Free Republic

There are few pipe organs in the world that have a nickname, a feminine pronoun and a Facebook fan page. The Hazel Wright organ — just “Hazel,” to her admirers — was removed piece by piece in 2013 from Christ Cathedral’s shimmering sanctuary in Southern California’s Orange County, and shipped to Italy for repair. At the time, the fifth-largest pipe organ in the world was suffering from an infestation of bugs. Its pipes were melted, its trumpets corroded. Nearly a decade and $3 million later, Hazel is back in the fully remodeled sanctuary, and heavenly chords from her pipes once...

The armchair generals, the MSM pundits, and the social media experts are debating passionately about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We should fight for Ukraine! We should not fight for Ukraine! Putin will go after all of Europe! Putin wants the entire world! And so on and so on. The fact is that most of these people don't know what we'd even be fighting for. Think about it. We didn't know what we were actually fighting for in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and you can see how all that turned out. We thought we did (you know — truth, justice,...

In a televised address Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said his "special military operation" would seek the "demilitarization and de-Nazification of Ukraine." Putin's comments refer to the Kremlin's allegation that Ukraine's military is run by neo-Nazis and is a threat to Russia, The New York Times reported. The goal "will be to defend people who for eight years are suffering persecution and genocide by the Kyiv regime," Putin said. "For this we will aim for demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine, as well as taking to court those who carried out multiple bloody crimes against civilians, including citizens of the Russian...

On Monday’sTucker Carlson Tonight, Kyle Rittenhouse unveiled The Media Accountability Project, a new group dedicated to creating consequences for those who spread defamatory lies about the young man acquitted of murder charges last fall. Rittenhouse said that he and his attorneys plan to sue a host of politicians, journalists, and celebrities for their dishonest attacks on his character. A jury of Rittenhouse’s peers on November 19 found him innocent by way of self-defense in three shootings, two fatal, during Left-wing race riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Since then, many have lied about Rittenhouse and the deadly incident in which he was...

A team of scientists from Australia, Italy, Poland and Switzerland has examined the association between meat intake and life expectancy at a population level based on ecological data published by the United Nations agencies. “Life expectancy at birth is the measure synthetically describing mortality in a population,” said lead author Dr. Wenpeng You, a researcher at the University of Adelaide and FAPAB Research Center, and colleagues. “It is estimated that 20-30% of human life expectancy is determined by genetic factors, and 70-80% is determined by environmental factors.” “Life expectancy at 5 years of age is similarly influenced by genetic factors,...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called the breakup of the Soviet Union “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe” of the 20th century. “Tens of millions of our fellow citizens and countrymen found themselves beyond the fringes of Russian territory,” Putin said in a 2005 speech. While not all Russians necessarily agree with Putin’s characterization, most do view the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 as “a bad thing,” according to a Pew Research Center survey of Russia and 17 other countries in Central and Eastern Europe conducted between 2015 and 2016. And this view is not limited to Russia. For example,...

According to reports, a copycat trucker convoy intends to visit Washington, D.C. I suggest they rethink their plans. The participants will be incurring great risk for minimal, if any, potential benefit. First, the risk. The police, prosecutors, judges, and indeed the jury pool in the District of Columbia are so partisan that Republicans and constitutional conservatives can be arrested, prosecuted, convicted, and jailed without having committed any crime. Indeed, it appears from the example of the January 6 prisoners that they can be jailed indefinitely without the legal system even bothering about prosecution or conviction. On the other hand, Democrats...

Unbelievable! Footage shows Ukraine & Russia Army soldiers fighting each other in Obolon district of Kiev/Kyiv. This is why driver of that 9K35 Strela-10 mobile short-range surface-to-air missile system got distracted & collided with a civilian car!

Russian soldier speaks as Ukrainian soldier tends to his injuries...

There’s no gentle way to say it, but the truth is that a lot of us hate our elites far more than we hate some foreign dictator.Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine Thursday. He’d been fixing on it for a while. Most of the world knew it was coming. By nightfall, their advanced forces had reached the capital city of Kyiv, and the situation looked dire. In the ensuing bloodshed, the internet was awash in hot takes. Not insignificant among them: That treason is amiss on the right, where our elites detect an insufficient support for the...

U.S. officials tried half a dozen times over three months to get China to help head off a Russian invasion of Ukraine — but were repeatedly rebuffed by Beijing... The U.S. kept presenting Beijing with intelligence on Russia's buildup around Ukraine "and beseeched the Chinese to tell Russia not to invade...The Chinese, including the foreign minister and the ambassador to the U.S., said they did not think an invasion was in the works. "After one diplomatic exchange in December," ..."U.S. officials got intelligence showing Beijing had shared the information with Moscow."

Americans presented Chinese officials with intelligence on Russia’s troop buildup in hopes that President Xi Jinping would step in, but were repeatedly rebuffed. Over three months, senior Biden administration officials held half a dozen urgent meetings with top Chinese officials in which the Americans presented intelligence showing Russia’s troop buildup around Ukraine and beseeched the Chinese to tell Russia not to invade, according to U.S. officials.Each time, the Chinese officials, including the foreign minister and the ambassador to the United States, rebuffed the Americans, saying they did not think an invasion was in the works. After one diplomatic exchange in...

Friday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton touted President Joe Biden’s handling of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion and attack on Ukraine. Clinton told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that Biden’s response to the escalation from Putin “has been well-executed.”

ST. LOUIS, Monday, Feb. 24. A special dispatch from Cairo to the Democrat says the latest intelligence from the Cumberland is that Gen. BUELL's forces occupy Nashville; that Gov. HARRIS has called in all the Tennessee troops, and that a strong reaction has occurred among the people. LOUISVILLE, Monday, Feb. 24. Reliable private information received to-night assures us that Nashville is virtually in possession of the National forces. By the capture of Nashville, we obtain possession of the largest city in the rebel States which has yet been occupied by our troops. Nashville, the capital of the State of Tennessee,...

Doctors discovered he had a deviated septum -- a condition in which the partition between nasal passages is pushed to one side -- and a rhinoscopy conducted with a small camera discovered the cause -- a tooth growing on "the floor of the right nostril." The ectopic tooth, a term for a tooth growing in an abnormal place, was measured at about .6 inch long. The surgeons said they removed the tooth without complications, and the man reported during a follow-up visit three months after the procedure that he was able to breath normally through both nostrils.

The Kyiv Independent@KyivIndependent Russia is ready to send a delegation to Minsk for negotiations with Ukraine.Source: Vladimir Putin's spokesmanmi Dtry Peskov, as quoted by the UNIAN agency.4:57 AM · Feb 25, 2022·Twitter Web App

2 minute video"Raised by two loving and inspiring mothers, Emma excelled in school. But as a college student, she realized the challenge she truly sought required a surprising new direction. See how our Soldiers’ lives could inspire your own"

Ryan even testified on Brown’s behalf when she was nominated to the district court in 2012, offering his “unequivocal” endorsement of her qualifications in recommending her for the bench.“Our politics may differ, but my praise for Ketanji’s intellect, for her character, for her integrity is unequivocal,” Ryan said at her December 2012 nomination hearing. “She’s an amazing person, and I favorably recommend her consideration.” -snip- “We’re family, by marriage,” Ryan explained in the 2012 hearing. “Her brother and sister-in-law, who are my brother and sister-in-law, William and Dana Jackson, are here with us as well today.”

In a grimly ridiculous moment Thursday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki claimed that Joe Biden wasn’t being serious when he said that “No one expected the sanctions to prevent anything from happening,” with Russia and Ukraine, moments after announcing more sanctions. Biden stated that “Putin’s not going to say ‘oh, my God, the sanctions are coming,’” almost in the same breath as having announced that he would bring more sanctions on Russia. Psaki claimed “That’s not exactly what he meant,” without providing a better explanation for what the hell Biden was talking about:

Frank Barbieri, Jr., Board Chair of the Palm Beach County school board, cursed school police out after a contentious school board meeting Wednesday night. The understaffed, underpaid school police allegedly signed an email to Governor Ron DeSantis requesting a merger between the School Police and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.