Free Republic

You've heard about the dangers of secondhand cigarette smoke, but what about secondhand bong smoke? The haze after a bubbly bong hit may appear harmless, but a new study published Wednesday in JAMA Network Open found bystanders may be inhaling air pollutants at concentrations more than twice federal air quality limits. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, measured fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in a real-world setting where a group of young adults socially smoked cannabis with a bong for two hours in an ordinary household living room. An aerosol monitor was placed where a nonsmoker might sit, recording PM2.5...

Several hundred Russian troops have been withdrawn from the Chernobyl nuclear facility in Ukraine after suffering from “acute radiation sickness” and are being treated in Belarus, according to reports. The Pentagon confirmed earlier that the Russian forces began to pull out from the defunct facility, which was taken on the first day of the invasion, after a pledge by the Kremlin to scale back its offensive. But an employee at the Public Council at the State Agency of Ukraine for Exclusion Zone management said the soldiers had fled while “irradiated” and bused to a medical facility in Gomel, Belarus, the...

Run, runaway! February’s Core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price YoY grew to 5.4%, the highest since 1983. The spread between the PCE Core Deflator and The Fed Funds Target Rate (upper bound) In terms of the spread, it is the highest since the 1970s. The Taylor Rule (which Jerome Powell probably thinks is the New Jersey breakfast meat “Taylor Ham”) indicates that The Fed’s target rate should be 12.21%. This is using the Rudebusch specification of the Taylor Rule. Now that the Biden Administration is going gangbusters on building electric cars, lithium prices are going through the roof. The Federal...

Russia will cut off gas supplies to Europe if countries refuse to pay in roubles, Vladimir Putin has warned.The Russian leader said he had signed a decree saying customers must pay in the local currency from tomorrow or their contracts will be terminated. The G7 has previously rejected the demand.In televised comments, Putin said buyers of Russian gas should open accounts in Russian banks, adding that the move was an important step in strengthening the country’s ailing economy.European gas prices reversed earlier losses and pushed higher amid fears Europe could abruptly lose its bigger source of natural gas supplies.Putin's doubling...

The sunshine state is facing a big red wave! Republican voters in the state of Florida are now outnumbering Democrats by a margin of 100,000 for the first time, Fox News reports. This shift by the state began after the GOP overtook Democrats in voter registration around the end of 2021. A spokesperson for DeSantis’ campaign told Fox News that the lead of registered Republicans vs Democrats in the state of Florida passed 101,000 as of Tuesday morning. “There’s no beating around the fact this historic gain is because of Governor Ron DeSantis,” Florida Republican Party executive director Helen Aguirre...

Disney employee Jose Castillo, a Republican candidate for Congress in Florida, decried his employer’s open opposition to the Parental Rights in Education Bill that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis just signed into law. Castillo asserted that Disney was “making a terrible miscalculation” by picking a side that could be “bad for business.” “I think they’re making a terrible miscalculation that, you know, ultimately, maybe, will be bad for business,” Castillo outlined. “Their statement says this about the bill that Ron DeSantis passed. They said, ‘Our goal as a company is for the law to be repealed by the legislature or struck...

On Thursday, TSA officials announced new standards for screening transgender, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming airline passengers. TSA officials said they will begin implementing an enhanced screening technology later this year and also plan on changing its operating procedures to reduce the number of pat-down screenings without compromising security. Additionally, TSA officials say they have removed gender considerations when validating a traveler’s identification at security checkpoints. They are also making the TSA PreCheck more inclusive. TSA has updated its Transgender, Nonbinary, and Gender Nonconforming Passengers webpage to provide information to the traveling public on all gender-related updates, including changes to AIT (advanced...

Consumer goods and services cost Americans 6.4 percent more than a year prior in February, the latest data from the U.S. government showed on Thursday. The personal consumption expenditure price index rose by more than expected and indicated that inflation accelerated from the six percent annual rate in January. This was the fastest rate of price increases since 1982.

A terrible incident unfolded in Tokaimura, Japan, on 30 September 1999 when an uncontrolled chain reaction involving radioactive material was triggered. This would become the country’s worst nuclear accident. Over the next 20 hours, 49 people within the plant were exposed to dangerous levels of radiation – though it’s expected the total reach may have exceeded this. Among them was Hisashi Ouchi, then aged 35, who was exposed to 17 sieverts (Sv) of radiation – 10 Sv more than the lethal dose, which is considered to be around seven. Attempts were made to save the technician’s life, but the devastating...

Video from a @TxDPS helicopter shows a huge group of more than 100 illegal immigrants using a rope to cross the Rio Grande into Eagle Pass, TX. You can see how large the group was at the end of the video. Del Rio sector averaging up to 1,500 crossings *per day*.

Disney’s website still categorizes the company’s clothing and other merchandise under “men's,” “women’s,” “girls'” and “boys'" The Walt Disney Company has yet to say if it will continue to use the gendered terms "princes" and "princesses" as the company halts the use of "boys and girls." Disney, DeSantis would be on 'same side' if left wasn't 'running the show': Markowicz New York Post columnist Karol Markowicz argues 'in normal times,' both Disney and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis fundamentally would want to protect innocent children. The Walt Disney Company has yet to say if it will continue to use the gendered...

China has decided to restrict the visas for U.S. officials, in response to the U.S. visa restrictions on some China officials, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said on Thursday.

Chrome OS isn’t just for Chromebooks now. It’s not pleasant seeing a once-beloved laptop (or desktop) computer slowly slide into obsolescence as it gets too old and tired to keep up with the demands of modern-day computing, but Google has now provided an option for these ailing machines in the form of Chrome OS Flex. Chrome OS Flex is the standard Chrome OS that runs on Chromebooks, in a form that you can install on computers that aren’t Chromebooks. The idea is that the lightweight operating system won’t weigh your old device down to the same extent as Windows or...

A former NYPD cop was slashed in the arm while he was with his wife on a subway in Lower Manhattan Wednesday afternoon, police said. The 47-year-old man was stabbed in the right forearm just before 4:00 p.m. on the northbound 2 train platform at the Wall Street Station during a dispute, according to MTA and NYPD officials. He was slashed after the attacker — who was carrying a FedEx bag — first spat at him and his wife as they all got off the train at the same time, cops said. The suspect was shown leaving the station after...

House Republicans are pressing the Biden administration on why it is not making full use of congressionally approved sanctions against China for providing support to North Korea in light of Pyongyang’s recent illicit ballistic missile testing, Breitbart News has learned. In a March 31, 2022, letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken led by Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL), members of the Republican Study Committee noted the uptick in North Korea’s illicit missile testing and activities with Chinese support in recent weeks. They wrote: On March 4, North Korea launched a ballistic missile toward the sea off its east coast, its...

....a cursory examination of the sentencing record of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as it relates to child pornography reveals that these cases are not, in fact, simply about the perceived injustice of sentencing a just-turned-18-year-old to years in prison for a crime he wouldn’t be punished for at the age of 17. The facts in many of these cases are far more heinous, and brutal – even in the cases involving teenagers.

Rogue MP Bob Katter said every schoolkid should be armed 'to defend Australia' Mr Katter compared tensions in the Indo-Pacific to the situation in Ukraine He also said every school should have buildings where weapons are stored Outspoken politician Bob Katter has called for high school students to be given guns to protect Australia from an 'existential threat' from China. The North Queensland MP compared the growing tensions in the Indo-Pacific to the situation in Ukraine and said teenagers should be trained to take up arms. 'How are you going to defend this country? You've got no fuel, you've got...

With a notoriously large carbon footprint, concrete is a prime target for researchers developing greener materials for the future of construction. A number of studies have shown how old rubber tires can be used to make versions that are stronger, more heat-resistant and flexible enough for use as a road material. A new study has assessed its value in real-world settings by using concrete containing old tires as a residential slab and monitoring its performance over several years, where it outshone conventional concrete in a number of ways. The type of concrete at the center of this study is known...

Palm Springs, California has gone extremely woke, with the city that is the desert playground for the rich proposing a program that would guarantee monthly income as high as $900 to transgender and nonbinary residents in the name of fighting discrimination.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The first public appearance between the highest-profile Republicans running for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania quickly became chippy Wednesday, as themes playing out in millions of dollars in sharp-elbowed TV attack ads played out on a small forum stage. The campaign is one of this year's premier Senate contests and has been roiled by the arrival of three wealthy and well-connected candidates from other states, injecting carpetbaggery into the race as a prominent and persistent issue. Mehmet Oz — the celebrity heart surgeon best known as daytime TV’s host of “The Dr. Oz Show” — absorbed the...