Free Republic

I really wanted Opus Delecti to mean delicious opus, but it doesn't. In almost 16 years, this is my first vanity. And all I can muster is to post it in bloggers and personal, where it ostensibly belongs. Vanities were against the rules, and as a date once told me, I'm a rule follower. Nobody will miss me when I'm gone. In fact, I know many folks will rejoice. There are many folks I will miss, once zotted. I'll miss the kitty pings, most of all. I'll miss the quiet solitude of Lurker and the crazy shenanigans of Laz. I...

SAN DIEGO – With a search warrant in hand, federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives confiscated computers, customer lists and the questionable polymer 80 percent lower receivers from four Ares Armor store locations throughout San Diego County over the weekend. “There were women and children inside our retail establishment when the (ATF) agents came in with guns drawn,” said Ares Armor Executive Officer Dimitrios Karras. “They came into our firearms manufacturing facility saying, ‘Arms up!’  like they were invading Iraq.” The raid happened three days after Ares owner was granted a temporary restraining by a...

<p>Ignoring President Barack Obama’s veto threat, the House voted on Wednesday for a bill that would expedite congressional lawsuits against the chief executive for failure to enforce federal laws.</p> <p>The vote was 233-181 in the Republican-led House as GOP lawmakers excoriated Obama for multiple changes to his 4-year-old health care law, steps he’s taken to allow young immigrants to remain in the United States and the administration’s resistance to defend the federal law banning gay marriage.</p>

Two California police officers who were videotaped in a violent struggle with a homeless man during an arrest were acquitted Monday of killing him. It was a rare case in which police officers were charged in a death involving actions on duty. One of the officers acquitted had been charged with murder. Jurors took less than two days to reach their verdicts. ormer Cpl. Jay Cicinelli was acquitted of involuntary manslaughter and excessive use of force. Spectators let out a gasp as the verdict was read.

Round 1. Silva comes out with his hands high, showing respect for Weidman's power. <snip> Round 2. Silva's hands are again high. Silva throws a leg kick but Weidman checks it and Silva breaks his leg.

A decorated war veteran on a Boy Scout hike with his 15-year-old son was arrested alongside a Texas country road after a police officer accused him of “rudely displaying” a firearm. Army Master Sgt. C.J. Grisham told Fox News he was illegally disarmed by members of the Temple Police Dept. – even though he held the proper permits to carry his weapons. <snip> “In this day and age people are alarmed when they see someone with what you have,” one of the officers told a handcuffed Grisham. “They don’t care what the law is.” <snip> By all indications, Grisham was...

Although Senate Democrats will take cues from the White House on how to proceed after the sequester kicks in, they are set this week to vote on a plan that replaces one year of the sequester, or $110 billion of cuts, with a 50-50 split of targeted cuts and new revenue. That includes eliminating direct payments to farmers — a provision that received bipartisan support in the Senate in 2012. Although Democrats feel confident about their bipartisan approach, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., already stripped the direct payment provision from legislation during the fiscal-cliff debate, and he likely would...

Speaker John Boehner told House Republicans this afternoon that the GOP’s upcoming budget will balance the federal books in a decade. Due to the Democrats’ control of the White House and Senate, the possibility of that promise becoming law is remote. But the speaker’s vocal support for the idea reportedly drew cheers within the House Republican conference. According to sources in the room, Boehner made the pledge at a closed-door meeting in the Capitol basement. The speaker said that Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the budget committee chairman, will lead the effort. Boehner’s commitment is a signal to House conservatives...

"Is it possible to build a jetpack using downward firing machine guns?” —Rob B I was sort of surprised to find that the answer was yes! But to really do it right, you’ll want to talk to the Russians. The principle here is pretty simple. If you fire a bullet forward, the recoil pushes you back. So if you fire downward, the recoil should push you up. The first question we have to answer is “can a gun even lift its own weight?” If a machine gun weighs ten pounds but only produces eight pounds of recoil when firing, it...

WOODLAWN, Va.— They say a picture is worth a thousand words. But in this case, police had only word for a 9-year-old boy. Last Thursday, Lane Snow stood outside his house on Route 58 in Carroll County. He was dressed in his cub scout uniform. He stood and saluted the two mile funeral procession of Trooper Andrew Fox. "Cause I was sorry that Andrew Fox died," says Snow. The salute meant a lot to troopers. "When we passed by him it was an unbelievable moment and you know it just puts a big old lump in your throat," says Trooper...

Juan Williams‘ patience expired fairly openly on Hannity tonight after an attack of “elitism” from Michelle Malkin that stemmed from a debate about Attorney General Eric Holder where Williams took offense at Malkin saying Williams and other liberals only blamed Bush for President Obama’s failings, to which he initially replied “I’m a real reporter, not a blogger out in the blogosphere somewhere.” “All you can say is Plame, Plame, Plame; blame, blame, blame; Bush, Bush, Bush,” Malkin told Williams as he argued that the current national security White House leaks were not different from what had transpired in other White...

If the Supreme Court does decide to strike down any or all of the Affordable Health Care Act, the implications will range from the political to the medical to the economic. For me, such a decision will take its place among the more supremely ironic of unintended consequences <snip> Welcome to the wonderful world of constitutional interpretation. Let’s begin by imagining that Congress and the president decided to adopt a genuinely radical health care plan <snip> Put aside the question of whether this is a good idea, or an economically sustainable notion. The question is: would such a law be...

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Sunday indirectly confirmed recent remarks by the Ambassador to Israel that the U.S. is “ready from a military perspective’’ to stop Iran from making a nuclear weapon if international pressure fails. The U.S. and members of the United Nations Security Council recently met in Baghdad for talks about Iran’s suspected nuclear weapon program. Iran denies it has military intentions but has called for the destruction of Israel. “We have plans to be able to implement any contingency we have to in order to defend ourselves,’’ Panetta said on ABC’s This Week. Earlier, Panetta said,...

LOS ANGELES – Katy Perry transforms herself into a U.S. Marine in her latest power-pop single, "Part of Me," which addresses female empowerment and pays particular tribute to service women. <snip> Prominent feminist Naomi Wolf ... is urging Americans to boycott the singer, labeling her video "a total piece of propaganda for the Marines." <snip>

It's an eye opening experience for a Brit returning to her hometown to witness firsthand the growing muslim extremism in Britain.

A black political group offered a $10,000 reward Saturday for the killer of an African-American teenager, amid a nationwide uproar which has prompted a rethink of America's race issues. The New Black Panther Party displayed a wanted poster on its website with a picture of George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who shot Trayvon Martin, 17, last month. "WANTED!!! For the murder of Trayvon Martin... ALIVE, not dead or harmed," the poster read. <snip> Despite the racially charged nature of the case, Zimmerman's lawyer insisted his client was not racist. "I asked him, 'Are you a racist? Do you have...

A standard, even boring, piece of Chinese military propaganda screened in mid-July included what must have been an unintended but nevertheless damaging revelation: shots from a computer screen showing a Chinese military university is engaged in cyberwarfare against entities in the United States. The documentary itself was otherwise meant as praise to the wisdom and judgment of Chinese military strategists, and a typical condemnation of the United States as an implacable aggressor in the cyber-realm. But the fleeting shots of an apparent China-based cyber-attack somehow made their way into the final cut. The screenshots appear as B-roll footage in the...

In a bid to boost flagging auto sales, the federal government will pay for any warranty repairs on a General Motors or Chrysler vehicle if either company can't because of financial problems or a bankruptcy filing, President Barack Obama said on Monday. "Let me say this as plainly as I can. If you buy a car from Chrysler or General Motors, you will be able to get your car serviced and repaired just like always," Obama said in a speech. "Your warranty will be safe. In fact, it will be safer than it has ever been. Because starting today, the...

Conservatives’ Selective Reading of the Founding Fathers Threatens Social Security and Medicare The House Republican plan to phase out Medicare is crashing and burning. Rep.-elect Kathy Hochul (D-NY) just won an impossible election victory by campaigning to keep Medicare alive. The Senate just soundly rejected the House GOP’s plan. Even former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, who once shut down the government in a failed attempt to force President Bill Clinton to support draconian Medicare cuts, blasted this Medicare-killing plan as “radical right-wing social engineering.” Yet even as this concerted assault on Medicare hemorrhages support from elected officials, conservatives...

Inspiring speech by Rand Paul. I'm really glad he's there.