Free Republic

Oleg Sokolov, 64, a former history professor at St. Petersburg State University, was found boozed up in a river in November 2019 with a bag containing the severed arms of 24-year-old Anastasia Yeshchenko. Her severed head was discovered in an IKEA bag in his luxury apartment, while her torso and legs were recovered from the Moika River in St. Petersburg, East2West News reported. One of the bullets, which were fired from a Soviet-era TOZ-17 stylized as a 19th-century cavalry rifle... After killing her and hiding her body parts under a bed, Sokolov partied with friends. Once they left, he beheaded...

Part I: The Mystery Things first began to feel off in March. While this sentiment applies to everything in the known and unknown universe, I mean it specifically in regard to America’s supply of dry, store-bought bucatini. At first, the evidence was purely anecdotal. My boyfriend and I would bravely venture to both our local Italian grocer and our local chain groceries, masked beyond recognition, searching in vain for the bucatini that, in my opinion, not to be dramatic, is the only noodle worth eating; all other dry pastas might as well be firewood. But where there had once been...

"... It isn’t new to have U.S. politicians who are disconnected from the facts on the ground in Afghanistan. In 2013, two years after President Obama announced that American troops would soon come home, we discovered that the military was still expanding its footprint in Afghanistan. Our team assumed control of a series of bases that had been enlarged in a costly engineering operation only months before. Five months later, when word finally came to withdraw, we tore down many of these newly remodeled outposts. The rest we refashioned into smaller versions of themselves, at significant additional cost, so that...

References to Jesus as "Palestinian" were also made on the December 13th edition of BBC Radio Scotland’s ‘Sunday Morning,’ without any explicit mention of Jesus' Jewish identity. The BBC World Service radio program Heart and Soul aired a program titled "Black Jesus" on December 18, in which presenter Robert Beckford claimed that Jesus was a "Palestinian," despite the term only coming into use some 100 years after the crucifixion. Throughout the program, Beckford noted accurately that artistic depictions of Jesus as blonde and European are historically inaccurate. But when discussing his national identity, the presenter referred to Jesus numerous times...

Kim Yo Jong Is Ready to Become the First Woman Dictator in Modern History Kim Jong Un’s little sister has emerged as North Korea’s most outspoken attack dog, securing her place as a possible successor to the leadership SEOUL—The star of the younger sister of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un has risen so fast and high in the country’s ruling firmament in 2020 as to make her appear as a stand-in for big brother if not his rival for power. At 32, four years younger than Jong Un, Kim Yo Jong has made her presence known through shockingly tough...

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said on Monday that the country’s “post-COVID future” is largely dependent on getting vaccines “in people’s arms.” Cuomo previewed his thoughts on a “post-COVID future” in New York and the U.S. and suggested it remains largely contingent on getting the majority of the population vaccinated.

The resolution of a decade’s-long court case brought by a Virginia property owner required White’s Ferry, the historic Potomac River crossing in Poolesville, Maryland, to stop using its traditional landing across the river. As a result, the ferry operator announced its closure via a Facebook post at 10 a.m., December 28, 2020. For over two centuries, the ferry has docked on the Virginia side of the river. A Virginia court ruled the ferry could no longer dock on the opposite shore at White’s Ferry Road in Loudoun County. In fact, the judge, Stephen E. Sincavage of the Loudoun County Circuit...

April 17, 2019 was an important date for India’s Jalesh Cruises. It was the first time passengers set foot onboard the recently purchased Karnika for a cruise from Mumbai. Less than a year later, the cruise line is out of business and the ship sold for scrap. COVID-19 is to blame, but sources tell Porthole Cruise that the cruise line’s financial issues were obvious onboard long prior to the pandemic. Jalesh Cruises was one of six cruise operators that was forced to shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving behind lost opportunity and a number of outstanding debts owed...

The coronavirus pandemic is taking its toll on families, but getting outside—and getting through it together—is more important than ever Editor’s Note: This has been a tough year for everyone. And while we’ve collectively experienced many of the same events, the changes, challenges, and often outright hardships everyone has endured remain deeply personal. We asked six contributors to look back on 2020 and reflect on how the events of this year shaped their lives, in ways both big and small. We will be publishing one essay each day through the end of the year, on topics ranging from subtle differences...

The Treasury Department and other federal agencies did not reveal specific timelines for when stimulus checks, small business aid, and unemployment benefits would be released, and it’s unclear how much Trump’s decision to drag out the process has impacted their work.

Loughlin was released from the federal lockup in Dublin, California, where she had been serving her sentence for her role in the college admissions bribery scheme, the federal Bureau of Prisons said. Her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, is serving his five-month sentence at a prison in Lompoc near Santa Barbara, California.

New policy reflects a change from the state's controversial Nov. 3 election process. Counties in Georgia will be allowed to begin tallying absentee and mail-in ballots prior to the Jan. 5 Senate runoff elections, according to a spokesperson from the Georgia Secretary of State's office. This policy reflects a change from the controversial Nov. 3 election process. Counties will be permitted to begin their ballot count two weeks ahead of the election, and will be required to start their count by Dec. 30. The goal of the policy is faster election results on Jan. 5. In November, the Georgia vote...

Nick McGlashan, a 7th generation fisherman who starred in "Deadliest Catch," has died ... TMZ has learned. The Medical Examiner and family tell TMZ ... Nick passed away Sunday in Nashville. The cause of death has not been determined. Nick appeared on the show for years ... from 2013 - 2020, in 78 episodes. Nick's family has a storied tale of the sea. His great uncle worked on the first boat in the U.S. crab industry. Two of his aunts were crabbers ... one of who was lost at sea after the boat sank. As for Nick ... he started...

The mass die-off of thousands of songbirds in south-western US was caused by long-term starvation, made worse by unseasonably cold weather probably linked to the climate crisis, scientists have said. Flycatchers, swallows and warblers were among the migratory birds “falling out of the sky” in September, with carcasses found in New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Arizona and Nebraska. A USGS National Wildlife Health Center necropsy has found 80% of specimens showed typical signs of starvation. Muscles controlling the birds’ wings were severely shrunken, blood was found in their intestinal tract and they had kidney failure as well as an overall loss...

It would be problematic that Jon Ossoff took money from China and al-Jazeera under any circumstances. The al-Jazeera issue speaks for itself; how can we trust a politician to run the war on terror if he is indebted to the people who defend terrorists like bin Laden? The China issue, however, is far worse. We have seen, in recent months, the extent to which China has bought off the Democrats and Never Trumpers. General Mattis has financial ties to China. Joe and Hunter Biden, as the Hunter Biden emails show, are owned by China. Eric Swalwell was sleeping with and...

A black bear attacked a woman and her two dogs in Collier County on Christmas Eve morning. Kathleen Boyle said Friday that her two dogs, one ironically named Bear, and her other pup, Robin, helped save her from a bear they ran into on their morning walk in the Fiddler’s Creek community. “It wasn’t until probably 11:30, 12 o’clock that I stopped shaking,” Boyle said. “Because it was that trauma, ‘I can’t believe this just happened.’” Boyle’s two Westies are show dogs, but they didn’t worry about manners when a bear approached them and their owner. “So here you’ve got...

Some COVID-19 survivors claim the virus has wreaked havoc on their sense of scent — leaving them smelling “disgusting” odors such as fish and burnt toast. Dr. Nirmal Kumar, an ear, nose and throat surgeon in the UK, said the “very strange” phenomenon among recovered virus patients is known as parosmia, Sky News reported. “This morning I saw two patients with parosmia. One said they could smell fish in place of any other scent, and the other can smell burning when there is no smoke around,” Kumar said. Kumar said he’s observed strange symptom at an “increased incidence in young...

Get Sufficient Packing MaterialsIt is expedient to get enough packing materials and supplies when planning to move from San Francisco and other bay areas during a pandemic. Also, it is wise to try not to use just disposable plates and other plastic containers when moving to reduce the chances of getting it contaminated by the weather.Check the State’s Pandemic StatusEven with a moving permit, it is also wise to consider the nature of the environment you will be visiting, especially when you are moving by land.Book Movers on TimeA lot of people have been disappointed severally because of late booking.Why...

Saudi Arabia's terrorism court has sentenced Loujain al-Hathloul, the activist who led the push to allow Saudi women to drive, to nearly six years in prison. Hathloul's case has drawn widespread scrutiny since her arrest in the spring of 2018. As it punished Hathloul, the Specialized Criminal Court suspended nearly three years of her sentence — and because Hathloul has already spent well over two years in prison, she could be released in less than three months, according to her sister, Lina al-Hathloul. Discussing the verdict on Twitter, she adds that both sides of the case could appeal Monday's ruling....

Supermarkets in England are to be barred from displaying unhealthy food and drinks at checkouts or using them in buy one, get one free offers, as part of a proposed government crackdown on obesity. The planned restrictions were praised by health campaigners as a “bold first step” in Downing Street’s promised campaign against obesity. The checkout restrictions will apply to other sales-boosting locations such as the entrances to stores or at the end of aisles. Similar rules will apply for websites, banning sales links to unhealthy foods on places such as homepages, or at checkout or payment pages. Restaurants will...