Free Republic

What do you guys think? Was she a willing terrorist or a traumatized teenager with a Stockholm syndrome?I don't know too much about that case and was leaning toward the first, but today I read a description:Meanwhile, the SLA was indoctrinating Hearst and raping her repeatedly. Then the SLA offered her a choice: to join them, or be released.Let me ask you a question: in the shoes of 19-year-old Patty Hearst, how much would you trust the assurances of Donald DeFreeze and the SLA? That’s exactly how much Hearst trusted them when they said they’d let her go. So she...

In 2010, Kennedy, now 70, experienced severe memory loss and mental fog, he said in a deposition two years later. According to the Times, he consulted top neurologists familiar with the medical history of his uncle, the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, who had died of brain cancer in 2009. A New York doctor, after reviewing a scan of his brain, told him that his health issues could be “caused by a worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died,” Kennedy said in the 2012 deposition, which concerned a divorce from his second wife,...

This is the proportion of 18-24 USA females identifying as "male" or "transgender" from the Household Pulse Survey. Possible that the trans id trend is on the way out, or entering a phase of diminished influence

I am reading Christopher Hitchens's before-death memoir. I noticed that he always addressed his dad as "the Commander" (OF-4 in the Royal Navy) as he was taught. Was this usual for kids born into military families in ~1949 or was it unusually strict?

A few years ago when there was some trouble with Venezuela and Colombia I remember reading that Brazil would have huge trouble moving their army there because the Amazon rainforest is nearly impassable.Is this true?What are they able to do now if Venezuela invades Guyana?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VsmF9m_Nt8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39CyUAnKUso It was a horror and this song reflects the whole of it.

Magic Mushrooms. LSD. Ketamine. The Drugs That Power Silicon Valley. Entrepreneurs including Elon Musk and Sergey Brin are part of a drug movement that proponents hope will expand minds, enhance lives and produce business breakthroughs Elon Musk takes ketamine. Sergey Brin sometimes enjoys magic mushrooms. Executives at venture-capital firm Founders Fund, known for its investments in SpaceX and Facebook, have thrown parties that include psychedelics. Routine drug use has moved from an after-hours activity squarely into corporate culture, leaving boards and business leaders to wrestle with their responsibilities for a workforce that frequently uses. At the vanguard are tech executives...

The UK has confirmed it is supplying Ukraine with long-range missiles it requested for its fight against invading Russian forces. The Storm Shadow cruise missile has a range of over 250km (155 miles), according to the manufacturer. By contrast, the US-supplied Himars missiles used by Ukraine only have a range of around 80 km (50 miles). The weapons will give Ukraine the "best chance" of defending itself, UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said. They are fired from aircraft, so the longer range means Ukrainian pilots will be able to stay further from the frontlines. Once launched, the Storm Shadow drops...

Émile P. Torres calls one of the most influential philosophies of our time an ideology: Longtermism is the central school of thought of tech giants like Elon Musk and Skype founder Jaan Tallinn. In an interview, Torres explains why it is so dangerous. Elon Musk has made headlines in recent months for his role as head of Twitter, which has seen him fundamentally transform the platform. What is less well known is that he is spending money to fund organizations whose mission is to fight artificial intelligence, which is supposedly threatening humanity. The Future of Life Institute is also being...

A Pennsylvania javelin coach was charged with sexually assaulting a 17-year-old boy she coached and told authorities she was romantically involved with, according to prosecutors.

Most of these are pretty nice.

A true story of the Mariupol siege and its heroic defenders I was waiting for an arrival of a delayed flight from Warsaw in the heart of Ben Gurion Airport. People around eagerly awaited their beloved ones from abroad. Everything around was the usual airport routine. But we were waiting for extraordinary guests from Ukraine – Lt. Illia Samoilenko (Special Operations Detachment “Azov”) and Yulia Fedosiuk (deputy head of The Association of Azovstal Defenders Families). This is their first joint mission abroad as representatives of both military and civil parts of the Azovstal defenders movement. I would also say that...

A scant 30 years ago, therapists with (mostly) the best of intentions managed to ruin many people’s lives. Using recovered memory therapy, clinicians unwittingly participated in creating false memories of horrific abuse that in some cases permanently sundered relationships between parents and adult children and sent innocent people to jail for decades. Most importantly, this treatment also harmed the patients it was meant to help. In the late 1990s there were numerous lawsuits in which therapists or psychiatrists were successfully sued or settled on charges of having propagated false memories of childhood sexual abuse, incest, and satanic ritual abuse. Fran...

Good advice from 2018!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Gc4QTqslN4&list=RDMM&index=2

Jennifer Griffin is awarded the 2022 "Freedom of the Media" Gold Medal for Public Service award. Awardees 2022 TLN Gold Medal for Public Service Jennifer Griffin, National Security Correspondent at the Pentagon, Fox News TLN Gold Medal for Investigative Reporting Olga Rudenko, editor-in-chief, Kyiv Independent (Ukraine) TLN Freedom of the Media Award for International Reporting Shireen Abu Akleh (posthumous), Al Jazeera Arabic, (Palestinian Territories – U.S.) TLN Freedom of the Media Award for Explanatory Reporting Maria Ressa, CEO of Rappler, (Philippines) TLN Freedom of the Media Award for Commentary and Criticism Željko Ivanović and Vijesti.me, (Montenegro) TLN Freedom of the...

Computer programs can nowadays generate very convincing human faces. Here is an example and go to the link to see more.This person doesn't exist.

Vladimir Putin has said Russia and North Korea will expand bilateral relations. Putin told the North Korean ruler, Kim Jong-un, that the two countries would "expand the comprehensive and constructive bilateral relations with common efforts", the Pyongyang's state news agency KCNA reported on Monday. Separately, the Russian ambassador in Kabul, Dmitry Zhirnov, has said working with the Taliban is necessary where it "suits our interests", the Guardian reported.

Vladimir Putin is big on symbols. He began his rule by installing a memorial plaque to a Soviet KGB chief and reinstating the Stalin-era national anthem. More recently, he used the anniversary of the assassination of political rival Boris Nemtsov to award a medal to a Chechen official reportedly involved in organizing it. And he used the birthday of another opponent, Alexei Navalny, to sign a law banning his movement as “extremist.” ... For all the importance of human rights work in authoritarian societies, Memorial is more than just another civil society organization — it is the keeper of the...