Free Republic

A pro-war Russian military blogger died on Wednesday, his lawyer said, after the blogger wrote the country’s military pressured him to remove a post exposing the scale of its losses in a recent battle in Ukraine. The blogger, Andrei Morozov, claimed in his post that Russia had lost 16,000 men and 300 armored vehicles in its assault on the Ukrainian city of Avdiivka, which the Russians captured last week. He deleted the post on Tuesday after what he said was a campaign of intimidation against him. The following morning, Mr. Morozov published a series of posts on Telegram outlining the...

The Yellow-crested Helmetshrike was ready for what might be its first-ever closeup - Matt Brady, University of Texas at El Paso ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ No-one has seen the Yellow-crested Helmetshrike for about 20 years. That changed when researchers embarked on a six-week expedition in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and captured the dramatic-looking yellow-topped bird in its first-known photo. With nearly 70% of the planet's wildlife populations having declined since the 1970s, there are not often stories worth cheering for when it comes to global animal welfare. But a new find in the remote Itombwe Massif in the Congo is certainly...

Silence is not golden. Particularly when it comes to a silent DEPRESSION. Talking is cheap, people follow like sheep. Particularly when are told by Biden, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and NY Times economic spinster Paul Krugman says its the best economy in decades. It isn’t. In fact, the US is in a silent depression. Typically, a recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth. If we use 2 consecutive quarter of negative GDP growth, we are not in a recession. But …. Challenges include increasing part-time employment in recent months, declining household employment in three of the...

Hearing loss, frequently due to exposure to loud noises, is a significant health problem. Its biological underpinning may well be due to what we consider a trace mineral: zinc. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ How do we hear? Sound waves, really variations in air pressure, are collected and directed towards the eardrum by our outer ear, where we hang our glasses and the ear canal. Those waves strike the eardrum (tympanic membrane), transmitting those vibrations to the three small bones of the middle ear - the malleus (hammer), incus (anvil), and stapes (stirrup). The mechanical linkage of the three amplifies the incoming vibrations and...

Video of vivek saying same things as obama, following same script, as if vivek is BO in new packaging to lure in non democrats.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which selects Nobel laureates in chemistry and physics, last week awarded Wu its Sjöberg Prize in honor of “decisive contributions” to cancer research.

The Irish Government will today make a submission at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in a case concerning Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory. The proceedings follow a December 2022 resolution of the UN General Assembly, meaning they predate the 7 October massacre in Israel and the ensuing hostilities in Gaza. The assembly has asked the UN’s top court to examine the legal consequences of the “ongoing violation by Israel of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination” due to its prolonged occupation and settlement of Palestinian territories. The case is entirely separate from the one brought before the...

In a new study published in PLOS Biology, researchers have discovered that human tears possess the remarkable ability to reduce aggression in men. This finding not only challenges the long-held belief that tears are merely for eye protection but also suggests that they play a significant role in human social interaction.The study was motivated by the long-standing mystery surrounding the purpose of human emotional tears. While Charles Darwin once thought weeping to be an incidental result of evolution, more recent research has indicated that tears could serve as a form of social chemosignaling – a way of conveying chemical signals...

When the Russian army mounted a full-scale invasion two years ago, Ukrainian men zealously rushed to recruitment centers across the country to enlist, ready to die in defense of their nation. Today, with Russia in control of roughly one-quarter of Ukraine and the two armies virtually deadlocked along a 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, that spirit to enlist has faded: Many Ukrainian men are evading the draft by hiding at home or trying to bribe their way out of the battle. Along the frigid and muddy front line, commanders say their army is too small and made up of too many...

When the Biden administration announced in 2022 that it would remove some 4 million acres of federal land in Western states from oil and gas exploration, environmental groups hailed the decision as a milestone in their fight against global warming. “With the oil and gas industry bent on despoiling American’s public lands and fueling the climate crisis, this is a critical opportunity for the Biden administration to chart a new path toward clean energy and independence from fossil fuels,” said Jeremy Nichols, a director with WildEarth Guardians. But Nichols could just as easily have slapped himself on the back: The...

A New York appeals court upheld a prior ruling that struck down a New York City law giving local voting rights to nearly a million foreign nationals. As Breitbart News chronicled, Democrats on the 51-member New York City Council approved a plan in January 2022 that gave more than 800,000 foreign nationals with green cards, visas, and work permits the opportunity to vote in citywide elections so long as they have resided in the city for at least 30 consecutive days. Black New Yorkers, along with naturalized American citizens, the New York State Republican Party, the Republican National Committee (RNC),...

Google has apologized for what it describes as “inaccuracies in some historical image generation depictions” with its Gemini AI tool, saying its attempts at creating a “wide range” of results missed the mark. The statement follows criticism that it depicted specific white figures (like the US Founding Fathers) or groups like Nazi-era German soldiers as people of color, possibly as an overcorrection to long-standing racial bias problems in AI. “We’re aware that Gemini is offering inaccuracies in some historical image generation depictions,” says the Google statement, posted this afternoon on X. “We’re working to improve these kinds of depictions immediately....

Back before 9/11, the Islamist terrorists in al-Qaida used training camps across the Middle East and Afghanistan to prepare men for those suicide missions that ultimately cost nearly 3,000 innocent lives. Those camps often were eliminated when the U.S. military went to that underdeveloped region of the world and stamped out terrorists on sight. Now, however, under Joe Biden’s policies, they’re back in business. Survival Food Is Surging With an Unexpected Twist: Prepper Beef Company Founder It’s not the only blame that Biden is given for terror there. When he abruptly jerked American soldiers out of Afghanistan, the move cost...

Rivian (RIVN) stock tanked after the bell on Wednesday after the electric adventure vehicle maker reported mixed fourth quarter results and a production and profit forecast that missed Wall Street expectations. Rivian said it sees vehicle production for 2024 hitting 57,000 units, well below the 80,000 units expected. In terms of full-year profitability, Rivian said it sees an adjusted EBITDA loss of $2.70 billion vs. $2.59 billion (est.), with capital expenditure outlays hitting $1.75 billion vs. $2.37 billion (est.). Rivian said it would cut 10% of salaried staff, citing economic uncertainty. Rivian stock fell over 15% in after-hours trading. For...

On this date in 1680, Catherine Monvoisin was burned at the stake in the Place de Greve, a casualty of the “Poison Affair”. The Poison Affair was rooted in a spate of (suspected) poisonings in France during the later part of the 17th Century. In 1670, the Duchasse d’Orleans, nee Princess Henrietta Anne Stuart the daughter of deposed and executed King Charles I of England, died suddenly. Some years before, the Duchasse, a great friend, and possibly lover, of her brother-in-law King Louis XIV, had convinced the king to exile her husband’s paramour, her rival for power. Although the results...

A new report suggests vaccine mRNA does not remain at the injection site following vaccination but can “spread systemically” to the placenta and umbilical cord blood of infants whose mothers are vaccinated during pregnancy.(KwangSoo Kim/Shutterstock)In a peer-reviewed pre-proof accepted for publication in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, researchers presented two cases that demonstrate, for the first time, the ability of COVID-19 vaccines to penetrate the fetal-placental barrier and reach the inside of the uterus. Additionally, researchers detected spike protein in placental tissue, indicating the bioactivity of the mRNA in reaching the placenta.Researchers vaccinated two pregnant women with mRNA...

Lifestyle and habits can have a big effect on our health - and our life expectancy. A recently released study that followed U.S. veterans of the age group 40 to 99 between the years 2011 and 2019 is attempting to show just how much.As Statista's Katharina Buchholz details below, according to mortality trends collected among 719,147 veterans and lifestyle factors assessed among 276,132, being physically active lowered the risk of death among the sample population the most - by 46 percent - opposite someone with no healthy habits and factors.You will find more infographics at StatistaThe study applied the Department...

A multinational study of over 99 million vaccinated people has identified higher incidences of neurological, cardiovascular, and blood disorder complications than what the researchers expected.The peer-reviewed observational cohort study, published in the Vaccine journal on Feb. 12, aimed to evaluate the risk of 13 adverse events of special interest (AESI) following COVID-19 vaccination. The AESIs spanned three categories — neurological, hematologic (blood), and cardiovascular.It reviewed data collected from more than 99 million vaccinated people from eight nations — Argentina, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, New Zealand, and Scotland — looking at risks up to 42 days after getting the shots.The...

Former Vice President Mike Pence’s political advocacy group plans to invest $20 million this year to shape the conservative agenda, an effort to directly counter what Pence had previously described as populism “unmoored to conservative principles.”

The search is on in Keego Harbor for a couple who left a restaurant without paying then hit their waitress with their car as they fled. It happened during the dinner rush Friday night outside of El Camino restaurant on Orchard Lake Road. The suspects drove off in in a 2005-2009 dark colored Mercedes C Class. “I'm just extremely sore," said Keirah Stack, the waitress and victim. "I have an infection in my knee now, basically learning to walk all over again.” With visible bruises and cuts on her ankles and knees, Stack says it’s a miracle she has no...