Free Republic

During the presidential campaign Barack Obama was “economical with the truth” to say the least on energy matters. Claiming personal credit for the success of the shale gas and oil industry took some ‘Chicago politics’ hutzpah given the development took place mostly on private land. But with the fiscal cliff looming on January 1, the President will be involved in making some critical energy policy decisions. So just what is the president’s electoral mandate for his second-term? Will he throw his anti-fossil fuel ideology under the bus and in the economic interest of the nation? Or he will he persist...

A sickly, obese Bronx woman was left stranded in Hungary then died from kidney failure after airline officials booted her from three New York-bound flights because she was too fat, her husband says. “All we wanted was to come back home to get her treatment,” said a grieving Janos Soltesz, a Staten Island Ferry security guard whose 56-year-old wife, Vilma, died in Hungary nine days after she was kicked off the first of three jets. Vilma, who weighed about 425 pounds, had only one leg and used a wheelchair. She traveled with her husband of 33 years to Hungary on...

In a NYT Op-Ed today, Warren Buffett argued that the rich should pay a certain minimum tax, and he explained to activist Grover Norquist that it's preposterous to think that businessmen would forgo profitable deals merely because the rate of tax on the profits would go up. But why do people listen to Buffett on taxes? Basically because he's a rich, successful guy (which is why a lot of people are listened to on a lot of subjects). To that end, economist and former Romney advisor Greg Mankiw has a short post talking about Buffett as a master of "tax...

I purchased a powerful pellet gun for my sister and we sighted in for the correct distance. However the location of the scope will be different for her than it was for me as she is shorter and the scope needs to be more to the rear for her. Will this affect the sighting in or is it the same regardless of the location of the scope? Thanks for your help

What a clusterfark. The Hill: ***** "The Obama administration faces major logistical and financial challenges in creating health insurance exchanges for states that have declined to set up their own systems. The exchanges were designed as the centerpiece of President Obama's signature law, and are intended to make buying health insurance comparable to booking a flight or finding a compatible partner on Match.com. Sixteen states - most of them governed by Republicans - have said they will not set up their own systems, forcing the federal government to come up with one instead. Another five states said they want a...

For a number of years now, a number of critics of the American system of higher education have rightly insisted that there is a "bubble" in the system, with more and more students running up loans in amounts they will find difficult to pay back. This bubble has been fueled by the federal government's lavish subsidization of the student loan program (which was nationalized four years ago), in a way similar to how the housing bubble was fueled by government agencies pushing subprime mortgages. This extensive government largess has produced a number of unintended -- though not necessarily unforeseeable --...

The FBI recently released its annual Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted report. According to the FBI webpage: “The FBI publishes Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted each year to provide information about officers who were killed, feloniously or accidentally, and those officers who were assaulted while performing their duties.” I find the report to be a treasure trove of information about cop-killing violent criminals. It should be mandatory reading for every police officer. Armed citizens will also find the information useful as the criminals who prey on cops also regularly attack citizens in a similar manner. The report is...

Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me. – Isaiah 49:16

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has had quite a week. He helped broker a cease-fire between his Hamas ally and Israel to the acclaim of the international community as well as the United States and his new friend President Obama. He followed that triumph up by issuing new decrees that effectively give him dictatorial powers over Egypt. In less than year in office, Morsi has amassed as much power as Hosni Mubarak had in his time in office as the country’s strongman and he has done it while getting closer to the United States rather than having his Islamist regime being...

Angus T. Jones is pleading with his fans to STOP watching "Two and a Half Men" ... claiming it's nothing but "filth" that contradicts his deep Christian values. 19-year-old Jones -- who makes $350k AN EPISODE playing Jake on the show ...

<p>After a year in which Republicans had precious little for which to be thankful, perhaps it's not surprising that party leaders and the faithful spent a good chunk of the long Thanksgiving weekend obsessing instead over 2016 – specifically the possibility of a presidential run by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.</p>

Disagreeing with Obama can ruin Christmas, says White House report Posted By Neil Munro On 6:00 AM 11/26/2012 @ 6:00 AM In DC Exclusives - Original Any Republican refusal to accept President Barack Obama’s fiscal plan may ruin Christmas for the nation’s retailers, the White House claimed in a report released Monday morning. “The National Retail Federation is forecasting that holiday sales will grow 4.1 percent this year … [but] if Congress does not act on the President’s plan to extend tax cuts for the middle-class, it will be risking one of the key contributors to growth and jobs in...

THANKSGIVING IS behind us. The fiscal "cliff" looms ahead. And in less than six weeks, Massachusetts will have a new senator. Let's try to link them all in a single column. As a candidate for the US Senate, Elizabeth Warren showed a livelier interest in raising federal revenues than in cutting government spending. But about one spending target the senator-elect has been admirably blunt. When asked to name some items in the federal budget she'd like to see slashed, the first program she cites is one of the most indefensible: agriculture subsidies. To be sure, it's easier to oppose welfare...

Total has announced the sale of its 20% stake in a Nigerian offshore oilfield to the Chinese state-owned Sinopec. The French oil firm said its Chinese counterpart was paying $2.5bn (£1.6bn) for the stake in the OML 138 oil block. The block includes the Usan oilfield, which began producing in February, and is jointly owned with Chevron, Exxon and Canada's Nexen. Total said in September it aimed to sell $15bn-$20bn in oil assets by 2014 to raise cash for new projects. The sale, which will be paid for in cash, still needs to be approved by the Nigerian authorities. The...

In one of the curious ironies of history, the Democratic Party, in its present form, is animated solely by opposition to majority rule; an obsession that it attempts to disguise with insincere attempts at class warfare. There is nothing that the Democratic Party fears so much as democracy, which is why it is far more comfortable ruling through judicial rulings and the unrestricted powers of an unelected bureaucracy. Obama's two victories have given it a taste of a post-majority and post-American country ruled by a coalition of minorities, but its glee at that may be premature. The Democratic Party has...

By ALEXANDER BURNS | 11/26/12 10:54 AM EST Via Hohmann, the Des Moines Register reports on the huge sums both presidential campaigns spent in the last weeks of the 2012 race -- and OFA's consistent advantage on the air in spite of Romney's money: "Together, the campaigns and their allies averaged nearly $1 million a day in new TV spending in swing-state Iowa from Oct. 1 to Election Day. Several polls in the frenzied final weeks had shown a neck-and-neck battle in Iowa. Romney and the outside groups backing him spent $21.5 million in the final five weeks, essentially matching...

An appellate division panel said Tuesday a Bergen County district’s policy for disciplining students for delinquent behavior that occurred off campus was “overbroad” and exceeded a school’s authority. The opinion upheld a prior ruling by the state education commissioner, who advised the Ramapo Indian Hills Regional High School District to revise its policy. Known as “Regulation 6145,” the disputed policy said students would be temporarily suspended from sports and other extracurricular activities if they were arrested at any time, on campus or off, for allegedly drinking alcohol, using drugs, or violating a criminal statute or municipal ordinance. When then-Acting Education...

Out of curiosity, I took a look at how film critics from other newspapers and publications reviewed the new “Red Dawn,” a remake of the 1984 cult classic about teenagers taking up guns and defending America from communist invaders. You’d think from the critics’ condescending sneers that the remake is utter garbage. “Preposterous,” said one critic of the remake’s premise that North Korea could invade the U.S. today. “Outdated,” said another, suggesting the plot line be relegated to the ancient Cold War and the once-upon-a-time Red Scare. The only thing that’s “preposterous,” however, is the speed at which these obviously...

“A local militia, believed to be a terrorist organization, attacked the property of private citizens today at our nation’s busiest port,” wrote the teachers in charge of organizing the curriculum about the Boston Tea Party. “Although no one was injured in the attack, a large quantity of merchandise, considered to be valuable to its owners and loathsome to the perpetrators, was destroyed. The terrorists, dressed in disguise and apparently intoxicated, were able to escape into the night with the help of local citizens who harbor these fugitives and conceal their identities from the authorities.

Will The Peak Of The Solar Cycle In 2013 Produce Technology Crippling Solar Super Storms? By Michael Snyder November 25th, 2012 Our sun is becoming increasingly unstable, and most people have no idea the complete and utter devastation that a massive solar storm could potentially cause. A giant solar storm could potentially take out satellites, GPS systems, electrical grids, communication networks and pretty much anything else that runs on electricity or that relies upon electronics. And considering how dependent our society has become on technology, we are talking about an event that could possibly bring about the end of the...