Free Republic

Democratic ballot harvesting operations have reached such heights of sophistication that they can parachute into decisive battlegrounds and scare up enough votes among ignorant and unmotivated citizens to overcome the natural enthusiasm of informed and self-motivated voters...We need to demand leadership from the leaders we do have. Remember, successful political action is about organizing, not merely about grassroots willpower. For decades, the Left has used the Democratic Party as a vehicle to do little more than redistribute taxpayer largesse to unions and other special interest groups that do their organizing for them. On the Right, far too many of our...

San Francisco Pride has cut Twister Sister front man Dee Snider from their line-up next month after the legendary rocker endorsed a tweet slamming sex changes for kids. Snider's 1984 hit We're Not Gonna Take It had been slated to be the 2023 theme song of the event. The singer was also expected to perform. However, after Snider retweeted and liked a message from Kiss star Paul Stanley, plans have changed. On May 1, Stanley tweeted a post titled 'My Thoughts On What I'm Seeing.' 'There is a BIG difference between teaching acceptance and normalizing and even encouraging participation in...

Antoinette Hodge, the treasurer of Uniontown who was charged last year by then-Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro for allegedly stealing $106,000 in taxpayer funds while in office, is now facing more charges. Fayette County District Attorney Richard Bower said Hodge “substantially depleted” the funds of the Youghiogheny Western Baptist Association, where she was a chair of the trustee board, with the first incident happening in July 2018 and continuing through the pandemic. The YWBA is an organization that represents some Baptist churches in Fayette, Westmoreland, Greene, and Allegheny counties, as well as a church in Morgantown, W.Va. Bower announced 38...

The latest New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey illustrates the massive toll that COVID-19 took on the city since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. According to the data, about one in four New Yorkers, or nearly 2 million residents, lost at least one person — defined as a friend, family member, colleague or neighbor — to the illness, and more than one in 10 New Yorkers, almost 900,000 residents, lost three or more people. Among about a million essential workers, the survey found that 29 percent lost one or more person to COVID-19. The survey also shed...

A mother says she believes her child's preference for eating raw green vegetables supports them being transgender. She made the comments while appearing before the Louisiana State House's Health and Welfare Committee to speak against HB 463 ahead of a vote. A Louisiana legislative committee advanced the bill, which calls for a ban on all treatments which fall into the category of 'gender-affirming' for minors. These include procedures like top surgery, which removes or adds breast or chest tissue, and seeks to create a more masculine or feminine appearance. It also extends to the use of pharmaceuticals, including medications known...

Researchers have identified four important signs and symptoms that signal an elevated risk of early-onset colorectal cancer. These red flags may be key to earlier detection and diagnosis of early-onset colorectal cancer among younger adults. The number of young adults with colorectal cancer has nearly doubled in recent years. Studying health insurance data with early-onset colorectal cancer—cancer that occurs before a person turns 50—the researchers found that in the period between three months and two years before diagnosis, abdominal pain, rectal bleeding, diarrhea and iron deficiency anemia each indicate an increased risk in those under age 50. They found that...

The mayor of Jacksonville, Florida has refused to succumb to 'wokeism' and order the city's lifeguards to cover their chests, after a transgender person hoping to be employed at a city pool exposed their breasts. The transgender person, who has not been named, attended a trial session for lifeguard hopefuls at the Cecil Aquatic Center on April 27. During the course of the tryout, the female-born person, who identifies as male but has not had top surgery, exposed their breasts and did not attempt to cover themselves. Children were within 15 to 20 feet from the lifeguard training and the...

Satellite detection of atmospheric pollutants offers an independent look at what is going on with Russia’s economy In particular, QuantCube tracks the amount of nitrogen dioxide, produced by the burning of coal, gas and diesel, as is common in factories ...pollution in industrial regions has continued to drop, off 1.2% over the six months ended in April and down 6.2% over the past year—more than during the worst of the coronavirus pandemic. By contrast, Russia’s official measure showed industrial production rose 1.2% in March from a year earlier.

Transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney has been spotted for the first time since Bud Light disavowed gifting her a special can, with an LGBT activist saying the brand's latest decision has angered gays as well as conservatives. Mulvaney, 26, was seen in a Burberry check outfit she's sported on multiple previous occasions as she arrived at a hotel in West Hollywood, California. She didn't many any comment, with LGBTQ activists now joining right-wingers in boycotting the brand after it disavowed the Mulvaney stunt. Stacey Lentz, who co-owns the famed Stonewall Inn gay bar in NYC, said parent company Anheuser-Busch had 'missed...

Concerns over the impending end of Title 42 are highlighting rifts among Democrats on either side of Pennsylvania Avenue as the party hunkers down to await the political ramifications of the policy’s termination. The Trump-era policy changing the way officials can process migrants they encounter crossing the border will conclude along with other pandemic emergency measures on Thursday, forcing officials to return to regular processing — and potentially prompting hundreds of thousands of migrants camped along the border to attempt to enter the United States. Sen. Bob Menéndez (D-N.J.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has led the charge...

Ron DeSantis, the rightwing Republican governor of Florida and a likely 2024 presidential candidate, has handed favors to his big-money donors in the insurance industry at the expense of cash-strapped residents of his state, a new report claims. The report, “How Ron DeSantis sold out Florida homeowners”, draws on contributions from the American Federation of Teachers union, the non-profit Center for Popular Democracy, the voting rights group Florida Rising and the dark money watchdog Hedge Clippers. [cut] the report’s authors suggest, that DeSantis’s administration has put the insurance companies’ interests ahead of Florida’s own citizens, who are battling homeowner insurance...

A Texas rancher witnessing the border crisis firsthand slammed the Biden administration for a “bad situation” that has “not improved at all” as the end of Title 42 looms. “We have people coming through our property 24 hours a day, seven days a week now,” Stephanie Canales said on “Mornings with Maria” Wednesday. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s claim that illegal migration was “down by more than 90%” made Canales “want to laugh,” she added. “And those of us that live down here every day that are dealing with this, it has not improved at all,” she argued.

Antibiotics administered before and during surgery should be discontinued immediately after a patient's incision is closed, according to updated recommendations for preventing surgical site infections. Experts found no evidence that continuing antibiotics after a patient's incision has been closed, even if it has drains, prevents surgical site infections. Continuing antibiotics does increase the patient's risk of C. difficile infection, which causes severe diarrhea, and antimicrobial resistance. "Strategies to Prevent Surgical Site Infections in Acute Care Hospitals: 2022 Update," provides evidence-based strategies for preventing infections for all types of surgeries from top experts from five medical organizations led by the Society...

Long-time readers of CTH research will remember a very specific agency inside government, the Dept of Justice Community Relations Service (DOJ-CRS). This little-known, quasi legislatively authorized, Eric Holder weaponized, silo inside the justice system operates to control information that would be deemed ‘adverse to the peace and tranquility interests of the nation.’ In non-pretending terms, the DOJ-CRS controls any information in the criminal justice system that doesn’t fit the agenda of the radical communists and left-wing activists within it. The CRS controlled the George Zimmerman case. The CRS controlled the Darren Wilson case (Ferguson). The CRS controlled the Baltimore-Six case....

Microsoft recently announced a slew of new artificial intelligence (AI)-powered features for its Bing chatbot and Edge web browser. Chief among the changes, Bing users now have full access to the GPT-4 model — the same underlying engine that powers ChatGPT’s “Plus” subscription service. Previously, Microsoft held access to the GPT-4 version of the Bing chatbot to a “limited preview.” It’s now announcing open availability through the Bing app, web access and the Edge browser. Aside from giving Bing, Edge and Windows users free, unfettered access to the GPT-4 model, Microsoft also announced upcoming support for multimodal outputs, chat history...

Jacinda Ardern’s government had an emotional response to the crisis and a mistaken understanding of science, which led to multiple vaccine-induced deaths. Have these victims become a new source of organ donors for organ transplantation? By perusing scientific literature from around the world, New Zealand’s Dr. Guy Hatchard explores what vaccine-induced deaths mean from the perspective of transplant surgeons. “[While] transplant surgeons are very excited to have more available young donors … [they] completely fail to comment on the significance of the increased number of cases of vaccine-induced death,” he writes. “Transplant surgeons are narrowly focused on their discipline. Despite...

1. Most medicines used in the West come from the Far East. If America declares war on China (or vice versa) then most people reliant on prescription medicines (such as diabetics) will die. And Taiwan is responsible for the production of most of the world’s semiconductors. Manufacturers can’t produce cars, smartphones, computers, kitchen appliances, etc., without them. Modern cars have around 1,400 semiconductors built into them. And yet 60% of all semiconductors are made in Taiwan. And most are made by a single company. Those cheering on a war between China and America might like to reflect on those facts....

Dear Patient: You may have seen that the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency ends on May 11, 2023. This means that many hospital policies made during the pandemic are changing. This message explains the changes happening across all Mass General Brigham facilities. Masking Masks have been important during the pandemic. At this point in time, however, universal masking is no longer needed. This is due to many factors, including the availability of vaccines and treatments. With the end of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency, Mass General Brigham will end universal masking at all our hospitals, clinics, and other facilities starting on...

WASHINGTON–Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced a bill on May 4 to raise the federal minimum wage to $17 per hour. The proposal, which is more than double the current rate of $7.25, was unveiled to the cheers of various labor leaders outside Capitol Hill. “It is time to pass a new livable wage,” Sanders said. He was joined by AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, who said the increase would not burden large corporations, citing a leaked McDonald’s earnings call wherein the CEO says the company would do “just fine” under a $15 minimum wage. Last December, McDonald’s opened its first largely...

The US Navy invited an active-duty drag queen Joshua Kelley to be a ‘Digital Ambassador’ – as part of a recent drive “to attract the most talented and diverse workforce” and combat plunging recruitment. With the passing of each and every day, America becomes more and more like unto Sodom, and unto Gomorrah, we are living in the ‘Vanity Fair’ of The Pilgrims Progress. The scary part is that as this wickedness rises, we are normalizing it, so comparatively speaking things don’t really look all that bad. But things are bad, very, very bad. So bad it’s biblical. “Except the...