Free Republic

Michael Tomasky is not content to argue, in the wake of Mary Landrieu's defeat, that Democrats should write off the South as politically unfriendly territory.  In his Daily Beast item of today, Tomasky goes to great lengths to trash the region in the ugliest of terms. "Reactionary, prejudice-infested, fetid, reject[ing] nearly everything that’s good about this country, just one big nuclear waste site of choleric, and extremely racialized, resentment," is how Tomasky slurs most of the South, saying "almost the entire region" is as he describes it.  Remind us now, Michael: just who's "choleric?" Tomasky then has the temerity to shed a...

Hunters from all parts of the country come to Kansas hoping to shoot a buck with a trophy-class set of antlers. Well, for Chuck Rorie, half of the dream came true Wednesday afternoon when he shot what he thought was a nice buck. Instead, the set of eight-point antlers were attached to a doe. “I didn’t think much about it; it just looked like a nice buck when I was watching it and shot it,” said Rorie, of Monroe, N.C. “But when I was skinning it I realized something didn’t look right. It didn’t have the right private parts. “I...

For years, the Washington press corps has been telling us that our medical delivery system was antiquated and unable to meet the needs of its 21st century customers. The journalists of the legacy media frequently suggested that opposition to a government-imposed solution to this very real problem was rooted in ignorance, irrational fear of change, or venality. Over the past several days, we have had the opportunity to observe some of these people react to a similar upheaval in their own industry, and the response has been instructive. Oddly enough, they have exhibited a surprising affinity for the status quo.

Owner Tabatha Bundesen from Morristown, Arizona, said the two-year-old moggy is 'unstoppable'. She told The Express: 'What she's achieved in such a short time is unimaginable and absolutely mind-blowing.

In a few cases, even annual Christmas events such as tree lightings and choral presentations have been taken over and shouted down. All this is causing some to ask whether the Ferguson protests have become a war on Christmas. Consider the case of a recent protest in Seattle's Westlake Mall as a children's choir was set to sing carols. The protesters, who also attempted to disrupt a tree-lighting ceremony, managed to get the mall shut down for four hours on one of the busiest shopping days of the year

Be not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:21

... along comes Barack Obama, with the kinds of gifts that appear in politics but once every few generations. There is a sense of dignity, even majesty, about him, and underneath that ease lies a resolute discipline... he has a quality of thinking and intellectual and emotional honesty that is extraordinary. ... a man whose honesty about himself and understanding of the human condition are both deep and compassionate. Obama has emerged by displaying precisely the kind of character and judgment we need in a president: renouncing the politics of fear, speaking frankly on the most pressing issues... ... the...

Typhoon Hagupit has made landfall in the town of Dolores in the eastern Philippines, the country's weather agency says. The storm knocked out electricity and felled trees in the area, though no casualties have been reported. Over half a million have fled coastal villages in the past few days ahead of the storm's arrival. The typhoon is on course for the city of Tacloban, where thousands were killed by Typhoon Haiyan a year ago. It has weakened slightly but gusts are still peaking at 195km/h (120mph). Thousands of passengers were left stranded after Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific cancelled more...

Several readers have asked: If the Rolling Stone article describing the alleged gang rape of a UVA student at a Phi Kappa Psi fraternity party is materially false, could the Rolling Stone be successfully sued for libel? This is a good illustration of some important libel law principles, so I thought I’d write about it.

On December 6, 1786, Mozart completed his 38th Symphony, nicknamed "Prague". Here is the scintillating 3rd movement from this Symphony. Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTPX3VU27mE Czech Philharmonic Orchestra Conducted by Manfred Honeck

Changing Weather and Climate in the Great Lakes Region: A University of Wisconsin-Madison MOOC UW-Madison's Margaret Mooney and Steve Ackerman teach this MOOC. She is Director of Education and Public Outreach at the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies; he is Professor of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences. Click the image to watch their overview of the class. The University of Wisconsin-Madison invites you to join us February 23, 2015 for a unique, free online learning experience: our Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) Changing Weather and Climate in the Great Lakes Region. The 4-week MOOC will feature a new season each...

FR CANTEEN MISSION STATEMENT Showing support and boosting the morale of our military and our allied military and the family members of the above.Honoring those who have served before. FReeper Canteen Just Hangin' Cafe Come on in, we're open Need a place just to hang out? This is it. We serve coffee, tea, conversation and music. Our AWESOME military, our AWESOME allies, and their families are welcomed and honored here. No worries in the FReeper Canteen Just Hangin' Cafe. Grab a cup and start a conversation. You never know who you might meet in the Cafe. Glad you could...

I made it to my hotel room in Baton Rouge at three am this morning so please excuse any typos. I'm still getting my bearings this morning. Right about the time you'll be reading this, I'll be walking into a press conference to announce not just our latest video, but action we're taking that hones in on the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department. Before I get to that, I wanted to share a quick personal story. I typically don't arrange my travel to arrive at 3am. But thanks to the fun folks at the TSA at JFK International,...

A male model saved his female friend from a disastrous 1984 night with Bill Cosby when, he claimed, he found her incoherent and "messed up" inside the star's Manhattan brownstone. Tony Hogue said he helped a booker at his modeling agency escape from the comedian's apartment after she appeared to be drugged that September. Both were visiting from Denver for Fashion Week. The unidentified woman later became one of 12 Jane Does in a 2005 sexual assault case against Cosby.

Torii Hunter is an anti-gay bigot. This is something he has proven with his own words on multiple occasions. Yesterday, at the press conference to announce the one-year, $10.5 million deal he signed to return to the Minnesota Twins, beat writer Mike Berardino of the Saint Paul Pioneer-Press asked him about those beliefs—specifically, in the context of how Hunter thought supporting Arkansas Republican Governor-elect Asa Hutchinson in his recent election had affected his free agency. Torii Hunter Says Homosexuality Is "Not Right" (Then Claims He Was Misquoted) Hunter's response: You got some people who are just messy, you know? So,...

[full title] “Look at the Tea Party: Some of the angriest, most hateful people on earth, and they’re backed by what they think is Scripture” Forgiveness has become a pursuit more important to me than almost anything. Because as I said in an old book, it’s not my strong suit. I always joke that I wasn’t one of those Christians who was heavily into forgiveness – that I was the other kind; that I was reform. But it’s so awful to be a person who doesn’t forgive; in my experience the willingness to change down deep always comes from the...

Two bucks each tangled by the antlers in the same nylon rope were pulling against each other until a game warden came up with a clever solution. A Texas game warden came to the rescue of two bucks that were trapped in an unusual way—both deer had their antlers tangled in the same nylon rope and were pulling against each other around the pole of a clothesline in the backyard of someone’s house. The unidentified Texas game warden in Comal County used a clever strategy to free the animals, which were thrashing about with their survival in jeopardy: The Texas...

Howie Carr thread for the month

Charles Schumer, the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, has forced a debate over fundamental party priorities out into the open. Should Democrats focus primarily on the problems of the poor or should they first address the economic struggles of the working and middle classes? It’s not often that a politician provokes conflict within the ranks of his party’s core supporters. Schumer did just that in a National Press Club speech on Nov. 25, three weeks after devastating Democratic losses in Senate, House, gubernatorial and state legislative elections. According to Schumer, President Obama and his party suffered defeat last month in...

Q. My husband gets health insurance at his job for $130 a month, but adding me to his plan would bring our total cost up to $415. We can’t afford this on an income of only $40,000 a year! Do we have any recourse A. Grrrr, no. You are among several million victims of the infamous “family glitch” in the Affordable Care Act. And the most infuriating thing is that it didn’t have to be this way. As we explained just the other day, you can’t get a tax credit to help pay for health insurance if you have the...