Free Republic

When we think about the side effects of medicines, we might think of nausea, fatigue or dizziness. But there’s another, lesser-known risk that can have lasting – and sometimes permanent – consequences: hearing loss. A wide range of prescription and over-the-counter drugs are known to be ototoxic, meaning they can damage the inner ear and affect hearing or balance. Ototoxicity refers to drug or chemical-related damage to the cochlea, which affects hearing, and the vestibular system, which controls balance. Symptoms can include tinnitus (ringing in the ears), hearing loss (often starting with high-frequency sounds), dizziness or balance problems or a...

BREAKING: The judge handling the case requested by AG Bondi to unseal the Epstein grand jury files has issued a response. The court has stated that DOJ must provide specific details, including which transcripts it wants unsealed, and that input from victims is also required.— Election Wizard (@ElectionWiz) July 22, 2025

Earth's famous Hubble Telescope has just revealed the first images of a mysterious interstellar object racing through our solar system. Spotted on Monday, Hubble has helped astronomers confirm that the massive, high-speed visitor is a comet from a distant part of the Milky Way galaxy. First spotted in late June, the comet named 3I/ATLAS has been on an 800-million-year journey to reach this solar system. The new images from Hubble captured what appears to be an icy tail that's ejecting rocky material from its 12-mile-long core. Those observations were reinforced by a new study published Tuesday morning which revealed 3I/ATLAS...

US Congress will subpoena Ghislaine Maxwell, the imprisoned sex trafficker who was a close associate of notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, to testify amid a political firestorm over the Trump administration’s decision not to release its remaining Epstein files. The Tennessee Republican Tim Burchett introduced a motion to compel Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year-sentence in a Florida prison for crimes related to the Epstein, to testify before the House oversight committee. The move appears to skirt an announcement early Tuesday that officials from the Department of Justice are also planning to meet with Maxwell. “We got to send a message...

Beach Weekend Marina crew retrieved the vessel after a three-day mission involving diplomatic complications and changing requirements. ============================================================== A stolen rental boat has been recovered from Cuba after a three-day mission by a crew from Beach Weekend Key West, according to the marina. The crew, led by Beach Weekend owner Jayme Nabors and Brett Divine, departed Key West last Tuesday aboard a second vessel, heading to Marina Hemingway to retrieve the stolen boat, the marina said. The boat, a Panga Release center console, was stolen on July 9 when renters took it to Cuban waters without authorization, according to the...

The estate of tech tycoon Mike Lynch - who died last year when his yacht sank - and his business partner owe tech giant Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) £700m, the High Court has ruled. HPE bought Mr Lynch's tech firm Autonomy in 2011, but it says Mr Lynch and Autonomy's former chief financial officer, Sushovan Hussain, misrepresented the company's finances. The court ruled that HPE had paid more than it would have done "had Autonomy's true financial position been correctly presented" during the sale. A spokesperson said Mr Lynch had prepared a statement on the ruling last year which called...

In a decisive move to protect American agriculture and restore fairness, the Trump Administration’s tariffs on fresh Mexican tomato imports are already boosting American farmers, growers, and business owners.Here’s what they’re saying:Chad Smith, Smith Tomato Farm (Steele, AL): “It’s only been two days now, and we actually have a lot more calls of people having interest in doing business — and the price hasn’t even changed.”Matt Rudd, Rudd Family Farm (Browns Summit, NC): “What you see in the grocery store now, instead of all those tomatoes from Mexico and everywhere else, it should be more local and United States-grown —...

The US justice department has asked Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime associate of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, for a meeting with its prosecutors, officials said. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said prosecutors planned to ask Maxwell, "What do you know?", and that he intends to meet her "soon". Maxwell's legal team told the BBC they were in discussions with the government and she would "always testify truthfully". Calls for more transparency in the Epstein case have intensified recently, including from supporters of President Donald Trump. Despite the pressure, House Speaker Mike Johnson said his chamber would not vote on the release...

Futurehome (zigby Z wave) goes bankrupt, new owner ransoms everyone's House? Belkin Wemo doing it too - "smarthome" devices bricked by the Mfgrs.? BE VERY CAREFUL OF "SMART DEVICES" in HOMES (don't let them connect to the Internet - local API only)! Louis Rossman offers $5000 BOUNTY to fix it NOW! The CEO threatens to call the cops on Rossmann.

Fox News host Greg Gutfeld cheered Hunter Biden after the former president’s son went on a profanity-laced tirade, tearing into members of the Democratic establishment who he says undermined and mistreated his father toward the end of his presidency. “But Democrats, if you listen to him … what have Democrats been trying to do? All six months. Try to be authentic. They try to fake swear, do a lot of theater. That’s real swearing,” Gutfeld said after watching the interview Biden gave to YouTube personality Andrew Callaghan. “You gotta give it to him. That guy is authentic, he’s the real...

The operation was years in the making. The Florida-based company announced plans for its KelTec West factory in Rock Springs in 2022. Wyoming’s Second Amendment-friendly culture and politics played a big part in choosing Rock Springs when the company decided to expand its operating capacity, KelTec West plant operations manager Chris Williams told Cowboy State Daily. “At the time (2022), Florida was teetering purple,” he said about the political climate there. “Wyoming is a solid red state, and it looks like it’s going to stay solid for decades to come.” Other firearms companies that recently set up shop in Wyoming,...

A bulge in the jet stream across American skies is set to trigger an extreme heat dome this week - bringing triple-figure temperatures to large swathes of the country. Nearly 85 million Americans, from South Dakota to Texas and North Carolina to Florida, are already experiencing the extreme heat warnings. But the sweltering conditions are expected to intensify this week - causing temperatures to swell into the high 90s and surpass 100s in some areas. Dallas and Kansas City are among the densely-populated urban areas where the heat index is expected to go above 100F, triggering a drought due to...

Hillary was desperate to stop Trump because she knew the crimes Obama, Biden and herself had carried out during the preceding eight years constituted high crimes and misdemeanors, and TREASON. Here’s a few of the highlights… *They opened the borders to flood America with illegal aliens desperate for welfare and free healthcare for life, who would vote Democrat forever more, to keep the checks coming, and therefore turn America into a one party state. *The Obamacare scam that literally destroyed healthcare for every working class and middle class American, and raised healthcare prices through the roof, in order to give...

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A horror story worthy of Edgar Allen Poe or Stephen King has been documented by Lila Rose, the noted pro-life activist who runs Live Action, among other endeavors. It involves two homosexual men who contracted with a surrogate for a baby, but when she needed to deliver early because of a cancer diagnosis, they insisted that their "property" die. A report at Not The Bee...documented how the homosexuals could not force the surrogate to abort, but once the baby was born, it became their "property." They simply allowed no life-saving efforts at all, and the baby died.

Investors continue to snap up residential properties, as real estate has evolved into an investment class of its own. New reports show that between 2020 and 2023, investors were responsible for 18.5% of home purchases. In the first three months of 2025, investors composed 27% of all residential properties, marking the highest share in half a decade, according to BatchData. High mortgage rates, coupled with high property values, have caused many would-be buyers to reconsider their purchases. Investors have fewer constraints, leading to the purchase of 265,000 residential properties during Q1, or a 1.2% YoY rise. However, we are seeing...

Ukraine’s official military casualty figures in the war with Russia may be vastly understated, according to a report published by the French newspaper Le Monde on Monday. Russia’s death toll is much higher, but official figures show the Kremlin’s voluntary recruitment drive is replenishing the ranks faster than its soldiers are being killed. Death tolls in the four-year old war are state secrets on both sides of the conflict and analysts have been reduced to using proxies to estimate the true toll and official estimates from Defence Ministries are almost certainly massaged up or down. However, even these estimates are...

The Boeing X-32, derided for its “ugly,” cartoonish appearance, was a formidable contender in the Joint Strike Fighter competition but ultimately lost to what became the F-35. Despite its superb handling qualities, which one test pilot compared to an F/A-18, the X-32’s downfall was its flawed and complex Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) design.

A brief scuffle broke out at London's Royal Opera House after a performer unfurled a Palestinian flag during a show. The incident took place during a performance of Il Trovatore on Saturday. During the final night of the 11-night run of the show, a performer held up the flag on stage. In video footage, shared online, someone backstage could be seen attempting to take it off the performer. The performer grabs it back following a brief scuffle. A spokesperson for the Royal Ballet and Opera said: "The display of the flag was an unauthorised action by the artist. "It was...

Stephen Colbert declared to Donald Trump that “the gloves are off” in his first broadcast since his Late Show was cancelled amid a political firestorm, as his fellow hosts lined up to defend him with Jon Stewart scathingly denouncing Paramount for trying to “censor and control” its hosts. Colbert, the top-rated late-night talk show host in the US, said last week on his CBS show Late Night – which he took over from David Letterman in 2015 – that Paramount’s decision to pay a $16m settlement to Trump over another flagship CBS show, 60 Minutes, amounted to a “big fat...