Free Republic

Television is getting a little unreal. First, the idea that Al Gore would sell out to Al-Jazeera sounded like an April Fools' joke. Then the Oxygen network -- that supposedly uplifting women's channel founded in 2000 by Oprah Winfrey -- announced it was producing a reality show called "All My Baby's Mamas" starring an Atlanta rapper and former drug dealer named "Shawty Lo," alongside his 11 children and their 10 different mothers. This story didn't originate on a satire site like The Onion. Oxygen promoted this videotaped puddle of stupidity with a YouTube highlight reel featuring the rapper (real name:...

Did you watch the Notre Dame v. Alabama, BCS Championship game this week? Alabama beat Notre Dame 42-12. It wasn’t even close. 42-12, now that’s a big win. You know who didn’t have an overwhelming victory? President Obama. His margin was significantly closer than the Alabama- Notre Dame game and it was a substantially closer than four years ago. So while there is no doubt that this year was a disappointing outcome for conservatives, the close election results mean that the Left lacks the mandate to enact the president’s liberal agenda. There has been a huge victory in a recent...

Unsurprisingly, more like a warning shot than  any good-faith discussion or exchange of ideas... Statement From the NRA Regarding yesterday's   White House Task Force Meeting Fairfax, Va. –  ____________________________________________________________________ "The National Rifle Association of America is made up of over 4 million moms and dads, daughters and sons, who are involved in the national conversation about how to prevent a tragedy like Newtown from ever happening again.  We attended today's White House meeting to discuss how to keep our children safe and were prepared to have a meaningful conversation about school safety, mental health issues, the marketing of violence...

The Obama administration, among other things, wants to put Benghazi behind it. Periodically the American press, public, and politicians become excited about something going on in Africa. The interest doesn’t last long and neither the United States nor African nations benefit much from the momentary excitement. President Obama recently ordered a small contingent of troops, mainly Army Special Forces, into the African country of Chad to assist in evacuating the U.S. Embassy staff and other American civilians from the neighboring Central African Republic (CAR). That this action reflected a reaction to the recent debacle in Benghazi, there is no doubt....

If Congress does not raise the debt ceiling, the result will be no different than the Jones family deciding that they have maxed out their credit cards; and that if they continue borrowing and spending over their means, there will be significant pain to the family at best and bankruptcy at worst. The economics of government is no different. Mr. and Mrs. Jones want to be able to provide for themselves in their retirement and hopefully leave a little something after they are gone to provide a better life for their children and grandchildren. They understand living in the moment...

Blaine Gabbert will be part of the Jaguars’ quarterback competition next summer. Tim Tebow will not. That was the word from the Jaguars new general manager Dave Caldwell, who has been given by a free hand by owner Shad Khan to make all football decisions. Caldwell was introduced to the media on Thursday and when asked about Tebow, closed the door on bringing in the Jacksonville native. “As far as Tim goes, he is a member of the New York Jets. I can’t imagine a scenario where he would be a Jacksonville Jaguar,’’ he said. When asked to repeat that...

In the past few years they have taken control of Mexico’s Coahuila region in the north, along the border of Texas, and are now starting to thrive like never before. Los Zetas covertly entered the region, and under the threat of extreme violence for those who didn’t cooperate they swiftly brought every aspect of commerce, politics, and business under their control in less than three years.This expansion was not undertaken to increase its drug trafficking or prostitution ring operations, but rather to enter into the business of coal mining.

The right of the people to keep and bear arms is an extension of the natural right to self-defense and a hallmark of personal sovereignty. It is specifically insulated from governmental interference by the Constitution and has historically been the linchpin of resistance to tyranny. Yet the progressives in both political parties stand ready to use the coercive power of the government to interfere with the exercise of that right by law-abiding persons because of the gross abuse of that right by some crazies in our midst. When Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence that we are endowed...

David Villalobos jumped from the Bronx Zoo monorail into a tiger’s den, and is lapping up the attention. “This is a good thing; maybe I can make some money,” Villalobos told workout buddies at the Westchester gym. He's due in Bronx Criminal Court on trespassing charges, and is worried about losing his real-estate license.

Far be it for me to argue with a Nobel prizewinning economist, members of Congress and however many thousands have signed the White House petition to mint it, but this whole idea of a trillion dollar platinum coin is ludicrous.

Jimmy Savile spent "every waking minute" of his life thinking about abusing children, attacked patients in hospices and even used the final edition of the BBC's Top of the Pops to commit sex offences, police disclosed this morning. Commander Peter Spindler, head of the inquiry, said Savile had "groomed a nation" and preyed on 450 victims, aged between eight and 47, over a 54-year period. Almost a fifth of his victims were boys. A Metropolitan Police report giving the findings of Operation Yewtree, the investigation into Savile's offending launched after an ITV documentary exposed his paedophilia last year, says that...

......As analyst Chris Krueger from Guggenheim Securities’ Washington Research Group explains to the American Enterprise Institute, “There are limits on how much paper money the U.S. can circulate and rules that govern coinage on gold, silver and copper. BUT, the Treasury has broad discretion on coins made from platinum.” “Although the Treasury can't just create money out of thin air to pay its bills, there is a technicality in the law that says the Treasury has special discretion to create platinum coins of any denomination, and the thinking is that [Secretary of the Treasury] Tim Geithner could make the coin...

The failure of the sick President-elect of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, to show up yesterday for his necessary swearing in as the nation’s President at Venezuela’s Supreme Court was emblematic of a man who has cared little for law or procedure whilst ruling Venezuela as a dictator for over a decade now.

In order that we might all raise the level of discourse and expand our language abilities, here is the daily post of “Word for the Day”. CaromVerbv. caromed, caroming, caroms v.intr. 1. To collide and rebound; glance: The car caromed off the guardrail into the ditch. 2. To make a carom, as in billiards. v.tr. To cause to carom. Rules: Everyone must leave a post using the Word for the Day in a sentence. The sentence must, in some way, relate to the news of the day. The Review threads are linked for your edification. ;-) Practice makes perfect.....post...

Jack Lew, President Obama’s nominee for Treasury Secretary, has by far the greatest signature of any public official.... Jack Lew’s signature is such that if he had put it on the Declaration of Independence and the revolution had gone badly, he would have escaped just fine. There is no risk involved. He might have felt pangs of conscience as a stranger named “OOOOOOOO” was strung up in his place. But there is no chance of tracing it to him. But what does it say?That is not how you spell “Jack Lew.” Is it an alias?Is there some message in all...

Honor the Lord with Your Body Today's Scripture “You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:20, NIV) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria Scripture says that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, and we are to honor the Lord with our bodies. How do you do that? You take care of it. You respect it. You treat it as valuable. You use your body to bring Him glory. When you stand strong against temptation, you are honoring the Lord with your body. When you take care of yourself by...

What My Obedience to God Costs Other People "As they led Him away, they laid hold of a certain man, Simon . . . , and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus" —Luke 23:26 If we obey God, it is going to cost other people more than it costs us, and that is where the pain begins. If we are in love with our Lord, obedience does not cost us anything— it is a delight. But to those who do not love Him, our obedience does cost a great deal. If we...

On Wednesday, Chief Justice John Roberts of the Supreme Court scheduled a birther case brought on by Orly Taitz which calls into question Barack Hussein Obama's eligibility to be president of the United States. Dr. Taitz, a lawyer from Santa Margarita, Calif., also made the announcement on her website on Jan. 9. As of this writing, major news networks such as ABC, Fox News, CBS, and NBC have yet to report on the high court's decision to review Barack Hussein Obama's eligibility to hold political office in the United States or any of its territories. The case is identified as...

If there is one thing that can be counted on, without fail, it is how liberals react to crisis. Their favorite response to any tragedy is to enact more legislation. That stems from the misguided belief that all things good must come from the government. Therefore, it stands to reason, at least to them, that legislation has to be passed to prevent said tragedy from happening again. Thus it was after the terrible tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CN. It would be hard to count the legislation that has been proposed to make sure another Sandy Hook...

This might come as a surprise to a lot of you, but I’m not a gun person… never have been, never will be. And you can stop reading right there and be angry, but you know better… so read on. The one thing that I have always been and always will be, is a freedom person. I believe in all of the freedoms and liberties given to us by the Bill of Rights… something that very few Americans currently understand. One group of people who completely understand our rights are the President of the United States, Barack Obama, and the...