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The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is considering whether wearing clothing in the workplace with the Gadsden flag printed on it constitutes legally actionable racial harassment. According to Eugene Volokh, a UCLA law professor who runs the “Volokh Conspiracy” blog at The Washington Post, the EEOC ruled two months ago that it will need to collect more evidence in a case filed in Jan. 2014 by an African American federal employee who complained about his coworker wearing a hat with the Gadsden flag printed on it. The complainant said that the Gadsden flag, which was designed during the Revolutionary War in...

Last week the Greek government imposed capital controls to prevent cash from escaping from the Greek banking system, which is on the brink of collapse. These repressive financial measures, which were invented by "Hitler's banker" Hjalmar Schacht in the 1930s, include the closing of banks, limiting cash withdrawals from ATMs to 60 euros ($67) per day, and the banning of all money transfers via credit and debit cards to accounts held in foreign countries. Despite these Draconian controls, Greek banks continue to hemorrhage cash and, after yesterday's referendum, it is probable that the daily limit on withdrawals from ATMs will...

Pre-planning thread to bounce ideas around for venues and itinerary. Info posted is tentative. Date: TBD (May 2015?)

<p>The day begins as we converge in North Texas to once again celebrate the life of Texas Cowboy in the fashion he would want us to have fun together.</p>

AUSTIN — Nearly three years after more than 600 Texas school districts sued the state challenging the school finance system, a Travis County judge has ruled in their favor. In an almost 400-page opinion released Thursday, state District Judge John Dietz said that the state’s school finance system is unconstitutional not only because of inadequate funding and flaws in the way it distributes money to districts, but also because it imposes a de facto state property tax. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office, which had argued that the system was flawed but nonetheless constitutional, said Thursday that the state “will...

I've noticed for some time now that the $20 bills dispensed from ATM's has been less than new. And that's being generous. Less than 5% would qualify to fit into a gift envelope. At least half of what I've received should have been incinerated! At least by standards I would think appropriate. Does anyone here work in the ATM industry that can shed some light on the matter?

RECON TRIP! I've found two suitable cottage/cabin facilities that can accommodate our group for next years TCMS. Mill Creek Ranch Resort(available Oct16 weekend) and Lake Whitney Marina(available both weekends) mylife will look into less known possibilities.

Members of Greek extremist political party Golden Dawn try to open a 'Greeks only' soup kitchen in Athens, as anti-immigrant feeling bubbles against a backdrop of increasing poverty. Mayor Giorgos Kaminis had banned such events in the city's central square and vowed not to allow the "soup kitchen of hate" to take place

Miranda Kerr, Alessandra Ambrosia, Adriana Lima, Doutzen Kroes and Candice Swanepoel are among lingerie models at the annual event in New York. Performances by Rhanna, Justin Beiber, and Bruno Mars.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Rocker Ted Nugent is scheduled for a court hearing in Alaska on Tuesday, when he is expected to plead guilty to transporting a black bear he illegally killed. The conservative activist and gun rights advocate signed a plea agreement with federal prosecutors that was filed Friday in U.S. District Court. Nugent was set to participate by telephone in Tuesday's U.S. District Court proceeding in the southeast Alaska town of Ketchikan, his attorney said. The plea agreement says Nugent illegally shot and killed the bear in May 2009 on Sukkwan Island in southeast Alaska days after he...

FREE REPUBLIC NASCAR THREAD SAMSUNG MOBILE 500 Welcome to the Sprint Cup Race #7 at (Click on the Pics, Graphics, & Links for related news & info.)

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Engineers at Sandia National Laboratories have invented a bullet that guides itself to the target. Sandia has wide expertise at miniature technology, and the bullet works like a tiny guided missile. The patented design doesn't shoot straight. Instead of a spiral rotation, the bullet twists and turns to guide itself towards a laser directed point. It can make up to thirty corrections per second while in the air. Jim Jones, distinguished member of technical staff, and his team of engineers at Sandia Labs think the .50-caliber bullets would work well with military machine guns so soldiers could...

PARIS — President Nicolas Sarkozy of France suspended military training and assistance for Afghan forces on Friday and said he would consider an early withdrawal from Afghanistan after an Afghan soldier shot and killed four French soldiers on a base in eastern Afghanistan.

More than 100 Occupy Wall Street protesters marched to a Midtown hotel on Wednesday night to protest a fund-raising event for President Obama. One man, wearing a mask of the president’s face and holding a cigar, carried a sign that read, “I sold out!” Ben Campbell, 28, one of the march’s organizers, said he hoped to prove to skeptics of the protests that the demonstrators were political critics of equal opportunity. “President Obama is coming to town solely to raise money from the richest of the rich,” Mr. Campbell said. The 45-minute march from Bryant Park forced shoppers and theatergoers...

Meet Kristina Rei, the woman who now has the world’s biggest lips. She’s only 22 and has spent £4,000 on lip injections in the hopes of resembling her favourite film heroine, Jessica Rabbit. The nail technician from St. Petersburg, Russia was convinced her thin lips were ugly, so she opted to get a lip job – 100 of them - and aims to make her enormous pout even bigger!

FREE REPUBLIC NASCAR THREAD AAA TEXAS 500 Welcome to the Chase for the Sprint Cup Race #8 of 10 at (Click on the Pics, Graphics, & Links for related news & info.)

FREE REPUBLIC NASCAR THREAD AAA 400 Welcome to the Chase for the Sprint Cup Race #3 of 10 at (Click on the Pics, Graphics, & Links for related news & info.)

If you are affected by the storm approaching, please tell us what you have done to prepare for it. And keep us updated as it comes your way.

PHOENIX - We hear a lot of complaints about security screeners groping airline passengers. But now, a Colorado woman is accused of putting her hands on a TSA agent at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix. Court records show 61-year-old Yukari Mihamae grabbed the left breast of the female agent Thursday at the Terminal 4 checkpoint. Police say she squeezed and twisted the agent's breast with both hands. Officers say Mihamae admitted to the crime. There's no word why she touched the agent. Mihamae now faces a felony count of sexual abuse. According to court records, she lives in Longmont,...