Free Republic

As big government makes one-size-fits-all decisions for California families, leaving kids without essential resources and their constitutionally guaranteed right to education, parents are asking, 'What does that future look like?' California students have officially kicked off their school year, but they’ve hardly gone “back to school.” Thanks to Gov. Gavin Newsom, 34 counties are on the so-called state monitoring list as of this writing, meaning children in those counties are barred from attending in-person classes.In coordination with the Dhillon Law Group, a band of California parents filed a lawsuit with a U.S. District Court challenging the Democrat governor’s mandate and...

The world’s largest dataset on patients who have undergone sex-reassignment procedures reveals that these procedures do not bring mental health benefits. But that’s not what the authors originally claimed. Or what the media touted. In October 2019, the American Journal of Psychiatry published a paper titled “Reduction in Mental Health Treatment Utilization Among Transgender Individuals After Gender-Affirming Surgeries: A Total Population Study.” As the title suggests, the paper claimed that after having had sex-reassignment surgeries, a patient was less likely to need mental health treatment. [snip] But it’s actually worse than that. The original results already demonstrated no benefits to...

Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is promoting the reopening of schools across the country, noting the serious risks associated with keeping kids out of classrooms. During a webinar for the Buck Institute, Redfield pointed out the low risk of children spreading COVID-19 and said the spike in suicides and drug overdoses is “far greater” than the number of coronavirus-related deaths among the country’s younger population. “It’s not risk of school openings versus public health,” he said. “It’s public health versus public health.” Redfield added, “I’m of the point of view, and I weigh...

A new report summarizes research showing the financial and health repercussions of keeping schools, colleges, and child-care facilities closed far outweigh any risk. The Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity report also offers recommendations on how to reopen for the safest and fairest results. Report coauthor Avik Roy said in a tweet the report aims for policymakers to learn of and “heed the educational, social, and public health impact of prolonged school closures” for the nearly 80 million U.S. students who have already been out of school for months in 2020. The article described the nation’s current educational plans as...

Shenandoah National Park- Today, Second Lady Karen Pence, joined by Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt, visited Shenandoah National Park to talk about the many mental health benefits the outdoors offer and the important work of National Park Service employees as America reopens.Upon arriving to Shenandoah National Park, Mrs. Pence and Secretary Bernhardt delivered remarks to National Park employees at the Dickey Ridge Visitor Center Overlook. As the Lead Ambassador for PREVENTS, Mrs. Pence highlighted the important mental health benefits of getting outdoors, and she thanked the employees for their hard work in safely reopening and preserving the park during such difficult times.Then, Mrs. Pence and...

...Anyone who belongs to a “protected” group is seen as a perpetual victim and must not be judged at all. That may seem like a better position but ironically it doesn’t provide any protection at all. It treats the person as an infantilized adult. If one is robbed of personal responsibility, one can never be truly free...

'Our hate speech policy prohibits videos which assert that someone’s sexuality or gender identity is a disease or a mental illness,' YouTube said in a statement. Information provided exclusively to The Federalist shows YouTube removed a Heritage Foundation video featuring testimony from a former transgender-identifying woman for violating the company’s hate speech policy. YouTube confirmed the decision in a Thursday email to The Federalist.Now Heritage is fighting back with a new video, released first to The Federalist, in which Federalist contributor Walt Heyer doubles down.“I said that children suffering from gender dysphoria should not be encouraged to try experimental hormones...

As our country struggles forward against economic recession and pandemic, we will look to the heroes of our past and present to show us the way forward. During Memorial Day, calls to suicide hotlines reportedly “surge” from veterans who find themselves overcome with war-time memories, or riddled with survivors’ guilt as they think of their fallen brothers and sisters in arms. This year, there is increased likelihood that some veterans will experience acute struggles on Memorial Day due to isolation, and constraints on cemetery visitations and social gatherings resulting from the coronavirus response.On Memorial Day, Americans are called to reflect...

In addition to addressing the general looming mental health crisis, we must be specifically prepared for the mental health problems we will see in frontline health care workers. I am a psychiatrist at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. I have many great colleagues on the medical side of things who are performing heroically during this pandemic, many of whom I met as a medical intern 15 years ago. The ties we developed during that grueling year are lifelong. I check in with them regularly to see how they are managing during this difficult time and lend an ear when I...

California doctors warn a surge in suicides is outspacing deaths from coronavirus as pandemic lockdowns take a far greater toll on American life than the virus itself.Dr. Mike deBoisblank who serves as the head of the trauma department at John Muir Medical Center in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay told ABC 7 his hospital has seen a “year’s worth of suicide attempts in the last four weeks.”“We’ve never seen numbers like this, in such a short period of time,” deBoisblank said, pointing at the state’s stay-home orders as the primary culprit for the spike in crises.Now...

Today, Second Lady Karen Pence, joined by Deputy Secretary of Interior, Katharine MacGregor, visited the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to talk about the many mental health benefits the outdoors offers and shared more on the park’s progress on the second phase of restoring access to the public.“The COVID-19 pandemic has created an urgent need for us to pay closer attention to our mental health and emotional well-being,” said Second Lady Karen Pence. “Our amazing national parks offer many mental health benefits and more than ever before, we must ensure that we are taking care of ourselves and each other.”Upon arriving...

Councillors from the city of Basel, as well as representatives from the National Council, have spoken out against the Federal Council for its refusal to put in place laws that would restrict “gay conversion therapy”. Despite gay conversion therapy being heavily criticized by advocacy groups and outlawed in some parts of the world, the LGBTIQ Pink Cross Switzerland organization says that it is “common” in Switzerland. The Federal Council has however stated that it opposes a ban, arguing that the current laws are sufficient to protect people from all types of alternate therapies. Lucas Ott, a representative in the City...

Carrying the weight of a parent’s unhappiness is a heavy burden for a child. It makes sense that children prone to self-blame would develop anxiety from their mother's depression. We’ve all heard the saying, “If mom’s unhappy, everyone’s unhappy.” I think it’s a little unfair to moms, but it’s meant as a playful way of saying what most of us have experienced at some point: Moms set the mood for the family. If mom is unhappy, the whole family feels it. Mothers wield tremendous influence in the home, and for most families this isn’t a problem.Moms can have ups and...

This year, National Mental Health Awareness Month coincides with one of the most complex and challenging periods in our Nation’s recent history — combatting the coronavirus pandemic. Not only has the virus caused immense physical suffering and loss for many people, it has also resulted in mental and emotional hardship. The stress and worry over the health and safety of family and friends, forced isolation, and financial distress can all result in anxiety, depression, substance misuse and abuse, and, tragically, even suicide. There is no question this is a difficult and unprecedented time for Americans. Yet, we know that there...

A vegetarian or vegan diet may be increasing the likelihood of depression, a US-based study has found. People with a plant-based diet were twice as likely to take prescription drugs for mental illness and nearly three times as likely to contemplate suicide. The report, which looked at more than 160,000 people, also found that a shocking one in three vegetarians suffer from depression or anxiety. Researchers reviewed 18 studies examining the relationship between mental health and eating meat, involving a total of 160,257 participants. They concluded that vegetarians and vegans had “significantly” higher rates or risk of depression, anxiety and...

The AP’s statement has no basis in reality. There is currently no body of research that demonstrates people are less likely to take their lives in time of economic hardship. The pace of information during the COVID-19 crisis has been extraordinary. Last week President Trump said thousands could die by suicide as a result of the economic crisis created by the coronavirus.The Associated Press (AP) immediately released a “fact check” on the president’s prediction, saying it was false. Over the weekend, The Federalist’s Tristan Justice reported more people died from suicides in east Tennessee than from the coronavirus. In the...

The summer break after my first year teaching was a catastrophe. Going in, I had grand plans for sketching out my units, reading books, writing articles, exercising, completing house projects, and the like. Four weeks later, I had regular panic attacks and debilitating levels of anxiety. Speaking with friends and reading the Tweets of strangers during quarantine, it seems that many can relate to my difficulties. With the word ‘pandemic’ atop our newsfeeds, it’s understandable that many people have high levels of anxiety right now. Whereas human contact normally brings comfort, amidst this crisis every individual is a potential invisible...

<p>I have been too busy to write for some time, but I’m glad to get back to it.</p> <p>One of the things I’ve had to do of late is a great deal of physical work. For someone who has spent decades training my body, I must admit that I have not done nearly as much “real work” as I should have. For that, I can see that I’ve suffered. Now I’m making up for lost time.</p>

Opponents criticized an Iowa bill that would require schools to notify parents before teaching LGBTQ content to children. Lawmakers introduced the Republican-sponsored House File 2201 in January, a bill that would require schools to annually notify parents about any kind of material that discusses gender or sexual orientation. This would then give parents the opportunity to inspect such material and pull their children out of certain classes. The bill is one of 13 pieces of legislation introduced in the Iowa state Legislature that opponents are calling anti-LGBTQ, CNN reported Friday. Republican Iowa state Rep. Jeff Shipley says that the bill...

President Trump went on the offensive against socialism and left-wing policies during a defiant third State of the Union address to Congress Tuesday night — drawing groans from Democrats in attendance and prompting a furious House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to rip up her copy of Trump’s speech as soon as it concluded in a stunning scene. Pelosi mumbling and sneering smiles throughout President Trump’s powerful address were bad enough, but her decision to tear into shreds her copy of Trump’s speech and drop it like a dead fish was shameful beyond measure. Throughout the evening, Pelosi was seen fidgeting,...