Free Republic

The government shutdown ended on a surreal and chilling note. Minutes before the House finished voting for the Senate compromise, a stenographer was pulled out of the chamber while yelling about conspiracies. A few people physically removed her from the chamber and took her to an adjacent elevator. She continued to yell. They were followed by a crowd of reporters and members of Congress, including Representatives Al Green (D., Texas) and Louie Gohmert (R., Texas). It took a few moments for the elevator doors to open, so the people who removed her from the chamber held her against the elevator...

Texas, for starters. Between his 21-hour non-filibuster to halt Obamacare, his impassioned, hard-line speech at the right-wing Values Voters Summit, and his meeting with House Republicans at the mediocre Mexican joint, Tortilla Coast, it’s clear Ted Cruz has been conducting the shutdown train, even as the country heads into default and his party heads over a cliff. Just about every write-up of the man portrays a smart and opportunistic political mind, eager to be, as The Texas Tribune’s Evan Smith puts it, “the Tea Party’s one true standard-bearer.” But is his strategy just crazy? Pundits in Washington can’t decide what...

Todd and I were proud to stand with Mark Levin and other bold, patriotic warriors in support of Steve Lonegan in the New Jersey Senate race! Mayor Lonegan fought the good fight, and he and his supporters have not “finished the race,” they’ve just begun! The press has now called the race for Barack Obama’s celebrity stand-in, Cory Booker, but rest assured that Steve fought gallantly for every vote that would have led to American solvency and exceptionalism. Steve is a lucky guy to have a strong New Jersey wife and two great daughters who supported him through this campaign....

NATO member states’ defense officials are strongly opposed Turkey’s deal with a Chinese firm to co-produce its first long-range anti-missile system. They desribe the Chinese system’s incorporation into NATO as a ‘virus’ while Turkish officials asserted the system would be NATO-operable Defense officials from NATO member states have described any potential Turkish effort to integrate China-made long-range air and anti-missile defense system into NATO’s overall air defense architecture as a “virus” within the allied system and a “possibly most futile effort.” “NATO’s own command and control system that ‘mashes’ input from allied networks is far more important than a Chinese...

On his radio show Tuesday evening, Sean Hannity and Sarah Palin lamented the current state of the Republican Party and both wondered aloud whether the time is nigh to form a third party for disillusioned conservatives. “There’s no difference between the two parties, at this point,” Hannity asserted. At another point during the interview, Palin suggested the president’s actions on the debt ceiling have, thus far, been “impeachable” offenses. The two discussed whether it’s plausible to jump ship to a third party now that the GOP has seemingly “abandoned” both of them and their followers. Later on during the discussion,...

This is just a plug for John Boehner's more organized primary opponent: anyone that feel up to it should send Mr. "Speaker" a message! http://jdwinteregg.com/

U.S. Army in the Market for ‘Light’ Tanks Army paratroopers gave up their tanks in 1997. Now they want them back. “The infantry needs more protection and more firepower,” says Col. Ed House, Army Training and Doctrine Command manager for the infantry brigade combat team. Even in these times of deep budget cuts and a projected steep decline in purchases of military hardware, senior Army officials believe that a light tank is a high priority that should be funded. In a future war, they contend, Army airborne forces would parachute into a warzone equipped with only light weapons and might...

Pentagon officials have said it ad nauseam: More competition in the defense industry is needed to spur innovation and stem rising weapon costs. In a weapons market that will become increasingly cutthroat as budgets decline, such statements are not being taken lightly by companies that are eager to challenge incumbent contractors. “We are big fans of competition,” says Doug Denneny, vice president of MBDA Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Europe’s largest missile manufacturer. MBDA has manufacturing plants in France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Germany. The U.S. subsidiary, based in Arlington, Va., opened a research and manufacturing facility in Westlake...

Moscow (CNN) -- Edward Snowden's father expressed satisfaction Wednesday with the way his son, the former National Security Agency contractor, has been treated since being granted asylum in August. Lon Snowden spoke to reporters at Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport as he prepared to return to the United States after a six-day visit, his first reunion with his son since April. "I felt that this is the best place for him, this is the place where he doesn't have to worry about people rushing across the border to render him," Lon Snowden said. "It's not going to happen here." It may...

PASSAIC — A city man was arrested at his home Wednesday morning and charged with distributing child pornography, Passaic County Sheriff Richard H. Berdnik said in a statement. Alex R. Hernandez-Soto, 31, a Guatemalan citizen who was in the U.S. illegally, was arrested after detectives executed a search warrant at his Henry Street home and found child pornography on a computer, Berdnik said. The arrest came after a month-long investigation that began when authorities received information that child pornography was being distributed from a residence in the county, he said. The suspect was charged with one count of distribution of...

So the Senate has reached a deal, and the House GOP leadership will reportedly allow a vote on it, meaning this crisis is probably over. For now, anyway. How long until Republicans put us through all of this again? It’s easy to make fun of GOP Rep. Peter King, but he was one of the few to call out GOP insanity from the inside early in this process. Now, in an interesting and entertaining interview with Capital New York, he’s calling for Republicans to wage war on Ted Cruz. King predicts the Texas Senator will try do this all again...

In 2006, then-Governor Phil Bredesen signed CoverTennessee into law giving thousands of people not purged off TennCare access to some type of health care. It not only helped small business owners, but also struggling families and children. Fast forward to today the state says the looming Affordable Care Act means the program has to go away because it doesn't meet new federal guidelines that begin January 1st.

15 Days into the Federal Government Shutdown and the Main Stream Media is now blaming things on racism from the right. Ben Shapiro (Breitbart News Editor-at-Large) joins Megyn Kelly to weigh in with the facts.

By now you’ve probably heard about the EBT card breakdown during a power outage in which shoppers at a couple of Louisiana Walmarts purposely took advantage of the situation by “buying” a huge number of groceries for amounts that greatly exceeded their EBT limits in normal times. You might say the Walmart managers were stupid not to ban the use of the cards for the duration of the problem, or limit the amount that could be charged on them. And if you said that, perhaps you’d be right. But perhaps they thought that if they did that they would face...

MOSCOW, October 16 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s state arms export monopoly has signed a $1 billion deal package with Angola to deliver military equipment, build an ammunition plant and provide maintenance services, Vedomosti business daily reported Wednesday. Rosoboronexport will supply 18 Su-30K fighter jets to the southern African nation, the daily said, citing sources at the arms exports company and the Russian military. The Su-30K fighters in question are a batch of aircraft that were initially supplied to India in the late 1990s, prior to Delhi receiving the more advanced multirole Su-30MKI variant. They were returned to Russia in 2007,...

A video journalist who focuses on stories about National Parks has created this bleeding heart perspective of how rough it was for "some" NPS rangers during the shut down. The NPS has taken a hard publicity hit. The liberals and environmental extremists will always praise them but the rednecks (said with affection), military and working class will remember what happened for a long, long time.

SAINT-NAZAIRE (France), October 15 (RIA Novosti) – A French shipyard floated out Tuesday the first of two Mistral-class amphibious assault ships being built for the Russian Navy. The ship, named Vladivostok, being built at the DCNS shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, is expected to start sea trials in March next year. “The ship will be handed over unarmed, but equipped with French-made landing equipment,” DCNS program manager Yves Destefanis said at the launch ceremony. It will be fitted with Russian-made weapons systems later, he added. The vessel will receive its additional Russian systems at the Severnaya Verf shipyard in St. Petersburg, and...

MONTREAL — When Kim Côté and Perle Morency added a seal-meat burger to the menu of their popular bistro in Kamouraska, Que., they decided to have some fun with the name. The Phoque Bardot Burger — combining the French word for seal and the name of the actress known for her campaign against the Canadian seal hunt — became one of the restaurant’s top sellers. But last month news of the couple’s creation made its way across the Atlantic, and animal-rights activists there failed to see the humour. A French Facebook page called “Defend the animals and protect nature” reported...

(Reuters) - Brazil is pushing ahead with a planned $1 billion purchase of anti-aircraft missile batteries from Russia in a deal that will cement a strategic defence partnership between the two BRICS nations, the Brazilian Defence Ministry said on Wednesday. Brazilian officials said they expect to sign a contract by the middle of 2014 for short- to medium-range surface-to-air Pantsir S1 missile batteries and Igla-S shoulder-held missiles. In December, Brazil bought 12 Mi-35 attack helicopters - a type dubbed the 'flying tank' - in its first purchase from Russia of military hardware. The rising Latin American power has traditionally obtained...

<p>A House of Representatives stenographer was dragged off the floor during the vote to end the partial government shutdown and raise the U.S. debt ceiling after a bizarre protest in which she began ranting at members.</p> <p>Fox News identified the stenographer as Dianne Reidy, who went to the Speaker's Chair while the vote was in progress and began yelling about God and the government.</p>

To enroll in a new ObamaCare health insurance plan on the federal marketplace, most consumers must first provide private personal information. But buried in that website's blueprint (known as "source code") lies an alarming warning first unearthed by the Weekly Standard. "You have no reasonable expectation of privacy regarding any communication or data transiting or stored on this information system," reads the disclaimer, which does not appear on the site's visible "Terms and Conditions" page. The disclaimer continues: "At any time, and for any lawful Government purpose, the government may monitor, intercept, and search and seize any communication or data...

TORONTO—Canada's government said Wednesday it will introduce a law requiring a balanced budget during normal economic times. Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government announced the proposed law in a speech in Parliament that outlines the government's priorities for a new session of the House of Commons. The government said it will introduce concrete timelines for restoring a balanced budget after an economic crisis. The government said the deficit is less than forecast and it plans to balance the budget by 2015. Harper has been in power since 2007. He has managed to nudge an instinctively center-left country to the right,...

With organizers working to collect the necessary 18,900 signatures to get the recall of Colorado state Senator Evie Hudak (D-Dist. 19) on the ballot, Breitbart News spoke with Mike McAlpine, the man behind the recall effort. When asked how the collection of signatures was going, he said "very, very strong." Moreover, he said 15 percent of the signatories at this point have been Democrats, which "is very encouraging." McAlpine and his fellow volunteers have a 60-day window in which to collect all the needed signatures, which began on October 4 and ends on December 3 at 5 PM. He also...

"I think he's a good man. I think he's an intelligent man, a compassionate man who can't function in that environment,” Redford said of Obama. "It's so divided now with the people that are so narrow and so limited that they would take us back into the past," Redford said. "And I was trying to figure out, why are these people behaving so stupidly? Why are they behaving so horribly that it's crippling our whole country?” "And I think it has to do with fear. I think it's a group of people that are so afraid of change, and they're...

October 16, 2013 Minutes After Debt Ceiling Is Raised, Obama Shows Up With List Of Things To Spend Money On Stephen Kruiser Start learning Mandarin, kids. “In fact, there are things that we know will help strengthen our economy that we could get done before this year is out,� said Obama from the White House briefing room. “We still need to pass a law to fix our broken immigration system. We still need to pass a farm bill. And with the shutdown behind us and budget committees forming, we now have an opportunity to focus on a sensible budget that...

Palestinians Injured While Torturing Cattle At least 125 Palestinians in Gaza were wounded while torturing and slaughtering cattle in the streets as part of the Muslim holiday of Eid al Adha, Palestinian media reported. Gaza has five official slaughterhouses, but wait times were hours long, so a great many Gazans decided to do their own public butchering for the holiday, which is typically accompanied by much feasting. But, as videos and pictures posted to the Internet revealed, many of the Palestinians did not contend themselves to simply slaughtering the animals, but first engaged in what can only be described as...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet Pope Francis and US Secretary of State John Kerry in Italy next week. Netanyahu will meet Francis in the Vatican Wednesday, ahead of the pontiff’s expected visit to Israel next year. In Rome, the prime minister will meet with Kerry to discuss the current nuclear negotiations between six world powers on Iran, and the peace process with the Palestinians, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office. The first round of renewed nuclear negotiations between the so-called P5+1 powers and the Islamic Republic concluded Wednesday with cautious optimism from both sides....

72 republicans yes 122 republicans said no 261 to 123 for the senate amendments

During a panel discussion on MSNBC on Wednesday, host Martin Bashir and guests mocked Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) for misleading those who trusted him into a political dead end which also had the effect of reducing the Republican Party’s approval ratings. Bashir repeatedly linked Cruz to Branch Davidian sect leader David Koresh who perished after a federal raid on his facility in Waco, Texas. “Do you think Ted Cruz is a bit like the David Koresh of the Republican Party?” Bashir asked a visibly shaken BuzzFeed reporter, McKay Coppins. “He’s a bit like a character who believes himself to be...

October is the pink month for the NFL. Players, coaches, cheerleaders and even stadiums are adorned with the color to promote Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The league also sells pink merchandise (hats, jerseys, etc.) and donates a portion of the proceeds to the American Cancer Society. How much of the proceeds? Well, not a whole lot. ESPN’s Darren Rovell is reporting (via Business Insider) that the league takes a “25 percent royalty from the wholesale price (1/2 retail), donates 90 percent of royalty to American Cancer Society.”

n attempted mugging on Capitol Hill was thwarted Monday night by a quick-thinking victim — one who apparently keeps an eye on national security news. The victim was walking home to her Capitol Hill townhouse when she was violently confronted by a man in the dark, grassy area between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Heritage Foundation. The assailant grabbed the victim's arm and demanded her wallet and phone. "I said the first thing I could think of," the victim, who asked to remain nameless, told the Washington Examiner. The victim, who weighs a petite 95 pounds, explained to...

The Associated Press has declared Newark Mayor Cory Booker the winner in Wednesday's special U.S. Senate election. Booker defeated former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan, a Tea Party Republican, to serve out the remainder of the late Frank Lautenberg’s term. Although the race was close early on, Democrats were quick to declare Booker the winner. Only 40 minutes after polls closed at 8 p.m., the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee was declaring victory. A short time later, state Sen. Barbara Buono, who is running against Governor Christie in the Nov. 5 election, offered her congratulations to Booker.

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Certain prisoners to get health coverage under ObamaCare Prisons could relocate medical costs to the federal government LOS ANGELES — Soon certain prisoners who need medical treatment could get it through Obamacare. Watch the video (go to link) for more information.

A commission investigation found Christina Ayala falsely registered to vote in July 2009 at a Bridgeport address where she’s not a bona fide resident. She remained registered at that address until January 2013 and voted in nine primaries and elections. She also applied for public campaign financing from that address. A message left with Ayala’s legislative office seeking comment was not immediately returned. House Speaker Brendan Sharkey removed Ayala on Wednesday from her legislative committee assignments.

France will boost its military presence in the Central African Republic by the end of the year to stop the country from spiralling out of control, the French foreign minister has said. "President Hollande we want your help!" read one banner as locals in Bangui, the capital, welcomed Laurent Fabius at the weekend. The country has been in turmoil since mostly Muslim Seleka rebels ousted President François Bozizé in the predominantly Christian country in March. It now teeters on the brink of increased sectarian violence, malnutrition and a collapse of state rule. ... France has long been seen by many...

Freshman Sen. Ted Cruz, who has led the tea party wing of Republicans in Congress in their effort to defund Obamacare, is an intelligent and principled debater, says his old Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz. Appearing Tuesday on CNN's "Piers Morgan Live," Dershowitz called the Texas Republican "one of the sharpest students I had, in terms of analytic skills. I've had 10,000 students over my 50 years at Harvard . . . He has to qualify among the brightest of the students."

On the evening the Senate of the United States voted to effectively assign its power of the purse to President Obama, I thought it appropriate to call up an earlier age. Throughout the imperial period, the Roman emperors kept up the façade of republicanism. They pretended to consult the Senate and be guided by its votes. The Senate in turn, pretended it had a will of its own. Tacitus: Tiberius, in the meantime, while securing to himself the substance of imperial power, allowed the Senate some shadow of its old constitution. So corrupted indeed and debased was that age by...

Hal Lindsey does a real good job of summarizing the Obama Administration scandals and spends a good deal of time on the IRS scandal. Apparently, his organization has been under audit for over 2 years and they are OK so far. Make sure you listen until the end as he has some interesting comments on the definition of what constitutes a church and its minister in the IRS eyes.

Veterans hold new protest of partial government shutdown at WWII Memorial

Rep. Matt Salmon (R-AZ) said on Wednesday at the Heritage Foundation-hosted Conversations with Conservatives press event that House Speaker John Boehner has promised him that the Senate’s “Gang of Eight” immigration bill is dead in the House. “I very recently had a conversation with the Speaker and if immigration reform moves, it’s going to move piecemeal,” Salmon said in response to a question from Breitbart News. “And it will go over one bill at a time and if there is any kind of conference, it will be on specific bills we send over. It will not be on the Gang...

Get the complete results from the Senate race: See link

Sen. Ted Cruz on the Air with Mark Levin!CLICK)

UNITED NATIONS — U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is calling for a surge of thousands of African troops in Somalia to stem the threat of terrorism posed by Islamist insurgents and ensure the survival of a U.N.-backed government, whose success Washington believes is crucial to defeating extremist groups in the region, according to a previously undisclosed appeal. In a letter to the U.N. Security Council, Ban urged member nations to provide the African Union Mission in Somalia with financial and military support, including attack helicopters and advanced logistical and intelligence equipment. He warned that there was an urgent need to...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) didn’t defund Obamacare. He drove a government shutdown. His party is tanking in the polls. But he couldn’t be happier. At a press conference on Wednesday, Cruz called the House’s actions a “remarkable victory” and a “profile in courage.” Cruz has emerged as the latest celebrity politician who doesn’t need big policy achievements to build his cred, but a following on the far right of his party.

~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~ ~ Remembering Our Troops!! ~ DAUGHTER DELIGHT An Army soldier embraces his daughter while being recognized at a welcome home ceremony on Fort Campbell Army Airfield, March 1, 2013, when he returned from a deployment to Afghanistan. He and soldiers in his unit returned after about six months rather than the full nine months due to the progress of Afghan forces, which are conducting operations independently. U.S. Army photo taken by Sgt. Alan Graziano Canteen Mission Statement Showing support and boosting the morale ofour military and our allies' militaryand family members of the...

Republican Senator John McCain ripped conservative Senator Ted Cruz tonight before the final senate vote to approve a budget plan. McCain was on with Greta Van Susteren. McCain has a long history of bashing his fellow Republican. [video]

Some 250 people from about a dozen states converged in Arizona late last week for a series of trainings and civil disobedience actions in an attempt to shut down the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. Beginning on Friday, activists—many of them undocumented—chained their bodies to deportation buses and blocked the entrance to an immigrant detention facility. The convergence, organized by the Puente Arizona and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), culminated in what was essentially a big party on the driveway of an ICE office building on Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Although House Democrats revealed a new comprehensive immigration...

Damn those extreme Republicans. President Obama and White House press secretary Jay Carney have found Republicans guilty of extortion and blackmail. Joe Biden, per a report in Politico, once christened Republicans as terrorists. Liberals have led a media assault, calling the GOP anarchists, jihadists, "gun to head" hostage takers, and the political equivalent of the Taliban. White House advisor Dan Pfeiffer has likened Republicans to suicide bombers "with a bomb strapped to their chest." What could be more extreme? The Democratic Party. True, the Ted Cruz wing in the House of Representatives is relentless, uncompromising and unmoved by practicality. As...

Rush Limbaugh: GOP ‘so irrelevant’ By: Mackenzie Weinger October 16, 2013 02:25 PM EDT Rush Limbaugh on Wednesday blasted the Republican Party as “irrelevant” and responsible for “creating one of the greatest political disasters” he’s ever seen. “I was trying to think earlier today, if ever in my life I could remember any major political party being so irrelevant,” the conservative radio host said on his show, according to a transcript. “I have never seen it. I have never seen a major political party simply occupy placeholders, as the Republican Party is doing.” Limbaugh slammed the Republican Party for consistently...