Free Republic

A 79-year-old Norwegian has swum across a fjord in the pouring rain dressed only in swimming trunks and a bow tie to wed his 65-year-old bride-to-be on the rocks.Trygve Bernhardsen was accompanied by his two grandchildren as he swam the 800 meters in 14C (57F) water. Before his exploit, Bernhardsen joked with reporters that they were with him mostly to make sure that he didn’t swim off in the wrong direction. “If I decide to say yes, I will swim straight over. If it’s a no, I’ll swim off to sea, and I think the wife wanted some assurances,” he...

PALMETTO -- At least one resident of a Manatee County mobile home park has been threatened with eviction if she continues to accept deliveries of food from a church food bank. There have been reports as many as 28 Carlyn Estates residents have received eviction threats for accepting food from a food pantry.

Credit: Michael Brant via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). San Diego, Calif., Jul 3, 2015 / 10:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Few love stories can say that they began at the age of eight. But for Jeanette and Alexander Toczko, they couldn't have imagined life any other way. What began as a childhood crush later bloomed into a deep, committed love – a love that would last throughout a war, five children, and seventy-five years of marriage. “Their hearts beat as one from as long as I can remember,” said Aimee Toczko-Cushman, one of the couple's five children, according to the Daily...

Belgium passed its Euthanasia Act in 2002. A study published in this month’s Journal of Medical Ethics by Raphael Cohen-Almagor revealed that despite the law’s requirement that patients voluntarily give their consent to the procedure, many are euthanized without giving consent. The decision to euthanize was not discussed with the patient in nearly 80% of the cases of patients over 80 years old. Dr. Pierre Tueur estimated that “I have probably performed more than 300 of these procedures on patients incapable of giving informed consent. In cases where the patient is unconscious, demented, or unreasonably frightened of death, I feel...

Cops: Woman claiming she needed 'spinal transplant' scams $1.2 million from man, 86 Candy Ely, 35, lured an 86-year-old Chicago man into a romantic relationship and stole more than $1.2 million in cash and items from him, including a car, police said. (Cook County Sheriff's Office) By Liam Ford Chicago Tribune contact the reporter Crime Theft A 35-year-old woman is accused of luring an 86-year-old man into a romantic relationship and then stealing more than $1.2 million in cash after claiming she had cancer and needed a "spinal transplant," police said. Candy Ely “baited” the man “into a false relationship...

An elderly man who'd just returned home after months in the hospital said he was hungry, had no food and no one to turn to for help. So he dialed 911. "I can't do anything. I can't go anywhere. I can't get out of my damn chair." Clarence Blackmon, 81, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, told the 911 operator, according to ABC station WTVD in Durham. "I said, 'I'm not broken, I'm not bleeding, and I'm not in crisis. I just want somebody to help me buy some food,'" he told ABC News.

Man suffers broken nose, teeth in South County road rage incident ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MO (KTVI) – St. Louis County Police are investigating a road rage incident that happened Sunday near Jefferson Barracks. FOX 2’s Rebecca Roberts sat down with the Bonne Terre couple, who feel they’re lucky to be alive.

Happy 90th birthday to the great Yogi Berra, Hall of Famer player, coach, and manager, wit and occasional philosopher. Unfortunately, since USA Today is Gannett, link only. Doesn't mean I can't comment.

B.B. King Daughter Claims Elder Abuse Police Called in Dispute Over Care Blues legend B.B. King's daughter believes he is being abused ... and called police Thursday to settle a dispute over whether he needed to be hospitalized. TMZ has learned there's a huge battle over B.B.'s care -- between his daughter Patty King and his longtime manager Laverne Toney. Patty, who lives with her father in Las Vegas ... tells us she wanted to take him to the hospital because his urine was orange and he wasn't eating. She claims Toney -- who has power of attorney over B.B....

April 28, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) -- More than half of all Dutch physicians specialized in euthanasia would consider approving euthanasia for a demented patient, according to a survey carried out last year and made public last week at an academic symposium held at the VUmc Free University in Amsterdam.“SCEN” doctors – as they are known – form the Support Consultation Euthanasia Network Netherlands whose members can be called upon by family doctors who face a euthanasia request and who need help with the procedure, specialized and independent advice as to whether their patient should “benefit” according to the requirements for “careful”...

An 86-year-old nun was reportedly gang-raped before being murdered in her bedroom at a South African missionary. Gertrud Tiefenbacher's hands had been tied with a typewriter cord and a towel placed over a face, say local police. Her body was found by other nuns at the Sacred Heart Missionary in Ixopo, a small town 85 miles south-west of Durban. Police in KwaZulu-Natal are waiting for the results of forensic tests to confirm that Sister Gertrud was sexually assaulted. They say she was suffocated but they are unsure how many men attacked her. A small sum of money - thought to...

Yes, the entire conservative wing of the Republican Party just made a huge eyeroll. Mr. Maverick made his long-awaited announcement official last night; he’s going to run for re-election next year (via NBC News):Click above link for the video “I have decided to run for re-election,” the Arizona senator told NBC News in an exclusive interview revealing his plans to pursue a sixth term on Capitol Hill. “I’m ready. I am more than ready. In some ways, I am eager.”McCain is currently 78 years old but will be 80 by Election Day in 2016. He defended his vitality, saying...

The inspector general for the Social Security Administration has found that 6.5 million active Social Security cards belong to people claiming to be 112 years old or older. Worldwide, the number of people currently living to be 112 stands at 35. Clearly, most of those people are dead, and relatives never bothered to tell Social Security about it. But a significant number of those claiming to be 112 years old are thought to be stealing the identity of dead people. From Washington Post: "The Social Security Administration’s inspector general said in a report on Monday that the questionable identification numbers...

"Downton Abbey" is losing its Dowager Countess. Maggie Smith, who plays the sharp-tongued Violet on the beloved PBS drama, told the Times of London Sunday that the upcoming sixth season will be her last. Perhaps more alarming to fans, if that’s possible, was Smith’s broad hint that this could also be the finale for the show itself. "They say this is the last one, and I can't see how it could go on," Smith told the Times. “I mean, I certainly can't keep going ... To my knowledge, I must be 110 by now. We're into the late 1920s."

Posturing as champion of needed public investments and fairness, President Obama wants new taxes on the overseas earnings of American businesses. ... The United States is virtually alone by taxing the overseas profits of its multinationals when those are repatriated. ... Now the president wants an immediate 14 percent tax levy on those assets to raise about $500 billion and to impose a 19 percent tax on future earnings to finance infrastructure investments. Much of the $2.1 trillion in non-repatriated corporate overseas profits is not parked in foreign bank accounts. Rather, it is already invested by firms like GE and...

The longtime king of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, passed away on Friday. But the death of the 90-year-old monarch didn’t seem to come as much of a shock to the Saudi establishment. When royal officials acknowledged Abdullah’s death, it was also revealed that Crown Prince Salman would succeed his brother. For the time being, the succession process seemed to have preserved stability in the Saudi Kingdom. Within hours, traders who speculated that the new king may take a critical look at Saudi policies, which have allowed crude prices to collapse in recent months, created a rally in the oil...

Today, the painful decision has been made to start the process for Nursing Home Placement of my mother who is the last stage (stage 7) of Alzheimers Disease. I have to have multiple surgeries and I can no longer take care of her by myself. Pray for the situation as my mother will decline rapidly once she goes into the nursing home. She has six children and I am the only one whom has been involved the last 4 years. Have not been given a date but placement will come soon.

Inspiring Examples of Aged Faith September 7th, 2010 by Fr. Kyle Schnippel   Last week, I had the opportunity to con-celebrate Mass with two priests who, together, have 120 years of priestly experience.  Only bringing 6 years to the Altar myself, I was somewhat in awe of the two aged servants who have toiled long in the vineyard of the Lord.As I reflect back on this Mass, and as I have continued to grow in friendship with these two men (who are both old enough to be my grandfather!), I continue to marvel at the great gift of the...

The federal government is financing the creation of robots that can assist the elderly and make sure they are eating healthily.A nearly $800,000 project from the National Science Foundation (NSF) is pairing the University of Pennsylvania with a robot company to create the machines, which will be able to deliver glasses of water to senior citizens.The government said that the project is necessary due to a demographic crisis in America where soon there will not be enough young people to take care of their elders.“This Partnership For Innovation project develops and tests the use of service robots to monitor and...

A few months ago, Ezekiel Emanuel had an essay in The Atlantic saying that, all things considered, he’d prefer to die around age 75. He argued that he’d rather clock out with all his powers intact than endure a sad, feeble decline. The problem is that if Zeke dies at 75, he’ll likely be missing his happiest years. When researchers ask people to assess their own well-being, people in their 20s rate themselves highly. Then there’s a decline as people get sadder in middle age, bottoming out around age 50. But then happiness levels shoot up, so that old people...