Free Republic

Walentynowicz’s firing helped transform what had originally been protests over rising bread prices into an all-out assault on the Soviet regime. The protestors did not seek a compromise with the Communist regime, but demanded recognition of their rights, including freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and dignified treatment of the workers. In many ways, the Solidarity movement stood for what the American Founding Fathers had defined as “unalienable rights.”

Archaeologists recently unearthed ivory plaques found in a luxurious Iron Age residence in Jerusalem, a first-of-its-kind discovery at the site, shedding light on the owner's wealth and social status.The ivory pieces were found in a building from around the eighth or seventh century B.C., the First Temple era, in the City of David...Sifting through the ruins in the building, likely burnt during the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., diggers found around 1,500 ivory fragments, said Reli Avisar from Tel Aviv University, which excavated the site along with the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA)...The decorations consisted of frames with rosettes...

Panicked Russian soldiers are abandoning their tanks, weapons and even clothes as they "literally run from their positions" in the face of a shock Ukrainian offensive, soldiers have told The Telegraph. A Ukrainian intelligence unit on the front line said the Russian chain of command was broken and soldiers were fleeing without putting up a fight, many of them changing into civilian clothes to avoid detection. A drone operator returning from the front line on Sunday also told The Telegraph that the speed of the offensive had even taken their own army by surprise, with troops struggling to recover the...

It is regularly eaten by more than half the world's population. And now, it's been grown in microgravity, on board the newly launched Chinese Wentian space laboratory. Wentian launched in July and joined up with the Tianhe module of China's new space station. Its original complement of eight experiments included one that attempted to grow rice in microgravity. There were actually two types of rice launched as part of the experiment. A tall shoot variety reached almost 30 centimeters in the first month of growth, and a dwarf variety reached around 5 cm. Both of these growth amounts are on...

Polls show Kari Lake and Katie Hobbs neck-and-neck and show Blake Masters trailing by a few points to Mark Kelly. I explain why that is actually very good news for the both of them

Humans have managed to survive and grow plants in low-Earth orbit aboard several spacecraft and stations. Space is the ultimate “harsh environment” for life to exist in, including plants, due to such novel stressors as cosmic radiation and lack of gravity. Space biologist Anna-Lisa Paul describes plants as being able to “reach into their genetic toolbox and remake the tools they need” to adapt to the novel environment of space. Space agencies have been working on specialized systems that provide the conditions necessary for plant cultivation in space. These systems are containers that can control the internal environment and grow...

Hey, no bias there!This week the world learned of the passing of England’s 96 year old Queen Elizabeth II. A couple weeks ago Russia’s 91 year old Mikhail Gorbachev, the last president of the Communist Soviet Union, passed away. And the difference in coverage in the media was, shall we say, interesting.The New York Times published an essay by one Maya Jasanoff. Jasanoff is described as “a professor of history at Harvard, is the author of three books about the British Empire and its subjects.” The title of her essay:Mourn the Queen, Not Her EmpireAmong other things Professor Jasanoff says...

Friends it's Sunday night again and time to relax. Warm up the tubes for another 4 hours of classic radio Americana. Listen LiveInfo *tonight's show will be available at the "Info" link starting tomorrow.

The UN’s IAEA has reported that Iran has 55.6 kilograms (122.6 pounds) of 60% enriched uranium. The body says this means Iran is able to produce up to 25 kg (55 lbs) of 90% enriched uranium, enough for a nuclear bomb. The real story could be even more concerning. Consider the hoary phrase, “There’s more than one way to skin a cat.” Similarly, there’s more than one way to make a nuclear bomb. The Union of Concerned Scientists has said that it might be possible to produce a fission-type nuclear weapon with as little as 15kg (33 lbs) of highly...

Today's Mass Gospel recounts God's promise to find his lost sheepat any cost... Looking at the three parables of losing something;and God's infinite Love to never give up on any of us. 14 min. YouTube link below.God IS Crazy In Love With You

Ranked choice voting is on the rise in the United States, with nearly two dozen places now using the system for various offices including, most recently, New York City for its mayoral primary elections. By the end of 2021, more than 20 Utah municipalities will be using this method, which lets voters rank candidates in order of preference. Two cities in Minnesota will also try it this year: Bloomington and Minnetonka. By 2022, the state of Alaska will be using a variation of the system, as will the California cities of Albany, Eureka and Palm Desert. By 2023, Boulder, Colorado,...

BIDEN, BARRON & BERGOGLIO: Rockin’ the Post-Catholic WorldDo you remember when Catholic bishops and priests were leading the charge in the culture war against ‘sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll’ last century? What happened? To paraphrase another hippy crooner, Pete Seeger, “where have all the Catholics gone?” Last week, Bishop Robert Barron proudly announced on Facebook that he’d made a pilgrimage to the boyhood home of iconic folk rocker, Bob Dylan.Apart from offering further proof that the Catholic Church has surrendered in the Culture War, what’s the takeaway? To answer that question, Michael Matt points to President Joe ‘The Catholic’...

The incident occurred shortly after 2 p.m. on Saturday at Bedrock Rapid on the Colorado River, according to the park's Twitter account, which reported that emergency medical personnel were treating and transporting injured patients. The rapid is known for a large rock island that splits the left and right portions of the channel, making it dangerous for rafters, according to the website GoRafting.com. A representative for the national park did not immediately respond to inquiries from NBC News Sunday.

The Countess of Wessex was pictured comforting Princess Anne today as members of the royal family watched Queen Elizabeth II's coffin arrive in Edinburgh to lie in rest at the Palace of Holyroodhouse overnight. Sophie, 57, the wife of the Queen's youngest son Prince Edward, 58, was seen placing her hand on the Princess Royal's back in a supportive gesture after the coffin made the journey from Balmoral to the Scottish city. The Queen's children and their spouses - Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, Duke of York and the Earl and Countess of Wessex - watched as...

When I think back to 9/11, the memories are very clear. It was the beginning of my senior year of college. It’s difficult to picture the United States responding differently than we did. A nation that was bitterly divided over a prolonged presidential election less than a year earlier united against a common enemy. “A terrorist attack designed to tear us apart has instead bound us together as a nation,” President George W. Bush observed in his radio address days after the attack. For a little while, anyway. Disagreements over the Iraq War and the 2004 election quickly tore the...

Ukraine has made some impressive progress on the battlefield, but let us hold the applause for a moment: It’s too soon to tell whether Ukraine’s ongoing counteroffensive heralds a Ukrainian victory in the war with Russia, but the remarkably rapid Ukrainian advance on the one hand and the equally remarkable rapid retreat by the Russians on the other do testify to Ukrainian military prowess and, perhaps more critical, Russian military incompetence. It should be amply clear by now that, expert expectations to the contrary, Russia cannot win the war. In fact, the irony is that Russian troops have responded to...

In the harsh November of 1620, a 100-foot fluyt bearing about 130 people reached the alien eastern shore of the North American continent. Their first sighting of land was a thin, hooked promontory known to early adventurers for the abundance of its fish. They meant to turn southward and establish a new settlement in the Colony of Virginia. But the winds were hard, and their vessel was beaten and overloaded, and after days of struggle they had made no meaningful headway. They turned back, dropping anchor at Cape Cod (where they had first arrived) on November 21. Of the 102...

“Journalists uncover the truth, check the abuse of power, and demand transparency from those in power. They are indispensable. And, at a time when the truth is increasingly under attack, our need for accurate, fact-based reporting, open public conversation, and accountability has never been greater.” That was President Biden in a statement on National Press Day not long after taking office in 2021. Hard to argue with the sentiment: Journalists are indispensable to a functioning democracy. The need for accountability has never been greater.

A shoplifter knocked a 77-year-old woman unconscious as he made a mad dash from a Barnes & Noble bookstore in Manhattan on Saturday with just $35 in stolen Funko Pop! toys in a shocking moment that was caught on surveillance video. New York City Police released footage that shows the thief running out the door after he snatched the popular collectibles from a display inside the Union Square location around 12:20 p.m. When loss prevention employees tried to stop him, the brazen thief forced his way through and slammed into the unidentified elderly woman walking into the store. The woman...

I think that I'd have to be an active duty Ukrainian soldier or ally to truly appreciate the humor of this video. I know that these ppl are fighting and dying for their families and countrymen so the humor factor is not all there for me. I couldn't imagine being inside that tank or outside on the offensive. War is hell. But I'm posting anyway. :O)