Free Republic

The USS Hornet may be a decommissioned aircraft carrier, yet it has nevertheless become the launch-site for a controversial new war in the skies. The Marine Cloud Brightening Program's Coastal Atmospheric Aerosol Research and Engagement project, led by researchers from the University of Washington, took to the deck of the Hornet Tuesday to launch streams of particles into the sky above the San Francisco Bay. Their ultimate objective is apparently to block and reflect sunlight in hopes of limiting "global warming." CAARE researchers behind the geoengineering scheme opted not to announce their experiment, reportedly citing concerns that there might be...

Last month, former President Jimmy Carter marked one year in hospice. After entering end-of-life care in February 2023, he celebrated his 99th birthday and grieved the death of his wife of 77 years and former first lady, Rosalynn Carter. Even then, Carter was able — with help — to attend her funeral. Even at the end of life, the nation’s longest-living president — someone who “practically no one ever thought” would be elected president, writes the New York Times’ Peter Baker — is defying the odds. According to the National Institutes of Health, more than 90% of patients who enter...

More than half of U.S. adults have a favorable view of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), as the health care measure used by millions of Americans continues to gain popularity, according to a poll released Wednesday. The survey, released by health policy research group KFF, found that 59 percent of U.S. adults had a favorable view of the ACA, though respondents differed along party lines on what they would like to see done with the law. More than three-quarters of Democratic voters — 77 percent — want the next presidential administration and Congress to expand the law, while 39 percent...

KFF Health News — The Covid-19 pandemic would be a wake-up call for America, advocates for the elderly predicted: incontrovertible proof that the nation wasn’t doing enough to care for vulnerable older adults. The death toll was shocking, as were reports of chaos in nursing homes and seniors suffering from isolation, depression, untreated illness, and neglect. Around 900,000 older adults have died of Covid-19 to date, accounting for 3 of every 4 Americans who have perished in the pandemic. But decisive actions that advocates had hoped for haven’t materialized. Today, most people — and government officials — appear to accept...

Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) said Wednesday night on MSNBC’s “All In” that “undocumented Americans” were the people Democrats cared about most. Anchor Chris Hayes asked, “From my 20 years covering this issue, the trade is this, They want more border security enhancement, Democrats want a path to citizenship. This time around, the negotiation didn’t have a path to citizenship. It was entirely on their terms in order to get Ukraine funding, right.”

A new set of rules from the Biden administration seeks to rein in private health insurance companies’ use of prior authorization – a byzantine practice that requires people to seek insurance company permission before obtaining medication or having a procedure. The cost-containment strategy often delays care and forces patients, or their doctors, to navigate opaque and labyrinthine appeals. The administration’s newly finalized rules will require insurance companies who work in federal programs to speed up the approval process and make decisions within 72 hours for urgent requests. The regulations will also require companies to give a specific reason as to...

The White House is reporting strong enrollment numbers through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) one week after enrollment began, with 300,000 new customers signing up for plans already. President Biden on Thursday wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, “In the first week of Open Enrollment, 1.6 million people have signed up for a plan at HealthCare.gov, including 301,000 new consumers — that’s a 50% increase from last year.”

Montana state Rep. Zooey Zephyr (D) was named in Time magazine’s 2023 “TIME100 Next” list for her opposition against bills that restrict gender-affirming care, which gained her national recognition. In April, Zephyr was outspoken against a bill prohibiting gender-affirming medical and surgical care for minors in Montana, saying the bill’s supporters would have “blood on your hands.” The bill was one of a record-breaking number of anti-LGBTQ bills across the country in 2023, Time reported.

Retiring Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said in an interview that too many politicians in Washington “don’t care” about the country, only about their “political ambitions.” In an interview with The Associated Press published Wednesday, Leahy said when he first joined the Senate in 1975, senators found ways to get things done regardless of differing views. Leahy, 82, the Senate Appropriations Committee chairman, has spent the last 48 years in the Senate and serves as the chamber’s president pro tempore and is third in line to the presidency. “I think then, most of [the senators] knew there were basic things the...

A convicted felon accused by the US government of supporting “the cause of violent jihad” — and promoting 9/11 mastermind Osama Bin Laden — donated to Joe Biden’s presidential campaign and a host of progressive Democrats following his release from prison, records show. Emadeddin Muntasser, 57, and two of his associates were convicted in January 2008 on counts of conspiring to defraud the United States government, lying to the FBI and engaging in a scheme to conceal evidence. The charges stemmed from their operation of an Islamic charity that acted as a front to finance Islamic jihad abroad and lying...

Winter storms have devastated refugee and displacement camps across Syria, humanitarian organizations reported on Wednesday. Freezing temperatures have also gripped neighboring Iraq in recent days, where at least three displaced people have died from exposure in the space of 72 hours, according to an Iraqi human rights monitor. Two children died at the Ashti camp in Sulaymaniah province, as did a 71-year-old woman living in an abandoned house in Diyala province, the Afada observatory said Wednesday. In Syria, videos and photos posted online by local photographers and residents of the camps showed tents blanketed in white while people feared the...

On Wednesday, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg claimed the child care plan included in President Joe Biden’s so-called “Build Back Better Act” would help solve the ongoing labor crisis. Buttigieg told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that “a lot of very respected economists” have predicted solving the child care issue would “ease these labor market pressures” and also inflation.

Dr. Scott Barbour, an Atlanta-based orthopedic surgeon, noted that some Americans with health problems who avoided seeking medical care due to fears of COVID-19 are now stricken with permanent damage as a result of delayed treatment. He shared his comments on Thursday’s edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily with host Alex Marlow. Some Americans have had heart attacks and strokes due to avoidance or delays in receiving medical care, Barbour said.

New York state is reporting more than 1,700 previously undisclosed deaths at nursing homes and adult care facilities as the state faces scrutiny over how it's protected vulnerable residents during the coronavirus pandemic. At least 4,813 people have died from COVID-19 in the state's nursing homes since March 1, according to a tally released by Governor Andrew Cuomo's administration late Monday that, for the first time, includes people believed to have been killed by the coronavirus before their diagnoses could be confirmed by a lab test. Exactly how many nursing home residents have died remains uncertain despite the state's latest...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — A powerful storm that pummeled a busy Colorado zoo with large hail on Monday injured 14 people and killed at least two animals, authorities said. Five people were taken to the hospital with traumatic injuries after the short but intense afternoon storm passed over Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, according to the Colorado Springs Fire Department. Another nine were treated at the scene, but additional details about the victims and their injuries have not been released.

*Girl was distressed after move by Tower Hamlets borough council, report claims *White girl was encouraged to learn Arabic and was barred from eating carbonara *She spent six months in foster care in two Muslim households, it is claimed *Young girl was very distressed and would cry saying: 'They don’t speak English' A white five-year-old girl told her mother Christmas and Easter are 'stupid' and European women are alcoholics after being fostered to two Muslim families, it was claimed today. The child, who is a native English speaker, also refused to take back her favourite meal - spaghetti carbonara -...

Norma Evanston is an 88-year old widow who had remained healthy until two years ago, when she suffered a fall. Since her children live out of state, the family made several long-distance calls and ultimately, hired a local caregiver. However, several months later, after a concerning phone call, the family realized that the caregiver was not providing the professional care they expected. Despite the fact that the caregiver was hired from a “reputable” company, Norma’s doctor reported that Norma had suspicious bedsores and had missed a scheduled appointment. Fortunately, the family was able to make alternate arrangements to ensure that...

My wonderful step-father (WW2 Vet) is experiencing delusions. He has Macular Dejeneration and Dementia. Noticed, today, he thinks people are "in the household ". Very agitated. Talked to many "people" in the room.

Just saw an ad on espn for Obamacare, saying that people have until 1/31 to sign up before the penalty. What are we doing here, these ads should be pulled.

FULL TITLE: Millennials blamed for the falling sales of fabric softener... because 'they don't know what it is for' Millennials are being blamed for falling sales of fabric softener because 'they don't know what it is for.' Sales of the product have been falling for past ten years and Procter & Gamble believes the next generation is to blame. The consumer goods giant, which produces Downy and Gain fabric softener, says it saw sales of its own products decrease by 26 per cent. Shailesh Jejurikar, Procter & Gamble's head of global fabric care, told the Washington Post that most millennials...