Free Republic

World War II depth charges, smoke floats and munition cases are among the latest eerie relics to be discovered on a deep-water survey ten miles off the coast of LA. High–resolution cameras found a massive dumping ground of munitions from the Pacific War which were tossed overboard warships before they could endanger the ports they were returning to. A team from the University of California's San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography found the objects up to 3,000ft down between LA and Catalina Island, in the same area where thousands of barrels of the outlawed pesticide DDT were discovered three years...

Sixteen former DC officials and “legal experts” submitted a brief to the US Court of Appeals in President Trump’s immunity appeal, arguing against immunity for ex-presidents in criminal cases. The list of attorneys includes former Bushies, turncoat Bill Kristol, Ty Cobb, Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, a Mike Pence advisor, and unhinged nutcase George Conway. Here are the so-called “principled Republican” experts who are sh*tting on Trump today:

A case of malaria has been confirmed in Arkansas and is the first locally acquired case in the state in at least 40 years. The patient, who was not named, lives in Saline County and had not recently traveled out of the country. The case makes Arkansas the fourth state to report a locally acquired case of the disease this year, in another sign the disease may be gaining a foothold in the US for the first time in two decades. The patient was also the tenth to be infected on US soil this year, after seven locally-acquired infections were...

For the first time in 20 years, authorities have identified locally acquired malaria cases in the United States. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced last week that four Floridians and one person in Texas are being treated for the mosquito-borne illness. They say that the Texas case is not related to those in Florida. Malaria is a serious, potentially fatal disease that the CDC says should be treated as a medical emergency. However, it had been considered eliminated from the United States since 1951, thanks to the mosquito repellent known as DDT. The Excellent Powder U.S....

The Junkscience.com DDT FAQUsing DDT as an area pesticide for crops was problematical. Overuse of ANYTHING is problematical; hold somebody's head under water long enough and he will die, that does not mean we need to outlaw water... Using DDT to protect human habitats from the creatures of Pandora's box does not seem to hae had any sort of a downside. The main problem seems to have been that the patents for DDT had expired before they undeerstood its effect on insects, i.e. there were no obscene profits to be had with it. But, basically, they had a whole host...

The Trump administration has finalized a roll back of Obama-era regulations for oil trains. The rules, which date back to 2015, required railroads carrying crude oil or other flammable liquids to outfit their trains with more responsive electronic braking systems. The rules came in response to concerns about explosions and spills from mile-long trains of crude and ethanol. In the Northwest, those trains move along the Columbia River and through cities to coastal refineries. The U.S. Department of Transportation, which has been working on rescinding the rules since last December, said in statement this week that its analysis showed the...

I am glad to be alive after a bout with dengue fever. But many across the world are not so fortunate. More than 4000 die each year due to dengue, a severe mosquito-borne disease. It all began 10 days ago with intense fever. My body consistently clocked above 102 degrees Fahrenheit for 48 hours. Then followed severe pain in every part of the body. Once the fever and aching subsided, the second phase of the struggle began, with the blood platelet count falling dramatically. Often, as in my case, the blood platelet count recovers on its own slowly. But in...

MOSCOW: Soviet rock legend and outspoken Kremlin critic Yuri Shevchuk has been charged with “discrediting” the Russian army after condemning Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine during a concert. Shevchuk faces a maximum fine of 50,000 rubles (770 euros, $800) if found guilty. A case has been launched against him for “publicly discrediting the use of Russia’s armed forces,” a court in the city of Ufa in central Russia told the RIA Novosti news agency. RIA Novosti said the case would be transferred to Shevchuk’s hometown Saint Petersburg. On May 18, the 65-year-old performer told his audience in Ufa that it...

Russia may launch an attack on Ukraine on Saturday, February 19, 2022. The attack would likely begin with an air and missile campaign targeting much of Ukraine to decapitate the government and degrade the Ukrainian military as well as the ability of Ukrainian citizens to prepare to resist a subsequent Russian invasion. US and allied governments have been warning of such an attack for some days, pointing to the size of the Russian forces concentrated on Ukraine’s borders.[1] Western officials have additionally said that Russian troops have moved to jumping-off positions for an invasion over the past 24 hours. The...

Motorists seeing billboards with the words “Trump lost” may think it’s the work of a Democratic organization, but that’s not the case. A group called Republicans for Voting Rights is financing the billboards, which are popping up in some locations across the country, including the Harrisburg area. A billboard is positioned on the interchange of Route 581 and Interstate 83. The group says it is spending $250,000 on billboards in Pennsylvania and several other states where election reviews are being considered: Georgia, Texas, Arizona, Virginia, Wisconsin, Michigan and Florida. In Pennsylvania, Republican lawmakers, who control the General Assembly, are moving...

Hailed as a miracle in the 1950s, the potent bug killer DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane) promised freedom from malaria, typhus and other insect-borne diseases. Manufacturers promoted it as a “benefactor of all humanity” in advertisements that declared, “DDT Is Good for Me!” Americans sprayed more than 1.35 billion tons of the insecticide—nearly 7.5 pounds per person—on crops, lawns and pets and in their homes before biologist Rachel Carson and others sounded the alarm about its impacts on humans and wildlife. The fledgling U.S. Environmental Protection Agency banned DDT in 1972. Friends and family often ask Barbara Cohn, an epidemiologist at Oakland's Public...

A known DDT dump site off the coast of Southern California is considerably larger than suspected. Finding 2,500 barrels would’ve been a lot. Same for 250 barrels. Heck, even the discovery of 25 barrels at a former DDT dumpsite would’ve been upsetting. But 25,000 barrels? That’s astonishingly large. But such is the result of a recently concluded survey led by the University of California, San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography. From March 10 to 24, a team of researchers mapped 36,000 acres across a stretch of seafloor between Santa Catalina Island and the Los Angeles coast. This area was previously...

Just 10 miles off the coast of Los Angeles lurks an environmental disaster over 70 years in the making, which few have ever heard about. That is, until now, thanks to the research of a University of California marine scientist named David Valentine. Working with little more than rumors and a hunch, curiosity guided him 3,000 feet below the ocean's surface. A few hours of research time and an autonomous robotic submersible unearthed what had been hidden since the 1940s: countless barrels of toxic waste, laced with DDT, littering the ocean floor in between Long Beach and Catalina Island.

A new ad from an anti-Trump Republican group attacks the former president's allies in Congress, urging voters to reject some members of a party that peddles "lies, violence and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories." The roughly 60-second spot, by the Republican Accountability Project, features clips of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) declaring that Trump "won this election," and one of Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) urging people to "go to the streets and be violent." The spot will appear during Fox News' primetime lineup starting next week, the Huffington Post reported. It also takes aim at Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) for...

Defending Democracy Together, NeverTrumper and Bulwark Editor-at-Large Bill Kristol’s group, is pulling out all the stops in an attempt to destroy President Donald Trump’s reelection chances. Defending Democracy Together (DDT), which has received $1.6 million from liberal billionaire Pierre Omidyar’s Democracy Fund Voice, “has spent $11.5 million on independent expenditures opposing Trump or backing Democratic nominee Joe Biden,” according to Open Secrets. Reportedly, DDT is the “the top spending ‘dark money’ group of the 2020 election cycle so far.” Kristol is listed by Influence Watch as DDT’s “Board Chair.” Through its project Republican Voters Against Trump (RVAT), of which Kristol...

“We believe in American exceptionalism,” reads the opening line of the 2016 Republican Party Platform. “We believe the United States of America is unlike any other nation on earth.” Yet today, the Republican Party finds itself entertaining some of the same unsettling nativist and authoritarian impulses that characterized Europe throughout the 20th century. These ideals are antithetical to what it means to be a Republican, and what it means to be American. Defending Democracy Together is a 501c4 advocacy organization created by lifelong conservatives and Republicans — many of whom have served in Republican administrations and write for conservative publications....

Karma Forget the billions spent on China’s massive military build-up, the ongoing attempt to make the Chinese Communist Party the most powerful and feared force on the planet. The yellow peril is being decimated by tiny foes, one of them microscopic. All the chest-thumping and saber-rattling, and it finally comes down to a stand-off with a lowly bug that happens to hate communists. Boy, they didn’t see that coming! African Swine Fever (ASF) With a mortality rate near 100%, ASF has swept through China’s hog industry, decimating their primary source of protein. Best estimates put losses at 30-35% of China’s...

In continuing to explore the crystal structure of insecticides, the research team began studying fluorinated forms of DDT, swapping out chlorine atoms for fluorine. They prepared two solid forms of the compound—a monofluoro and a difluoro analog—and tested them on fruit flies and mosquitoes, including mosquito species that carry malaria, yellow fever, Dengue, and Zika. The solid forms of fluorinated DDT killed insects more quickly than did DDT; the difluoro analog, known as DFDT, killed mosquitoes two to four times faster. The researchers also made a detailed analysis of the relative activities of the solid-state forms of fluorinated DDT, noting...

FULL TITLE: BUGGED OUT Deadly ‘super mosquitoes that are even tougher’ accidentally created by scientists after bungled experiment ============================================================ GENETICALLY modified mosquitoes that were designed by scientists to help populations decrease are actually thriving. This is according to new research that claims the plan to create gene-hacked mosquitoes that have offspring which die immediately has spectacularly backfired and now scientists don't know what will happen next. he modified mosquitoes were released in Jacobina in Brazil and were supposed to mix with the local population and decrease numbers with their weak offspring genetics. Although the wild population did plummet for a...

A Massachusetts woman passed away this weekend after contracting eastern equine encephalitis, a rare mosquito-borne disease that can target the central nervous system. After her death, the woman’s daughter shared a touching tribute to the woman who taught her how to live life to the fullest. Laurie Sylvia started noticing symptoms just six days before her death at the age of 59. According to WCVB-TV, the cause of Sylvia’s death was, in fact, EEE, though the illness is incredibly rare in the United States. The virus, transmitted through mosquitos, causes brain infections, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The...