Free Republic

Democratic U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren announced Friday that her office has hired Bruno Freitas as the new economic development director and a senior advisor to serve in Washington D.C. Freitas joins the Warren team from the office of another Massachusetts politician, former U.S. Congressman Barney Frank, who retired from Congress this year following the state legislature's redistricting process. Freitas, a New Bedford native, most recently worked as Frank's chief of staff and legislative director, although he has worked with the congressman in some capacity since 1994, when he helped design Frank's first website. Warren's office said that his previous work...

Somewhere along the line I remember a song about how you can take the kid out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the kid. Guess one could write a song, you can take the kid out of Chicago but you can’t take Chicago out of the kid. In October of 2008 my warnings went unheeded regarding candidate Barack Obama. All one needed do to see America in four years was to look at Blagojevich’s Illinois. It turned out worse than imagined. Blagojevich’s Illinois was reeling in corruption, political favoritism, extra constitutional mandates, and unfunded pension...

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Clarksville-Montgomery School officials announced Friday that armed off-duty officers will be stationed at all elementary schools beginning this month. Administrators said Friday at a news conference that they reviewed the school system's safety protocol and what could be done to enhance safety measures already in place. School resource officers from the Sheriff's Office are already provided in middle and high schools. In December, they increased the visibility and presence of law enforcement at local elementary schools. "There was never a question of us continuing to do business as usual, even though we have had numerous external and...

On Wednesday, I posted a chart of US Treasury Yields asking the question Yield Curve: Where To From Here? Extreme Complacency in Face of Bernanke Shift. Today's focus is on municipal bonds, but first let's take a look at a chart from the above link. Treasury Yield Curve click on chart for sharper image Certainly Bernanke is not hiking rates any time soon. However, that does not preclude upward pressure on long-term rates. And if there is sustained upward pressure on interest rates (see the above link for why that may be the case), treasuries, corporates, and municipal bonds will...

The City of Firsts has ranked as the second-most gay friendly city in the nation according to a new list compiled by the LGBT publication Advocate magazine. Springfield, coming in just behind Tacoma, Wash., nearly topped the 2013 list based on several factors including the number of LGBT elected officials, embracing marriage equality and the existence of a roller derby league based in the city. Providence, R.I. was the only other New England city named by the magazine in its list, which looked only at municipalities with a population of at least 150,000. "The city is among the top 10...

I am a 19-year-old volunteer firefighter living in New York. I also own an AR-15 rifle that is ban compliant. This means that I have spent well over a thousand dollars buying and modifying the rifle to make it legal in NY State, something that people in other states with less violent crime do not need to do. My AR-15 is the best home defense weapon possible for me to own in NY. As I am not yet 21, I cannot apply for a permit to purchase a pistol. Even so, I believe that my rifle is perfect for me....

You followed all of the debate over the fiscal cliff and were relieved to hear that taxes were only going up for the rich this year. Well, you were wrong. Because neither party wanted to defend it, the temporary payroll tax cut enacted under Obama died at the end of 2012, which means that everyone in the country will see a bigger tax bite out of their paychecks this year. So when you get your first check of the year, look at the amount charged under "FICA" – you're going to be paying more than you did in December. How...

Washington, D.C. – Senate Democratic Leaders sent a letter to President Obama today urging him to consider taking unilateral action to protect America’s economy in the face of continued intransigence and obstruction from Republicans.“In the event that Republicans make good on their threat by failing to act, or by moving unilaterally to pass a debt limit extension only as part of unbalanced or unreasonable legislation, we believe you must be willing to take any lawful steps to ensure that America does not break its promises and trigger a global economic crisis — without Congressional approval, if necessary,” the leaders write.Senate...

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst has called for state-funded specialized firearms training for teachers and administrators to guard against school shootings. Dewhurst said school districts would nominate who they wanted to carry weapons on campus. The training would be more extensive than what is currently required for Texas concealed handgun license and include how to react technically and emotionally in an active shooter situation on a school campus. Dewhurst offered no other details of his plan, and said the amount of state funding needed would depend on the number of school districts that participate and how...

WASHINGTON -- I have one question about the way Majority Leader Harry Reid has been conducting the Senate. Has he committed a felony or a mere misdemeanor? The wags will say that a politician from Nevada does not commit misdemeanors, but I am in earnest. The difference between whether Dingy Harry -- as he is known by the eminent political scientist Dr. Rush Limbaugh -- shuffles off to a federal prison or merely pays a hefty fine is significant. I suppose we can leave it to the federal prosecutors to decide, but if he gets off on a misdemeanor I...

A woman is behind bars after police say she tried to walk inside a Philadelphia high school with a loaded gun in a diaper bag. A school district spokesman says the adult woman, identified as 21-year-old Kelly Jones, was entering South Philadelphia High School on Thursday to register for evening classes when school police at the X-ray machine spotted the .40 caliber Smith & Wesson semi-automatic handgun.

The first clues appeared in Kenya, Uganda and what is now South Sudan. A British arms researcher surveying ammunition used by government forces and civilian militias in 2006 found Kalashnikov rifle cartridges he had not seen before. The ammunition bore no factory code, suggesting that its manufacturer hoped to avoid detection. Within two years other researchers were finding identical cartridges circulating through the ethnic violence in Darfur. Similar ammunition then turned up in 2009 in a stadium in Conakry, Guinea, where soldiers had fired on antigovernment protesters, killing more than 150. For six years, a group of independent arms-trafficking researchers...

One of the consistent talking points against education reform bills that have been proposed has been that they open the door for “profiteers” to take over public education. However, a look at the compensation (salaries, benefits and other perks) of some of the most vocal critics shows they are doing quite well in the business relationships they have with conventional public school districts. Here’s a look at five people who are compensated at about $200,000 a year or more with a big hand from taxpayers through relationships with conventional public schools. Salary information was gathered from documents listed online in...

Reid to Obama: OK to skip Congress on debt ceiling By: Manu Raju and John Bresnahan January 11, 2013 02:47 PM EST Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and other top Democrats are putting new pressure on the White House to circumvent Congress to boost the nation’s debt ceiling if no bipartisan agreement can be reached. In a strongly worded letter to President Barack Obama obtained by POLITICO, Reid and his leadership team argue that failing to raise the $16.4 trillion debt ceiling would threaten the full faith and credit of the United States. Reid and Sens. Dick Durbin, Chuck Schumer...

Part 1, Demon Seed And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. ~Revelations, 20:14-15 By Adriana Gamondes In September, 2011, Manitoba judge Robert Heinrichs ruled that a sixteen year old accused of murder would remain in youth court where he faces a maximum sentence of four years rather than the possibility of life without parole in adult court. Family members of the fifteen year old victim were outraged by the ruling, though Heinrichs stated...

After repeatedly flying surveillance aircraft into disputed airspace with Japan, and Tokyo scrambling F-15s in response, China's now sending fighters of its own on "routine flights" into the East China Sea. China Daily: A Foreign Ministry spokesman said Friday that Chinese military planes were on"routine flights" in relevant airspace over the East China Sea. Spokesman Hong Lei made the remarks at a press briefing in response to media reports that Japan sent fighter jets to head off a number of Chinese military planes spotted in Japan's "air defense identification zone" over the East China Sea on Thursday. "China firmly opposes...

For those of us who were on the fence whether Ann Barnhardt was a taco short of a platter, here's the proof. Seemingly she closed her brokerage business while having a sizable mortgage. The reason she claims to have taken this mortgage is to prevent some near-do-well from aborting her child. Predictably, this had not the desired effect; now there is just one more up and coming near-do-well in the world. She continues to defend her actions despite clear evidence that she was manipulated by satan's spawn. Sad...

Valve to Enable Many Versions of Steam-Centered Game Systems Valve Software, a major video game developer and the owner of Steam game distribution service, said that Xi3 Corp.’s Piston video game system, which is currently in development, will be only one of such “Steam Box” devices. More Steam-centered game systems are incoming from other makers; moreover, Valve will offer its own-brand gaming devices going forward.Valve’s Own Steam Box Incoming “We will come out with our own and we will sell it to consumers by ourselves. That will be a Linux box, [and] if you want to install Windows you can....

What makes a breach of law an act of civil disobedience? When is civil disobedience morally justified? How should the law respond to people who engage in civil disobedience? Discussions of civil disobedience have tended to focus on the first two of these questions. On the most widely accepted account of civil disobedience, famously defended by John Rawls (1971), civil disobedience is a public, non-violent and conscientious breach of law undertaken with the aim of bringing about a change in laws or government policies. On this account, the persons who practice civil disobedience are willing to accept the legal consequences...

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis brought urgently needed change to the Department of Labor, putting the U.S. government firmly on the side of working families. Under Secretary Solis, the Labor Department became a place of safety and support for workers. Secretary Solis’s Department of Labor talks tough and acts tough on enforcement, workplace safety, wage and hour violations and so many other vital services. Secretary Solis never lost sight of her own working-class roots, and she always put the values of working families at the center of everything she did. We hope that her successor will continue to be a powerful...