Free Republic

Today we investigate one of the biggest medical controversies of our time: vaccines. There’s little dispute about this much-- vaccines save many lives, and rarely, they injure or kill. A special federal vaccine court has paid out billions for injuries from brain damage to death. But not for the form of brain injury we call autism. Now—we have remarkable new information: a respected pro-vaccine medical expert used by the federal government to debunk the vaccine-autism link, says vaccines can cause autism after all. He claims he told that to government officials long ago, but they kept it secret. Yates Hazlehurst...

WASHINGTON — A Republican senator is demanding that the Trump administration and a university scrutinize how a researcher was able to inject an experimental herpes vaccine into human subjects without routine safety oversight. In letters sent out Thursday, Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley also told the administration and Southern Illinois University that he wanted to be reassured that “corrective action" was being taken to prevent similar research abuses. Southern Illinois University professor William Halford tested his experimental herpes vaccine on participants in the Caribbean and in U.S. hotel rooms without Food and Drug Administration or institutional review board oversight. After Halford...

Prosecutors have asked the judge in the Bundy case to limit defense theories, and not allow Cliven Bundy, his two sons and Ryan Payne to claim federal officers provoked their armed standoff over the roundup of Bundy cattle, or that they were entrapped or acted in self-defense in April 2014. In a motion filed late Monday, Acting U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre argues that the defendants are relying on "theories of defenses that are not legally cognizable.'' The motion to restrict the defense theories comes as the trial is stalled, and the judge is considering whether the government violated its obligation...

It has been more than four years since I received that first phone call from Dr. William Thompson, a scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), who is now under whistleblower protection. During these years, I was in direct contact with Dr. Thompson. We probably had more than 40 phone conversations and exchanged more than 10,000 pages of documents. All of the information was then shared with Rep. William J. Posey (R-8-Fla.) The phone conversations including both audio and written transcripts are available at the website: http://fearlessparent.org/whyis-thimerosal-still-in-vaccines-recording-1/. Dr. Thompson’s story has now been told in two books,...

An unpredictable public health concern is being highlighted in Terre Haute and other Hoosier communities in honor of a local toddler who died in 2014. Allison Jean Hescher died at age 16 months in her crib at home. An autopsy and investigation revealed no known cause of death for the little girl, leading to the category of Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood, or SUDC. Now, her mother, Karen Hescher, is bringing the SUDC Banner Project to the area to spread awareness and share the SUDC Foundation’s support and advocacy for families who have experienced the sudden, unexpected death of their...

The night that Stephen Paddock opened fire on thousands of people at a Las Vegas country music concert, nearby Sunrise Hospital received more than 200 penetrating gunshot wound victims. Dr. Kevin Menes was the attending in charge of the ED that night, and thanks to his experience supporting a local SWAT team, he’d thought ahead about how he might mobilize his department in the event of a mass casualty incident. This is his story, as told to Judith Tintinalli, MD, MS Edited by Logan Plaster I’m a night shift doc. My work week is Friday to Monday, 8 p.m. to...

The equation for the latest way to protect newborns from sudden infant death goes as follows: Technology + Smart, Practical Thinking = Greater Safety Credit doctors and nurses from three university medical schools for developing an ingeniously straightforward method that reinforces essential child care methods for sleep-deprived parents – at a time when they're most prone to overlook them. Specifically, these professionals determined, as stated in a news release announcing the findings, that a "series of educational videos delivered by text or email successfully encouraged new mothers to use safe sleep practices for their babies, reducing the risk of sudden...

A California deputy attorney general pleaded not guilty to charges related to possession of child pornography, according to reports Thursday. Raymond Joseph Liddy was arrested Tuesday but was later released after posting a $100,000 bond. In January, an electronic service provider tipped off the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about a user uploading an image appearing to be child porn. A similar tip was sent to the San Diego Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force about a month later and it the activity was traced to a house in Coronado in San Diego County. Federal authorities recovered 10...

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one of every 68 children born in the United States has autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Though all races, ethnicities and socioeconomic groups are affected by ASD, myths and misunderstandings still persist in media, schools and workplaces — that childhood vaccines are a cause has been disproved, yet the rumor refuses to die. April is World Autism Awareness month, so we spoke with Dr. Joseph Buxbaum, a molecular geneticist and neurobiologist who directs the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at Mount Sinai Health System, to separate fact from fiction. What...

Vaccine fears are on display today in Washington, D.C. A group called Revolution for Truth is leading an anti-vaccine event that includes a rally outside the National Press Club and talks by at least 15 speakers. The day will culminate with a speech by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an outspoken opponent to vaccines and founder of the World Mercury Project. The stated purpose of the event is to protest the biased media coverage, exploitation by the pharmaceutical industry and government protection that, the group says, perpetuate the use of what it says are dangerous inoculations. Several dozen people gathered outside...

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will deliver the keynote address March 31 at the Revolution for Truth rally in Washington, D.C., organized by the Vaccination Injury Awareness League to call for more transparency in the research and government approval process of an ever-expanding schedule of vaccines. Kennedy has said that he is “pro-vaccine,” but he believes more research should be done to investigate potential health risks and is critical of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s handling of the issue. “CDC recommended five pediatric vaccines when I was a boy in 1954,” says Kennedy, son of the late U.S. Senator...

After watching the new documentary Vaxxed: From Cover-up to Catastrophe, it is easy to see why the establishment is trying so hard to make sure you never watch it. At the very least, the movie raises some extremely troubling questions that absolutely must be answered, as quickly as possible. If the experts, doctors, parents, and others interviewed in the 91-minute film are even partially correct, millions of lives are being needlessly destroyed, and the cost to taxpayers will likely reach into the trillions of dollars. But the movie does more than just raise troubling questions. It exposes a conspiracy —...

As officials continue to search for a Memphis architect and his wife still missing after devastating fires that hit Gatlinburg this week, family and friends are using social media to provide updates on the family. Jon Summers and his wife, Janet, haven't been found, friends said, and their three sons — Branson and twins Wesley and Jared — have been hospitalized after being caught in the fire. All three sons are at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, family friends confirmed. “The boys are doing much better. That’s great news,” Steve Berger, president of the architectural firm that employs Jon Summers, said...

GATLINBURG — Firefighters across the state scrambled to douse the wildfires raging through East Tennessee Tuesday morning, and the Tennessee National Guard made plans to dump water onto the flames from a helicopter. Emergency responders have struggled to make a dent into the fires that have devastated Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and surrounding areas in Sevier County since high winds helped the flames spread Monday evening Article continues, "Hillbilly Golf, major hotels, a good portion of Regan Drive and countless other businesses and homes were destroyed in the blaze that had firefighters working throughout the night. "The center of Gatlinburg looks...

With the “outrageous lawbreaker” Cliven Bundy and four of his sons in custody, U.S. Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada took to the Senate floor Thursday to renew his push to preserve the scenic Gold Butte area northeast of Las Vegas. “Because of trouble caused by the Bundys and their pals, the federal employees tasked with safely guarding these antiquities, were prevented from doing their jobs,” he said. Reid also called attention in his speech to the armed takeover of a government wildlife refuge in Oregon earlier this year “by a dangerous group of militants” that included Bundy family members. Reid...

The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office released video footage Tuesday shot from Ryan Bundy’s cellphone in the moments before and after police shot wildlife refuge occupier Robert “LaVoy” Finicum. Ryan Bundy, the brother of Ammon Bundy, was one of the leaders of the occupation at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. The footage is shot from inside Finicum’s truck during a fatal Oregon State Police traffic stop Jan. 26. “We got too lackadaisical trying to speak to people,” Ryan Bundy said in the video after Finicum died. “But anyway they ambushed us on the way to John Day.” Finicum, an Arizona rancher...

Rep. Paul Gosar (AZ-04) questions BLM Director Neil Kornze during a House Oversight Subcommittee hearing about the coordination between the White House and the BLM to lock up more public lands in Western states using the Antiquities Act.

B.J. Soper of Redmond, member of Pacific Patriots Network, and former Harney County fire official Chris Briels speak at Bend news conference Tuesday, one of four held around West refuting federal claims of millions in damage caused to Malheur Refuge during 41-day occupation BEND, Ore. - Supporters of the Malheur National Wildlife refuge occupiers who were arrested at the end of the 41-day takeover held four news conferences Tuesday at which they claimed it was the federal government -- not the occupiers -- who caused the damage in recently released photos. At the Bend event outside the Deschutes County Courthouse,...

A U.S. judge has approved the extradition of a New Hampshire man to Nevada, where he is to face trial on charges that he helped organize a high-profile armed standoff with federal agents at the ranch of Cliven Bundy in 2014. The transfer of Jerry DeLemus, 61, to Nevada may proceed since no order was received from the U.S. District Court in Nevada staying the transfer, according to a ruling issued late on Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Andrea Johnstone. No date has been set for the extradition. DeLemus is a well-known conservative activist who co-chairs the New Hampshire Veterans...

Ten Facts That Point Out LaVoy Was Murdered By Red Smith- The murder of LaVoy Finicum, a Constitutional activist, late last January has raised the ire of many across the nation. The initial narrative clung to by law enforcement officials, that they did not fire upon Mr. Finicum until he was believed to be reaching for a firearm, has been proven a categorical lie and left tattered in the bloody Eastern Oregon snowbank it originated in. Upon reviewing the hundreds of pages of documents made available by the Deschutes County Sheriff investigation team regarding the shooting, several facts have been...