Free Republic

Ukrainian forces are pulling out of Bakhmut and the battle for the small Donetsk city is nearly finished. So what happens next? There appear to be two stages to the Bakhmut pullout. The first started perhaps a month ago, though that isn’t certain. The troops pulled out comprised foreign fighters and Yellow Armband troops. The Russians say they have not seen any foreign fighters for about a month. Most of these were said to be from Georgia and Abkhazia. (Abkhazia is the area in Georgia carved out by the Russians and declared an independent entity.) The Yellow Armband troops are...

The Worst Earthquakes in Ancient History | 9:50toldinstone | 336K subscribers | 16,861 views | March 3, 2023

Residents were reportedly fleeing on foot from the devastated eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut as Russian forces shelled the area and the last remaining escape routes, with Kyiv saying the situation was “critical” for Ukrainian defenders even as they continued to repel multiple attacks in the region. Ukrainian troops told AP on March 4 that a woman was killed and two men were severely injured by Russian shelling as they were attempting to cross a makeshift bridge out of Bakhmut a day after the head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group said the city was nearly surrounded. AP quoted an unnamed...

A skin lesion removed from US President Joe Biden’s chest last month was a basal cell carcinoma — a common form of skin cancer — his doctor said Friday, according to The Associated Press. No further treatment is required, added Dr. Kevin O’Connor, the White House doctor who has served as Biden’s longtime physician. O’Connor added “all cancerous tissue was successfully removed” during the president’s routine physical on February 16. He said the site of the removal on Biden’s chest has “healed nicely” and the president will continue regular skin screenings as part of his routine health plan. Following the...

Publishers have reported that audiobook sales are up for the 10th straight year. Details of the increase come from the Audio Publishers Association’s (APA) Sales Survey conducted by InterQ. The survey shows how audiobook revenue in 2021 was $1.6 billion, marking a 25% increase and the tenth straight year of double digit growth. There were around 74,000 audiobooks sold in 2021, which is 6% more than in 2020.

JANESVILLE, WI - A bachelor hopes his unique approach to dating will help him find his future partner. Robert Siegfried, 43, said he's exhausted all other dating options. "Dating sites just weren't working for me," he said. "Match, Tinder, just none of them were working." He's turned to an electronic billboard along Milton Avenue in Janesville to find the love of his life. By calling the number he lists, he tells "local, honest women" to leave him a message. “I like country music. The American flag for the USA. I’m a country boy at heart," Siegfried said while describing his...

The manufacturer that recently shut down, Akorn Operating Company LLC, had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 2020. It was the only company to make certain albuterol products used for continuous nebulizer treatment. It’s a staple in children’s hospitals, but had been out of stock since last fall. Without that particular form of the product, hospitals have had to scramble to find alternatives.

Most U.S. adults with type 2 diabetes (T2D) meet recommended criteria for use of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) and sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2is), but fewer than 10 percent use either of them, according to a research letter. Shichao Tang, Ph.D. and colleagues used nationally representative data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to examine the number and percentage of persons with T2D who met the recommended criteria for and were using GLP-1 RAs and SGLT2is. The researchers estimated that 22.4 million U.S. adults with diagnosed T2D (82.3 percent) per year would meet the recommended criteria for...

For a year and a half, Alex Murdaugh denied he was anywhere near where his wife, Maggie, and 22-year-old son, Paul, were brutally killed. But it was one of his victims -- his son -- who would provide key proof after his death that legal experts say exposed his father's web of lies and ultimately led to his conviction in the double homicide. "It is ironic, in the end, that it was the victim, Paul Murdaugh, who solved his own murder," Dave Aronberg, state attorney for Florida's Palm Beach County, told CNN Thursday night. Murdaugh, a now disgraced former South...

President Donald Trump is gaining support from Republican voters and widening his lead over potential 2024 candidate Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, according to four new polls. Trump received 55% of the hypothetical 2024 GOP primary vote, more than twice that of DeSantis, who received 25%, according to an Emerson College poll released Tuesday. A poll from Emerson last month showed that Trump led DeSantis 55%-29%. The latest Emerson poll also showed that Trump would beat President Joe Biden in the 2024 general election at 46% to 42%. DeSantis would lose to Biden by 4%.

In a viral Pinterest video, a good Samaritan is seen carrying a three-toed sloth that is slowly crossing a road. The man not only helps the sloth cross the road but also carries it to a tree to make things easier for the animal. Once on the tree's body, the sloth happily continues its tedious journey. The heartwarming moment is when the man waves the sloth goodbye and the animal smiles back as if to say thank you.

Maryland mayor Patrick Wojahn who has been busted on 56 child pornography charges has called the embattled Biden administration's Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigeig his 'buddy' and 'mentor.' Wojahn, 47, was taken into custody after having his home searched on Feb 28 stepping down from his role before being arrested this week.

Former Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean claimed Friday on MSNBC’s “All In” that he was having fun watching the “whole Republican Party” falling apart. Discussing the Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit against Fox News for defamation, anchor Chris Hayes said, “They don’t respect you. They have a fear and loathing in contempt for you. You know, stop clock is right twice a day, Howard. There is something to that as it comes through with those depositions.”

On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) stated that taking more than half of someone’s income through taxes is “absolutely” fair for some earners. Host Bill Maher asked, “I hear you all the time say, the rich don’t pay their fair share. Now, maybe that’s true of those three guys you mentioned [Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and Jeff Bezos], they are pretty rich. But, I guess I’m not very rich, but I pay more than half. California is 13.3% and the federal is 37% for people who make over 250k…and then there [are] the state and...

I have shared an office and a train home five days a week for 20 years with a chap I’ll call T. He calls me his “work wife”. He does have a real wife and family. I’m many years divorced. Our relationship is very sibling-ish, and we’ve become, over the years, very close – we share things we don’t share with our “real” friends and family and just by virtue of the time spent together, we have shared a lot of our lives. We have never socialised outside work, aside from at work functions, and have never been to each...

This list only includes destroyed vehicles and equipment of which photo or videographic evidence is available. Therefore, the amount of equipment destroyed is significantly higher than recorded here. Small arms, ATGMs, MANPADS, loitering munitions, drones used as unmanned bait, civilian vehicles, trailers and derelict equipment are not included in this list. All possible effort has gone into avoiding duplicate entries and discerning the status of equipment between captured or abandoned. Many of the entries listed as 'abandoned' will likely end up captured or destroyed. Similarly, some of the captured equipment might be destroyed if it can't be recovered. When the...

Buddy of mine bought a table for the Lincoln Reagan Dinner at the George R. Brown convention center. I almost blew it off as I'm so sick of FNC giving RD airtime and banning DJT, but decided to do a little due diligence. He spoke for 30 minutes without a teleprompter. Good delivery, lots of red meat, pretty fired up. Crowd of 800 or so pretty laid back. Lots of pretty GOP women I have to say. Not a single mention of Ukraine, which I see as the defining difference between RD and DJT. Ron's going to fall in line...

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — After years of trying to pass a bill to allow people to carry concealed guns in Nebraska without a permit, conservative lawmakers are on the cusp of doing so, thanks in part to the defection of two Democratic Omaha senators — the only Black lawmakers in the body — who cited racial disparity in enforcing gun laws in their districts. After three days of debate, lawmakers voted 36-12 Friday to advance the bill. It must survive two more rounds of debate to pass. While the bill would not usurp the federal requirement for a background check...

Larry Fast (Lawrence R. Fast) is a synthesizer expert and composer. He is best known for Synergy, his 1975-1987 series of synthesizer music albums, and for his contribution to a number of popular music acts, including Peter Gabriel, Foreigner, and Hall and Oates.Synergy - Larry Fast - Delta Two | Mauricio Pineros Lopez | 2.31K subscribers | 63,148 views | November 17, 2009

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) threatened to abolish a slew of federal agencies such as the FBI and the Justice Department, accusing top officials of using their government offices for political aims. In a speech addressing supporters at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday, Gaetz defended his efforts to stall Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) speakership vote in January until House Republicans could negotiate some rules changes from the party leader. One such concession was the creation of a committee examining the “Weaponization of the Federal Government,” which was a key demand of several of McCarthy’s holdouts. “It seems like every...