Free Republic

Ted Nugent's Perspective: Freedom of expression is so beautifully American. Making that our very First Amendment is surely all the proof one needs to know our founding fathers were revolutionary visionaries. In this day and age of terminal apathy and soulless discontent, I adore anyone who is an activist and stands up for what he or she believes. That is exactly how our founders designed this experiment in self government. My loving brother Jeffery is becoming one of those activists, and I salute the great man. Never one to shy away from controversy, my brother wades into it. We were...

Yale University has been fined $165,000 for failing to report serious sex crimes on its prestigious campus. After a seven-year investigation into the Ivy League university’s violations, it was discovered that Yale had failed to report four sex attacks and compiled “incomplete and unreliable” crime reports, lulling students into a false sense of security. Yale reported only five sex offenses between 2000 and 2002, while Harvard reported 80 from that same period and Princeton reported 29. … The world-class university was also found to have ill-defined the boundaries of its campus, leaving crimes committed at the Yale-New Haven Hospital out,...

It comes as no surprise that, during a CBS interview in February, President Obama supported having the Boy Scouts of America open its membership to gays and, presumably, those who lead scout troops as well. “My attitude, the President said “is that gays and lesbians should have access and opportunity the same way everybody else does, in every institution and walk of life.” Spoken like a good Communist hiding the true intent of debasing the cultural and moral life of America.

~~Come on in and shoot the breeze~~ Gun Talk Radio 5/19/13~~07:00 CST Listen to the podcast

White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer said today that “the law is irrelevant” concerning the IRS’ targeting of conservatives. Rep. Darrell Issa, who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Government reform, ripped into Pfeiffer for his absurd comments.

"I was like, Oh my God, this really happened to me." "When I see these kids, I want to, like, slap them."

The days of the old horse cavalry of the U.S. Army are generally now only seen in movies. But on Fort Huachuca those days of the late 1800s are still alive through the all-volunteer B Troop, 4th Cavalry Regiment (Memorial), honoring a unit which served on the post at various times from 1884 to 1912. Unlike the days of old when the unit protected settlers when America’s westward expansion was at its highest a few years after the end of the Civil War, today’s mission of the small unit is to honor and remember those B Troopers — and by...

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There's one great thing about J.C. Penney's last quarter: It's over. The struggling retailer lost a whopping $289 million for the three months ended on May 4, with sales plunging 16.4% versus a year prior.

WASHINGTON (KMOX) – Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-MO, issued a video statement Friday in response to reports that the Internal Revenue Service unfairly targeted conservative nonprofit groups. “I’m mad. It is un-American, it is wrong, and we have to make sure that this gets fixed,” Missouri’s senior senator said. “There’s a reason Lady Justice wears a blindfold in America. That is because in America, we don’t apply the law based on who you are, who you know, or what you believe. We apply the law equally.” McCaskill went on to say that the targeting of one group based on political beliefs...

Went to make application for a gun I ordered and the form has two new identifiers: 1. Ethnicity (Hispanic or Non-Hispanic) and 2. Race These are in sections 10a and 10b on the form.

Janet Jackson is reportedly ready to settle down away from the spotlight with claims that she is retiring from music and converting to Islam for her new husband Wissam Al Mana. According to Showbiz411, Janet is planning a move to the Middle East with Wissam and will also be converting to Islam to respect her husband’s religion. “She’s gone. She married a billionaire,” a source told the website in regards to Janet’s career.

Former Baylor women’s basketball star Brittney Griner, who acknowledged she was gay in an interview with SI.com’s Maggie Gray last month, said Bears coach Kim Mulkey told her not to be open publicly about her sexuality because it would hurt recruiting, according to ESPN.com.

In an effort to cut down on the number of alcohol related accidents, the National Transportation Safety Board wants to lower the legal limit for driving from a 0.08 to 0.05 blood alcohol content in all states. That doesn't mean post-dinner-out driving standards will be more exacting anytime soon, though — indeed, the fight is just now underway, and from some of the most unlikely of people. ~snip~ Of course, the NTSB can't order the state or federal governments to do anything. They can only make recommendations about that one fewer beer. In fact, the recommendation to lower the legal...

Officials in Nelson, Georgia, say law is mostly symbolic   (Newser) – The tiny town of Nelson, Georgia, is facing a court battle after passing a law that requires all households to own a gun and ammunition. The DC-based Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence had filed a federal lawsuit against the town on the grounds that the law, which was passed in April, is unconstitutional, and violates the 1st and 14th Amendments, reports CNN. "Forcing residents to buy guns they do not want or need won’t make the City of Nelson or its people any safer, and only...

Apparently not everyone on Facebook has an actual face. A new analysis of Facebook user data has found that of the site's much-boasted-about 1 billion users, only 889.3 million of them are actual people, reports Quartz. The other 100 million? Probably brands, pets, parodies and kitchen appliances. Yet Facebook is still including those accounts in its "active monthly user" figures. Facebook claimed recently that its active users had hit 1.1 billion, reports TechCrunch. But the study says that won't actually happen with real, live human beings until 2014.

(Newser) – Up to 60 people have been injured, some critically, after a man drove a car into a crowd during a parade in southwestern Virginia. Three victims were flown to hospital via helicopter, and another 12 to 15 went by ambulance, after being struck while watching the Hikers Parade at a festival celebrating the Appalachian Trail in the small mountain town of Damascus, reports the AP. Four of the victims are considered seriously injured, adds the Bristol Herald Courier. The identity of the driver, and why he drove into the crowd, are still unknown. Witnesses say he was...

According to well connected sources inside the Washington D.C. political machine, Republican Party strategists already have enough evidence to begin impeachment proceedings against President Barack Hussein Obama, but will delay the process until they re-take the Senate after the 2014 mid term elections. Republicans believe that Obama, who will be impeached for corruption, perjury and obstruction of justice, will forcibly demand that subordinates continue to lie and cover up past wrongdoings within the administration, leading to documentation of additional high crimes and misdemeanors. “Congressman Issa already has sworn testimony, video surveillance, fingerprints and notarized documents placing Obama, Clinton, Holder and...

WASHINGTON — Congressional Republicans, not resting with the Internal Revenue Service scandal, are moving to broaden the matter to an array of tax malfeasances and “intimidation tactics” they hope will ensnare the White House. Republican charges range from clearly questionable actions to seemingly specious allegations, and they grow by the day. On Friday, lawmakers sought to tie the I.R.S. matter to the carrying out of President Obama’s health care law, which will rely heavily on the agency. Whether they succeed holds significant ramifications for Mr. Obama, who will soon know if he is dealing with a late spring thunderstorm that...

The Internal Revenue Service's watchdog told top Treasury officials around June 2012 he was investigating allegations the tax agency had targeted conservative groups, for the first time indicating that Obama administration officials were aware of the explosive matter in the midst of the president's re-election campaign. The disclosure to the Treasury general counsel and the deputy secretary was a cursory one, according to J. Russell George, the Treasury inspector general for tax administration. He said he didn't reveal conclusions of the probe, which was in its early stages, and his disclosure came as part of a routine update to Treasury...

Berlusconi's Bunga-Bunga Strippers Dressed Up as Barack Obama, Says Bellydancer Ruby Silvio Berlusconi's infamous "bunga-bunga" parties featured strippers dressed as US President Obama as well as the more conventional fare of nuns and nurses, according to court testimony by the Moroccan woman at the centre of the scandal. Karima el-Mahroug, 20, was giving evidence at the trial of three former aides to Berlusconi who are accused of procuring her and other women for prostitution. El-Mahroug, a former bellydancer, said she attended about half a dozen parties, using her nickname Ruby. One each occasion, Berlusconi had handed her an envelope containing...

Did some research and found plenty of photos of Presidents in the rain. Thought I would share them. Yes I included ones of the current President. Notice the distinct lack of Marines holding umbrellas. No I didn't selectively pick other than image quality. Finding cases of Marines holding umbrellas is hard, almost like it doesn't happen.

Senior Obama officials tell the US Senate: the 'war', in limitless form, will continue for 'at least' another decade - or two Last October, senior Obama officials anonymously unveiled to the Washington Post their newly minted "disposition matrix", a complex computer system that will be used to determine how a terrorist suspect will be "disposed of": indefinite detention, prosecution in a real court, assassination-by-CIA-drones, etc. Their rationale for why this was needed now, a full 12 years after the 9/11 attack: Among senior Obama administration officials, there is a broad consensus that such operations are likely to be extended at...

Congressman Tom Price questioning acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller on Friday...

Two members of Congress are asking if the Treasury Department disproportionately targeted more Republican or conservative owned auto dealerships during the government-lead restructuring of General Motors in 2009. Breitbart.com reported today that Mike Kelly (R-PA) and Jim Renacci (R-OH) released a letter asking Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to release documents regarding the process and methodology that determined which GM dealerships were closed.

Funny- code pink always finds a way to sneak in and disrupt these hearings (NRA about two months ago bieng the most recent)....yet today was a situation where innocent Americans were being targeted by the government solely for their beliefs, primarily political, and they were nowhere to be found...will the obama stenographers in the mainstream media, the same ones unknowingly caught on tape applauding code pink's disruption of the NRA's hearing, ask why they weren't around today standing up for Americans???

Two Congressmen are asking the Treasury Department if it inappropriately scrutinized conservative-owned businesses the same way it targeted Tea Party groups filing for tax-exempt status. Republicans Mike Kelly (PA-03) and Jim Renacci (OH-16) circulated a letter Thursday requesting Treasury Secretary Jack Lew release documents detailing the process and methodology the Automotive Task Force used to shut down General Motors dealerships in 2009 during the automotive industry crisis. Renacci's Northeast Ohio Chevrolet dealership was closed in 2010 after losing a battle with General Motors. Congress loaned General Motors $50 billion in 2009 after declaring bankruptcy, which resulted in the federal government...

Long before the Internal Revenue Service revealed it had improperly targeted conservative 501(c)(4) groups, a group of Democratic senators led by New York Sen. Chuck Schumer urged the IRS to do just that. Last year, Schumer, along with Democratic Sens. Michael Bennet, Sheldon Whitehouse, Jeff Merkley, Tom Udall, Jeanne Shaheen and Al Franken, penned a letter calling on the agency to cap the amount of the political spending by groups masquerading as “social welfare organizations.”

link only: http://www.freep.com/article/20130517/NEWS01/305170014/pension-funds-travel-General-Retirement-System-and-the-Police-and-Fire-Retirement-System-Hilton-Hawaiian-Village-Waikiki-Beach-Resort-Honolulu

How long will the shale boom last? ODNR official sees ‘beginning of a historic era’ for oil and gas; other observers aren’t sure By Dan Gearino and Spencer Hunt Friday May 17, 2013 3:32 AM Oil and gas companies nearly doubled their production from Ohio’s Utica shale last year, part of an energy surge that is still in its early stages and whose potential is far from clear. The companies extracted 635,896 barrels of oil and 12.8 billion cubic feet of gas from the Utica in 2012, which is a year-over-year increase of 93 percent and 87 percent, respectively, according...

After House Minority Leader John Boehner chided him for using the term "enemies" in a conversation last week with Univision Radio, President Obama offered an explication for his remark in an interview today with talk radio host Michael Baisden. Following is Mr. Obama's "enemies" quote from the Univision interview: "If Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, 'We're gonna punish our enemies, and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us' -- if they don't see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election -- then I think it's going...

Ilya Bryzgalov is at the centre of controversy after praising socialist icon Joseph Stalin. In an interview Wednesday with Russian sports website Championat, translated by Yahoo! Sports, the Philadelphia Flyers goaltender said he saw “logic” in former Soviet Union leader Stalin’s actions. Stalin is one of the most reviled leaders in history and is responsible for the killing of millions of people. Asked if there were any historical figures he’d like to talk to, Bryzgalov answered Genghis Khan, Stalin and Albert Einstein. Bryzgalov was then asked for his thoughts on Stalin. “Positive. I see logic in his action,” he said....

<p>MyFoxBoston.com) – The Boston Business Journal and The Boston Globe are both reporting that New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft wants to buy The Boston Globe.</p> <p>The reports say members of the Kraft Group have received a presentation from the company hired by the New York Times to sell the Globe. The sale also includes Boston.com and the Worcester Telegram.</p>

Federal accident investigators recommended Tuesday that states cut their threshold for drunken driving by nearly half, matching a standard that has substantially reduced highway deaths in other countries. The National Transportation Safety Board said states should shrink the standard from the current .08 blood alcohol content to .05 as part of a series of recommendations aimed at reducing alcohol-related highway deaths. More than 100 countries have adopted the .05 alcohol content standard or lower, according to a report by the board's staff. In Europe, the share of traffic deaths attributable to drunken driving was reduced by more than half within...

Three armed home invaders broke into a house and beat up the resident before pushing him into a closet, not realizing it was a weapons storage area.

There's poop in public pools, according to a new report. Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found genetic material from E. coli bacteria in 58 percent of public pools they tested during the summer of 2012. This shows that "swimmers frequently introduced fecal material into pools," which could spread germs to other people, the researchers wrote in their report. E. coli bacteria are normally found in the human gut and feces. They also found genetic material from bacteria called Pseudomonas aeruginosa, whichcan cause skin rashes and ear infections, in 59 percent of pools. The fecal material...

Howie thread for the second part of the month starting with his Fri 5/17/13 column, actually; reminder that Howie is nationwide on Tue as he again fills in for Mark Levin (6-9 pm ET though 7-10 on WRKO)

Acting IRS Commissioner Steven T. Miller was forced by to resign today, predominantly due to the July 7, 2011 memorandum that I discovered and published last weekend in my report, IRS HAD ENEMIES LIST IN 2010 & 2012. The document is written on U.S. Treasury Department stationary and demanded senior IRS management terminate attempts to force donations to selected tax-exempt groups be fully-taxed as gifts. The IRS admitted the groups examined were conservative, such as Tea Parties. The Miller memo appeared to confirm that he knowingly lied to Congress while under oath at least twice last year about predatory audits...

You can argue all you want whether ObamaCare puts into place “death panels” or not. What we can all agree on is that ObamaCare has provisions which allow a government review board to decide if you receive treatment or not based on your “need”. The existence of this review board is not in question. Thousands of pages have been written on this subject both pro and con, and these arguments have established two basic ways of looking at this process. One side is straight logistics and economics: Implementing this kind of healthcare on a massive scale can never be cost...

"The enemy is the United States of America and everyone who supports it." That's taught to University of Hawaii students by Professor Haunani-Kay Trask. Richard Falk, professor emeritus at Princeton University and the U.N. Human Rights Council's Palestine monitor, explained the Boston bombings by saying, "The American global domination project is bound to generate all kinds of resistance in the post-colonial world." Professor Falk has also stated that President George W. Bush ordered the destruction of the twin towers. University of Southern California professor Darry Sragow preaches hate to his students in his regulation of elections and political finance class,...

Affeldt got three opinions saying the contract was ironclad and he could keep the extra $500,000, from the Players Association, agent Michael Moye and even Giants assistant general manager Bobby Evans. Affeldt recalled Moye telling him, "You know what? As your agent I've got to tell you that legally you can keep it. As a man who represents integrity, I'm saying you should give it back." And that's what Affeldt said he did, redoing the contract with the $500,000 excised. "I talked to Bobby the next day and said, 'I can't take that money,' " Affeldt said. " 'I won't...

The European Commission on Tuesday (14 May) tabled several scenarios for the withdrawal of the 1 and 2 euro cent coins, with the cost of minting these coins greater than their use. “The production of 1 and 2 cent coins is clearly a lossmaking activity for the euro area, with the difference between the face value of the coins and the price paid by the state to get them pointing at an estimated total cumulative loss of €1.4 billion ($1.8 billion) since 2002,” the commission said in a press release. Public opinion about the 1 and 2 euro cent coins...

A topless painting of actress Bea Arthur sold for $1.9 million at auction in New York on Wednesday night. The 1991 painting by artist John Currin, called "Bea Arthur Naked," was expected to fetch as much as $2.5 million in the post-war and contemporary art sale at Christie's. It went to an anonymous bidder. The actress, famous for her Emmy-winning roles in the 1970s and '80s television series "Maude" and "The Golden Girls," is depicted nude from the waist up with a simple gaze on her face... "Currin mixes nostalgia with provocation," Christie's noted, and indeed, critics have been provoked...

Two years ago on Memorial Day, Nashville songwriter Connie Harrington was driving in her car, listening to a story on the public radio program Here & Now. And she heard a father remembering his son — a soldier who was killed in Afghanistan. "He mentioned that he drove his son's truck," Harrington says. "And he went on to describe the truck." Sgt. 1st Class Jared Monti was 30 when he was killed in action in 2006. In the radio broadcast, his father, Paul, said his reasons for driving the truck Jared left behind were simple: "What can I tell you?...

Would-be Belieber Anne Frank has been getting attention for all the wrong reasons lately. One suburban Detroit mom could have it so she gets no attention at all because of her "female genitalia." In Northville, a well-to-do suburb about 30 miles northwest of Detroit, a parent of a 7th grader takes issue with her daughter's classroom reading an newer, unedited edition of "The Diary of a Young Girl." Frankly, I'm surprised seventh-graders are reading any edition of "Diary"; it (and "Schindler's List," while we're on the subject) didn't reach my hands until high school. Besides the whole evils of the...

Title Shortened to Accommodate FR Rules Congressman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) said Wednesday during an interview on the Hugh Hewitt Show that the Justice Department’s investigation of the Associated Press involved seizing phone records from the United States Capitol.

Tipsville . . . Sneed is told that Attorney General Eric “Fast and Furious” Holder’s days are numbered. Sneed hears President Barack Obama, who is this/close to Holder, has set his sights on Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick as a possible replacement “when the heat dies down on the latest hot-button scandals to hit the U.S. Justice Department,” said a top White House source. Last year, Holder became a hot button over a congressional probe of the sale of government guns to drug cartels. This time it’s the double whammy of an IRS scandal and the U.S. Justice Department’s seizure of...

Scientists have found a source of water 2.4 km below the earth's surface near Timmins, Ont., that's believed to be at least a billion years old. The water was found by geochemists from the University of Manchester and the discovery was published in the journal Nature. The scientists don't know if the underground water contains any living creatures, but said it's high in methane and hydrogen, which could support life. They found the water in the 2.7-billion-year-old sulphide deposits in a zinc and copper mine near the northern Ontario city. Previously, no known free-flowing water passing through the cracks in...

LONDON – A major casino operator is accusing Phil Ivey, an American who is one of the world's top professional poker players, of amassing millions of dollars in winnings by cheating at baccarat. Court papers filed in Britain's High Court by the Malaysia-based Genting Group say that Ivey and an accomplice successfully used a scam to rack up winnings of roughly 7.8 million pounds ($11.9 million) last summer. The case has rocked the world of professional poker by pitting one of its most charismatic young stars against a major resort and casino operator. The game in question took place on...

First milk, butter, coffee and cornmeal ran short. Now Venezuela is running out of the most basic of necessities – toilet paper. Blaming political opponents for the shortfall, as it does for other shortages, the government says it will import 50m rolls to boost supplies. One supermarket visited by the Associated Press in the capital on Wednesday was out of toilet paper. Another had just received a fresh batch, and it quickly filled up with shoppers as the word spread. "I've been looking for it for two weeks," said Cristina Ramos. "I was told that they had some here and...