Free Republic

A transgender man is speaking out about his recent, recorded visit to a local Walgreens - during which he was denied a prescribed hormone treatment by one of the chain's pharmacists because it 'went against his religion.' Laid bare in a since-deleted post to Reddit Tuesday that included video of the encounter, the incident involves 30-year-old Roscoe Rike of Oakland, as well as an unnamed pharmacist at the aforementioned store on Telegraph Avenue. Currently transitioning from female to male, Rike says he has been a customer at the Walgreens for years - picking up his HRT medication, short for 'hormone...

Ancestors such as Eocene Hyracotherium exhibited foot structures resembling those of present-day tapirs, featuring four toes at the front and three at the back. Each toe was equipped with its own hoof and supported by an underlying foot pad.In contrast, contemporary equids such as horses, asses, and zebras possess a solitary toe, which is a remnant of the original third toe on each foot. This lone toe is protected by a sturdy keratinous hoof, while the underside of the hoof features a triangular frog that functions as a shock absorber.To unravel the mystery behind the lost digits, a team of...

A Planned Parenthood organization has been banned from schools in a Canadian province after children were offered an 'A to Z' guide that included descriptions of extreme sex acts. Planned Parenthood Regina, in Saskatchewan, delivered a seminar to Grade 9 students at Lumsden High School before children were able to take the card game that included a series of explicit terms and definitions. Some parents complained and the Saskatchewan Education Minister, Dustin Duncan, announced that Planned Parenthood Regina has now been suspended from working in the region's schools. 'It's completely inappropriate to be in a classroom and has no part...

President Biden’s approval rating has climbed to its highest point in nearly a year, according to new Gallup polling, as he ramps up his campaign for another four years in the White House. Biden’s job rating among U.S. adults climbed 4 percentage points between May and June, the survey found, to 43 percent who say they approve of the way the president is handling his role. It’s the highest rating since last August, but still below the approval in the upper 50s recorded at the start of his time in the White House. Fifty-four percent of U.S. adults overall disapprove...

For more than 54 years, a Bay Area woman has wondered what happened to her husband, a U.S. Air Force fighter pilot missing in action during the Vietnam War. Now at age 90, Joyce De Soto of Burlingame finally has answers. They were high school sweethearts at Balboa High School in San Francisco before tying the knot. "He had the most beautiful smile, and he was really sweet and really smart," De Soto said of her late husband Ernie De Soto. The De Sotos had three children and were married for 12 years before the family received devastating news: Ernie...

'Widowed and married within a 10-minute span': Groom dies one hour after ceremonyA day of joy ends in sorrow. An Omaha woman who just married the love of her life will now have to bury him. He died an hour after they said their vows. Monday was an important day for the Davis family: Juneteenth, but also Johnnie Mae's grandmother's birthday. Friends said the couple was looking forward to the day after two recent losses in Johnnie Mae's life, including her father. No one could have imagined how their day would end. “We were in the church and it was...

Both mainstream Jewish groups and their allies in the Biden administration are determined to avoid taking on left-wing Jew-haters and the ideas that drive them. Can you oppose antisemitism while at the same time make common cause with Jew-haters, their organizations and the ideas that propel them forward? The answer from the Biden administration and their allies that control the legacy organizations that purport to speak for American Jewry is “yes.” That is a point that has been repeatedly clear in recent weeks as once again, the political left has shown itself incapable of responding to the growing problem of...

A transgender, queer man who gave birth to a healthy boy last year says he feels isolated among the LGBTQ+ community, questioning, “where do I fit?” according to a report. “Every time I walk into a room, I feel alone,” Ja’Mel Ware said during a workshop attended by nonprofit news site The 19th. Ware, from Atlanta, gave birth to his child in May 2022. But he said has struggled to fit in the LGBTQ+ community as a new father who is also transgender. “It’s like, where do I fit? Because a lot of trans men don’t want to be open...

The Supreme Court announced Monday it would take up a case considering whether Congress can tax income before it is received. The case, Charles G. Moore et ux. v. United States, stems from a Washington state couple’s 2019 lawsuit against the government for a nearly $15,000 tax bill imposed on their small investment in an overseas company, from which they never earned a profit. It considers whether taxes on unrealized gains are legal under the 16th Amendment, which enables Congress to tax incomes “without apportionment among the several States.” Hank Adler, Burra Executive Professor of Accounting at Chapman University, previously...

Explanation: You've surely seen it, but you might not have noticed it. During a cloudless twilight, just before sunrise or after sunset, part of the atmosphere above the horizon appears slightly dark and off-color. Called the Belt of Venus, this transitional band between the dark eclipsed sky and the bright day sky can be seen most prominently in the direction opposite the Sun. Straight above, blue sky is normal sunlight reflecting off the atmosphere, while near the horizon the clear sky can appear more orange or red. In the Belt of Venus, the atmosphere reflects more light from the setting...

'I don't think Stef truly knew how loved he was. Unfortunately it takes something like this, and he's not here to see it'A popular 34-year-old man died suddenly after putting off getting a persistent cough checked. Stefan "Stef" Allan, a skilled painter and decorator who lived in Carmarthen, may not have known he was ill with cancer before his death, said his friend Jane Back. Jane said Stef's death on June 11 has left a "mass of devastation" among his friends and family. She described Stef as "someone who would do anything for anyone". When Stef was found dead at...

If you’re planning to buy some beef to throw on the grill over the next few weeks, expect to pay up to three times more than you did just a couple of years ago, when our domestic supply was plentiful due to a historic cattle selloff. Since 2021, ranchers have been coping with drought and record feed prices, which forced many of them to send their animals for slaughter earlier than usual. And while that led to a higher supply and steadier prices back then, now it is resulting in falling production, empty shelves, and a painful spike in prices...

Summary Russian President Vladimir Putin makes a TV address after Yevgeny Prigozhin's attempted mutiny on Saturday He says steps were taken to avoid major bloodshed during the rebellion, but it took time Wagner fighters can sign a contract with the Russian military or move to Belarus, Putin says Prigozhin agreed to leave Russia for Belarus after calling off his troops - his current whereabouts are unknown The head of the Wagner group recorded an 11-minute audio message after leading Saturday's mutiny In it he says his men headed to Moscow to "hold to account" those leaders he blamed for "mistakes"...

President Biden addressed the Wagner Group's revolt against Russian President Vladimir Putin's regime for the first time on Monday, saying the top priority for the U.S. and NATO was to establish that they had "nothing to do with it. Biden says he asked for hour-by-updates on the situation throughout the weekend, in addition to holding virtual meetings with key allies. He clarified that the U.S. is still assessing the fallout from the weekend's events and went on to affirm that the U.S. is continuing its full support for Ukraine, "They agreed with me that we had to make sure…we gave...

The Bayville Fire Department is mourning the loss of one of their own.Brian Letrent died suddenly of a medical condition on Wednesday, June 21, according to his obituary. He was 34 years old. A Toms River native, Brian was raised in Bayville and was a 2007 graduate of Central Regional High School. He enlisted in the US Army right after graduation and was deployed to Iraq for six months. Brian worked as a mechanic for the Berkeley Township Sewage Authority, having recently been promoted. He began his firefighting career with the Pinewald FD and went on to work with Bayville...

The leader of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced that the unit would cease to operate on July 1st, just two days after the rebellion against Russia. He explained that "the purpose of the march to Moscow was to demand accountability from those who made mistakes in the conduct of the operation...

NBC is out with a new national poll {Article Here} – {Poll pdf Here} showing that President Trump’s lead in the Republican 2024 primary has grown even bigger since the fraudulent and politically motivated indictment by the DOJ.[ Data Here ](via NBC News) – Former President Donald Trump has expanded his lead over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the rest of the Republican presidential field since Trump’s latest indictment on federal criminal charges, according to a new national NBC News poll.We all know what the tag-team duos are doing in the 2024 race. The goal of both election control corporations,...

Matthew 7:1-5 Friends, Jesus’ parable in today’s Gospel is one of the most psychologically and spiritually insightful remarks in the New Testament. Let’s face it: a favorite pastime of most human beings is criticism of others.We delight in pointing out the shortcomings, moral failings, and annoying tendencies of our neighbors. This is, of course, a function of pride and egotism: the more I put someone else down, the more elevated I feel.But it is also, oddly, a magnificent means of turning a mirror on ourselves, to see what usually remains unseen. Why, we ought to ask, do we find precisely...

The Wagner Group called off its attempted coup in Russia after Kremlin intelligence services threatened to harm the families of its leaders, UK security sources say. The mercenary army, led by commander Yevgeny Prigozhin, made a sudden U-turn on Saturday after getting within 120 miles of Moscow — a retreat that was allegedly courtesy of a deal brokered by Belarus and that shocked US intelligence officials. The swift end to the rebellion came after Russian agents warned Prigozhin and other Wagner leaders that their families would face retaliation if they continued, British intelligence sources told the Telegraph.

[Catholic Caucus] Architect of "Traditionis Custodes" Endorses German Synodal Way on "Homosexuality as God's Creation"Those who have long followed liturgical discussions are well aware of the name of Andrea Grillo, an Italian liturgical thinker (not precisely a liturgical scholar) who, though he denies having had a hand directly in ghostwriting Traditionis Custodes, is at the center of the Sant'Anselmo brigade whose ideas are (and sometimes verbatim) present in its text, as I discussed here. (For more on Grillo's anti-traditionalism, see this, this, and this; for his stance against Humanae Vitae, see here.) In short, it is no exaggeration to say...