Free Republic

<p>A small-batch ice-cream company claims to have scooped up a cure for the worst epidemic in years — a bold new flavor called “Influenza Sorbet.”</p> <p>The virus-soothing treat — made by Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams — blends Maker’s Mark bourbon, lemon and cayenne pepper to mimic an old family flu remedy.</p>

It's a fool's game to take anything Obama says at face value. There is always a catch. For his second inaugural, he publicly congratulates himself for banning lobbyists from sponsoring the events. Of course, no such prohibition exists on the companies who hire the lobbyists. The companies who are trying to influence the government are welcome to participate, even if their hired guns are not. The corporations who are the biggest donors to the inauguration have spent $160 million lobbying government since Obama first took office. From a report by The Center for Public Integrity: "Chief among corporate inaugural donors:...

Most people would cut a 13-year-old girl some slack if she became obsessed enough with Justin Bieber to write the teen singer emails and letters all the time, but what if an ostensibly professional journalist were to do the same to a politician? This odd scenario actually is not a hypothetical, however. A CNN correspondent named Tom Foreman has admitted publicly to writing a letter every single day to President Obama for the past four years. Foreman's admission came on the CNN website where he does not really explain why on earth he ever did such a strange, stalkerish thing....

How did the rest of the media miss this? According to the new issue of Newsweek online, President Obama, who this weekend begins his second term--the third president in a row to do so--is "The Second Coming." With flattering photographs, the magazine edited by Obama fan Tina Brown holds out hope that in his second Inaugural Address, Obama can inspire and show that he can also lead. The conservative media watch dog, Media Research Center, first noticed the God-like cover. "Conservatives have long joked that the national press corps see Barack Obama as the second coming of Jesus Christ. Today,...

A four day hostage crisis ended Saturday in a final assault by Algerian special forces on a group of Islamic terrorists who were holed up, along with dozens of hostages, in a gas facility in the country. The forces stormed the complex resulting in the deaths of at least 19 hostages and 29 Islamist terrorists. The Niger terrorist believed to lead the al-Qaeda splinter group, Abdul Rahman al-Nigeri, is reported...among those killed.

Security for President Barack Obama's second inauguration will, of course, be extremely tight. Uniformed police will be everywhere in Washington. ---snip--- But some of the security is meant to be nearly invisible. At Union Station, two men who could have been waiting for a train were actually DHS Behavioral Detection Officers who blend into the crowd. Trained to look for suspicious behavior among passengers, they were in communication with teams of armed TSA officers.

RALEIGH, N.C. — At least two people were injured Saturday afternoon in an apparent accidental shooting at the gun show being held at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds. Emergency crews responded to the scene shortly after 1 p.m., and two people were loaded into ambulances. A witness told WRAL that a gun went off after being checked by an official at a safety check-in location, hitting a man in the hand and a woman in the side. The Raleigh Fire Department confirmed that the Dixie Gun and Knife Show would be closed for the remainder of the day Saturday. There...

The source of information for this news post came from Roger Hedgecock’s 1/17/13 radio show. Here’s the link. Fast forward to 21:13 for Roger’s comments. The five worst mass killings, where a firearm was used, have a common thread. Hint #1: They didn’t belong to the NRA. They don’t fit the stereotype of the “red-neck” gun owner. Ft Hood: Registered Democrat/Muslim. Columbine: Too young to vote; both families were registered Democrats and progressive liberals. Virginia Tech: Wrote hate mail to President Bush and to his staff. Colorado Theater: Registered Democrat; staff worker on the Obama campaign; Occupy Wall Street participant;...

By Mr. Curmudgeon:Democrat Joe Morissey rose to his feet in the Virginia House of Delegates to protest the tabling by that body's Militia and Police subcommittee of his Obama-like gun-control measure. To emphasize his point, he hoisted an AK-47, single-handed, over his head, pointing the weapon's muzzle at the ceiling - like a celebratory Taliban fighter at a traditional Afghan wedding. "... You can take this gun," said Morrissey, "you can walk in the middle of Main Street loaded and not be in violation of the law."In response, Republican Delegate Todd Gilbert quickly rose to his feet and made a...

Enough already with the spirit of defeat by our friends here. Show some backbone and stop bashing Republicans. We lost the election due to rigid concepts over religion so Romney s faith kept voters home. We should have won easy. A house divided cannot stand. Please stop bashing our allies and let the Obama chickens come home to roost. Obama will pay for his blindness. Let us stop hating our own.

Nobel Prize winning left-wing economist Paul Krugman maintains that concern about bloated government spending and multi-trillion dollar debt is unwarranted. “The right-wing enemies of President Obama are playing on the average person’s fears of bankruptcy in order to limit his power,” Krugman said. “While it may be true that an individual who owes more than he can pay could face financial ruin, the same is not true for the Government.” “A key difference is that most individuals’ income is restricted to what they can earn by offering services in the marketplace,” Krugman continued. “Government, though, doesn’t have to earn its...

Has America’s choo-choo jumped the tracks? I was out of the country for a few days and news from this great republic reached me only fitfully. I have learned to be wary of foreign reporting of U.S. events, since America can come off sounding faintly deranged. Much of what reached me didn’t sound entirely plausible: Did the entire U.S. media really fall for the imaginary dead girlfriend of a star football player? Did the president of the United States really announce 23 executive orders by reading out the policy views of carefully pre-screened grade-schoolers (“I want everybody to be happy...

he Algerian government says 32 militants and 23 captives were killed during the three-day military operation to end the hostage crisis at a natural gas plant in the Sahara. The provisional death toll was issued by the Interior Ministry on Saturday after the special forces operation crushed the last holdout of the militants at the gas refinery, resulting in 11 extremists killed along with seven hostages.

Throughout the country, lawmakers have discussed expanding educational options for students by establishing charter schools or allowing public dollars to go to private schools. Yet bills that legislators proposed often failed to gain much traction; in part, because opponents of school choice often hail the traditional system where children are zoned for a local public school based on their address. Some view this method of delivering public education as the model because democratically elected officials control the schools on a local level. Though democratically controlled local school districts meet the needs of many students, they simply cannot satisfy the needs...

Obama urged Congress to pass measures aimed at reducing gun violence, while reaffirming his commitment to the right to bear arms. .....

The board of education says it has looked into the concerns surrounding two cases of possible plagiarism by Superintendent of Schools Carolyn R. Koos, and is "satisfied that she understands her mistake and will not repeat it," board president Louis Casella said in a statement. "The board has fully expressed and discussed its concerns with the superintendent," Casella said. "Superintendent Koos has apologized for any adverse effect this may have had on the district." NJ.com first reported the possible plagiarism Jan. 10, when a letter sent to the district appeared to be a near word-for-word copy of a Nov. 27...

Two months after his owner died, a dog in Italy keeps turning up each day at the church she used to attend.Ciccio, a 12-year-old German shepherd, waits in vain in front of the altar of the Santa Maria Assunta church in the village of San Donaci in the southern region of Puglia. He heads to the church as soon as the bells begin to ring each afternoon, just as he did for years when his owner was alive. The woman, who was known in local dialect as "Maria tu lu campu" - "Maria of the fields" – died suddenly in...

Tzipi Livni, leader of Hatnua, harshly attacked Bayit Yehudi chairman Naftali Bennett, in a behind-the-scenes incident that took place just before a televised interview pitted them against each other at week's end. According to Walla! News, the two rode the elevator together before appearing on Nissim Mishal's show on Channel 2. Bennett initiated the conversation, telling Livni she had gone too far with a Facebook status in which she referred to a report that said Yitzhak Rabin's assassin, Yigal Amir, was going to vote for Bennett. Livni allegedly told him: "I don't regret it; I don't even want to talk...

After addressing a large secular assembly on issues of moral controversy, I turned and faced a woman who urgently wanted to ask me a question: “Why won’t the abortion issue just go away?” I knew exactly what she was asking. I often meet abortion rights advocates who honestly thought that the national controversy over abortion would simply melt away within a few years of the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion, handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973. That was clearly the hope of the Supreme Court majority that signed onto the opinion written by Associate Justice Harry...

Master Gunnery Sgt. D. Michael Ressler opens the big fireproof safe, bends his tall frame and slides out the Marine Band leader’s logbook for 1937. He turns to Wednesday, Jan. 20. “Inauguration Day,” the entry begins. “Uniform blue and overcoats. Fierce downfall of rain near freezing during entire ceremony...a day long to be remembered ...band marched and played pretty much continuous...good to keep the blood circulating.” It was Franklin D. Roosevelt’s second inauguration, says Ressler, 60. Roosevelt spoke, and the band played, before an ocean of umbrellas. This was before Ressler’s day. But in a way, it was his time....