Free Republic

A Virginia nonprofit is asking for donations to cover the $30,000 it spent successfully fighting a Righthaven LLC copyright infringement lawsuit. The Virginia Citizens Defense League Inc. (VCDL), a gun rights group in Newington, Va., was sued by Las Vegas-based Righthaven in September 2010.

Severe Storms in Wichita. Large Tornado moving into Southwest part of city. Haysville, Derby, Wichita especially in the crosshairs. We're hunkered down here and prepared. It looks like it might miss us, but there are more storms expected tonight. Looks like a long evening. Stay Safe!

April 7, 1862 (Monday) Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee General Grant tried to sleep, first under a tree near his men and then in a cabin that he found already occupied with the wounded. Through the night, Union transports and reinforcements arrived at Pittsburg Landing, bringing 25,000 much-needed men. Grant was certain that his line could withstand a Confederate attack. In fact, he was so certain, that he wanted to go on the offensive. Meanwhile, General Beauregard, now the sole commander of the Confederate Army of Mississippi, slept in General Sherman’s tent, the former owner vacating it as the Rebels attacked the...

Hey, take a look at what I found on the EPA's website (Yes, I have a life. Really. I do. Promise.): ********************************** "Environmental Justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. Fair treatment means that no group of people should bear a disproportionate share of the negative environmental consequences resulting from industrial, governmental and commercial operations or policies. Meaningful involvement means that: (1) people have an opportunity to participate in decisions about activities that may...

BREAKING: Sources tell FOX 5 News that Herman Cain will endorse Newt Gingrich Monday for the GOP Presidential Nominee

Despite two days of allegations of sexual harassment dating back to the 1990s, Georgia businessman Herman Cain's meteoric rise to the top of the GOP polls continues. In the first Rasmussen Reports poll of likely S.C. Republican primary voters conducted Tuesday, Cain carried 33 percent of the support, followed by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney at 23 percent. Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich was the only other candidate in double-figures at 15 percent, while Texas Gov. Rick Perry (9 percent), Rep. Ron Paul (5 percent), Rep. Michele Bachmann (2 percent), former Sen. Rick Santorum (1 percent) and former Gov....

Reno police say the four people initially suspected in a weekend killing are now charged with murder. Luis Sanchez, Jacob Sanchez, Aurora Rodriguez-Perez initially were arraigned on robbery charges Thursday morning at Washoe District Court. Then hours later, authorities charged the three along with 13-year-old Jose Cruz with the murder of 27-year-old Steve Gale who was killed during an attempted robbery on California Avenue just after midnight Sunday morning.

WASHINGTON - He may be gone from the Senate, but John Ensign hasn’t been forgotten. Senate Ethics Committee members announced Thursday that they’d voted unanimously to release the committee’s final report about their investigation into Ensign’s actions surrounding and stemming from his affair with a campaign staffer, and refer their findings to the Justice Department and Federal Elections Commission. "We have reason to believe that Senator Ensign violated laws within their jurisdictions," said Ethics Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. “These findings are so disturbing ... that had Senator Ensign not resigned, and had we been able to proceed to that adjudication,...

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. intelligence officials believe Osama bin Laden made a propaganda recording shortly before his death and expect that tape to surface soon.

Know what doesn't go over well with advertisers? Making fun of disabled children. On April 18, political blog Wonkette published a post titled "Greatest Living American: A Children's Treasury of Trig Crap On His Birthday" (none of which we will quote here). Trig, for those who don't remember, is Sarah Palin's youngest son, who has Down Syndrome. The initial response to this "celebration" of Trig's birthday was limited to comments getting in on the action, contributing the sort of jokes that would make Gilbert Gottfried proud. But then, according to Slate's David Weigel, conservative bloggers stumbled across it and the...

Pres Obama said that anti-”czar” provision violates the separation of powers and will be deemed “not to abrogate” presidential prerogatives. Link when it comes, just flashed up.

A distressed Libyan woman made a desperate plea for help on Saturday, slipping into a Tripoli hotel full of foreign journalists to show bruises and scars she said had been inflicted on her by Muammar Gaddafi's militiamen.

That, from the new statement from NPR's Dana Rehm, is the shoe that took all day to drop. The entire statement, which also clarifies that Schiller decided to leave before the sting occurred:The comments contained in the video released today are contrary to everything we stand for, and we completely disavow the views expressed. NPR is fair and open minded about the people we cover. Our reporting reflects those values every single day – in the civility of our programming, the range of opinions we reflect and the diversity of stories we tell. The assertion that NPR and public radio...

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan says state police must release the name of everyone in the state who is authorized to own a gun.

MyNews4.com - Anjeanette Damon, Host of To The Point, has learned from multiple sources that Reno City Manager Donna Dreska abruptly resigned from her post Friday morning. News 4's Mackenzie Warren spoke Dreska late this morning. Dreska refused to comment until a 2:00pm news confernce today. Dreska had met last week with the State Department of Taxation about whether city staff had illegally transferred funds between accounts. There is no proof of any connection between the investigation and today’s resignation.

An unborn child's heartbeat can be detected as soon as 18 days after conception, and supporters of a bill slated to be unveiled in the Ohio Legislature Wednesday say that women should be prohibited from ending pregnancies beyond that milestone. State Rep. Lynn Wachtmann is planning to unveil the "Heartbeat Bill" and a legislative aide for the Republican tells Fox News that 42 of the 99 representatives in the Ohio state House have signed on to the bill, which would make an exception to the heartbeat rule only in emergency medical situations. According to 2009 data from the Ohio Department...

Nevada has the largest share of illegal workers in the nation, with roughly 10 percent of its work force not authorized by the federal government, according to the Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan research group. The report published Tuesday shows a slight jump in illegal workers as Nevada's job market has shrunk amid record unemployment. Nevada's population of illegal workers was 9.4 percent in 2009. The Silver State's unemployment rate has since climbed to 14.5 percent, the highest in the nation.

The Deficit Commission did not get the necessary 14 votes to send their proposal to Congress. They did get a majority, for which they are claiming some kind of victory....frpa

I snapped this photo last night. Something about the contrail definitely tells me this is a missile.

'The first shows a typical village - the second a barren landscape more reminiscent of the Moon's surface. These two aerial photographs show the horrific toll of World War I on Passchendaele, north-east of Ypres in Belgium. Incredibly, they were taken just a year apart - the first in 1916 before the bloody battle and the second in 1917 once the village had been seized by the Allies.'

'Assassination attempt on Ahmadinejad thwarted' 10/18/10 Lebanese intelligence prevented an assassination attempt on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his visit to Lebanon last week, reported Kuwaiti newspaper al-Siyasa as cited by Channel 10 News. Sources told the newspaper that as Ahmadinejad was making his way to Bint J'beil, an order was received from Lebanese intelligence to stop the Iranian president's convoy and return to Beirut. The paper reported that Hizbullah was not convinced by the information and insisted on taking responsibility for the safety of Ahmadinejad, but Lebanese President Michel Suleiman intervened, saying Ahmadinejad's safety was the responsibility of the...

By allowing people to read its stories online for free, the Las Vegas Review-Journal is essentially giving away those stories, and recipients of the articles are free to display them on their own websites. At least that’s the theory suggested by one of the latest group of lawyers to sign on to represent one of the website operators being sued for copyright infringement by the Review-Journal’s copyright enforcement partner, Righthaven LLC.

"Disputed Islands" ping.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and his family attended an hourlong service Sunday morning at a church just across the street from the White House. Accompanied by his wife, Michelle, and their daughters, Malia and Sasha, Obama strolled across Lafayette Square to attend St. John's Church. Sasha held her father's hand as they crossed the park.

Is there real gold at Ft. Knox? According to Rep. Ron Paul, the answer may be "no!" Monetary historian Andy Gause joins Ian to talk about the implications if Ron Paul is right

"Improving public relations" doesn't seem to be high on the to-do list at Las Vegas copyright enforcement company Righthaven LLC. Another Righthaven copyright infringement suit is likely to be of interest to veterans and military service members and their families. It was filed Tuesday against P.O.W. Network in Skidmore, Mo., the nonprofit operator of the pownetwork.org website offering information on and serving the families of prisoners of war and U.S. military personnel missing in action.

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba — A Guantanamo court on Wednesday sentenced Osama bin Laden's former cook to 14 years in prison. Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al-Qosi of Sudan pleaded guilty last month to supporting terrorism, making him only the fourth Guantanamo detainee to be convicted since the prison, which has held nearly 800 men, was opened in 2002. Al-Qosi could be released much sooner under plea deal that remains sealed, Reuters reported. Al-Qosi avoided a possible life sentence at trial by pleading guilty July 7 to one count each of providing material support for terrorism and conspiracy. The jury of...

In a brief interview today, Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said the state’s budget crisis is so great that a tax increase and an extension of the temporary 2009 tax increase may be necessary to keep government afloat. Raggio’s comments came amid a growing chorus of state officials saying the reality of Nevada’s looming $3 billion shortfall will necessitate a tax increase. “I do think we will have to have some infusion of new revenue,” Raggio said today. “But first, we must determine the essential services at the state level.”

Obama African Birth Certificate! Barack Obama's presidency is illegal! That's what political insiders are saying after a shocking birth certificate from a hospital in Kenya reveals America's Commander-in-Chief was born in Africa! GLOBE has all the explosive details you can't afford to miss!

LAS VEGAS -- The three Las Vegas police officers involved in Saturday's shooting at a Costco have been identified. Officers William Mosher, Joshua Stark and Thomas Mendiola shot and killed Erik Scott at a Summerlin Costco. Officers say Scott had a weapon and pointed it at them. Mosher has been with Metro for five years. Stark and Mendiola have been with Metro for under two years. All are assigned to the Metro's Northwest Area Command. This isn't the first time Officer Mosher has been involved in a shooting. In April of 2006, Officer Mosher and Officer John Wiggins shot and...

TORONTO - A man organizing tonight's cougar convention in Toronto says he hopes hundreds of older women prowl the area for younger men. Rich Gosse says he dated older women when he was a young man, but has since become older than the cougars so can't date them anymore. He says he hopes so-called cougar women and young men, who he calls cubs, will find a lasting relationship at the one-night convention. One woman will be also crowned Miss Cougar Canada, and win a cougar cruise. The convention starts at 7 p.m. at Tattoo Rock Parlour on Queen Street West.

Now this is what I call a Law & Order twist: NBC is declining to comment on a Deadline report claiming the network has opted to not to renew the long-running procedural for what would have been a record-breaking 21st season. If true, it means Dick Wolf will have to settle for simply tying Gunsmoke‘s record as TV’s longest-running drama series.

For Henry and Lorraine Chanin, the lawsuit they filed after Henry contracted hepatitis C during a colonoscopy was never about the money. Instead, they say it’s been about getting two giant companies to change their ways. “Five-hundred million dollars is an unimaginable sum of money for an individual,” Henry Chanin said Friday after a jury awarded him and his wife half a billion dollars in punitive damages.

A jury on Friday awarded a Henderson couple $500 million in punitive damages in the first civil trial related to Southern Nevada's hepatitis outbreak. Lawyers for Henry and Lorraine Chanin had suggested damages of more than $1 billion against Teva Parenteral Medicine and Baxter Healthcare Services.

Nothing else except a top-of-page banner; I'm not close to a TV so I'm not sure what's going on.

Just in. Small explosion, some injuries

Per the Politico: The DNC released this clip of the president rallying the troops, if rather coolly, for 2010, with the express goal of "reconnecting" with the voters who voted for the first time in 2008, but who may not plan to vote in the lower-profile Congressional elections this year. Obama speaks with unusual demographic frankness about his coalition in his appeal to "young people, African-Americans, Latinos, and women who powered our victory in 2008 [to] stand together once again."Youtube

Washington — When Nevada Democrats brought a goat and four chickens to Republican Sue Lowden’s campaign office last week to mock her suggestion that the uninsured barter for health care, it said as much about the political state of affairs for Harry Reid as it did his leading opponent. Lowden was ridiculed by Jay Leno and others for her bartering plan — goats for gallbladder surgery? — read one Democratic missive. Chickens for checkups? Lowden’s advice for the 500,000 Nevadans without health care coverage was another poor choice of talking points from the casino owner and former one-term state lawmaker...

U.S. Sen. Harry Reid must pick up far more support from crossover Republicans and independents to win re-election, according to a new poll that shows him losing to the GOP front-runner in a full-ballot election with eight contenders and a "none of these candidates" option. The survey of Nevada voters commissioned by the Review-Journal shows Reid getting 37 percent of the vote compared with 47 percent for Republican Sue Lowden, who would win if the election were today, while the slate of third-party and nonpartisan candidates would get slim to no backing.

U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle has won the Tea Party Express lottery and will get the national group's endorsement on Tax Day in Washington. Bryan Shroyer, the political director of Tea Party Express, told the Review-Journal late Wednesday that the group will make the announcement today.

For 18-year-old Kenia Pedroza, immigration reform means seeing the grandmother who raised her from a toddler when her mother died. Pedroza's grandmother voluntarily headed back to Mexico once her husband, who was undocumented, was deported a few years ago. Her grandmother was in the process of becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen when she had to move south to be with her spouse. The couple had three children in California, including Pedroza's father, which is how the teen became a citizen.

In a brief procedure, Governor Deval Patrick and the Governor's Council this morning certified the upset election of Scott P. Brown, clearing the way for the Republican to take the oath of office this evening in Washington. Prior to the vote by the council, Councilor Michael J. Callahan offered a brief prayer for Brown and then councilors voted 6-0 to certify the results from last month's special election. Patrick said as he slammed down a gavel and said, "motion carried. Done.'' Patrick and Secretary of State William Galvin then formally signed paperwork that will be sent to Washington, confirming that...

Dems cleared in PMA lobbying scandal By Susan Crabtree - 12/18/09 04:49 PM ET At least three Democratic lawmakers have been cleared of any wrongdoing after an initial investigation into their ties to PMA Group, a now-defunct lobbying firm. Reps. John Murtha (Pa.), Jim Moran (Va.) and Norm Dicks (Wash.) recently received a letter from the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) informing them that it found no need for further inquiry into the PMA-related allegations. The board of the OCE on Nov. 30 voted unanimously to recommend that the full ethics committee dismiss the charges, according to a letter to...

Michelle Bachmann describes the Bill that Barney Frank is pushing through as the "Financial Services Takeover Bill".

Fox News can confirm that Fort Hood suspect Army Major Nidal Hasan is awake and speaking to medical staff at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio.Hospital spokesperson Maria Gallegos says he's in critical but stable condition. A U.S. Army spokesman says Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the suspected Fort Hood gunman, is in critical but stable condition three days after he allegedly opened fire on the military base that killed 13 and left 29 wounded. Hasan, 39, was shot during an exchange of gunfire during Thursday's attack. The military moved him on Friday to Brooke Medical Center, where he...

FORT HOOD - All available EMS units in and arround Killeen are being dispatched to Fort Hood. The Nolanville Fire Department tells News Channel 25 that they've been asked to bring all available EMS and Rescue personnel. Check back with KXXV.com; we'll have the latest details as they become available.

A hacker's claim that he compromised the successor to President Obama's campaign Web site appears to be a hoax, according to information that surfaced since the matter came to light early Monday. The kerfuffle started when a hacker and blogger with a history of posting evidence of security vulnerabilities in popular and high-traffic Web sites published evidence indicating that poor security at barackobama.com had exposed internal databases at the site. The hacker, identified only as "Unu," claimed that a security flaw in barackobama.com allows anyone to view the user names and passwords needed to administer the site. With that access,...

'Net neutrality' would slow the flow FCC plan is another Big Government power grab By Sen. John McCain Ronald Reagan once famously said, "Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." It appears that the former president foresaw the fate of the Internet. When the Internet first began to catch on with consumers as a new marketplace for purchasing books, clothes and music, state and federal legislators stepped in and attempted to tax Americans' Internet use....

Poor Barry. Poor Michelle. Poor Oprah

******************************************************* Introduction On May 12th, more than 60 artists and creative organizers engaged in civic participation, community development, education, social justice activism, and philanthropy came together for a White House briefing on Art, Community, Social Justice, National Recovery. This meeting combined the interests of several groups addressing intersecting issues. All are interested in the power of the arts to build communities and create change. Arlene Goldbard requested a meeting with community cultural development practitioners and thinkers to talk about how the remarkable mobilizing power of community arts can be used by the Obama administration as a tool and a pathway...