Free Republic

A Fish and Wildlife official near Paris, Kentucky responded to the call about a young male mountain lion in a tree and though it best to 'dispatch it.' Once native to the state, cougars have not been spotted there since before the Civil War. An agency spokesman said, 'it seemed to be in very healthy condition' and that shooting it was the proper course of action An examination of a mountain lion killed by a Kentucky Fish and Wildlife official has found that it was a 125-pound male that appeared to be young and healthy.[CLIP]

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder appears in a video today on the Department of Justice website, urging police restraint in Ferguson, Missouri, where unarmed teen [drink] Michael Brown was killed by police officer Darren Wilson, and protester/rioters are waiting for the starting gun.The video is titled: "MAINTAINING PUBLIC SAFETY WHILE SAFEGUARDING CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS" In part of the video, Holder says:"It is vital to engage in planning and preparation, from evaluating protocols and training to choosing the appropriate equipment and uniforms," Holder says to law enforcement officials in the video. "This is the hard work that is necessary to preserve the...

Darren Wilson was filmed last year threatening to arrest Mike Arman Told resident of Ferguson, Missouri, he was not allowed to film him Footage has emerged of Darren Wilson - the police officer who killed Michael Brown - threatening to arrest a man for filming him. The video shows Wilson approaching a resident in Ferguson, Missouri, and demanding that he put away his camera. [snip]The arrest was filmed in 2013, but was only posted online this week. It shows Wilson telling Mike Arman, a 30-year-old Ferguson resident, to put away his phone or be arrested. Wilson, thinking he is...

You really want to watch this video. This is a link you will forward to your friends. You may decide to bookmark it so you can watch it again. A black Louisiana State Senator explains to his black brothers and sisters why he switched his party affiliation to Republican [see my comments]. You'll think he subscribed to a Best of FR feed, except that nobody on FR has ever put together all of these if-you are-black-in-fact-if-you're-an-American reasons to be a Republican instead of a Democrat so simply and eloquently in such a tight capsule. I think you'll enjoy hearing what...

Stephen J. DUBNER: As you likely know, the American automobile company Tesla makes some of the most desirable–and expensive–electric cars in the world. The company is currently valued at roughly $31 billion. Compare that to the $55 billion market cap of the Ford Motor Company.Tesla, however, last year sold fewer than 25,000 cars while Ford sells more than 6 million vehicles a year, or roughly 240 vehicles for every single Tesla. Tesla currently has just one vehicle in production, the Model S luxury sedan. In the U.S. the starting price is a bit more than $70,000.Americans buy more Model S’s...

A St. Augustine, Florida, man is at ease now that his scorned ex-lover is behind bars. “I finally can breathe again,” Joe Good, 51, said in an exclusive interview with ABC News’ “20/20." “Now I don’t feel like every time I see a police car that, ‘Oh, they’re coming for me.’” Good’s former girlfriend of three years, Tawny Blazejowksi, 41, of St. Augustine would stop at nothing to ruin his life after the two broke up. Her web of lies eventually turned Good’s life into a really bad nightmare.She succeeded in getting him arrested three times and fired from his...

The new research could help doctors to quickly identify patients who are aware despite appearing unresponsive and unable to communicate. Researchers from University of Cambridge in the UK have identified hidden networks in vegetative patients that could support consciousness, even when a patient appear to be unresponsive. There’s been a lot of interest lately into how much patients in vegetative states, such as comas, are aware of their surroundings. Recently, research involving functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning has shown that even patients who are unable to respond or move are able to carry out mental tasks, such as imagining...

Anne Purfield and Michelle Dynes are epidemiologists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They spent the past several weeks responding to the Ebola epidemic in the Kenema district of Sierra Leone, and recently returned to Atlanta. One of the many difficult aspects of working around the disease is not being able to comfort people who are grieving, Purfield and Dynes explain during a visit to StoryCorps in Atlanta. (Ebola is spread through contact with bodily fluids.) "You can't touch anyone," says Purfield, 37. "You can't comfort them." "Imagine losing 10 members of your family, and no one giving...

Nearly two months after President Obama first vowed to eradicate ISIS, this cancer is spreading in North Africa — within striking distance of Europe’s soft underbelly.  On Sept. 15, a group of Algerian jihadists broke away from the Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb network to pledge allegiance to ISIS and its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The self-proclaimed “Soldiers of the Caliphate in Algeria” proved their worth days later, ambushing a group of French tourists in a popular Algerian national park, kidnapping and beheading one of them.  On Sept. 23, the new group Soldiers of the Caliphate in Egypt popped...

THE HAGUE: The Dutch public prosecutor said Tuesday that motorbike gang members who have reportedly joined Kurds battling ISIS in Iraq are not necessarily committing any crime. "Joining a foreign armed force was previously punishable, now it's no longer forbidden," public prosecutor spokesman Wim de Bruin told AFP. "You just can't join a fight against the Netherlands," he told AFP after reports emerged that Dutch bikers from the No Surrender gang were fighting ISIS insurgents alongside Kurds in northern Iraq. The head of No Surrender, Klaas Otto, told state broadcaster NOS that three members who travelled to near Mosul in...

GOP.com 404 Error PageDemocrats.org 404 Error PageTry it. You'll like it.I didn't discover this on my own. Slate is running a story about the two different 404 Error pages and I don't care to direct clicks to Slate.

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — International aid organization Doctors Without Borders said that 16 of its staff members have been infected with Ebola and nine of them have died. Speaking at a press conference in Johannesburg Tuesday, the head of Doctors Without Borders in South Africa Sharon Ekambaram said medical workers have received inadequate assistance from the international community. She said that while many pledges had been made publicly they have not improved the situation in the affected countries. Juli Switala, a doctor working for the international aid organization who just returned from Sierra Leone, said the number of those who have...

Cops arrested a nurse in northeast Italy in connection to the deaths of as many as 38 patients, who she might have killed because she found them — or their relatives — annoying, officials said. Police have the cell phone of Daniela Poggiali, 42, which included a photo she snapped a few months ago of her giving a thumbs up next to a patient who had died moments earlier, according to the Corriere di Bologna newspaper. “I can assure you in that all my professional years of seeing shocking photos, there were few such as these,” prosecutor Alessandro Mancini said.[SNIP]

A team of Greek researchers has confirmed that bones found in a two-chambered royal tomb at Vergina, a town some 100 miles away from Amphipolis's mysterious burial mound, indeed belong to the Macedonian King Philip II, Alexander the Great's father. The anthropological investigation examined 350 bones and fragments found in two larnakes, or caskets, of the tomb. It uncovered pathologies, activity markers and trauma that helped identify the tomb's occupants. Along with the cremated remains of Philip II, the burial, commonly known as Tomb II, also contained the bones of a woman warrior, possibly the daughter of the Skythian King...

Canada may be known for producing the very best poutine on earth (and for arguing vehemently against anyone who says otherwise!), but it would appear as though we're no match for our neighbours to the south when it comes to eating the stuff. This was proven amidst a cacophony of curds, gravy and fresh-cut fries on Saturday afternoon during the fifth annual World Poutine Eating Championship in Toronto. Considered to be the largest eating competition in Canada, the annual Smoke's Poutinerie-sponsored gorge-a-thon drew approximately 1,000 spectators to Toronto's Yonge-Dundas square this weekend — many of them eager to join in...

Every year, Kids Wish Network raises millions of dollars in donations in the name of dying children and their families. Every year, it squanders almost every penny. The money gets diverted to enrich the charity’s operators and the for-profit companies Kids Wish hires to drum up donations. Sick children wind up with less than 3 cents of every dollar raised. That has been the formula for 16 years, ever since Kids Wish mimicked the respected Make-A-Wish Foundation and launched its relentless drive for money. In the past decade alone, Kids Wish has channeled nearly $110 million donated for sick children...

Adrian Peterson was the face of the Vikings and marketing magic, his brushes with the law and personal life ignored – until suddenly no one could look away.With a new season, a new coach and a $1 billion stadium on the way, the Minnesota Vikings turned to their undisputed star last summer to appear on the team’s yearbook cover: Adrian Peterson, standing confidently in a dirty purple jersey. In an accompanying interview, Peterson said it was easy being the public face of the Vikings because “I don’t really get into a lot of trouble.” Just a few weeks later, he...

At least eight soldiers, among them two commissioned officers and two medical staff, have reportedly lost their lives to the deadly Ebola virus disease (EVD), the Daily Observer has reliably learnt. Those victimized by the EVD have been identified as, Private (PVT) Calvin Sackie, Corporals (Cpls) Florson Louise, Fanbiman Samuel, and Private First Class (Pfc) Anthony Sheriff. Others are Sergeant (Sgt) Kromah, who was assigned as the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) medic and another medic from the Ministry of National Defense (MOD) identified as Annitta Sackie. The two commissioned officers victimized by the EVD were up to press time...

Zookeepers in Japan have abandoned a years-long attempt to have two spotted hyenas mate and reproduce as both turned out to be male. The Maruyama zoo in Sapporo, northern Japan, said in a statement this week that it was given the animals as a “male and female couple” in October 2010 from a zoo in the South Korean city of Daejon. “We have attempted to house them together for breeding many times but they often fought against each other and never engaged themselves in breeding behaviour,” the statement said.[SNIP]

OSLO, Norway -- Oslo said it has dropped its bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics after the Norwegian government declined Wednesday to provide financial backing, a move which leaves just two cities in a race that has been decimated by withdrawals. After Oslo's withdrawal, Beijing and Almaty, Kazakhstan are the only two cities left vying to host the 2022 Games. Members of the ruling Conservative party members voted against giving financial guarantees to the bid amid concerns the games would be too costly. The junior partner in the minority coalition voted against the bid four months ago, and polls have...