Free Republic

At the height of the debate over a $1.1 trillion spending bill last week, we examined the similarities and differences between Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who protested the measure from opposite ends of the political spectrum. Later, as the bill approached passage and won approval over the weekend, we saw a key distinction emerge: Cruz was willing to hold up the process to make his point. Warren was not. Warren opposed the bill because of a provision that would relax a restriction on Wall Street banks. In press conferences and Senate floor speeches, Warren spoke out...

I have about 1.5 acres of land in my back yard and I need advice on what/when to plant on it so all the dirt does now wash down to the bottom. Whatever I plant/seed needs to come in thick and fast. My daughter had 2 horses back there and now the land is pretty bare.

A radio station that asked listeners to vote on whether two turkeys should be killed has been criticised by animal lovers - including Queen guitarist Dr Brian May. And the RSPCA has urged Jack FM to rethink the online vote on whether the turkeys should be cooked or kept alive. The RSPCA said it opposed any practice with the "potential to cause animals pain... in the name of entertainment". Currently, 62% of people have voted to save the turkeys, named Sage and Onion. The Oxfordshire station said if listeners voted to kill the pair in the "cook it or keep...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senior U.S. officials are literally calling “fowl” after the Thanksgiving turkey pardoned by President Obama publicly defected to the Middle Eastern terrorist group ISIS. Popcorn the Turkey, now calling himself Babakurn al-Turki, was pardoned from the dinner table only yesterday by President Obama in a public ceremony at the White House. Normally the pardoned bird is sent along with its competitor to live out its remaining days at Morven Park’s Turkey Hill in Leesburg, Virginia. However, U.S. officials have now admitted that al-Turki instead hijacked an Osprey out of Andrews Air Force Base in nearby Maryland and...

An epidemic of whooping cough has broken out in California. Not long ago, this ancient scourge had been banished by modern medicine. But now it’s back, thanks to people who believe modern medicine is dangerous. These folks are not ignorant backwoods hicks. Many of them have advanced degrees. They live in some of the nicest neighbourhoods on Earth – places like Marin County, Napa and Malibu. But they believe that vaccines cause autism or worse. Immunization rates in some of the more fashionable California schools resemble those in the more backward parts of Africa. At the Valley Waldorf City School...

It used to be easy for people like Kristen D’Amico, who can’t stand the taste of pumpkin pie. She merely had to say no to a slice of it on Thanksgiving Day. Not anymore. A rising tide of products flavored with pumpkin pie spice has flooded grocery store shelves and restaurant menus, and not just near her home in Deltona, Fla. Friends tease the 34-year-old stay-at-home mother with gleeful photos and text messages about pumpkin lattes, coffee creamers and pies. Relatives mock her, she says, at Thanksgiving dinner for shunning pumpkin in all its forms. The pumpkin craze “really is...

DESERT HOT SPRINGS, Calif. -- Authorities say about 150 fighting roosters have been euthanized after being discovered at a home in Southern California. The Desert Sun reports that police found the birds Tuesday while investigating reports of gunshots in an area near Desert Hot Springs, north of Palm Springs. The roosters were humanely put down by Riverside County Animal Services. The agency says it doesn't offer roosters for adoption because they're worth hundreds of dollars and would likely be sold for illegal fights. Officials say the owner of the birds was detained and turned over to U.S. Border Patrol for...

Scientists have revealed that levels of carbon dioxide increase in the Northern Hemisphere during summers each year as plants absorb carbon dioxide to convert sunlight into food. The CO2 levels again rise as the plants release CO2 after the growing season. Scientists have found that corn, rice, wheat and soybean are the four leading crops that account for maximum CO2 release in the atmosphere of Northern Hemisphere. Crops act as sponge for CO2 and it could be said that the sponge effect has become bigger because of the advancements in agricultural techniques, leading to more production. There is a sharp...

A ‘gay’ bull has been saved from slaughter by the only person who could have truly understood the ridiculousness of the situation – the co-creator of the Simpsons. Benjy the bull was being prepared for the chop after vets said his sexual orientation was the reason he wouldn’t breed. That’s when Sam Simon, who helped start cult cartoon comedy, stepped in. ‘All animals have a dire destiny in the meat trade, but to kill this bull because he’s gay would’ve been a double tragedy,’ said the 59-year-old producer who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. After being told he was...

Start hoarding those Hershey's Kisses and stockpile your Snickers: The world could soon experience a chocolate shortage. Mars Inc. and Barry Callebaut, two of the world's largest chocolate makers, say that's the path we're headed down. They cite a perfect storm of factors: Less cocoa is being produced as more and more people are devouring chocolate. In 2013, consumers ate about 70,000 metric tons more cocoa than was produced, The Washington Post reports, and that deficit could go up to 1 million metric tons by 2020. The Ivory Coast and Ghana produce more than 70 percent of the world's cacao...

In the fall of 2002, a seed was planted in the conservatory greenhouse on Tower Road. Over 10 years the seed grew up into a plant that had leaves, but no flowers to speak of. In the spring of 2012, Prof. Melissa Luckow, plant biology, got a phone call. “You don’t really have any warning until it actually happens,” Luckow said. Courtesy of Craig Cramer: Ready to goThis photo of Cornell’s titan arum plant was taken last week.Next week, the plant is expected to open up, revealing its flowers. The plant, known as titan arum, was finally going to bloom,...

This gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “noble” cause corruption. Documentation follows. From IceAgeNow - the American EPA has stunned observers, with a list of inert additives for pesticide formulations they intend to ban, which includes the noble gas Argon. Its hard to imagine a more inoffensive substance than Argon. As a noble gas, Argon is chemically inert – it participates in no chemical reactions whatsoever, except under exotic conditions – there are no known chemical compounds which can survive at room temperature which include Argon. Argon is not a greenhouse gas. But Argon is incredibly useful to...

Chinese researchers have discovered what they say is the first ‘virological penicillin’ – MIR2911, a molecule found naturally in a Chinese herb called honeysuckle. Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) is a well-known Chinese herb. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, it has been used to effectively treat influenza infection for centuries. Several previous studies have confirmed that the herb, usually consumed in the form of a tea, can suppress the replication of influenza virus. However, the active anti-viral components and the mechanism by which they block viral replication have remained unclear. Now, a team of researchers headed by Dr Chen-Yu Zhang of Nanjing University...

Despite all the gloom and doom from people like Paul Ehrlich and the warmers who say global warming will stunt food production, the reality is far different. It seems the increase in CO2 along with adaptive crop genetics may have combined to produce this bonanza. Based on the latest forecasts for production and utilization, world cereal stocks at the close of crop seasons ending in 2015 would surge to 627.5 million tonnes, up 8.3 percent from an already large volume at the start of the season and its highest level in 15 years. Maize would account for the biggest increase,...

France - Scientists said Wednesday they had unravelled the oldest DNA ever retrieved from a Homo sapiens bone, a feat that sheds light on modern humans' colonisation of the planet. A femur found by chance on the banks of a west Siberian river in 2008 is that of a man who died around 45,000 years ago, they said. Teased out of collagen in the ancient bone, the genome contains traces from Neanderthals -- a cousin species who lived in Eurasia alongside H. sapiens before mysteriously disappearing. Previous research has found that Neanderthals and H. sapiens interbred, leaving a tiny Neanderthal...

Republican lawmakers say the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency enjoys a “beyond cozy” relationship with a liberal environmental action group that seeks to reshape national energy policies in a way that would hurt American businesses and families. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., the top Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee, told The Daily Signal that the Natural Resources Defense Council played an “absolutely inappropriate” role in drafting the EPA’s new carbon emissions plan. “The EPA has been one of the least transparent agencies I have ever seen, but it’s become apparent that their lack of transparency is to hide the...

A virus that killed millions of baby pigs in the last year and led to higher pork prices has waned thanks to warmer weather and farmers’ efforts to sterilize their operations. And as pigs’ numbers increase, sticker shock on things like bacon should ease. Already, hog supplies are on the rise, with 5.46 million baby pigs born between June and August in Iowa, the nation’s leading producer—the highest quarterly total in 20 years and a record 10.7 surviving pigs per litter, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report. It’s a significant turnaround from a year ago when the porcine...

The Bavarian Farmers Association (BBV) is calling foul on new rules proposed by the European Union Commission to ban cow dung from hillsides with a gradient more than 15 percent. The goal is to avoid water pollution by stopping nitrates from leaching into ground waters. “We demand that Germany stops this ban,” said Upper Bavaria BBV president Anton Kreitmair at Wednesday’s protest. “Slurry and dung are not pollutants, but valuable fertilizers.” The protest had no placards or slogans—just Doris the cow, wearing a plastic sheet tied around her rear end by farmer Johann Huber. “We have no regular Pampers; the...

COLOMBIA (WITI) — “My mom told me that if I didn’t want to get pregnant, I should put a potato up there, and I believed her,” the woman said. And that’s just what the woman did! According to Colombia Reports, the 22-year-old woman sought medical attention after experiencing abdominal pains, and medical staff discovered a potato growing inside the young woman. The woman apparently had the potato inside her body for about two weeks before she began to experience abdominal pains. The potato had germinated, and grew roots inside her body. Initially, the nurse who examined the woman thought the...

Agriculture business giant Monsanto Co. reported a wider-than-expected loss Wednesday for its fourth quarter on higher expenses, including a one-time legal settlement. The company’s earnings forecast for 2015 also fell short of analysts’ expectations as Monsanto said it expects “continued industry headwinds.” […] The loss came despite higher sales of the company’s two key business units, genetically-engineered seeds and herbicide. …