Free Republic

“I have no other way out,” said Inês, a mother of four in the Mutauanha Piloto neighborhood of Nampula, Mozambique, who was interviewed by a member of my team. “I have children to support, I have to take risks.” Every year, Inês cultivates a small crop of tomatoes and onions to sell, and every year, it gets harder to produce enough. So she turned to sex work in exchange for food. In 2007, she learned she was HIV-positive. I have been working in the field of HIV care and research for over 20 years as an infectious disease physician and...

Samantha Marika asks a great question. Why can't this be an option? Instead of the State of New York firing all their unvaccinated doctors and nurses. How about have them treat the unvaccinated patients? https://twitter.com/samanthamarika1/status/1442654108255539202

Never take investment advice from a union leader. As usual, organized labor emptied its pockets for Democrats in the recent midterm elections, spending at least $171.5 million in an attempt to keep the electoral map blue. Ninety-three percent of that astonishing figure went to elect Democratic politicians. Half of those union donations came from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which represents government workers. Unsurprisingly, 99.5 percent of their contributions went to Democratic candidates. That money didn't come from the wallets of union leaders. It came from their

Senior IDF officials were among those at a conference on humanitarian medicine held this week in Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem. IDF commanders and soldiers were there to hear about recent developments and challenges in the IDF. Brigadier-General Nitzan Alon, Commander of the Judea and Samaria Division, said Israel had faced a unique humanitarian challenge in recent years. When a terror war broke out in 2000 and PA terrorists began attacking Israel more frequently than ever, Israel was forced to limit PA Arabs' access to Israeli cities, he said, leading to a situation in which PA Arabs were no longer...

Doctors say they have used a genetically engineered herpes virus to treat successfully patients with head and neck cancer. A London hospital trial of 17 patients found that use of the virus alongside chemotherapy and radiotherapy helped kill the tumours in most patients. It works by getting into cancer cells, killing them from the inside, and also boosting the patient's immune system. Further trials are planned for later in the year. Head and neck cancer, which includes cancer of the mouth, tongue and throat, affects up to 8,000 people every year in the UK.

I disremember if it was the Halloween I was 8 years old, or 9 years old, but it was the Halloween I went trick-or-treating dressed up as Henry R. Luce. I was not into "scary" costumes; I wanted to look like a real person. I had recently become fascinated with the publisher of Time magazine, and so it was an easy matter for my mother to color my hair grey, and I already possessed a lilliputian three-piece grey pin-striped suit. But in case anyone missed the point, the trick-or-treat bag, a paper grocery bag with handles, was covered with pasted-on...

Dateline middle America: ...... Even this ladies dog dislikes our President. Dog Treats

Something we have always known, animals are smarter than people.

Enid, OK -- An Oklahoma man with a homemade sign on his vehicle was pulled over and harassed by police for allegedly making a threat against the president. Chip Harrison said he was driving to work when a police officer followed him for several miles and eventually signaled him to pull over. The officer mistook the sign, which read Abort Obama, not the unborn," as threatening.

Hallo-bama-ween costume receives "funniest" and "changiest." For mothers and fathers on Welfare, trick or treat night can be an arduous, work-like mission. "Shoots sake, it's almost like I got a job or something," said Geraldine Walbacker. "March the whole way around the block for a Snickers? I don't think so." This Halloween, millions of state and local Welfare recipients, like Walbacker, can sign up for the TOT-A plan, or trick or treat assistance. The government program takes 35 percent of the Halloween treats from working trick-or-treaters and divides the spoils among the unfortunate and the truly unambitious. G. Kurt Marns,...

LONDON - Preventing obesity and smoking can save lives, but it doesn't save money, researchers reported Monday. It costs more to care for healthy people who live years longer, according to a Dutch study that counters the common perception that preventing obesity would save governments millions of dollars. "It was a small surprise," said Pieter van Baal, an economist at the Netherlands' National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, who led the study. "But it also makes sense. If you live longer, then you cost the health system more." In a paper published online Monday in the Public Library...

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, Nov. 30, 2007 – The towns of Eskandareh and Pacha Khak hide deep within the mountains of the Kohe Safid district in Afghanitan’s Parwan province. Sgt. 1st Class Jason Sealey, Kohe Safi Police Mentor Team, holds a calf still while Lt. Col. Richard Probst, 413th Civil Affairs Battalion, gives it a shot during a medical outreach visit, Nov. 27, 2007, in Afghanistan’s Parwan province. Coalition doctors and veterinarians saw more than 450 people and 330 animals during the two-day visit. Photo by Senior Airman James Bolinger, USAF  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Eskandareh is...

VICTORY BASE COMPLEX, Iraq, Aug. 27, 2007 — Since the beginning of the war Americans have provided basic medical care to Iraqis, but more and more Iraqi medics are treating their own countrymen. Members of Task Force Vigilant, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y., coordinated with Iraqi medics and doctors to conduct a combined medical engagement outside Victory Base Complex, Aug. 24 "Today is a good day to show the Iraqi people we can help them. It is my job to help them and I am glad that I am able to." Dr. Zetad...

WASHINGTON, March 15, 2007 – The military’s top enlisted servicemember received a very special care package at his Pentagon office this morning. Jeanette Cram, founder of troop-support group Treat the Troops, personally delivered a box of chocolate chip cookies to Army Command Sgt. Maj. William J. Gainey, senior enlisted advisor to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Treat the Troops is a member of the Defense Department’s America Supports You program that highlights and facilitates support for the nation’s men and women in uniform. Cram has been shipping cookies to deployed servicemembers around the world for 17...

12/4/2006 - ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam (AFPN) -- Airmen from the 36th Medical Group and 734th Air Mobility Squadron played an integral role in treating and transporting six critically injured Sailors Dec. 2 from Andersen AFB to Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii. The Sailors were transported via a C-17 Globemaster III to Hickam AFB, then onto the Army's Burn Center at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, where they will receive specialized care. The Sailors sustained injuries as a result of an accident aboard a Navy submarine tender, according to a Naval Base Guam press release. The Sailors...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE LOYALTY, Iraq, Nov. 28, 2006 -- The medics of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, train hard to save the lives of any soldier, and sometimes that includes the lives of soldiers they work with on a daily basis. Army Pfc. Chris Llewellyn, a medic with the 2nd Battalion, 17th Field Artillery Regiment, preps Spc. Clint Zeller for an intravenous injection at Forward Operating Base Loyalty, Iraq. Photo by Spc. Courtney Marulli, USA  '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. These Army medics found out quickly they have little time to adjust from garrison to...

8/11/2006 - BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq -- During a 24-hour shift that began at 7 a.m. on Aug. 7, an Air Force surgeon treated 18 patients with injuries that varied from a crushed foot and multiple improvised explosive device penetrations to gunshot wounds through the thigh and head. For Air Force Maj. (Dr.) Steve Barnes, the surgeon of the day, this meant nine operations, five of which were performed on Americans, three on Iraqis and one insurgent. "I volunteered to come to Balad for both personal and professional reasons," said the trauma surgeon instructor based at Cincinnati's University Hospital in...

8/10/2006 - SATHER AIR BASE, Iraq -- Airmen here supported an Army forward surgical team in providing medical treatment to detainees as they transitioned from the Abu Ghraib Theater Internment Facility to a new facility on Camp Cropper near Baghdad. Multi-National Force-Iraq officials established the new facility July 30 to replace Abu Ghraib, which is closing. "Within 72 hours we went from three to 16 hospital beds and increased our operating room tables from one to two," said Col. (Dr.) Chris Lisanti, 447th Expeditionary Medical Squadron commander. Soldiers from the Army's 772nd Forward Surgical Team and the 21st Combat Support...

Army Maj. Gen. Jack Gardner, Task Force 134 commanding general, the group in charge of detainee operations in Iraq, speaks to medical personnel from Task Force 21 during the opening of a new hospital at Camp Cropper Theater Internment Facility near Baghdad International Airport July 30. Department of Defense photo by Chief Petty Officer Tony Sisti. CAMP CROPPER — A medical task force responsible for providing health care to both detainees and Soldiers opened a new hospital near Baghdad International Airport July 30. Fresh from New Orleans, where the unit provided Hurricane Katrina disaster relief in October 2005, the 21st...

BASRA - The easiest way to describe a pasty, is a pot pie without the pot. Nobody knows for sure where and when the pasty originated, but it's thought to have been invented when the preparation of food became an art rather than roasting a hunk of meat on a stick. The Royal Air Force flew in hundreds of the hometown specialties for British Soldiers of Devonshire and Dorset Light Infantry, based in southern Iraq, for their Regimental Day on Saturday. A generous pasty shop in Plymouth, England, shipped more than 600 of their choice meat-filled delicacies to Iraq so...