Free Republic

A study suggests two anticonvulsants often prescribed for chronic pain are only "modestly effective" at pain management and can create an unfavorable risk/reward situation for patients. The findings are important because prescriptions for the drugs, gabapentin and pregabalin, have been on the rise as the U.S. tries to move away from opioids amid an ongoing opioid epidemic. The study also found in randomized trials, patients on placebos tended to report one-third to one-half the pain reduction benefit of patients receiving gabapentin or pregabalin. The findings highlight challenges involving studies and trials used by the FDA when it considers approving a...

According to the YouTube poster, there were over 100 participants in this Christmas flash mob. It is really something to see. I especially liked the look on the diners’ faces as they began to realize what was going on.

You're watching the official lyric video for REO Speedwagon - "Children Go Where I Send Thee" from the album 'Not So Silent Night...Christmas with REO Speedwagon' (2009) This year, Santa traded his sleigh for a Speedwagon! Celebrate the holidays with REO Speedwagon’s new visualizer/lyric video for their track Children Go Where I Send Thee from the album ‘Not So Silent Night…Christmas With REO Speedwagon.’

Is Obama the architect of the illegal government and Big Tech censoring machine? With the release of the Twitter files by Elon Musk, we learned that the FBI was working with Twitter in censoring and managing messaging on the social media site. From information being gathered in the case between Missouri and Louisiana and the US government, where The Gateway Pundit is the lead plaintiff, we have also learned that this was taking place with other government departments and other Big Tech companies How did this ever get started? It looks like Obama had much to do with this. Jason...

The bitter cold accompanying this powerful winter storm broke some long-standing record lows for parts of Montana and Wyoming. Casper, Wyoming, saw its coldest day ever on Thursday as temps plummeted to a bone-chilling 42 degrees F below. It was also a Casper record for Dec. 22, with the old record of 33 below set in 1983. Other areas breaking records Thursday included Riverton, Wyoming, which dropped to 31 degrees below, shattering a 24-year record.

In a clearly illegal act, Democrats in the US House of Representatives released President Trump’s tax returns to the public this week. But, as we all well know, Democrats are above the law in the United States. The Democrats fought to obtain President Trump’s taxes for years. This was not because President Trump committed any crime. It was because Democrats wanted to dig through his returns to possibly find something they could use as fodder for their next attack. The Democrats released Trump’s tax returns and what was expected to be a monumental takedown of the 45th President ended up...

Treating the painful shoulder condition adhesive capsulitis with a nerve block is a safe, simple and effective treatment, according to recent results from a clinical trial. Also known as frozen shoulder, adhesive capsulitis is a common shoulder condition that results in stiffness and pain in the shoulder joint. Led by Professor Michael Shanahan, the trial assessed the efficacy of suprascapular nerve block—an injection around a major sensory nerve for the shoulder which runs from the neck into the shoulder region. From a total of 54 patients, 27 received a steroid injection into the shoulder joint, along with physiotherapy and the...

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — A repair technician working on a Florida woman’s phone found an “explicit video” among her files and made a copy for himself, authorities said. According to a news release from the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office, Cody Austin Terry, 28, of North Port, was arrested on Monday. He was charged with accessing a computer or electronic device without authority, WINK-TV reported. According to the sheriff’s office, the victim took her iPhone to an I-Fix store in Port Charlotte and left it with the suspect for approximately two hours to be repaired. Deputies allege that Terry browsed the...

The biased panel recommended banning Trump from office. Of course. The 11 recommendations via Axios: Pass the Electoral Reform Act. Pursue criminal and civil accountability for those accused of misconduct in the Jan. 6 report, including lawyers. Push federal agencies to fight violent activity and review their intelligence sharing. Ask Congress to create a formal mechanism to bar individuals from future office, using the 14th Amendment. Ask for congressional joint sessions to be treated as National Special Security Events on par with inauguration and State of the Union. Push for more severe punishments for attempting to impede transfer of power....

CHICAGO - Mayor Lori Lightfoot says don't get COVID-19 for Christmas. She says everyone needs to take the virus seriously as people get together this weekend. Lightfoot says there's been a big surge in cases, and Chicago will reach the "high" level of cases either this week or next week. She says 47 Illinois counties are already there, and so is New York City and Los Angeles.

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — In a bombshell tweet issued by one of Israel’s most prominent biologists and the former head of the Israel Institute For Biological Research, Prof. Shmuel Shapira, the professor says that “I made three mistakes – with the first vaccine, the second vaccine and the third vaccine,” in reference to the COVID-19 vaccines of Pfizer. The professor added “Who says that those who were vaccinated can’t admit they were wrong?”

Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Thursday mocked lawmakers who applauded Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during his speech before a joint session of Congress, claiming they clapped “like seals.” “Almost every person in the room clapped like a seal,” Carlson said on his nightly show. “So no matter what that man said — Send me more money; I command you, send me more money; we’re taking care of it the most responsible ways — they applaud, all of them, almost like they have to.”

“The American free press has been under attack, not by forces from other countries, but from elements embedded in our own society, and even our own government. It worries me deeply,” Gardner said.After an anecdote about Thomas Jefferson’s deep belief in freedom of the press, Gardner delivered his most important message about the fourth estate.“We are not the enemy of the people,” he said.

WASHINGTON — The House on Friday voted to finalize a massive $1.7 trillion government funding bill, sending it to President Joe Biden and marking the end of two years of Democrats controlling both chambers of Congress. The package contains a major boost to military spending and nearly $45 billion in assistance to Ukraine. It overhauls federal election law by revising the Electoral Count Act of 1887 to try to prevent another Jan. 6. The bill funds a swath of domestic programs as well, averting a shutdown and keeping the government funded through next fall. The vote was 225 to 201,...

Share Tweet ... More House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Friday gave an approximately 25-minute floor speech opposing a $1.7 trillion omnibus government funding package, his final show of opposition to the funding bill before its expected passage later that day. “This is a monstrosity. That is one of the most shameful acts I’ve ever seen in his body,” McCarthy said. “The appropriations process has failed the American public, and there’s no greater example of the nail in the coffin of the greatest failure of a one-party rule of the House, the Senate and the presidency.”

KINGMAN, Ariz. (3TV/CBS 5/AP) — A Mohave County judge has denied Republican Abe Hamadeh’s challenge. Judge Lee F. Jantzen ruled quickly after closing arguments wrapped up, saying in part: “The bottom line is you just haven’t proven your case.” The short-lived trial began Friday morning to challenge of his narrow defeat to Democrat Kris Mayes in the Arizona attorney general’s race. Hamadeh, who lost by 511 votes, alleges in his lawsuit that problems with printers in Maricopa County led to issues involving disenfranchised voters. Earlier this week, the Mohave County Superior Court judge ruled that Hamadeh’s lawsuit could move forward...

Pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2 and pneumococcus can cause severe pneumonia. If the airways then fill with fluid, the patient risks developing acute respiratory distress syndrome. Researchers have now discovered the molecular mechanisms that trigger fluid accumulation in the lungs. This development also led them to discover a potential new therapy: A cystic fibrosis drug proved effective in their laboratory experiments, raising hope that this could be used to treat pneumonia regardless of the pathogen that caused it. The study centered on the CFTR chloride channel, which scientists know is mainly found in the mucosal cells of our airways. There, it...

By Dario Perkins, chief strategist of TS LombardThings That Won't Happen In 2023A light-hearted take on 2023, with big consensus-busting “non-forecasts”Such as Powell takes his Volcker obsession too far; BoE needs a bailout……CBDCs realize the conspiracy theorists’ nightmare; Brexit, what Brexit?Since we first published our annual “Things that won’t happen” outlook in 2015, writing outlandish non-forecasts has become considerably more difficult. Back then, nobody would have taken us seriously if we had said Donald Trump would become US president or the UK would quit the EU or there would be a two-year pandemic with rolling global lockdowns. And the surprises...

The partisan January 6 Committee’s report published Thursday ignored House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) role in the failure to provide enhanced Capitol security before the protest. Instead, the Committee’s report attempted to place the blame for the riot squarely on former President Donald Trump. “Trump sat in the dining room off the Oval Office watching the violent riot at the Capitol,” outgoing Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) wrote in the report, ignoring the days and events leading up to January 6.

The Christmas truce of 1914 is a story many of us have heard, but it’s well worth revisiting. It’s almost too good to be true.When the angels appeared to the shepherds outside Bethlehem on that night more than 2,000 years ago, they spoke of the great tidings of the incarnation and sang what has become the universal Christmas prayer of the centuries: “Peace on Earth and goodwill toward men.”Perhaps those same Christmas angels were singing over the Western Front in 1914, when the guns fell silent.The Christmas truce of 1914 is one of those stories many of us have heard,...