Free Republic

Consumption of soft drinks, supplemented with white sugar, alters the DNA of gut bacteria and affects the host immune system. The good news? These effects are reversible. Gut bacteria are important members of the microbial community within our body, i.e., the microbiome. These bacteria, which have co-evolved with humans for generations, are so essential to human health in general and to the development of the immune system in particular that we cannot function without them. The human gut is constantly influenced by changes in the environment. To keep up, our gut bacteria must adapt quickly. They do this through a...

Ursula's new "European Media Freedom Act" permits the arrest of journalists if it is in the "public interest." ... The act also allows surveillance software to be deployed on devices used by media service providers, editorial staff, or related persons in the “public interest. Who decides the “public interest?” Sophie ... The new law also contains numerous provisions that call for action against alleged "disinformation." Ursula von der Leyen, EU Commission President ... "national lists" are to be created listing the owners and addresses of media outlets, as stipulated in Article 6. Despite its intent to strengthen media freedom, critics...

VIDEOGreg Gutfeld had a great time on Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show on Thursday night. It turned out as late night talk shows were meant to be namely lots of laughs and fun. However, you just know that angry leftists could not tolerate such merriment. The Bluesky Bolsheviks were raging that that Fallon had somehow sold out to fascism. On TikTok most people were reacting highly favorably to Gutfeld's appearance with Fallon. Of course, as could be expected, there were a few naysayers such as the sanctimonious TikTokker featured here who self-righteously denounced Jimmy Fallon for somehow caving in to fascism....

European powers and Ukraine responded to Vladimir Putins cease-fire plan on Saturday with a counterproposal that they say must serve as a framework so that upcoming talks between President Trump and the Russian leader can gain traction, according to two European officials familiar with the talks. -snip- The European proposal includes demands that a cease-fire must take place before any other steps are taken. It also says that territory can be exchanged only in a reciprocal manner—meaning that if Ukraine pulls out of some regions, Russia must withdraw from others. “You can’t start a process by ceding territory in the...

As people age, rates of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases rise, leading to more use of blood thinners such as warfarin. Falls are the leading cause of injury and death in older adults. While anticoagulants protect against heart and vessel problems, they increase the risk of serious bleeding, particularly, brain hemorrhages after head trauma. Current guidelines call for extra monitoring and repeat brain scans for patients on warfarin after head injuries. Warfarin is considered especially challenging because maintaining safe blood-thinning levels—measured by the International Normalized Ratio (INR)—can be difficult. When INR is too high, bleeding risk rises significantly. Researchers conducted a...

Victor Davis Hanson breaks down what he calls the most sweeping political counter-revolution in modern American history—one that’s reshaping the military, the border, higher education, foreign policy, and the economy all at once. In this powerful analysis, Hanson paints a picture of a president who's not just reversing the progressive tide, but exposing it. Illegal immigration? Blocked. DEI and university corruption? Called out. Military recruitment? Rebuilt. Meanwhile, entrenched institutions are being forced to admit guilt—on antisemitism, on academic overreach, and on systemic rot. On the world stage, Trump is redefining diplomacy through strength—not surrender. Putin’s war machine and Hamas’ terror...

Volodymyr Zelenskyy is trying to shore up European opposition to any loss of Ukrainian land to Russia after Donald Trump said that a peace deal might involve “some swapping of territory”. People close to the Ukrainian president told the Financial Times that he was alarmed by Trump’s decision to hold a face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska next week without inviting Ukraine to participate. The prospect of Trump and Putin discussing the war behind closed doors, without Ukrainian representation, has raised deep concerns in Kyiv that the future of Ukraine could be negotiated over its head. On...

“I’m such a f—king tease,” Mannequin Pussy frontwoman Marisa Dabice sang to the Outside Lands crowd, before launching into the broiling chorus of “Loud Bark,” from their most recent album. “I got a loud bark, deep bite,” she screamed, and the Friday afternoon crowd lapped it up.

Researchers have found a critical link between having two types of polyps, common growths found in the bowel, and an increased risk of developing cancer, according to a new study. Bowel, or colorectal, cancer is the second deadliest and fourth most common type of newly diagnosed cancer in Australia. Most bowel cancers start as benign polyps, non-threatening growths, on the wall or lining of the bowel, however there are two types—adenomas and serrated polyps—that can develop into cancer. The new study analyzed over 8,400 colonoscopy records and found that people with both adenomas and serrated polyps were up to five...

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Key Democrats say they are done with it. Polling shows Americans are tired of it. But can Democrats successfully move on from “woke” and redefine their identity moving into the 2026 elections? After the 2024 elections, leader after leader in the Democratic Party joined the chorus, blaming “woke” for the party’s travails. James Carville, who was a key Clinton strategist, said during an episode of his podcast, that the “woke era” “killed” Democrats in the 2024 elections, adding that, while he thinks the party is “beyond it” at some level, “the image stuck in people’s minds that the Democrats wanted...

9 August 2025 Saturday of week 18 in Ordinary Time Church of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) in Lubliniec, PolandReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: C(I).First readingDeuteronomy 6:4-13You shall love the Lord your God with all your heartMoses said to the people: ‘Listen, Israel: the Lord our God is the one Lord. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. Let these words I urge on you today be written on your heart. You shall repeat them to your children and say them over to...

Fifty years ago, on August 9, 1975, Dmitri Shostakovich, the celebrated Russian composer and pianist, passed away in Moscow. A figure of immense complexity, he “managed to navigate a difficult situation with great prudence and political astuteness.” Born on September 25, 1906, in Saint Petersburg, Shostakovich came from a family of Polish Roman Catholic origin. His grandfather, Bolesław Szostakowicz, was exiled to Siberia, where he eventually settled. Dmitri Boleslavovich Shostakovich, the composer’s father, later relocated to Saint Petersburg, where the young Dmitri grew up and received his education. After six years at the conservatory in Saint Petersburg, Shostakovich graduated at...

LOS ANGELES - Undocumented employees of the Los Angeles Equestrian Center near Burbank have reportedly been fired. Employees told FOX11 as many as 40 employees who cared for the horses and stables were let go Friday morning. ... The city contracts private company ASM Global to run the facility. LA Mayor Karen Bass spoke with our Elex Michaelson about the matter. "Apparently, I guess ICE asked for whether or not the employees had proper identification and through e-Verify, and that's all I know right now," said Bass. ...

A newly built Russian Navy tugboat, Kapitan Ushakov (Project 23470), sank on August 9 near the pier of the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg during final outfitting works, according to Russian media outlet Fontanka. The incident occurred in the evening of August 8 when the vessel developed a list to starboard. Emergency services and shipyard personnel attempted to stabilize the tug throughout the night but were unable to prevent it from capsizing. By morning, the vessel had settled on the bottom alongside the pier. The Baltic Shipyard’s press office stated that the pier was leased by the Yaroslavl Shipbuilding Plant,...

Hundreds of arrests have been made across the UK as part of a "week-long crackdown" on asylum seekers taking jobs for delivery firms. A total of 1,780 people were stopped and spoken to over suspected illegal working activity between 20 and 27 July. Some 280 were arrested as a result - in areas including Hillingdon in northwest London, Dumfries in Scotland, and Birmingham. Some 89 of those have been detained pending removal from the country and 53 are now having their asylum support reviewed, which the government said could result in their support being suspended or withdrawn The Home Office...

"We are not happy with these men in this hotel because we fear for our children," Orla Minihane tells me. "If that makes me far-right then so be it." Orla has lived near Epping since she was a child and describes herself as a "very boring woman who has worked in the City of London for 25 years". Last year she joined Reform UK and hopes to stand as a local candidate for the party. On a busy road leading to the Essex town, The Bell Hotel, now fortified, is one of more than 200 across the country where the...

Homebuyers are gaining power in much of the country. Just not in the wealthy, pricey East Coast.Consensus is growing among economists that home prices will flatline or even fall on a national level in 2025 as the housing market spends a third year stuck in a deep slump. But those national trends mask a housing market that looks increasingly fractured, with prices rising in many cities in the Northeast and Midwest, and falling in parts of the Southeast and Mountain West.In the stretch of cities between Richmond, Va., and Portland, Maine, homes are still selling at almost as frenetic a...

Lawyer and Democrat lobbyist Nathan Daschle discusses the Democratic Party in the wake of the 2024 presidential election. “After the 2024 elections, I think the Democrats have had to reflect a little bit on what at least some people call the woke agenda,” Mr Daschle said. “I’m not even sure if that term is fair because underlying it are some legitimate sensitivities and some legitimate concerns, but I do think that the Democrats after 2024 did take a hard look at themselves.”

Dozens of people were seen crowding the street in front of Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles overnight, lighting off fireworks and doing donuts at a street takeover. The Los Angeles Police Department was not able to confirm many details surrounding the incident right away; however, preliminary information indicates that crowds had gathered in the area of Figueroa and 12th streets around 2:50 a.m. Saturday. Video from the scene shows participants igniting fireworks and doing donuts and burnouts as many bystanders cheered in the roadway, blocking traffic and recording the antics. Some were seen standing on top of scaffolding in...