Free Republic

On 12 April, President Zelenskyy said that hundreds of rapes committed by Russian soldiers have been reported. Taking into account the numbers that appeared in the media, this is by no means an exaggeration. “Psy.for.peace” psychologist Vasylysa Levchenko told CNN journalist about 50 reports of rape by Russian soldiers, while Ukraine’s Ombudsperson hotline psychologist Oleksandra Kvitko said that she alone received 70 such reports. Ukraine’s Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova regularly receives information on new cases of rape which are made public only with the consent of the victims.

In preparation for this second attempt at OFT-2, the Starliner capsule is currently sitting atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, which is scheduled to launch from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 6:54 p.m. EDT on Thursday, May 19. Should all go as planned, the uncrewed CST-100 will dock at the International Space Station on Friday, May 20 at 7:10 p.m. EDT. Starliner OFT-2 is packed with around 500 pounds of cargo (mostly food), and the plan is to return 600 pounds of cargo back to Earth. Recent precedent being what it is, this...

Randy Weaver, patriarch of a family that was involved in an 11-day Idaho standoff with federal agents 30 years ago that left three people dead and inspired the modern anti-government militia movement, has died at the age of 74. His death on Wednesday was announced on in a Facebook post by daughter Sara Weaver, who lives near Kalispell, Montana and wrote 'Love you always Dad' on a post sharing a photo of him, along with the dates January 3, 1948, and May 11, 2022. Sara Weaver did not immediately return Facebook messages and email requests for information. Details of Randy...

There’s no need to panic though as Asteroid 388945 (2008 TZ3) should pass us from a distance of about 3.5 million miles away. That may sound pretty far away but in the grand scheme of space this isn’t a large distance at all. That’s why Nasa has still flagged it as a “close approach”. If an asteroid comes within 4.65 million miles and is over a certain size, it’s considered “potentially hazardous” by cautious space agencies. Sunday’s asteroid fits this description. It should shoot past from its safe distance at a speed of just over 18,000 miles per hour. Nasa...

President Biden held a secure phone call Friday morning with the president of Finland and the prime minister of Sweden, one day after Finnish officials indicated they were looking to quickly apply for NATO membership following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The president’s call with Swedish PM Magdelana Andersson and Finnish President Sauli Niinistö lasted close to 40 minutes, the White House said.

Arab-American "Palestinian-journalist" Barghouti calls for the end [of the State] of Israel: 'Can not exist beyond 2022' [WP "columnist"] Mariam Barghouti, an American-Palestinian journalist, tweeted the following on her Twitter account last night: "Yes. Call for the end of Israel. It did not exist before 1948 and cannot exist after 2022... " Mariam Barghouti is originally from Ramallah, and as it can be deduced from her name she belongs to the infamous Barghouti clan. Her columns are published in the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, BBC, Al Jazeera and more. In 2014, Barghouti was arrested by the...

Gov. J.B Pritzker has extended his emergency powers – for the 29th time – through the end of May. Illinois’ mask mandate has been lifted for weeks, and more than 80% of Illinoisans over the age of 5 have at least one dose of the vaccine. Illinois has never been closer to pre-pandemic life, so why is Pritzker still declaring a statewide emergency? He said COVID-19 infections are still too high and it is claiming too many lives. The state reported a weekly average of seven deaths on May 9 – the lowest average since early August 2021.

Robert McFarlane, a national security advisor to former President Ronald Reagan who was involved in the Iran-contra scandal, has died at the age of 84. McFarlane died on Thursday in Lansing, Michigan, according to the New York Times, and was visiting family when he passed away.

(snip) His dominance may seem surprising. But behind it is his success in addressing two pressing problems Democrats have struggled with nationally. That their primary voters tend to favor progressive policies more than general election voters, and their party seems unable to clearly define what it believes and who it’s for: It wants to advance progressive ideas without being branded as leftist, and to strike a balance between elite priorities and blue-collar concerns. The quirks of his candidacy mean that Fetterman is able to find a balance between extremes. A longtime politician, he’s promoted progressive causes in the state while...

Only 52 percent of active-duty enlisted women, compared to 92 percent of the men, were able to pass the Army Combat Fitness Test.It was gratifying to watch Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton questioning Christine Wormuth, the first female Secretary of the Army, at a recent Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.Sen. Cotton, a Ranger-qualified infantry veteran, respectfully chastised Wormuth for the “fiasco” that the new Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT) has become. For the past three years, the Army has tried but failed to implement “gender-neutral” standards in the new Combat Fitness Test — mainly because of high failure rates among...

Mrs. Barnette is soaring in the Pennsylvania polls because of the views she expresses and the charming, forceful way she expresses them but the question is if she is sincere. We think she is. She’s running for the Senate against millions of dollars and powerful politicos. One thing is certain, she is not an establishment operative and appears very sincere. She is from Pennsylvania. The two top runners are not. We posted a video by Greg Kelly of Newsmax about Kathy Barnette, but it looks like he could be wrong. Mr. Kelly is very concerned about her sincerity, suggesting she’s...

Speaker Robin Vos introduced this week he'll pause the 2020 election investigation by former Wisconsin supreme Courtroom Justice Michael Gableman. Vos stated he'll wait till some lawsuits had been determined, which is a one other flimsy excuse for the RINO Home Speaker. The Washington examiner reported: Former Wisconsin Supreme Courtroom Justice Michael Gableman's inquiry into the 2020 presidential election has reportedly been halted amid a number of lawsuits over his investigation. Whereas his investigation into the election is paused, Gableman's, $11,000 month-to-month wage will probably be halved to $5,500, and he'll obtain a $2,500 month-to-month stipend to pay for hire,...

Fox News host Sean Hannity has spent an awful lot of time and credibility in recent days attacking U.S. Senate candidate Kathy Barnette. He endorsed Dr. Mehmet Oz in the Republican primary, and as I was told recently by Brannon Howse at Worldview Weekend, there are credible reports Hannity was the driving force in getting Donald Trump to endorse Oprah’s famous doctor. This would make sense considering the all-out attacks Hannity and others have been engaged in against Barnette. His show last night was a doozy as he continued to go nuclear on the Black female veteran who nobody was...

New album from The Steel Woods 'Old News' available now! https://ffm.to/oldnews Release Date: January 18, 2019 via Woods Music / Thirty Tigers [Lyrics Below] https://thesteelwoods.com OLD NEWS Written by Jason Cope © 2019. Rowdy Woods Music (SESAC). All rights reserved. You can hate all the others Because they hate you They hate the thought Of you hatin’ them too We can scream it all out ‘Til we're Red White or Blue But I'd hate to think That thinking is Old News

Biden should abandon misguided pursuit of student loan forgiveness The Biden administration has extended the "pause" on student loan payments for a sixth time. By the time the latest pause ends, those who took out student loans will have been able to go 30 months—two-and-a-half years—without making a single payment nor accruing any new interest. It’s a raw deal for taxpayers. The Department of Education estimates that, each month, they are losing over $200 billion in repayments and another $5 billion in accrued interest. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the pause has cost taxpayers more than $130 billion in...

Ex-staffers at CNN+, who were fired last month after the month-old streaming service was abruptly shut down, got gift boxes the following week that were filled with CNN+ swag, according to a report. CNN’s new parent company Warner Bros. Discovery delivered a “gut punch” to the laid-off employees as it “mistakenly” mailed out the gifts to employees who had been fired a week earlier, according to the Wall Street Journal. The boxes included branded gear from pens to food containers, as well as items such as a popcorn maker and headphones, the publication reported, adding that some of the boxes...

ABC’s legal analyst Sunny Hostin said Monday on ABC’s “The View” that she believed the nationwide baby formula shortage was, in part, happening because of America’s lack of federal paid maternity leave. Co-host Joy Behar said, “This crisis blew up after Abbott Nutrition had a massive recall over a scare their formula had killed and sickened some infants. But they say they investigated and found no evidence that the formulas were to blame. So they’ll resume production when the FDA lets them. There are only four companies that produce formula for most Americans. So let me ask you. is it...

After a quick trip in a San Francisco taxi, the passenger handed a credit card to the driver to swipe, then hopped out of the cab. Soon, a gargantuan charge — thousands of dollars — appeared on the passenger’s credit card bill for the ride. Despite months of pleading, the bank insisted the passenger owed the money and only relented after being contacted by a reporter. Wait, you’ve heard this story before, right? The Chronicle’s article about Margarita Bekker’s $9,875 bill for an 11-minute Yellow Cab ride went viral earlier this year. Three people who read that story contacted The...

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci said Friday on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” that one of the contributing factors to an uptick in COVID cases is “many people are no longer wearing masks in indoor settings.” Fauci said, “We have now, as you mentioned correctly, for a couple of days in a row have been over 100,000 cases. Not as high as it was at the very peak that we had several months ago, but we have to be very careful. One of the things we keep emphasizing, as you know, we have reached a...

You're An EXTREME Redneck When... 1) You let your 14-year-old daughter smoke at the dinner table in front of her kids 2) The Blue Book value of your truck goes up and down depending on how much gas is in it. 3) You've been married three times and still have the same in-laws. 4) You think a woman who is out of your league, bowls on a different night. 5) You wonder how service stations keep their rest-rooms so clean. 6) Someone in your family died right after saying, 'Hey, guys, watch this.' 7) You think Dom Perignon is a...