Fat and Infertile: New Study Raises Alarm Over Link Between Obesity and Low Sperm Count

/0 Comments/in , /by

Boys who are overweight in their adolescence face a higher risk of fertility issues later in adulthood, according to a new study in the European Journal of Endocrinology.

In April, a team of Italian researchers published their findings on a study of 268 children and adolescents between the ages of roughly 2 to 18. Scientists examined the relationship between weight, testicular volume, and insulin resistance. Male minors who were overweight or obese, they found, had lower testicular volume (TV), which is associated with lower sperm count.

“Childhood and adolescence represent an important time widow for testicular development,” researchers reported. “Therefore, these phases should be considered a critical moment for the prevention of andrological diseases that may arise later in life.”

The team concluded that “children and adolescents with overweight/obesity, hyperinsulinemia, and insulin resistance have lower TVs than their age-matched controls.” In other words, children and adolescents with excess weight and an abnormal insulin response were found to have lower testicular volume and thus likely lower sperm production.

The study’s findings contribute to the overwhelming research that points to obesity as the root cause of the West’s health crisis. Falling testosterone levels, a primary hormone for metabolic function, might even be a primary driver behind obesity in men today. Male testosterone levels have plummeted by double digits since the 1980s and remain in steep decline as endocrine-disrupting chemicals saturate the environment. (Read more from “Fat and Infertile: New Study Raises Alarm Over Link Between Obesity and Low Sperm Count” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

Oldest Near-Complete Hebrew Bible Copy Sells for Eye-Popping Figure at Auction: ‘Bedrock of Western Civilization’

/0 Comments/in , /by

Codex Sassoon, possibly the earliest near-complete copy of the Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament) known to exist, sold for more than $38 million at auction on Wednesday.

The medieval codex contains all 24 books of the canonical Hebrew Bible, which are the same 39 books in the English Old Testament. With only a few pages completely missing and many others partially missing, Codex Sassoon is possibly the oldest known near-complete copy of the Hebrew Bible.

Sotheby’s announced Wednesday that the American Friends of ANU — Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv had won the auction. Thanks to a donation from Alfred H. Moses, the museum acquired Codex Sassoon for $38.1 million. It will be housed at the museum.

“The Hebrew Bible is the most influential in history and constitutes the bedrock of Western Civilization,” Moses said in a statement. “I rejoice in knowing that it belongs to the Jewish people. It was my mission, realizing the historic significance of Codex Sassoon, to see it resides in a place with global access to all people.” (Read more from “Oldest Near-Complete Hebrew Bible Copy Sells for Eye-Popping Figure at Auction: ‘Bedrock of Western Civilization'” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

Migrant Child Dies in Federal Custody, Marking Third Such Death in Two Months

/0 Comments/in , /by

A migrant child died in federal custody, marking the third such death in roughly two months, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

An eight-year-old girl died in Border Patrol custody in Harlingen, Texas, after experiencing a medical emergency, CBP said in a statement late Wednesday. This is the third migrant child to die in the past two months, after a migrant child died in federal custody days before, and another died in mid-March.

“Consistent with CBP protocol, the Office of Professional Responsibility is conducting an investigation of the incident. The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General and the Harlingen Police Department were also notified. Additional information will be made available in accordance with CBP’s policy regarding deaths in custody,” CBP said in the statement. (Read more from “Migrant Child Dies in Federal Custody, Marking Third Such Death in Two Months” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

Whistleblower Issues Dark Warning to Fellow FBI Agents With Allegations of Wrongdoing

/0 Comments/in , /by

An FBI whistleblower said Thursday that he would not encourage other agents to come forward with allegations of wrongdoing, saying that their lives would be destroyed if they do so.

“I would tell them first to pray about it, long and hard,” FBI agent Garret O’Boyle said in response to a question about how he would advise a fellow agent who might want to disclose wrongdoing. “And I would tell them I could take it to Congress for them, or I could put them in touch with Congress. But I would advise them not to do it.”

O’Boyle had previously testified to the House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government that an indefinite FBI suspension left him and his family temporarily homeless. The FBI held his personal belongings and refused to release them as he and his family moved from Kansas to Virginia, he said. O’Boyle has alleged that the bureau improperly inflated case metrics, and that it targeted anti-abortion groups.

(Read more from “Whistleblower Issues Dark Warning to Fellow FBI Agents With Allegations of Wrongdoing” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

Blinken Raises Eyebrows With Wording of Condemnation of ‘Harmful Conversion Therapy Practices’: ‘Who’s Gonna Tell Him?’

/0 Comments/in , /by

In the LGBT activist calendar, Wednesday was reportedly the “International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia, and Transphobia,” when celebrants reiterate their opposition to traditional views on sexuality.

Various elements of the Biden administration paid homage, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken. However, with his supportive statement, Blinken appears to have unwittingly prompted debate on whether sex-change mutilations and puberty blockers fall into the camp of the “harmful conversion therapies” leftists are otherwise keen to denounce.

Blinked shared an image of the LGBT activists’ latest kaleidoscopic flag to Twitter with the message, “On International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia, and Transphobia we call for an end to harmful conversion therapy practices, including those that attempt to change a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or sex characteristics.”

A version of this message appeared, albeit with additional context, on the State Department website, noting that “In keeping with the WHO’s determination, last year, President Biden directed the U.S. government to promote an end to so-called ‘conversion therapy practices’ around the world.”

The statement stressed that “conversion therapy is a scientifically discredited practice that can cause significant physical and psychiatric harm, and in certain circumstances may amount to torture.” (Read more from “Blinken Raises Eyebrows With Wording of Condemnation of ‘Harmful Conversion Therapy Practices’: ‘Who’s Gonna Tell Him?’” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

Texas Children’s Hospital Performs Sex Change Procedures on Children as Young as 11: Report

/0 Comments/in , /by

The country’s largest children’s hospital performs sex change procedures on children as young as 11, according to a new report.

Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston inserted an implantable puberty blocker in multiple children, including at least one 11-year-old, according to whistleblower documents obtained by City Journal’s Christopher Rufo.

In March of last year, Texas Children’s Hospital executives said they would stop performing transgender medical procedures on minors due to legal and criminal liability concerns. Texas Governor Greg Abbott had just directed state agencies to investigate cases of children receiving transgender medical intervention as “child abuse.”

Around the same time, the hospital’s chief pediatrician, Dr. Catherine Gordon, who specialized in treating transgender youth, resigned after only six months on the job.

However, whistleblower documents obtained by City Journal show that the hospital has not stopped, but continues to perform these procedures. (Read more from “Texas Children’s Hospital Performs Sex Change Procedures on Children as Young as 11: Report” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

Ex-Biden Nuclear Official Sam Brinton Arrested as ‘Fugitive From Justice’

/0 Comments/in , /by

Sam Brinton, the “nonbinary” activist tapped by Joe Biden for a key nuclear role before he was fired for stealing women’s clothes, was arrested again Wednesday night as a “fugitive from justice” for allegedly stealing luggage, The Daily Wire has learned.

Montgomery County, Maryland, police arrested him at his home on Wednesday, police logs show. He is currently in jail and being held without bond. A judge denied Brinton’s request to turn himself in and ordered him extradited to Virginia on grand larceny charges.

A neighbor told The Daily Wire that “four unmarked police showed up last night, they would not let his spouse Kevin leave. After about an hour Sam Brinton was escorted out in handcuffs.”

The former Biden official pleaded “no contest” to misdemeanor theft last month after he was caught on video allegedly stealing luggage at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas. Brinton was initially charged with a felony when police believed he allegedly stole $3,670 worth of items, but he agreed to pay the victim more than $3,500 in restitution and received a suspended 180-day jail sentence, which meant he would serve no time behind bars as long as he stayed out of trouble. (Read more from “Ex-Biden Nuclear Official Sam Brinton Arrested as ‘Fugitive From Justice’” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

State Department Adds Email Pronouns for All Employees, Mislabeling Officials’ Genders

/0 Comments/in , /by

The State Department has added pronouns for each of its employees to its email system, in the process mislabeling the genders of at least a few officials. The change took place abruptly and without advance notice today, causing some confusion internally, a State Department source told National Review.

The State Department’s top spokesman, Matthew Miller, said in a tweet that the move was an unintentional error, which it is working to fix. Either way, the incident followed a series of steps taken since 2021 to embed diversity, equity, and inclusion principles at the core of American diplomacy, and this episode is also not the department’s first pronoun-related gaffe.

The Associated Press’s Matt Lee was the first to reveal the change publicly, raising it at the tail end of today’s State Department press briefing. NR has independently confirmed the change. In fact, the State Department’s new email gender-labeling change has assigned incorrect gender pronouns to some department officials, according to an email viewed by NR.

In a three-minute-long back-and-forth with principal deputy spokesman Vedant Patel, the AP’s Lee attempted to get him to acknowledge the change, which is visible both to State Department employees and those whom they email externally.

But even Patel seemed not to have been aware of the change, with Lee eventually asking, “I want to know if you’ve noticed anything different in the ‘From’ line, where it gives the sender.” Patel responded: “This would be a lot better if you would just ask what your question was.”

(Read more from “State Department Adds Email Pronouns for All Employees, Mislabeling Officials’ Genders” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

This Is the First State to Ban TikTok

/0 Comments/in , /by

Montana has become the first U.S. state to ban the China-owned app TikTok. Governor Greg Gianforte (R) announced Wednesday that he has singed legislation in order to protect his state’s residents from “the Chinese Communist Party.”

“The Chinese Communist Party using TikTok to spy on Americans, violate their privacy, and collect their personal, private, and sensitive information is well-documented,” Gianforte said.

“Today, Montana takes the most decisive action of any state to protect Montanans’ private data and sensitive personal information from being harvested by the Chinese Communist Party,” the governor added.

The law will reportedly let the Montana Department of Justice fine app stores or TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, $10,000 for each discrete violation, and $10,000 for each day that a violation continues. (Read more from “This Is the First State to Ban TikTok” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

Feinstein’s Health Worse Than Previously Disclosed; She Calls It ‘Really Bad Flu’

/0 Comments/in , /by

The health problems of ailing Sen. Dianne Feinstein are more serious than previously disclosed, including a case of encephalitis, according to a report Thursday.

The 89-year-old Ms. Feinstein, who returned to the Senate last week after a lengthy hospitalization for shingles, is suffering from vision and balance impairments and facial paralysis, The New York Times reported, citing two people familiar with her diagnosis.

The six-term lawmaker also has the previously unreported case of encephalitis, a swelling of the brain that can cause memory or language problems, confusion and other ill effects.

Absent from the Senate since February, Ms. Feinstein is using a wheelchair and appears “shockingly diminished,” the report said.

Ms. Feinstein denied having encephalitis. “It was a really bad flu,” she told CNN. “I’m doing better, thank you.” (Read more from “Feinstein’s Health Worse Than Previously Disclosed; She Calls It ‘Really Bad Flu’” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.