Free Republic

A Nova Scotia school is causing controversy after deciding to stop celebrating Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, instead opting to recognize the International Day of Families instead. The Dartmouth elementary school said it is aiming to celebrate diversity and inclusivity while avoiding making children who are part of non-traditional families feel left out.

It eventually comes down to who — who at the IRS was responsible for targeting conservative and Tea Party groups for special scrutiny. Because, after all, you can’t put a “system” in jail. You can’t put a report in prison. You can’t indict a department for corruption. At the end of the day it’s people who are responsible for using the enormous powers of the Internal Revenue Service to go after other people and groups because of their political beliefs. U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) told the tale of one of his constituents who applied for tax-exempt status for her...

May 18, 2013 Evidence Emerges That Obama Administration Official Knew of IRS Targeting During 2012 Campaign By Margaret Brennan (CBS News) WASHINGTON - There were new questions Saturday night concerning if anyone in the White House was aware of the IRS' targeting of conservative groups. Inspector General Russell George said he informed a deputy at the Treasury Department in June of 2012 about the probe into the IRS. The Treasury Department confirmed the timeline but said they did not know the details of the investigation until last week. It's the first evidence that someone within the Obama administration knew about...

From The White House web site: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Facts-Are-Stubborn-Things/ "There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov." Yes, you read that correctly. The Orwellian White House wants to silence the opposition...

Bill Maher on Friday once again exposed himself as a total hypocrite. Minutes after telling his HBO Real Time panel "the Second Amendment is bulls--t," he admitted having two firearms in his house - "one upstairs and one down" - claiming, "As long as we live in the gun country, I ain’t giving up my gun"

When in doubt, pull it out. Pull what out, you ask? Why, the Race Card, of course. It always comes in handy whenever Our President comes under attack. And so it is for such a time as this that the Race Card was created. For this has been a very rough week or so for Dear Leader. I mean, the Benghazi scandal, which just won't go away, now has been joined by the IRS targeting scandal and the AP record-seizing scandal. Oy! Time for the Big Guy to take a golfing vacation somewhere, I guess, to get a little...

THE BRONX, NYC, NY -- After a year of public outrage and legal proceedings, a judge has simply thrown out the indictment of Officer Richard Haste, who gunned down an unarmed man inside his own home, without a warrant. Haste was facing manslaughter charges until the judge tossed the indictment. https://www.facebook.com/PoliceStateUSA In February 2012, police broke into the home of 18-year-old Ramarley Graham without a warrant, did not announce themselves as police, shoved guns in the faces of the residents and ultimately gunned down Graham for no reason.

Anne Hendershott, an eloquent opponent of the Obama administration, states that she has reason to believe she was targeted by the IRS for an audit following publications that were critical of President Obama and Catholics who supported him. Aleteia, a Catholic publication, reports that Hendershott, a Catholic scholar, sociology professor at Franciscan University at Steubenville, Ohio, and columnist for the Wall St. Journal, may have been harassed by the IRS for specifically opposing the policies of the Obama administration. “I have no proof of it being a political audit,” Hendershott said. “Only the curious circumstance surrounding it. My husband...

CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson did several interviews last week that discussed her investigative work on CBS, especially the Benghazi scandal. On C-SPAN’s Washington Journal on Monday, Attkison said the Obama administration has "perfected" delaying public release of information, and reported the White House has "quit talking" to her altogether.

You’ll find the information needed to attend today’s anti-SAFE Act rally in the activism tab-in our latest update-but an equally important date is right around the corner. Remember 1986-an exceptional organization created to prevent history from repeating itself-is holding a nationwide press event this coming Tuesday! The public event in Arizona-the state whose courageous example inspired the creation of American Rattlesnake-is merely one of many being held around the country to echo the sentiments of millions of Americans who refuse to accept the imposition of another legislative amnesty by an unaccountable Congress and White House. Florida will be holding a...

Judge Jeanine: "No One In This Administration Knows ANYTHING!"

Michelle Obama Makes Light of President’s Failures in Graduation Speech Email23Smaller FontTextLarger Text|Print By Arlette Saenz May 18, 2013 Delivering her only speech at a high school graduation this year, first lady Michelle Obama joked about the failures her husband, President Obama, has encountered in life as she told a graduating class of high school seniors in Nashville, Tenn. today that in order to achieve success in life, they must first experience failure. “When something doesn’t go your way, you’ve just got to adjust. You’ve got to dig deep and work like crazy, and that’s when you’ll find out what...

WASHINGTON (KMOX) – Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-MO, issued a video statement Friday in response to reports that the Internal Revenue Service unfairly targeted conservative nonprofit groups. “I’m mad. It is un-American, it is wrong, and we have to make sure that this gets fixed,” Missouri’s senior senator said. “There’s a reason Lady Justice wears a blindfold in America. That is because in America, we don’t apply the law based on who you are, who you know, or what you believe. We apply the law equally.” McCaskill went on to say that the targeting of one group based on political beliefs...

If the shocking allegations contained in a lawsuit filed last Friday by responsible science advocate Steven Milloy are accurate, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a major scandal on its hands. As reported by the National Legal and Policy Center, Milloy initiated litigation in U.S. District Court in Virginia, based on evidence he accumulated via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). He alleges that the EPA engaged in disturbing experimentation that deliberately exposed human beings to airborne particulate matter the agency itself considers lethal. The experiments were conducted at EPA’s Human Studies Facility at the University of North Carolina in...

"Morris was worried that a terrorist act could expose that underbelly in the months leading up to the November election. In June and July of that year the White House had to deal with "three attacks" in what Morris referred to as 'the terror summer of 1996.'"

May 19, 2013 Pentecost Sunday - Mass during the Day   Reading 1 Acts 2:1-11 When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled,they were all in one place together.And suddenly there came from the skya noise like a strong driving wind,and it filled the entire house in which they were.Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire,which parted and came to rest on each one of them.And they were all filled with the Holy Spiritand began to speak in different tongues,as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heavenstaying in Jerusalem.At...

May 19, 2013 Pentecost Sunday - At the Vigil Mass   Reading 1 Gn 11:1-9 The whole world spoke the same language, using the same words.While the people were migrating in the east,they came upon a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there.They said to one another,“Come, let us mold bricks and harden them with fire.”They used bricks for stone, and bitumen for mortar.Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a cityand a tower with its top in the sky,and so make a name for ourselves;otherwise we shall be scattered all over the earth.” The LORD...

...While still not as common as traditional chemical spacecraft engines, electric engines are growing in popularity for both Earth-orbiting satellites and scientific spacecraft on missions to deep space. And electric engines could turn out to be a key element in NASA's goal of sending people to Mars, experts say. ... Electric engines There are two main ways to power an electric spacecraft engine: via solar energy absorbed from the sun, or via nuclear fission. Both have been tested successfully, though solar electric propulsion is the most commonly used. "The solar array power is getting cheaper per watt, getting more efficient,"...

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- An attempted robbery just outside of downtown Houston erupted into a gunfight that left one suspect dead and the victim injured, police say. The shooting happened around 6:30am in the 2900 block of Pease. Police say a man coming home from a club was confronted by as many as five suspects. When the suspects tried to rob him, a shootout erupted.

It was not immediately clear who killed Zara Shahid Hussain, 59, a senior member of the Tehreek-e-Insaf party (PTI). Hussain "was leaving her home for some work when three gunmen attacked her. She thought they wanted to snatch her purse and handed it over to them but they killed her", Firdous Shamim, a local PTI leader, said. Police said all three gunmen escaped after the attack late on Saturday. "They shot her with one bullet near her chin and she could not survive," senior police official Nasir Aftab told AFP. Around 150 people were killed in the run-up to national...

LAKELAND --  A Lakeland mother shot her son in self-defense on Friday night, deputies said. According to reports, 86-year-old Nancy Pennypacker told deputies she had shot her son, William Pennypacker, 64, in self-defense after he punched her in the face and fired a gun at her. Deputies said moments later the two began shooting at each other, leaving Nancy with a bullet wound that shot through her finger to her shoulder.William Pennypacker was found dead inside the home at Citrus Woods Estates off Orange Blossom Circle in Lakeland. Nancy’s long time friend and neighbor, Sue Robbins, wasn't surprised and said...

About 4 p.m., the resident of the 3900 block of Rockaway Creek Road reported a burglary in progress at his home. The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office said he arrived home to find two intruders inside of the residence. The homeowner held the suspects at gunpoint while he called the Sheriff’s Office. As he was speaking with dispatchers, one of the suspects, identified at 33-year old Ricky Dewayne Taylor, lunged toward him. The homeowner fired a .38 caliber revolver, striking Taylor in the leg. Taylor was alert and conscious when he was transferred to LifeFlight to be airlifted to Baptist Hospital...

Is opposition to gay ‘marriage’ about warding off a public threat, or policing private morality? Is it about imposing religiously-derived categories onto a secular public, or protecting our way of life? ...I fall into the category of what would probably be considered an “anti-gay activist” since I have been very involved in both Britain and the United States campaigning against the promotion of homosexuality in the schools and, more recently, same-sex ‘marriage.’ But perhaps these efforts are misplaced. Does the gay agenda really threaten marriage? Is homosexuality really a political issue, or just a question of private morality? These were...

DETROIT — As many as 40 protestors held signs and wads of cash outside New St. Paul Tabernacle Church of God in Christ in Detroit Saturday protesting a Wayne County gun buyback event. Jerry Acker, a partner in Goodman Acker, P.C law firm, fronted $50 Meijer gift cards for each of the 200 guns collected, a cost of $10,000. Meanwhile, gun advocates waited outside offering cash for guns the government hoped to take off the streets and out of homes. "In many cases, they'll end up circulating back in the communities we're trying to take them out of," said Wayne...

JOHANNESBURG — Twenty-three youths have died in the past nine days at initiation ceremonies that include circumcisions and survival tests, South African police said Friday. Police have opened 22 murder cases in the deaths in the northeastern province of Mpumalanga, according to spokesman Lt. Col. Leonard Hlathi. He said an inquest is being held into the 23rd death, of a youth who complained of stomach pains and vomited. Initiation ceremonies are common in South Africa, where youths partake in various activities as a rite of passage into adulthood, usually over the course of three weeks. Some 30,000 youths signed up...

State-owned Petroleos Mexicanos admits that "serious" corruption exists in some areas of the company and that contracting processes in particular have been plagued by "interference from organized crime," a leading Mexican daily said Friday. In a front-page story, El Universal said Pemex representatives and members of the Mexican Construction Industry Chamber drew that conclusion at a meeting in late April. Pemex executives acknowledged that corruption is fueled "by the elevated potential economic benefit of illegal acts, impunity and the spaces opened up due to unnecessary flexibility," the newspaper reported. El Universal's story was published just days after rival daily Reforma...

Mexican state-owned oil monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos said it detected the presence of oil at a deep-water field in the Gulf of Mexico. "There are clear signs of the presence of hydrocarbons in Maximino, but final tests are still needed to fully confirm it," Pemex announced on Twitter. It said exploration work was continuing at the field, which is located on Mexico's side of the Perdido basin in a zone very near U.S. territorial waters. Pemex has previously found crude at other deep-water fields in the Perdido area. The Mexican company added that it hopes "to have definitive results shortly on...

On May 5, Milton Berle’s joke files—four cabinets holding thousands of 3x5 cards, indexed by subject—will be sold in Los Angeles. The comedian, who died in 2002, had a decades-long career in show biz, working in vaudeville, night clubs, films, radio, and finally and most famously on television. Berle’s live variety show “Texaco Star Theater” was the highest-rated program on TV in the late 1940s. The show was the first “appointment television”: Local businesses reported empty shops and restaurants during its airing, and cities experienced drops in water pressure in the five minutes after it was over, as everyone who...

President Obama continues to insist that he first became aware of his IRS targeting conservative groups a week ago Friday when the news first broke. This, despite the fact that his White House counsel, Kathryn Ruemmler, had been informed of the probe on April 22. And despite the fact, as the New York Times reports, that officials in his Treasury Department knew in March that tea party groups had been targeted. President Obama continues to insist that he first became aware of his IRS targeting conservative groups a week ago Friday when the news first broke.This, despite the fact that...

The Syrian army has begun deploying advanced surface-to-surface missiles and has aimed them at Tel Aviv, the British Sunday Times reports. According to the report, Syria is preparing to strike Israel in case the Jewish State launches another attack on its territory. The army has received orders to strike central Israel in case additional attacks against Syria are carried out, according to the Sunday Times. The information was reportedly obtained by reconnaissance satellites that were tracking the Syrian forces. According to the report, Syria was deploying advanced Tishreen missiles, which are capable of carrying a warhead of a half a...

More than 100 people lined up to check out the handguns and rifles being auctioned off in Poteau on Saturday (May 18). The LeFlore County Sheriff’s Office auctioned off 264 weapons that had been confiscated and held in the department’s evidence vault. Sheriff Rob Seale said some of the guns were collected as far back as 1999. “A lot of them are weapons that have been seized in court cases that have been cleared,” said Seale. “A lot of them are just lost property that’s been found, property that’s been turned over by the owners.” The auction brought in potential...

President Barack Obama will star at an “intimate” $32,400 per head June 6 fundraising dinner and discussion in the Portola Valley home of star Silicon Valley venture capitalist Vinod Khosla and his wife, Neeru, according to the invite obtained by the Chronicle. The dinner is one of two events in Peninsula private homes on Obama’s upcoming fundraising swing here, which benefits the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. In addition to the Khosla home dinner, Obama will also attend an earlier reception in the home of Marci and Mike McCue of Palo Alto. McCue co-founded Flipboard, and serves as its CEO. Senator...

Did the IRS ever strong arm FR and demand member lists?

The United States House of Representatives has issued the first-ever spousal ID to the partner of an openly homosexual Congressman, reports state. Philip Frank, the significant other of Representative Mark Pocan of Madison, Wisconsin was issued the ID recently, granting him recognition as being the spouse of the Congressman, as opposed to a guest. Frank and Pocan were “wed” in a Canadian ceremony in 2006, but the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) only recognizes marriage as being between a man and a woman. In the past, homosexual partners of federal lawmakers have been issued a designee ID as opposed...

Lawsuit: EPA Conducted Gas Chamber-like Experiments on Elderly, Infirm at University of North Carolina [T]he EPA has been conducting human experiments on people by piping diesel fumes from a running truck mixed with air into their lungs at a North Carolina university. The agency has ginned up yet another green crusade — the lethal dangers of diesel fumes. They even had a gas chamber set up to accommodate the environmental research project that shockingly recalls the death camps in Poland. Read more: http://joemiller.us/2012/10/lawsuit-epa-conducted-gas-chamber-like-experiments-on-elderly-infirm-at-university-of-north-carolina/#ixzz2ThSWxmIY

Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice, have joined forces to create fusion centers... based on the input and guidance of the Global Justice Information Sharing Initiative (Global), the Global Intelligence Working Group (GIWG), and the Criminal Intelligence Coordinating Council (CICC) The Institute for Intergovernmental Research coordinates the receipt of program requests and facilitates many of the services offered. To access a list of training and technical assistance resources available through this program, visit the National Criminal Intelligence Resource Center (NCIRC) secured site.

Fox News' Judge Pirro is on fire tonight, outdoing her performance last week with a stellar analysis of the current scandals rocking the White House. Her show tonight is a MUST WATCH. Perhaps the best commentary I've ever seen on team 0bama, A to Z. BE SURE TO SEE IT!! DON'T MISS IT!

        THOUGHT FOR THE WEEKEND There is a line separating dedication-to-duty from "work-a-holism". Dedication to duty is good, healthy, positive. Work-a-holism, on the other hand, is negative, harmful and eats away at family relationships. We must know the difference between the two. Let me tell you about a man who was called the Greatest American Soldier of the 20th Century: General George C. Marshall. Born in Uniontown, PA in 1880, he graduated from Virginia Military Institute in 1902. As a junior infantry officer in the US Army he served two tours in the Philippines, in several...

As June approaches, get ready for the official celebration of “Gay Pride Month” by US embassies abroad. If sodomy and same-sex marriage are constitutional rights, what is their relationship to American foreign policy? Despite the tremendous controversy regarding these issues within the United States, the Obama administration has gone ahead and placed them at the center of US diplomacy. Why? In Libido Dominandi, E. Michael Jones wrote that the rationalization of sexual misbehavior “could only calm the troubled conscience in an effective manner when it was legitimized by the regime in power… [which] went on in the name of high...

The 21-year-old Hofstra student who was killed during a Long Island home invasion was shot dead by a police officer as the gunman had her in a headlock and was trying to drag her out of the house, officials said Saturday. Nassau County Police said at a news conference Andrea Rebello was killed by police, not by the armed gunman who was trying to rob the off-campus house where she was living with her twin sister, Jessica, and several others. Rebello, a Hofstra junior studying public relations, and suspect Dalton Smith, 30, were both shot and killed as he was...

Totalitarian Subversion- Can we Awaken from the Nightmare? by LOYALTOLIBERTY on MAY 18, 2013 Whatever Obama, Hilary Clinton, Susan Rice and other Obama faction officials were seeking to achieve with their lies about the terrorist murders of U.S. officials in Benghazi; whatever the full extent of the ideologically motivated political abuses at the IRS, one thing is clear. Except for mindless apparatchiks, thoughtlessly loyal to the Obama cult, (like Chris Matthews and Al Sharpton, for example) no sane person can now consider it crazy or irrational to distrust the words and actions of those presently controlling the U.S. government. These...

by John HillStand With Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio is facing an unprecedented campaign to recall him from office. This follows a re-election campaign last year which saw unprecedented amounts spent on both sides, as George Soros committed $10 million to oust "America's Sheriff". Joe was forced to spend his entire 'war chest' of $8 million to (barely) hold onto office - the closest race of his career. Why?Why is the Left in America so focused on a single county's Sheriff, and willing to spend Congressional-level funds to defeat him? Well for starters, Sheriff Joe is the biggest national symbol in...

The shoe drops. This mug shot of Democratic state Treasurer Martha Shoffner appeared on the Pulaski County sheriff's office jail intake page late this afternoon. (She looked a little distracted when I saw her looking over the cottage cheese in a case at Kroger's earlier this week.) Sorry: I originally called her auditor incorrectly. I have many calls out for more information. Shoffner has been under scrutiny for a variety of issues including charges of favoritism in handling of state investments with a securities firm and also in sloppy reporting and spending of state campaign finance money. She's been subject,...

Here's a classic from the Obama playbook: Whenever you're in trouble, find a way to blame George W. Bush for it. That concept was in play on Thursday afternoon's edition of MSNBC's Martin Bashir program, when the liberal host and contributor Joy Reid were able to convince their guest, GOP strategist Ron Christie, to admit that Steven Miller, the former acting director of the Internal Revenue Service, was appointed by “the previous administration,� a phrase used to describe Bush. Following the quick firing of Miller on Wednesday and President Obama's promise to hold everyone involved accountable, Bashir asked Christie if...

In an effort to cut down on the number of alcohol related accidents, the National Transportation Safety Board wants to lower the legal limit for driving from a 0.08 to 0.05 blood alcohol content in all states. That doesn't mean post-dinner-out driving standards will be more exacting anytime soon, though — indeed, the fight is just now underway, and from some of the most unlikely of people. ~snip~ Of course, the NTSB can't order the state or federal governments to do anything. They can only make recommendations about that one fewer beer. In fact, the recommendation to lower the legal...

At a dinner not long ago someone described the wonders of a new product which uploaded your vital signs to the Cloud, a process that was so much more accurate than having to take it yourself and write it down on a piece of paper. It’s a great idea and there are an increasing number of such services which plan to offer that feature such as this, which proclaims “doctors can now establish online CarePods™ to assemble extended care teams, share medical records, collect and analyze real-time clinical information, and coordinate treatment plans with patients, their families and health providers.”...

Nicholas Winton rescued hundreds of young Jews from the Nazis and is a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize. We meet some of the children he savedThe birthday party will be modest and understated, in keeping with the man. Sir Nicholas Winton is 104 tomorrow and naturally some of his children will be there to wish him well. Not only his blood offspring but those known as Winton’s Children – the ones he saved from near-certain death three-quarters of a century ago. Nicholas – Nicky – Winton hates to be thought of as a hero, hates being compared with Oskar...

Columns of gas and ash 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) high were detected after two strong explosions from the Popocatepetl volcano, Mexico's Cenapred disaster-management agency said Friday. The first blast came at 10:14 p.m. Thursday, followed by another a little more than two hours later. The explosions deposited glowing fragments up to 1.5 kilometers from the crater as well as columns of ash and gas that were carried northeastward by the prevailing winds, Cenapred said. Popocatepetl, which rises 5,452 meters (17,875 feet) above sea level, is located about 64 kilometers (40 miles) from Mexico City. Mexican authorities have prepared contingency plans...

A well-known Southern California lawyer is famous for his menacing legal threats sent on behalf of celebrity clients. But attorney Martin D. "Marty" Singer crossed the line into making an "extortion" attempt in 2011 when he sent a demand letter to a client's business partner, a state-court judge ruled after the recipient sued over the missive. In addition to demanding a forensic accounting and the return of money that allegedly had been embezzled, Singer also threatened in the letter, which attached a copy of a draft civil complaint, to reveal information about the partner's claimed use of company resources for...

When rationing was introduced in January 1940, the Ministry of Food distributed various leaflets to the public. They fell into different categories: some explained new ingredients such as dried eggs, while others offered helpful guides to making the most of the rations.