Free Republic

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, a curious new religious group began spreading throughout the fledgling United States. Their official name was the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing – known colloquially as “Shakers” for their tendency to fall into ecstatic trances and literally shake or tremble during worship. The Shakers are most famous today for their belief in strict celibacy – even within the confines of marriage. All members, whether single or married before joining, had to agree to remain chaste for their entire lives. Because of this, their communities had no biological offspring. They...

Two opposing political groups stood on Jackson Middle School’s lawn. One group, decked out in rainbow colors, sporting bright pink socks, sea-green hair, and trans flags, held their signs up in the air, presenting them both to the cars passing by and to the conservative group behind them. But the group behind them, in the process of holding a press conference on the lawn, was not there to oppose transgender ideology. They were there to hold the Fairfax County School Board accountable during an ongoing investigation by the Virginia State Police. The investigation began when Walter Curt, an independent investigative...

The Trump administration says they were sending illegal alien Guatemalan children back to their home country at the request of their parents and the government of the Central American country. Immigration advocacy groups say the administration was conducting illegal deportation operations in the middle of the night. Whoever is correct, the planes are grounded for now after a Biden-appointed judge issued a temporary restraining order Sunday—even as kids were already sitting in their seats.The emergency order by U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan froze a pilot program the administration said would reunite nearly 700 kids with parents or guardians in Guatemala.By...

A diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids, found predominantly in fish oils, may help ward off the development of shortsightedness (myopia) in children, while a high intake of saturated fats, found in foods such as butter, palm oil, and red meat, may boost the risk of the condition, finds research. Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (ω-3 PUFAs), which can only be obtained from the diet, are thought to improve/prevent several chronic eye conditions. The researchers drew on 1,005 Chinese 6–8-year-olds, randomly recruited from the population-based Hong Kong Children Eye Study. In all, around a quarter of the children (276; 27.5%) had...

Ben Shapiro said medical orgs must reconsider their support for transgender procedures on kids.Medical organizations that have backed irreversible transgender procedures on kids are facing pressure after a transgender-identifying man murdered two children and injured 18 others at a Catholic school in Minnesota on Wednesday.The shooter who attacked the school was identified as “Robin” Westman, a 23-year-old man who started identifying as female as a minor. Westman, who previously went by Robert, left behind a series of writings that described his regret in identifying as transgender, exhibited a hatred of Christians and Jews, and a desire to kill young kids....

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey excoriated transphobes for tying a mass shooting to their hateful ideology. At a press conference Wednesday about the Annunciation Catholic School shooting Wednesday, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called out groups and individuals for attacking the trans community in the wake of the horrific event. “Anybody who is using this as an opportunity to villainize our trans community or any other community out there has lost their sense of common humanity,” Frey said. “We should not be operating out of a place of hate for anyone. We should be operating from a place of our love for...

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A gunman opened fire with a rifle through the windows of a Catholic church and struck a group of children celebrating Mass during the first week of school, killing two and wounding 17 people in an act of violence the police chief called “absolutely incomprehensible.” Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said the shooter — armed with a rifle, shotgun and pistol — approached the side of the church and shot dozens of rounds through the windows toward the children sitting in the pews during Mass at the Annunciation Catholic School. Police believe the gunman then killed himself.

Ben Shapiro: 'This footage is pretty catastrophic for the AMA.'The president of a major medical organization made wild claims about the benefits of transgender procedures on kids during a conversation with a Michigan lawmaker before falling back on so-called “experts,” according to video footage published by the Ben Shapiro Show on Tuesday. During a video call earlier this year, American Medical Association (AMA) President Bobby Mukkamala defended his organization’s support for transgender procedures on kids by saying they relied on what “experts” had told them. Mukkamala also claimed that puberty blockers were reversible and cited other questionable statistics about transgender...

Pediatricians should screen children annually for mental or developmental issues, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends in a new clinical report. The recommendation comes in response to a mental, emotional and behavioral health crisis that's been brewing among America's youth, the AAP says. Up to 1 in 5 children in the U.S., including kids as young as 2, are living with a mental or behavioral health problem like depression, anxiety, ADHD or suicidal thoughts and feelings, according to the report published online today in the journal Pediatrics. And in 2020, suicide became the second-leading cause of death among kids aged...

For the first time in 30 years, the American Academy of Pediatrics is substantially diverging from U.S. government vaccine recommendations. The group’s new COVID-19 recommendations — released Tuesday — come amid a tumultuous year for public health, as vaccine skeptics have come into power in the new Trump administration and government guidance has become increasingly confusing. This isn't going to help, acknowledged Dr. James Campbell, vice chair of the AAP infectious disease committee. “It is going to be somewhat confusing. But our opinion is we need to make the right choices for children to protect them,” he added. The AAP...

The Trump administration on Thursday canceled a grant for sexual education to California since the state “refused to remove radical gender ideology from the federally funded education program.” The grant is worth $12 million, according to multiple media reports. The California Personal Responsibility Education Program serves youths ages 10 to 19, teaching abstinence and contraception to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. The program focuses on vulnerable groups, including children who are homeless, in foster care, or living in areas with high teen birth rates. LGBTQ teens are among the targeted populations. The curriculum is offered in schools, juvenile justice...

Dick Eastland warned for decades about the hidden dangers of the beautiful but volatile Guadalupe River, a peril he saw firsthand while running his family’s youth camp alongside its banks. Eastland saw floods damage Camp Mystic again and again – and his pregnant wife was even airlifted to a hospital while the camp in central Texas was cut off by floodwaters. He successfully pushed for a new flood warning system after 10 children at a nearby camp were swept to their deaths in 1987, and in recent years served on the board of the local river authority as it supported...

The Biden administration placed thousands of illegal alien children in the care of unvetted sponsors, according to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley. The Iowa Republican has released Department of Health and Human Services data showing that during President Joe Biden’s administration, over 11,000 unaccompanied alien children were placed with unvetted sponsors who were not the children’s parents or legal guardians. Additionally, no home visits were conducted for over 79,000 illegal immigrant children. Moreover, some children were “allowed to be placed with sponsors who were actually smugglers and sex traffickers,” according to the Department of Homeland Security. “My oversight continues...

A day care worker in Georgia was arrested for child abuse, authorities said, as the father of a toddler under her care shared heartbreaking pictures of the boy with a black eye and swollen face. Yvette Thurston, 54, faces three counts of first-degree child abuse and one of first-degree aggravated battery, WDRW reports. She was taken into custody Monday following a report of alleged abuse at Little Blessings Child Care in Bainbridge, close to the Florida border. Cory Weeks, a US Marine and dad, took to Facebook to share pictures of the frightening injuries suffered by his 1-year-old son, Clay,...

As birth rates plummet, the country is fawning over – and spending on – pets, says Amy Kazmin for Financial Times.Rome airport’s newest luxury hotel is designed to be a calming oasis for its guests. Rooms – with underfloor cooling – are suffused with aromatic oils such as lavender, tea-tree and mint and each has a private lawn. The property offers arnica massages, a communal garden where guests can mingle and large screens for video calls with faraway loved ones. Yet weary human travellers will not find succour here. With a capacity for 40 overnight guests, Dog Relais is an...

"As leaders, the responsibility to sustain our children extends beyond the comfort of a few ..."First Lady Melania Trump sent what is being called a “peace letter” to Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of his meeting in Alaska with President Donald Trump, where they discussed what steps needed to be taken to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. The president, according to a report published Saturday by Fox News Digital, hand-delivered the missive — and the Russian leader read it prior to the much-touted summit on Friday. In the letter, the First Lady called on Putin to be the...

The State Department on Saturday abruptly halted issuing visas for foreigners seeking to travel to the United States from Gaza. Officials said they suspended the visas until the issuing process is revamped. "All visitor visas for individuals from Gaza are being stopped while we conduct a full and thorough review of the process and procedures used to issue a small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas in recent days," the State Department announced on X.

Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have found that prenatal exposure to acetaminophen may increase the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), in children. The study, published today in BMC Environmental Health, is the first to apply the rigorous Navigation Guide methodology to systematically evaluate the rigor and quality of the scientific literature.Acetaminophen (often sold under the brand name Tylenol®,) is the most commonly used over-the-counter pain and fever medication during pregnancy and is used by more than half of pregnant women worldwide. Until now, acetaminophen has been considered the...

Investigators said they had found evidence of “systematic torture” at detention centers where the military government is holding children as proxies for their parents.U.N.-backed investigators say they have found significant evidence of “systematic torture” at Myanmar detention centers, where the military government is holding children as young as 2 years old as proxies for their parents. The Southeast Asian nation of about 54 million people has been mired in turmoil since 2021, when democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi was overthrown by the military. The coup set off mass protests across the country that were violently suppressed, followed by...

IN 2012, 146 million children were born. That was more than in any prior year. It was also more than in any year since. Millions fewer will be born this year. The year 2012 may well turn out to be the year in which the most humans were ever born—ever as in ever for as long as humanity exists. No demographic forecast expects anything else. Decades of research studying Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas tell a clear story of declining birth rates. The fall in global birth rates has lasted centuries. It began before modern contraception and endured through...