Free Republic

Stephen McNallen’s path to founding a racist, whites-only church now headquartered in the foothills north of Sacramento started with fantasy novels and, eventually, found a measure of infamy through the discovery of an ancient skeleton McNallen, the 73-year-old founder of the Asatru Folk Assembly, was an avid reader of sword-and-sorcery novels like “Conan the Barbarian” when he was in college in the late 1960s in Wichita Falls, Texas. One summer in a corner of a bookstore, he found something that would put him on the path to creating a U.S.-based church that worships Norse gods such as Thor and Odin...

A California longshoreman, who works at California’s San Pedro Bay Port Complex, reportedly said the labor unions are exascerbating the supply chain crisis. Identified as Alfred to Yahoo News, the longshoreman blamed Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) for “cutting the work” at the port, which is increasing the jam of containers stuck at sea and on the docks. “They’re [PMA] the ones who are not training: skilled positions. [That] means crane operators, top handler drivers, trans drivers,” said Alfred. “They’re the ones who are keeping the ships out there at sea anchored.” Despite the delays and mounting shipping costs American families...

A protester shouted and threw what appeared to be Russian flags at Mr. Trump, screaming “Trump is treason!” and “We should be talking about treason not tax cuts!” CBS News’ Nancy Cordes reports that the man has been identified as Ryan Clayton of the Americans Take Action group. Clayton made a similar disturbance at the Capitol when he threw a large Russian flag in the way of Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, back in July when he met with Senate Intelligence investigators as part of their ongoing probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. This was Ryan Clayton from...

The Writers Guild of America says it has instructed its 13,000 members to fire their talent agents at midnight on Saturday, unless their agents sign a new "Code of Conduct" agreement that promises they will do away with packaging fees and their stakes in production companies. The bottom line: Most of the Guild's writers agree with the Code of Conduct, but most of the agents who represent them don't. The hope was that the 2 sides would come up with a compromise before the current negotiations expired on Friday. Without a deal, Hollywood is stuck in a messy limbo that...

The severely elongated head of a preserved skeleton found in Peru's Atacama Desert in 2003 is so unusual that it initially prompted people to suggest that the diminutive body was that of an extraterrestrial. Since then, DNA testing confirmed that the remains — which measure about 6 inches (15 centimeters) long — belonged to a human fetus that researchers named Ata. But the scientists who conducted that investigation and published their findings in March have recently come under fire for their methods. ...Their investigation, which did not include any Chilean researchers, may have sidestepped protocols that typically monitor the ethics...

Elizabeth Zemba of Mt. Pleasant, a daily Pennsylvania Turnpike traveler, turned to art and creativity to express frustration with the highway's ever-rising tolls. She created an Internet meme. A photo of a turnpike tollbooth is overlaid with the logo: "Pennsylvania Turnpike re-inventing highway robbery since 2009." For many, annual turnpike toll increases simply have become too much to bear. Two weeks ago, a coalition of truckers and motorists advocates filed a class action suit against the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, PennDOT and Gov. Tom Wolf, seeking to recoup "excessive fees" that went to underwrite projects other than the operation of the...

A leaked six-page memo that purportedly outlines some of the key principles of the Trump administration’s long-awaited infrastructure plan is drawing fire from several corners of the trucking industry – especially regarding plans to allow states to broaden interstate tolling efforts and commercialize rest stops.“Our primary concern is that the memo talks about giving states the ‘flexibility’ to toll existing interstates and ‘reconcile the grandfathered restrictions on the use of highway toll revenues with current law.’ We’re gearing up for a big fight over that,” Stephanie Kane, spokesperson for the Alliance for Toll-Free Interstates, told Fleet Owner.Related: ATRI: Fuel tax...

One of Arkansas’ top priorities is finishing Interstate 49 in the western part of the state. A key component of that massive project, which is also massively expensive, is a 13.7-mile stretch near Fort Smith that includes a bridge over the Arkansas River to connect Interstate 40 with Interstate 49, which would then run from south Fort Smith to northwest Arkansas and up through the midsection of the nation. The project’s completion would connect with a 6.5-mile stretch of Interstate 549 that opened in 2015 and hooks up U.S. 71 with Highway 22 in south Fort Smith. The proposed 13.7-mile...

2,800 Huma Abedin Government Documents on Husband Weiner’s Laptop U.S. Doesn’t Vet Counterterrorism Trainees from Developing Nations 2,800 Huma Abedin Government Documents on Husband Weiner’s Laptop A major Clinton scandal development this week: State Department confirmed that it has 2,800 of Huma Abedin’s work-related documents from the FBI that were found on her estranged husband Anthony Weiner’s personal laptop. Abedin was former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s deputy chief of staff. Weiner is a disgraced former congressman and New York mayoral candidate who recently pled guilty to transferring obscene material to a minor. Abedin kept a non-State.gov email account...

President-elect Donald Trump said throughout his campaign for the White House that he wants major investments in U.S. infrastructure, calling for $1 trillion on infrastructure projects during his presidency.He reiterated the point in his victory speech last Wednesday. “We’re going to fix our inner cities and rebuild our highways, bridges, tunnels, airports, schools, hospitals,” Mr. Trump said. “We’re going to rebuild our infrastructure, which will become, by the way, second to none.”However, major infrastructure bills are challenging pieces of legislation to pass, especially since Congress changed little in the election, says Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent...

Public agencies with toll-setting authority should take note of a recent federal court decision relating to the uses of user fees and toll revenue, as well as the stated goals of the plaintiff in that case.The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York recently clarified the constitutional uses of toll revenue in American Trucking Associations v. New York State Thruway Authority, 13 Civ. 8123 (CM) (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 10, 2016). In this case, commercial trucking companies and the American Trucking Associations (ATA) claimed that the New York State Thruway Authority violated the Constitution by charging inflated toll rates...

NOTE The following text is a quote: DHS performs 100 percent watchlist matching for domestic flights Washington, D.C.—Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today announced that 100 percent of passengers traveling within the United States and its territories are now being checked against terrorist watchlists through the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) Secure Flight program—a major step in fulfilling a key 9/11 Commission recommendation. Before Secure Flight, airlines conducted passenger watchlist checking. “Secure Flight fulfills a key recommendation of the of the 9/11 Commission Report, enabling TSA to screen passengers directly against government watchlists using passenger name, date of...

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce joined a federal lawsuit Monday against a new union organizing rule. The Chamber filed a motion to intervene as a party-plaintiff in the Air Transport Association’s (ATA) suit against the National Mediation Board (NMB). The business lobbying group opposes a rule change finalized by the board earlier this month that makes it easier for workers at companies covered by the Railway Labor Act to unionize. Under the rule, workers who don’t vote in a union election are not counted as votes either for or against forming a union. Such non-votes previously were counted as votes...

Obama amputates our nuclear arms By: Charles Krauthammer ...snippet...Under President Obama’s new policy, however, if the state that has just attacked us with biological or chemical weapons is “in compliance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty,” explained Gates, then “the U.S. pledges not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against it.” Imagine the scenario: Hundreds of thousands are lying dead in the streets of Boston after a massive anthrax or nerve gas attack. The president immediately calls in the lawyers to determine whether the attacking state is in compliance with the NPT. If it turns out that the attacker...

French police said on Thursday they had arrested the suspected military leader of the Basque separatist movement ETA in the south-western city of Bayonne. AFP - French anti-terrorist police on Thursday arrested the suspected military chief of the Basque separatist group ETA, Mikel Karrera Sarobe, police sources said. Two other suspected ETA members -- also Spanish nationals -- were arrested with Karrera Sarobe when detectives and anti-terrorist police raided a house in the southwestern French city of Bayonne at daybreak, the sources said. They were a man and a woman, and one of them is suspected of being the number-two...

A footnote to the 76-page criminal complaint and affidavit charging Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) with soliciting bribes confirms what has long been rumored -- that a former longtime friend and fundraiser for President-elect Barack Obama is talking to federal prosecutors in hopes of a reduced sentence. Antoin "Tony" Rezko's offer to provide authorities with evidence of others' wrongdoing is "not complete," and prosecutors are working to corroborate the claims he has made so far, the footnote said.

Agency aids stranded travelers $5M budgeted to help those grounded by airline shutdowns By Allison Schaefers aschaefers@starbulletin.com The Hawaii Tourism Authority gave tourism leaders approval yesterday to spend up to $5 million in emergency funds to underwrite additional airline service for passengers who have been unable to secure alternative flights following the shutdown of ATA Airlines' operations. In the aftermath left by the shutdown of two prime West Coast carriers, some 9,000 stranded visitors were still trying to get out of Hawaii, and another 1,377 visitors and residents were trying to make it back to the islands. While some 6,200...

Loss of ATA and Aloha could mar tourism By Allison Schaefers aschaefers@starbulletin.com The loss of nearly 15 percent of the airline capacity to Hawaii this week with the abrupt closure of ATA Airlines and Aloha Airlines is sending shock waves through the state's visitor industry. State tourism officials said other carriers' existing flights could have filled the void left by Aloha. But the loss of ATA's seats could cause state visitor counts to fall by more than a half-million in the next nine months if new flights are not added, said state Tourism Liaison Marsha Wienert. "It could be devastating...

INDIANAPOLIS — ATA Airlines canceled all flights Thursday after filing for bankruptcy as it posted advisories at ticket counters in the handful of cities it still served and sought help for stranded travelers. The Indianapolis-based airline, once the nation's 10th-largest, entered bankruptcy for the second time in just over three years Wednesday, this time citing the loss of a key military charter business. The airline had approximately 50 flights per day, mostly between Hawaii and four west coast cities — Oakland, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Las Vegas, said company spokesman Michael Freitag. ATA said has been in contact with other...

INGLESIDE — A new way to move shipping containers might be tested in Ingleside as early as next year. Stephen Roop, designer and assistant director of the Texas Transportation Institute, a research and development agency working with the Texas A&M University System, has developed a freight shuttle that would move a container from point A to point B on rails. The process would be automated and computerized, with the owner of the shuttle programming where the shuttle needs to take the container. The concept is to alleviate congestion on highways and ship cargo more efficiently, Roop said. It was developed...