Free Republic

The crowds were phenomenal. Pews always filled to capacity on Easter, but no one had ever seen anything like April 16, 1865… Shot on Good Friday and dead on Saturday: The timing of the assassination made Easter Sunday 1865 a particularly important—and confusing—occasion, as shocked mourners came to church for what should have been a day of rejoicing over both the resurrection of Christ and military victory. The reversal of fortunes was manifested materially, as churchwomen rearranged the colorful springtime displays they had readied. Easter decoration had become something of a commercial enterprise by the mid nineteenth century…As a congregant...

In July 1964, Jackie Kennedy visited her mother and stepfather, Janet and Hugh Auchincloss, at the family’s homestead, Hammersmith Farm in Newport. She was suffering greatly. It had been just eight months since she witnessed the murder of her husband, John F. Kennedy, in Dallas on November 22, 1963. One afternoon during this visit, Jackie dragged herself down to the beach to join Janet and her son (Jackie’s half-brother), Jamie Auchincloss, under an umbrella. She looked dreadful, medicated, and hungover. Janet was as annoyed as she was worried. “Jacqueline,” she began—and this is according to Jamie’s memory of the conversation—“we’ve...

The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced that archaeologists uncovered rare 4,000-year-old wicks that are among the oldest known examples that have been found anywhere in the world. The discovery came as a team was excavating a set of Bronze Age tombs at the site of Newe Efraim near Yehud. Among the burial offerings, which also included pottery, jewelry, and metal weapons, were three clay oil lamps that still contained wicks inside. These objects rarely survive, not only because they were made from natural material that decays easily, but because by design they are intended to be lit and burnt, eventually...

Once a left-wing fetish, the heckler’s veto has gained conservative adherents. It's a given that if one party to a disagreement keeps breaking the rules in order to harm opponents, the other participants will eventually sink to the challenge and adopt—or escalate—out-of-bounds tactics themselves. That's bad enough in any conflict, but it can be disastrous for a free and open society if the rules being broken by all parties are fundamental free speech norms. For years, we've seen left-leaning students and faculty on college campuses shout down and sometimes assault speakers with whom they disagree. Now right-leaning students have joined...

American Airlines and Delta Air Lines confirmed that employees have been removed from duty after making celebratory or mocking remarks online about the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy announced Saturday that American Airlines pilots involved had been “immediately grounded” and urged their permanent removal. “This behavior is disgusting and they should be fired,” Duffy wrote on X. “Any company responsible for the safety of the traveling public cannot tolerate that behavior. We heal as a country when we send the message that glorifying political violence is completely unacceptable.” American Airlines issued...

Two top donors to the super PAC supporting Zohran Mamdani’s NYC mayoral campaign worked for a tech company with alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Omer Hasan, who stepped down in February as vice president of operations for Palo Alto, Calif.-based AppLovin according to his LinkedIn page, gave a whopping $250,000 on Sept. 5 to New Yorkers for Lower Costs, a superPAC that backs socialist Mamdani, records show. Mohammad Javed, AppLovin’s former director of engineering who left the firm in 2021, donated $251,500 to the political action committee. He also gave $2,100 to Mamdani’s campaign committee. Neither Hasan nor...

John Adams, in his retirement, was disheartened. What had his life in politics counted for? he wondered. The renewal in 1805 of a 30-year friendship with Doctor Benjamin Rush reinvigorated him. ... In one conversation about the “perfectibility of man” and religion’s role in making “men and nations happy,” both Rush and Adams lamented the moral decay they witnessed in the world around them. “By renouncing the Bible,” Rush interjected, “philosophers swing from their moorings upon all moral Subjects. . . . It is the only correct map of the human heart that ever has been published. It contains a...

Common within Maya culture was the practice of dental modification, which usually involved filing teeth into distinctive shapes, engraving designs, or drilling holes and embedding stones such as jade or pyrite. Scholars had previously thought that these procedures were only performed on adults, but Phys.org reports that a new study suggests for the first time that some children may have also participated in the ritual. The evidence came from three Maya teeth inlaid with jade stones that are in the collections of Francisco Marroquín University's Popol Vuh Museum. Researchers recently reexamined the teeth -- a maxillary central left incisor, a...

I want to front load this post by making something abundantly clear. I am not complaining about my channel nor am I feeling sorry for myself. If you leave this post with that impression, that is something that you have projected onto me. There is a broader point that I am trying to make with this post. This is a graph showing my daily subscriber count. Yesterday, I posted a video with some thoughts on the political assassination of Charlie Kirk. On the graph, you can see that the result (which I kind of expected) was a mass exodus of...

Embattled New York Attorney General Letitia James better mend fences — or pay up. James is set to appear before an administrative law judge Oct. 8, where she faces up to $500 in fines for having a 5-foot, 6-inch high fence in front of her multi-family home in the Clinton Hill Historic District. The brownstone is the focus of a federal mortgage fraud investigation. The city Buildings Department slapped the far-left pol with the summons July 23 after fielding at least three anonymous complaints since April which claimed the black iron fence exceeded the 4-foot height limit, records show. New...

WASHINGTON — The funeral for conservative activist Charlie Kirk is scheduled for Sept. 21 at State Farm Stadium, home of the Arizona Cardinals — and President Trump has already promised to attend. Turning Point USA invited supporters to join them “in celebrating the remarkable life and enduring legacy of Charlie Kirk, an American legend,” whose “life was a testament to faith, courage, and conviction.” Trump said Friday he was going to attend the funeral after addressing the nation Wednesday night in an emotional tribute. “To my great fellow Americans, I am filled with grief and anger at the heinous assassination...

To ponder such a scenario is to delve into the realm of historical conjecture. However, by examining the political landscape of the time and Lincoln's own aspirations, it is possible to glean insight into what might have transpired had his life not been cut short by events. Firstly, it's essential to consider Lincoln's vision for post-Civil War America. He was deeply committed to the principles of reconciliation and reconstruction, aiming to heal the nation's wounds and forge a path towards unity. In the aftermath of the Civil War, Lincoln sought to reintegrate the Southern states into the Union with leniency...

In the week before his fatal shooting, right-wing U.S. political activist Charlie Kirk cheered the boom of conservative young men in South Korea and warned about a "globalist menace" in Tokyo on his first speaking tour of Asia. In Seoul on Friday, he spoke about how he "brought Trump to victory", while addressing Build Up Korea 2025, a conservative conference that has previously featured speakers including Donald Trump Jr. "The phenomenon of young people, especially men, turning conservative is occurring simultaneously across multiple continents," Kirk told the audience, who waved their phones and chanted 'USA' as he entered the stage...

“I knew him. I knew Charlie, the real Charlie. Charlie knew the real Candace… Of course, people guessed it correctly when they said, Oh, the person who probably was the intermediary when Trump called about Brigitte was Charlie Kirk. Of course, it was Charlie. They would never send anybody else to call me with anything because they knew that Charlie was a brother to me…” “There is no Candace without Charlie. We came up in politics together, and so I don't know what else to say, guys, other than a lot of pain right now. I love you, Charlie.”

Greek City Times reports that archaeologists renewed excavations at Mieza in northern Greece, a site connected with the famous Greek philosopher Aristotle. According to Greek historians, it was in the ancient Macedonian city that Aristotle tutored the young Alexander the Great between 343 and 340 b.c. Recent work there centered on investigation and conservation of the monumental gymnasium, a space dedicated to both physical and intellectual training. New dating confirmed that it was built around the middle of the fourth century b.c., strengthening the site's ties to Aristotle, Alexander, and his father Phillip II. The enormous complex was planned and...

Charlie Kirk was a devoted follower of Christ, a dedicated father and husband, and a tireless patriot who gave everything he had to preserve the principles that make America great. He possessed a sharp ability to engage in respectful dialogue, discussing our nation's pressing topics civilly and openly with everyone, including those with whom he disagreed. His unwavering commitment to faith, family, and freedom inspired millions, and his absence will be deeply felt across this nation. All of us at the American Cornerstone Institute (ACI) are heartbroken over the tragic passing of our dear friend and partner, Charlie Kirk. ACI...

Ca' Foscari University of Venice announced that when an international team of researchers first began to analyze 34,000-year-old stone tools found in the Dzudzuana Cave in the foothills of Georgia's Caucasus, they were just hoping to learn something about how they were used. However, as they peered closer, they uncovered incredible evidence of human behavior and complexity dating back tens of thousands of years. The pebble grinding tools contained traces of plant matter and indigotin, the deep blue compound also known as indigo. The results were stunning -- not only was this the first time that indigo has been found...

Lee Harvey Oswald (born October 18, 1939, New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.—died November 24, 1963, Dallas, Texas) was the accused assassin of U.S. Pres. John F. Kennedy in Dallas on November 22, 1963. He himself was fatally shot two days later by Jack Ruby (1911–67) in the Dallas County Jail. He himself was fatally shot two days later by Jack Ruby (1911–67) in the Dallas County Jail. A special President’s Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, better known as the Warren Commission because it was headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren, investigated from November 29, 1963, to September...

WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve board member Lisa Cook should be banned from the central bank’s upcoming meeting later this month after a Trump official got her “dead to rights” on allegations of mortgage fraud, former Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow told “Pod Force One.” “I mean, she doesn’t understand it, but she’s been fired,” Kudlow claimed to The Post’s Miranda Devine on the latest episode, out now. “…. She’s been fired for these allegations. The court doesn’t have to prove her guilty or not, by the way. If the president fires you, you’re fired. “The President appoints Federal Reserve governors,”...

Former MSNBC analyst Matthew Dowd tried to defend the controversial comments he made about Charlie Kirk this week and took a swipe at his former employer Friday for caving to a "mob." Dowd was dropped by the progressive network after suggesting the conservative activist's "hateful" rhetoric had prompted the shooting in Utah that ultimately claimed his life, but he insisted he didn't know Kirk was the victim at the time of his remarks. "At MSNBC I have made nearly 1,000 appearances, speaking on a diverse range of topics and always consistently condemned gun violence and political violence of any kind...