Free Republic

Nearly one year into the war between Russia and Ukraine, Americans’ support for Ukraine holds steady. A stable 65% of U.S. adults prefer that the United States support Ukraine in reclaiming its territory, even if that results in a prolonged conflict. Meanwhile, 31% continue to say they would rather see the U.S. work to end the war quickly, even if this allows Russia to keep its territory. These data are from a Gallup web survey conducted Jan. 3-22, while the Russia-Ukraine conflict was at a relative stalemate and negotiations were underway among the U.S., Germany and other Western allies, who...

Many people are unaware that some antidepressants (medications used to treat people living with depression) are also being prescribed to treat certain chronic pain conditions. One in five people experiences chronic pain in Australia and globally, and treatment of chronic pain is often suboptimal, with commonly used medicines having limited or unknown benefits. The use of antidepressants to help manage a person's pain is on the rise, even when they do not have a mood disorder like depression. An international team of researchers has found that some classes of antidepressants were effective in treating certain pain conditions in adults, but...

Potentially lifesaving steroids commonly given to preterm babies also increase the risk of long-term cardiovascular problems, but a new study in rats has found that if given in conjunction with statins, their positive effects remain while the potential negative side effects are "weeded out." Professor Dino Giussani said, "Glucocorticoids are a clear lifesaver, but the problem with steroids is that they speed up the maturation of all organs. For the baby's lungs this is beneficial, but for the heart and circulation system it can be damaging—it resembles accelerated aging." Dr. Andrew Kane thought this might result from steroids causing oxidative...

After the Biden administration reportedly said they would like to brief former Trump officials of three alleged prior Chinese spycraft flyovers of North America, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed he had never heard of such operations while he was in office and demanded answers. On "The Story," anchor Martha MacCallum reported Biden officials have disclosed three prior flyovers of Chinese surveillance balloons, with the caveat that they were not discovered until after President Joe Biden took office in 2021. [cut] "I can speak for myself: I certainly never became aware that there was a three-bus-sized floating device coming...

Russian President Vladimir Putin could "disappear at any moment," sending Moscow into a civil conflict amid its floundering invasion of Ukraine, warned former commander Igor Girkin. Girkin, also known as Igor Strelkov, rose to prominence for his role in the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014. He has become increasingly critical of Kremlin leadership as its military struggles to achieve substantial military gains in Ukraine nearly a year after Putin launched the "special military operation." Although he supports the goals of the Russian military, he has recently offered grim assessments of the war for Putin. During a recent discussion, Girkin...

Without much fanfare, earlier this week Jeff Gerth, a Pulitzer-Prize winning former New York Times investigative reporter, dropped a thorough and damning four-part article dissecting the media’s obsessive reporting on Donald Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia. Even more surprising, Gerth’s report, “The press versus the president,” appeared at the in-house organ of America’s most prestigious journalism school, Columbia Journalism Review, which has long been regarded as something of an unofficial ombudsman for the media industry. If CJR is finally comfortable admitting that the media’s Russiagate reporting was so scandalously bad that it damns the entire industry, that seems like a...

(Don't let the truth slip down the memory hole.) BILLINGS, Mont. - A huge, high-altitude Chinese balloon sailed across the U.S. on Friday — and one Montana resident captured the sight on camera. Chase Doak, a resident in Billings, spotted the balloon up in the sky Wednesday afternoon, on the same day a suspected spy balloon passed over the area, according to the Pentagon. The footage, taken on his cell phone, shows the balloon up in the sky, as Doak shares the object appears to be stationary for at least 35 minutes. Doak told LiveNOW from FOX that he didn’t...

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A 6-year-old Virginia boy who shot and wounded his first-grade teacher constantly cursed at staff and teachers, chased students around and tried to whip them with his belt and once choked another teacher “until she couldn't breathe,” according to a legal notice filed by an attorney for the wounded teacher. The incidents were described in a notice sent to the Newport News school district by Diane Toscano, an attorney for teacher Abby Zwerner, informing the district that Zwerner intends to sue. The notice of claim, which was obtained by The Associated Press through a public records...

Last year, executive producer for Disney Television Animation Latoya Raveneau admitted Disney’s Proud Family: Louder and Prouder was responsible for grooming your children with LGBTQ propaganda, and this year the show is back to groom your children with racial division in season two. If you are not familiar with the name Latoya Raveneau, you should be. She is the woman who last year in a Disney staff meeting admitted to an agenda to groom and propagandize your children. The Disney Television Animation producer went on record admitting how she has turned the studio into her own personal pocket to insert...

Underlying strength in the bond market is signaling that the US economy is not on the verge of entering a recession anytime soon, according to a Monday note from DataTrek Research. In fact, corporate bond-yield spreads relative to US Treasuries suggest the economy is not going to enter a recession in 2023 or 2024, according to the note.

Spokane county judge ordered Church at Planned Parenthood to pay $960,000 for interfering with patient care An anti-abortion group has been ordered to pay almost $1m in fines to Planned Parenthood, over demonstrations outside a clinic in Spokane, Washington state. According to its website, the group, Church at Planned Parenthood, was formed to stage “worship service at the gates of Hell”. It also calls itself a “gathering of Christians for the worship of God and the corporate prayer for repentance for this nation, repentance for the apathetic church and repentance of our blood guiltiness in this abortion Holocaust”. In September...

A drink made of fermented horse milk is a staple in the diet of Mongolian herders. Researchers are uncovering the science of its production to better preserve this tradition.This article was produced for Meiji University by Scientific American Custom Media, a division separate from the magazine's board of editors. Nomadic life in Mongolia may offer inspiration as societies around the world strive to live more sustainably. Rather than drastically modifying the land for crops or pasture, herders move with their livestock seasonally to utilize natural grasslands that aren’t suitable for agriculture. “They don’t directly own the land, so a broader...

It's a somewhat mysterious science, figuring out the factors that encourage — or completely hulk-smash — a good night's sleep. Of course, there's an entire scientific industry dedicated to figuring it out, but we're all prone to make our own hypotheses based on personal experience. Plus, John Mayer said it best: Your body is a wonderland…and sometimes there's no telling what's going to happen when you eat that chunk of cheddar moments before hitting the pillow. Ok, John Mayer didn't say that last part, but a company called Sleep Junkie is digging into this very specific situation. Sleep Junkie's website...

Monday, the New York Times published a damning report about how Vice President Kamala Harris has struggled to define her historic tenure as the nation's second in command. Of all the similar reports that have come out since Harris first assumed the role in 2021, Monday's New York Times article is the bleakest. The authors of the piece — who say they spoke to "dozens of Democrats in the White House, on Capitol Hill and around the nation" — walked away from their reporting with this conclusion: Many believe Harris has not risen to the challenge of establishing herself as...

A hate group that has spread antiseptic flyers across the United States in recent years targeted Jewish neighbourhoods in the Atlanta area on Sunday morning. According to the StopAntisemitism advocacy organization, the Goyim Defense League (GDL) was behind the flyers, which were found in the Atlanta districts of Dunwoody and Sandy Springs. Similarly to past flyer drops, the hate literature was placed in plastic baggies and weighed down with small objects to prevent it from blowing away. “White Supremacist group 'Goyim Defense League' targets Georgia's Jewish suburbs of Dunwoody & Sandy Springs with their latest antisemitic flyer campaign,” StopAntisemitism tweeted....

Hunter Biden is reportedly weighing the creation of a legal defense fund to cover the charges of his high-powered attorneys, which experts estimate to cost at least $100,000 per month. It is unknown who would run the fund and what types of “parameters or confidentiality rules would be adopted” to avoid compromising Hunter’s father, the Washington Post reported. It is unclear if foreign money would be accepted by the fund or who would be interested in defending Hunter from both the Justice Department and congressional probes. – Hunter Biden's allies are weighing a legal defense fund – He's struggling financially...

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials said Monday that improvements ordered by President Joe Biden to strengthen defenses against Chinese espionage helped identify last week’s spy balloon — and determine that similar flights were conducted at multiple points during the Trump administration. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Monday that after Biden took office, the U.S. “enhanced our surveillance of our territorial airspace, we enhanced our capacity to be able to detect things that the Trump administration was unable to detect.” Speaking at the event hosted by the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, Sullivan added that as part of those...

On Jan. 26, 2023, detectives assigned to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) Robbery/Homicide – Cold Case Unit arrested 55-year-old Michael Lapniewski, Jr., for a murder that occurred in 1987. Detectives conducted an extensive investigation over a period of several years. A suspect was developed after advancements in DNA testing. According to detectives, on Feb. 9, 1987, deputies responded to a residence in unincorporated St. Petersburg for a deceased person. The victim, 82-year-old Opal Weil was located deceased by her sister-in-law after not answering her telephone. Weil had obvious and visible signs of trauma. Deputies discovered the suspect fled the...

In my over 30 years of working with volunteers who advocate replacing the income/payroll tax system with a national retail sales tax, one thing that I have noticed is that our volunteers have always been driven by the desire to help our great nation and future generations. None of these advocates are looking to make money or obtain other types of gain for themselves. In fact, most of us have paid our own expenses associated with the effort with no expectation of being reimbursed. Advocates for the national sales tax come from every religion, every line of work, every economic...

The United States is recovering debris from the downed Chinese balloon in the Atlantic for analysis by intelligence experts and there is no plan to give the remains back to Beijing, officials said on Monday (Feb 6). China says the balloon was an errant weather observation aircraft with no military purpose, but the United States says it was a sophisticated high-altitude spying vehicle. "They have recovered some remnants off the surface of the sea and weather conditions did not permit much undersea surveillance of the debris field," US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said two days after a US...