Free Republic

Luigi Mangione’s alleged killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has sent waves through the medical community. This horrific act of violence, while tragic and inexcusable, forces us to confront an uncomfortable reality: frustration with the unchecked power of publicly traded insurance companies has reached a boiling point, for patients and doctors alike. As a pain management physician, I deeply empathize with the anguish of denied care. While my patients desperately seek relief, insurance companies reject treatments that are evidence based, cataloging them as “unnecessary” or “experimental.” They use opaque and unreliable artificial intelligence algorithms to deny care and rely on...

This summer, Bill Gates huddled in London with representatives of some of the world’s wealthiest people, including the Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, the SoftBank founder, Masayoshi Son, and Prince al-Waleed bin Talal Prince of Saudi Arabia.They were evaluating their joint investments in companies that could help the world combat climate change. Among the businesses in their portfolio, four stood out as having a particularly audacious goal: They were working to strip carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, for a profit.As countries around the world continue to pump planet-warming pollution into the skies, driving global temperatures to record levels, the financial world...

A man has been detained following the explosion at an entrance on Östermalm in central Stockholm on Saturday evening, according to the police. I have no information about any circumstances or if he is known previously, says Anders Bryngelsson, press spokesperson for the Stockholm police region. The police do not want to disclose the man's age, when he was arrested, or how the arrest was made. The explosion occurred at an entrance on a street in central Stockholm at around 20:00 on Saturday. There is no information about any personal injuries. The man is suspected of reckless endangerment and violating...

A Georgia homeowner was arrested and charged with criminal trespass after she attempted to move back into her own house, which was reportedly inhabited by a squatter, according to WSB-TV. “To see that woman walk into my mom’s house while I was in the police car, something is wrong with this picture. Something is inherently wrong with this picture,” the homeowner, Loletha Hale, told WSB-TV. The incident occurred on December 9, after Hale reportedly returned to her house to clean up, after a judge ruled in her favor in a months-long battle with Sakemeyia Johnson, the alleged squatter. The police...

Less than a week after a 15-year-old girl shot and killed two at a Madison, Wisconsin, Christian school, CNN went all in to shame fathers out of buying hunting rifles for their sons. Breitbart News noted the alleged Abundant Life Christian School shooter used a handgun, and Madison Chief of Police Shon Barnes later said she actually had two handguns in her possession. CNN reported that the origins of the two handguns in the girl’s possession have been traced but cannot be made public at this time because of the ongoing investigation.

Brief recent history of Iran, societal breakdown due to bad economics, etc. Israel getting ready to strike Iran. Wondering out loud about Turkey and Erdogan. Transcript linked below video.

<p>U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Sunday he will rename Denali, Alaska natives' name for North America's tallest mountain, after William McKinley, the 25th U.S. president who was assassinated in 1901.</p><p>Democratic former President Barack Obama in 2015 officially renamed the mountain as Denali, siding with the state of Alaska and ending a decades-long naming battle. The peak had been officially called Mount McKinley since 1917.</p>

Conservatives and allies of President-elect Trump are dismantling a narrative put forth by Democratic lawmakers such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren that Republicans blocked funding for childhood cancer research in the spending bill, pointing to a stand-alone bill that had languished in the Democratic-controlled Senate for months.

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz told a Turning Point USA conference in Phoenix Sunday that he might run for Sen. Marco Rubio’s vacated Senate seat in Florida. “We have been asked which perch I will be fighting from next, and some of you throughout this conference have even given me a few suggestions,” Gaetz began, noting that people have mentioned running for governor of Florida or perhaps being a “special counsel to go after the insider trading for my former colleagues in Congress.” “It seems I may not have had enough support in the United States Senate,” Gaetz said, referring to...

I have generally assumed that Jesus was a Jewish rabbi. After all, He was born in Israel, He was Jewish, and people called Him, “Rabbi.” But that would make Him a professionally trained religious leader. Was He? Bible teachers generally assume that when the Jewish leaders saw how brilliant the boy Jesus was, they immediately took steps to get Him enrolled in one of their schools to be formally trained as a rabbi. This accounts for why Jesus is not seen or heard from during his formative years. At the completion of His training He emerges and begins His ministry...

Explanation: The stars are not alone. In the disk of our Milky Way Galaxy, about 10 percent of visible matter is in the form of gas called the interstellar medium (ISM). The ISM is not uniform and shows patchiness even near our Sun. It can be quite difficult to detect the local ISM because it is so tenuous and emits so little light. This mostly hydrogen gas, however, absorbs some very specific colors that can be detected in the light of the nearest stars. A working map of the local ISM within 20 light-years, based on ongoing observations and particle...

President-elect Donald Trump said Sunday Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his interest in a meeting regarding the war with Ukraine. "President Putin said that he wants to meet with me as soon as possible," Trump said during his remarks at Turning Point's America Fest convention. "So we have to wait for this, but we have to end that war. That war is horrible, horrible."

Vladimir Putin has promised ‘further destruction’ of Ukraine after a Russian oil field was destroyed by a ‘massive’ drone strike overnight. Video footage of the strike shows the oil field erupting in an enormous explosion after the drone attack, lighting up the sky with apocalyptic yellow and orange as Russian air defences seek to defend the strategic depot. The Steel Horse facility supplies Vladimir Putin’s armed forces in Ukraine, and links to the Druzhba pipeline which sends Russian oil to Europe.

The German government faced growing questions Sunday about whether more could have been done to prevent the Christmas market car-ramming attack that killed five people and injured over 200. The Saudi suspect, 50-year-old psychiatrist and anti-Islam activist Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, had made online death threats against German citizens and had a history of quarrelling with state authorities. News magazine Der Spiegel, citing security sources, said the Saudi secret service had warned Germany's spy agency BND a year ago about a tweet in which Abdulmohsen threatened Germany would pay a "price" for its treatment of Saudi refugees. And in August Abdulmohsen wrote...

A sleeping subway rider burned to death on an F train in Coney Island Sunday morning after a madman threw a lit match onto her causing her to burst into flames police sources said. NYPD officers responded to reports of a fire just before 7:30 a.m. at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station and found the woman engulfed in fire while sitting on an idling F train, police told The Post. Investigators believe that the woman was sleeping when a man sitting across from her got up, walked by her and threw a match on her, engulfing her in fire,...

U.S. — Media personality Candace Owens was shocked and appalled today after discovering that Christmas originated because of the birth of a Jew. "You've got to be kidding me," exclaimed a stunned Owens. "This whole thing -- the lights, the carols, people worshipping -- all this started because of a Jew being born? Ugh. Our entire national calendar revolves around this holiday, and no one talks about that it's all because of a Jew. And we're still pretending like they don't control everything?" The horrified Owens began tearing down all of her Christmas decorations and throwing them out to the...

Senator Joe Manchin (I-WV) said Sunday on CNN’s “Inside Politics” that he was no longer a Democrat because the party’s brand had become “toxic.” Host Manu Raju asked, “Do you still consider yourself a Democrat?” Manchin said, “I am not a Democrat. in a form of what? What the Democratic Party has turned itself into the national brand? Absolutely not. And they know that. They’re all good people on both sides.” He continued, “The brand got so bad the D brand has been so maligned from the standpoint of. It’s just toxic, and the D brand is basically this. You...

Former Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk’s influence over President-elect Donald Trump had a “self-life.” Co-host Jonathan Karl said, “You know what it’s like to be part of Donald Trump’s inner circle. You were in the inner circle from 2016 through 2020, but I want to ask you about Musk. He’s practically moved into Mar-a-Lago. My first question to you is, this is the wealthiest guy in the world. What is in it for him? Why has he become so attached to Trump?”

There are several strategies for the early detection of prostate cancer. The first step is often a blood test for prostate-specific antigen (PSA). If PSA levels exceed a certain threshold, the next step typically involves taking a tissue sample for analysis. Another option is to use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to search for signs of a tumor before deciding whether a biopsy is necessary. Researchers conducted a study to determine whether this MRI-first approach is safe over the long term. Their findings show that this strategy poses no additional risk to patients for at least three years. This approach, in...

Sunday 22 December 2024 4th Sunday of Advent The Shrine of St. Frances Cabrini, NYCReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Violet. Year: C(I).First readingMicah 5:1-4He will stand and feed his flock with the power of the LordThe Lord says this:But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,the least of the clans of Judah,out of you will be born for methe one who is to rule over Israel;his origin goes back to the distant past,to the days of old.The Lord is therefore going to abandon themtill the time when she who is to give birth gives birth.Then the remnant of his brothers will come backto the sons...