Free Republic

Moderna stock more than doubled Wednesday after the biotechnology company and Merck announced that their personalized mRNA cancer vaccine significantly delayed the return and spread of melanoma in a late-stage clinical trial. The breakthrough could give Moderna its most important commercial opportunity since COVID-19, strengthen Merck’s dominant Keytruda franchise and open the door to an entirely new class of individualized cancer treatments. However, investors should recognize that the companies have released only topline results, while detailed efficacy data, regulatory decisions, manufacturing economics and overall-survival results remain outstanding.Moderna’s long-promised second act may finally be coming into focus.Shares of Moderna jumped approximately...

Four lemurs that had close contact with people, including one via a "lemur yoga" class, caught a human herpesvirus and subsequently died, a new study shows. The virus at fault was herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), which is extremely common in humans. In people, the infection usually causes no symptoms or produces cold sores. In primates, though, the infections can often be deadly — in this case, all four lemurs developed encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain, and died. This is the first time that an HSV-1 infection has been confirmed in lemurs via a molecular analysis — namely,...

Twenty soldiers in the U.S. Army's 9th Brigade Engineer Battalion at Fort Stewart, Georgia, have already reenlisted to cash in on a four-day pass to play Grand Theft Auto VI when it's released by Rockstar Games this fall. CBS News reported that the battalion, part of the 3rd Infantry Division, is offering the special leave as a reenlistment incentive tied to the game's Nov. 19 release. "The idea was to have a unique incentives program that connects to what soldiers are interested in," said Lt. Col. Angel Tomko, a spokesperson for the 3rd Infantry Division. "The command team, in conjunction...

The H-1B visa program is draining the incentive for complacent politicians to fix the broken K-12 system used by many millions of ordinary Americans, says Daron Acemoglu, a famous economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The educated elite “has given up on the education of Americans because they think that they can fill any skill gap with importing those skills [via the H-1B program], whether they are nurses, whether they’re doctors, whether they’re programmers. That’s the problem,” Acemoglu told Tyler Cowen, a zealously pro-migration economist at George Mason University. Acemoglu is an ethnic Armenian who used the H-1B program...

US president also says any country that trades with Iran will ‘face tremendous economic consequences’. US President Donald Trump has again threatened Iran with unprecedented economic action, accusing Tehran of failing to seize an opportunity to reach a deal as talks aimed at ending the more than five-month conflict between the two countries remain deadlocked. In a post on Truth Social on Wednesday, Trump announced what he called the “most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country” against Iran, using his signature all-caps style. He said Iran had “failed to take” the opportunity to make a deal and would...

Right-wing independent journalist Nick Shirley got into a heated exchange when a California official crashed one of his street interviews to sassily accuse him of having a "small penis." The middle-aged man barged into one of Shirley's interviews with a state politician and held up a piece of computer paper reading, "Allegedly Nick Shirley Has a Small Penis. Prove Me Wrong." "Did you guys hear that Nick Shirley has a small penis allegedly?" the man said. Shirley didn't seem thrilled with the interruption. "Wow that's so adult of you," Shirley deadpanned. "You have never seen it. You would never see...

California Democrat mayor just quit after admitting she was a Chinese communist agent. Eileen Wang, mayor of Arcadia, stepped down after striking a plea deal and admitting she acted as an illegal foreign agent for the Chinese government — spreading Beijing’s propaganda in the U.S. under their direction. She faces up to 10 years in federal prison. How many more are still in office? #ChinaSpy #CCP #California #Arcadia

The captain of an illegal charter boat that flipped in New York Harbor, killing a mom and her baby, is an illegal immigrant from El Salvador who is now in federal immigration custody, The Post has learned. Manuel Hernandez, 46, a limo driver without a boating license, was in the US illegally when he capsized the overloaded 21-foot vessel on Aug. 8, drowning Sara Sanchez and her baby daughter, Antonella Garcia, the Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday. “This criminal illegal alien was illegally and recklessly conducting unlicensed boat tours in New York Harbor when his boat capsized, killing a...

PITTSBURGH — A Pittsburgh-based nonprofit said the U.S. Navy would not accept a shipment of care packages for service members.

~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~ ~ Remembering Our Troops!! ~ Make My Day!! Allied forces from Denmark, Norway, and Sweden trained alongside U.S. forces at this year’s event, Feb. 3-13, 2025. EODMU 8 is part of the forward deployed Navy Expeditionary Combat Force Europe-Africa/Commander, Task Force (CTF) 68. CTF 68 is responsible for providing explosive ordnance disposal operations, naval construction, expeditionary security and theater security efforts to U.S. Naval Forces Europe-U.S. Naval Forces Africa and U.S. 6th Fleet. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communications Specialist 2nd Class Jackson Adkins) Canteen Mission StatementShowing support and boosting the morale ofour...

On Sunday morning’s Meet the Press, NBC News hack Kristen Welker pressed newly sworn-in Attorney General Todd Blanche to “pledge that the Justice Department will always act independently of the White House.” The fake “journalist” performed this bit of moralizing theater with her “very serious” face, as if to suggest that the nation’s survival depended upon Blanche’s answer. Blanche calmly swatted Welker’s solicitation away, while pointing out that no competent, law-abiding attorney general should ever make such an absurd pledge. It was another ridiculous moment in “journalism” and reminded viewers that the biggest names in corporate news are stupid, partisan,...

A voluntary recall of frozen organic blueberries has been elevated to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s most serious risk category after evidence linked the products to a potentially life-threatening bacterial contamination. According to a report from the Daily Mail, the FDA has reclassified the recall of GreenWise Organic frozen blueberries as Class I. That designation applies when there is a “reasonable probability that the use of, or exposure to, a violative product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death.” The original recall was initiated last month by Chile-based Frutas y Hortalizas del Sur SA after testing detected a...

The Trump administration is changing the nonprofit landscape. A recent report from Granted AI found that federal grants to “everyday” charities that are not hospitals or universities dropped more than 40 percent when comparing the months from February to September 2025 with the same period a year earlier. The Chronicle of Philanthropy has sounded the alarm, noting, “Nonprofits have long relied on federal funding to help them provide vital services to their communities.” And since this funding was “often viewed as more reliable than funding from grant makers, which can shift priorities,” the loss of federal money has “upended finances...

"Remove St. John' Passion from Lectionary" - Jewish Woman New President of Catholic Biblical Association On July 20, at Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore, the 88th Annual Meeting of the Catholic Biblical Association (CBA) elected Amy-Jill Levine, 70, as president for 2026–2027.She is the first Jewish president in the CBA’s history.Founded in 1936, the CBA is an independent association with longstanding institutional ties to the U.S. bishops. Its constitution says it pursues biblical scholarship “in conformity with the teaching of the magisterium of the Catholic Church.”Levine is a New Testament scholar and is a longtime member of the CBA. In...

Two student athletes were killed and seven others injured, some critically, when a driver struck members of a Tennessee university cycling team during a training ride, authorities said Wednesday. The driver now faces multiple charges, including vehicular homicide by recklessness, officials said. The crash involving the vehicle and cyclists occurred Wednesday morning on a highway in Carter County, in the northeastern part of the state, according to the Tennessee Highway Patrol. The cycling team is from Milligan University, a private Christian institution in Elizabethton, school officials said. Eleven students were on the training ride at the time, according to Milligan...

Stockton City Council candidate Desiree Lynch was arrested on multiple felony counts that allege she filed as a candidate within a district that she did not live in, prosecutors said on Wednesday. The San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office said she was arrested on five felony counts, including three counts of perjury, causing or allowing false voter registration, and filing a false nomination or declaration of candidacy. Prosecutors said an investigation determined that Lynch was living in Lodi and North Stockton, which are within District 1 boundaries. Lynch, a mother and a nurse, said she is running for Stockton's District...

Breaking Ngo Comment report: A trans-identifying leader of a cult in the "764" satanic network has been sentenced to 77 years in federal prison. Kyle Spitze groomed underage victims for s—xual abuse, torture and gruesome satanic blood rituals. Dozens of members of the 764 child-grooming network have been arrested around the world. There are many more who have yet to be identified by the FBI. ngocomment.com/p/trans-leader…

Northwestern University economist Chuck Manski studies decision-making amid uncertainty. That prepared him better than many other cancer patients to decide whether to stay on an immunotherapy treatment that was making him very ill. For six months in 2022, Manski received monthly infusions of nivolumab to fight advanced melanoma. The drug ruined his thyroid gland, he said, requiring him to go on a special medication for the rest of his life, and caused severe dryness in his eyes, lips, and mouth. The Food and Drug Administration’s protocol for the drug called for an entire year of treatment, but Manski said his...

Posted around 6:00 p.m. today from the temporary studio in South Florida.

The top DSA leader whose parents set him up in cushy Brooklyn digs short-circuited as a union electrician — and then convinced his socialist party comrades to pay him a near-six-figure salary, The Post has learned. Former Yale University liberal arts student Gustavo Gordillo, 38, was fired from his apprenticeship program in March after ghosting his employer for months, meaning he never made it as a fully-credentialed electrician, the IBEW Local 3 union confirmed Wednesday. “After learning of Mr. Gordillo’s prolonged absence from and failure to participate in required work and classes, the trustees of the Joint Apprentice Training Committee...