Free Republic

(CP) A congregation in the Netherlands is seeking to leave the Russian Orthodox Church in opposition to Patriarch Kirill of Moscow's support for the invasion of Ukraine, filing a request for "canonical dismissal" The Russian Orthodox Parish of Saint Nicholas of Myra in Amsterdam posted an announcement on its Facebook page last Saturday stating that "the clergy unanimously announced that it is no longer possible for them to function within the Moscow Patriarchate and provide a spiritually safe environment for our faithful." The announcement was "extremely painful and difficult for all concerned" and came in response to what the parish...

Scientists in Utah have captured, collared and released a wolverine for the first time, in what wildlife officials are calling a "once-in-a-lifetime" event. Officials with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources said it was just the eighth confirmed wolverine sighting in Utah since 1979. ... ...Officials said that on March 10, an aircraft piloted by personnel from USDA-Wildlife Services was flying over Rich County, Utah when they noticed an animal feeding on a dead sheep. The dead sheep was one of 18 sheep the wolverine had killed or wounded in the area that morning...

Ukrainians have died because the Biden administration has been slow to provide weapons and supplies to the country's forces as it fights against Russia, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee told Fox News. "The Biden administration certainly needs to step up," U.S. Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio said. "Although they have been publicly making statements of commitments to give Ukraine the tools and weapons to defend themselves, they've been very slow to do so. "That, of course, has cost Ukrainian lives," he continued.

A Texas rancher who worked with a Mexican drug cartel to smuggle illegal immigrants and weed into the US was slapped with a 38-year prison sentence, prosecutors said. Cuban citizen Gilberto Morales, 57, coordinated with a cartel out of Porvenir, Chihuahua to smuggle immigrants and more than a ton of marijuana a month across the Rio Grande through his ranch in Fort Hancock, 40 miles east of El Paso, according the US Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas. “For more than a year, Gilberto Morales operated his very own smuggling corridor ...

Two Chinese nationals arrested for allegedly attempting to smuggle infants from Ukraine Two Chinese nationals have been arrested for trying to smuggle undocumented children out of Ukraine and into Romania. Ukraine's State Border Guard Service reported on Monday that border guards held off foreigners from taking babies out of the country at the Porubne Border Crossing Point in Chernivtsi Oblast. The people who have been identified as Chinese nationals were carrying two infants as they attempted to cross the border and into Romania when they attracted suspicion from the border guards who suspected that something was off.

A fake and heavily manipulated video depicting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy circulated on social media and was placed on a Ukrainian news website by hackers Wednesday before it was debunked and removed. The video, which shows a rendering of the Ukrainian president appearing to tell his soldiers to lay down their arms and surrender the fight against Russia, is a so-called deepfake that ran about a minute long. It is not yet clear who created the deepfake, but government officials in Ukraine have been warning for weeks about the possibility of Russia spreading manipulated videos as part of its information...

38 years doesn't seem that long ago. Here's a KCTS-9 story showing how to impress your out of town guests with a bus/walking tour. Most importantly, see the changes in downtown Seattle. The old Monorail terminus, only one Westin Tower, and hardly any skyscrapers

President Biden on Wednesday announced $800 million in new lethal aid for Ukraine, bolstering U.S. support to the ex-Soviet nation as it ends the third week fighting Russian forces. The latest tranche — part of the nearly $14 billion Congress appropriated for Ukrainian aid which Biden signed into law a day prior — brings the U.S. government’s total pledge of military assistance for the embattled nation to $1 billion in the past week and $2 billion since Biden took office. ...

Jussie Smollett walked out of a Chicago prison on Wednesday night. An appeals court earlier cleared the way for his release, ordering the actor be released from jail after posting a personal recognizance bond of $150,000, and pending the appeal of his conviction for lying to police about a racist and homophobic attack. The former "Empire" actor was surrounded by security as he exited the Cook County Jail. He did not comment as he got into an awaiting SUV, but his attorneys said he was the target of a racist justice system and people playing politics. Smollett's attorneys had argued...

Stroke can have many causes. An atherothrombotic stroke is caused by a clot that forms from plaques that build up within blood vessels in the brain. A new study suggests that people who have this type of stroke who also have higher levels of triglycerides, a type of fat, in their blood may have a higher risk of having another stroke or other cardiovascular problems one year later, compared to people who had a stroke but have lower triglyceride levels. The study found an association even when people were taking statin drugs meant to lower triglycerides and protect against heart...

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida — A motorcyclist caught on a drawbridge as it began to rise jumped off his bike just before reaching the edge, leaving the bike dangling over the water. Mark Hagen, 50, of Metter, Georgia, tells police he was cleaning water from the face shield of his helmet during a rain shower as he approached the Main Street drawbridge last weekend and did not see the lowered gates and flashing red lights indicating the bridge was about to go up, according to the News-Journal. Video of the incident shows the motorcycle smash through a lowered gate. Hagen then...

AS WESTERN powers come down hard on Russian energy, Putin has turned to countries in Asia to sell his oil and gas. ... to evade western sanctions, Putin is looking eastwards, towards India, Pakistan and China, to sell its gas and construct more energy pipelines...

An ideal system is a highly reflecting mirror whose motion is sensed by monochromatic light, which is photoelectrically detected with high quantum efficiency. A quantum optomechanical experiment is achieved if the quantum uncertainties of light and mirror motion influence each other, ultimately leading to the observation of entanglement between optical and motional degrees of freedom. In AVS Quantum Science, researchers from Hamburg University in Germany review research on gravitational wave detectors as a historical example of quantum technologies and examine the fundamental research on the connection between quantum physics and gravity. Gravitational wave astronomy requires unprecedented sensitivities for measuring the...

Edward Bronstein, 38, died on March 31, 2020, during his arrest on suspicion of driving under the influence. He was pulled over for a DUI, but taken to a police station after refusing to give a blood sample, which his family says was due to a fear of needles. Bronstein began wailing with fear after being pinned to the ground face-down shortly afterwards, and died shortly afterwards, with efforts to revive him proving unsuccessful. The California Highway Patrol had fought to keep the tape from going public after the man's family sued over excessive use of force and civil rights...

There is action being taken across the nation by Republicans on abortion laws ahead of the Supreme Court’s decision. GOP lawmakers in Tennessee have introduced a bill that appears to be similar to Texas’ anti-abortion legislation. “This bill is modeled directly after the legislation passed in Texas last year. Abortions, since that bill has been passed, have dropped 60 percent in Texas,” Rep. Rebecca Alexander said as she spoke to a House subcommittee. Alexander is the legislation’s sponsor. Virginia’s Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares is calling for Roe v. Wade to be overturned by the Supreme Court. In joining 21...

Russia’s top state-controlled energy company is set to cash in on a $10 billion contract to build out one of Iran’s most contested nuclear sites as part of concessions granted in the soon-to-be-announced nuclear agreement that will guarantee sanctions on both countries are lifted. Russian and Iranian documents translated for the Washington Free Beacon show that Rosatom, Russia’s leading energy company, has a $10 billion contract with Iran’s atomic energy organization to expand Tehran’s Bushehr nuclear plant. Russia and the Biden administration confirmed on Tuesday that the new nuclear agreement includes carveouts that will waive sanctions on both countries so...

Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was precipitated by assurances from China, Germany, and the United States that each of Russia’s major trading partners either backed his position or had zero interest in getting in his way. President Joe Biden’s invitations to Putin to bite off more chunks of Ukraine made it clear that America was not interested in a fight with the Russian dictator in his own backyard. Surely, the mighty Putin would make quick work of the Ukrainians. After all, he helped put down the Syrian rebellion to preserve Iran’s stake in Syria, and thereby sealed Barack Obama’s nuclear...

...Trump said Pence acted as a 'human conveyor belt' sending the 'fraudulent votes' to 'Old Crow' Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. 'I was disappointed in Mike,' Trump said. The former president also suggested to the Examiner Tuesday that his differences with Pence are too much to overcome for another run on the same ticket. Pence has distanced himself from Trump in the months between the election and leaving the White House, and has further done so in the year plus since Biden's inauguration. Trump repeated his claim that the election was stolen and that he wanted Pence to delay certification...

At a moment a restored JCPOA Iran nuclear deal is said to be nearing the finish line, despite recent complications involving Russia's demand of written guarantees that Ukraine-related sanctions won't hinder its trade with the Islamic Republic, the White House is poised to remove Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from the official terrorist. Biden's potentially reversing Trump's 2019 designation of the elite Iranian military group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization is being seen as a final huge concession toward Tehran, with the immediate effect of providing energy markets relief as additional oil supplies are badly needed for Europe. Axios' Barak Ravid...

The most expensive weapons program in the world is about to experience cuts in the upcoming U.S. Defense of Department (DoD) budget. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a trillion-dollar program to swap out nearly every fighter jet in the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps, will experience procurement cuts under DoD's upcoming "Selected Acquisition Report" (SAR), according to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with information about the weapon's program cost. DoD is expected to order 61 F-35s in the next budget, 33 less than what was planned. The reduction comes as the F-35 program is expected to exceed $770 billion since...