Free Republic

After months of inching through minefields, villages and open steppes in grueling combat, Ukrainian forces are making somewhat bigger advances along two major lines of attack, according to analysts, Ukrainian officials and Russian military bloggers. Although Ukraine has not advanced more than 10 to 12 miles on either vector of attack, its gains are important in that it is compelling Moscow to divert forces from other parts of the front line, military analysts say. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, called the advances “tactically significant,” saying Moscow’s redeployment would most “likely further weaken Russian defensive...

Russia has acknowledged that Ukraine has made territorial gains in the battle for Bakhmut, where Kyiv's forces are said to be advancing on the flanks of the Donetsk city. The Russian defense ministry said Wednesday that its airborne forces had made marginal advances but acknowledged that Ukraine was continuing its counterattacks near Bohdanivka, three miles to the northwest of the city, and Ivanivske, four miles west. Pro-Kremlin military analysis channel Rybar called for Russian forces to react to Ukrainian actions, implying that Moscow's forces are losing the initiative in the Bakhmut area. "Fierce battles are taking place on the flanks"...

For those who have been praying for a spiritual awakening in the United States, some first fruits might be occurring at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky. A student chapel service at the non-denominational Christian university that began last Wednesday morning has been going nonstop since. “No one even expected this to happen. Not on a random Wednesday for sure. Yet, we sit and sing about God’s love pouring out and His goodness,” Alexandra Presta wrote in The Asbury Collegian. “As a senior, I have never witnessed anything like this. I’ve heard about it from alumni, especially those who have come...

It’s a little early for Christmas shopping, but I’ve found the perfect gift for any bright child or grandchild who has the slightest stirring of curiosity about the stars and space. It’s “Space And Astronomy: Decade by Decade” by Marianne J. Dyson (Facts On File, 284 pages, $49.50). Marianne Dyson was a NASA flight controller before she started writing prize-winning books about science for young readers. Her book, “Space Station Science,” won the Golden Kite Award; “Home On The Moon” won the American Institute of Physics Writing Award. She’s also a popular lecturer and technical editor and science consultant for...

To all who post on FreeRepublic, I believe the time has come to speak to you on a matter that what I feel is greatly important. I have been on FR, posting since a week after the September 11th attacks. And..... at that time..... I was 11. I am 13 now. You may have thought I was a grown adult, with a family and kids. Nope. Never happened. I thought that no one would accept me here, being a kid...no one would take me seriously or respect my opion, or want to hear it, for that matter. Alot of kids...