Free Republic

The unprecedented decision for North Las Vegas surprised no one at the special city council meeting Friday. City council members voted unanimously to grant special authority to City Manager Tim Hacker to force unions to agree to concessions to balance the $30.9 million budget gap. Union leaders in attendance met the decision with a resigned silence, predicting the outcome days before the meeting, while city officials remained stoic. No one claimed to want this course of action, but city council members and Mayor Shari Buck deemed it necessary after nearly six months of failed negotiations. “We hoped that the council...

President Barack Obama seems to think that the world of politics would be better if someone like John McCain were running for the White House. It's all a way of drawing a contrast with Obama's current GOP rival, Mitt Romney, and trying to convince crucial independent voters that the former Massachusetts governor is outside the mainstream. But Obama's flattering memories of McCain conflict with their campaign clashes of 2008. Back then, Obama hammered his rival as "out of touch" with many of the problems facing people in the United States. Today's platitudes also conceal the reality of Obama's current dynamic...

Santa Fe police didn't charge local artist Mateo Romero in connection with last week's shooting outside a north-side convenience store, his attorney said Thursday, because he was acting in self-defense after a panhandling couple tried to rob him. Attorney Dan Cron said in a telephone interview that police later told Romero he was targeted by a homeless couple who also had attempted to scam other people and were known drug users. Cron said his client gave police the following account of last Friday's incident: Romero pulled up next to gas pumps at Allsup's, 305 N. Guadalupe St., to fill up...

TOMPKINS COUNTY, N.Y. -- He never denied shooting his father, but Matthew Taranto said he did it in self defense. And Thursday, more than a month-and-a-half after the bench trial wrapped up, Judge Judith A. Rositer found Taranto not guilty of the crime. The 29-year-old admitted to shooting his father, Sal, in November of 2010 in their Trumansburg basement. But the defense had claimed that Taranto, who suffers from Asperger's Syndrome and OCD, feared for his life after his father threatened him with a knife and gun.

LIMA — A jury acquitted Dontez Parks, who has a concealed handgun license, on Wednesday finding he acted in self-defense when he shot another man who he believed he was trying to enter his van to harm him and his two children. “I feel good today about the decision,” Parks said after the verdict and before he walked out of the courtroom. Parks attorney, Rebecca West-Estell, said this was a victory for Parks, which she credited to his understanding of the law and to the fact he followed the law when he acted in self-defense. She said it does not...

A Texas man and skeptic of Barack Obama’s eligibility to serve as president has posted a video on YouTube revealing two investigators, reportedly from the Secret Service, questioning him at his home. Rudy Davis, known also as “LoneStar1776″ on YouTube.com, posted video of the inquiry the day after he had uploaded another video in which he suggested Obama, after being convicted of treason for usurping the highest office the land, be executed for his crime. When two men in dark suits showed up at his door the next day, Davis told them, “I think I know why you guys are...

Speaking at the North Carolina GOP Convention, Trump praised Romney for his business experience and promise to stand up against China and fight for American economic interests. But the business mogul also focused a portion of his speech on his questions about where President Obama was born. It is the reason why on Tuesday, when Romney earned the 1,144 delegates necessary to secure his party's nomination, much of the news cycle was devoted to his decision to appear with Trump at a fundraiser that day. A desire by the media to protect Obama is the reason Trump told the more...

CHICAGO — President Obama is back in his adopted hometown tonight for three campaign fundraisers and an overnight stay (sans family) in his private home on the city’s South Side. “It’s good to be back home. I’m sleeping in my bed tonight. I’m going to go to my kitchen and might cook something. Putter in my backyard,” Obama joked before a crowd of 350 donors at the Chicago Cultural Center. “The White House is nice, but I’m just leasing.” Obama said he wants to extend that lease for another four years, and argued that voters in November will need to...

The state debt clock for Connecticut indicates that 10% of the state's population currently receives food stamps. Broken down by citizen, every state resident is approximately $11,000 in debt due to government spending. Given the state's unemployment numbers, approximately 8%, combined with tax rates and breaks, we know not all of them will pay much, if anything, in taxes. Now, meet Joelle Fishman. She is head of the state communist party and is associated with other far leftist causes and organizations. Joelle Fishman chairs the Connecticut Communist Party USA. She is a Commissioner on the City of New Haven Peace...

Two years after Target Corp. angered gay marriage supporters with a political donation that benefited a fiery gay marriage opponent seeking the governor's office, the retailer is now upsetting same-sex marriage opponents by selling T-shirts to raise money for a group working to defeat a gay marriage ban in Minnesota. The Minneapolis-based retailer is taking heat in its home state, where voters will decide this November whether to put a gay marriage ban into the state constitution. One organizer of gay marriage opponents warned that their displeasure could spread to 32 other states where voters have banned gay marriage. "Target...

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Two Shot in Detroit after Argument Over Kool-Aid Suspects still on the loose By ANDREA ISOM Witnesses say two men in the Brightmoor neighborhood were so passionate about the way they make Kool-Aid, they started arguing with each other over who does it better. Sadly, that fight took a horrifying turn when they both pulled out guns and started firing at each other. Again, this was over Kool-Aid. They didn't hit each other, but two innocent bystanders suffered gunshot wounds in the soft drink shooting.

After a day spent waging bi-coastal combat with the Obama campaign, Mitt Romney's team in Boston earned the highest compliment Rush Limbaugh has ever paid them Thursday afternoon: "I'm telling you," he said. "This is not the McCain campaign." Once-skeptical conservatives knew exactly what he meant. In the eyes of many on the right, John McCain's 2008 presidential bid was a disaster not because he lost, but because he refused to fight. Conservatives believe McCain bought into a liberal media narrative that personal attacks on Barack Obama were unseemly and even racist. The conservative caricature of Candidate McCain that emerged...

“Harnessing the awesome power of zombies; it’s not just to run away from anymore.” Democratic candidate Vermin Supreme gives hope that our country’s leaders might just see the future for the rotting, bloodhungry nightmare that it is. He runs on a platform of lessening the demand for foreign oil (among other things) by hitching tireless zombies to giant turbines that will convert shambling into electricity. He promises this will be accomplished by, “Lot’s of zombies… that we’ll sort-of dangle brains in front of…” If, in these unfortunate times, only one candidate acknowledges the coming deademic, then that’s the president for...

SANFORD, Fla. - Judge Ken Lester said Friday George Zimmerman has to return to for a hearing within 48 hours. Lester said that Zimmerman withheld information about how much money he had when he was granted bond. Zimmerman had more than $200,000 in a PayPal account that had been donated to him on a website, therealgeorgezimmerman.com The state had a recording of Zimmerman and his wife before the bond hearing in which they acknowledged the money in the account.

More than two months after the voters cast their ballots in the race to replace Carl Kruger in the State Senate has finally come to a close. The Republican candidate, David Storobin, has won. “All the votes are in, disputed and otherwise. The count is fully over. David Storobin won by 16 votes,” Mr. Storobin’s campaign wrote on his Facebook page. ” The election will be officially certified on Tuesday at 1:30 pm, but there will be NO MORE counting. David Storobin is the new Senator!” And, in a lengthy statement sent out by the Democrat in the race, Lew...

Police are also investigating a fight that occurred at Charles and Lombard streets about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday involving youths who may have been wearing school uniforms. Police said they believe that incident is unrelated to Thursday's attacks, and they are looking at video surveillance to identify those involved.

COLUMBIA — A state House panel’s investigation of Gov. Nikki Haley threatens to call into question the behavior and compensation of many state lawmakers.

A Democratic primary race in northern New Jersey has devolved into a highly competitive proxy war over Israel, pitting the state’s pro-Israel community against a growing constituency of Arab voters who have accused a sitting congressman of putting Israel’s interests before America’s. As the race between Democratic Reps. Steve Rothman and Bill Pascrell nears its Tuesday finish, veteran political observers on the ground have expressed concern at the way the battle between the two veteran lawmakers has transformed into a troubling ethnic brawl. “One side says, ‘We want this Jew out of office’ and, frankly, it’s pretty unsettling,” Ben Chouake,...

A Chinese state security official has been arrested on suspicion of spying for the United States, sources said, a case both countries have kept quiet for several months as they strive to prevent a fresh crisis in relations. The official, an aide to a vice minister in China's security ministry, was arrested and detained early this year on allegations that he had passed information to the United States for several years on China's overseas espionage activities, said three sources, who all have direct knowledge of the matter. The aide had been recruited by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and provided...

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — President Barack Obama has written a letter to the Polish president expressing "regret" for an inadvertent verbal gaffe that caused a storm of controversy in Poland this week. Obama on Tuesday used the expression "a Polish death camp" while honoring a Polish World War II resistance hero rather than wording that would have made clear that he meant a death camp that Nazi Germany operated on Polish soil during its wartime occupation of Poland.

In 1959, the Middleboro Kiwanis Club in Massachusetts put up a large cross that said “WORSHIP” on it on a traffic island off one of the local freeways. It stood for 53 years. Then, a liberal lawyer spotted it. Now, the state may have to tear it down. According to CBS Local, the cross “sits mostly on town land. The state owns a small fraction of the traffic island where it is located, and thus, the ACLU says, the cross violates church and state separation laws.”

Hm. The White House usually emails a daily schedule for the president and vice president, which they send out in the morning. They sent one out yesterday, to tout the hanging of former President Bush’s official portrait. Fridays usually include a video wrap-up of the week just completed. But so far today, nada. If and when the White House gets around to emailing the official schedule out, it will note that on the day that we learned unemployment has ticked back up to 8.2% and previous jobs numbers have been revised negatively, President Obama is not focused on the economy...

In his talks with President Obama in March, David Cameron reportedly gained assurances from the White House that Washington would stop pressing for negotiations between London and Buenos Aires over the sovereignty of the Falklands. If such an assurance was given, it was surely worthless. As Mercosur Press (South Atlantic News Agency) has just reported, the State Department is once again calling for UK-Argentina negotiations, ahead of next week’s Organisation of American States summit in Bolivia:

Blaming GOP obstructionism for the lingering jobs crisis, Democratic leaders on Friday called on House Republicans to bring a long-term highway bill to the floor. The Democrats — led by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) — noted that Friday's dismal jobs numbers included a steep decline — by 28,000 jobs — in construction employment. Reauthorizing transportation spending for two years, they argued, would help put those workers back on payrolls and stabilize the economy.

(CNSNews.com) – Kofi Annan, the U.N.’s special envoy to Syria, has described Friday’s massacre of more than 100 people as a “tipping point,” but another U.N. Security Council discussion of the crisis on Wednesday looks unlikely to produce any strong action while Russia continues to oppose a unified stance against Damascus.

That's because the law requires health plans to cover individuals, such as adult children, that they did not cover in the past; it bars health plans from putting lifetime and annual dollar limits on benefits; and it requires plans to provide preventive care services -- including contraceptives in a few months' time -- at no out-of-pocket cost to the enrollee, Edward Fensholt told the House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions.

The debt crisis and central bank policy responses have degraded the quality and value of debt markets and signal a "potential breaking point" in the global economy, PIMCO's Bill Gross, manager of the world's largest bond fund, said in his monthly letter to investors. In his June outlook entitled "Wall Street Food Chain," Gross said stimulus policies by the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank have led to riskier government bonds with lower value and paved the way for higher inflation.

By openly supporting gay marriage, US President Barack Obama has offended many of the country's African-Americans, who number among his most loyal supporters. Several of the community's religious leaders have even called on their congregations to withhold the support that will be crucial to his re-election.

ABOARD A US MILITARY AIRCRAFT — Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says he does not see the U.S. taking military action in Syria without the backing of a U.N. Security Council resolution — something that so far appears unlikely because of opposition from Russia. Panetta says his greatest responsibility is to make sure that if U.S. troops are deployed in any military role that America has the support it needs from the international community.

Over the last few days, since Romney clinched the GOP nomination for President by going over the 1,144 committed delegates needed with his win in the Texas Primary on Tuesday, May 29, 2012, a number of new endorsements have come in for Romney's bid for the Presidency. These include George Shultz, former Secretary of State; Condoliza Rice, former Secretrary of State and National Security Advisor; Mike Huckabee, former Governor of Arkansas and presidential candidate; and Nancy Reagan, wife of President Ronald Reagan. Here's what each of them had to say on the date they endorsed Romney: NANCY REAGAN endorses Mitt...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Jobs growth probably snapped back in May from weather-related distortions that had slowed hiring, suggesting the economy was still expanding moderately despite strong headwinds from Europe. Employers probably created 150,000 jobs last month, according to a Reuters survey of economists, after generating a paltry 115,000 positions in April - the fewest in six months. That would bring nonfarm employment growth closer to its 176,000 a month average of the past three months and temper fears that economic activity could be stagnating. "The labor market is getting better, but the glass is still half empty. I think a...

One of DC Comics oldest heroes is super-coming out. The original Green Lantern - a DC Comics' mainstay for the past 70 years - will be revealed to be a gay man in next week's issue of "Earth 2." Alan Scott - formerly a married father of two who first appeared in 1940 - tips readers off to his sexuality early on in the comic when he gives his boyfriend a welcome home kiss. "He's very much the character he was. He's still the pinnacle of bravery and idealism. He's also gay," "Earth 2" writer James Robinson told The Post....

With the Return of the Occupy Movement, Crime.org has Tips for Planning a Successful Summer ProtestDewey Beach, DE (PRWEB) May 31, 2012 Warm weather is here and the Occupy Wall Street movement is back in force. But whether organizing an Occupy demonstration or protesting for another cause, the process can feel daunting. Crime.org founder Mike Mann said spearheading a protest is easier than it sounds. He had these tips: **SNIP** “Crime.org has used postcards, press releases and social media to promote protests,” he said. “Do whatever you can to get the word out about the protest so people show up...

According to the Wall Street Journal, Polish officials requested that Walesa accept the Medal of Freedom on behalf of Jan Karski, a member of the Polish Underground during World War II who was being honored posthumously this week. The request makes sense. Walesa and Karski shared a burning desire to rid Poland of tyrannical subjugation. But President Obama said no. Administration officials told the Journal that Walesa is too "political." A man who was arrested by Soviet officials for dissenting against the government for being "political" is being shunned by the United States of America for the same reason 30...

Warren demands an apology from opponent in heritage controversyBy Justin Sink - 05/31/12 02:55 PM ET Elizabeth Warren demanded an apology from Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) Thursday after she said the lawmaker suggested she should not have taken her parent's claims of Native American ancestry at face value. At a campaign stop in Springfield, Mass., Thursday, Brown urged Warren "to tell the truth and answer the questions you guys are asking." "My mom and dad have told me a lot of things too, but it’s not accurate. You know, you have to, especially in these type of things, when you’re...

Mexican official: Fast and Furious 'poisoned' public opinion of USBy Jordy Yager - 05/31/12 05:36 PM ET The Mexican ambassador to the United States on Thursday said a botched gun-tracking operation by America “poisoned” public opinion of the United States for the citizens of its southern neighbor. Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan told a room of reporters on Capitol Hill that the failed Operation Fast and Furious, which has been the focus of a Republican investigation in the House for more than a year, “put a lot of strain” on U.S.-Mexico relations. “Fast and Furious has poisoned the well-spring of public opinion...

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst has strong support from repeated Republican primary voters as well as senior citizens, two groups that are more likely to turn out for a July runoff for U.S. Senate, according to a Dewhurst campaign memo written by pollster Mike Baselice. Supporters of former Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz, a tea party favorite who placed second in Tuesday’s vote, have argued that Cruz would be favored in a runoff because his supporters are more enthusiastic and likely to show up for an unusual, mid-summer vote. So the Baselice memo was clearly intended to rebut that argument. Recent...

Pelosi defends $1M tax-cut threshold proposal from liberal criticsBy Mike Lillis - 05/31/12 01:32 PM ET House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is pushing back against liberal critics of her proposal to extend the Bush-era tax rates only for those earning less than $1 million per year. President Obama has supported a tax-cut extension only on family incomes up to $250,000. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) — a left-leaning group often cited by Democrats — reported Wednesday that hiking the threshold to $1 million would sacrifice hundreds of billions of dollars in federal revenues, perhaps leading to...

House Dem: Warren response on heritage 'like water torture'By Cameron Joseph - 05/31/12 06:05 PM ET Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren (D) has badly botched questions surrounding her Native American heritage and the issue is damaging her campaign, Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) told The Hill. "There has to be an answer for this at some point, something that's full and comprehensive and has some closure to it as opposed to the way it's been dragged out — like water torture," Lynch said late Thursday afternoon. Asked if Warren and her campaign should put out all the information to put the...

A scientific study likely to stir the souls of chocoholics has suggested that eating dark chocolate every day for 10 years could reduce the likelihood of heart attacks and strokes in some high-risk patients. The researchers, whose work was published in the British Medical Journal on Friday, stressed the protective effects have only been shown for dark chocolate containing at least 60 to 70 percent cocoa - not for milk or white chocolate. This is probably due to higher levels of flavonoids in dark chocolate.

A special investigative grand jury Tuesday handed down a murder indictment against the Culpeper town policeman who shot and killed a 54-year-old unarmed woman on Feb. 9. Thirty-two-year-old Daniel Harmon–Wright, aka Daniel Wayne Sullivan, aka Dan Wayne, turned himself in to Prince William County authorities Tuesday night near his home in Gainesville, sources said. According to the Virginia State Police, Harmon–Wright has been charged with one count of murder, malicious shooting into an occupied vehicle, malicious shooting into an occupied vehicle resulting in a death and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. The charges stem from...

If you intend to take a deduction for a charitable gift, pay attention to the letter of the law. With regret, a U.S. Tax Court judge denied a wealthy Sacramento, Calif., couple a deduction for $18.5 million they took after donating valuable properties to charity because they didn’t attach a proper appraisal to the donation form. Joseph Mohamed is a real-estate broker, certified real-estate appraiser and prominent Sacramento entrepreneur, according to the decision, which was released May 29. In 1998 he and his wife Shirley set up a charitable remainder trust; such trusts typically pay income for life to the...

The message from national Republicans in 2010 was “Fire Nancy Pelosi.” It’s now “Stop Nancy Now” from returning as speaker of the House. The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) launched StopNancyNow.com this week, The Daily Caller has learned. NRCC spokesman Gerrit Lansing said the site went live on Monday. At this point, the website focuses on the special Arizona election slated for June to replace Democratic Rep. Gabby Giffords, who is resigning from Congress as she recovers from an assassination attempt that nearly killed her in 2011. Facing off in the election is Giffords aide Ron Barber, a Democrat, and...

~Favorite Alive Song's ~ Stevie Wonder - Living for the City A boy is born in hard time MississippiSurrounded by four walls that ain't so prettyHis parents give him love and affectionTo keep him strong moving in the right directionLiving just enough, just enough for the city...ee ha!His father works some days for fourteen hoursAnd you can bet he barely makes a dollarHis mother goes to scrub the floors for manyAnd you'd best believe she hardly gets a pennyLiving just enough, just enough for the city... yeah!His sister's black but she is sho'nuff prettyHer skirt is short but Lord...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: They're unveiling the portraits of President Bush and Laura Bush right now at the White House in the East Room. President Obama is doing the honors. People have been anticipating this because Obama has made it clear that every problem we face in this country is because of the guy in the room whose portrait is being unveiled today. This today, to me, is kind of a miniature version of the White House Correspondents Dinner where everybody fakes it for a while, in interests of decorum (and also it's worth it). But Obama does not believe a...

Mitt Romney decried what he said was the Obama administration's economic failures and cronyism outside the headquarters of a defunct company that Republicans have upheld as the very symbol of those shortcomings. The presumptive presidential nominee stood for an impromptu press conference outside the headquarters of Solyndra, the now-bankrupt solar energy company that had been the beneficiary of a federal loan, which, Republicans contend, was doled out as a political favor. "It's a symbol not of success but of failure. It's also a symbol of a serious conflict of interest," Romney said outside the headquarters, a destination which wasn't made...

The Obama campaign today offered a sharp rebuke to hecklers who tried to shout down senior strategist David Axelrod at a news conference in Boston, calling their tactics “juvenile” and “circus-like.” Axelrod took to the steps of the Massachusetts State House this morning to criticize GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s record as governor, part of a new Democratic line of attack. Flanked by Democratic state officials and a few dozen Obama supporters lining the steps behind, he proclaimed, “Romney economics didn’t work then, and it won’t work now.” But his audience — dozens of young, pro-Romney activists screaming and shouting...

With an exquisitely poor sense of timing, District Council members voted last week to give themselves another full year in which to file their 2011 financial disclosure forms. As The Examiner's Liz Farmer reported, the council's little gift to itself came in the form of a line item tucked into the city's 2013 budget that moves the deadline from early this month to next May -- months after the November election. The city's toothless Office of Campaign Finance will be handling any financial disclosures for the rest of 2012, instead of the highly touted but still vacant ethics panel it...

The father of the man who opened fire and killed five people across Seattle and later killed himself after a citywide manhunt, says his son was a very private person who was "disgruntled" and had been a frequent customer of the coffee shop where his rampage began. "He was happy sometimes, but not really. He was kind of disgruntled," Walt Stawicki said about his son Ian Stawicki, who fatally shot himself after a killing spree Wednesday. Seattle's Harborview Medical Center confirmed that Ian Stawicki, who according to his father, was unmarried with no children and had recently worked on a...