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Race Manners: Michael Brown’s death didn’t cause a divide between you and the people in your social networks. It simply revealed one. Use the information you’re getting to decide which relationships you value. Dear Race Manners: I have been so offended and angered by what some of my friends on Facebook have said about Michael Brown and the situation in Ferguson (he was a thug, he deserved it, black people destroy their own communities, blacks are criminals, all the police officers in Ferguson should quit because blacks don’t appreciate them and more). I feel as though I don’t know some...

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Addressing journalists on his return from his intense five-day visit to South Korea late Monday (Aug. 18), Pope Francis bantered with reporters and lightheartedly said he may only have “two or three” years left to live. The 77-year-old pontiff covered a range of topics on the flight back to the Vatican — from war-torn Iraq and his desire to visit the U.S. next year to his personal health, hinting he may retire early. He was asked how he lived with the immense popularity he has generated around the world, evident when crowds chanted his name on the...

Since I primarily work on fiscal policy, I normally look at the budgetary impact of entitlement programs. And the numbers are very grim.But I’m also an economist, so I periodically comment on how government intervention undermines the efficient functioning of markets in the healthcare field.Last but not least, I’m also a taxpayer, so I can’t resist occasionally expressing my frustration at how the government is a giant pinata of waste fraud and abuse. And government-run healthcare seems especially vulnerable.Huge amounts of money bilked from taxpayers for supposed counseling sessions financed by Medicare and Medicaid.Medicare getting scammed to pay for plastic surgery.Russian...

I want to make sure after yesterdays post that everyone knows that it's still in dispute whether Wilson's eye socket was actually fractured in his altercation with Michael Brown. ...

“I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.” (Zechariah 12:10 NASB)One of the climactic scenes in the book of Genesis was when Joseph, as Pharoah’s regent, revealed himself to his brothers. They had thought that he, Joseph, was an Egyptian prince. When they realized that this was the...

The Old Farmer's Almanac, the familiar, 223-year-old chronicler of climate, folksy advice and fun facts, is predicting a colder winter and warmer summer for much of the nation. Published Wednesday, the New Hampshire-based almanac predicts a "super-cold" winter in the eastern two-thirds of the country. The west will remain a little bit warmer than normal. "Colder is just almost too familiar a term," Editor Janice Stillman said. "Think of it as a refriger-nation." More bad news for those who can't stand snow: Most of the Northeast is expected to get more snowfall than normal, though it will be below normal...

The Fed released the minutes from its last gathering, and this report should move the market. The big question of the day is: what is the level of internal dissent from official policy and Chairman Yellen? Some market observers think that the Fed is ready to hike interest rates based on the last four times they reversed course. I actually see the exact opposite, as “real” unemployment (U6) is higher than those other times and inflation is officially at its second lowest point. Rate Hike Triggers U6 PCE Fed Funds Feb 4, 1994 11.4 3.19 2.4 March 25, 1997 9.1...

With less than a week until primary election day, the three Republicans in the First Congressional District race are in a dead heat, a new poll shows. The Remington Research Group poll of 420 likely Republican voters has Andy Tobin with 30 percent of the votes, Adam Kwasman with 29 percent, and Gary Kiehne with 21 percent. The remaining 20 percent of voters said they still are undecided.

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Protesters against the police actions in Ferguson, Mo. as well as police killings of other suspects in California and other states gathered in Oakland on Wednesday. A couple of hundred demonstrators gathered at Oakland Police headquarters on 7th and Broadway and faced off with officers in riot gear. Some protesters unveiled a new tactic, by holding up mirrors in the faces of officers. “I was holding up the mirror because I wanted the police to just look at themselves. Especially if they were about to take some kind of action just so they had to acknowledge what they were doing,”...

This set of Alphaclamps is an exploration of tools and their form. From the I-beam to the C-clamp, the latin letterforms seem to have a chicken-egg relationship with the letter-shaped tools that bear their name. Is the C the basis for design, or simply a descriptor of the form? Curious about how the other letters would work as tools, I set out to explore the mechanical utility of the forsaken letters of our alphabet.

It’s no wonder Americans don’t trust the government. Sandwiched between ideological zealots at the IRS and the EPA and massive corruption at the Veterans Administration, the public is being exposed to the consequences of bureaucracies running wild. President Obama is adding to the public’s discontent with the government. Obama’s high profile lies about his health-care plan and his insistence that there is “not even a smidgen of corruption” regarding the IRS targeting Tea Party groups are most certainly adding to the public’s distrust of government. According to a recent CNN poll, only 12 percent feel the government can be trusted...

The State Department downplayed comments from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) leaders that they are at war with America, arguing that their violence is not directed at any particular country or race. At a briefing Thursday, a reporter brought up anti-American comments from ISIL leaders: “I mean, even they are announcing, ISIL people in their message, whatever, the recorded message, other messages, that now we are in a war with America.” “This is not about ISIL versus the United States,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf objected. “They are killing anyone who gets in their way:...

The Legacy Lives On! Mark’s Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation “Conservatism is the antidote to tyranny precisely because its principles are the founding principles.” --Mark Levin in Liberty and Tyranny Welcome to “The Levin Lounge”… Step in and have a virtual FRink.Taking the country by storm, one radio station at a time – and kicking the BUTTS of the competition! Welcome all, to the most FUN LIVE THREAD on FreeRepublic.com! You can call Mark’s show: 1-877-381-3811

Supporters of President Obama’s health care law have been touting proposed insurance rates for 2015 — arguing that they aren’t as high as some of the dire warnings of the law’s critics.But it’s worth considering some additional context.Data complied by the Health Research Institute of PricewaterhouseCoopers from about 29 states plus the District of Columbia show that the average premium increase for insurance starting next year is currently 8.2 percent. But within that average, there’s a wide range.In Arizona, for instance, the average premium increase submitted was 11.2 percent, but rates ranged from a decrease of 23 percent to a...

A third of the houses on the main street of this Bedouin town near Egypt's border with Gaza look derelict, but inside they buzz with the activity of tunnel smugglers scrambling to survive a security crackdown by the Egyptian army. Smugglers and tunnel owners, who once publicly advertised their services, have taken over the nearly two dozen single-storey concrete structures and boarded up their doors and windows to avoid the attention of the authorities. While tunnels used by Gaza's dominant Hamas militants to infiltrate Israel were a priority target of an Israeli offensive in the Palestinian enclave this summer, many...

Any more good ideas? No, I can't travel out there myself. But if I could... 1)THUG TRIES TO KILL COP 2)THUG IS SHOT DEADWHICH PART OF "DUH!!" DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?   "GENTLE GIANTS" DON'T SMASH PEOPLE'S FACES BACK INTO THEIR SKULLS How many mulligans did the villagers allow the "Boy Who Cried Wolf"? 3? How many have Jesse and Al been allowed already? How many MORE mulligans does America owe to Race Pimps before we're allowed to ignore them?   PROBLEM: White Cop Shoots Violent Thug in Self-Defense SOLUTION: Nonstop Pillaging & Burning Until Cop is Lynched Why Do You...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Grammy-winning rapper Nelly told Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday that law enforcement in Ferguson, Missouri, had lost the trust of the community and needed to change, the star's publicist told NBC News. The artist spoke on the phone to Holder, who visited the St Louis suburb in a bid to end violence over the fatal shooting by police of unarmed teenager Michael Brown. Nelly, a Ferguson native who created a scholarship fund in honor of Brown’s family, said in a statement that he was “thankful” that Holder had taken the time to speak. “[Holder] understood that the trust and...

Joshua DuBois is the author of The President’s Devotional: The Daily Readings that Inspired President Obama and Stories of Faith in the White House. Dubois headed the Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships during Obama’s first term. And he’s a buffoon… Chris Matthews: What about the kid who begins to start thinking about his life in his mid-teens…and he’s thinking, ‘where am I going in this world?’ (SNIP) Dubois: I’m gonna say to him, ‘tap into your inherent creativity and your inherent strengths’. Cuz he may be a poet. He may express that poetry in terms of rap music....

Now that’s a good wife! A clerk at the Staten Island District Attorney’s Office scored free crack cocaine for her husband from a convicted drug dealer in exchange for tips on whether he was being investigated by her boss, court documents revealed Tuesday.

On Tuesday, ISIS terrorists beheaded American journalist James Foley. President Obama responded by bombing the fourth green during his long vacation in Martha’s Vineyard. He also lectured ISIS on the true meaning of Islam: “ISIL speaks for no religion…ISIL has no ideology of any value to human beings….One thing we can all agree on is that a group like ISIL has no place in the 21st century.” The faculty-lounge insult approach has proved ineffective. ISIS is now threatening to kill journalist Steven Sotloff. They reportedly hold two other Americans as well. And they will undoubtedly seek to kidnap more Americans...