The cause was cancer, said his son Bryan. Briem spent most of his life on the radio, reaching his largest audience as the host of a popular midnight-to-5 a.m. talk show on KABC from 1967 to 1994. During those 27 years he helped set the mold for what has...

Chris Stamp, one of the original managers of The Who, has died of cancer at the age of 70. Band member Roger Daltrey paid tribute to him on stage in Detroit on Saturday. He described Stamp as a man "without whom we wouldn't be the band we were", according to Billboard magazine. Stamp co-founded the group's Track Records label. He co-managed The Who with Kit Lambert and also helped to launch the career of Jimi Hendrix. Daltrey told the audience at Joe Louis arena that Stamp "flew into the universe on a pair of rainbow wings". "Chris, we can never...

After last night's slow drip water torture and today's post mortem, figured we might need a short and inspiring speech to reflect on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep-xgd_eETE Let's Do It!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Li0no7O9zmE

Stacy Knutson, a struggling Minnesota waitress and mother of five, says she was searching for a "miracle" to help her family with financial problems. But that "miracle" quickly came and went after police seized a $12,000 tip that was left at her table. Knutson filed a lawsuit in Clay County District Court stating that the money is rightfully hers. Police argue it is drug money. Knutson was working at the Fryn' Pan in Moorhead, Minn., when, according to her attorney, Craig Richie, a woman left a to-go box from another restaurant on the table. Knutson followed the woman to her...

Whitney Houston had cocaine in her system when she died -- this according to the L.A. County Coroner. The L.A. County Coroner has just released the singer's official cause of death -- accidental drowning ... but the report also notes heart disease and cocaine use were contributing factors to Whitney's demise. A source connected to the investigation tells us it is "very possible" Whitney had a heart attack that caused her to lose consciousness and drown. The heart attack may have been triggered by hardening of the arteries as a result of cocaine use.

Fellow FReepers, just got an email that there are still free Obama - Biden 2012 stickers to be had. I'm sure we could find some creative uses for them and all the while doing at least a tiny part to advance the cause of FReedom in this country. http://my.barackobama.com/Obama-Biden-Sticker

Once again, Apple has found itself the most valuable company on Earth, attaining a market capitalization of about $456 billion today, beating ExxonMobil’s market cap of just $402 Billion. Yawn. More interesting, however, is that Apple’s combined value is more than Google and Microsoft put together, who are worth $198.9 billion and $256.7 billion, respectively. As we watch Apple race to be the world’s first trillion dollar company, I wonder what we’ll all be measuring its value against next. Silicon Valley? The United States? The Moon? The secret to immortality?