Free Republic

Iran’s newly appointed Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei was a no-show at his own succession rally in Tehran — and observers speculate that he’s either wounded or hiding out in fear. As thousands gathered on Monday to celebrate Khamenei’s appointment as the country’s new supreme leader, the nepo-baby mullah was represented by a mere portrait — one that was half the size of dad Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s. The portrait of the dead leader took up the center of the stage, according to state media footage of the event. “It’s either he’s out cold in a hospital, or he’s scared and hiding...

Isaac’s energy level, enthusiasm, and talkativeness were too much—at least for a traditional classroom.He had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); one psychologist explained that he had a high IQ but low maturity.Illustration by Lumi LiuIt wasn’t until Heather Rodden began homeschooling him in fifth grade that she realized what years of frustrated teachers couldn’t put their fingers on—what looked like a liability in one setting can flourish in another.Like Rodden, other parents, researchers, and professionals are moving away from treating ADHD purely as a disorder that 1 in 10 kids have.The word “deficit” in ADHD, they argue,...

Wall Street Apes@WallStreetApes·4hI verified this and it’s true“This is a class Group 1 carcinogen. The new study warns there's NO SAFE amount of ham, bacon, or even pepperoni for human consumption”Processed meats including ham, bacon, pepperoni are now definitively linked to cancer (Group 1), and newer 2025–2026 studies reinforce thee is no “safe” level that exists for regular consumption“One flimsy cut is lubricated with over 28 bio stabilizers. It's an ammonia-washed paste glued together with synthetic hydrocolloids. That color is then artificially enforced with a corrosive rust inhibitor called sodium nitrite. Group 1 carcinogen that ranks on the same pedestal...

As wellness conversations broaden beyond abstinence, new research explores cannabis through a harm-reduction lens and what it could mean for moderating alcohol consumption.-A 2025 Brown University study found that inhaling cannabis with active THC reduced short-term alcohol consumption and delayed drinking among heavy drinkers in a lab setting. Participants also reported a decreased urge to drink compared to a placebo. -The study used cannabis containing 7.2% THC and does not address long-term drinking habits or effects in people who don’t already use marijuana. -Experts warn that replacing alcohol with cannabis poses risks, including dependency and psychiatric side effects, especially with...

A daily cup of coffee or tea may do more than wake you up—it could also help keep your brain sharp as you age. New research tracking hundreds of thousands of people over decades suggests that moderate caffeine consumption is linked to a lower risk of developing dementia.“Caffeine increases the brain’s activity and can accelerate the speed of messages between the brain and the body,” Jolene Knight, psychiatric nurse practitioner at Stony Brook Medicine’s Center of Excellence for Alzheimer’s disease, and not involved in the study, told The Epoch Times. Caffeine Linked to 20 Percent Risk ReductionThe study, recently published...

Sports pundit Michelle Beadle ripped into San Antonio Spurs center Luke Kornet over his blog post calling for the Atlanta Hawks to end their "Magic City Night" promotion, touting the famed strip club Magic City. Kornet urged the Hawks to cancel the promotion and suggested NBA players and officials "promote an atmosphere that is protective and respectful of the daughters, wives, sisters, mothers, and partners that we know and love." Beadle said on her podcast, "Beadle & Decker," that Kornet should "take a seat." "Luke Kornet, I need you to take a seat," she said. "I love you, the man,...

A commercial oil tanker was set ablaze in the Strait of Hormuz after it was struck by an Iranian suicide drone, the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Saturday, with a US Navy mission to safeguard ships through the region possibly still weeks away. The IRGC claimed the tanker — the Prima, sailing under a Maltese flag — had ignored repeated warnings not to enter the strait, according to Tasnim News Agency, Iran’s state media. The flow of oil through the strait — one of the world’s most vital energy arteries connecting the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman...

Stay up to date with the latest news Saturday on the US and Israel’s war with Iran, as four people were killed when the Israel Defense Forces launched a strike targeting Iranian commanders who were hatching deadly strikes out of a Beirut hotel early Sunday, Israeli military officials announced. Israeli forces said they targeted high-ranking officials from the Quds Force’s Lebanon Corps of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who were plotting attacks on the Jewish state from Lebanese soil, but did not confirm whether they were killed. Israel, who said it killed Iranian Quds Force Lebanon Corps commander Daoud Ali...

Mojtaba Khamenei — the expected next supreme leader — was reportedly wounded in an Israeli air strike. The son of Iran’s slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei survived an assassination attempt made by Israel during the devastating launch of Lion’s Roar military operation Feb. 28, which occurred in tandem with the US’s Operation Epic Fury, Times of Israel reported on Saturday. Other strikes in the joint military attack killed his father and roughly 40 other high-ranking Islamic Republic leaders. Also killed was Mojtaba’s wife, Zahra Haddad Adel, who came from a family long associated with the country’s theocracy. It’s not clear if...

Wastewater SCAN data show that human metapneumovirus, or HMPV, is rampant in Northern California — specifically San Francisco, Marin, Vallejo, Napa, Novato, Santa Rosa, Sacramento and Davis, per reports. The virus peaked sharply in January and remains elevated in early March, although the seasonal winter wave is now tapering. “It is a single-stranded RNA virus, like flu and COVID,” Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News senior medical analyst, told Fox News Digital. “The virus is increasing not only in the west, but also around the country.” The wastewater data also show that HMPV is rising sharply in the Midwest and Northeast.

Americans who belong to Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2012) are far more likely to say they were lonely growing up. A majority (56 percent) of Gen Zers report they felt lonely at least once or twice a month during their childhood. In contrast, only about one in four (24 percent) Baby Boomers say they felt lonely this often as children. ... Americans who had a lonely childhood are much more likely to report feeling lonely or isolated as adults. Two-thirds (66 percent) of Americans who felt lonely every day during childhood say that today they feel lonely or...

Former President Joe Biden told mourners at Rev. Jesse Jackson’s memorial service Friday that he is “a hell of a lot smarter than most of you,” a pointed remark that stood out during his tribute to the late civil rights leader. Biden made the comment while recounting how he was mocked as a child for his stutter and how speech impediments are often mistaken for a lack of intelligence. “If I told you I had a cleft palate or clubfoot, none of you would have laughed,” Biden said. “But it’s OK to laugh at stuttering. … It’s the one place...

New York City doesn’t have enough hotel rooms for hordes of visitors coming to this summer’s FIFA World Cup and should suspend the current restrictions on Airbnb and other short-term rental platforms, business leaders told Mayor Zohran Mamdani and City Council Speaker Julie Menin on Friday. Groups including the Partnership for New York City and chambers of commerce for all five boroughs say the city must pause its short-term rental laws from June 1 to July 31 so more people can stay in the Big Apple during the games — along with celebrations for the country’s 250th anniversary and Fleet...

Canada performed thousands of same-day assisted suicides, as it was revealed one elderly woman was killed despite withdrawing her request the day before. The medical assistance in dying (MAiD) program was approved in 2016 and has since been expanded to include requests from patients whose deaths are 'not reasonably foreseeable,' and will soon include those with mental illness. More than 200 people in Ontario alone chose to die within 24 hours of their approval in 2023, a 2024 Ontario report found, The Free Press first reported. Of the 219 deaths, 30 percent of them chose a same-day procedure. In 2024...

Could bacteria replace your eye drops? Mice study says maybeIn A Nutshell -Researchers engineered a naturally occurring eye bacterium to secrete an anti-inflammatory healing protein directly on the eye’s surface -In mice, a single course of three bacterial applications kept the microbes active for 12 weeks and sped corneal wound healing -The bacteria preserved the eye’s normal immune defenses and did not increase susceptibility to infection -A human version of the therapy showed early promise in lab tests, but clinical use in people is still years away Forget the eye drops. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have engineered a...

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie’s police security team was attacked Thursday evening near the edge of the Tenderloin — leaving an officer bleeding from the back of his head after a chaotic street confrontation. The mayor was not hurt in the incident, which unfolded just before 6 p.m. near Cedar Street, according to Mission Local. One San Francisco Police Department officer assigned to Lurie’s security detail was left panting and bleeding after he slammed his head during a struggle with a suspect. The mayor had been riding in a black SUV with the officer and a driver — also a...

CONCORD, N.C. – Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports , will not compete in the March 8 NASCAR Cup Series event at Phoenix Raceway due to vertigo diagnosed this week. Bowman, 32, began experiencing symptoms during Sunday’s road course race at Circuit of The Americas before exiting the car at lap 71. The Tucson, Arizona, native underwent two days of medical evaluation this week and drove laps today in a streetcar at the Ten Tenths Motor Club road course in Concord. “Alex has worked very hard over the last several days,” said Jeff Andrews,...

The US tested a doomsday ballistic missile off the California coast Tuesday night — as war raged in the Middle East. The Minuteman III ballistic missile — which is capable of carrying nuclear warheads 20 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima — launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base near Santa Barbara at 11 p.m. The unarmed rocket, known as GT 254, hit its intended target near the Marshall Islands in the west-central Pacific Ocean, according to the US Space Force. The missile was fired to “verify the effectiveness, readiness and accuracy,” according to the Air Force...

Sen. Tim Sheehy sprang into action Wednesday, helping law enforcement officers subdue an “unhinged protestor” who began “fighting” at a hearing at the US Capitol Building, the Montana Republican explained. Dramatic video of the incident shows the protester — later identified as Green Party Senate candidate Brian McGinnis — resisting multiple Capitol Police officers trying to remove him from a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL, is seen jumping into the scrum and trying to yank the 44-year-old McGinnis, who was wearing a US Marine Corps uniform, out of the room. The situation only calmed down...

Kamala, who? A well-known Iranian-American activist who has survived several assassination attempts blasted Kamala Harris after the former vice president criticized President Trump over the deadly US-Israeli strikes on Iran. “Who are you?” asked Masih Alinejad, delivering the stinging rebuke while speaking with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo. “I am tired of seeing some politicians here in America, especially Democrats, making this about their own politics, scoring political points like Kamala Harris,” she lashed out. “Suddenly, she kept quiet about the massacre. Suddenly, she found the voice condemning the targeted military strike against the killers. So when ordinary people get...