Free Republic

A major new report, published today in the journal The New Atlantis, challenges the leading narratives that the media has pushed regarding sexual orientation and gender identity. Co-authored by two of the nation’s leading scholars on mental health and sexuality, the 143-page report discusses over 200 peer-reviewed studies in the biological, psychological, and social sciences, painstakingly documenting what scientific research shows and does not show about sexuality and gender. The major takeaway, as the editor of the journal explains, is that “some of the most frequently heard claims about sexuality and gender are not supported by scientific evidence.” Here are...

BERLIN--A close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin praised German diplomacy on Thursday while railing against the U.S. in the latest effort by Moscow to highlight western divisions over the Ukraine crisis. Vladimir Yakunin, president of the Russian Railways and one of the Russian officials on the U.S. sanctions list, lavished praise on Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany's foreign minister, who visited Ukraine this week to endorse the government's planned dialogue with its critics at home. "I know Mr. Steinmeier a little bit myself. I know he is very balanced and a very objective politician," Mr. Yakunin told reporters. "To my mind,...

Apple CEO Tim Cook will sit with First Lady Michelle Obama during President Obama's State of the Union address on Tuesday night. It marks the second year in a row the invitation has been extended to the Apple family. Last year, Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, joined Michelle Obama in the coveted spot. During an appearance on CNBC, White House economic advisor Gene Sperling confirmed Cook's participation. "Apple is a great American company, and it stands for our sense of innovation, invention, entrepreneurship, and risk taking and I think that's quite an appropriate person to be...

One Idaho couple's property rights battle with the government has reached the U.S. Supreme Court. Mike and Chantell Sackett bought land in Priest Lake, Idaho, to build their dream home in a residential development. As the Sacketts were preparing to build, however, the Environmental Protection Agency blocked them. EPA officials informed them their property is protected wetlands and accused them of violating the Clean Water Act. The agency then threatened to fine them $37,000 a day. "Bullying, that's what the EPA does," Chantell Sackett told Spokane, Wash., TV station KXLY.

Has the Federal Reserve become the Central Bank of the World? That is what some members of Congress are asking after the Federal Reserve revealed the details of 21,000 transactions stretching from December 2007 to July 2010 that totaled more than $3 trillion on Wednesday. Most of these transactions involved giant loans that were nearly interest-free from the Federal Reserve to some of the largest banks, financial institutions and corporations all over the world. In fact, it turns out that foreign banks and foreign corporations received a very large share of these bailouts. So has the Federal Reserve now become...