Free Republic

I grew up in a blue collar, Democratic family. We have been Democratic on both sides of the family, at least since the beginning of the 20th century. I never questioned what decisions my party representatives made as a very young man, say 18 years old. I presumed (wrongly) that these elected officials would always do what was right. I also accepted as indisputable fact that , well of course the Republicans were always, always in the wrong. The republicans were greedy and 'keeping us down'. You can imagine my surprise when, as a college freshman in 1975, I heard...

In Columbus’s day, the Moon was often used to get a rough fix of a ship’s longitude at sea. Columbus was especially intrigued with the idea of using lunar eclipses to determine longitude. If you can note the position of the Moon in the sky from one location versus a known longitude during an event— such as first contact of the Moon with the Earth’s umbra during an eclipse —you can gauge your relative longitude east or west of the point. The sky moves 15 degrees, or one hour of right ascension overhead as we rotate under it. One of...

In honor of Columbus Day, enjoy this clip from Drive Thru History.

A Columbus Fire Department official says firefighters and police have not found any visual evidence of an explosion at the city’s police headquarters. Battalion Chief Patrick Ferguson says emergency responders are still at the scene in downtown Columbus. …

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Columbus Division of Fire is investigating a report of an explosion at Columbus Police headquarters in Downtown Columbus. A loud noise was heard inside the building in the 100 block of Marconi Boulevard around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Police asked people inside the building to evacuate by the stairs. Police and fire crews were going building by building checking for the source. Columbus fire officials said there were no reports of injuries. Columbus police dispatchers said the noise was heard on the second floor where a deli is located. Dispatchers said it did not start a fire.

In between bowls of chicken poodle soup and deciding to provide air cover for al-Qaeda in Syria, our Dear Leader, Barack Hussein Obama, found time to meet with mayors from our crumbling major cities. From Justin Sink of The Hill: *** "President Obama told a collection of big-city mayors Tuesday at the White House that he would continue to use executive actions to combat gun violence plaguing major cities. In the meeting with Attorney General Eric Holder and the mayors of 18 cities from across the nation, Obama discussed commonly applicable strategies to reduce youth violence. 'He also vowed to...

Will he be deported from Egypt and allowed to re-enter the U.S.? via Egypt arrests US citizen son of Brotherhood figure | THE DAILY STAR. CAIRO: Security officials say the son of an outspoken Muslim Brotherhood figure has been detained. Mohamed Soltan’s family says he is a U.S. citizen and does not know his whereabouts. An active supporter of the Islamist group online, the 25-year-old had posted pictures of his arm after it was shot when security forces cleared out two Brotherhood sit-ins Aug. 14. The Ohio State University graduate is the son of outspoken Muslim Brotherhood figure Salah Soltan....

Daylight checkpoints

Man faces disorderly conduct charges for blocking Dillard's walkway, cursing at Peachtree Mall security A man faced disorderly conduct charges during a Recorder's Court hearing Monday after he allegedly refused to stop blocking a walkway to Dillard's at the Peachtree Mall ... When the security officer called for help to detain [the perp] and charge him with disorderly conduct, he allegedly tried to run but was unable to because his sagging pants hindered his mobility ...

From the heights of Gibraltar you can see Africa about nine miles to the south and gaze eastward on the seemingly endless Mediterranean that stretches 1,500 miles to Asia beyond. The Romans called it Mare Nostrum, "our sea," and these deep blue waters allowed Rome to unite Asia, Africa, and Europe for half a millennium under a single prosperous, globalized civilization. But the Mediterranean has not always proved to be history's incubator of great civilizations -- Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman, Florentine, and Venetian. Sometimes the ancient "Pillars of Hercules" at Gibraltar's narrow mouth of the Mediterranean marked not so much...

The real story goes something like this: In 1511, messy political squabbling forced Ponce to surrender the governorship of Puerto Rico, an appointment he had held since 1509. As a consolation prize, King Ferdinand offered him Bimini, assuming the stalwart conquistador could finance an expedition and actually find it. J. Michael Francis, a historian at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg who has spent decades studying the Spanish colonies in the Americas , says no mention of a Fountain of Youth occurs in any known documents from Ponce’s lifetime, including contracts and other official correspondence with the Crown. In...

COLUMBUS, May 14, 2013 (LifeSiteNews) – The Central Ohio Association of Catholic Educators (COACE) is backing the diocese in its decision to fire a homosexual teacher, according to a letter sent to the teacher. Gym instructor Carla Hale, 57, was fired from her job at Bishop Watterson Catholic High School last month after an anonymous parent wrote to the Diocese of Columbus to complain that in an obituary for Hale’s mother, Hale was listed as a surviving family member together with her longtime lesbian partner, Julie.

COLUMBUS, OH, April 22, 2013 (LifeSiteNews) – The firing of a teacher at Bishop Watterson Catholic High School after it was learned she was involved in a long-term homosexual relationship may pit the Catholic diocese against a Columbus city ordinance barring employers from discriminating based on sexuality. Gym instructor Carla Hale, 57, was fired last week after an anonymous parent wrote the Diocese of Columbus to complain because in an obituary for Hale’s mother, Hale was listed as a survivor alongside her longtime lesbian partner, Julie. Hale signed a morality clause as part of her contract, affirming that “Catholic school...

Twinkies may be back on the shelves in a couple months! As every sane person knows, our beloved Twinkies went out of production a few months ago because of a dispute between Hostess Brands, Inc. and the bakery unions that crafted the sweet snack. Hostess Brands LLC, a new company under new management in Columbus, GA, announced that it will re-open the state of the art bakery: The Company will initially add 200 jobs to the local economy and plans to create a total of more than 300 jobs in the community within the next several years. The baking facility,...

(Columbus OH) It was announced on WVKO-AM this morning, that as of midnight tomorrow, the format on WVKO-AM will be changing. The LMA for the station will ending at that time and the station won't be Progressive Talk anymore. Thanks to Gary Richards for bringing back the format to Columbus radio for one more go around. That said, Mr. Richards said last year he wanted to buy the station outright so this is a disappointment to me. My guess is the new lease holders will take the station to a Urban Gospel format. Just a guess on my part.

Revelations by the Albuquerque Journal that ties existed between a Columbus, N.M., gun trafficking conspiracy and the Fast and Furious gunwalking operation highlight a disconnect with pretrial testimony given by an ATF agent in yet a third case, that of the Reese family, a tip received this morning by Gun Rights Examiner from a source close to the case suggests. “Federal prosecutors have sought to distance the Columbus gun smuggling case,” reporter Mike Gallagher revealed in a story filed last Thursday. “But reports obtained by the Journal show that in April 2010, federal agents were aware that the leader of...

We know in Columbus radio you have many choices and we appreciate the fact that you gave us a chance. We created 98.9 FM The Answer so you can have your own radio station that cares about the city we serve. On November 1, 2012, we created 98.9 FM The Answer. This is why we exist. Weekday Schedule: 6-9am Bill Bennett 9a-12p Mike Gallagher 12-3p Dennis Prager 3-6p Michael Medved 6-9p Hugh Hewitt 9p-12a Dennis Miller 12-3a Lars Larson

COLUMBUS -- Ohio Republicans claim some Democratic groups are influencing students to vote for President Obama by offering free pizza. Last week, Ohio GOP Chairman Robert Bennett filed a complaint with the Franklin County Elections Board. He claims the group 'Buckeyes for Obama' held a party at the Ohio Union on the Ohio State University campus, offered the 50 attendees free pizza, then took them to an early voting center in Columbus. GOP Spokesman Matt Henderson says that's illegal, "The Obama campaign has an obligation to follow the rules, and when this is happening on a mass scale, that can...

When it comes to the birth of America, most of us are working from a stew of elementary school history lessons, Westerns and vague Thanksgiving mythology. And while it's not surprising those sources might biff a couple details, what's shocking is how much less interesting the version we learned was. It turns out our teachers, Hollywood and whoever we got our Thanksgiving mythology from (Big Turkey?) all made America's origin story far more boring than it actually was for some very disturbing reasons. For instance ...

The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus Salvador Dalí 1959 oil on canvas 410 cm × 284 cm (161.4 in × 111.8 in) Salvador Dalí Museum, St. Petersburg, Florida Dalí completed his tenth masterwork, The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus, in 1959. This work, which is almost 14 feet tall, is an ambitious homage to Dalí's Spain, combining Spanish history, religion, art and myth. This painting was commissioned for Huntington Hartford's Gallery of Modern Art on Columbus Circle in New York. At that time, some Catalan historians claimed that Columbus was actually from Catalonia, not Italy. From that...