Free Republic

Ongoing demographic woes have been exacerbated by the pandemic with Rosstat figures showing more than 660,000 had died with coronavirus since health officials recorded the first case in the country. The new figures continue a downward trend from the previous year when Russia's population fell by more than half a million. The pandemic death toll exacerbates the demographic crisis, linked to low birth rates and a short life expectancy, that Russia has faced for the past 30 years. Birth rates have been falling because the generation now becoming parents were born in the 1990s, when the birth rate plunged due...

As long as I have been alive, the The Mesopotamian Civilization has been considered the oldest civilization. I'm curious what is the criteria to be considered a civilization? Is it really the oldest, or is something that archeologists do not wish to update their books after spending a lifetime devoted to this teaching. The Mesopotamian civilization dated back to 6500 BC, but the Jiahu in China dated back to 7000 BC. Gobekli Tepe, in Turkey, was a temple was built along a grand geometric plan in 9000 BC. I'm curious to hear an opinion from any archeology\ anthropology experts here.

US intelligence services have obtained information that Russia is drafting lists of political opponents to possibly arrest or assassinate if it invades Ukraine, Foreign Policy reported. Four sources familiar with US intelligence told the outlet that the lists include Ukrainian political figures, anti-corruption activists, and Belarusian and Russian dissidents living in exile in Ukraine. The report comes amid growing certainty among Western leaders than an invasion of Ukraine by Russia is imminent. President Joe Biden said on Friday he was "convinced" that Russian President Vladimir Putin would launch an attack into the country in the coming days. Russia has continuously...

An over-the-counter cough suppressant can knock some heart cells back into rhythm, a finding that may lead to a new way to treat a rare heart condition called long QT syndrome. In people with long QT syndrome, heart cells are not always ready to produce the next beat, a situation that can knock the heart out of its normal rhythm, which may be life-threatening. For many people with long QT, no treatment can correct the heart cells or prevent arrythmia. Heart cells in a dish The cough suppressant discovery began several years ago when Yazawa found that heart cells in...

Grigory Rodchenkov was head of Russia’s ‘anti-doping’ centre but, in 2015, he fled to the US... The super-lab’s name is a misnomer. As Rodchenkov recounts in a gripping memoir, The Rodchenkov Affair, he ran Russia’s doping programme. He developed a novel drugs cocktail to help his country win. It featured three nearly undetectable anabolic steroids. Athletes swished it around the mouth, mixed with Chivas Royal or vermouth. Russia’s state-sponsored doping operation was a highly sophisticated affair, refined over many years. And a successful one. Moscow cheated its way to medals in successive international competitions. They included the 2012 London Olympics,...

President Trump interview OAN now.

#DYK that anyone can develop a blood clot? Whether you’re an athlete or a fan, don’t let a blood clot ruin the big game this weekend. Learn how to protect your health:

He has many names: Yogi, Chunky, Hank the Tank, Jake. Some people simply call him the Big Guy. What everyone can agree on is that the 500-pound black bear roaming around South Lake Tahoe, Calif., has become a problem. For the last seven months, the bear has caused property damage and broken into nearly 30 homes in and near the waterfront Tahoe Keys neighborhood searching for food. Because the bear has become accustomed to humans and would appear to consider them a source of easily accessible food, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife has labeled it a “severely food-habituated”...

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) showed a five-point lead over Democrat Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke in a hypothetical head-to-head gubernatorial poll from Climate Nexus. The poll found that 45 percent of the registered Texas voters surveyed said they would vote for Abbott, five percent more than would vote for the Democrat.

New York state health officials announced that the state's COVID vaccine booster mandate for healthcare workers will not be enforced, citing potential staffing shortages should workers be forced out of their job for refusing to get boosted. "The vaccine and booster are critical tools to keep both healthcare workers and their patients safe, and we continue to urge everyone to get vaccinated and receive a booster dose when eligible," State Health Commissioner Mary Bassett said in a statement Friday. The announcement comes ahead of New York Gov. Kathy Hochul's requirement issued last month mandating that healthcare workers be boosted against...

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A grandmother with a heart condition who had welcomed Freedom Convoy protesters at her border home, has told how she was violently arrested and jailed in a dramatic police raid. Joanne Person, 62, said she was in her pajamas falling asleep when Canadian Mounties stormed into her house in Coutts, Alberta, just after midnight Valentine's Day and hauled her off to jail along with 10 other people she was hosting near the border blockade. Back home after two nights behind bars, the substitute teacher spoke exclusively with DailyMail.com Thursday, describing the horror of being slammed on to a car hood...

Police clearing out protestors

Fox's obsession with Hillary Clinton is only growing more fierce. The right-wing talk channel, which has in recent days dishonestly twisted a court filing from special counsel John Durham to accuse Clinton of nefariously spying on Donald Trump, mentioned Clinton's name nearly 200 times Thursday, according to a search of rush TV transcripts. The escalation in the network's already-manic coverage of the former presidential candidate came after she delivered remarks at the New York Democratic convention.

My son Cameron and I can hardly wait for President Biden’s upcoming State of the Union address. “What do you think he’s going to say on March 1, Dad?” he asked me earlier this week during our phone call. “That the State of the Union is …. very sad? Screwed? You finish the sentence.” “Seriously,” Cameron said. “The State of the Union is supposed to be upbeat — positive — or at least hopeful, right?” “Yeah,” I said. “His speechwriters must be working overtime. The list of big things he’s messed up in a single year is long and getting...

Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates said that the risk of severe COVID-19 infection has reduced dramatically, but warned that another pandemic caused by a different pathogen could be around the corner. In an interview with CNBC's Hadley Gamble at Germany’s annual Munich Security Conference, the billionaire said the novel coronavirus has spread to enough of the population that the "risks are dramatically reduced because of that exposure."

FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — Franklin Circuit Court Judge Thomas D. Wingate has denied a motion to temporarily block Kentucky's redistricting maps. Wingate also denied a motion from Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams to have the case dismissed. ... In the lawsuit, Democrats claim both new maps involve partisan gerrymandering, which violates the state constitution. The suit also challenges the "excessively and unnecessarily splitting counties." ... Governor Andy Beshear initially vetoed the Republicans' redistricting plans, but the GOP used their legislative power to override the veto.

The quadruple jumps that sent Russian world champ Anna Shcherbakova to the gold medal and teammate Alexandra Trusova to the silver — much to her chagrin — along with the failed attempts that dumped 15-year-old Kamila Valieva out of the medals altogether could be a thing of the past by the 2026 Milan Olympics. That's because more and more people are pushing for the age limit in figure skating to be raised above 16 following Valieva's monumental collapse Thursday night. While some young women skaters can land the jump earlier in their teens, it becomes far more difficult as they...

‘You’re a creep, bro,’ says New York congresswoman after Carlson attacked Ocasio-Cortez in Fox News segment. The Fox News host Tucker Carlson attacked Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Friday night, claiming the US congresswoman was not a woman of colour. “She’s a rich entitled white lady,” he said. In return, the New York Democrat, popularly known as AOC, said: “This is the type of stuff you say when your name starts with a P and ends with dejo.” Dictionary.com defines pendejo as “a mildly vulgar insult for ‘asshole’ or ‘idiot’ in Spanish”. “Once again,” Ocasio-Cortez added, “the existence of a wife...

We may never know if an EV started the fire, but even if the EVs didn’t start the fire, they are certainly making it a lot more difficult to extinguish the fire. EV battery fires are chemically comparable to thermite fires, hot enough to melt steel, so there may not be much left to analyse by the time the ship fire finally burns itself out. This disaster could have real consequences for the EV market, both transporting EVs by sea or land, and consumer desire for a product which is potentially such a severe fire hazard. I would not be...