Free Republic

A new approach to fighting cancerous tumors in mice by Stanford University researchers has been found to not only eliminate the tumors they targeted, it eliminated all cancer found in the mice. The researchers used a one-time application of two agents injected directly into a tumor. The agents work by stimulating the immune cells only inside the tumor itself, but doctors found some of the T-cells stimulated kept on working after their initial job was done. Dr. Ronald Levy, senior author of the study published in the journal Science Translation Medicine, says one of the agents (CpG oligonucleotide) works with...

Scott Killerud was about to throw away a mailing about the 2016 enrollment period for MNsure last November when something caught his eye. "Just as I was going to drop it in the trash, I was like - wait a second. What did I just read?" the Pine County farmer said.

Ten years ago Monday, Al Gore said we had only a decade left to save the planet from global warming. But Earth has been doing just fine. Why do we listen to this man? While preening at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2006 during the premiere of his "An Inconvenient Truth" fib-umentary, Gore made his grand declaration. The former vice president said, in the words of the AP reporter taking down his story, that "unless drastic measures to reduce greenhouse gases are taken within the next 10 years, the world will reach a point of no return." In Gore's...

Flashback May 17, 2013: Foreign Policy magazine reports Obama rules out unilateral action in Syria as Russia ships advanced missiles to Assad Top News: U.S. President Barack Obama again ruled out unilateral U.S. military action in Syria at a press conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday. "It's not going to be something that the United States does by itself. And I don't think anybody in the region would think that U.S. unilateral actions … would bring about a better outcome," the president said, promising to "keep increasing the pressure on the Assad regime and working with the...

A few weeks ago, Obama senior adviser and seasoned Chicago operative David Axelrod joked on MSNBC about election corruption. Asked whether "vote early and often" scams had come to an end in his shady hometown, Axelrod snarked: "Well, certainly on the air." Yuk, yuk, yuk.(Snip) This week, four Democratic officials in Indiana were hit with felony charges related to petition fraud in the state's 2008 primary. The prosecutions are a result of the local South Bend Tribune newspaper's investigation last fall into "hundreds of county residents' signatures" forged on petitions used to put Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on the

An organization with close ties to government employee unions is trumpeting pronouncements by a university “labor studies” department (that’s also closely aligned with unions), claiming the unionization of government employees has “no link” with state “deficits.” Michigan’s largely unionized state, local and school employees, however, are granted fringe benefits exceeding what they would get in the private sector by $5.7 billion every year. The figure may start to fall now that Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has signed legislation capping local government and public school employee health insurance benefits at $15,000, which represents a haircut for many, but is still 46...

Sen. Lisa Murkowski's write-in candidacy is being funded by $100,000 contributions from a handful of Alaska corporations that have been handsomely subsidized by the federal government. These six-figure donors have pulled in billions of taxpayer dollars thanks to special legislative favors from Murkowski and her mentors -- the late Sen. Ted Stevens (R), and Lisa's father, former senator and governor, Frank Murkowski (R). "Alaskans Standing Together," a special campaign committee, was formed late last month to attack Republican nominee Joe Miller and support Murkowski through ads. In late September AST took in $800,000 from nine Alaska Native Corporations -- unique,...

A U.S. judge said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration doesn't have authority to regulate electronic cigarettes, dealing a blow to the agency's efforts to regulate tobacco products as drugs or devices. In a 32-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon sided with electronic-cigarette makers Smoking Everywhere Inc. and NJoy in finding that the FDA has no authority to regulate the products and can't stop them from entering the country. "This case appears to be yet another example of FDA's aggressive efforts to regulate recreational tobacco products as drugs or devices," Leon said in his ruling. He added the...

<p>CNN) -- Passengers were reportedly taken hostage on a charter flight at a Jamaican airport.</p> <p>They were boarding the CanJet flight from Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay to Halifax, Canada, late Sunday when the security breach occurred, said Elizabeth Scotton, a spokeswoman for the company that manages the airport.</p>

As the number of disabled parking placards in San Francisco continues to go up, so does the level of frustration among city officials who have yet to get a handle on the rampant abuse. The city has beefed up its force of parking cops targeting disabled parking abuse to eight (soon to be 10) officers, but the problem persists. The city loses out on parking revenue and there's less turnover of curbside parking spaces. As of August 2007, the most recent data the California Department of Motor Vehicles has on hand, there were 48,282 permanent placards issued to San Francisco...

We need to get prepared for four degrees of global warming, Bob Watson told the Guardian last week. At first sight this looks like wise counsel from the climate science adviser to Defra. But the idea that we could adapt to a 4C rise is absurd and dangerous. Global warming on this scale would be a catastrophe that would mean, in the immortal words that Chief Seattle probably never spoke, "the end of living and the beginning of survival" for humankind. Or perhaps the beginning of our extinction. The collapse of the polar ice caps would become inevitable, bringing long-term...

BIZ GIANTS PAY OR FACE RACE RALLIES Anheuser-Busch gave him six figures, Colgate-Palmolive shelled out $50,000 and Macy's and Pfizer have contributed thousands to the Rev. Al Sharpton's charity. Almost 50 companies - including PepsiCo, General Motors, Wal-Mart, FedEx, Continental Airlines, Johnson & Johnson and Chase - and some labor unions sponsored Sharpton's National Action Network annual conference in April. Terrified of negative publicity, fearful of a consumer boycott or eager to make nice with the civil-rights activist, CEOs write checks, critics say, to NAN and Sharpton - who brandishes the buying power of African-American consumers. In some cases, they...

Al Gore reinvents the medieval racket of selling indulgences (pardons for one's sins, worth hundreds of years of penance in an invisible Purgatory). With due credit to Geoffrey Chaucer for the original: Now, good men, Earth forgive you each trespass, And keep you from the sin of greenhouse gas. My carbon offsets cure and will suffice, So that it gains me gold, or silver brings, Or else, I care not- brooches, spoons or rings. You must embrace fully Al Gore’s line of bull, While o’er your eyes we will pull the wool! An offset certificate I’ll give you, anon, And...

Governments need to scrap subsidies for biofuels, as the current rush to support alternative energy sources will lead to surging food prices and the potential destruction of natural habitats, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development will warn on Tuesday. The OECD will say in a report to be discussed by ministers on Tuesday that politicians are rigging the market in favour of an untried technology that will have only limited impact on climate change. “The current push to expand the use of biofuels is creating unsustainable tensions that will disrupt markets without generating significant environmental benefits,” say the authors...

Two Muslim clerics purportedly caught on camera allegedly taking bribes for declaring fatwas were suspended as ulemas on Monday, decided to form a body to monitor issuance of religious edicts. All India Milli Council set up an inquiry committee and announced "a social boycott" of those involved in the fatwas racket. Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband suspended Mufti Habibur Rehman and Meerut's Shahi Jama Masjid removed Maulana Imran following reports that they were seen accepting the money in return for issuing fatwas. Darul Uloom Vice-Chancellor Marghoobur Rehman said a four-member panel would investigate the matter and if found guilty Habibur...

The documents seized in the FBI raid on the offices of Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) remain unread by Justice Department investigators, pending a federal Appeals Court ruling scheduled for August 27. [snip] But we already know a bit about the charges and some of the alleged partners of Congressman Jefferson. Two people have pleaded guilty to bribing him.

THE American Red Cross has come under fire over payments to publicists who recruited stars to add lustre to its image, even as funds ran short for victims of Hurricane Katrina. The controversy could not have come at a worse time for the charity: this Tuesday, it unveils a “celebrity cabinet” of personalities whose glamour will be exploited to attract money, volunteers and donations of blood. Its critics are unhappy at what they call an inappropriate use of funds. “They’re hoping people will send them money on the basis of celebrity, as opposed to good works and effectiveness,” said Daniel...

It didn't take long for me to get an answer to the question I posed in a recent column concerning whether it is possible to be both a Muslim and an American citizen. According to "Document 44" published and distributed by the Saudi Arabian embassy: "It is forbidden to be a Muslim and to become a citizen of a country governed by infidels." (That's us!) I read a report entitled "Saudi Publications on Hate Ideology Invade American Mosques." There are of course millions of Muslims. And each practices his or her religion in the best way they can given their...

The Bar, Insurance Fraud and Murder by Erik Moebius Editor's Note: This next article is an amalgam of comments made on a radio program (the "Christian-Patriot Connection", KPBC-770 AM, Dallas, Texas in which I and Michael Ellis interviewed attorneys Erik Moebius, David Parker, and Nick Milum) and a 207-page article written by Erik Moebius. The complete text of the radio interview and Mr. Moebius' article can be read or downloaded from the "News" sub-section from the AntiShyster Internet webb site located at "www.antishyster.com". Although I've edited and reorganized this article, Mr. Moebius is the principal source of virtually all of...

New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) has long been rumored as desperately seeking the democratic nomination for president in 2008. And while many political observers fully expect the power hungry former First Lady to hit the campaign trail within only a few months of being re-elected as a US Senator in 2006, US News & World report claims to have a confirmation of sorts. From USNews.Com's Washington Whispers: Hillary's in… You don't have to take it from us about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton 's desire to run for president. Her brothers, Hugh and Tony Rodham, say it's true. Friends...