Free Republic

Batozsky said he worked closely with the Azov Battalion during the 2014-15 conflict behind the scenes as a political consultant in Donetsk. It is this work, and his outspoken defense of Ukrainian efforts to defeat the separatists, that he says put him on the Russian hit list — and also that makes him confident that Russian charges of neo-Nazis in Ukraine are inaccurate. “They were soccer hooligans and wanted attention, so yeah, I was shocked when I saw guys with swastika tattoos,” he said about the Azov members he got to know. “But I talked with them all the time...

During a staff meeting on Florida’s recent enactment of the Parental Rights in Education bill, an executive producer at Disney said she was advancing a “not-at-all-secret gay agenda” to insert queerness into children’s animation. Latoya Raveneau, executive producer for Disney Television Animation, talked about how the studio’s treatment of her progressive ideas defied her negative expectations of the company, in a video obtained by journalist Christopher Rufo. Instead of vetoing her pitches for LGBTQ-friendly Easter eggs or overt references in her series, Disney gladly accepted and included them, she claimed. “In my little pocket of Proud Family Disney TVA, the...

One of the most far-reaching vaccine bills introduced in the California Legislature this year will not move forward as planned, after the proposal to require all workers to be inoculated against COVID-19 was shelved on the eve of its first hearing.

Bishop David Farrer is a wonderful dialogue partner for me and has introduced me to the poetry of R S Thomas. Apologies because as I make this post I have forgotten the name of the Thomas poem which inspired my epigram.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WMBF) - GOP candidate Mike Reichenbach won the special election Tuesday night to fill the state District 31 Senate seat previously held by the late Sen. Hugh Leatherman. With all precincts reporting, Reichenbach defeated Democratic candidate Suzanne La Rochelle. Reichenbach received 90.1% of the vote in Darlington and Florence Counties.

A Disney executive in charge of content vowed to up the ante on gender politics during an all-hands meeting, promising that at least half of the characters in its productions will be LGBTIA or minority by the end of the year. General entertainment president Karey Burke choked up during the company-wide Zoom call Monday, saying the issue hit close to home because of her children. 'I'm here as the mother of two queer children, actually, one transgender child and one pansexual child, and also as a leader,' she said. During the same all-hands meeting, television animation executive producer Latoya Raveneau...

45th president says he’s not interested in House speaker's job, and knows what next president needs to do on inflation, crime, the border, Russia and China. Former President Donald Trump is laying out a 2.0 vision on how he would make America great again, again, offering Just the News his plan for defeating Joe Biden and the Democrats and reversing soaring inflation and gas prices, high crime, surging illegal immigration and global instability. In a wide-ranging interview aired Tuesday night on the Just the News television show on Real America’s Voice, the nation's 45th president said his plan begins with...

A Napier eye surgeon who saw patients while unvaccinated has been issued two infringement notices and fined a total of $8000. Dr. Phil McDonald was given the notices for two appointments he attended in December 2021 and January 2022, according to a statement from the Ministry of Health. Each infringement carries a $4000 fine... Two infringement notices were also issued to eye surgeon Dr. Deepak Gupta. These came in addition to a single infringement notice issued against the Dunedin doctor in February this year, which also carried a $4000 fine. Both doctors have been deregistered with the New Zealand Medical...

A heroic pizzeria owner and his father are fighting for their lives after being stabbed multiple times when they jumped in to stop a 61-year-old woman from being robbed outside their Queens restaurant, relatives and police told The Post on Tuesday. Louie Suljovic, a 38-year-old military veteran, was working behind the counter of his Elmhurst pizzeria, Louie’s, when he and his father, Cazim Suljovic, saw the elderly woman being robbed by two men Saturday night. Louie Suljovic, a 38-year-old military veteran, was working behind the counter of his Elmhurst pizzeria, Louie’s, when he and his father, Cazim Suljovic, saw the...

Reactions after Nehemiah Shtrasler wrote in Haaretz asking what if it were Yeshivah boys at terror attack in Hadera, Arab Palestinian Fatah terrorist attacked Haredi city Bnei Brack on March 9, 2022. [https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FPAJIjuXIAEGV4U.jpg] ========================= Benwaxman (@benwaxman) Tweeted: Nehemia Shtrasler asks what would have happen if yeshiva guys had been in that restaurant in Hadera when the terrorist attack took place (instead of elite undercover soldiers). Follow up question: What would have happened if Haaretz opinion pieces writers had been there? Mar 29, 2022 https://twitter.com/benwaxman/status/1508742552664559622 ______ ינון מגל (@YinonMagal) Tweeted: The commander of the undercover officers who eliminated the terrorists said...

White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci said he does not believe "we're ever going to be able to determine" if COVID lockdowns were worth their resulting consequences and suggested that pandemic lockdowns and mask mandates could be reinstated in the event of a surge in infections and hospitalizations. Fauci's comments came during an interview on BBC's "Sunday Morning" with Sophie Raworth. Asked if people will be able to go back to living a pre-pandemic life or if a future COVID variant could prompt a return to pandemic restrictions like lockdowns and mask mandates, Fauci said there is a "gradual"...

Two years ago, slippers went stratospheric. Normally, they sell in cycles. There is an “on” season for slippers through the fall and winter. Then, sales taper off during the warmer months. But 2020 was different. Slipper sales that April almost doubled versus 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic was in full swing. Folks were in no hurry to leave their homes. They were dressing for leisure, streaming entertainment, and saving their cash… And while we saw odd bursts in products like slippers, huge swaths of the economy suffered. But today, a big thaw is coming to the global market. Travel plans are...

Tens of thousands of deceased and duplicative voter registrations were found after the 2020 election in North Carolina, according to a Tuesday report from the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF). PILF, which describes itself as a public interest law firm dedicated to election integrity, cross-referenced state records and found that 7,933 North Carolinians were still registered to vote “long after death” in 2020. Roughly 12,940 deceased registrants were found on the rolls in the spring of 2020, “ranking the state 8th in the nation.”

A critical test of NASA’s upcoming Space Launch System rocket starts this Friday, but the live broadcast of the wet dress rehearsal promises to be a dull and silent affair owing to security concerns. We live in uncertain times, no question, but some experts say this muzzling is over the top and unhelpful. The wet dress rehearsal is scheduled to start on Friday, April 1 at 5:00 p.m. EDT and end with the draining of the tanks on Sunday, April 3 at roughly 4:30 p.m. EDT. NASA will broadcast the entire test at the Kennedy Newsroom YouTube channel, but “without...

Was Will Smith's slap at the Oscars staged? Or was it a glimpse at a broken man and Hollywood's moral depravity? @RealCandaceO breaks down the slap heard around the world

A 70-year-old man convicted of hijacking a school bus full of children and holding them and their driver for $5 million ransom in 1976 has been approved for parole. Frederick Newhall Woods was found suitable for parole at a hearing Friday, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesperson Joe Orlando confirmed to CNN on Tuesday. Parole commissioners reportedly decided Woods no longer is a danger to the public. Woods masterminded the kidnapping plot after being inspired by the 1971 Clint Eastwood film Dirty Harry. His accomplices, brothers Richard and James Schoenfeld, were freed years ago. An appeals court ordered Richard...

For months, Cambodia’s PM has attempted to quash protests against the NagaWorld casino in Phnom Penh. But his tactics are failing due to workers’ opposition and international pressure.It’s noon and Phnom Penh looks like an escape room. At the central intersection between Suramarit and Sothearos boulevards, a swarm of police cars and uniformed and plainclothes officers protect NagaWorld, the capital’s only licensed casino-hotel complex. Suddenly, a walkie-talkie command arrives and the game of cat and mouse begins. The police hunt down a dozen strikers and lock them inside a public bus, which serves as a mobile cell. They go on...

The second climber to die in Joshua Tree National Park this year has been identified by a witness as an experienced climber named Tina Fiori. Fiori died Saturday afternoon following an 80-foot-fall while rock climbing. Tina Lynn Fiori was 51 years old and a resident of Riverside County. Himmelstein said the group was "top roping," a method of climbing that involves stringing a rope through a permanent anchor system at the top of the climb. The rope acts as a safety mechanism that supports a climber's weight if they fall. A second person assists gathering slack at the bottom of...

Eshe Symonds, 31, a security boss from Birmingham, died suddenly when she was holidaying in Jamaica with loved ones, but an inquestA healthy mum thought she might have been pregnant when she fell ill on holiday, only to leave investigators confused as to the cause of her death, an inquest heard. Eshe Symonds died on holiday in Jamaica after she thought her vomiting was a result of morning sickness. Sadly, only two days later the 31-year-old began to suffer from a tightness in her chest, BirminghamLive reported. Even after being taken to hospital, she would die that same day....

A Connecticut school nurse has been suspended over a Facebook post revealing that an 11 year-old at the school where she worked was on puberty blockers. Kathleen Cataford, who worked at the Richard J Kinsella Magnet School in Hartford, was axed from her role Monday over the post, which was branded transphobic. Writing on a local mom's group in response to a request for local school recommendations, the 77 year-old said: 'Investigate the school system curriculum...CT is a very socially liberal, gender confused state,' the post read. It continued: 'As a public school nurse, I have an 11yo female student...