Free Republic

PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — A Portland burn nurse returned home on Saturday after a 17-day mission treating patients in Southern Gaza. Monica Johnston said she first heard of the opportunity to provide medical help to civilians in Gaza last year through the organization Palestinian-American Medical Association. "I hear the word ‘help,’ and my ears perk up," she told KATU on Monday, adding that her experience in the burn unit of Legacy Emanuel Medical Center led to "an absolute need to be there." Johnston arrived in Gaza on May 1, planning to stay 13 days. She worked in the European General...

KIEV, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The Zmiivska thermal power plant (TPP) in Ukraine's eastern Kharkiv region had been destroyed in a Russian missile attack, the Unian news agency said on Saturday, citing Ukrainian power generating company Centrenergo. The missile strike on March 22 destroyed all the plant's units and damaged auxiliary equipment, Centrenergo said in a report. Currently, workers are still clearing the rubble at the site and there is no access to most of the plant's equipment. On March 22, Russia fired 88 missiles and 63 Shahed combat drones at Ukraine, which Ukrainian authorities described as the largest strike...

Expelled former Rep. George Santos made a surprising return to Congress on Thursday night to witness President Biden’s State of the Union address. Santos, who was kicked out of the House late last year with bipartisan support, expressed that it was his first time back in the Capitol since his expulsion. Despite his removal from office, Santos still retains certain privileges, including entry to the House floor when in session, due to his former membership. Speaking to reporters, Santos mentioned that he came to watch the primetime address and described his interactions with colleagues as “very bipartisan.” He acknowledged that...

A U.S. Air Force employee has been charged with illegally sharing classified national security information about Russia's war in Ukraine on a foreign online dating site. David Franklin Slater, aged 63, was arrested on Saturday for allegedly conspiring to transmit and transmitting national defense information from around February 2022 until approximately April 2022. Slater had retired from the U.S. Army as a lieutenant colonel in late 2020, then worked at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska under the Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) as a civilian employee. Slater attended USSTRATCOM briefings on Russia's war with Ukraine, then sent classified information to a...

Britain’s warships cannot attack Houthi targets on land because they lack the firepower, in a situation described by former defence chiefs as a “scandal”. None of the Royal Navy’s destroyers or frigates have the ability to fire missiles at targets on land, leaving the US to carry out the majority of strikes on Houthi targets with support from RAF planes based 1,500 miles away. A British defence source said HMS Diamond, the destroyer stationed in the Red Sea, had not joined retaliatory strikes on Houthi targets because it did not have “the capability to fire to land targets”. The Ministry...

Police in Poland have stormed the nation’s presidential palace, still occupied by conservative Andrzej Duda. Cops took two ministers from the former Law and Justice (PiS) government to prison this week, despite the fact they had been awarded presidential pardons. New globalist Prime Minister Donald Tusk, alongside the new Marshal (Speaker) of the Sejm (Legislature) Szymon Hołownia, have moved swiftly to persecute members of the former, right-wing government in moves similar to the Biden pursuit of Donald Trump.

Moderna Inc.’s stock was up by 1.2% after the drug maker said it sold $6.7 billion of products in 2023. Analyst expected the company to sell $6.35 billion in products in 2023. Moderna said its share of the U.S. COVID-19 drug market was 48% in 2023, up from 37% in 2022. It also continues to expect 2024 product sales of approximately $4 billion, compared to the analyst estimate of $4.4 billion. It continues to expect it will return to sales growth in 2025, and break even in 2026. Moderna is also working on nine late-stage drug programs with anticipated milestones...

A federal narcotics agent accused of blowing through a stop sign and hitting and killing a bicyclist while on a surveillance mission in Salem has successfully moved the criminal case from state to federal court. In federal court, he can assert immunity from prosecution on the criminal charge of negligent homicide, a defense not available to him in state court. Lawyers for the state objected to removing the case from Marion County Circuit Court. They argued that the agent’s alleged “grossly negligent actions” were not a necessary part of his federal law enforcement work. U.S. District Judge Michael J. McShane...

It was, objectively, a hard week.

The Israeli army’s expanded authorization for bombing non-military targets, the loosening of constraints regarding expected civilian casualties, and the use of an artificial intelligence system to generate more potential targets than ever before, appear to have contributed to the destructive nature of the initial stages of Israel’s current war on the Gaza Strip, an investigation by +972 Magazine and Local Call reveals. These factors, as described by current and former Israeli intelligence members, have likely played a role in producing what has been one of the deadliest military campaigns against Palestinians since the Nakba of 1948. -----snip------ The bombing of...

BERLIN, Aug 16 (Reuters) - The German government has retreated from a plan to legally commit itself to meeting NATO's 2% military spending target on an annual basis, a government source told Reuters on Wednesday. A corresponding clause in a draft of the budget financing law passed by the cabinet of Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday was deleted at short notice, the source said. The change means that Germany will be able to stick to its current pledge of meeting the 2% target on average over a five-year period. This wording is softer than Scholz's original pledge in a speech...

Presidential candidate Ron DeSantis will unveil a new proposed policy to manage the U.S.-Mexico border on Monday, his campaign said Friday, debuting what is sure to be a closely scrutinized position of high importance to Republican voters. The border proposal is expected to be the first of a series of policy announcements from the DeSantis campaign in the coming weeks, as the governor begins to pivot from speeches focused on his record in Florida to his broader vision for the presidency. But few of his proposals will attract as much attention as his plan to manage the country’s border with...

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made his first public appearance as a presidential candidate at the Bitcoin 2023 conference today, sharing his own experiences with Bitcoin, warning about how technology is enabling government totalitarianism around the world and describing how he would protect the rights of Bitcoiners if elected president. “As president, I will make sure that your right to hold and use bitcoin is inviolable,” Kennedy said. "I am an ardent defender and lifelong defender of civil liberties and Bitcoin is both an exercise and a guarantee of those freedoms.” Kennedy told the crowd that he was first inspired by...

Several of the highly-buzzed Republican presidential hopefuls have responded to Tucker Carlson's questions pressing their stance on the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. Last week, the Fox News host challenged the already-declared candidates as well as several prominent Republicans who have sparked chatter of potentially entering the 2024 race to answer a questionnaire that asked the following: Is opposing Russia in Ukraine a vital American national strategic interest? What specifically is our objective in Ukraine, and how will we know when we’ve achieved it? What is the limit of funding and materiel you would be willing to send to...

(WAOW) - A Marshfield High School graduate was killed in action in Ukraine while fighting with the International Legion for the Defense of Ukraine against the Russian invasion, his parents told News 9. Andrew Peters, 28 - a 2012 Marshfield graduate - was a U.S. Army veteran who served a tour in Afghanistan in 2014. His parents, John and Heather Peters, said they received notice of Andrew's death earlier this week. Andrew joined the International Legion in late November 2022 and was killed in action on Feb. 16. According to the Peters, they have been working with the U.S. Embassy...

The top job at Oregon State Police has gone to Casey Codding, one of two state police troopers who fatally shot a leader of the armed Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation in January 2016, Gov. Tina Kotek announced Monday. Codding, a 27-year veteran of Oregon State Police, shot Robert ‘LaVoy’ Finicum in the back after Finicum sped his truck toward a roadblock of state SWAT police and FBI agents. State police withheld the names of the two officers who fired at Finicum, but a witness let Codding’s name slip during subsequent court hearings about the shooting. Now superintendent, Codding started...

A bipartisan group of senators are calling on President Joe Biden to impress upon Turkey that Congress would not approve upgrades to Ankara's air fleet should the country refuse to allow Sweden and Finland into NATO. Sweden and Finland filed to join the alliance in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year. The U.S. overwhelmingly approved their entry, with Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley standing alone as the sole Senate vote against their admission. In order to join NATO, all 30 members must accept their entry. Turkey and Hungary remain the only members of the bloc that...

The Ukrainian army is losing a three-digit number of soldiers every day, the BND intelligence service told a group of Bundestag lawmakers who focus on security at a secret meeting this week, Spiegel said, citing information it had received. The BND warned that the capture of Bakhmut by Russian forces would have significant consequences, as it would allow Russia to make further advances.

A much-hyped but yet-to-be-completed aviation biofuels refinery in southern Oregon appears to be headed for foreclosure after backers failed to make principal and interest payments on some $300 million in debt. Red Rock Biofuels launched efforts nearly a decade ago to build the cutting-edge facility in Lakeview but repeatedly ran into obstacles, even as project skeptics questioned its feasibility. The project has now accrued an additional $56 million in interest owed to private investors who bought bonds to fund the project, according to a four-page notice of sale first published Dec. 21 in the Lake County Examiner newspaper. The notice...

Volodymyr Zelensky appeared to criticise the mayor of Kyiv for failing to provide enough emergency shelters for residents during his regular speech to the nation. Following Russian attacks on energy infrastructure, Ukraine has established thousands of so-called “invincibility centres” where people can access heat, water, internet and mobile phone links. More than 4,000 centres have been set up so far in Ukraine. In an evening address, Mr Zelensky indicated that “more work needed to be done” in some areas such as Kyiv, where Vitali Klitschko is the mayor. "Unfortunately, local authorities have not performed well in all cities. In particular,...