Free Republic

This past August, the National Toxicology Program, of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), issued a report indicating that there seems to be a connection between higher levels of fluoride exposure and lower IQ in kids. Based on this, US District San Francisco Judge Edward Chen ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) "to take steps to lower the potential risk." EPA spokesperson Jeff Landis asserted that "adding fluoride to the nation's drinking water was one of the greatest public health achievements of the last century. We doubt whether the few IQ points lost could outweigh all the cavities...

Working-class voters in the deep blue city of Philadelphia are showing dramatic signs of switching their support to former President Donald Trump’s Republican Party. “Democrats keep saying [Trump] is going to bring down the economy, but he was already president for four years, and taxes were lower,” former Hillary Clinton supporter Gabriel Lopez told the Philadelphia Inquirer on Tuesday. “We’re tired of the same politics. We got a different type of guy, and the people actually love him.” Lopez’s story appears to be indicative of many voters in Philadelphia, a city not immune to the ongoing political realignment. Democrats outnumber...

President Joe Biden said he does not support Israel striking Iran's nuclear sites in response to its missile attack against its people. ‘The answer is no,’ he told reporters traveling with him.

The devastation that Tropical Storm Helene inflicted on western North Carolina is still heartbreaking several days after the storm has passed. Countless North Carolinians are stranded in the mountains and valleys of that part of the state, many of them without medications or other things that they need to survive.Towns and cities like Asheville are dealing with widespread damage and power outages. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park has several road and trail closures, even as U.S. 441, the main highway between Cherokee and Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge/Sevierville, remains open and passable.It's hard to describe how difficult people in North Carolina have...

Minnesota nice ran headlong into Ohio smart on Tuesday night, as Governor Tim Walz faced off against Senator JD Vance in a CBS News vice presidential debate in New York City. The best Democrats can hope for is that voters were watching 'Dancing With The Stars' instead. Walz was exposed as a stuttering lightweight with no business being a heartbeat away from the Oval Office and Vance delivered the most persuasive case for 'America First' Trumpism yet, in what may be the last debate of the 2024 election.

Pundits and commentators online were not all pleased with the CBS News moderators' performance during Tuesday night's vice presidential debate. The most jarring moment came when Margaret Brennan fact-checked Republican VP nominee, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance over comments he made about Haitian migrants. That led to a back-and-forth that ended with Brennan and Norah O'Donnell cutting off the candidates' mics.

t’s been 8+ months of polluted clay sediment flowing down the Klamath River. And according to the profiteers at the Klamath River Renewal Corporation (‘KRRC’), ‘all is going as planned‘. But is it really? If ‘going as planned’ means profitability is on track and ending rural life and livelihoods is underway, then maybe it is ‘going as planned’?

Upon arrival, fire officials determined the fire began in the garage and spread to the attic of the home. The residents made it out safely and no injuries have been reported. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz reportedly told Vice President Kamala Harris that he was a weak debater when the two spoke as part of the running mate vetting process earlier this year. Harris, who later claimed to have been sleep-deprived at the time, picked the 60-year-old as her VP hopeful anyway. On Tuesday evening, Walz’s debate skills were put to the test by Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) — and widely panned by pundits across the political spectrum, who zinged the governor for seeming unprepared and acting nervous and fidgety. Harris, 59, and Walz sat down for a running mate interview on...

Live Science reports that archaeologists have uncovered a villa at the edge of the ancient city of Fregellae, which the Roman army razed in 125 B.C. A layer of fire damage shows that the villa's buildings and the surrounding crops were destroyed at the same time as the city. A Roman military camp protected by a fortified wall and a moat has also been found nearby. Founded as a Roman colony, Fregellae was home to many Samnites, a non-Roman people who had once been enemies of the Roman Republic. The city's residents are known to have rebelled against Rome, according...

Bibi Nazdana .. the Taliban is invalidating divorces granted by the Afghan court - forcing divorced child brides to return to their previous marital status.. The Taliban is attempting to force divorced child brides to return to their adult former husbands, despite the girls having been granted divorce by the Afghan government.. citing the case of Bibi Nazdana. Nazdana, who has now fled Afghanistan with her brother, spent two years pursuing a divorce which the Taliban claimed is invalid based on the terror group’s interpretation of Sharia law. Her case is reportedly one of tens of thousands. At seven years...

Sarah Mouhanna, 19, has been charged after allegedly displaying a Hezbollah flag during a pro-Palestine and Lebanon rally in Sydney’s CBD. As part of Operation Shelter, NSW Police launched a public appeal that led to Mouhanna turning herself today. She was charged with displaying a symbol of a prohibited terrorist organisation and granted bail ahead of her court appearance on October 23. The protest, attended by thousands, was part of a broader movement supporting Palestine and Lebanon amidst rising violence. Hezbollah, backed by Iran, has been listed as a terrorist group in Australia since 2021, and the display of its...

VIDEOAs soon as President Donald Trump chose J.D. Vance to be his running mate the media predictably attacked Vance for for being a terrible choice destined to harm the Republican ticket. In fact, Nicole Wallace labeled Vance as a "gift" for the Democrats. So how's that "gift" for the Democrats working out now in the wake of the BRILLIANT Vance performance during his debate with "Knucklehead" Tim Walz?

A paper published in the journal Nature on Wednesday lays out the hidden toll of tropical storms in the continental United States. Looking at 501 events from 1930 to 2015, researchers found that the average tropical storm resulted in an additional 7,000 to 11,000 deaths over the 15 years that followed. “It makes a lot of sense that a hurricane, or tropical cyclone — which is a substantial ‘shock’ to a community’s functioning — would lead to long-lasting effects,” said Sue Anne Bell, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan’s Center for Global Health Equity, who reviewed the study....

Amit Patel is currently serving a six-and-a-half year prison sentence after stealing $22 million from his former employer, the Jacksonville Jaguars. FanDuel is facing a staggering lawsuit. Amit Patel filed a $250 million lawsuit in federal court on Tuesday. He accused the betting site of preying on his gambling addiction. Patel, who previously worked for the Jacksonville Jaguars, is currently serving a six-and-half-year prison sentence. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud in March, admitting that he stole more than $22 million over the three years he managed the team’s virtual credit card program.

Conservative commentator Jonah Goldberg thinks Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s “increasingly repugnant rhetoric” as the 2024 election enters its home stretch may actually be a deliberate ploy. And Goldberg suggested how it could pay off for the former president in the race against Democratic rival Kamala Harris.

Global research already suggests the risk of COVID-19 infection rises with each mRNA vaccine dose and a higher risk of heart inflammation in jabbed young people, especially males, who face a low risk from COVID itself. Now a three-year study of nearly 1,000 heart attack patients at a hospital in Spain, published in a peer-reviewed Elsevier journal this month, suggests vaccination makes them far more likely to have "major adverse cardiovascular events" including death within six months of their heart attacks, especially when they've also recovered from COVID infection. The Madrid-based researchers found "no significant association," however, between MACE and...

"Replace America, Vote Democrat" This message was brought to you by Americans Against America, not affiliated with and candidate or campaign committee. Imagine a "pro" Democrat astroturf campaign which advertises their actual agenda. Now imagine winning the Rust Belt with a double digit lead.

Conservatism, the late philosopher Roger Scruton wrote, emerged into the modern world as “a kind of ‘yes but…’” response to liberalism. Conservatives, he observed, believe, like liberals, in the importance of the free market, of private property and of individual choice. They believe also in the overriding significance of community and tradition as setting limits to the reach of individualism. Liberalism, for Scruton, made sense “only in the social context that conservatism defends”. The relationship between these two philosophical wellsprings of conservatism has never been comfortable. The tension between the individualism of the market and private property and the communality...

Unionized dockworkers at East Coast and Gulf Coast ports began a strike Monday that will affect the flow of goods through ports that handle about half of seaborne trade to the U.S. and could have an impact on food prices. Ports affected by the International Longshoremen’s Association strike are key hubs for food imports from places like South America and Central America. For example, about two-thirds of bananas arrive at East Coast and Gulf Coast ports. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released a statement Tuesday saying it doesn’t anticipate food prices will be significantly affected by the port strike...