Free Republic

A new study is challenging the American Psychological Association's contention that therapies for unwanted same-sex attraction are harmful. The study, "Effects of Therapy on Religious Men Who Have Unwanted Same-Sex Attraction," which was first published July 23 in The Linacre Quarterly, finds that sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE), often derisively called "conversion therapy," improves the mental health of participants. Researchers surveyed 125 male residents of the United States. The men, mostly Christian, were at various stages of experiencing unwanted same-sex attraction. Some were sexually active while others were abstaining from sex. Eighty-nine percent of respondents were Christians from a variety...

LAS VEGAS — Two Boise men were killed in a crash Wednesday near Las Vegas, media partner CBS 2 News reports. The Nevada Highway Patrol told station KSNV a semi-truck driver admitted he fell asleep before a five-vehicle crash on Highway 93. The crash happened just before 6 a.m., Wednesday at an active construction zone. According to highway patrol, the semi was filled with sand, so the driver could not stop in time, running over the car in front of him. The car was ripped in half, split down the middle. The two men inside were pronounced dead at the...

The matches, which can be ignited against most surfaces, are being phased out to make them safer. The controversial EU diktat, which came into force at the end of May, bans the sale of chemicals used to make the matches. Swan Vestas, the best known brand, confirmed its 'strike anywhere' range was being discontinued. The products are being replaced by safety matches, which can only be struck on the strip attached to the packet. Seth Davidson, 44, from Pimlico, south London, attacked the move by branding it "insane". He told the Sunday Times: "There's literally no harm to having 'strike...

KIRKWOOD, N.Y. - New York State officials are warning of an alarming increase in reckless driving and crashes in highway work zones this year. The Department of Transportation and State Police held a news conference Wednesday at the Interstate 81 Welcome Center in Kirkwood to spread the message that drivers need to be more careful and considerate when traveling through construction zones. In particular, they want drivers to put down their phones and slow down. The DOT brought a damaged attenuator for a visual example. It was crushed earlier this year along Interstate 87 near Albany. An attenuator is a...

On August 8, The New England Journal of Medicine reported that the unnamed youngster and his family arrived at an otorhinolaryngology outpatient clinic last year seeking answers for his persistent, two-day cough which had an “intermittent whistling character.” An X-ray of the four-year-old’s chest revealed that his left lung was hyperinflated, which can be caused by a blockage in the air passage to the lungs or medical conditions including asthma and cystic fibrosis, Live Science and Mayo Clinic report. Doctors proceeded to perform a bronchoscopy, inserting a thin tube down his throat and into the left lung, where they unearthed...

Armed groups, dense populations and mass displacement make Congo’s latest deadly outbreak of the Ebola virus more challenging than ever to contain, the World Health Organization’s chief said Friday. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus spoke after vaccinations began this week, with support from a U.N. peacekeeping mission, in Congo’s restive northeast where multiple rebel groups pose a threat and a heavily traveled border with Uganda is nearby. Tedros and Congo’s health minister on Saturday planned to visit the village where the latest outbreak, Congo’s tenth, was declared on Aug. 1. The ministry says 48 cases have been reported, 21 of them...

Police said they responded to a report of a man, 26-year-old Zachary Frey, passed out in a vehicle and the caller reported that a woman with him had gone into the bathroom. Sanders had apparently overdosed and officers found her seated on the toilet with a “ball of heroin on the floor nearby.” Her baby was reportedly floating face up in the toilet. “Due to her level of impairment she was completely unaware, or at least believed to be unaware, that she was giving birth at the time,” Chillicothe Police told the station. The baby boy, who survived, was rushed...

FULL TITLE: Records Reveal 20 Previously Unknown Medical Emergencies at NC Abortion Facility Responsible for Patient Death Charlotte, NC – When Diamond Williams died in 2016 from complications to an abortion she received at the Carolina Center for Women, (now known as A Women’s Choice of Charlotte), she certainly was not the first to have endured a medical emergency as a result of a botched abortion at that facility — and she also wasn’t the last. Diamond Williams died from a fatal abortion in 2016. Operation Rescue has obtained twenty Incident Reports from the Charlotte Fire Department related to 911...

The air pollution in Paris is so bad that visiting the city for a long weekend means you have as good as smoked two cigarettes and those living in the city smoke the equivalent of 183 a year, a new study reveals. […] “When air pollution is bad, we are told to avoid eating or exercising outside,” Transport & Environment’s Jens Müller said. “But walking around cities and eating on restaurant terraces is what city breaks are all about. Right now, tourists, including kids, are more or less forced to smoke, in terms of the health impacts.” However, the French...

released this statement Friday, August 10. On Thursday, August 9, 2018, a resident of a Lake Tillery development on the western side of Montgomery County went missing while taking her daily walk. After several hours the 66 year old female did not return home. Her husband called neighbors and friends who searched the area. They were unable to locate her and call 911. Sheriff’s deputies and search and rescue were sent to the scene. Within hours she was discovered deceased on the side of an unused road within the development. An investigation was conducted with the assistance of the Medical...

Sen. Manchin and Planned Parenthood Video only on link

Our cell phones are practically connected to us. Now, scientists at the University of Toledo say the blue light that comes from electronics is doing permanent damage to our vision. A dark room at the University of Toledo is where researchers have found blue light, specifically, leads to macular degeneration.

LONDON — If you think pets are the pits, you may not be living to your potential. A new survey finds that people who own pets are happier, earn more money, and exercise more frequently than those who don’t. In a poll of 1,000 British dog and cat owners over 55 and 1,000 people in the same age group who don’t have any pets, researchers calculated that pet owners were twice as likely to consider themselves a success. In fact, 9 in 10 owners agreed that their furry family members were good for their health and well-being. The belief makes...

The Minister for Health has said women in Northern Ireland will be able to access abortion services in the Republic when the legislation is introduced here. Speaking in Belfast this evening, Simon Harris said his concern for a woman’s right to access health services in crisis pregnancies situations does not stop at the border. He said while he respects the abortion law in northern Ireland, he hopes it is addressed in the near future. Britain’s Abortion Act does not extend to Northern Ireland and an abortion is only allowed if a woman’s life is at risk, or if there is...

Appearance aside, boxers may be the optimal underwear for men aiming to be fathers. Men who wear looser-fit boxer shorts have higher sperm concentration than men squeezed into tight underwear, a new study published Wednesday in the journal Human Reproduction found. Sperm concentration, which is the number of sperm per milliliter of semen, is one of a few standard metrics of male fertility. However, men who preferred “bikinis,” better known as briefs, and other tight-fitting underwear had higher levels of follicle-stimulating hormone compared to the men in boxers. Because this hormone stimulates sperm production, the researchers speculate these higher levels,...

People who develop a common benign skin carcinoma multiple times may be at increased risk for other more serious cancers, including blood, breast, colon and prostate cancers, a new study finds. Stanford University researchers suspect the increased cancer susceptibility is caused by mutations in certain genes responsible for making proteins that repair DNA damage, according to the study published in JCI Insight. Multiple episodes of basal cell carcinoma are simply a sign of this susceptibility. The new findings don’t mean anyone who develops a basal cell carcinoma once or twice has a higher risk of developing other cancers, said study...

“Anyone who ate at Red Lobster in Fort Smith from July 19 to August 4 should seek vaccination immediately if they have never been vaccinated against hep A or are unsure of their vaccination status,” the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) wrote in a news release on Wednesday. “This case appears to be related to travel outside of the state and is not thought to be part of the current hep A outbreak in Northeast Arkansas.”

An 18-month-old girl suffered serious wounds to her face when she was mauled by her grandmother’s pit bull — the second time the same dog attacked a child, officials said Sunday. The toddler was hospitalized, and may have also suffered an injury to one of her eyes in the attack. The dog had attacked a child two years ago, and was released under strict conditions to its owner, the grandmother. This time, she ordered the dog killed. The attack was at 7:40 p.m. Friday at a Riverside home on Fern Avenue in the Casa Blanca neighborhood, said Riverside County Department...

BUENOS AIRES — Argentina’s Senate on Thursday narrowly rejected a bill to legalize abortion, dealing a stinging defeat to a grass-roots movement that pushed reproductive rights to the top of the country’s legislative agenda and galvanized activist groups throughout Latin America. The vote gripped the nation as opposing camps fought to sway undecided senators until the final hours. As legislators debated the bill into the early hours of Thursday, thousands of advocates on both sides waited outside Congress in the winter cold, and the Roman Catholic Church held a “Mass for Life” at the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral. Proponents of...

He had been experiencing a litany of symptoms his doctors couldn’t explain: lumps that kept appearing and disappearing, blinding pain in his eyes that lasted for a day and came back another, a small muscle in his forehead that he felt “snap.” His white blood cells soared, and itchy rashes covered parts of his body. His joints ached. He was constantly hungry and he had been eating a lot, but he couldn’t gain weight. There was a sinking feeling that his body had become host to unwelcome visitors, but tests showed nothing. One morning, he noticed a faint yellowish lump...