Free Republic

The safety signal appeared in a huge Food and Drug Administration database; did the Centers for Disease Control know before recommending Covid boosters for kids last month?(NOTE: I asked the FDA for comment for this article before noon on Thursday. The agency has missed my deadline of noon Friday to respond. mRNA shots are still promoted to children, so the fact they may cause seizures is an urgent public health issue. I have decided to publish the article now, including my questions to the FDA in it. When they respond I will update.)—-------- Young children had a significantly elevated risk...

Target CEO Brian Cornell suggested that the backlash the retail giant faced back in May over its LGBTQ Pride displays was the first time some team members claimed it was "not safe" at work. Cornell appeared Thursday on CNBC where he discussed declining sales, particularly following protests and critiques of its Pride Month merchandise. While on the topic, he insisted that employees felt more unsafe during the controversy than they did during natural disasters and violent Black Lives Matter protests. "This is my 10th holiday season at Target. You and I have been talking almost every quarter during those 10...

Johnny Hardwick's body was in bad shape when he died -- so much so that officials haven't been able to figure out how exactly he died ... this according to the medical examiner. According to the 'King of the Hill' star's autopsy report, obtained by TMZ, Johnny was found dead in his bathtub back in August -- and the water was running when he was found ... but the drain was open and he was not actually submerged. The M.E. says there were no obvious signs of trauma ... adding that a toxicology test showed a "presumptive positive test for...

The Taoiseach has said that what is happening in Gaza is not just self-defense on the part of Israel, but it “resembles something more approaching revenge”. Leo Varadkar’s comments come as Israeli ground troops are encircling Gaza City this morning. He said that it is very important that people “never forget where this started”, adding that this phase of the conflict started with a Hamas attack on Israel where 1,400 civilians were killed, including one person who was a dual Israeli-Irish citizen. “I strongly believe, like any state, Israel has a right to defend itself, has the right to go...

As reports surfaced that members of the Muslim community warned they might abandon voting for President Biden because of his support for Israel while anti-Semitism has skyrocketed around the globe, the Biden administration has launched a new effort to “counter Islamophobia” and now is reportedly warning Israel that support for its war effort will erode. “Biden, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken – who departed Thursday for Israel with a message on protecting civilian lives – have all explicitly pressed the case in recent private conversations with the Israelis, telling them that eroding support will have...

Humanity has never had it better.Especially the couple of billion lucky folks who live in the United States and Canada, Western Europe, and East Asia (including, now, much of China).The details of the miracle that is modern life are worth repeating, since they are the water we swim in and easy to forget.Deaths in childbirth and childhood are nearly nonexistent. People live longer than ever and can expect to be (physically) healthy into their seventies, not stooped by hard farm, industrial, or household labor. War and conscription have largely ended. In Europe and East Asia, all deaths of violence are...

A noxious smoke plume from swamp fires in the marsh is blowing over the New Orleans area, causing air quality to plummet, according to air monitors throughout the metro area. The smoky air from the peat fires, which smells like burning rubber, is irritating to the eyes, nose, throat and lungs. Burning peat, which is the decaying vegetation underground, releases a large amount of carbon and produces tiny particles known as PM 2.5 that are harmful to health.

A driver who is accused of killing her passenger when she lost control and crashed her Porsche on a Washington freeway - while allegedly drunk - has left the country. Ting Ye, 26, was charged with vehicular homicide and bail was set at $2million - but she quickly fled to her home country of China before she could be apprehended. New traffic camera footage showed the horrific moment Ye allegedly drove the white sports car at 100mph and crashed the vehicle on September 30. She mangled her Porsche 911 around 4am after it went flying through the air near 108th...

Why have the October 7 attacks triggered a culture war in the West? Because parts of our Left are anti-Semitic and the Right is calling them out? Absolutely. But this is also psychological displacement: we’re so shocked by the murder of Israelis, distressed by the bombings in Gaza and, unable to comprehend an intractable problem, that we withdraw into the familiar language of domestic politics. The Times of Israel reports (as spotted by Sumantra Maitra of The American Conservative) that Washington ordered officials to permit humanitarian aid in to Gaza: “The Americans insisted,” said the defence minister, “and we are...

Overnight, somebody covered the WBZ offices at 1170 Soldiers Field Rd. in Allston with blood-red paint and took the time to scrawl "Free Palestine" at one end. Monica captured the scene.

President Joe Biden “stressed the importance” of supporting Ukraine during a meeting Wednesday with Chilean President Gabriel Boric, who is in Washington to attend a series of economic engagements and to expand Chile’s trade ties to America. The meeting between Biden and Boric in the White House marked the 200th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. During remarks to journalists prior to their closed-door meeting, Boric described the objective of his visit of helping “strengthen our relationships” and noted the great benefits Chile has received from a 20-year-old free trade agreement with America.

When you give to your local food bank, make sure you're stocking their shelves with what they really need—and avoid what they don't. Next time you’re headed to the grocery store, bulk up your shopping list with a few of these non-perishable items from Feeding America‘s wish list. They’re the items food pantries—and your neighbors in need—can really put to good use. 1. Applesauce Plastic jars of unsweetened applesauce provide a quick snack, fiber and vitamin C. Applesauce also keeps well on food bank shelves. 2. Canned Beans Loaded with protein and fiber, canned beans provide an excellent, nutritious way...

Watch as these gruesome parasites emerge from their hosts. The interaction between parasites and their hosts can be gruesome: They manipulate, invade and terrorize their unsuspecting hosts, often killing them in the process. From mind-controlling organisms to flesh-eating invaders, here's a horrifying set of videos and pictures that capture the moment when parasites burst from their hosts. Horsehair parasite forces praying mantis to drown itself In this video, a parasitic nematode escapes the body of a praying mantis abdomen that is under water. The parasite in question is Coptotermes formosanus, more commonly known as a horsehair worm. These worm-like parasites...

The speed at which the White House and press corps are moving the goal posts for what counts as shameful Biden family business is remarkable, though it doesn’t change the facts. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer’s release of evidence of family payments to Joe Biden are a problem for the White House, no matter the spin. Mr. Comer has produced images of two checks made out to Joe Biden, both drawn from an account held by his brother James and sister-in-law Sara. Both entangle Joe in his family’s sordid financial dealings and undercut his claims that he knew nothing....

Nov. 2 (UPI) -- A Georgia man is attempting to get a Guinness World Records title after harvesting 186 pounds of sweet potatoes from a single plant. David Anderson of Washington County gathered witnesses including University of Georgia Extension agent Rocky Tanner and Washington County Sheriff Joel Cochran to watch as he harvested the tubers from the massive plant on his property. VIDEO AT LINK........ "The weather conditions were really good this year for growing potatoes," Anderson told WMAZ-TV. Guinness World Records' rules for the heaviest sweet potato record involve weighing all of the tubers from a single root system....

He got a lot of bang for his buck — and not in a good way. A tourist’s attempt to photograph a deer ended painfully after the critter rammed him and broke his ribs, as seen in a wince-worthy video blowing up online. “I couldn’t believe it,” Gian Carlo Triacca, 42, told Caters News Service of the attack, which occurred while he and his wife, Erika, 40, were vacationing in Greece. The couple, who hail from Cancun, Mexico, had reportedly been entranced by a menagerie of beasts seen where they were on holiday.

The popular toy has undergone a 21st century upgrade - and now uses artificial intelligence to communicate with deceased relatives beyond the grave. The Ouija board has undergone a 21st century makeover, with the popular toy moving to the online realm and using AI (artificial intellience) to contact deceased relatives. Grandma and Grandpa have to say can head on over to the official Ouija website to pose their pressing questions. For example, the Ouija correctly named Edgar Allen Poe as the author of "The Raven" but didn't identify smaller details correctly (for example, the board didn't know that the Raven...

An Idaho woman and her son have been charged with kidnapping after prosecutors say they took the son’s minor girlfriend out of state to get an abortion. Court documents show Idaho police began investigating the mother and son earlier this summer after a 15-year-old girl’s mother told authorities her daughter had been sexually assaulted and later taken to Oregon to have an abortion. With some narrow technical exceptions, abortion is banned throughout pregnancy in Republican-controlled Idaho. The procedure is legal in left-leaning Oregon, prompting many patients to cross the state border for services, a trend anti-abortion opponents have struggled to...

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was fooled by Russian pranksters into admitting “there is a lot of fatigue” with the war in Ukraine and that “everybody understands that we need a way out.”Russian radio pranksters Vovan and Lexus, aka Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexei Stolyarov, released the prank phone call with the Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Meloni they had conducted Sept, 18. Apparently Stolyarov managed to convince Meloni he was the head of the e African Union Commission, prompting her to speak frankly about Ukraine and foreign policy.“I see that there is a lot of fatigue, I have to say...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope Francis calls for a new theology not always ‘corresponding to the Christian face of God’Pope Francis’ new mode of theological study directed Catholic theologians to draw from, or promote, the 'people’s common sense' in an 'inductive method.'Pope Francis has issued new priorities and statutes for the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Theology, stating that a newly focussed theology is needed, based on a popular “common sense” that is “often not corresponding to the Christian face of God.”The Pope’s comments came in a November 1 motu proprio, by which he issued new directions and new statutes for the Pontifical...