Free Republic

A 90-year-old decorated World War II veteran still fighting to correct what he says is an erroneous war record may finally be getting closer to realizing his goal. Thomas Joseph Smith, Jr., of Glenville, N.Y., who survived some of the bloodiest battles in the Pacific, said he received the shock of a lifetime when he realized military records detailing his time with the U.S. Marine Corps incorrectly indicated he went AWOL for one month during his unit’s deployment on the Marshall Islands in the early 1940s.

From a news release: Indianapolis - The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana filed a lawsuit Friday on behalf of a woman who was pulled over and interrogated after her bumper sticker caught the attention of Indianapolis police officers, violating her First Amendment and Fourth Amendment rights. On June 17, Pamela Konchinsky of Indianapolis was turning into the Merchants Garage on South Meridian Street in her silver Toyota minivan when two Indianapolis Metropolitan Police officers entered the garage immediately behind her. One of the officers told Konchinsky that she was being detained because of a bumper sticker taped to the...

If he runs again in 2016, Texas Gov. Rick Perry hopes better physical and substantive preparation will enable him to avoid the mishaps that made his 2012 race "painful" and "very humbling." Initial results are distinctly mixed. One of Perry's greatest assets is his engaging personal manner, reminiscent of Ronald Reagan. But he may have difficulty escaping the 2012 consensus he's not up to being president. As Will Rogers (or perhaps Mark Twain or Oscar Wilde) noted, "You never get a second chance to make a first impression."

Nothing in life is free. And now that Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) was able to narrowly beat his Tea Party rival, due to thousands of black Democrats who crossed party lines to vote in the GOP primary runoff, his new constituency is looking to cash in on their influence. In their minds, Cochran, who is in line to chair the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee if Republicans take back the Senate, is now a part of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC)--and should vote like a CBC member. According to Politico, "Members of the Congressional Black Caucus are talking about what they...

New York’s top court handed a victory to opponents of hydraulic fracturing for natural gas Monday by affirming the right of municipalities to ban the practice within their borders. The state Court of Appeals affirmed a midlevel appeals court ruling from last year that said the state oil and gas law doesn’t trump the authority of local governments to control land use through zoning. […] The court in a 5-2 decision stressed that it did not consider the merits of fracking, but only the “home rule” authority of municipalities to regulate their land use. The court said the towns of...

A handful of former EU officials and an outgoing top MEP have landed jobs in industry sectors that they legislated on. The cases highlight what pro-transparency experts describe as a “revolving door” where policymakers are hired to work for private companies with a vested interest in EU-level legislation.Last October, two consultancy firms hired João Pacheco. Pacheco was at that time the European Commission’s deputy director of agriculture. Today, he is the director for European markets AFJ and associates in the US. He is also president at the Brussels-based JSPacheco-International consultancy firm. …

Tobacco giant Philip Morris International (PMI) wants to challenge new EU rules on tobacco to see if it can get the stricter labeling requirements changed. The Marlboro manufacturer on Friday (27 June) said the EU’s new tobacco products directive “appears to ban truthful and non-misleading claims on the packaging of tobacco products”. “PMI intends to seek review of whether this ban respects the fundamental rights of consumers to information about the products they are choosing,” it added. The EU’s reformed directive says cigarette packages must have “Smoking Kills—Quit Now” and “Tobacco smoke contains over 70 substances known to cause cancer”...

OSLO, (Reuters) - Global warming will cut Antarctica's 600,000-strong emperor penguin population by at least a fifth by 2100 as the sea ice on which the birds breed becomes less secure, a study said on Sunday. The report urged governments to list the birds as endangered, even though populations in 45 known colonies were likely to rise slightly by 2050 before declining. Such a listing could impose restrictions on tourism and fishing companies. The study is the first to project the long-term outlook for Antarctica's largest penguins, which can grow 1.2 meters (four ft) tall, seeking to fill a gap...

In the recording, the girl is punched several times by three females while sitting on a park bench at Crooke Ave. and Parade Place. Police said the attack appears to have been unprovoked. At one point, the teenager is pulled off the park bench by the three girls, who punch her in the face and kick her in the back. A male who seems to be taping the hard-to-watch attack yells, “Oh, Oh! Oh, Yeah! Oh, Yeah!” Other females who are present also appear to be egging the girls on. A girl wearing pink shorts and a white T-shirt pulls...

. . . “I am Jesus whom you persecute. But rise, and stand upon your feet:for I have appeared unto you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of these things which you have seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto you; Delivering you from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send you, To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance among them...

JENSEN, UTAH — It’s easy to find the largest Chinese-owned hay farm in the United States. It sits 189 miles east of Salt Lake City, on a stunningly scenic bend of the Green River. After driving past the only gas station in Jensen, population 400, a visitor crosses the river, turns left and is soon surrounded by a meticulously managed, 22,000-acre ranch, lush with green alfalfa. Nearly all of it is destined for China. :snip: Simon Wen Shao, a Chinese-born U.S. citizen who’s a co-owner of the Utah alfalfa farm, acknowledged that locals had acted warily when his company purchased...

... State child services workers got a tip June 17 and found the boy in a dark room with only a mattress, a box spring and a plastic jar apparently used as a toilet, Gwinnett County police said in a statement. The boy had been in the room, without toys or books and without going to school for most of two years, and a lock was put on the outside of the door in January 2013, police said. Investigators found no signs of malnourishment or abuse to the 13-year-old or his nine siblings, who were not confined, according to police....

Remember Sandra Fluke? She’s the professional college student who became famous when a prominent radio host said something rude about her. Now she’s parlaying that “success” into highly effective political campaigns like this: Sandra Fluke @SandraFluke Any day now, #SupremeCourt decides whether corporations can deny women access to contraception. http://dccc.org/fluke 11:00 AM - 27 Jun 2014 44 Retweets 15 favorites Did you catch that? Corporations want to “deny women access to contraception.” By, um, expecting them to pay for it themselves. Here’s the text at the link: TELL THE SUPREME COURT: Protect women’s health care rights! Any day now, the...

(Reuters) - A new mammal discovered in the remote desert of western Africa resembles a long-nosed mouse in appearance but is more closely related genetically to elephants, a California scientist who helped identify the tiny creature said on Thursday. The new species of elephant shrew, given the scientific name Macroscelides micus, inhabits an ancient volcanic formation in Namibia and sports red fur that helps it blend in with the color of its rocky surroundings, said John Dumbacher, one of a team of biologists behind the discovery. Genetic testing of the creature – which weighs up to an ounce (28 grams)...

Marriott International launched its #LoveTravels marketing campaign on June 2, targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender customers—as well as pro-LGBT consumers—with a campaign designed to “convey the company’s commitment to make everyone feel comfortable being who they are.” The campaign already has its own dedicated website (two of them, actually); hotel-mounted billboards in Washington DC; and is spreading in social and LGBT media. Shot by the photographer Braden Summers, it features the recently out-of-the-closet basketball player Jason Collins and the transgender model Geena Rocero, and invites people to share their stories of travel on social media with the hashtag #LoveTravels....

At long last, a mainstream movie about a procedure that millions of American women have undergone. It also happens to be really funny. Regardless of what one thinks about abortion, it cannot be denied that it is a common medical procedure for women. Roughly 30 percent of American women will obtain one. And yet, as Slate’s Dana Stevens has observed, abortion has virtually disappeared as a subject from popular American film and television. Dramas featuring young women routinely use convenient miscarriages as plot devices to avoid having characters make realistic choices, while movies like Knocked Up and Juno follow all...

Iraq's 'Exorcist' temple falls into Isis jihadist hands Ancient pre-Christian temple in northern Iraq featured in film The Exorcist at risk of destruction by Isis jihadists An ancient temple made famous in the film The Exorcist has fallen into the hands of the Islamic militants who have taken over northern Iraq, the Telegraph has learnt. The pre-Christian worship complex at Hatra, a vast network of 200-ft high sun-god temples that is a Unesco world heritage site, features in the opening sequence of the 1973 horror classic. But it now lies in the territory claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq...

Gene Kelley’s home was hit with the artillery shell after it was fired at the Oklahoma Full Auto Shoot and Trade Show. No one was hurt in the incident, but the cannon’s owner has agreed to pay for Kelley’s damages. Homeowner Gene Kelley heard a huge crash and was shocked to find a 14-and-a-half-inch-long 105 howitzer artillery shell lying on his bedroom floor.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) was invited Tuesday, along with fellow members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, to test drive — er, test ride — a driverless car on the Capitol grounds. Well, the ride never happened, because Norton did a particularly good job of testing the car’s bright-red “kill” button — which, as captured by WRC-TV’s cameras, killed the car to the point that it could not proceed with the test ride. “Oh, no, don’t push it!” an engineer from Carnegie Mellon University cried after Norton pounded the mushroom button. “It shuts everything down.” [...]

[VIDEO] On Wednesday, Fox News was interviewing recent primary winner James Lankford when Rep. Louie Gohmert dropped by, to hilarious effect, as shown in the above video. But this is not his first foray into photobombing, as noticed last week by Buzzfeed's Benny Johnson... A truly classic photobomb. Now if only we can get him to crash one of the President's selfies we'll be in business. It would probably look something like this: