Free Republic

Some Ebola Patients Should Get Placebo in Drug Tests: FDA "Edward Cox, director of the FDA’s Office of Antimicrobial Products, said Wednesday that some patients with Ebola need to forgo potentially life-saving treatments so researchers can see how they fare compared to those who receive the experimental drugs .... Cox noted that randomised studies would be "challenging," but they are necessary ..."

GOP wins in Mass., N.H. would raise Romney stockFormer Bay State governor Mitt Romney’s high-profile campaign stops for Republicans Charlie Baker and Scott Brown this week indicate the exploding popularity of the former presidential nominee — and GOP wins in those races could vault him to the top of the 2016 White House sweepstakes. “He’s been extremely well-received across the country and he’s the only candidate with an instant national network,” said Saul Anuziz, former GOP chairman in Michigan. “He would definitely be a viable candidate.” .... A Brown victory over incumbent U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire, home...

IDF Opens Hospital for Palestinians, Hamas Prevents Access The IDF has opened a temporary hospital for Palestinians on the Israeli side of the Erez Crossing. Even as terrorists fire rockets at Israel, the hospital is treating wounded civilians in cooperation with the Red Crescent. Hamas, the terrorist organization that rules Gaza, has prevented Palestinians from entering Israel in order to reach the hospital.Click for video: Israeli doctors treat wounded Palestinians at an IDF hospital near Gaza.

Massachusetts now forced into border spat It’s finally been confirmed what was suspected all along — Massachusetts is feeling the pain of the chaotic border crisis. Forget the denials. Secret flights of illegal immigrants have made their way to Bedford and Boston. .... We’ve learned from immigration officials that four planes filled with detainees ... as the U.S. scrambles to cap the immigration crisis. .... This should alarm everybody in the Bay State, because we don’t know how many illegals are passing through or hanging around; what communicable diseases they may carry; if any are sex offenders, drug-runners, gang members...

Romney rips N.H. official’s ‘vile epithet’ (Calls on town officer to quit) [Mitt Defends Obama] May 17, 2014 - "Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has called on a New Hampshire town official to resign for calling President Obama a racial epithet. The Wolfeboro, N.H., police commissioner who has stood by his comment calling President Obama a racial slur is facing a growing cascade of calls to step down, including from the tiny lakeside town’s most famous summer resident — one-time Obama opponent Mitt Romney. “The vile epithet used and confirmed by the commissioner has no place in our community ,”...

Rand Paul calls for Republican shakeup - ‘Evolve, adapt or die’(after meeting Team Romney yesterday) "National Republicans — still smarting from Democratic drubbings in the last two presidential contests — face a stark scenario of “evolve, adapt or die” as they plot their next campaign to take back the Oval Office in 2016, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky told the Herald yesterday in an exclusive interview. Paul ... said the Republican Party has to rewrite its standard platform to woo minorities into a broad coalition that can win national races. A Tea Party favorite and a former ophthalmologist,...

GOP seeks coverage choices in health law they hate " ..... House Republicans quietly secured a recent change in President Barack Obama's health law to expand coverage choices, a striking, one-of-a-kind departure from dozens of high-decibel attempts to repeal or dismember it. Rory Cooper, a spokesman for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said, "This is another in a series of changes to Obamacare that the House has supported to help save Americans from being harmed by the law, and we're glad to see the President signed it into law." Cantor was involved in negotiations on the legislation, which were...

EPA Tested Deadly Pollutants on Humans to Push Obama Admin’s Agenda "The Environmental Protection Agency has been conducting dangerous experiments on humans over the past few years in order to justify more onerous clean air regulations. The agency conducted tests on people with health issues and the elderly, exposing them to high levels of potentially lethal pollutants, without disclosing the risks of cancer and death, according to a newly released government report. These experiments exposed people, including those with asthma and heart problems, to dangerously high levels of toxic pollutants, including diesel fumes, reads a EPA inspector general report obtained...

Western sources: Israel Air Force hits SS-21 batteries, first attack in Syrian war on nuclear-capable missiles Western military and intelligence sources report that Israeli Air Force strikes in Lebanon and Syria overnight Monday, Feb. 24 came on the heels of the first use in the three-year Syrian war of a Russian-made nuclear-capable Tochka (Point) surface missile - NATO-coded SS-21 Scarab - which carries a 480-kilo warhead with a range of 70 km. These missiles were fired earlier Monday in the Syrian-Hizballah battle for Yabroud. There was no information about the effect of the Israeli strikes.

IRS Official in Charge During Tea Party Targeting Now Runs Health Care Office The Internal Revenue Service official in charge of the tax-exempt organizations at the time when the unit targeted tea party groups now runs the IRS office responsible for the health care legislation. Sarah Hall Ingram served as commissioner of the office responsible for tax-exempt organizations between 2009 and 2012. ... Ingram ... is now the director of the IRS’ Affordable Care Act office...

Russian passenger plane escapes missile fire over Syria (??First use of MANPADs????) An aircraft belonging to the Russian charter air carrier Nordwind Airlines with 200 passengers aboard was flying over Syria from the Egyptian Sinai town of Sharm el-Sheikh Monday when it was targeted by two ground-to-air missiles. The pilots managed to maneuver the plane to safety without damage or casualties. It landed at its destination at the town of Kazan in the Russian republic of Tatarstan. An informed source in Moscow said the missiles launched by an unidentified force exploded in the air very close to the aircraft. They...

(Massachusetts) Auditor finds 119 matches between day cares and sex offenders "A shocking state audit released today revealed 119 cases where addresses for registered sex offenders matched those of child care providers licensed by the beleaguered state Department of Early Education and Care. .... But Bump’s audit also discovered EEC — whose $197,585 a year commissioner Sherri Killins resigned earlier this month amid a Herald investigation — failed to ensure child-care providers run required CORI checks on staffers. .... In a one-year period, EEC didn’t perform a single unannounced inspection of a home-based child-care center, which are required by law,...

Al Qaeda brigade captures Syrian-Israeli-Jordanian border junction Al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra fighters on Golan March 25, 2013 - "The highly strategic intersection of the Syrian, Israeli and Jordan borders, just east of the Golan, was captured by the Al Musanna Brigade of al Qaeda’s Syrian arm, Jabhat al-Nusra on Passover Eve, Monday, March 25 ... This put the jihadists directly opposite 14 Israeli southern Golan villages and at a distance of 5-6 kilometers from one of Israel’s earliest kibbutzim, Ein Gev, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. ... this sensitive area fell to al Qaeda in a fierce battle...

With Brown out, GOP mulls Romney energy (He's back; Mr. RomneyCARE and family for MA Senate)) "Massachusetts Republicans are desperately scrambling to find a strong Senate candidate to replace Scott Brown, with some even trying to persuade Mitt Romney’s wife or son to jump into the race to avert another electoral disaster. ... Other GOP leaders also raised the prospect of Mitt’s eldest son, Tagg, launching a surprise Senate campaign. Tagg Romney was a close campaign adviser and surrogate for his father and is a successful businessman living in Belmont."

Stephanopoulos: No Bias in Media [... Shameless untruth] [Short video at Breitbart-TV] MRCTV's Joe Schoffstall ran into "Good Morning America" host [and past White House spokesman] George Stephanopoulos at the Republican National Convention. ... asked if he believes there is a liberal bias in the media, he responds,"I don't." ... asked again, he walks away. Flashback:

Bully story a black eye for Mitt Romney "Straight-laced and squeaky clean Mitt Romney must show he’s not the teen bully critics now say he was, if he hopes to limit the damage from a published report on his prep school days that paints him as a cruel and possibly homophobic prankster who once pinned a vulnerable schoolmate down and cut his bleached-blond locks .... Republican consultant John Feehery called the Washington Post report “troubling” for Romney’s presidential bid.... “For independents, it’s a troubling story. ... They don’t like bullies, and anti-bullying has become a issue on the national stage,”...

Mitt Romney to roll up delegates in 5 GOP primaries [Milt predicts total win] David Lightman and Erika Bolstad ASTON, Pa. — "Mitt Romney is expected to win all five Republican presidential primaries Tuesday, but Pennsylvania and Connecticut will be watched closely for signs that he could headed for trouble in those states in November. A weaker-than-expected showing in Pennsylvania against Rick Santorum, who represented the state in the U.S. Senate from 1995 to 2007, would raise fresh questions about Romney’s appeal in a general-election swing state. ... Connecticut also will offer some clues about Romney’s November prospects there. The...

Battle of the trophy houses "It’s the battle of the Left Coast trophy homes, with White House wannabe Mitt Romney squaring off against New England Patriots. Both of the 1 Percenters have chosen oh-so-pricey neighborhoods in Southern California for their dream homes. No. 12 just moved into his massive Brentwood manse after nearly two years of construction. Romney bought an existing home in swish La Jolla that he wants to rip down and replace with a newer model. He’s been lobbying San Diego officials for permits for four years. So how do the two mega-manses stack up?" [more at URL]

Romney-tied PAC has taste for secrecy [Millions in gifts tied to obscure or shell firms] "Among all the super PACs that have brought a deluge of big-money donations into the presidential nomination race, only the one allied with Mitt Romney has established a pattern of accepting big contributions from corporate entities that tend to obscure the actual source of the money or appear to have been created specifically as vehicles to mask the wealthy donors. Twice, the Restore Our Future super PAC has amended its reports to the Federal Election Commission after media reports indicated that contributions of $1 million...