Free Republic

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom will soon be a first-time firearm owner.Shawn Ryan, a conservative-leaning podcaster, gifted the governor a Sig Sauer P365 XMACRO pistol within the first five minutes of his show featuring Newsom on Monday. The pistol is a popular pick as a concealed carry firearm. Ryan told the governor it's California compliant."This is fabulous," Newsom told Ryan as he held the pistol in his hands. "The last thing people would expect is that I respect this gift.""Really?" Ryan replied."Yeah, man, I'm not anti-gun at all," Newsom said as he placed the gun back into its box....

HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) -- Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman remains in the hospital to receive treatment for clinical depression but is staying up to date on Senate business, his communications director Joe Calvello said in a statement Monday. Fetterman checked himself into Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Feb. 15 to receive treatment. "John is doing well, working with the wonderful doctors, and remains on a path to recovery," Calvello said. "He is visiting with staff and family daily, and his staff are keeping him updated on Senate business and news. Our team is moving full speed ahead and working...

Islamabad: A tribal leader in South Waziristan area near the Afghan border has threatened retaliation following an attack by Pakistan Army gunship helicopters at a suspected militant training complex in the region. The threat came as security forces were continuing a search in the area for several injured militants who included a senior Al Qaida operative, an Arab named Abu Nasir. These militants managed to flee after the raid. Tribal leader Bailullah Masud made the threat yesterday in a statement to BBC Urdu service, which quoted him as saying: "We will take revenge action in 10 to 15 days." He...

The human parathyroid gland, which regulates the level of calcium in the blood, probably evolved from the gills of fish, according to researchers from King's College London. Writing in the latest edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Professor Anthony Graham and Dr Masataka Okabe suggest that the gills of ancestral marine creatures, which were used to regulate calcium levels, were internalised rather than lost when land-living, four-limbed animals – the tetrapods – evolved. Many physiological processes such as muscle contraction, blood coagulation and signalling by nerve cells, require specific levels of calcium in the body. In humans,...