Free Republic

A 34-year-old man was allegedly caught breaking into a grave at Mount Moriah Cemetery in Yeadon Borough on Monday night, leading authorities to a Lancaster County home where police found more than 100 human skeletal remains, the Delaware County District Attorney's Office said Thursday. Jonathan Gerlach, of Ephrata, is charged with a slew of offenses amid an investigation into a series of grave robberies at the historic cemetery that spans parts of Yeadon and Southwest Philadelphia along Cobbs Creek. Mount Moriah contains more than 150,000 grave sites, including remains that date back to the Revolutionary War, and is the state's...

SummaryVance stands up for ICE agent, blames driver in Minnesota shooting Vance challenges Democrats on law enforcement support Vice president's public role defending ICE contrasts with low profile on Venezuela WASHINGTON, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Less than 24 hours after a federal immigration agent shot a 37-year-old mother in Minnesota, U.S. Vice President JD Vance stood up for the officer involved, blamed the woman who was killed, and said the incident should be a political test ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.At the White House on Thursday, Vance called the death a "tragedy" but spoke in defense of the agent,...

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is among the most aggressive types of breast cancer. Despite initial responsiveness, many patients experience rapid relapse driven by cancer stem-like cells that survive chemotherapy and seed metastasis. Addressing this unmet need, researchers have discovered that pitavastatin, a widely prescribed cholesterol-lowering drug, can directly inhibit the anti-apoptotic protein Mcl-1, a key driver of survival, stemness, and paclitaxel resistance in TNBC cells, thereby preventing distant metastasis. The team found that pitavastatin binds specifically to the BH3-binding groove of Mcl-1, disrupting its stability and inducing mitochondrial dysfunction. This inhibition triggered a cascade of mitochondrial damage, leading to ROS...

The California law, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in 2024 and went into effect a year ago, covers not only disclosure about a student’s gender identity but also their sexual orientation. However, the latter does not appear to be at issue in the case.The statute was passed after several school districts in the state issued what critics called “forced outing” policies requiring teachers to notify parents if students sought to change their name, pronouns or gender identity. The law does allow disclosures about a student’s gender identity in “compelling” circumstances, but critics contend that exception is too vague.U.S. District Judge...

In the wake of the United States’ capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, some observers and U.S. officials have warned that this may have given Moscow and Beijing a green light to pursue similar operations in Ukraine and Taiwan. Just as the United States does not recognize the legitimacy of Maduro’s rule in Venezuela, Russia and China do not recognize the legitimacy of Ukraine’s and Taiwan’s respective independence. If China, for instance, were to seize Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te, or if Russia were to capture Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on what grounds could the United States reasonably object? [SNIP] Russia...

A novel tumor suppressor, BATF2, can be silenced by factors in the tumor microenvironment, leading to a reduced immune response in five preclinical models of head and neck cancer, according to researchers. The results demonstrate that glutamine in the tumor microenvironment can cause epigenetic silencing of BATF2, which affects the STING signaling pathway and overall immune response. Lei said, "This study characterizes a novel oral cancer tumor suppressor that drives immune surveillance but is inhibited by high levels of glutamine." BATF2 is a tumor suppressor involved in regulating immune responses, helping to maintain anti-tumor immune surveillance. BATF2 is highly expressed...

Rogue Judge Boasberg forced himself onto the AEA case while he was on vacation to stop Trump. The Supreme Court slapped him down. In a fit of rage, he is now trying to hold Trump admin officials in contempt for a case he had no jurisdiction over. The House must impeach.

A day after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a 37-year-old US citizen in Minneapolis, Democrats on Capitol Hill are demanding restraints on the agency Donald Trump has empowered to carry out his mass deportation campaign – and some are threatening to use the next funding deadline to force those changes.Democrats sharply condemned the Trump administration over the killing of Renee Nicole Good, demanding accountability after the president; JD Vancethe vice-president; and the secretary of homeland security, Kristi Noem repeatedly claimed that the officer acted in “self-defense”.Videos taken from multiple angles show Good behind the wheel, reversing...

Iran’s government has cut off the country from the internet and international telephone calls.https://apnews.com/article/iran-protests-us-israel-war-nuclear-economy-ebddd998fbe7903e70ca62127250ebcb The demonstrations that have popped up in cities and rural towns across Iran continued Thursday. More markets and bazaars shut down in support of the protesters. So far, violence around the demonstrations has killed at least 42 people while more than 2,270 others have been detained, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. The growth of the protests increases the pressure on Iran’s civilian government and its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. CloudFlare, an internet firm, and the advocacy group NetBlocks reported the internet outage,...

After authorities said two people were injured in a shooting involving a federal agent on Thursday, Portland Mayor Keith Wilson called "on ICE to halt all operations in Portland until a full and independent investigation can take place."

Hundreds of people have taken to the streets of Minneapolis to protest the killing of 37-year-old Renee Good. Minnesota officials say the FBI has blocked their access to an investigation into the fatal shooting of a woman by a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent. People have taken to the streets of Minneapolis to protest the killing of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, who died on Wednesday after being shot in her car. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has accused the Trump administration of blocking state officials from involvement in the case, but the US vice-president said the investigation is a...

City after city has been reclaimed by jubilant, joyous crowds across Iran in the past few days."This is the final battle,Pahlavi will return"Tonight in Tehran, Iran's capital.pic.twitter.com/C6pyxSIB9M— 𝐍𝐢𝐨𝐡 𝐁𝐞𝐫𝐠 ♛ ✡︎ (@NiohBerg) January 8, 2026The streets in the capital of Tehran are alive tonight. 🚨SE TERMINÓ DE PUDRIR EN IRÁN🚨Las calles de Teherán completamente tomadas por los manifestantes que piden derrocar al ayatola. pic.twitter.com/PYDysqhIx7— ASB (@GordoLeyes) January 8, 2026Throngs of people, who sometimes seem as if it's the entire population in the street at one time, are marching and cheering, defying the basiji thugs who would brutalize and beat them...

Simple pharmaceutical interventions could help older brains cope with memory impairment and recovery after surgery, new studies in mice suggest. The first paper examined the problem of post-surgical cognitive impairment. Immediately after surgery, cognitive impairment is common, but studies have found that 10% of adults over the age of 60 still have deficits to learning, memory and executive function three months after surgery, Rudolph said. Propofol is a common anesthetic agent that has shown promise in other mouse studies for improving cognition in Alzheimer's disease models, though in high doses it may harm the brain, Rudolph said. To study whether...

I just wrote about some of the billionaires fleeing California to avoid the proposed "one time" wealth tax which would take 5% of everything they own. But the LA Times points out it's not just the very wealthy who are fleeing the state. Once again, California topped a list put together by U-Haul showing the most out-migration.U-Haul’s survey of the more than 2.5 million one-way trips using its vehicles in the U.S. last year showed that the gap between the number of people leaving and the number arriving was higher in California than in any other state.While the Golden State...

Five Senate Republicans joined with Democratic lawmakers in a surprise rebuke of President Donald Trump Thursday, voting to advance legislation that would force the commander in chief to seek Congress’ OK before taking any additional military action in Venezuela. Trump attacked the lawmakers in a Truth Social post after the procedural vote, saying they “should never be elected to office again” and that the measure they supported “greatly hampers American Self Defense and National Security.” Here’s a closer look at each of the GOP lawmakers and how they explained their votes: Rand Paul of Kentucky: Paul was a co-sponsor of...

🚨 HOLY SMOKES. President Trump just cut the US trade deficit IN HALF, lowest in nearly 2 decades, CNBC is in total shock! "Buckle up, THIS IS UNREAL. -$29.4 billion, we cut it IN HALF!" "In March it was $136B. Now, under $30B. We haven't been that small in a long time - I don't have enough RECORDS to go back that far!" Apologize to Donald Trump and Scott Bessent. THEY WERE RIGHT!

Details are scarce at this hour, but local media outlets are reporting that two people were shot by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents earlier in the day on Thursday in Portland, Oregon.From KATU:U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents shot two people in Portland on Thursday afternoon, according to the FBI, Portland police and city officials.[...]Portland police said at a 2:24 p.m., they had learned that a man who had been shot called to request help near Northeast 146th Avenue and East Burnside. Arriving officers found a man and a woman wounded from apparent gunshot wounds. Police confirmed federal agents...

Democrat politicians have put countless lives at risk becasue they can’t accept an administration that vigorously enforces U.S. immigration laws. The tragedy that unfolded Wednesday as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed a woman in Minnesota who appeared to be driving at him should never have happened. Democrat politicians, looking to take every action to impede immigration enforcement absolutely created the conditions over the past year for what transpired. The initial reaction to the incident by the most prominent Minnesota officials, Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, both Democrats, was horrendous, of course. Frey...

Researchers recently carried out a study involving mice, exploring the possibility that the exposure to bright lights also influences eating behavior and body weight. "Environmental light regulates nonimage-forming functions like feeding, and bright light therapy shows anti-obesity potential, yet its neural basis remains unclear," wrote Wen Li. "We show that bright light treatment effectively reduces food intake and mitigates weight gain in mice through a visual circuit involving the lateral hypothalamic area (LHA)." Light is known to play a crucial role in various physiological processes, including sleep, the release of hormones and eating patterns. Bright light therapy (BLT), which entails...

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has authorized the state’s National Guard to help support local law enforcement as tensions have risen in Minneapolis following the fatal shooting of Renee Good.The National Guard will help protect critical infrastructure and maintain public safety, a news release from Walzs’ office said.“Yesterday, I directed the National Guard to be ready should they be needed,” Walz said in a statement. “They remain ready in the event they are needed to help keep the peace, ensure public safety, and allow for peaceful demonstrations.”He also thanked Minnesotans as they have “met this moment,” adding “we have every reason...