Free Republic

FREMONT (CBS SF) — The occupants of five to six ramshackle tree houses built in a private industrial park near Stevenson Boulevard in Fremont are facing eviction. Crews equipped with chainsaws and handsaws have begun clearing out the structures and cutting off limbs in order to make it harder to reoccupy and easier to spot the homeless who are taking refuge in the trees. They are about halfway through the long line of more than 60 eucalyptus trees. Neighboring business owners say the first tree house went up in February and started multiplying over the next three months. The structures...

“The country I thought was mine was a mirage. The collective promise of decency and hope is not for me, it’s not for women, or people of color, or LGBTQ people, or the mentally ill, or the disabled, or the people on the edge.” Poore’s resignation letter to the school board cited “personal reasons” for her departure, “not the least of which is my conviction that right now my voice and skill set can best be put to use in other avenues.”

A private school in Atlanta, Georgia dedicated to serving as a safe space for LGBTQQIAA students has officially started holding classes, CBS News reports. Pride School Atlanta is open to students ages 5-18, the school’s website states. The school’s stated mission “is to provide LGBTQQIAA* students, families and educators a safe, fun and rigorous learning environment free of homophobia and transphobia — a place that honors their identities so they can be themselves, find themselves, and find friends and mentors who can help them navigate the

I just heard on WLS radio in Chicago that the Illinois Court of Appeals (the second-highest court in the state) overturned the recommendation of the electoral panel and ruled that Rahm Emanuel may NOT be on the ballot for Mayor. They ruled that he did not meet the statutory residence requirement nor did he meet any of the statutory exceptions. Wow.

Adding to the historic victory delivered by the American people this week, NBC provided a Friday surprise that gives us the topping on the cake. “MSNBC has suspended star anchor Keith Olbermann following the news that he had donated to three Democratic candidates this election cycle. “I became aware of Keith’s political contributions late last night. Mindful of NBC News policy and standards, I have suspended him indefinitely without pay,” MSNBC president Phil Griffin said in a statement. Politico reported Friday that Olbermann had donated $2,400 each to Reps. Raul Grijalva and Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, and to Kentucky Senate...

Khamenei has died. The formal announcement is expected to be made tomorrow morning (Tehran time) . Relative to this, all regime organizations including the official regime news agency "Seda va Sima" are beig draped in black.

(SNIP) By the time he vacates the White House, he will have issued a record number of so-called 'midnight regulations' - so called because of the stealthy way they appear on the rule books - to undermine the administration of Barack Obama, many of which could take years to undo. (SNIP)

The New York Times (NYT: 13.07, +0.21, +1.63%) fell as low as $12.38 this morning after its second quarter earnings missed estimates. Profits plunged 82% to $21 mn versus the $118 mn posted in the same period a year ago, a period that was helped along by the one-time sale of an asset. The share plunge is the lowest since July 1995. Print ads dollars at the Times continue to shrivel, sending operating income in a nosedive, as ad dollars continued their inexorable march toward the Internet. Hotels, automakers, airlines, all hurt by high energy prices, have pulled back sharply....

WASHINGTON -- An Al Qaeda figure killed in a U.S. airstrike in Pakistan last week is believed to have been an Algerian allegedly involved in training militants and plotting attacks against the West, officials said Friday. The Algerian, known by the nickname Abu Sulayman Jazairi, apparently died May 14 in the strike that killed as many as 14 people and destroyed a compound near the village of Damadola, an Al Qaeda stronghold in northwestern Pakistan, officials said. A knowledgeable U.S. official and a senior European anti-terrorism official said Jazairi was thought to be dead.U.S. anti-terrorism forces are targeting front-line planners...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The nation’s largest abortion business has closed facilities in five states, including two locations in Illinois, one and Idaho and merging two in Kentucky. The abortion business claims the closures are the result of a lack of funding in the way of taxpayer dollars, even though the business maintains millions in the bank and makes money on an annual basis. According to STOPP International, a watchdog group, Planned Parenthood closed an express clinic in Nampa, Idaho, an express clinic in Naperville, Illinois, and a non-express clinic in Lincoln, Illinois. It has also closed or merged centers...

From the remnants of Saddam's Baathists at Uruknet: What Types of Gruesome Weapons Did Israel Use in Lebanon? Nada Sayad, Global ResearchAugust 23, 2006Some doubts have been expressed regarding the use by Israel of Internationally Forbidden Weapons in its war on Lebanon.The South Medical Complex in Saida is investigating this matter. It is examining 24 samples from corps that were hit in the area of South Lebanon in a trial to discover the nature of the substances that lead to death.In a phone call done by "Assafir", the Lebanese local newspaper, Dr. Omar Morabi, the president of the Association of...

July 8, 2006 Forty-three percent (43%) of Americans Approve of the way that George W. Bush is performing his role as President. Fifty-six percent (56%) disapprove. The Job Approval readings have been a bit volatile in recent days. This probably reflects the holiday influence more than changing perceptions of the President. Rasmussen Reports did not poll during the first four days of July and today’s results are the first based entirely on interviews conducted following the holiday. Daily updates on this page are based upon nightly telephone interviews and reported on a three-day rolling average basis. Premium Members also receive...

The Bush Bounce He's only part way back. by Fred Barnes 07/17/2006, Volume 011, Issue 41 THERE'S JOY at the White House again and less anxiety among Republicans in Congress. The excesses of the press and Supreme Court are bringing Bush and rebellious conservatives closer together. Iraq is better off. The American economy is humming. The White House has made no harmful missteps. And the president's job approval rating is rising. Yet the Bush recovery is not complete. "We're in a better place than we were two or three months ago," says Republican national chairman Ken Mehlman. "But [the midterm...

Americans are now more positive about the way things are going in Iraq than in the past few months, following the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and President Bush's brief visit to the country. Optimism about the U.S. achieving its goals in Iraq, which sagged in the spring, has rebounded. A 53% majority now says the military effort in Iraq is going at least fairly well, up from 47% in April and an all-time low of 43% in March. The share who believe that the U.S. is making progress in training Iraqi forces, defeating the insurgents, and establishing a democracy...

HTML Graphs: an update The impact of the little HTML graph applet blows my mind. Here's what has happened in one week: In the last five days of may, I had 114'579 unique visistors on aharef.info. As I write this, 345'117 networks have been created. According to technorati, 1'686 blogs link to aharef.info (aharef.info is not even two months old, so all the links are due to the HTML graph applet). Technically, this makes aharef Switzerland's most technorati - linked blog, but I'm not even on this list (not that I care ;-) Massive coverage on del.icio.us, Digg and other...

HARRISBURG -- Republican challenger Lynn Swann held a slight lead over incumbent Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell in a statewide poll released today, with a third of registered voters indicating they were open to voting for either man. Thirty-five percent of those surveyed in the IssuesPA/Pew Poll said they were likely to vote for Swann, the retired Pittsburgh Steelers star and former college football television analyst. Twenty-nine percent said they would probably support Rendell, and 34 percent were considered up for grabs.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Groovy is over, hip is square, far out is long gone. Don't worry, though - it's cool. "Cool" remains the gold standard of slang in the 21st century, as reliable as a blue-chip stock, surviving like few expressions ever in our constantly evolving language. It has kept its cool through the centuries - even as its meaning changed drastically. How cool is that? Way cool, say experts who interpret slang for their messages about society. "Cool is certainly a charter member for the slang hall of fame," says Robert Thompson, a Syracuse University professor of popular...

An instant poll taken by CNN/USA Today/Gallup gave President Bush a 75% positive rating. CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer said more than 400 adults who watched the State of the Union address were surveyed in the poll. When asked to rate the president’s speech, the poll broke down like this: 48% gave Bush a very positive rating 27% gave Bush a somewhat positive rating 23% gave Bush a negative rating Although those numbers may not look remarkable on first glance, that’s actually a 75% positive rating for Bush when the top two categories are combined. His approval rating in the most...

Monday January 30, 2006--Fifty percent (50%) of American adults approve of the way George W. Bush is performing his role as President. Forty-nine percent (49%) disapprove. The President earns approval from 82% of Republicans, 25% of Democrats, and 41% of those not affiliated with either major political party. In Tennessee, the Senate race to replace Bill Frist (R) is a toss-up. In North Dakota, Senator Kent Conrad (D) holds a double digit lead over potential challengers. Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty (R) holds a very modest lead over Attorney General Mike Hatch (DFL) in his bid for re-election. The Minnesota Senate...

WASHINGTON - Public support for Senate confirmation of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito grew slightly to 54 percent after his often stormy Senate hearing, a poll released on Monday showed. The CNN/USA Today/Gallup survey also found that only about one in three Americans believe President George W. Bush's conservative candidate would vote, as critics fear, to reverse the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. The Senate Judiciary Committee, which held Alito's confirmation hearing this month, was to vote on Tuesday on whether to recommend that he be confirmed by the full Republican-led, 100-member Senate. With the Senate to...