Free Republic

EDITOR’S NOTE: This past Sunday, the editorial board of the New York Times endorsed the federal legalization of marijuana. In the February 12, 1996, issue of National Review, this publication’s editors endorsed the same concept in an introduction to a symposium on the question. The editorial and WFB’s contribution to the symposium follow: National Review has attempted during its tenure as, so to speak, keeper of the conservative tablets to analyze public problems and to recommend intelligent thought. The magazine has acknowledged a variety of positions by right-minded thinkers and analysts who sometimes reach conflicting conclusions about public policy. As...

SciShow News reports some promising new findings about the worldwide fight against HIV, including insights about how we can make the most of one of our newest weapons against HIV: circumcision.

Freetown (AFP) - Alarm soared in west Africa Monday over the deadliest Ebola virus outbreak yet, with an American doctor and a missionary contracting the disease in Liberia and the death of the first victim from Sierra Leone's capital Freetown. Samaritan's Purse, a Christian charity, said that its physician Kent Brantly was in stable condition and had been isolated at the group's Ebola treatment center at the ELWA hospital in the Liberian capital Monrovia. His symptoms included intermittent fever and body aches. Nancy Writebol, a missionary with the SIM Christian charity that runs the hospital, was also in stable condition...

How would you react if you heard there was a sane man who hasn’t taken a bath for more than 13 years and is not smelling? Impossible, you might exclaim. may be odd, but it is true. It is the oddity of this story and curiosity that compelled Saturday Vanguard to take a two day trip to Ibadan, Oyo state, in search of this man: one prophet Wale Olagunju, the presiding Bishop of Divine Seed of God Chapel Ministries in Ibadan, Oyo State, who has neither taken a bath nor had sex with his wife since 2001! Testimonies regarding his...

Nigerian health authorities raced to stop the spread of Ebola on Saturday after a man sick with one of the world’s deadliest diseases brought it by plane to Lagos, Africa’s largest city with 21 million people. The fact that the traveler from Liberia could board an international flight also raised new fears that other passengers could take the disease beyond Africa due to weak inspection of passengers and the fact Ebola’s symptoms are similar to other diseases. Officials in the country of Togo, where the sick man’s flight had a stopover, also went on high alert after learning that Ebola...

For decades, the standard method for treating injuries was RICE - Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. Everyone from Little League coaches to pro sports trainers knows icing is a sure way to reduce swelling, inflammation and pain, and speed healing. That has been the conventional wisdom. Now comes Gary Reinl, with 40 years of experience in sports, fitness, and rehab, with an iconoclastic message. In his self-published book ICED!, Reinl argues that icing is not only wrong - "an illusionary treatment" - but also counterproductive and harmful. "There's not a shred of evidence that icing is helpful," Reinl said. "To...

I have chronic pain issues due to flat feet and tendonitis in one of y ankles. I'm trying to be seen by a Veterans Hospital doctor and be scheduled for surgery if necessary. Meanwhile, I watch my weight (try to anyway) and visit the gym a few times weekly to cycle and life weights. My job supervisor just had a baby a year ago, and has gotten a sore wrist from holding the infant so constantly, especially during nursing. She was just about to get a steroid shot to the wrist to alleviate the pain, but chose a more holistic...

Before dog licenses and leash laws; before doggie mohawks, colored hair and painted toenails; before $100 teeth cleaning, $800 vet bills, and humiliating Halloween costumes, there existed – in almost every sleepy town with a red brick school and a white church steeple – an extinct breed of canine I like to call the American dog. He (or she) went by names like Old Shep, Old Dog Tray, or Spot. This is the story of an American dog. UNCLE ROY AND HIS PUPPY: SPOT'S ADVENTURE BEGINS My mother's uncle Roy was a WWI veteran. He had been gassed in the...

SIERRA VISTA — While rabies is a virus that affects wild animals year-round, animal and human interactions tend to rise during the monsoon, leading local health and safety officials to remind residents of the proper steps to take to prevent possible exposure to the virus. Confirmed cases of human infection with rabies are very rare in Cochise County, with no such cases on record dating back several years, said Brian Oertel, communicable disease surveillance specialist for the Cochise County Health and Human Services. There have been instances in which people who have been bitten by animals suspected of being rabid...

A Massachusetts boy battling an inoperable brain tumor had an extra special birthday party on Saturday. Danny Nickerson turned 6 on Friday. He was escorted by more than 100 police officers from across the state to Gillette Stadium, where the New England Patriots players were practicing. Both police and players sang “Happy Birthday” to Nickerson.

[...]The constitutional right to be free from unlawful search and seizure is based on the psychological need to maintain control over personal information and behavior. The involuntary loss of privacy and dignity regarding sex is a central aspect of the psychopathology of American sex totalitarianism. And it has been inflicting itself on the American mind from the highest offices of government. Sexually oriented feminists can be divided into two generations. The central purpose of the first generation was to legalize abortion and normalize sex outside marriage. Gloria Steinem is still the leader of that generation. She, who is often seen...

Academic publishing was rocked by the news on July 8 that a company called Sage Publications is retracting 60 papers from its Journal of Vibration and Control, about the science of acoustics. The company said a researcher in Taiwan and others had exploited peer review so that certain papers were sure to get a positive review for placement in the journal. In one case, a paper's author gave glowing reviews to his own work using phony names. Acoustics is an important field. But in biomedicine faulty research and a dubious peer-review process can have life-or-death consequences. In June, Dr. Francis...

-snip- Myrtle Beach Pelicans' general manager Andy Milovich stuck his head out of the press box to sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the 7th inning stretch while a doctor below and out-of-sight performed the screening.

Jonathan Gruber, a professor at MIT, is widely is regarded as the architect of both Romneycare and Obamacare. Following the D.C. Circuit’s decision in Halbig, he asserted that the provision of Obamacare limiting subsidies to the state exchanges was a “typo.” Indeed, he found it “criminal” to suggest that Obamacare was intended to work this way. But William Jacobson (via one of his readers) has unearthed video from 2012 in which Gruber explains why Obamacare limits subsidies to participants in state exchanges — the view of the statute he now finds “criminal.” Gruber stated: “I think what’s important to remember...

LifeNews recently published an article by Mark Leach about what happened when his baby was born with Down syndrome. Leach describes how he and his wife felt abandoned by the medical establishment and how the hospital gave them outdated and scant information about Down syndrome. In response to his experience, and the experiences of many other Down syndrome parents, he has become the bioethics specialist at the National Center for Prenatal & Postnatal Down Syndrome Resources, and works to get positive, life-affirming information into the hands of new Down syndrome parents and those who go through prenatal testing for Down...

News reports today and irate witnesses at the scene report that a pregnant woman in labor was not allowed to cross the street to go to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for 30 minutes because ObamaÂ’s motorcade was expected to drive through the area.The woman sat on a bus bench until ObamaÂ’s motorcade drove through.People at the scene quickly used Twitter and the hasthag #ObamaBabyWatch and posted pictures of the woman and commented about her plight.Because the Obama motorcade prevented her from getting to the hospital, workers at the medical facility went across the street to attend to her...

The Architect of the Capitol took emergency measures Wednesday to handle a bed bug problem in a Senate Office Building, including closing off a restroom for a couple of days with yellow police tape. So watch out Senate aides and tourists approaching the sixth floor of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. Bedbugs are not easy to shake. The trouble began prior to a Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing held Wednesday in which some attendees—lobbyists, presumably—employed people to wait in line for them. This is a common practice and sources tell us it falls under the jurisdiction of the Rules Committee...

Please...any suggestions on good online pharmacies? Need long-term meds.

The OC Weekly has reported that a woman who was under arrest was taken for late term abortion at the Family Planning Associates Medical Group (FPA) abortion clinic in Long Beach. Following her visit to FPA for the 20 week abortion the prisoner suffered an incomplete abortion and had to be hospitalized. The botched procedure was performed in 2012 but is only coming to light after the Orange County District Attorney’s Office published their investigative report on the death of the fetus. From the story: On March 13, 2012, Huntington Beach police arrested a woman identified in the report as...

Austin Goncalves, 15, is recovering after going into a coma. He went into the coma after he got fish poisoning from a snapper in the Bahamas. Austin is finally eating food for the first time in week. “I’m on anti-seizure medication,” he told WTSP. Earlier this month, Austin caught a mutton snapper that his mom cooked for dinner. “I couldn’t eat, couldn’t breath,” Austin told the station. “This was very serious,” his mom, Karen Goncalves added. “It could have ended our lives.” Austin, his friend, Karen, and her boyfriend were all suffering from Ciguatera, which is a potentially fatal illness...

Her hearing isn't great, and her legs are weakening too. She doesn't have much appetite either, often finishing only a small portion of her meals. But you will never hear Madam Chua Sua Teh complaining about her age. Indeed, the 100-year-old woman can still play a mean game of Wii bowling. Despite the usual effects of ageing, Madam Chua is simply happy that she has hit the 100-year mark this year. She told The New Paper last Thursday in Teochew: "I don't worry myself with thoughts about death or illness, I simply live one day at a time, and make...

A new book sets out to answer some big questions about the brain and bodies of water. "Blue Mind" explores why so many of us are drawn to the ocean, and how this scientifically connects to our health and happiness, CBS News correspondent Ben Tracy reports. Most of us know that feeling of calm we get when we are on, in or just near the water. "This is what you want if you're in the midst of a stressful week," said Wallace J. Nichols, a marine biologist and conservationist who lives near the central coast of California. "You just want...

Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Joel Peralta is suffering from symptoms that resemble those of the Chikungunya virus and expects the team to put him on the disabled list. Peralta went home to the Dominican Republic during the All-Star break and explained that he began feeling sick on Friday. “I’ve had a fever and pain in my joints,” Peralta said by telephone on Monday to MLB.com. “Feels like all my joints are sore. That’s how I feel.” The Chikungunya virus has become more common in Caribbean countries and is spread through mosquitoes. The veteran reliever shared that he remembers coming into...

Perrette's severe allergic reaction landed her in the hospital.NCIS actress Pauley Perrette suffered a severe allergic reaction caused by her hair dye that landed her in the hospital. The 45-year-old star, who plays forensic scientist Abby Sciuto on the hit show, warned her Twitter followers to be careful about hair dye allergies in order to avoid having their heads "swell up like a melon" or worse. Perrette is a natural blonde but she has been dyeing her hair for the past 20 years. "The other half of my face had become twice the size of my head," she told CBS...

Should the Obamacare law be enforced as written? No, the IRS is allowed to change it. I don't know. Yes, and let the chips fall where they may.

Mike Cutler, a 63-year-old grandfather, allegedly killed his cancer cells with homemade cannabis oil, after receiving his second liver cancer diagnosis in five years. The cancer survivor was first diagnosed with liver cancer in 2009 after he blacked out at work, after which he then received an organ transplant in November of that year. However, last year, his health took a turn for the worst when he found out new cancerous cells were attacking his new organ. A liver transplant and a second cancer diagnosis later, Cutler decided to buy marijuana from a dealer and make his tablets from the...

Denver Broncos team owner Pat Bowlen is steeping down from day-to-day operations because he is battling Alzheimer's Disease ... The Broncos said Bowlen had already been reducing his role in recent years while he was, "courageously and privately battling Alzheimer’s disease." "The Broncos are very saddened that Mr. Bowlen is no longer able to be part of the team’s daily operations due to his condition," the team said on its website. "We continue to offer our full support, compassion and respect to ‘Mr. B,’ who has faced Alzheimer’s disease with such dignity and strength." Team president Joe Ellis will assume...

EVENT ANNOUNCEMENTS ESPN 3 WEDNESDAY (23 JULY)THE BEACH 9AM Pacific Points Available: 100 For time: Swim 250 yards 50 kettlebell thrusters (35 / 24 lb.) 30 burpees Swim 500 yards 30 burpees 50 kettlebell thrusters (35 / 24 lb.) Swim 250 yards OVERHEAD SQUAT 6:30PM Pacific Points Available: 100 1-rep-max overhead squat Athletes will each have 3 attempts.

Blames overweight wife for refusing to compromiseA 40-year-old Yemeni citizen, identified as Yassin, divorced his wife because of her snorting, the ‘Al Rai’ newspaper has reported. The husband said that his wife used to eat many nuts and chocolates till she now weighs more than 80kg, up from her original 50kg, the paper reported. He added that she refused to undergo any diet or weight- loss programme. However, the final straw for the man was her snoring at night, which he attributed to her weight. The report quotes the man as saying: “We have three children, but she does not...

This morning, a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit invalidated a 2012 IRS rule allowing tax subsidies in federal insurance exchanges under the Affordable Care Act. Within hours, a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued a contrary ruling in a similar, but separate, case, allowing exchange subsidies in both state-based and federal exchanges. Though both decisions are still subject to further review and will have no immediate impact, such “circuit splits” are often considered strong evidence that a case will ultimately end up before the U.S. Supreme...

A Central California company has issued a voluntary nationwide recall of specific lots of its fresh peaches, plums, nectarines and pluots over concerns of possible listeria contamination. Wawona Packing says on its website that no illnesses have been reported and the recall is a precautionary measure. …

Scientists have linked more than 100 spots in our DNA to the risk of developing schizophrenia, casting light on the mystery of what makes the disease tick. Such work could eventually point to new treatments, although they are many years away. Already, the new results provide the first hard genetic evidence to bolster a theory connecting the immune system to the disease. […] The study included the genetic codes of more than 150,000 people—nearly 37,000 of them diagnosed with the disease. Researchers found 108 genetic markers for risk of getting the disease, 83 of them not previously reported. And scientists...

While we regular, cash-strapped taxpayers concerned about the well-being of our country stood on the overpasses Saturday protesting the total breakdown of our borders, where were a few of our stalwart conservative spokespeople and politicians? Were they holding anti-illegal immigration signs with ‘we the people’ on the National Day of Protesting Against Immigration Reform Amnesty and Border Surge?

A new report offers good and bad news about the AIDS epidemic in the United States: The annual diagnosis rate of HIV, the virus that causes the disease, has dropped by one-third in the general population but has climbed among young gay and bisexual males. Significantly fewer heterosexuals, drug users and women were diagnosed each year with HIV, according to the report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, the annual diagnosis rate more than doubled for young gay and bisexual males. The push for safer sex may be falling on deaf ears in a generation too...

24-year-old gymnast Kacy Catanzaro makes history by becoming the first female ever to qualify for the "American Ninja Warrior" national finals. After becoming a celebrity overnight, she hopes to use her newfound fame to encourage young people to get fit.

Years ago, I encountered a piece in Feminism & Nonviolence Studies entitled “Feminist, Prolife, and Atheist,” by Kathryn Reed. At the time, I had no idea that atheism was in my future. What really stuck with me was not the title, or even the body of the article, but one of the subheadings: “Converting Abortion Clinics To Peacetime Use.” The idea of “peacetime use” has been on my mind a lot lately, as the pro-life movement has seen a record number of abortion businesses close in recent months. On a whim, I thought I’d put together a list showing how...

I used to have a standard line that I would ask people if I thought I recognized them. “Do I look familiar to you?” I would ask. I used to ask that question at least once a week, but I haven’t asked anyone that in at least four years. Four years ago, I saw a woman in a store and I knew that I recognized her. I could tell that she recognized me, too, because every time we would pass each other she would give me a little smile. Finally, I just asked, “Do I look familiar to you?” She...

A promising medical breakthrough could raise the chance of survival for our military men and women in combat. In combat, 90 percent of deaths occur due to blood loss because service members don’t reach a medical facility in time. Twenty percent of deaths are due to a junctional wound. Scientists at Johns Hopkins University invented injectable foam for their group project. The foam would be inserted into the wound, where it would expand and harden to stop bleeding. …

When most of us look at our hands, we might notice that we need to trim, clean, or stop biting our fingernails, and that's about it. But if you ask a dermatologist, they can see a whole lot more. Everything from poor diet and stress to serious kidney problems can be revealed by a glance at your fingernails. There are about 30 different nail signs that can be associated with medical issues, though many may indicate more than one problem, according to Dr. Amy Derick, a clinical instructor of dermatology at Northwestern University. Here are eight of the things a...

Newsmax Professor: Robots Are the Future of Elder Care Sunday, July 20, 2014 10:01 AM By: Sandy Fitzgerald Many older people need someone who is always there to help them with their everyday tasks, to listen to their stories, and to help them live independently — in other words, a robot caregiver, writes an associate professor of geriatrics in Sunday's New York Times. "That may sound like an oxymoron," writes the University of California's Louise Aronson in her opinion piece. "In an ideal world, it would be: Each of us would have at least one kind and fully capable human...

There is a famous comparison made between Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. The more mystical types among us find the apparent similarities compelling evidence of some inscrutible fate, and much ink has been spilled (no doubt to buttress the legend of Kennedy, who was largely a failure as president.) Naturally, people focus on the coincidental similarities and ignore the huge differences; people naturally seek patterns, and when they find them they say "aha!" even if those patterns happen to mean nothing.In a recent blog post at American Thinker the brilliant Rosslyn Smith falls into this trap, making the case...

If you are fasting and suffer from high blood pressure these tips are for you. Dr. Georgie Thomas Specialist – Cardiology at Burjeel Hospital in the UAE has some simple yet effective and helpful tips for people who suffer from this particular problem and advises on how to fast during the month of Ramadan. During Ramadan it is very important that you maintain a healthy lifestyle. You should stay hydrated by drinking plenty of fluids from Iftar until Suhoor to prevent complications that may occur. Reduce salt consumption. A key to healthy eating is choosing foods lower in salt and...

Swedish football coach Pia Sundhage has spoken out, the coaches concerned are under review and gender experts have warned that prejudice remains after two young players were accused of being boys. "Traditional gender roles are in many areas deeply entrenched," Sofia B. Karlsson, who is involved in the Football for All project, told The Local. Football for All (Fotboll för Alla) is a cooperation between Stockholm professional club AIK and Amphi Produktion and aims to develop training materials and methods to tackle racism, homophobia and sexism within the game at all levels. "We want to develop tools so that everyone...

Here's what he (and we) have learned from his oddball diet.As the saying goes, pizza is like sex. Even if it’s bad, it’s still pizza. And just like sex, there are people out there addicted to pizza. Meet Dan Janssen, a Maryland man who has gained a minor level of fame for eating pizza every day for 25 years. In a mini-documentary produced by Vice, Janssen talks about the repercussions of his oddball diet. Here are five key lessons. Pizza obsession is deeper than just a food preference. Janssen says his picky diet likely stems from a few traumatic experiences...

Baxter is a living teddy bear – he looks and feels like one, and brings as much comfort as one. This 19-year-old therapy dog can no longer get around for himself, and has to be wheeled around in a wagon, but that doesn’t stop him from bringing happiness and a little love to elderly and terminal patients in the hospital. “This is Baxter, my 19 ½ -year-old certified therapy dog, who works at San Diego Hospice in the Institute for Palliative Medicine,” explained author Melissa Joseph. “It’s an in-patient care center where people are at the end of their life....

Over the centuries, they’ve been scorned, persecuted and marginalized. But it was an example of modern-day disdain towards redheads that prompted an Italian photographer’s mission to safeguard their diversity, The Local has learned. Let’s face it, redheads get a tough time, especially in the early years of their life. I should know, because I am one. But more on that later. Marina Rosso, a 29-year-old fine art photographer and researcher from Udine, is not a redhead as the English translation of her surname might suggest. But after hearing in 2011 that flame-haired men were being rejected from the world’s largest...

Less than three percent of the population identifies as gay, lesbian or bisexual (GLB), a new federal health report shows. According to the survey responses, 96.6 percent of adults ages 18 years and older identify as straight, 1.6 percent identified as gay or lesbian, and 0.7 percent identified as bisexual. These numbers are significantly lower than most American’s estimate. A 2012 Gallup Survey shows that U.S. adults, on average, approximate a quarter of the population to be gay or lesbian.

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — California is one of the nation’s leaders in tourism, solar jobs, charter schools, sunny days and the entertainment industry. But according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the state is in danger of leading in another area: syphilis. The rate of syphilis infection for the United States and its regional territories began rising for the first time in a decade in 2001 after steadily declining every year since 1990, the CDC said. The national rate held steady at 4.5 infections in 100,000 in 2011, but the CDC’s most recent data shows that in 2012,...

Welcome to the "World According To Liberals".Over the last 5 1/2 years we have seen never-ending unrest in the middle east along with monthly scandals and crises in the United States.And still to this day,our Liberal Leaders never show any concern.Birth Control,more like free-birth control to uneducated Democrats is still their Primary Concern!,and look at what happened today,horror in the skies of the Ukraine,and not one peep from Reid&Pelosi.Barry didn't have much to say either,just that it looks like a possible accident.Can you imagine what Harry,Nancy&Barry would of said if a plane got shot down right here in the states?

The Bureau of Prisons has rejected the Army’s request to accept the transfer of national security leaker Pvt. Chelsea Manning from the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to a civilian facility where she could get better treatment for her gender-identify condition. The military will instead begin the initial treatment for her. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has approved the Army’s recommendation to keep Manning in military custody and start a rudimentary level of gender treatment, a defense official said Thursday. The initial gender treatments could include allowing Manning to wear some female undergarments and also possibly provide some hormone treatments....