Free Republic

Coming out of the weekend, after a brutal week for their president, the media held tight to a little lifeboat in an ocean of bad news: Polls from CNN and The Washington Post had Obama's approval rating at 53% and 50%, respectively. But Monday was a lifetime and countless revelations ago, and today, four newer polls all show Obama's approval rating sinking below 50%. Fox News has Obama upside down with 45% approving of the president and 51% disapproving. Rasmussen shows a similar trend with 46% - 53%; as does The Economist, 45% - 51%. Gallup sits at 49% -...

Three years ago I was contacted by an editor of Rowohlt, one of the biggest book publishers in Germany. She said she loved my articles in the Zeit, the prestigious German newspaper I’ve been writing for, and would like me to come to Germany for a few months, interview people and write about them “in the same style you write for the Zeit.” … Hardly a day passed by without at least one interviewee talking to me about the “rich Jews,” the “shrewd Jews,” the Israelis who eat Palestinians for breakfast on a daily basis, the “manipulating Jew,” or anything...

A new precedent has been set. Despite extensive denial that drone strikes would endanger Americans, Attorney General Eric Holder has now openly admitted that four US citizens were killed through overseas drone strikes since 2009. While not on United States soil, the deaths of the US citizens in nations like Yemen and Pakistan highlight the new precedent being set by US government heads who wish to use drones as a form of lethal enforcement on US soil. With Holder admitting that Americans have already died via drone strikes following his statements that Obama can already initiate drone strikes on US...

COLUMBIA COUNTY - The Columbia County District Attorney is making good on a promise not to prosecute a man arrested under the SAFE Act.

The IRS's leaders refuse to account for the agency's corruption and abuse. "I don't know." "I don't remember." "I'm not familiar with that detail." "It's not my precise area." "I'm not familiar with that letter." These are quotes from the Internal Revenue Service officials who testified this week before the House and Senate. That is the authentic sound of stonewalling, and from the kind of people who run Washington in the modern age—smooth, highly credentialed and unaccountable. They're surrounded by legal and employment protections, they know how to parse a careful response, they know how to blur the essential point...

CLEARWATER — Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri on Tuesday announced plans to strictly enforce a county law mandating background checks for all customers at gun shows, asserting local control in an area that has stubbornly resisted state and federal regulation. Gualtieri's initiative comes in response to a Tampa Bay Times story last month on the ineffectiveness of local laws closing the so-called gun show loophole. The Times reported that while seven of Florida's most populous counties — including Pinellas and Hillsborough — have ordinances requiring background checks for all sales at gun shows, the laws are largely ignored. According to...

Kirk Douglas played a down-on-his-luck news reporter... a man named Leo was trapped in a collapsed cave...Keeping Leo trapped for at least seven days could revive Douglas's career. He had exclusive access to Leo. Writing daily updates could produce tremendous financial rewards; it could land Douglas a job with a major newspaper and a possible Pulitzer Prize. Folks, I was struck by how closely the scenario in the movie paralleled real-life current events. After the movie, I told my wife, "Oh my gosh, I just watched the Obama administration in Benghazi"...

CONCORD — The Senate Thursday refused to act on a bill to repeal the state’s new stand-your-ground bill, effectively killing the effort. The Senate voted 19-5 to table House Bill 135, which would have repealed the provision that extends the Castle Doctrine allowing people to defend themselves with deadly force without retreating while in their home on their property to any place a person has a right to be. Sen. Sharon Carson, R-Londonderry, said since the bill passed in 2011, there have been no problems, no vigilante behavior and no inappropriate actions.

MOUNT VERNON, Wash. — A portion of an Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River, about 60 miles north of Seattle, collapsed Thursday, sending three vehicles and people plunging into the cold water at least 50 feet below. Amazingly, there were no fatalities, Skagit County authorities said. Three people were pulled from the river and taken to Skagit Valley Hospital and United General Hospital; two were reported to be in stable condition, the other had minor injuries and was being released Thursday night. The survivor who was released was identified as Dan Sligh, 47. His wife, Sally Sligh, 56, remained...

Radical Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary has said he was “shocked” by the murder of a soldier in Woolwich, but has refused to condemn the attack. … Mr. Choudary told BBC’s Newsnight that he encountered (Michael) Adebolajo at a number of Islamist demonstrations. …

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Shares have increased by 95% in the last year and are up more than 70% already in 2013. That makes Cabela’s stock the best-performing in the firearms industry and one of the top-performing stocks in the U.S. in the last year. The company’s two biggest shareholders, founders Richard and James Cabela, have seen the value of their combined 25% stake jump to $1.2 billion from $750 million at the start of 2013. About one-third of Cabela’s $3.1 billion in sales last year came from firearms, ammunition and accessories, and a substantial amount of its all-important sales growth came from its...

Operation BBQ Relief is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation founded in May, 2011 in response to a need for relief efforts in tornado-stricken Joplin, Missouri. On Sunday evening, May 22, a massive multi-vortex EF5 tornado plowed through the southwest Missouri community of about 50,000 residents, killing over 140 people and injuring more than 1,000. It left a path of almost total destruction six miles long and over a half mile wide. It is now classified as the second deadliest tornado in U.S. history. In the wake of this nearly unprecedented destruction, competition barbecue teams from eight states answered the call to...

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. Fabulous FRiday FAVORITES Tell us your favoriteVACATION SPOT HAWAII? GRAND CANYON? ALASKA? FAVORITE RESORT? OCEAN CITY? Come on in and join the conversation. Remember, the Canteen is a family friendly place. We welcome the military, our allies, and their families.Continued prayers for the success and completion of your mission. Prayers for your safe return home. One guess where mine is! LOL

'This is a terrible situation for any armed officer to face. I have never ever seen or even heard of a scenario where two suspects attack a victim and then remain on the scene in full view waiting for the police to arrive. Training covers ‘precise’ situations which are contained and there is a good understanding of what is happening and ‘imprecise’ ones, which are much less controlled. This is at the extreme end of the imprecise spectrum. As soon as the armed response vehicle turns the corner and before it has even stopped they have sprung into action. The...

<p>SACRAMENTO, Calif.—A Republican has won a hotly contested state Senate contest in the southern San Joaquin Valley, with his top Democratic rival conceding Wednesday that the race will not go to a runoff.</p> <p>The special election victory by Hanford cherry farmer Andy Vidak will have no practical effect on the state Senate, where Democrats retain a supermajority, but serves as a psychological boost for the party after massive GOP losses in recent election cycles.</p>

(CBS) SEBASTIAN, Fla. - A Florida state attorney says the charges against Kaitlyn Hunt, an 18-year-old high school student who engaged in a same-sex relationship with a 14-year-old classmate, will not be dropped, despite petitions from the public, CBS affiliate WTSP reports. Hunt has been expelled from Sebastian River High School in Sebastian, Fla. and is charged with two counts of lewd and lascivious battery of a child 12 to 16 years of age as a result of the relationship. The case began in February when Hunt was arrested and charged after the younger girl's parents notified authorities, reportedly when...

A new study may stimulate the old adage of respecting your elders; it says the general level of intelligence in the Western Hemisphere has declined since the Victorian Era. The study claims the IQ numbers are 14 points lower than from the 19th century. One of the authors of the study, Dr. Jan te Nijenhuis, professor of work and organizational psychology at the University of Amsterdam, says the cause of the movement toward stupidity is that smarter women have fewer children while those of lower intelligence have more children. But Dr. Gerald Crabtree, professor of pathology and developmental biology at...

'BRITISH Special Forces have captured the Taliban leader thought to be responsible for the roadside bomb that killed three British soldiers last month. The insurgent leader, who has not been named for operational reasons, commanded seven groups of Taliban fighters and bombers across southern Afghanistan. The dawn raid, carried out with Afghan forces, took place in the Marjah region near Nad-e-Ali, close to the British base in Lashkar Gah. It is believed the Taliban leader, who sources confirmed had regularly travelled between Helmand and Pakistan, had been hunted for a year after being linked to at least three other attacks.'

WASHINGTON, May 23 (UPI) -- The Internal Revenue Service and three other U.S. government agencies will be closed Friday as employees take a forced unpaid holiday due to spending cuts. The Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Environmental Protection Agency and the White House Office of Management and Budget are also set to be closed due to furloughs, CNN Money reported. The one-day shutdown of the IRS, at a time when many people want to know when to expect their tax refund checks, is likely to have the most noticeable impact, CNN said. snip IRS offices and hotlines will...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Ncbq_spZkUU#t=0s

Shot: President Obama’s speech today: Journalists should not be at legal risk for doing their jobs. Our focus must be on those who break the law. That is why I have called on Congress to pass a media shield law to guard against government over-reach. I have raised these issues with the Attorney General, who shares my concern. So he has agreed to review existing Department of Justice guidelines governing investigations that involve reporters, and will convene a group of media organizations to hear their concerns as part of that review. And I have directed the Attorney General to report...

Assemblies of God leadership regrets that the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has voted to change its policy regarding inclusion of homosexual youth members. We believe – as do a majority of Boy Scout volunteer leaders and parents – that this is not the best policy for BSA, nor for the young men it serves. As the landmark 2000 Supreme Court decision stated, BSA is a private organization with freedom of association to determine its own membership standards, upholding BSA's policy not to allow homosexual leaders or members. BSA stated at the time that a departure from that longstanding policy...

'The Police Officer who shot the 2 suspects in the Woolwich terrorist attack is one of the few female members of the Met's elite firearms squad, SCO19. [1] It was reported that around 14 minutes after the initial 999 call regarding the horrific murder of an off-duty soldier in the street by Artillery Place, near Woolwich Barracks, London, armed police arrived and confronted the 2 suspects who had seemingly made no effort to flee. Both suspects were brandishing weapons, including knives, a cleaver and a revolver. Both suspects were subsequently shot by one of the armed officers, believed to be...

Grapevine, TX – Following the vote today by the Boy Scouts of America’s voting delegates to pass the resolution allowing “open and avowed homosexuality” in the Boy Scouts, John Stemberger, Founder of OnMyHonor.Net, a coalition of members of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) including parents, Scoutmasters, Eagle Scouts and other Scouting leaders who affirm Scouting’s timeless values, made the following statement:“It is with great sadness and deep disappointment that we recognize on this day that the most influential youth program in America has turned a tragic corner. The vote today to allow open and avowed homosexuality into Scouting...

RUSH: Let's start with polling data -- just to keep you up to speed on things because it's a little bit conflicting. This is the Pew Research Center, they surveyed more than a thousand people and they asked them if they are following the scandal stories very closely. And the Pew Center poll shows that most Americans are not paying attention to the scandals, according to this. Twenty-six percent said that they are very closely following the IRS story. Twenty-five percent say they are closely following the Benghazi investigation, and just 16% are very closely following the news about the...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Moving quickly to stem a raging controversy, the new acting head of the Internal Revenue Service started cleaning house Thursday by replacing the supervisor who oversaw agents involved in targeting tea party groups. A day after she refused to answer questions at a congressional hearing, Lois Lerner was placed on administrative leave, according to congressional sources. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, a senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, said Lerner was asked to resign but refused, so she was placed on leave.

Rep. John Barrow (D-Ga.) has introduced the Keeping the Promise of IRCA Act. The bill would fulfill the border security promises, workplace verification promises, and interior enforcement promises that were never fulfilled by the 1986 amnesty bill. The bill serves as an alternative to the Gang of Eight's amnesty bill, S.744, and is a response to public opinion that's been evident in poll after poll that the border needs to be secured before dealing with other aspects of immigration reform. The Keeping the Promise of IRCA Act would: •Require all employers to use E-Verify within 2 years •Require all employers...

Government Failure: Two years ago the president announced his goal of putting 1 million electric cars on U.S. roads by 2015. Did he mention that to reach that target the unpopular cars might have to be given away? The market for electric cars is so weak that consumer costs are approaching almost nothing. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that in order to "spark buyers for electric cars," there is a need to "drop the price to nearly $0." "A new round of discount leases on mainstream-brand plug-in cars such as the Nissan Leaf or Fiat 500e, combined with federal,...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: We had breaking news at the end of yesterday's big broadcast that Darrell Issa, after having consulted with legal counsel, said that he was going to recall Lois Lerner before his committee. As you know, she showed up yesterday and said, (impression), "I didn't do it! I didn't do it! Nobody saw me do anything. You can't prove anything! I didn't do it, had nothing to do with it," and then refused to say anything more under questioning, invoking her Fifth Amendment. At which point, Trey Gowdy of South Carolina said, "You can't do that. You can't...

HOUSTON -- The man accused of hitting and killing a Harris County sheriff’s deputy while driving drunk was in the country illegally, a judge said in court overnight. Andres Munos-Munos, 23, was charged with intoxication manslaughter in the death of Sgt. Dwayne Polk. According to the Houston Police Department, Munos-Munos allegedly ran a red light on Little York at N. Shepherd and hit Polk's personal truck shortly after 3 a.m. Sunday. HPD said there were no skid marks to indicate Munos-Munos even attempted to stop prior to the crash.

As the investigation into the Obama administration’s handling of the attacks on U.S. facilities in Benghazi intensifies, lawmakers on Capitol Hill are seeking to conduct transcribed interviews with thirteen top State Department officials in the coming weeks in order to learn more. Those named in the letter include a wide range of current and former State Department personnel, from senior advisers to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to mid-level career officials with responsibility for diplomatic security. Among those officials: Jacob Sullivan, then deputy chief of staff and director of policy planning (and currently national security adviser to Vice President Joe...

'Violent foreign extremists should be put on the first plane home, a furious Tory MP demanded today. Former army officer Bob Stewart said the killers of drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich had succeeded in securing publicity for their ‘perverted ideas’ and urged tough action to deal with ‘anyone that supports them. And he expressed surprise that the police did not shoot the attackers dead at the scene. The MP for Beckenham, which is not far from Wollwich in London, said politicians have ‘somehow got to deal with’ the aftermath of the violent killing. He also called on Home Secretary Theresa...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: It's out there in the news, that Speaker of the House John Boehner was not all that hepped up to a Benghazi investigation by a congressional committee. Now, the way that has manifested itself is the speaker has decided that there will be five House committees that will look into it because there are five committees who have a little jurisdiction here, another committee has a little jurisdiction there, and another committee has some jurisdiction over here. It's five, maybe six committees. You have Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, Judiciary, Armed Services, and Oversight and Government Reform. That's Issa,...

'TV stations should not give airtime to preachers of hate who are ‘idiots and nutters’, a leading minister said last night. Baroness Warsi spoke out amid a growing furore at Westminster about the amount of coverage given to Anjem Choudary and other militant Islamists on the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 News. The BBC in particular – who have released footage of Michael Adebolajo standing behind Choudary at a 2007 demonstration – came under fire for offering the hate-filled radical a slot on last night’s Newsnight programme on BBC2. The decision was branded ‘idiotic’, ‘irresponsible’ and ‘insensitive’. Baroness Warsi said:...

Sure, we as a nation have always killed people. A lot of people. But no president has ever waged war by killing enemies one by one, targeting them individually for execution, wherever they are. The Obama administration has taken pains to tell us, over and over again, that they are careful, scrupulous of our laws, and determined to avoid the loss of collateral, innocent lives. They're careful because when it comes to waging war on individuals, the distinction between war and murder becomes a fine one. Especially when, on occasion, the individuals we target are Americans and when, in one...

The prime minister has said the public want to see armed forces members in their uniforms - after advice to conceal them in public was relaxed. A defence source had told the BBC the advice was a "common sense" step during the Woolwich attack investigation. But the advice was later relaxed following a review, said the MoD. In a message to forces personnel, David Cameron said: "The British public love our armed forces; they love them being in the public eye."'

RAMALLAH: Peace between Israel and the Palestinians is a "priority," British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on a visit to the region on Thursday, warning that time was running out for a two-state solution. "The prospects of a two-state solution cannot be kept alive forever as the situation changes," he told reporters from the seat of the Palestinian presidency in the West Bank city Ramallah. "The two-state solution does not have much longer, there is not much more time in which it could be brought about," he emphasised. Hague's visit to Ramallah followed a meeting between Abbas and US Secretary...

See for yourself. Issa’s committee was told last year that the report would be ready in September, two months before the election. Eight months later, the bomb finally dropped. Why? Did the IG initially underestimate the volume of malfeasance and how long it would take to dig it up? Or are there other, more cynical reasons?Even if the report wasn’t ready, Issa claims the IG had a statutory obligation to keep Congress updated on its findings as they were made. He didn’t. Why not? Issa is referring to part of the Inspector General Act that requires watchdogs to report serious...

IRS Scandal: The inexplicable raid nearly two years ago on a guitar maker for using allegedly illegal wood that its competitors also used was another targeting by this administration of its political enemies. On Aug. 24, 2011, federal agents executed four search warrants on Gibson Guitar Corp. facilities in Nashville and Memphis, Tenn., and seized several pallets of wood, electronic files and guitars. One of the top makers of acoustic and electric guitars, including the iconic Les Paul introduced in 1952, Gibson was accused of using wood illegally obtained in violation of the century-old Lacey Act, which outlaws trafficking in...

The state of Texas is turning down billions of federal dollars that would have paid for health care coverage for 1.5 million poor Texans.By refusing to participate in Medicaid expansion, which is part of the Affordable Care Act, the state will leave on the table an estimated $100 billion over the next decade.Texas' share of the cost would have been just 7 percent of the total, but for Gov. Rick Perry and the state's Republican-dominated Legislature, even $1 in the name of "Obamacare" was a dollar too much."Texas will not be held hostage by the Obama administration's attempt to force...

President Obama is a little uneasy with the way journalists have been dragged into the Justice Department’s aggressive pursuit of national security leak investigations. In fact, he has ordered Attorney General Eric Holder to conduct a 45-day review of the department’s guidelines on the issue. That bit of news was buried in the middle of the president’s hourlong speech today at National Defense University. “Journalists should not be at legal risk for doing their jobs,” President Obama said. “Our focus must be on those who break the law.” And then the news: “I have raised these issues with the attorney...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama was interrupted three times by a woman who shouted about drones and detainees in Cuba as he delivered a speech on national security. The woman was identified as Medea Benjamin from the anti-war group Code Pink. Benjamin yelled from behind a bank of cameras before security removed her from the hall at National Defense University in Washington.

'This is the moment two terrorists who butchered soldier Lee Rigby also tried to kill a hero woman cop who was first on the scene of the carnage. Shocking footage obtained by the Daily Mirror shows how the calculating pair lured officers to the scene by dragging the body into the middle of the road and brazenly waiting for armed police to arrive. When the first police car arrived the pair split up in a pre-planned manoeuvre with knife-wielding Michael Adebolajo charging them head-on, while his accomplice ran up alongside, aiming his revolver at them. The film of the 10...

In stark contrast, the Obama Administration’s response has been to avoid calling the attack terrorism, let alone terrorism motivated by a radical Islamic ideology. Instead the Administration, via the State Department, said it stood with the U.K. in the face of “such senseless violence.” Senseless violence? One can hardly term a targeted attack on a U.K. soldier in broad daylight — where the assailants gleefully admit the radical motivation behind their attack — “senseless violence.” Yet, use of this terminology is nothing new for the Obama Administration. “Senseless violence” is the Administration’s catch-all phrase loyally called upon whenever motivations for...

JOSEPHINE COUNTY, Ore. (CBS Seattle) — An Oregon woman was told by a 911 dispatcher that authorities wouldn’t be able be able to help her as her ex-boyfriend broke into her place because of budget cuts. Oregon Public Radio reports that an unidentified woman called 911 during a weekend in August 2012 while Michael Bellah was breaking into her place. Her call was forwarded to Oregon State Police because of lay-offs at the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office only allows the department to be open Monday through Friday. “Uh, I don’t have anybody to send out there,” the 911 dispatcher told...

Story highlights: Lois Lerner, the embattled director of Exempt Organizations at the IRS, served as head of the Federal Election Commission’s (FEC) enforcement division from 1986 until 2001. While there, the FEC sued the Christian Coalition for allegedly conspiring with political candidates. During the case, representatives for the FEC asked intrusive questions on religion of several people involved, including Lt. Col. Oliver North. At one point, a representative demanded to know details regarding Pat Roberstson praying for North after reading a letter from North to Robertson indicating as much. The group’s attorney also noted that during the investigation third parties...

Via Joel Gehrke, a scene from the intramural debate over the debt ceiling between Maverick McCain and the Paul/Lee/Cruz tea-party coalition. If you read Erika’s post last night, you already know the background. The tea partiers are threatening to block the Senate’s budget from being sent to the House for a conference committee unless Reid assures them that whatever emerges won’t raise the debt ceiling. (Or, if it does, that 60 votes will be required for passage rather than the simple majority typically required for budget bills.) Reid won’t budge on that — yet. McCain, who’s been busy lately recouping...

<p>The Boy Scouts of America's National Council has voted to ease a long-standing ban and allow openly gay boys to be accepted as Scouts.</p>