Free Republic

Dr. Akiva Sanders: "Our research allows us a rare glimpse into the lives of children who lived in the area of ​​the Ebla Kingdom, one of the oldest kingdoms in the world. We discovered that at its peak, roughly from 2400 to 2000 BCE, the cities associated with the kingdom began to rely on child labor for the industrial production of pottery. The children worked in workshops starting at the age of seven, and were specially trained to create cups as uniformly as possible - which were used in the kingdom in everyday life and at royal banquets".As is well...

Researchers have identified cases of sterile intraocular inflammation, including severe retinal vasculitis, associated with faricimab injections used to treat eye conditions including age-related macular degeneration and diabetic macular edema. Faricimab is a monoclonal antibody that targets vascular endothelial growth factors and angiopoietin pathways to stabilize blood vessels and reduce abnormal growth. FDA approved, it is commonly administered for neovascular age-related macular degeneration and diabetic macular edema. Clinical trials have previously demonstrated its efficacy and an acceptable safety profile. In a retrospective case series study, researchers reviewed the records of seven patients referred to the ophthalmology department of the University Hospital...

High-ranking alumni of some of the most powerful congressional offices in the country have lobbied on behalf of companies controlled or greatly influenced by the Chinese military, disclosures show. Former congressional staffers with ties to powerful members of Congress, like Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican House Whip Steve Scalise, have worked to influence policy on behalf of Pentagon-designated “Chinese military companies” like DJI, BGI and Huawei. Chinese military companies are those the Department of Defense (DOD) has determined are “directly or indirectly owned, controlled or beneficially owned by” the Chinese military, as well as those that contribute...

Are back problems influenced by your gut? Researchers think there may be a connection. In a paper, researchers looked at patients with and without lumbar degenerative spondylolisthesis to examine the differences in gut microbiome in the two groups. The researchers collected disk samples from surgery and imaging, along with blood, stool and saliva samples in those without and those with lumbar degenerative spondylolisthesis. This often common condition involves slippage of one vertebral body over another due to intervertebral disk or facet joint degeneration—and can lead to pain, disability and surgery. The cause is relatively unknown and has been under heated...

Harvey Weinstein, the disgraced Hollywood mogul whose alleged sexual misconduct fueled the #MeToo movement and who was recently indicted on new charges, has chronic myeloid leukemia, two sources told NBC News. The sources added that Weinstein is currently undergoing treatment while in prison at Rikers Island in New York. Chronic myeloid leukemia is an uncommon form of cancer of the bone marrow, according to the Mayo Clinic.

People who have multiple orthopedic surgeries during the same hospital stay are more likely to suffer malnutrition due to repeated or prolonged fasting, which can slow recovery and increase the risk of death, according to a study of more than 28 million patients. Because food or liquid retained in the stomach increases the risk of regurgitation and aspiration in the airway and lungs during general anesthesia and deep sedation, most patients are directed to fast for at least eight hours before surgery. "Our research determined that repeated fasting in hospitalized patients having multiple orthopedic surgeries over days or weeks increases...

Four killed in a late-night Israeli airstrike near a Beirut hospital... An overnight curfew in the French Caribbean territory of Martinique extended until next Monday... President Paul Biya of the African nation of Cameroon returning home from Switzerland... In the midst of Sudan's civil war the shooting down of a cargo plane... The US State Department investigating an Israeli military unit that guards Palestinian detainees for alleged human rights violations. Israeli authorities have charged several soldiers in the unit... An Israeli strike on a car in Damascus... The United Nations relief agency UNRWA says Israel continues to ban entry of...

Long-term, low-dose antiviral treatment reduces the risk for potentially vision-damaging bouts of inflammation and infection, as well as pain, which occur when shingles affects the eye, according to research. Shingles occurs when the varicella-zoster virus, which causes chickenpox in children, lies dormant for decades in nerve cells and then starts multiplying again for reasons unknown. In about 8% of new shingles cases each year, the virus awakens in the nerve that supplies the forehead and eye, a condition called herpes zoster ophthalmicus, or HZO. Shingles causes keratitis when it affects the cornea, and iritis when inside the eye, with both...

Professional sports leagues aren't immune to lockouts, as we've seen them in the NFL, the NHL, the NBA and MLB over the past couple of decades. Could the WNBA be next? It's possible. On Monday, the WNBA Players' Association announced that they were opting out of their Collective Bargaining Agreement with the league. The current CBA, which was agreed on in 2020, featured an opt-out clause following the 2024 season, and the league's players are utilizing that. They will be negotiating for higher salaries, better accommodations and much more. The WNBA is coming off a record season in 2024, with...

Voters in North Dakota have a chance to put an end to property taxes. A ballot measure in North Dakota will give voters a choice to end property taxes in the Peace Garden State. Steve Moen, one of the many voices calling for property taxes to be abolished, shared, “The way our taxes are going, if this doesn’t pass, there’s going to be a lot of elderly citizens losing their homes.” Rick Becker, the chair of the organization, that helped put the measure on North Dakota’s state ballot, shared, “property taxes are the most egregious and least moral of all...

MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace said Monday on “Deadline” that she thinks God will forgive people who once voted for former President Donald Trump, but now he is making a fool out of his supporters. Wallace said, “I didn’t realize Mike Johnson also can’t get over that Joe Biden for the good of the party and the good of our democracy is off the ticket. Clearly, he’s in that category. But that the reason it’s important even to the Trump voter is because he is waving a red flag in front of the country in these final 16 days, saying look...

Democratic strategist James Carville said Monday on MSNBC’s “The Beat” that he and host Ari Melber will be arrested if former President Donald Trump wins the election. Carville said, “Trump goes out, and he says I’m going to use the military to arrest my political enemies, and then Mike Johnson’s and Lindsey Graham, and the Wall Street Journal editorial pages say oh no, that’s not what he meant and then he comes back and says yeah, that’s exactly what I meant. You know what’ll happen? You pointed it out; if he wins, he will say, I told people I was...

A shocking placard calling to gas Jews appeared in a pro-Palestinian protest camp set up by students of the philosophy faculty of the Jagiellonian University, one of Poland's largest and most prestigious. The placard appeared on the outer fence of the camp, on one of Krakow's main and most tourist-frequented streets, a short walk from the former Jewish quarter which attracts tourists from all over the world. Krakow is also the nearest large city to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp, to which Jews were sent to the gas chambers. Participants held signs saying (in Polish) “End the Holocaust[sic] of Palestinians”,...

A report by Reem Alsalen, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls, suggests that men should not be allowed in women’s sports. In his report, Alsalen notes that men who identify as women have won 890 medals, shutting out more than 600 female athletes across 29 sports since many leagues have decided to allow men to compete as women. For instance, one of the report’s recommendations is that women’s sports should be relegated to women only. The report says that “in order to ensure safety and fairness in sport at all levels, they should,” before adding that...

[Catholic Caucus] Synod: Cardinal Grech's homily for Mass of the Holy Spirit - Full textCardinal Mario Grech, the Secretary General of the Synod, celebrates Mass dedicated to the Holy Spirit and reflects on the need to be open to the Holy Spirit, especially in the synodal journey.Votive Mass of the Holy Spirit21 October 2024 HOMILY OF CARDINAL MARIO GRECH Secretary General of the SynodDear brothers and sisters,We have reached the final stretch of the work of our Synodal Assembly, which gathers the fruits of a long journey that began in October 2021. Right now, the Gospel passage shows us the...

Several election forecast models have shifted in favor of former President Donald Trump winning the upcoming presidential election over Vice President Kamala Harris. FiveThirtyEight, polling expert Nate Silver, J.L. Partners, Decision Desk HQ, and the Hill released election forecast results from their models, which found that Trump’s chances of winning the upcoming election were greater than Harris’s. In a Decision Desk HQ/the Hill election forecast, the model found that Trump had a 52 percent chance of winning the election, while Harris held a 42 percent chance of winning the election.

Donald Trump has an aggressive plan to spur economic growth, reduce the federal budget deficit, ease inflation, and lift up everyday Americans who have struggled during the Biden-Harris administration. Mr. Trump’s plan, which he outlined Sept. 5 at the Economic Club of New York, includes keeping the 2017 tax cuts in place permanently, reducing costly regulations, cutting government spending, and making smart use of tariffs to restore American manufacturing. Donald Trump has an aggressive plan to spur economic growth, reduce the federal budget deficit, ease inflation, and lift up everyday Americans who have struggled during the Biden-Harris administration. Mr. Trump’s...

~The FReeper Canteen Presents~ Road Trip: Fort Meade, MarylandFort George G. Meade is a United States Army installation located in Maryland, that includes the Defense Information School, the Defense Media Activity, the United States Army Field Band, and the headquarters of United States Cyber Command, the National Security Agency, the Defense Courier Service, Defense Information Systems Agency headquarters, and the U.S. Navy's Cryptologic Warfare Group Six.It is named for George G. Meade, a Union General from the U.S. Civil War, who served as commander of the Army of the Potomac. The fort's smaller census-designated place includes support facilities such...

Vice President Kamala Harris teamed up with former Rep. Liz Cheney on Monday in an aggressive bid to win over centrist Republicans who are on the fence about voting for former President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. The Harris campaign held moderated conversations in an effort to court centrists in the suburbs in battlegrounds that delivered Trump victory in 2016 but swung back for President Joe Biden in 2020. Harris is stumping alongside Cheney in an effort to win over voters who might have backed former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who had a base of supporters who were...

A slew of polls showing Donald Trump gaining ground or extending his lead over Kamala Harris has had a dramatic impact on his overall chances of winning November's presidential election. The former president has shot out to his biggest lead yet in our DailyMail.com/J.L. Partners election model. It shows that he now wins in 65.9 percent of simulations when the algorithm runs through all possible combinations of data.