Free Republic

The Kremlin said on Friday that what it calls Russia's "special operation" in Ukraine could end in the "foreseeable future" since its aims were being achieved and work was being carried out by both the Russian military and Russian peace negotiators. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also said Moscow understood that some countries that had tried to adopt a balanced position had been subjected to pressure to vote on Thursday to suspend Russia from the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Assessments in the defense establishment: The terrorist [at] Tel Aviv, went out to attack from the mosque in Jaffa - and returned to it after the shooting until he was killed this morning by the GSS. He apparently had an early acquaintance with Tel Aviv and Jaffa from illegal entrances in the past. Apparently prayed and went out to carry out the attack...— Josh Breiner (@JoshBreiner) April 8, 2022

Finland was hit with cyberattacks targeting government sites on Friday just as Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky was addressing Finnish Parliament. The Ukrainian leader has regularly been giving formal speeches before lawmaking bodies across the West and the world, making urgent please for additional military and humanitarian assistance to his besieged nation. The attack impacted both the Ministry of Defense’s website and the foreign ministry’s site, the latter which later clarified that it was a denial-of-service attack, noting that the issue has since been resolved. The defense ministry earlier issued an urgent tweet saying its website was experiencing and attack and...

A unanimous decision by the California Supreme Court ruled that certain sex offenders are eligible for early parole. It stems from a 2016 ballot measure sponsored by then Governor Jerry Brown. Prop 57 allows offenders who are classified as non-violent to be released from prison early. San Diego District Attorney Summer Stephan says around 4,500 sex offenders in California will now be eligible for parole.

President Biden on Friday singled out the three Republican senators who voted to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, praising them for setting aside partisanship in what has become a divisive process. “Not withstanding the harassment and attacks in the hearings, I always believed that a bipartisan vote was possible,” Biden said at an event with Jackson to celebrate her confirmation. “And I hope I don’t get them in trouble, and I mean it sincerely, but I want to thank three Republicans who voted for Judge Jackson.”

STIRING-WENDEL, France — Marine Le Pen, the far-right leader making her third attempt to become president of France, already had the backing of voters who came to listen to her recently in Stiring-Wendel, a former coal-mining town struggling to reinvent itself. But after a 40-minute speech focusing on the rising cost of living, Ms. Le Pen succeeded in doing what even few of her supporters would have predicted just months ago: impressing them. Voters trickling out of an auditorium into the cold evening said she had become “less extreme,” more “mature” and “self-assured” — even “presidential.” “She has softened, she...

A motion for detention of the two men who were arrested Wednesday for impersonating federal agents includes a slew of damning evidence, including images showing several different passports, visas and IDs. The prosecutors are requesting Arian Taherzadeh, 40, and Haider Sher-Ali, 35, be detained due to a slew of evidence found in a raid of their units in a luxury apartment building in southeast Washington, D.C. 'They are not law enforcement agents, and they are not involved in sanctioned covert activities,' the motion for detention filed Friday claims. 'Neither Defendant is even employed by the United States government.' 'But their...

For most Finns, the prospect of their country joining NATO had long been virtually unthinkable. While Finland had moved closer to the military alliance over the last three decades, it had resisted the idea of becoming a full-fledged member. That all changed when Vladimir Putin sent ten thousand tanks into Ukraine. Now Finland’s government is preparing to amend a security white paper that would lay the groundwork for the country’s application to NATO. The paper is set to be presented before the parliament on April 14, with a decision on membership anticipated in May, if not sooner. The government’s efforts...

...for 14 hours, 14 minutes and 11 seconds, since setting off at sunset from Austin, Texas, in a race to Sin City. Their mode of transport was a former prop car they were told was used on the set of “The Walking Dead.” Top speed, when they could get away with it: 140 miles per hour. “Waldo ran from us,” The rally, called Fool’s Roll because it is held each year near April 1, is a simple concept with a maniacal flourish. ... must drive the roughly 1,200 mile trek, on any route they like, in a vehicle that costs...

Smiley Allen Martin was freed in February after serving time [ half his 10-year sentence] for punching a girlfriend, dragging her from her home by her hair and whipping her with a belt, according to court and prison records. Those count as nonviolent offenses under California law...

A detailed list of the destroyed and captured vehicles and equipment of both sides can be seen below. This list is constantly updated as additional footage becomes available.

A Russian soldier has been filmed running away from a Ukrainian drone, only to lead it straight to his unit and give away its position to Kyiv's forces. Ukrainian troops then launched an artillery strike on the Russian's location, with pictures of the aftermath showing a plume of smoke rising from their encampment hidden in a nearby forest. The video shows the soldier frantically sprinting down the side of a country road as the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) steadily tracks his movements. He can be seen checking over his shoulder as he runs down the dusty verge beside the road,...

This vlogger discusses the day's events in the Ukrainian actions. He posts practically every day and has been since the military actions began.

FIFTH WEEK OF LENT JOHN 10:31-42 Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus declares, "The Father is in me and I am in the Father." Charles Williams stated that the master idea of Christianity is "coinherence," mutual indwelling. If you want to see this idea concretely displayed, look to the pages of the Book of Kells, that masterpiece of early Christian illumination. Lines interwoven, designs turning in and around on each other, plays of plants, animals, planets, human beings, angels, and saints. The Germans call it Ineinander (one in the other). How do we identify ourselves? Almost exclusively through the naming of...

(Via NBC) – […] three U.S. officials told NBC News this week there is no evidence Russia has brought any chemical weapons near Ukraine. They said the U.S. released the [mis]information to deter Russia from using the banned munitions. […] Coordinated by the White House National Security Council, the unprecedented intelligence releases have been so frequent and voluminous, officials said, that intelligence agencies had to devote more staff members to work on the declassification process, scrubbing the [mis]information so it wouldn’t betray sources and methods. […] The idea is to pre-empt and disrupt the Kremlin’s tactics, complicate its military campaign,...

DESPERATE Russian claims that a US Lieutenant General has been captured in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol have been torn apart by a BBC expert.Journalist Alistair Coleman took to Twitter to destroy the claims, which he branded "fake news". He reposted one tweet, which said: "Unconfirmed. The rumours going around that a US Major General Roger L. Cloutier has been captured by Russian army at Azovstal in Mariupol. It would be within the Russians' right to execute this officer as nothing more than a common criminal. Not kidding. Legally by all laws."Mr Coleman retweeted another post, which claimed: "Unconfirmed sources...

The Washington Post cited an unnamed source saying Trump has been fuming over his app flopping upon its release.Trump is now considering signing up with his former aide's conservative social media platform, per The Post. Former President Donald Trump might be joining the conservative social media platform Gettr following the lackluster performance of his Truth Social app. Trump has "privately fumed" about Truth Social's failure to attract a sizeable audience since its launch in February, according to The Washington Post, which cited an unnamed source familiar with the matter. The source also told The Post that the former president is...

The federal government is giving billions of dollars in subsidies to illegal immigrants while tens of thousands of American veterans remain homeless. In so many ways, Biden has his priorities backwards. Illegals should be deported and veterans should be prioritized. As long as even one American veteran is still living on the streets, we shouldn’t spend a penny on illegals. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), there were an estimated 19,750 sheltered homeless veterans. The number of unsheltered homeless veterans is estimated to be just under 40,000 on any given night. Those numbers should weigh...

In a conflict that is shaping up to be one of the most intense and rapidly developing of our time, drones have come to play an increasingly important role, and could well end up being one of the pivotal factors in its eventual conclusion. Thus, the delivery of at least 16 additional Bayraktar TB2 UCAVs, on top of the 18 already in Ukraine's pre-war inventory, constitutes perhaps one of the most significant instances of support to Ukraine's plight yet. [1] Now evidence has emerged that Turkey's drone contributions have not remained limited to the TB2, with new combat footage of...

The Wall Street Journal reports that one of Boeing’s two next-generation Air Force Ones could have been damaged when workers attempted to shift the under-construction jet onto jacks. The weight on the jacks was reportedly well in excess of what they were designed to hold, and officials were reportedly concerned that the aircraft could have been damaged. The Air Force did not find any damage, but its investigation instead determined that Boeing crews didn’t follow established procedure and that one employee wasn’t properly credentialed to supervise the work. Another later failed a routine drug test. The Air Force requested that...