Free Republic

Musk understands what many commentators don’t: The war will end in a negotiated settlement or it will escalate, possibly into nuclear war.As if to burnish his reputation as a super-villain in the eyes of the corporate press, Elon Musk this week floated an idea on Twitter for a possible resolution of the Russo-Ukrainian war. For his trouble, he was swiftly accused of being a pro-Putin stooge by guardians of the Official Narrative. His suggested peace plan was dismissed out of hand as “Russia-friendly” and, as The Washington Post’s Olivier Knox put it, “designed to lock in Russian territorial gains.”But Musk’s...

-snip- You are different and you are special. Beethoven, Mozart, Michelangelo, Thomas Edison and Mark Twain possibly had Asperger Syndrome. So had my intellectual ancestor, Charles Darwin. Woody Allen and Bill Gates probably have it. So did Michael Jackson, a source of great inspiration to me and others. Call it genetic, call it developmental, it does not matter. Many proud Aspies and I stand with you.

PITTSBURGH -- A hearing was held Thursday in federal court for a Harrison Township man who the FBI said posted extremist views online under an alias and bit two agents while in possession of a loaded gun. Channel 4 Action News' Sheldon Ingram reported that the FBI laid out Emerson Begolly's profile in court, and they want to know if he's a dangerous sympathizer for Islamic extremists or someone in need of psychiatric care. Ingram reported that Begolly, of the Natrona Heights area, was a student at Penn State New Kensington but left school. Penn State officials said he had...

Mystery 'pilot' cannot tell police his origin By Petra Krischok in Berlin Last Updated: 2:17am BST 12/07/2007 German police are trying to identify a man they believe to be British, who has a detailed knowledge of military planes but cannot tell them where he comes from. Karl has been named 'the pilot' The man, who calls himself Karl, has been cared for in a nursing home. He was found in a confused state in the city of Heidelberg three days ago. Echoing the case of the "piano man" in England, Karl is known as "the pilot" to staff because of...

Burt Bacharach's daughter commits suicide Fri Jan 5, 2006 The only child of pop songwriter Burt Bacharach and actress Angie Dickinson has committed suicide after a lifetime struggling with a form of autism, a spokeswoman for the former couple said on Friday. Nikki Bacharach, 40, died "quietly and peacefully" at her home in the northern Los Angeles municipality of Thousand Oaks on Thursday night, a statement said. The spokeswoman declined to specify the cause of death. She was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome following her premature birth in 1966, and her father recounted her struggles that year in the song "Nikki."...

More than one in 500 children have some form of autism, according to the Centers for Disease Control. All autistic children suffer from an impaired ability to communicate and relate to others, but some of them are able to socially interact to a greater degree than their peers. A recent study of a group of these so-called high functioning autistics suggests the neurological basis for their social impairment. Neuroscientist Mirella Dapretto of the University of California Los Angeles and her colleagues surveyed the brains of 10 autistic children and an equal number of nonautistic children as they watched and imitated...

BOOKS ON HEALTH "Through the Glass Wall: Journeys into the Closed-Off Worlds of the Autistic'' by Dr. Howard Buten. Bantam Books, $23.95. "Asperger Syndrome and Your Child: A Parent's Guide'' by Dr. Michael D. Powers with Janet Poland. Quill (Harper/Collins), $14.95. At on time or another, every child experiences sadness, anger and loneliness, and displays a range of odd mannerisms. When these normal feelings are overwhelming and interfere with their daily lives, the behavior has become a disorder. Autism and Asperger's syndrome are closely related pervasive developmental disorders. Asperger's is often less severe, but both are marked, among other characteristics,...