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NEAR PAYSON, Ariz. - Officials with the Coconino County Sheriff's Office say three people are dead after they fell through the ice while walking on a frozen lake near Payson. The incident happened on the night of Dec. 26 at Woods Canyon Lake, which is located about 34 miles east of Payson. According to a statement released by officials with CCSO, deputies stationed at a substation in the area were called to the lake, after two men and a woman were walking on the frozen lake and fell through the ice. "Responding Deputies and Fire units were able to pull...

Ukrainian forces are on the brink of recapturing the strategically important city of Kreminna in the east, according to a local official. Serhiy Haidai, regional governor of the contested Luhansk region, which was annexed by Vladimir Putin after a sham referendum, tweeted Monday that the military command of the Russian forces “has left #kreminna, which the Ukrainian military is approaching…” Haidi added that the fighting was already raging not far from the city. In a Telegram post Tuesday, the official wrote: “the Russians understand that if they lose Kreminna, their entire line of defense will ‘fall.'” In a Christmas Eve...

The Azov Battalion became widely known for resisting Russian forces in Mariupol in Ukraine. Formed by volunteers to protect the Donbas from Russian invaders, it has evolved into an elite unit, with specialists drawn from Ukraine’s special forces. Here’s a look into who its members are and what they do.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed Title 42 — a Trump-era immigration policy implemented when the pandemic broke out to quickly expel asylum-seekers at the border — to remain in effect for now, putting a judge’s ruling that would have ended it last week on hold. The court voted 5-4 to grant an emergency request by 19 Republican state attorneys general who sought to intervene in defense of the policy. The decision puts on hold a ruling by Washington-based U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, who said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s implementation of the policy was...

NATIONAL FRUITCAKE DAY Across the United States, fruitcake lovers young and old, commemorate National Fruitcake Day each year on December 27th. #NationalFruitcakeDay Made with chopped candied or dried fruit, nuts, and spices and sometimes soaked in spirits, fruitcake has been a holiday gift-giving tradition for many years. Dating back to ancient Rome, one of the earliest known recipes lists pomegranate seeds, pine nuts, and raisins mixed into barley mash. Records indicate that in the Middle Ages, makers added honey, spices, and preserved fruits. Recipes for fruitcakes vary from country to country, depending on available ingredients and tradition. In the 16th...

A few days ago I posted the following excerpt from a Scott Ritter interview: Q: What is your assessment of the situation right now on the ground in Bahkmut and going forward as we enter this winter phase of this proxy war going on in Ukraine? Scott Ritter: Well first let's understand that the battle for Bahkmut has been going on for many, many months now. Bahkmut is the "Gordian knot" of the Ukrainian defensive belt that exists in Donestk. A defensive belt that has been constructed on a continuous basis since 2014. It is one of the most extensive,...

For emergency room doctors, they are a dispiriting and familiar sight: Children who return again and again in the grip of mental health crises, brought in by caregivers who are frightened or overwhelmed. Much has been written about the surge in pediatric mental health emergency visits in recent years, as rates of depression and suicidal behavior among teens surged. Patients often spend days or weeks in exam rooms waiting for a rare psychiatric bed to open up, sharply reducing hospital capacity. But a large study published Tuesday found a surprising trend among adolescents who repeatedly visited the hospital. The patients...

[Catholic Caucus] Francis’s Christmas Message: We Must Convert to What the Church Has Always RejectedFrancis’s 2022 Christmas Greetings to the Roman Curia included several elements that are genuinely Catholic, and even edifying, when read out of context. One of the dominant themes, for example, is the need for conversion:“Conversion is a never-ending story. The worst thing that could happen to us is to think that we are no longer in need of conversion, either as individuals or as a community. To be converted is to learn ever anew how to take the Gospel message seriously and to put it into...

Atlantis & Great Meteor Seamounts / Vertical TectonismRandall Carlson | Kosmographia Clips 007.5The Randall Carlson | 164K subscribers | 72,436 views | September 20, 2022

VIDEOA couple of months ago my Cousin Jerry who flew down here to South Florida and told me that his airport experience was absolute HELL. I thought that he might be exaggerating until I reviewed a number of airport scenes of recent holiday travel. When I was a kid, airports were places of glamor and welcome respites from the everyday hum-drum world. Unfortunately they now seem to have turned into overcrowded combative hellholes as you can see. And they are at their worst during what is supposed to be a festive Christmas and New Years holiday season.p.s. Be sure to...

FTX’s SBF Borrowed $546M From Alameda to Purchase HOOD, Reveals Court Documents Source: The New York Times FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried have stolen the spotlight over the past few weeks for all the wrong reasons. Every day, new revelations about the exchange and SBF have been surfacing. Many can’t even get their heads wrapped around the fact that SBF has manipulated customer funds to such a great extent. Speaking of manipulation, some interesting details have come to light from the court documents. As per the documents, SBF has borrowed $546 million from Alameda Research to purchase Robinhood shares (HOOD). SBF...

Paul wrote, “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:1-2, ESV). Okay, this is where someone has committed an external, outward sin. This isn’t walking around, looking to rebuke everyone because you thought you saw something wrong in them. I grew up for a short while around that kind of stuff, really pride ‘spirituality.’ A person’s done nothing outwardly, but you have people who come up...

According to a Bloomberg report published on Dec. 27, the U.S. Department of Justice has launched an investigation into the whereabouts of approximately $372 million in missing digital assets from now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX and FTX US. On Nov. 12, amidst bankruptcy and internal collapse, FTX warned customers of abnormal wallet activity regarding at least 228,523 Ether (ETH) transferred out of the exchange from an unknown perpetrator. On Nov. 11, or the night of the company's bankruptcy filing, FTX US' general counsel Ryne Miller confirmed that the transactions were unauthorized and that the subsidiary exchange had moved all crypto to...

“‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous’” (Matthew 13:47–49). During the present church era, God allows unbelief and unrighteousness to exist in His kingdom. Therefore believers and unbelievers coexist, as Jesus already illustrated in His...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis petitioned the state's supreme court earlier this month for an order to impanel a statewide grand jury to probe any wrongdoing related to COVID-19 vaccines. The court gave him the green light on Thursday. This has a number of health officials and so-called experts worried about the impact that this truth-finding mission may have on vaccine hesitancy and the public's faith in the medical establishment. What are the details? Earlier this month, DeSantis sought approval from the Florida Supreme Court to impanel a grand jury to look into "crimes and wrongdoing committed against Floridians related to...

Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for helping Democrats pass a $1.7 trillion government funding package, accusing the Kentucky Republican of caving to a “horrendous” deal because Democrats have dirt on him. In a series of posts on his social media site Truth Social on Monday and Tuesday, Mr. Trump laid into the massive bipartisan spending bill that funds the government through September, even though House Republicans had demanded that Congress hold off on a budget until January when they take the majority. “The Marxist Democrats must have something really big on Mitch McConnell...

Around 120 million years ago, four-winged dinosaurs roughly the size of crows called Microraptors stalked the ancient woodlands of what is now China.While researchers have studied several Microraptor specimens, there's still a lot we don't know about these feathered bird-like creatures – including what and how they ate.Now an incredibly rare fossil has revealed the preserved final meal of one individual: and unexpectedly, it was a mammal...The first Microraptor fossil was found in Liaoning, China, in 2000. There are three known species, which lived in the early Cretacious period, and the fossil in question belongs to Microraptor zhaoianus...The Microraptors were...

A quick update from my drive into the city of Buffalo New York… 12/27/2022 - approx 12:00 - 2:30 pm As most areas north of the city are back open, there is still a travel ban in the city of Buffalo. So I headed south to deliver needed supplies to my son. He is about ½ mile from a supermarket that is currently unreachable from his residence. Their cars are blocked by snow. Yes, there is a travel ban in the city, but cars are moving everywhere, but very slowly. I passed one of Buffalo’s finest traveling in the opposite...

Earlier this year, a series of stone engravings of strange animals with melded bodies reignited speculation about the earliest forms of animation. Using 3D models and virtual reality software to bring ancient etchings to life, the team of archeologists argued that the stone artworks might have been dynamic representations of animals in motion if viewed in firelight...Another example lay for centuries covered in ash and dust in Shahr-e Sukhteh, an archaeological site in southeast Iran known as the 'Burnt City'. Here, researchers found an unassuming goblet bearing burnt red sketches of a jumping goat that springs to life when the...

The Republican Jewish Coalition will not welcome GOP Congressman-elect George Santos at any future events after he admitted to lying about his Jewish heritage, education and work experience. In his campaign biography, Santos claimed that his grandparents were born in Ukraine and escaped the Holocaust by fleeing to Belgium and then eventually Brazil, raising the question if he was actually Jewish amid his string of uncovered lies. On Tuesday, the Republican Jewish Coalition released a statement condemning Santos for his misrepresentations. "We are very disappointed in Congressman-elect Santos. He deceived us and misrepresented his heritage. In public comments and to...