Free Republic

On Saturday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “The Weekend,” Biden 2024 Principal Deputy Campaign Manager Quentin Fulks stated that President Joe Biden will not accept violence or antisemitism and “believes in what these protesters are saying and he is working to bring peace to the Middle East and bring the situation to a close.” Fulks said, “[W]hen it comes to this issue, I think it’s important to call out that the President has said, as you said, that he believes in the right for peaceful protest, but that political violence, antisemitism [are] not going to be accepted. The other piece here is...

A disbarred, serial perjurer walks into a courtroom and asks to take an oath . . . No, seriously, this is not a joke. Michael Cohen will soon appear in a Manhattan courtroom in what is sure to be one of the most bizarre moments in legal history. Cohen nearly comprises the prosecution’s entire case against former President Donald Trump under a criminal theory that still has many of us baffled. It is not clear what crime Trump was supposedly trying to conceal by making “hush-money” payments to former porn actress Stormy Daniels. What is clear is that none of...

Combining time-restricted eating with high-intensity functional training may improve body composition and cardiometabolic parameters more than either alone, according to a study. Prior studies indicate that time-restricted eating (which limits when, but not what, individuals eat) and high-intensity functional training (which combines intense aerobic and resistance exercise) may be beneficial and easier for individuals to commit to long term. In a new study, researchers investigated the impact of time-restricted eating and high-intensity functional training on body composition and markers of cardiometabolic health such as cholesterol, blood glucose, and lipid levels. A total of 64 women with obesity were assigned to...

A preclinical study from Karolinska Institutet offers hope for treating severe neurodegenerative diseases with an existing drug. The study suggests that the leprosy drug clofazimine may be effective in the treatment of Huntington's disease. The research group examined whether existing drugs could reduce the toxicity of so-called polyQ proteins. These proteins are found in patients with certain hereditary neurodegenerative diseases, including Huntington's disease, for which there is no cure. Screening hundreds of drugs, they found that the leprosy drug clofazimine reduces the toxicity of polyQ proteins and restores mitochondrial function in zebrafish and worms. The finding supports the previous hypothesis...

An older friend of mine inherited a house with a large flower garden in the back. The flower garden is maybe 10 feet by 30 feet. Between the flowers and the shrubbery there are many weeds (no surprise there). A landscaper she talked to will clear the area of weeds, and has given her some options to control future weed growth.

For individuals without a family history of colorectal cancer (CRC), increasing the interval between colonoscopies for those with a first colonoscopy with negative findings seems safe and can avoid unnecessary colonoscopies, according to a study. Qunfeng Liang and colleagues assessed how many years after a first colonoscopy with findings negative for CRC a second colonoscopy can be performed. The exposed group included individuals without a family history of CRC who had a first colonoscopy with findings negative for CRC at age 45 to 69 years between 1990 and 2016, while the control group included matched individuals who did not have...

Blood vessels in the lungs aren't like the others in the body. This difference becomes clear in pulmonary hypertension, in which only the lungs' blood vessels stiffen progressively, leading to chronic lung disease, heart failure and death. The underlying reasons for this organ-specific vessel stiffening remained a mystery until Stephen Chan and colleagues made a surprising discovery about these blood vessel cells in patients with pulmonary hypertension—they're hungry. They found that hypertensive pulmonary blood vessel cells have a voracious appetite for two amino acids, glutamine and serine, and—as happens with any unbalanced diet—there are consequences. This metabolism of glutamine and...

WASHINGTON — As Donald Trump rolled out the red carpet for a parade of foreign dignitaries in recent weeks, some aides to President Joe Biden took notice — and umbrage — at what they saw as the former president playing pretender-in-chief. In less than two months, Trump has hosted Polish President Andrzej Duda, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, former Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and David Cameron, the former British prime minister who now serves as the U.K.’s foreign secretary. He’s also talked with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and others by phone. It’s not unusual for a party...

Researchers found that metformin, a drug commonly used to treat diabetes, can decrease the amount of COVID-19 virus in the body and lower the chances of the virus coming back strongly after initial treatment. A higher viral load—the amount of virus in a person's body—usually indicates a greater concentration of the virus, which can be important in understanding the severity of infection and monitoring the effectiveness of treatments. "The results of the study are important because COVID-19 continues to cause illness, both during acute infection and for months after infection," said Carolyn Bramante, MD. In this phase 3 randomized clinical...

Ukraine is facing "a new stage" in the Russia's full-scale war, President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a meeting with border guards in Khmelnytskyi Oblast on May 3. Zelensky's statement came amid a deteriorating situation on the battlefield. Kyrylo Budanov, the chief of Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR), said that Ukraine should expect to face a renewed Russian offensive in late spring or early summer, with the offensive intensifying around eastern Donbas region. "The occupier is now preparing to expand its offensive. And all of us — Ukrainians, soldiers, state, partners — must do everything to disrupt Russia's offensive plan," Zelensky said.

In 1967 the Beatles wrote and performed a song for one of the first world-wide TV broadcasts called, “All You Need is Love.” It became a classic and as late as the 1980’s I can remember working on the trombone line of an adaptation of it for my high school band. It’s one of a number of Beatles songs where they stumbled on something true out of their Christian heritage, without understanding the full implications. In fact, they actively distorted the real implications of love by overly-eroticizing the concept. Be that as it may, “All You Need is Love” could...

On this date in 1945, Slovene resistance member Majda Vrhovnik was executed by the Gestapo in Klagenfurt, days before the end of World War II. A University of Ljubljana medical student and Communist destined to be honored as a national hero of Yugoslavia, Vrhovnik (English Wikipedia entry | Slovenian) joined the underground resistance when the Nazis occupied Yugoslvia in 1941. She’d spend the bulk of the war years producing and distributing illicit anti-occupation propaganda but by war’s end she had been detailed to nearby Klagenfurt — a heavily Slovene city just over the border in Austria. She was finally caught...

The Palestine Solidarity Encampment at UCLA ended in the precise manner university leaders initially sought to avoid — with a massive police force arresting more than 200 protesters in the dead of night. When the encampment sprung up on Royce Quad last Thursday, April 25, the university envisioned a world in which students could peacefully display their message on the large green field while students shuttled to class nearby. Instead, they faced a situation where protesters allegedly blocked student access to classes, counter-protesters violently attacked the encampment, and leaders across the nation condemned the university’s failure to keep students safe....

(NEXSTAR) – Country artist Randy Travis released a new song Friday — nearly 11 years after a stroke left him largely unable to speak or sing. Travis had teased the release of “Where That Came From” earlier this week, previewing a snippet of the song along with a video featuring footage from what appeared to be the recording process. In it, Travis could be seen observing the studio musicians, though not actively singing. “Eleven years ago I never thought I would be able to have a hand in music production of any kind,” Travis wrote in a Facebook post a...

The mayor of Huntington, Steve Williams, has initiated a petition. He wants Gov. Jim Justice to talk about a potential abortion vote during the special session in May. The Supreme Court of the United States reversed Roe v. Wade in 2022. This resulted in West Virginia implementing a near-complete abortion ban known as the Unborn Child Protection Act. This act makes most abortions in the state illegal. Exceptions exist for situations where the mother's life is at risk, or in cases of rape and incest reported quickly to the police. Williams, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate, wishes to add reproductive rights...

John-Paul Miller, founder and pastor at Solid Rock at Market Common in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, made the shocking announcement at the end Sunday’s (April 28) worship service that his wife, Mica Miller, died by suicide. Miller and his 30-year-old wife were married in 2017—a marriage that provided her with five stepchildren. The church’s website describes their family as ones “who have a heart to love God and love people.” According to Mica’s obituary, which was written by her husband but doesn’t list her cause of death, the pastor’s wife died on Saturday, April 27. She is described as a...

What I can explain to you is — is that there is famine — full-blown famine — in the north, and it's moving its way south," she said. Since mid-March, the United Nations has said famine is "imminent" in Gaza, but has not yet officially stated that it believes famine has struck the state. In April, Samantha Power, the director of the U.S. Agency for International Development became the first U.S. official to say that it was credible to assess that famine is occurring in portions of Gaza. No other U.S. official has made that assessment. McCain said that while...

NYC judge retiring to Florida days after setting free deranged brute who broke mom-of-three’s jaw The turn-em-loose judge who released an alleged predator who randomly sucker-punches people left the bench Friday — just days after the bizarre ruling — and is moving to Florida. Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Matthew Sciarrino retired with more than a year-and-a-half left on his mayoral appointment, two days after setting free the deranged suspect accused of socking Dulche Pichardo of Crown Heights in the face and breaking the 57-year-old mother-of-three’s jaw.

The University of Vermont has capitulated to a demand by the campus anti-Israel “encampment,” canceling a commencement address by UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, a black female diplomatic pioneer. The “encampment” is one of dozens across campuses in the U.S., demanding the destruction of Israel and making other antisemitic demands. According to local NBC affiliate WPTZ: Thomas-Greenfield is the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. UVM student protesters had listed the cancellation of her commencement speech as one of their key demands. She has overseen three votes for a cease-fire to war efforts in the Middle East, and has vetoed the...

A group of African delegates to the United Methodist Church General Conference have denounced the recent votes to allow for same-sex marriage and noncelibate LGBT clergy. This week, delegates at the UMC General Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina, passed a series of measures removing from the Book of Discipline rules preventing the officiating of same-sex weddings and the funding of LGBT advocacy groups. On Thursday, the churchwide legislative gathering voted 523 to 161 to remove from the Book of Discipline the statement that the "practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching," which had been originally added to the rule...