Free Republic

VALLEJO, California (Reuters) - Giant goldfish have mysteriously found their way into the famously crystalline waters of Lake Tahoe, the nation's second-deepest lake, alarming researchers and raising questions about the invasive species' long-term effects. Goldfish weighing as much as 4 pounds and measuring up to a 1-1/2 feet in length have recently been caught in Tahoe, which straddles the California-Nevada border, and scientists say the influx threatens native species while posing a potential waste pollution problem. "These fish are competing with the native fish, and that's a big part of the problem," said Heather Segale, spokeswoman for the Tahoe Environmental...

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A streak of light that apparently sparked several reports across Southern California was not considered to be a public threat, according to fire officials. Over 40 reports from eyewitnesses around the Southland and statewide reported the sight to the American Meteor Society (AMS) around approximately 10:30 p.m. on Thursday night. Residents from cities as far north as Sacramento, Pismo Beach and Santa Barbara and as far south as Malibu and Costa Mesa reported a “brief tail of light” – described as everything from blue to white to bright green in color – traveling in a east-southeast...

Okay, Folks, here's what would be the next logical evolution in disaster preparedness: a Preppers' Dating Site! DoomsdayDating.com offers a link to preppers to meet and greet and do all those things that dating sites all over the web already do; just focused on the prepper community. There are also links of interest along the sidebars, and a few prepper-oriented ads.

<p>DAVIS COUNTY, Utah — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released a statement Monday regarding an LDS missionary who was sent home to answer felony charges of child rape, which allegedly occurred before he left for the mission.</p>

SPRINGFIELD — A divided federal appeals court today rejected Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s request for a rehearing on the case where the state has been ordered to allow citizens to carry guns in public. Madigan made the request following the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals decision in December that gave Illinois 180 days to put together a law that would allow concealed weapons in Illinois. There has been no word yet from Madigan’s office on her next move. She could choose to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court or decide to let the ruling stand. The appeals court...

Colorado officials would be prohibited from enforcing any federal laws that ban or restrict the ownership of semi-automatic weapons or ammunition magazines, under a bill sponsored by two state lawmakers whose districts include the southwest Weld County facilities of Magpul Industries, a firearms accessories manufacturer. Awaiting a hearing by the Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee is Senate Bill 140, a measure from Sen. Vicki Marble, R-Fort Collins, and Rep. Lori Saine, R-Dacono, that would bar any state employee or agency -- including peace officers -- from enforcing any federal laws or regulations enacted since Jan. 1, if those...

James Fox to Announce $100,000 UFO Reward for Proof of an ET Spacecraft Nearly every day, videos, photos and eyewitness accounts of UFOs pop up on the Internet. Some are hoaxes. Some are quirks in the weather. Some sightings are never explained and forevermore remain UFOs. Still, never has there been widely accepted positive proof of an extraterrestrial spacecraft, though there are those who believe various government agencies around the world have conspired to hide the truth. Now, however, if someone can prove otherwise, they will be $100,000 richer. Filmmaker James Fox will make this announcement as part of the...

Former Utah governor and presidential hopeful Jon Huntsman is speaking out in favor of marriage equality, arguing that it is a “conservative cause” that the Republican Party should support. In an op-ed for The American Conservative, Huntsman writes about his time as governor of Utah during which he pushed for civil unions and equality for the LGBTQ community, and adds that the GOP now has the opportunity to do more. “Conservatives should start to lead again and push their states to join the nine others that allow all their citizens to marry,” Huntsman writes... Huntsman’s pro-marriage equality stance is not...

Forbes put Detroit Mayor Dave Bing on its cover in 2011 for a story with the optimistic headline: “City of Hope.” The premise was that the city had hit rock bottom and was poised for a turnaround. “Right now, it’s all about survival,” Bing told Forbes. Two years later, Detroit’s problems continue to multiply, sadly. It is still dealing with high levels of violent crime and unemployment. Home prices, already at historic lows, plummeted a further 35% during the past three years to a median of $40,000 as net migration out of the city continued. The latest blow was Tuesday’s...

Sources have confirmed with the CBS affiliate in Las Vegas that a man who was shot to death while driving his Maserati on the Las Vegas Strip was an aspiring rapper from Oakland who went by the name of Kenny Clutch. Clutch, whose real name was Kenneth Cherry Jr., was 27 years old. His father, Kenneth Cherry Sr., confirmed his son’s death and said his family is devastated. Two more people died after the Maserati crashed into a taxi cab, causing it to explode. Cherry’s friends on Facebook and followers on Twitter have been posting messages that read “rest in...

One of the mainstays of this administration’s immigration policy is non-enforcement, coupled with an overwhelming tendency to deceive the public about what it is doing. Of course, its lapdogs in the mainstream media have been more than willing to facilitate this deception, so long as it bolsters the President’s chances of enacting an even more sweeping wholesale amnesty. The notion that there might be Americans who hold a differing perspective is inconceivable within the media bubble. Forget for a moment that a well-respected, private research university had already established that Obama and his cronies were lying about their dereliction of...

After reading about the money he stole, the expensive swag he bought with campaign funds, and the constituents he ultimately betrayed, it’s hard to feel anything but contempt for disgraced celebrity son and former Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. But apparently not everyone agrees with me. Indeed, the folks over at ‘Morning Joe’ are -- wait for it -- saddened by his downfall (via Jazz Shaw):

An already bad month is getting worse for NBC. For the first time in sweeps history, the network is projected to finish fifth in the key adults 18-49 demographic. That’s a crushing blow for NBC... snip... From the beginning of the February sweep on January 31 through February 19, NBC has averaged a 1.2 rating among adults 18-49. That’s below the 1.5 that Univision has been averaging so far over the 20 night of the sweep period. In fact, Univision has bested NBC every single night of the sweep so far among adults 18-49 and is poised to overtake NBC...

Minnesota businesses are blasting a plan by Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton to make the North Star State one of the few that taxes companies for business they do with other businesses.

OF ALL the spanakopita joints in all the towns, in all the world, Jennifer Lawrence had to walk into mine. Upper Darby's Llanerch Diner, situated near the intersection of Routes 1 and 3, is where I go once a week to have my spinach pie, Greek salad and Diet Coke. Now, it's a Spot, and going there is a Thing, ever since "Silver Linings Playbook," with its famous J Law/Brad Cooper "date" sequence, put the diner on the map. People want to sit in The Booth.

Cardinal Peter Turkson made the comments to an American journalist He said similar sex scandals would not happen in African churches Cardinal Turkson is second favourite to take over as PopeThe African cardinal widely tipped to be the first black pope in modern history faced a firestorm of criticism last night after he laid the blame for clerical sex abuse crises at the feet of gay priests. Cardinal Peter Turkson, who comes from Ghana, told an American journalist that similar sex scandals would never convulse churches in Africa because the culture was inimical to homosexuality. ‘African traditional systems kind of...

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) has not yet acted on calls from within his own party to form select committees to uncover more information on the attack which killed four Americans in Benghazi, Libya in 2012. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have suggested the formation of select committees since November 2012, one month after the assault which killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other State Department employees. Such select committees could provide a channel for Benghazi survivors to come forward and tell their stories to Congress without legal repercussions from the federal government. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told USA Today on...

When First Lady Michelle Obama steps out of her White House Picture Frame on her end of February nationwide tour, to take credit for not only halting—but reversing—childhood obesity, folk should be thinking “fertilizer”.The White House crediting Obama’s failed Let’s Move initiative as salvation for obese children everywhere is well fertilized with the same matter fertilizing her White House ‘organic’ garden.When First Lady Michelle Obama steps out of her White House Picture Frame on her end of February nationwide tour, to take credit for not only halting—but reversing—childhood obesity, folk should be thinking “fertilizer”.When First Lady Michelle Obama steps out...

I’d love to tell you that this strategy is nutty but after the last election I assume it’s already been vetted and deemed foolproof by an elite team of liberal Nobel-prize-winning behavioral scientists and supercomputer-enabled statistical models. Meanwhile, somewhere in Virginia, the GOP’s strategy squad is pushing colored thumbtacks into a paper map of the U.S. If you’ve been wondering where O’s out-of-left-field push for a minimum-wage hike in the SOTU came from, this is where. It polls well, and right now his only chance to get anything important done in his second term is by pushing dumb yet popular...

Vitamin A deficiency has killed 8 million kids in the last 12 years. Help is finally on the way. Finally, after a 12-year delay caused by opponents of genetically modified foods, so-called “golden rice” with vitamin A will be grown in the Philippines. Over those 12 years, about 8 million children worldwide died from vitamin A deficiency. Are anti-GM advocates not partly responsible? Golden rice is the most prominent example in the global controversy over GM foods, which pits a technology with some risks but incredible potential against the resistance of feel-good campaigning. Three billion people depend on rice as...