Free Republic

A new study suggests that people are are overweight tend to be less intelligent than those who are not. According to the study, people who are overweight have less grey and white matter in key parts of the brain, meaning their brain develops an “altered reward processing,” effectively meaning they lack the ability to control their eating. The results were extracted from “very thorough” brain scans of 32 people from Baltimore....

Security at a Berkeley middle school was beefed up after the principal received a “vulgar and poorly written” email threat over a teacher’s involvement in a counterprotest to a neo-Nazi rally at the state Capitol building in Sacramento over the weekend that turned into a bloody melee.

Benghazi. FUBAR!

The University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health was a lot less healthy this week. In celebration of “International No Diet Day,” the school of public health, together with the University of Minnesota’s School of Social Work and its College of Food and Agriculture, invited Virgie Tovar, a self-proclaimed “fat activist,” to instruct America’s future nutritionists, dietitians and social workers on the finer points of “fat oppression.”

An impressive array of brainpower —“Fat? Blame your genes, say doctors” —“Overweight? Maybe you really can blame your genes” —“Blame your genes for obesity” Headlines such as these have become a staple of science and health journalism. Are they right? Are obese people really helpless victims of their genes? Let us begin by distinguishing between “monogenic” obesity and what scientists call “common” obesity. Monogenic obesity, as the name implies, is caused by a mutation in a single gene, which is inherited in a Mendelian fashion, just as conditions such as sickle-cell anemia and cystic fibrosis are. In the case of...

A leading employment judge has demanded new laws to help the overweight fight “fattism” by allowing them to sue colleagues who offend them. Philip Rostant, the training director for the Employment Tribunals of England and Wales, claimed in an academic paper that fat people are paid on average less and are more likely to be fired.

Morrisville, N.C. — The president of the North Carolina NAACP was escorted off an American Airlines flight Friday night. Rev. William Barber was returning to Raleigh from Washington, D.C., when, he says, he was removed from the flight. [snip]Barber said a passenger in a seat nearby was talking loudly as the plane filled up and asked the stewardess to request the passenger lower his voice. After requesting assistance from the flight attendant, Barber said he overheard the nearby passenger making "distasteful" and "disparaging" comments about him. According to Barber's statement, the passenger said he had problems with "those people" and...

The obesity crisis sweeping Britain is now so acute that dozens of shops are selling XXXXXXXXL size clothes. A huge 8XL T-shirt would fit an incredible 80in chest and 80in waist – the equivalent of almost seven feet in circumference. Demand for supersize clothes has increased so much in recent years that one in ten items now sold in plus size stores is 8XL

A small-town Alabama high school cheerleading coach was arrested on Tuesday on charges that she had a sexual relationship with a male student. The teacher is Katherine Nelson, reports The Birmingham News. Nelson, 29, is an English teacher at Brookwood High School in Brookwood, Ala. (pop: 1,828), just east of Tuscaloosa. She also coaches cheerleading and golf, and directs musical theater. The charge against the married teacher is engaging in a sex act with a student under the age of 19 (while also a school employee). Investigators say the sex occurred back during the 2012-2013 school year. The age of...

Bernie Sanders just won a game-changing endorsement with weeks to go before the first primary ballots are cast. MoveOn, the 17-year-old progressive advocacy group with hundreds of thousands of members nationwide, just overwhelmingly endorsed the Vermont senator's presidential campaign. The endorsement race wasn't even close -- Sanders won 79 percent of the vote with over 340,000 ballots cast. "This is a massive vote in favor of Bernie Sanders, showing that grassroots progressives across the country are excited and inspired by his message and track record of standing up to big money and corporate interests to reclaim our democracy for the...

David Diamond, Ph.D., of the University of South Florida College of Arts and Sciences shares his personal story about his battle with obesity. Diamond shows how he lost weight and reduced his triglycerides by eating red meat, eggs and butter. You can download Dr. Diamond's PowerPoint and the iTunes U podcast here: http://www.cas.usf.edu/news/s/169/#VI...

Gary Taubes, a nationally known science writer, gives a lecture about obesity. The event was held at New Brighton School and was sponsored by the Santa Cruz County Office of Education.

The World Health Organization released a report yesterday that’s nothing but a bunch of soccer loving Euro-bull. Here’s the gist: Processed meats cause cancer and red meat probably does, too. They actually put bacon, sausage, jerky in the same risk category as smoking and asbestos. Smoking and asbestos. Really? Remember, this is the same WHO (part of the United Nations, mind you) that ran around last year telling us to expect 250,000 annual deaths due to climate change in the near future. The chief alarmist there is Dr. Margaret Chan, who added, “Our planet is losing its capacity to sustain...

How’s this for the headline of a recent front page article in the Washington Post: “A thinning case that fat causes heart ills”? And, this is followed-up the very next day with “Congress questions the science behind dietary guidelines.” It seems to me that the government is finally beginning to walk back the disastrous low-fat dietary recommendations, that originated officially with the McGovern Committee (1977), but also bear the handiwork of physiologist/nutritionist Ancel Keys and rabid anti-fat nutritionist D. Mark Hegsted. Keys is celebrated for his Seven Countries study, which purported to show that saturated fat consumption was a big...

Air India last year warned 600 of its 3,500 cabin crew to lose weight within six months or risk being taken off flights and given a job on the ground. The airline now plans to remove about 130 from cabin crew duty because their body mass index (BMI) levels remain above the prescribed limit. A BMI is a measure of body fat based on a person’s height and weight.

Comedian Rosie O’Donnell on Friday said women’s rights in America are under attack. O’Donnell said politicians are undoing the progress activists have made, according to CBS News. “Bigger than any specific people, there is a war on women that is happening in this country,” O’Donnell told host Jenny Hutt on SiriusXM’s radio program “Just Jenny.” “Women fought for equality in this country, and right now, politically, it’s being taken away from us." O’Donnell was discussing runner Kiran Gandhi’s decision to run the London Marathon this year without a tampon while menstruating. The comic argued Friday that demonstrations like Gandhi’s are...

Sweet Tooth Causes Some Major Side Effects On your Brains! June 24, 2015 If you love your fried, fatty foods smothered in chocolate and generously dusted with icing sugar? Then, you might just have to say goodbye to mental acuity.A new research conducted in Oregon State University has revealed that a high-sugar, high-fat diet can drastically modify your gut bacteria which in turn may lead to significant losses in ‘cognitive flexibility’ – a measurement of the brain’s ability to switch between thinking about one concept to another, and to adapt to changes in the environment.The study, which was conducted on...

A lawyer for unemployed Linda Jenns, 49, told a court she might not survive a prison sentence for causing the death of Paul StintonA morbidly obese motorist who caused the death of a jogger claims she is too fat to be jailed. Unemployed Linda Ann Jenns, 49, knocked down Paul Stinton, 45, in her white Ford Kuga after jumping a red light. A jury found her guilty of causing the death of Mr Stinton, of Ashford, Kent, by dangerous driving after three days of deliberation. But her barrister Ian Bridge pleaded with the judge at Canterbury Crown Court not...

Minnesota's childhood obesity problem is a threat to national security, a group of retired military generals said Thursday in St. Paul. Mission: Readiness, a national nonprofit group of more than 500 retired senior military leaders, says one-third of young Americans are too overweight for military service. In Minnesota, it said, 69 percent are unqualified for duty for a variety of reasons, including obesity, asthma, criminal histories and the location of their tattoos. In a report called "Too Fat, Frail and Out-of-Breath to Fight," the group highlighted three ways to address physical fitness in America's youth: -- More community paths for...

If "Madam Secretary" is just a bit too skittish to speak before a live audience for something as simple as announcing her candidacy, she may as well do what Obama did in the 2012 Campaign and just send a "Pre-Recorded Video" of herself to all of her campaign stops. How does Hillary expect to win the nomination if "Her Current Worst Fear" is speaking before a Live Audience? What she going to do? Hire Joe Biden to campaign for her?