Free Republic

So far there have been four US Air Force flights carrying highly enriched uranium bound for South Carolina, taking off from Wick John O’Groats Airport, in Caithness, at weekends as the base is closed to civilian aircrafts on Saturdays. Dounreay, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, Police Scotland, the Civil Nuclear Constabulary and the airport have all refused to comment. The deal was trumpeted by former prime minister David Cameron and ex-US president Barack Obama, arranging for highly enriched uranium – the basic building block for a nuclear bomb – to be flown from Wick to the US in return for “medical...

Bishop John Keenan of Paisley criticised the video for encouraging anti-Catholic prejudiceThe Bishop of Paisley has criticised BBC Scotland after a video said Holy Communion “tastes like cardboard and smells like hate”. The video was posted on the Facebook page of BBC The Social, a project aimed at young adults and managed by BBC Scotland, under the title “This is how homophobia feels in 2018”. At one point it depicts a priest holding a Mini Cheddar in a parody of the Host, and giving it to a woman who makes the sign of the cross. The narrator says Jesus “saved...

Gigantic dinosaurs frolicked and splashed some 170 million years ago in the lagoons of what is now Scotland. That’s what a team of paleontologists has determined after discovering dozens of jumbo-sized footprints belonging to long-necked sauropods on the Isle of Skye. Mixed with the herbivores’ tracks were a few clawed impressions left behind by two-legged meat-eaters known as theropods. The footprints present a snapshot of life during an important period in dinosaur history that has yielded relatively few fossil remains. In the mid-Jurassic, sauropods necks grew longer and the first birds were figuring out flight.Identifying two types of footprints in...

Judging by the rhetoric coming out of Tehran, John Bolton’s appointment as America’s National Security Advisor is the worst thing that ever happened. The Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council labeled Bolton’s appointment “a matter of shame.”  The Chairman of the Iranian Parliament's Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy declared,  "The use of hardline elements against the Islamic Republic of Iran shows that the Americans seek to exert more pressure on Iran.”First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri opined, “They (US officials) are wrong to assume that the Iranian nation will give in to their threats against the Islamic Republic.”  ...

Each year, 150,000 people hike Scotland’s Ben Nevis – a former volcano and Britain’s highest mountain, at 4,400ft above sea level. Many opt to take the so-called tourist trail, the rocky path which winds and zigzags its way to the summit. Few realise that this path was initially carved out in 1883 for a very unique scientific expedition. Even fewer know that now, more than a century later, this site is providing UK scientists with insights into climate change. Today, we have advanced weather forecast models – which are capable of using the kind of data taken at Ben Nevis...

Archaeologists are to return to the potential site of a lost Pictish monastery where Scottish Gaelic was written down for the first time. Archaeologist Alison Cameron and her team could be on the brink of making a discovery of national importance at land close to Old Deer in Aberdeenshire... For 10 years, a search has been made for the monastery that dates from the sixth century but disappeared around 1,000 years ago. Some believe the Book of Deer, a richly decorated pocket-sized book of gospels was created here with Gaelic notes on local life later written in the margins by...

Literacy in the Time of Jesus Could His Words Have Been Recorded in His Lifetime? Sidebar: Writing Tablets Sidebar: Priceless Garbage How likely is it that someone would have written down and collected Jesus’ sayings into a book in Jesus’ lifetime? Several lines of evidence converge to suggest it is quite probable. The first factor to consider is how prevalent literacy was in Jesus’ time. Full literacy means being able to read and write proficiently, but degrees of literacy vary; people who can read, for example, may not be able to write. A common view is that of W.H....

Nowhere gets you closer to the Romans on Hadrian's Wall than the fort and settlement of Vindolanda, the extraordinary hoard of personal artefacts gives you a unique insight into the lives of people living here 2000 years ago. The latest addition to the collection of artefacts from the current excavation has certainly made an impression on everyone. Someone 2000 years ago quite literally put their foot in it and as a result a volunteer digging at the site has unearthed a tile with a clear imprint of a human foot that accidentally, or perhaps mischievously stood on the freshly made...

Vindolanda Roman Fort Yields Hundreds of Shoes Tuesday, October 11, 2016 NORTHUMBERLAND, ENGLAND—Chronicle Live reports that more than 400 shoes sized for men, women, and children, were recovered at the Roman fort of Vindolanda over the summer, bringing the total of shoes from the site to more than 7,000. The 1,800-year-old shoes included ones made solely for indoor wear, boots, sandals, and bath clogs. The footwear was found in a defensive ditch, along with pottery and the remains of cats and dogs. Andrew Birley, director of Vindolanda’s excavations, thinks the contents of the ditches may have been discarded when the...

Roman boxing gloves have been discovered near Hadrian's Wall, thought to be the only known surviving examples, even though the sport was well- documented on Roman wall paintings, mosaics and sculptures. With a protective guard designed to fit snugly over the knuckles, the gloves were packed with natural material which acted as shock absorbers. They date from around AD120 and were certainly made to last: they still fit comfortably on a modern hand. One of them even retains the impression of the knuckles of its ancient wearer. They are among the latest discoveries at a pre-Hadrianic Roman cavalry barrack, which...

Remote Scottish islands declared rat-free after rodents lured to captivity using peanut butter and chocolateA remote Scottish island has officially been declared rat-free after rodents were caught using peanut butter and chocolate. In a four year programme to rid the Shiant Isles of its rodents, the RSPB placed mini rat motels across the area filled with cocoa and peanut butter flavoured wax blocks to catch them. It is hoped by ridding the island of its non-native rats the seabird populations will be boosted by protecting their breeding sites The Isles, a cluster of islands five miles east of the Isle...

The Roman writer Tacitus says that 30,000 Caledonians massed to stop the Roman invasion under Agricola in AD 84. The bloody battle of Mons Graupius may have been fought near Inverness. Now a major site of the period has been uncovered in the area -- complete with two huge residences, a cluster of smaller houses, and the biggest industrial complex ever found in Iron Age Scotland... In June 2005 we began excavating a palisaded enclosure at Culduthel Farm on the southern outskirts of Inverness in advance of a housing development... we uncovered part of an astonishingly wellpreserved Iron Age settlement...

Archaeologists have been carrying out research into a huge late fist century AD defence system, which stretches 120 miles across Scotland. A total of 14 forts and several fortlets, which formed part of a defensive network built in the AD 70s, have so far been investigated over the past decade by the team, led by Dr Birgitta Hoffmann and Dr David Wolliscroft, both of the University of Liverpool. The network, which is thought to have run from Montrose or Stonehaven, south of Aberdeen, on the North Sea coast to the Firth or Clyde, was built some 50 years before Hadrian's...

Exclusive reports of the discovery of King Charles I's coronation riches last night triggered a transatlantic treasure war involving two independent expeditions. The group which claims to have found the wreck described the odds that it was the king's ferry as better than even. However, San Diego-based diver Bill Warren, who heads a rival team, said: ''We have really done our homework on this and I am absolutely not convinced.'' Mr Warren, who formed a Scottish company, Golden Quest, for the project, said he had spent seven months dealing with various authorities, including the Crown Estates Commissioners, to secure permission...

My children do you realize all the battles we have walked through together have already made you Overcomers as David over Goliath ?! Now I desire you to take the hand of others I have placed in your path and reveal to them that I AM The KEY to all trials and I alone hold the Key to their Victories as I overcame for you in your Valleys ! Now be that buoyancy compensator for as I have been the Lifter of your Soul Now I desire you to lift up others and love them as I Love you for...

<p>A Scottish farmer frantically called cops to report a tiger in his cow shed, sparking an armed police standoff — only to learn it just was a large cuddly stuffed animal.</p> <p>Bruce Grubb, 24, was throwing a housewarming party when he spotted the bizarre sight and called police, fearing his pregnant cows were about to be devoured.</p>

My occupations for you are endless so don't box yourself in, just allow my spirit to lead you into each pasture of revelation knowledge with out fear of reprisal or resistance for as I AM in and through you nothing can ever harm your life in Me . Allow me to flow freely as you saturate yourself in My word daily so that you understand completely just what it is I plan to accomplish through you . There is no need to confide in the Ephod for I AM your complete armor and eyes for now as you trust me...

Happy birthday tae Robbie Burrrrrns yesterday! OK, who among ya is sober enough tae attend the Kirkin' a the Tartans today?

FOUR workers employed by a world famous haggis firm have been sacked just days before Burns Night following a blunder on the factory floor. Disciplinary action was taken against the employees after a production error at Macsween’s factory in Loanhead led operations to be temporarily suspended. Bosses at the firm said a potential production error - involved the wrong type of meat being taken out from a store room and on to the factory floor - was picked up during stringent checks before any products could be affected. But Mick Malone, who joined the company just days previously and was...

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced the government is working to change the narrative around migration to persuade Scots that the nation needs huge numbers of people from abroad. Speaking at the launch of a Scottish government paper which argues for continuing open borders with Europe after Britain’s exit from the European Union (EU), the SNP leader claimed a population that is ever-expanding as a result of mass migration is “essential to our economic prosperity”.