Free Republic

Drag Queen Story Hours started out as niche events on the West Coast, but these events—aimed at children as young as age 3—have spread to libraries and schools across the United States, dividing local communities. These story hours are “just what they sound like,” Drag Queen Story Hour’s official website states: drag queens reading to children. The events are designed to be about 45 minutes long for children aged 3 to 8 years old, intended to capture children’s imagination and help children explore their gender fluidity through “glamorous, positive, and unabashedly queer role models.” Books used during Drag Queen Story...

A self-described progressive activist, who helped found an advocacy group in Pittsburgh that supports autistic people, is mounting a challenge against longtime incumbent state Rep. Harry Readshaw. Jessica Benham, 28, of the South Side Slopes, is bidding for the Democratic nomination in the 36th legislative district, shaping her candidacy after the campaigns of a number of progressive women who have toppled longtime Democratic incumbents in the past two years. Her campaign is framing the race that way, too, and in a recent email, used the secondary headline to proclaim “Progressive Benham to challenge conservative incumbent Harry Readshaw.” “In some ways,...

The Baldwin family was feeling the Christmas spirit at the Epcot’s Candlelight Processional as the choir sang and celebrity guest soap star Susan Lucci read the nativity story. “I turned to my husband [Claude] and I said, 'Aren’t you glad you came? And he said, ‘I just had a really great time,’" said Emma Jean Baldwin, according to court transcripts. “And that is when ... all hell just broke loose.” Claude Baldwin, then 74, said he was attacked by a teenage boy and injured at the end of the show on Dec. 22, 2011. However, the boy’s family argued it...

Actor and politician Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has previously gushed of being “starstruck” by Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, has now shared pictures of the two going for a bike ride around Santa Monica. The former California governor posted images of their meeting to his Twitter account, showing them on a bike ride and meeting his daughter Christina.

A 27-year-old Florida woman was arrested after her parents found two dozen pipe bombs in her bedroom and called the local sheriff's office, authorities said Friday. Michelle Louise Kolts was arrested early Friday and booked on 24 counts of making, possessing, throwing, projecting, placing or discharging a destructive device.

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WTVC) — One family says their 5-year-old son with autism is being punished for giving his classmate a hug. East Ridge Elementary leaders say the boy overstepped his boundaries. But, his family says the whole thing is a big misunderstanding. Nathan is a 5-year-old boy kindergartner at East Ridge Elementary. The principal says the school staff has talked with him several times. His guardian says the school has filed a report with the state. Summery Putnam, Nathan's guardian, says she received a call from her son's teacher at East Ridge Elementary about three weeks ago. "I was sick...

A boy who has autism has become an overnight internet sensation, after his family shared a clip of him singing on social media. Justin Kiely from Dublin, Ireland, who was diagnosed with autism when he was three-years-old, had been hiding his vocal abilities from his parents until recently. The nine-year-old had a history of becoming hysterical whenever he heard loud noises, meaning his parents avoided bringing him to any birthday parties, crowds and large gatherings. His sensitivity to sound due to his autism made his parents apprehensive to expose him to loud music, or any noise that could trigger him....

SAN ANTONIO — A mother is outraged after her 7-year-old son was handcuffed by San Antonio ISD police at his elementary school, in an incident caught on video. The child's mother, Maria Herrera Arias, said that her son, who has autism, had a breakdown in class on Monday.  Arias said as her son got more agitated, the teacher called for the SAISD crisis officers to respond. She said the school tried calling the father, but miscalled."They were finally able to get a hold of dad. Dad immediately headed over there," Arias said. "Once dad was there the police were already there....

PINSON, Ala. – Randa Ragland opened her mailbox in late July to find a letter from a neighbor, with no return address and no name. Just words — hurtful ones. The letter accused Ragland of not caring about her Pinson, Alabama, home. “Your eyesore is affecting the resale value of OUR homes,” it said. “Do better!!!” “So many things, bad things, had happened right before I got the letter,” Ragland said. “I just didn’t have the energy to be mad.” Her husband lost his job. She received some news regarding her health, and her 3-year-old son was battling cancer. Jaxen,...

The owner of the website 8chan claims the El Paso shooter’s manifesto was not uploaded by Patrick Crusius, and another man, claiming to have grown up next to him, says “Patrick has autism and was in special ed classes… He couldn’t have written that document.”In the aftermath of the tragic shooting at an El Paso, Texas Walmart on Saturday, the liberal media turned the blame on President Trump, other prominent conservatives and Trump supporters altogether.Despite the fact that the suspect made it clear his views, “predate Trump,” and that he supported a universal basic income and automation, concepts no Trump...

I am perennially asked whether I do or do not “believe” in autism. I suspect that on most occasions, it’s a test. Nonetheless, it’s a fair question that usually takes this form: “I know you don’t believe in ADHD; but do you believe in autism?” To be clear, it would be absurd of me to deny that there are children – plenty of them, relatively speaking – who frequently exhibit behaviors associated with the bogus diagnosis of ADHD (attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder). Those kids are problematic, for sure. But no one has ever proven that they “have” something. Childhood behavior disorders...

An Indiana school district has apologized after an 11-year-old boy with autism was given the “most annoying male” award by his teacher. Estella Castejon, who says her son Akalis is non-verbal and occasionally rocks back and forth and shakes, believes his special education teacher at Bailly Preparatory Academy should be familiar with his condition and its effects. “You’d think one would know and understand the conditions of autism and have more patience to deal with children who suffer from autism,” she told local television station WLS-TV from her home in Gary, Ind. on Tuesday. It’s part of the reason why...

If vaccines don’t cause autism, what does? The scientific community owes the world an answer to this question. Amidst measles outbreaks like the ones unfolding in New York and Washington state, doctors have a responsibility to the public beyond haranguing parents to vaccinate their children. We must explain how we know that vaccines do not cause autism, and instead explain why autism develops. When the theory that vaccines might cause autism was advanced by the now-discredited British physician Andrew Wakefield in 1998, based on a case series of 12 patients, the scientific community took the claim seriously. The landmark test...

WASHINGTON — Anti-vaccination activists, some with their (presumably unvaccinated) children, packed the Dirksen Senate Office Building Tuesday morning for a hearing that they hoped would vindicate, or at least recognize as legitimate, their fear that protecting their families from measles runs the risk of something worse, including autism and other disorders. As the doors closed on the room where the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions was meeting, a woman could be heard pleading to be allowed in to give her side of what has become a heated, and potentially dangerous, controversy. That hope would be quickly dashed....

Children who receive the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine are not at increased risk for autism, and that includes children who are sometimes considered to be in "high risk" groups for the neurodevelopmental disorder, a massive new study finds. The new study, published today (March 4) in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, is one of the largest studies of its kind to date. In it, researchers looked at the records of more than 657,000 children born in Denmark between 1999 and 2010, including about 6,500 who had received an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis. ASD is a neurodevelopmental...

PEARLAND, Texas (FOX 26) - Pearland police say a woman posed as her autistic "twin", who doesn't exist, and deceived a caregiver in a hoax for her own sexual gratification. According to the Pearland Police Department, Rachel Childs, 29, solicited a caregiver online under the pretense of caring for her twin sister with autism. Police say Childs instructed the caregiver to pick up her sister and take her to the caregiver's home for the night.

Today we investigate one of the biggest medical controversies of our time: vaccines. There’s little dispute about this much-- vaccines save many lives, and rarely, they injure or kill. A special federal vaccine court has paid out billions for injuries from brain damage to death. But not for the form of brain injury we call autism. Now—we have remarkable new information: a respected pro-vaccine medical expert used by the federal government to debunk the vaccine-autism link, says vaccines can cause autism after all. He claims he told that to government officials long ago, but they kept it secret. Yates Hazlehurst...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHbrOg092GA

A 13-year-old with autism is urging lawmakers to pass legislation banning “seclusion rooms” at schools. Alex Campbell visited Capitol Hill last week to speak with lawmakers, staff and others in support of the Keeping All Students Safe act. Campbell told NBC News that as a student with autism spectrum disorder, he was taken to his elementary school’s “crisis room,” a converted storage closet with one small window, over half a dozen times. "When I asked for help or asked if anyone was still there, nobody would answer," he said. "I felt alone. I felt scared." Alex’s school reportedly never notified...

A Victoria naturopath who controversially used rabies-infected saliva to treat a child has surrendered her licence with the College of Naturopathic Physicians of B.C. However, Anke Zimmermann will continue to work as an unregulated homeopath. The college investigated whether Zimmermann “met the standard of care in her treatment of the young boy with lyssinum,” Howard Greenstein, the college’s registrar and CEO, said in a statement. The college also conducted an investigation into Zimmermann’s use of CEASE therapy, an acronym for “complete elimination of autism spectrum expression.” Advocates of the therapy claim that homeopathy can be used to eliminate autism, based...