Free Republic

It’s a standing joke in my family that I love Keanu Reeves. It started in my 30s when I loved how he looked, but over the years, it’s morphed into respect for a man who works in a filthy industry but seems to have retained a strong moral compass and avoids all of Hollywood’s worst trends. It says something about the man that the Hamas lovers have come after him. One of the hallmarks of totalitarians is “hit lists.” Indeed, if you’re at all familiar with Giovannino Guareschi’s delightful Don Camillo books from the 1950s, which describe a small Italian...

KEY POINTS: * Patients taking diabetes and weight loss drugs say they’ve also noticed changes in their cravings for alcohol, nicotine, opioids and some compulsive behaviors, such as online shopping and gambling. * These anecdotal reports add to the growing list of potential benefits of GLP-1s like Ozempic and Wegovy beyond shedding unwanted pounds. * Several studies in animals back up those reports, but more research needs to be done in humans to prove that those treatments can curb addiction. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Heather Le Biller shed 9 pounds within the first week of taking Novo Nordisk ’s blockbuster diabetes drug Ozempic...

The Zigy electric quadricycle for one is a concept study at the moment, but its designers are seeking industry partners to move to prototyping - Andrea Mocellin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The design collaboration that brought us the Revolve wheelchair in 2021 has now turned its attention to the problem of inner-city mobility. Noting that many SUV-sized vehicles around town only have a single occupant, the team has designed a compact EV for one. The collaboration in question is between German mobility designer Andrea Mocellin and engineering consultancy Dexet Technologies. The Zigy concept was inspired by the narrow and congested roads of London,...

Another out-of-season storm is brewing near Hawaii and is likely to deliver much heavier rain than the first, as an atmospheric river will become involved, AccuWeather meteorologists warn. A storm locally called a Kona Low, which is a storm in the middle levels of the atmosphere, brought rounds of rain to parts of the islands from late last week to Mother's Day weekend. Up to several inches of rain brought localized flooding to Oahu and Kauai. Earlier this spring, another Kona Low brought tremendous rainfall and flooding to part of the island chain. In a matter of hours, the storm...

Leftists are enraged after Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker’s commencement address at Benedictine College went viral earlier this week, and a petition calling for the Catholic player to be dismissed collected over 100,000 signatures. Butker, a three-time Super Bowl champion, delivered the commencement address at the Catholic liberal arts college in Atchison, Kansas, last weekend. During the address, he pulled no punches, calling out President Joe Biden’s support for abortion and criticizing LGBTQ “Pride month.” A Change.org petition created on Monday now calls on the Chiefs to “Dismiss Harrison Butker for Discriminatory Remarks.” “The harmful remarks made by Harrison...

Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker delivered a powerful address espousing Christian values to a group of graduates at Benedictine College on Saturday. Now, the NFL is saying they disagree with Butker. In his commencement speech, the Butker blasted President Joe Biden for his pro-abortion stances, urged male grads to embrace masculinity, and championed the virtues of motherhood by telling female graduates there is no higher calling than being a homemaker. On Wednesday, in a statement to People, NFL Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer Jonathan Beane clarified that Butker’s values are not the NFL’s. “Harrison Butker gave a...

Editor’s note: John Hinshaw is being held in federal custody at the Alexandria Detention Center, Alexandria, Virginia, along with six other pro-life activists for participating in a traditional pro-life rescue of the unborn at a late-term abortion center in Washington, D.C. Hinshaw was just sentenced to 21 months in prison, with credit for 9 months already served, by pro-abortion Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly under charges of violations of the FACE Act and “conspiracy against rights.” WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — Since my conviction and imprisonment in August 2023 for the October 2020 pro-life rescue at the late-term abortuary of Cesare Santangelo (see...

From NEXTDOOR policy. “…We stand in solidarity with neighbors advocating for racial justice and those speaking out against hate. These issues are relevant in neighborhoods everywhere -- that’s why we allow conversations in support of Black Lives Matter, Stop Asian Hate, and other movements that advocate for racial equality and civil rights anywhere on Nextdoor as long as they adhere to our community guidelines. Content posted in opposition or as a rebuttal to support for racial equality is counterproductive and harmful. We ask that neighbors be mindful of engaging constructively in discussions on these issues. While neighbors are free to...

A teen robbery crew ambushed more than a dozen victims — most around their own age — during a months-long violent mugging spree in and around the Bronx’s Claremont Park, police said this week. Three boys, 13, 14 and 17, plus an 18-year-old, Sincere Johnson, have been arrested in connection to the string of callous crimes that began back in January, the NYPD said — adding cops are still hunting for at least two more suspects. Most of the victims — some of whom were punched or threatened with knives during the muggings — were teenagers, as young as 14,...

If you are graduating from college this year, I suspect you’re not too familiar with George Carlin. So before you become inflamed about the (intentionally) harsh title, let me tell you I plagiarized it from Carlin, who was one of the best American comedians of the last 100 years. His show You Are All Diseased is available on YouTube, and it is so good that I was willing to start by alienating you a bit just to plug it here. You’re welcome. It is especially recommended if you’re in any kind of altered state of mind. Speaking of states of...

PM 4Liberty, if you want On/Off this listhttps://pluto.tv/live-tv/americas-voicehttps://americasvoice.news/Tune in via Roku/AppleTV/AmazonFire with the America’s Voice App https://americasvoice.appLIVE STREAM all Bannon shows & find past episodes here: https://rumble.com/c/BannonsWarRoom | https://americasvoice.news/playlists/the-war-room/

Utah farm boy Dylan Rounds’ cause of death was revealed Wednesday as the “killer squatter” accused in the disappearance and death of the teen in 2022 pleaded guilty to murder. James Brenner, appearing in Utah’s First District Court for a preliminary hearing, pleaded guilty to a felony murder charge and two counts of possession of a firearm by a restricted person related to Rounds’ disappearance on Memorial Day weekend two years ago. During the preliminary hearing, Rounds’ cause of death was revealed as a gunshot wound to the head. As part of a plea deal, Brenner’s first-degree felony aggravated murder...

The “Muslim grievance” mantra is back. Israel’s war in Gaza, we are again being told, is going to prompt aggrieved Muslims the world over to resort to terrorism — the “weapon of the weak.”

The DOJ’s troubles are at least partly the result of an inspector general who has completely fallen down on the job of holding the agency accountable. The Department of Justice, and specifically its Office of Inspector General (OIG), loves to give the impression that its offices are staffed by independent, nonpartisan lawyers whose only goal is to investigate and root out corruption within the department. Records, however, show the watchdog is staffed by Democrat activists eager to use their power to crush their political enemies. This partisanship has been on display in how the OIG, the DOJ’s internal watchdog office,...

Former Trump fixer Michael Cohen’s ex-lawyer told lawmakers during a House Committee hearing Wednesday that Cohen admitted in 2018 that he had concocted the hush-money scheme himself and had no incriminating evidence against then-President Donald Trump. The Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government held a hearing Wednesday to examine “the use of lawfare tactics to weaponize the rule of law.” In prepared testimony before the Select Subcommittee, prominent New York defense attorney Robert Costello alleged that Cohen told him that he didn’t “have anything on Donald Trump,” but he would do “whatever the f-ck I have to...

It’s been a long and disgraceful road to the propaganda factories American universities have become. Forty-nine years ago, a kind of ideological “Fifth Column” comprising members of America’s “New Left” hailed the triumph of their comrades in Hanoi over the embattled Republic of [South] Vietnam. After over a half a century of agitation and propaganda, they lauded a communist conquest logistically enabled by the Soviet Union and Communist China, achieved by conventional military means and effected through a blitzkrieg involving half a million men and several hundred tanks, as an achievement on behalf of peace. In similar terms, at once...

ransomnote: I posted Matt Taibbi's introduction to the article below. Follow the link for the core of the article.Susan Schmidt, Andrew Lowenthal, Tom Wyatt and 5 others provide a well organized overview to their extensive research. They describe 30 main players in the Censorship-Industrial Complex (CIC), and another 20 in the 'honorable mentions' catagory. I will put a hyperlinked table of contents in post #1. Illustration by mrmooremedia.comIntroduction by Matt TaibbiOn January 17, 1961, outgoing President and former Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower gave one of the most consequential speeches in American history. Eisenhower for eight years had been...

There’s nothing more frustrating than working your socks off only to see someone else get all the credit for your efforts. Spare a thought, then, for the minds behind some of history’s most significant innovations, who, despite months, years, or in some cases lifetimes of work, find someone else’s name ignominiously attached to their invention. Sometimes inventions are miscredited in the public consciousness simply because a more famous name becomes associated with the creation. For example, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford — two of modern history’s most well-known innovators — are often credited with things they didn’t actually invent, through...

Arguably no period in European history is as misunderstood as the Middle Ages, which stretched from the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century CE to the rise of the Renaissance roughly 1,000 years later. The myths surrounding this fascinating period of kingdoms and peasants are so prevalent that they led medieval historian Winston Black to write, “The first thing to understand about the Middle Ages… is that they do not actually exist.” The popular perception of life in feudal Europe (exacerbated by Hollywood depictions) is that it was prudish, brutish, and excessively foul, but society was...

… Bx, a Twitter libertarian and “independent investigator,” recently tweeted about a first date she went on that almost ended in disaster. Or as she wrote, “Last night I was on a first date and at the end of the night he opened my car door for me and my holstered gun fell out of my new purse and hit the road and my Shield Arms mag exploded and sent 9mm ammo flying everywhere, and then we spent the next 15 minutes trying to find all the ammo and the mag spring. Am I getting a second date?” She added,...