Free Republic

A new album by Taylor Swift is not merely the release of a new collection of songs. It is a major pop-cultural event, given the widespread consensus that Swift is the world’s biggest pop star... ...What’s lacking from Swift, however, is very little hint of proportionality. There is almost no evidence leading a listener to believe that Swift understands that this romantic heartbreak and loss of which she sings is mostly ordinary, everyday stuff, and not a matter of earthshaking proportions. Try as she might, this is no Blood on the Tracks. (Coincidentally, Swift is the same age, 34, that...

The market for oral contraception is being turned upside-down as Perrigo has begun shipping Opill to thousands of retail stores nationwide, to be sold as the first over-the-counter birth control pill in the U.S. The FDA approved Opill July 2023 as an OTC birth control option. Perrigo did not publicly release sales projections for the product, and The Motley Fool reported last July that the company is “quite unlikely” to generate $110 million per quarter—the value needed to “make a significant dent” in overall company revenues. The current U.S. prescription birth control pill market is likely worth about $3 billion...

A whistleblower last week said that Boeing's 787 assembly put excessive stress on airplane joints that could reduce some of the planes' lifespans. The whistleblower, Sam Salehpour, is scheduled to appear at a Senate hearing on Wednesday. Boeing has denied the allegations and defended the quality and safety testing on its 787 Dreamliner and 777 aircraft.

American Airlines’ pilots union has reported a “significant spike” in safety issues, raising red flags over fewer routine aircraft inspections and shorter test flights on planes following major maintenance work. The Allied Pilots Association cited a slew of “problematic trends” in an email to members Saturday, noting a “significant spike in safety- and maintenance-related problems.”

Whistleblower Sam Salehpour, a Boeing engineer, alleges that Boeing took shortcuts when manufacturing its 777 and 787 Dreamliner jets, and that the risks could become catastrophic as the airplanes age. His formal complaint to the Federal Aviation Administration, filed in January and made public on Tuesday, is not specific to the newer 737 Max jet that has been grounded twice… Salehpour on said his complaint raises “two quality issues that may dramatically reduce the life of the planes.” “I am doing this not because I want Boeing to fail, but because I want it to succeed and prevent crashes from...

Let me pose a difficult question: Who gets to determine who lives and who dies? Personally, I don’t think that any human has the right to do so. Human life is in the hands of God, and God only. But there are those who believe that people, specifically pregnant women, should be able to determine whether their unborn children deserve to live or not. As you all know, I am talking about genetic testing, specifically amniocentesis, and its link to a much greater problem, abortion. Ultimately, whenever a woman goes to a clinic for testing, she is considering aborting what...

Speaking at the annual convention of the Rabbinical Assembly in 1968, Dr. King said: The response of some of the so-called young militants does not represent the position of the vast majority of Negroes. There are some who are color-consumed, and they see a kind of mystique in blackness or in being colored, and anything non-colored is condemned. We do not follow that course ... Peace for Israel means security, and we must stand with all of our might to protect its right to exist, its territorial integrity. I see Israel, and never mind saying it, as one of the...

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is the latest person dealing with problems with a Boeing jet. Blinken and other State Department officials who are in Europe for talks about the wars in Ukraine and Gaza were forced to ride by car between Paris and Brussels Wednesday because the Air Force C-40 jet, a modified version of the Boeing 737 used commercial airlines, developed unspecified problems, according to the press pool traveling with him. Blinken travels on aircraft from the Air Force fleet. The top US diplomat arrived without incident to the Belgian capital for a meeting of the NATO...

Trump called into conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt’s show Thursday morning and was asked about recent comments he made that were perceived to be critical of Israel’s campaign in Gaza. “And so, are you still 100 percent with Israel? And what’s your advice to Netanyahu, beyond ‘Get it over with in a hurry?’” Hewitt asked. “Well, that’s all the advice you can give. I mean, that’s the advice,” Trump said. “You’ve got to get it over with, and you have to get back to normalcy.” “And I’m not sure that I’m loving the way they’re doing it, because you’ve got...

While Trump and Netanyahu were close allies for years, the former president turned on the embattled Israel leader after Netanyahu congratulated then-President-elect Biden for winning the 2020 election while Trump was still trying to overturn the results. In interviews for a book about his Middle East peace efforts, Trump, according to its author, used an expletive to describe Netanyahu and said he believed the Israeli leader never really wanted to make peace. Ari Fleischer, the former White House press secretary who serves on the board of the Republican Jewish Coalition, said he wished Trump would “let his personal grievances with...

While serving on the board of Boeing in 2020, GOP presidential candidate and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley helped kill an initiative designed to force the company to more comprehensively disclose its spending to influence politicians and safety regulators, government filings show. Haley joined the company’s board of directors after the two fatal 737 Max crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia. Amid allegations of fraud and a coverup of safety problems following the disasters — resulting in a $243 million fine and $3 billion in compensation to airlines and victims’ families — Haley served on the board’s audit committee, according...

Speaking exclusively to The Mirror US, PR expert Ryan McCormick suggested: "This devastating news will likely jolt William into reassessing what he truly values most in life. As cancer grips both his father and wife, the Prince of Wales may hastily reconcile with Harry. "Yes they have had their differences but, they probably need each other now more than ever." Ryan also suggested the two brothers may come together to offer their support to others who have been affected by cancer. He told us: "I think in the coming days and months, William will become an advocate for cancer victims....

The FBI's recent letters to passengers on the January Alaska Airlines flight indicate that the DOJ's investigation into Boeing is ramping up. The FBI is investigating the Alaska Airlines flight in January that saw a door plug blow off the plane midflight — and has told passengers they may be “a possible victim of a crime.” 🚨 What just happened? The incident took place on a Boeing 737 Max 9 plane, which allegedly had missing bolts that contributed to the door plug blowout. The panel flew off while the aircraft was at an altitude of about 16,000 feet. Days after...

A group of major US airline CEOs have reportedly requested a meeting with Boeing’s board to express concerns over production problems following near-disastrous fuselage blowout aboard an Alaska Airlines flight. The airline chiefs want Boeing directors to spell out their plan for fixing quality problems at the aircraft maker as US regulators scrutinize the company following the Jan. 5 incident on a 737 MAX, people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal on Thursday. Boeing has responded by offering meetings with chairman Larry Kellner, a former chief executive of Continental Airlines, as well as other board members as...

Korean Air Lines Co. passed over embattled Boeing Co. — typically the carrier’s top aircraft supplier — to order 33 Airbus SE A350 wide-body jets in a $14 billion deal as it seeks to streamline its fleet ahead of a merger with Asiana Airlines Inc. Airbus also scored another victory on Thursday with Japan Airlines Co. buying 42 jets, picking 21 A350-900s and 11 A321neos, while Boeing scored a consolation order of 10 787-9s.

Opill, the first oral contraceptive approved for over-the-counter use in the United States, will be available in stores and online this month, with a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $19.99 for a one-month supply and $49.99 for a three-month supply, according to Perrigo, the company behind the product. Perrigo announced Monday that Opill has shipped to major retailers and pharmacies and will be available to pre-order from select retailers beginning this week. Once the product hits shelves, anyone can buy it without a prescription. It will also be available at Opill.com. Opill works as a “mini-pill,” using only the hormone...

Boeing will take up to a year to repair an engine issue on all its beleaguered 737 Max jets, which will delay the certification of its 737 Max 7s and Max 10s. Boeing has acquired a team of experts to “quickly drive forward a safe and compliant solution” to a glitch that could cause the 737 Max anti-ice system to overheat and damage the engine, the corporation wrote in response to questions from Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois), according to CBS News. Boeing officials previously said they would have the issue fixed within nine to 12 months, the outlet noted. “Small...

...Soy is the subject of some of the worst health misinformation on the internet. We need to tune out this misinformation and follow the science. Greater intake of soy foods is linked to a decrease in the risk of breast cancer, prostate cancer, and cardiovascular disease. Soy contains phytoestrogens (“plant estrogens”) called isoflavones which are said to be weak estrogens, but it’s actually more complicated than that. Isoflavones have both estrogenic and anti-estrogenic effects. The evidence suggests that, because of their complex relationship with different estrogen receptors, soy isoflavones have beneficial anti-estrogenic effects in breast tissue while also having beneficial...

…Yeah, things aren’t looking good for the plane manufacturer. And we must ask — where did it all go so wrong for Boeing? Well, it probably all began in the summer of 1997. Boeing wanted to establish dominance and show the world who was boss in the airline industry. So it decided to acquire another plane manufacturer called McDonnell Douglas. It was a massive merger worth $14 billion. Now after the merger, the new entity retained the Boeing name. It was expected since it was Boeing that splashed the cash. But the problem was that the culture of McDonnell Douglas...

You’d think Boeing’s already miserable 2024 couldn’t get any worse. But on Monday, a 787 Dreamliner plunged suddenly mid-flight, injuring dozens of passengers, after a pilot said he temporarily lost control of the aircraft. The pilot was able to recover and land the plane safely, but it’s not yet clear what caused the LATAM flight from Australia to New Zealand to fall so dramatically. LATAM called it a “technical event.” The company’s nonstop streak of bad news began the first weekend of the year, when part of an Alaska Airlines 737 Max blew off the side of the plane just...