Free Republic

Hillary! drops "Clinton" Jeb! drops "Bush." So, why in the world are they running if they have to run away from their names?

 Link to Video: Would you shoot a suspect who claims to have a gun?  That is the decision that Pharmacist Pete Spallito faced on Tuesday, the 9th of June, in Kansas City, Missouri.   In the video, Spallito is confronted with a masked woman who demands all the Oxycontin in the store.   She said that she had a gun in the bag that she was carrying, and placed the bag on the counter.   From kctv5.com: Pete Spalitto described Tuesday's events to KCTV5. He said that after the woman confronted his employee that the employee turned to him. The woman then...

Concerned that the space allotted for on-board toilet facilities reduces the number of seats for passengers, the Boeing Corporation is converting all passenger seats on its 777-300ER into “potty chairs.” “Every additional passenger a plane can carry adds badly needed revenue to the airline’s bottom line,” said Boeing’s public relations specialist Anita Crapper. “We thought, if there were a way to convert the space set aside for restrooms into passenger seating it would permit airlines to earn thousands more per flight. By making every seat a ‘potty chair’ airlines can achieve that objective.” Ms. Crapper lauded this innovation as “far...

On November 11 of 2014, the Supreme Court granted cert to hear King v Burwell, a suit filed to prevent the Internal Revenue Service usurping the role and authority of Congress by re-writing the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The Affordable Care Act provides tax credits and subsidies for the purchase of health insurance through exchanges that are run by “a governmental agency or nonprofit entity that is established by a state.” Currently, 34 states have refused to build an ObamaCare Exchange and of the 16 (plus the District of Columbia) which did cobble together an exchange, 13 are still in...

Here’s a real surprise…A man… bit cut up… beat the stuffing out of a woman.From Libertarian Republic (the video is brutal): Transgender MMA [c’mon… MALE] Fighter Destroys Female OpponentCritics are scrutinizing mixed martial arts (MMA) competitor Fallon Fox, after the transgender fighter gave her opponent a concussion and broke her eye socket.Fox defeated her opponent, Tamikka Brents, by TKO at 2:17 of the first round of their match. Brent’s eye injury resulted in a damaged orbital bone that required seven staples.In a post-fight interview this week, Brents told Whoa TV, “I’ve never felt so overpowered ever in my life.”  [That’s...

Things on Capitol Hill seldom happen by accident. We just need look at what’s happening now and what just happened. King v. Burwell may well be determining the fate of ObamaCare and the president is colluding with the Republicans to secretly pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership being rammed down the already sore throats of the American people, reminiscent of the way Democrats wrote-but-didn’t-read the Affordable Health Care for America Act. Why are Republicans going along to get along? It may be as simple as a message sent with the recent events involving former Speaker Dennis Hastert....

The Healthcare Annex, according to WikiLeaks, “seeks to regulate state schemes for medicines and medical devices. It forces healthcare authorities to give big pharmaceutical companies more information about national decisions on public access to medicine, and grants corporations greater powers to challenge decisions they perceive as harmful to their interests.” Dr. Deborah Gleeson, who gave professional review and analysis to WikiLeaks said, “The purported aim of the Annex is to facilitate ‘high-quality healthcare’ but the Annex does nothing to achieve this. It is clearly intended to cater to the interests of the pharmaceutical industry.” Gleeson added, “Nor does this do...

Reuters recently published the results of a study about children involving "weapons violence", though the term was used just short of the broadest possible context.   What was telling was the quote from the author of the study.  From whbl.com: “Millions of children are being exposed to violence involving weapons, and many of them are victimized by guns and knives, with an elevated risk of trauma and serious injury,” said lead study author Kimberly Mitchell, a scientist at the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire. The author is a highly educated woman.  It is hard...

Today’s Short Stories include: • Obama claims rate hikes mean ObamaCare is working • State Department waves Goodbye to Americans stuck in Yemen • Homosexual demands churches stop calling sodomy a sin • DOJ pays Michigan State Univ to spy on “Far Right” groups 1.) White House: Proposed Health Insurance Rate Hikes Is Proof Obamacare Is Working Are you startled by the news that insurance companies are planning health insurance rate hikes of 10 percent or more in 37 states? Well that news, according to the White House, is one of the signs that Obamacare is working. White House Press...

A wildly disproportionate amount of what is proposed for healthcare reform involves technical matters. Ten years ago, the pundits assured us that the forced adoption of electronic health records would save billions and revolutionize health care. Unfortunately, EHRs have cost billions, are almost universally despised by providers, and are responsible for thousands of errors—some of which have proved to be fatal. The situation is bad enough that even the clueless Feds have decided to back off on some of their more onerous EHR requirements, at least temporarily. Other voices have suggested that the answer lies in drug discovery, massively expanded;...

Practice makes perfect.The old adage applies to many aspects of our life in a variety of ways. Practicing your backhand, learning a dance move, or rehearsing your speech. But where it may matter the most is for medical professionals who perform lifesaving interventions or procedures for patients in emergency departments or in the operating room. The reality is that there are some lifesaving procedures in emergency medicine that you rarely perform–but must always be ready to perform in a split second. One such a procedure–known as cricothyrotomy–which involves making an incision into a specific area of patient’s neck and inserting...

Scientists now know that our DNA is being altered all the time by environment, lifestyle and traumatic events. Genetic faults caused by trauma, poor lifestyle or environmental stress can be passed down to future generations, scientists at the University of Cambridge have discovered. Previously large studies have shown that devastating events such as famine can scar future generations, making them more prone to obesity and diabetes. However it is the first time that the biological mechanism for the effect has been seen. Although the same genes are passed down through generations, scientists now know that our DNA is being altered...

US researchers claim to have developed a single test that is able to identify past exposure to every known human virus infection, using a drop of blood.The technique decodes the infection history imprinted in our immune response. The scientists hope that the test will eventually provide important insight into how viruses contribute to development of a range of diseases. The work was published in the journal Science. During a virus infection, your immune system generates antibodies designed to fight the virus. Each antibody recognises a tiny fragment of the virus and their interaction is very specific - they fit like...

".................“I think that argument’s even truer now,” he said. “Almost all of the battleground states are led by Republican governors. … What our argument should be, when going into those states, is: Remember how things were messed up? You not only elected Rick Snyder (in Michigan), Rick Scott (Florida),Susana Martinez (New Mexico), but you re-elected them because they made things better. “Imagine how much better if we could elect a reform-minded Republican like that to be president.” That will require the GOP to win over voters who tend to back Democrats, such as those under age 25. “I’ve got two...

Kathleen Matthews, the wife of MSNBC personality Chris Matthews, has entered the Democratic primary to replace Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who is running for Senate. Matthews on Wednesday launched her campaign for Maryland’s 8th District House seat from downtown Silver Spring, vowing to fight for a litany of liberal causes, including equal pay for women, abortion rights, and raising the minimum wage, according to The Washington Post. Matthews is a former local news anchor. She most recently served as an executive for Marriott Hotels but stepped down from that position last month as she geared up for the House...

Waiving #NoToHillary signs, a group of pro-lifers showed the 2016 Democrat presidential hopeful what abortion really looks like. PICTURES ON LINK WARNING: GRAPHIC According to a tweet by former Albuquerque mayor Martin Chavez, Hillary Clinton appeared at a fundraising breakfast on June 3 at the house of Ed Romero, a former U.S. Ambassador to Spain. According to the ABQJournal, a $2,700 donation got Clinton supporters breakfast and a chance to hear her speak. Those who raised 10 times that amount for Clinton’s campaign, or $27,000, can attend a separate host reception with the candidate and gain membership to the “Hillstarters”...

Thank you so much for your message and prayers. Sophia and I are currently in the Ft. Worth area and are starting with the top doctors at Cooks Childrens Hospital while she recovers and to complete intensive rehabilitation to try to learn to speak, use her arm and walk again. The stroke paralyzed her entire left side, the Lubbock neurosurgeons could not help her so they had Texas Chîldrens Hospital send their private jet for her and the doctors at Texas Chîldrens Hospital were baffled as to what caused the loss of blood supply to her brain. We were told...

Let’s keep it real, shall we? I don’t like everything about parenting. I hated my daughter’s croup. Why do I need to like everything about Down syndrome? 10. I hate it when he uses his low muscle tone to his advantage in a tantrum. It’s not a fair fight. I hear parents say “All kids do it, it’s age appropriate at 2 years old!” Yeah? Well, say that to me when I’m draping a 13 kilogram liquid toddler over my arm like a highly disagreeable fish playing dead. Then still powering on with my grocery shop. 9. I hate it...

Affordable! ObamaCare rate hikes range from 30-to-50 percent in 2016If you don’t recognize there’s something inherently cockeyed about the federal government passing a law that presumes to make a product or service “affordable,” then you don’t understand how market forces work. I’ll oversimplify it for the purpose of brevity: Providers have to price a product or service in a way that reflects the cost of providing it, as well as the level of demand for it, because if they don’t they will soon find themselves incapable of meeting the demand. The premium rates announced when ObamaCare went into effect were...

I feel mostly recovered after a lingering virus with a nasty cough.  As related in another post, I was able to experience what it is like to be old, sick, and tired (while open carrying).   I had not conducted my usual exercise regime for nearly two months, being interrupted by travel, care for the new Grandson, and illness. Yesterday morning I did a hundred crunches, then drove back to Yuma from Las Vegas.  I have found crunches to be helpful in strengthening the core and relieving lower back pain. I usually climb a mountain twice a week as part...