Free Republic

FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) – A Fort Worth shoe store may think better of its first-come-first-serve policy after a small riot occurred surrounding the release of the new Retro Air Jordan shoes. The Shoe Palace at Hulen Mall decided to let people line up to buy the shoes. A line formed around 5:00 a.m. and at one point the pushing and shoving in the crowd knocked over a couple police officers working as security. “At that point the mall security officer sprayed a short burst of mace (pepper spray) into the crowd,” Fort Worth police Sergeant Pedro Criado explained. “The Fort...

The chemical warfare threat looming over Syria’s civil war and its neighbors has taken an epic turn with the announcement by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Saturday, Dec. 22, that “the Syrian government has “consolidated its chemical weapons in one or two locations amid a rebel onslaught and they are under control for the time being.” He added that Russia, “which has military advisers training Syria’s military, has kept close watch over its chemical arsenal.” Debkafile’s military and intelligence sources report: The Russian foreign minister’s statement was a message to Washington that the transfer of Syria’s weapons of mass destruction...

Byam: Christian lost, too, milord. God knows he's judged himself more harshly than you could judge him. [turns to Fletcher Christian's father]Byam: I say to his father, "He was my friend. No finer man ever lived." [addresses the court again] Byam: I don't try to justify his crime, his mutiny, but I condemn the tyranny that drove 'im to it. I don't speak here for myself alone or for these men you condemn. I speak in their names, in Fletcher Christian's name, for all men at sea. These men don't ask for comfort. They don't ask for safety. If they...

During the debate over the so-called fiscal cliff and how politicians in Washington are hoping to avert the cliff and instead just steer the economy toward its continuing downward slope, there has been a plethora of rhetoric spewing from both sides of the debate. But yesterday Barack Obama took the honor for most irrelevant and most heartless rhetoric when he invoked the tragedies of Superstorm Sandy and the Sandy Hook elementary school killings to try to shame Republicans into caving to his proposals.

..... (snip) That’s not to say that LaTourette doesn’t have a genuine beef, either. Steve Doocy defends the Tea Party opposition to Plan B as a response to Boehner abandoning the key principle of not raising taxes. Unfortunately, that doesn’t make much sense as a defense. At some point, we either cut a deal before the fiscal cliff raises everyone’s taxes, or go off the fiscal cliff and raise everyone’s taxes, or cut the deal after raising everyone’s taxes temporarily. .... And if either of the latter two outcomes happen, then Barack Obama will be able to claim credit for...

Explanation: Splendors seldom seen are revealed in this glorious picture from Saturn's shadow. Imaged by Cassini on October 17, 2012 during its 174th orbit, the ringed planet's night side is viewed from a perspective 19 degrees below the ring plane at a distance of about 800,000 kilometers with the Sun almost directly behind the planet. A 60 frame mosaic, images made with infrared, red, and violet filters were combined to create an enhanced, false-color view. Strongly backlit, the rings look bright away from the planet but dark in silhouette against the gas giant. Above center, they reflect a faint, eerie...

Obama proposes Social Security cutsPatrick Martin 20 December 2012 **SNIP** The White House decision to propose cuts in future Social Security benefits is of enormous political significance. Social Security has long been characterized as the “third rail” of American politics—touch it and you die. Obama and Boehner are seeking to break this taboo and create a new political framework for imposing brutal austerity measures on working people. Whatever the immediate outcome of the talks in Washington, whether or not a deal is reached before December 31, the overall direction is clear: entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are...

Was listening to Fox in the background. A local NYC kids' choir just sang "Winter Wonderland." You know, "In the meadow we will build a snow man, we'll pretend that he is Parson Brown, he'll say 'are you married?' we'll say, 'no, man', but you can do the job when you're in town..." Except, the new words are, "we'll pretend that he's a circus clown..." and subsequent lyrics delete all reference to religion. I find this repellant and just one more move toward making any reference to religion unacceptable. As a Jew I'm not up on Christmas songs, but is...

An oil and natural gas boom is underway in the United States, born of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” It has created tens of thousands of well-paying jobs directly, and hundreds of thousands more in hundreds of businesses that supply and support the industry and its workers. In North Dakota, the unemployment rate is 2.4 percent, in large part because of a huge increase in natural gas and crude oil production from deep shale rocks that yielded nothing prior to fracking. The new technology is also driving job growth, higher incomes, and increased tax revenues for hard-pressed...

After unseating Minnesota’s longest-serving congressman and interrupting 63 years of DFL dominance on the working-class Iron Range, political newcomer Chip Cravaack is moving on. . . . “It really depends on Traci,” he said in an interview Thursday. “I’ve got a feeling I’ll probably be heading back there, unless some huge opportunity opens up in Minnesota, I’ve got two small kids who need their dad.” The family’s move to New Hampshire last year became a political liability in a district that already skewed heavily Democratic. The move came about after one of his boys, who is autistic, suffered a seizure...

The Drawing of the Father "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him . . ." —John 6:44 When God begins to draw me to Himself, the problem of my will comes in immediately. Will I react positively to the truth that God has revealed? Will I come to Him? To discuss or deliberate over spiritual matters when God calls is inappropriate and disrespectful to Him. When God speaks, never discuss it with anyone as if to decide what your response may be (see Galatians 1:15-16). Belief is not the result of an...

This Christmas, like many before it and many yet to come, the story of Santa and his flying reindeer will be told, including how the "jolly old elf" flies on his sleigh throughout the entire world in one night, giving gifts to all the good children. But according to one theory, the story of Santa and his flying reindeer can be traced to an unlikely source: hallucinogenic or "magic" mushrooms. "Santa is a modern counterpart of a shaman, who consumed mind-altering plants and fungi to commune with the spirit world," ....snip.... According to the theory, the legend of Santa derives...

December 21, 2012 by Dan Mitchell I’m a big fan of lower corporate tax rates.I also want to eliminate worldwide taxation so American companies can be on a level playing field when competing for market share around the world.And I want to get rid of the double taxation of dividends and capital gains in part because these reforms will boost business investment.Given this track record, I don’t think anybody could accuse me of being an anti-big-business activist.But I do get very irritated when politically connected corporations use cronyism to guard their interests at the expense of other taxpayers and the...

(CNSNews.com) - President Barack Obama's job approval soared to a three-year high as of Tuesday night, according to the Gallup poll, hitting 56 percent for the first time since the fall of 2009.

On December 14, 2012, when Victoria Soto stood in her classroom and heard the gunshots taking the lives of the school administration staff and the students in another classroom, she had very little freedom of choice. Her contractual responsibilities as a teacher required her to safeguard the lives and health of the students she taught. But it was her love for her students required her to stand between them and the evil coming through the doorway. She had very limited options in accomplishing her duty and calling. Perhaps she could have tried to save herself by squeezing into a closet...

President Fernando De la Rua resigned and fled the government palace in a helicopter, driven from office by a devastating economic crisis and days of rioting that left 22 people dead and homes and supermarkets across Argentina ransacked. De la Rua's sudden downfall yesterday came amid Argentina's worst unrest in a decade. Screeching tear gas canisters arced across the capital and police fired rubber bullets at thousands of anti-government protesters in the runup to his fall. Rioters looted houses and stores in other cities, and more than 200 people were injured nationwide. "I'm delighted he's finally gone. Thank God!" said...

How about that? Not just Barack Obama can "reset" American policy toward Russia, or give it more "flexibility," to quote his not-so-confidential promise to that country's newest czar. (Our president didn't realize he was talking into an open mike at the time.) It turns out that, in this remarkably well-designed government of divided powers, Est. 1787, Congress can do a little resetting itself. Now that co-equal branch of government has reset the terms of trade with Russia, formerly the Soviet Union of unlamented memory, sic semper tryannis. Congress even got the president to sign on to the effort. This latest...

He got taxed out of town. Legendary advertising guru Jerry Della Femina is the latest Hamptons fat cat to unload his East End spread at the precipice of the dreaded fiscal cliff, The Post has learned. The flamboyant Madison Avenue guru has sold his 8,500-square-foot estate — the host of many legendary Hamptons bashes — for $25 million, and blames his flight squarely on President Obama’s fiscal policies. “I want the proceeds of this sale to go to my kids and my grandkids,” said the man behind iconic ad campaigns for Meow Mix and Absolut Vodka. “I don’t want my...

Today the twin fake memes of a "Fiscal Cliff" and "Austerity" are combining to create a contrived excuse to tax and steal far more of your wealth and income, including your retirement benefits. The press is filled with articles and editorials like one recently at CNBC entitled "Amid Tax Talks, a cry of 'Save My 401(k)'." Many retirement, offshore and political experts including Jeff Berwick, Larry Grossman and others are now warning how government revenue needs and austerity measures by the Obama Administration today threaten the private retirement system and benefits of millions of successful Americans. Back on January 28,...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBSgchJe2Z0 At about 2:20 in the video, Mr. Round begins listing what is occurring in his government school. He states that only 4 or 5 of the children in his class were able to consistently endure this treatment. Please think about this. Question: What would happen if parents treated children this way in the home? Question: What would OSHA officials have to say if employers treated their adult employees this way? Answer: It would be called what it is: Abuse! Where are all the "good" teachers standing up and protesting this? Where are the mass resignations? Where are these so-called...