Free Republic

LINCOLN, Neb. -- An American Indian tribe says it will sue some of the world's largest beer makers for knowingly contributing to alcohol-related problems on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The Oglala Sioux Tribe of South Dakota announced Thursday it will demand $500 million from five international beer manufacturers for the cost of health care, social services and child rehabilitation caused by chronic alcoholism on the reservation. “The Oglala Sioux Tribe seeks compensation for all of the damages the Lakota people have suffered as a result of illegal alcohol sales,” said attorney Tom White, of White and Jorgensen Law...

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - A college student claims he was injured when a fraternity member in a "drunken stupor" decided "that it would be a good idea to shoot bottle rockets out of his a***," and did so, "but instead of launching, the bottle rocket blew up in the defendant's rectum, and this startled the plaintiff and caused him to jump back," and fall off the fraternity's deck. Louis Helmburg III sued The Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity Inc., of Huntington, West Virginia, and Travis Hughes, a fraternity member, in Cabell County Court. Helmburg claims - in a statement it would be...

HOLLYWOOD star Liam Neeson is considering giving up his Catholic belief and becoming a Muslim. The actor, 59, admitted Islamic prayer "got into his spirit" while filming in Turkish city Istanbul. He said: "The Call to Prayer happens five times a day and for the first week it drives you crazy, and then it just gets into your spirit and it's the most beautiful, beautiful thing. "There are 4,000 mosques in the city. Some are just stunning and it really makes me think about becoming a Muslim." Liam was raised in Northern Ireland as a devout Catholic and altar boy...

A Massachusetts woman says the FBI used a chain saw blade to cut through her door and held her at gunpoint for at least 30 minutes before agents realized they were conducting a raid at the wrong home. Judy Sanchez, of Fitchburg, says she awoke to heavy footsteps in the stairwell on Jan. 26 and walked into her kitchen in time to see a blade chop through her door. "I took two steps, face the second door, and I heard the click of a gun, and saying, ‘FBI, get down,’ so I laid down on my living room floor,” Sanchez...

No source yet. Several dead as egyptians storm soccer field after game. Police do nothing, stock market collapses.

As United Airlines retires its last Boeing 737, the Tribune looks back at some of the aircraft the carrier has used from its start as the nation's first coast-to-coast mail and passenger service.

Roseanne Barr threw her hat into the presidential ring last night, announcing during an appearance on The Tonight Show that she would be running in the 2012 presidential election. “I am running for President of the United States,” the former “Roseanne” star said as she was showered by confetti. “I’m totally serious, ‘cause I want to be part of the debates, because, you know, I want to represent the taxpayers.” (RELATED: Alec Baldwin says HuffPo commenters’ reading comprehension ‘downright awful’) Barr said she would be forming a new political party, the American Green Tea Party, to support her campaign

The soaring national debt has reached a symbolic tipping point: It’s now as big as the entire U.S. economy. The amount of money the federal government owes to its creditors, combined with IOUs to government retirement and other programs, now tops $15.23 trillion. That’s roughly equal to the value of all goods and services the U.S. economy produces in one year: $15.17 trillion as of September, the latest estimate. Private projections show the economy likely grew to about $15.3 trillion by December — a level the debt is likely to surpass this month.(U.S. Debt)

Patrons at a Cheyenne Starbucks got more than a shot of espresso Monday morning, when a gun inside a girl’s purse fired inadvertently. Though several people were reported to being inside the coffee shop at the time, there were no injuries. The single bullet, which fired around 7 a.m. Monday morning, reportedly went through a chair and into a wall, narrowly avoiding many customers. Police officers were at the Starbucks at the time and say the girl, who is under 18 and has not been identified, was cited for possession of a firearm by a juvenile which carries a $750...

Truth be told, I quickly discounted my initial reaction that Muslims might be involved because the killer was reported to be in a Santa costume. Stupid me. The ‘Santa’ who massacred his family on Christmas morning was a Muslim who was enraged that his daughter was dating a non-Muslim.

CAIN: 'I WOULD NOT WANT TO BE ROMNEY'S VP'... DEVELOPING...

Is The U.S. About To Invade Iran? Global Macro Monitor Nov. 6, 2011, 7:23 AM Global Macro Monitor Here is something brewing off radar. We’re wondering if this is a factor as to why crude is bid and gold is coming back? Debka wrote last week, The inference was clear: The Israeli Air Force was strengthening its cooperation with Western allies in preparation for a NATO assault on Iran. The IAF also got a chance to study the lessons Western alliance air force tacticians had drawn from the eight-month Libyan operation which ended on Oct. 31. Next, the IDF’s Home...

After refusing for months to say where he stood, Republican Gov. Rick Perry signed a Texas hate crime bill Friday that strengthens the penalties for offenses against minorities, gays and others. The James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Act was named for the East Texas black man who was dragged to his death from a pickup truck in 1998 by three white men, including two avowed white supremacists.

In past few decades, the U.S. Air Force has spent untold billions researching and developing a family of stealth fighter jets that are supposed to be generations ahead of any dogfighters in the sky. But after building more than 170 F-22 Raptors and a handful of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, not a single one is available for service. The Air Force currently has zero flyable stealth fighters. None.

An ironic bookend to that Richard Cohen column I linked earlier accusing the GOP of being a “cult” that can’t face unpleasant realities. Look out here for actual chanting about how allegedly un-broke we are. (Even The One is more reality-based than that.) You’ve seen this schtick before — remember Michael Moore’s disgusting speech in Wisconsin about the “400 little Mubaraks” who have stolen “our” money? — but watch it anyway to see how slippery Jones is with the actual numbers. Turns out there’s “a lot” of wealth out there that could be used to reduce the deficit; not enough...

TX governor panders to 'The Race' Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 7/21/2010 5:20:00 AMThe head of a grassroots borders enforcement organization says it's completely inappropriate for Texas Governor Rick Perry to speak to a radical Hispanic organization that supports granting amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants. The Republican governor recently addressed a crowd of 1,800 members of the National Council of La Raza, which calls itself the largest Hispanic civil rights organization in the United States. Critics, however, point out that La Raza means "The Race," and claim the organization is nothing more than a Hispanic supremacist organization. One of...

HONOLULU -- One of President Barack Obama's close friends has been arrested in Honolulu on suspicion of soliciting a prostitute. Robert "Bobby" Titcomb was one of four men arrested in an undercover sting operation late Monday and later released on $500 bail, according to Honolulu police. Titcomb, 49, attended Punahou School in Honolulu with Obama in the 1970s. The president graduated in 1979, a year before Titcomb. The two often golf, play basketball, go to the beach and dine together when the president returns home to Hawaii for vacation. Obama's family has also attended barbeques at Titcomb's beachside home in...

Darwin's notion that only the fittest survive has been called into question by new research published today (27 March 2011) in Nature. A collaboration between the Universities of Exeter and Bath in the UK, with a group from San Diego State University in the US, challenges our current understanding of evolution by showing that biodiversity may evolve where previously thought impossible. The work represents a new approach to studying evolution that may eventually lead to a better understanding of the diversity of bacteria that cause human diseases. Conventional wisdom has it that for any given niche there should be a...

"12:09 p.m.: Another key exchange: FAKE KOCH: What we were thinking about the crowds was, planting some troublemakers. WALKER: We thought about that. My only gut reaction to that would be, right now, the lawmakers I talk to have just completely had it with them. The public is not really fond of this. The teachers union did some polling and focus groups... "

An immigration officer who wanted to get rid of his wife added her name to a terrorist watch list to prevent her from flying home. The man illegally accessed government databases in the United Kingdom to list his spouse as someone whose presence in the country was "not conducive to the public good". As a result the woman was blocked from entering the UK for three years after leaving to visit her family in Pakistan. When the husband applied for promotion, a routine security check on his family revealed the deception. A spokesman for Britain's Home Office said the officer...

The iconic bachelor pad is under investigation by the L.A. Co. Dept. of Public Health after 100 guests reportedly came down with a mysterious illness HOLMBY HILLS (KTLA) -- Hugh Hefner's Playboy Mansion is being investigated by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health after 100 people reported becoming sick after attending a fundraiser and party there earlier this month. The guests were attending an event on Feb. 3 as part of the annual DOMAINfest Global conference. The 3-day conference took place at the Fairmont Hotel in Santa Monica. On the second night, there was a party at the...

And they said he had a short fuse before- lookout staffers Not so sure I'm buying it, but Michelle Obama is suddenly making the dubious claim that Barry kicked his smoking habit and has not had a smoke in more than a year's time. The unambiguous statement came in the midst of a lunch/interview with select reporters assembled to mark the first anniversary yesterday for her "Let's Move" anti-childhood obesity campaign. As Mrs. Obama's session with her press corps touched upon various topics, the First Wookie was asked if Obama quit smoking, she said, "Yes he has, yes he has. Very...

In a statement, Mr. Webb said that he had “decided to return to the private sector, where I have spent most of my professional life, and will not seek ...

Former MSNBC personality Keith Olbermann has been named chief news officer on Current-TV, the cable network started by Al Gore. Olbermann will host a nightly "news" and commentary show according to the network's websitewhere he "will lead" the programming slate. "Nothing is more vital to a free America than a free media, and nothing is more vital to my concept of a free media than news produced independently of corporate interference," said Olbermann in statement. Olbermann's compensation will include equity in Current Media, the corporate owners of Current-TV

Arizona U.S. Senator John McCain says he will not be backing any of the potential Republican presidential candidates as they look to defeat President Barack Obama in the 2012 election. “I think I’m staying out of this for the first time in many years,” Mr. McCain told Politico on Thursday. The comment comes as Mr. McCain returned from a one on one meeting with President Obama at the White House. The Arizona Republican said he viewed the meeting as a sign of increasing bipartisanship on Capitol Hill, adding that his meeting with the president was “cordial” and that Mr. Obama...

Hillary's old flame--Web Hubbell. Are you kidding me? The resemblance is stunning! Look at Chelsea in this pic today: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1352898/Chelsea-Clintons-marriage-Marc-Mezvinsky-rocks-say-friends.html look at this: http://www.strangepolitics.com/content/item/135037.html the big lips come from? Not Bill... http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.allhatnocattle.net/chelsea%2520clinton.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1447957/posts&usg=__FwNQ0qkZjXmQMK-ScAK8DXGQ7rg=&h=323&w=410&sz=23&hl=en&start=0&sig2=Tui9ikjbN7Tt0E969dBDMw&zoom=1&tbnid=QsqYOw6Ry7Me0M:&tbnh=151&tbnw=192&ei=pjhLTbXcNYScgQeJuKTuDw&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwebb%2Bhubbell%2Bchelsea%2Bclinton%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1287%26bih%3D799%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=606&vpy=261&dur=323&hovh=151&hovw=192&tx=90&ty=109&oei=pjhLTbXcNYScgQeJuKTuDw&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:9,s:0

It shows Perry with a 15-point advantage in the Houston media market, tied in Dallas and ahead in every other geographic area except for Austin and the border. Is it a national thing? Maybe: The poll has Sarah Palin beating Barack Obama among Texas voters in a hypothetical matchup with a result that looks a lot like the Guv's race: 51-36. (White's a point above Obama; Perry's three points behind Palin.)

The residents of North Queensland are assessing the damage after cyclone Yasi, the largest tropical storm to strike Australia since Europeans first settled there, created winds of 186mph and waves more than 9m high. As meteorologists predicted, it was midnight when the destructive core of the category five cyclone crossed the coast at Mission Beach, a small resort where two World Heritage sites meet, 30 miles south of the town of Innisfail. Thousands of the 400,000 people living in the path of the 300-mile wide cyclone spent a sleepless night in hot and crowded emergency evacuation centres set up in...

On Jan. 23, China's state broadcaster, CCTV, ran a story about an air force training exercise that contained some suspicious footage. Around the segment's one minute 12 seconds mark (see above), as the China-U.S.-oriented blog Ministry of Tofu pointed out, "the way a target was hit by the air-to-air missile fired by a J-10 fighter aircraft and exploded looks almost identical to a cinema scene from the Hollywood film Top Gun." Viewers were led to believe that what they were seeing was a live fire exercise. But according to Ministry of Tofu: "A net user who went by the name...

A teacher who advises colleagues on how to avoid affairs with students was caught having sex with a teenager in the back of her car. Courtney Bowles was found by a police officer naked lying on top of the boy, who was also completely naked, from her school in Colorado. A partly consumed bottle of vodka was also found in the car with the couple Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1352063/Teacher-advises-colleagues-avoid-affairs-students-caught-having-sex-16-year-old-boy-school.html#ixzz1CeQYN7O5

Cuban authorities have banned Michael Moore’s documentary, “Sicko,” as being subversive. Although the film’s intent is to discredit the U.S. healthcare system by highlighting the excellence of the Cuban system, he said the regime knows the film is a myth and does not want to risk a popular backlash by showing to Cubans facilities that are clearly not available to the vast majority of them. When the FSHP showed Sicko to a group of XXXXXXXXXXXX, some became so disturbed at the blatant misrepresentation of healthcare in Cuba that they left the room.

Al-Jazeera: Mubarak's sons left Egypt. Intelligence Chief Suleiman appointed deputy president Drama grows in Egypt: President Hosni Mubarak's two sons arrived in London with their families, al-Jazeera reported Saturday, as the mayhem in Egypt continued rage out of control. The report is based on sources in London's Egyptian community. According to unconfirmed reports, Mubarak's wife, Suzanne, has also left to London, the Qatar- based network said. However, Egypt's television issued an official denial of the story and according to other reports Mubarak's family is still in Cairo. Egypt Upheavel Protesters return to Cairo's streets / Associated Press Anti-government protesters hit...

CBS Radio news is now reporting that the staff of the Israeli Embassy have been evacuated. This is eerily similar to 1979. “The entire staff of the Israeli Embassy in Cairo has been evacuated by helicopters.”

A ruling from an Illinois appellate court says Barack Obama's friend and former chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, is not eligible to be mayor of Chicago. Today's ruling, ironically, comes just as Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie appears to be throwing in the towel on finding and making public Obama's long-form, hospital-generated birth certificate and the White House continues to stonewall questions about his eligibility. In a challenge brought by Chicago-based attorney Burt Odelson, the Illinois Appellate Court ruled that Emanuel's name must be taken off the Chicago mayoral ballot because he does not meet the residency requirements. "We conclude that...

Accusations of bigotry are far too common, and tend to be unsubstantiated. Playing the race card has proven an effective way to avoid arguing the merits of ideas. That said, there is bigotry in the world, and it needs to be illuminated and condemned. One recent example comes from Max Blumenthal, described by NRB’s Matthew Vadum as “a soulless ultra-leftist propagandist who labors under the misapprehension that he is a journalist.” In a recent post on his website, Blumenthal condemns the Israeli response to an insult from singer Macy Gray. The Israeli media is filled with reports about Macy Gray...

BRISTOL, Conn. — A Connecticut man is being held on murder and assault charges after allegedly stabbing four people, one fatally, because partygoers were making fun of his flatulence.

An abortion doctor has been arrested and charged with the murder of a patient and seven live infants whose spines were severed with scissors at a West Philadelphia clinic that has been described as a house of horrors, officials said today. District Attorney Seth Williams said the doctor, Kermit P. Gosnell, was charged following a grand jury investigation. Gosnell, 69, lost his medical license last year after health officials determined his clinic posed "a clear danger to the public." Gosnell was arrested this morning, officials said. He has maintained his innocence. The seven infants were born alive in the 6th,...

This is the report that Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik has been dreading since the tragic event on Saturday January 8. The sheriff has been editorializing and politicizing the event since he took the podium to report on the incident. His blaming of radio personalities and bloggers is a pre-emptive strike because Mr. Dupnik knows this tragedy lays at his feet and his office. Six people died on his watch and he could have prevented it. He needs to step up and start apologizing to the families of the victims instead of spinning this event to serve his own political...

TUCSON, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- People inside the Tucson home of mass shooting suspect Jared Loughner refused to let FBI agents inside Monday, The Arizona Republic reported. The newspaper said agents were seen banging on a plywood barricade about 12:25 p.m. and yelling "This is the FBI. Let us in." [SNIP]

James Kelley, who blogs at The Cholla Jumps, recently published a post titled “Jared Loughner is a product of Sheriff Dupnik’s office” which consists of some pretty damaging information if found to be true. It reads: This is the report that Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik has been dreading since the tragic event on Saturday January 8. The sheriff has been editorializing and politicizing the event since he took the podium to report on the incident. His blaming of radio personalities and bloggers is a pre-emptive strike because Mr. Dupnik knows this tragedy lays at his feet and his office....

Elena Kagan Nominated to the Supreme Court - Political Hotsheet ... May 10, 2010 ... President Calls Kagan `One of the Nation's Foremost Legal Minds` Read more by Stephanie Condon on CBS News' Political Hotsheet. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20004540-503544.html

In a move that could signal a long-awaited return to business-as-usual in the Gulf of Mexico, the Obama administration announced Monday that it would allow 13 companies to resume deepwater oil and gas drilling suspended when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded last spring. The Administration had instituted a moratorium on deepwater drilling after BP's Macondo well blew out on April 20, killing 11 workers on the rig and spewing nearly 5 million barrels of oil into the ocean, in the country's worst offshore oil disaster. The Interior Department lifted the moratorium in mid-October. Yet because drilling permits have been...

Iran has hanged one of seven suspected spies for supplying Israel with secrets on Iran’s missile programs, and the regime’s courts have sentenced a second man to death for “counter-revolutionary activities.” The regime of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrested seven people in October on charges of spying for Israel's Mossad intelligence agency. “These spies supplied the enemy with information on Iran's judiciary, military and space agencies, among other things, prior to their arrest,” trumpeted Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency. Ali Akbar Siadat was hanged in a Tehran prison after being convicted of receiving $60,000 dollars “to give classified information to...

Wow this is big news and really holds a lot of weight, I may have to rethink my support for Palin in 2012. I mean she is not on the same intellectual stage of a guy who reads off a tele-prompter in front of third graders? Let me see Krauthammer (worked under Carter and Mondale), Juan Williams(leftist propagandist), Nicole Wallace,Dana Perino, Barbera Bush and Karl Rove(All RINO hacks who's policies and world views helped bankrupt the country) attack her on what substantive issues? NONE In all cases these cowards attack her persona, and are not willing to debate her in...

OK … that’s just a cheap headline to get views … I think. Matthews spent his entire first segment with Clarence Page and David Corn discussing the recent push by Hawaii’s new Democrat Governor to finally get the young President’s long form birth certificate into the public domain. The idea is to end the controversy … and Matthews likes it? Yikes! It is a little bit stunning. A poll in the NYT in April showed that 42% of the American public were not convinced Obama was born in the USA, with due respect to “The Boss”. Adding to the controversy...

A report says Hillary Clinton could step down as Secretary of State and would potentially be replaced by New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson.

Nothing yet

Nine years after the terrorist attacks of 2001, the United States is assembling a vast domestic intelligence apparatus to collect information about Americans, using the FBI, local police, state homeland security offices and military criminal investigators. The system, by far the largest and most technologically sophisticated in the nation's history, collects, stores and analyzes information about thousands of U.S. citizens and residents, many of whom have not been accused of any wrongdoing.

It's on the AP wire ... Anything higher than a .22 is considered a high power rifle in this request

Long time Anti-Gun Advocate State Senator R.C. Soles, 74, shot one of two intruders at his home just outside Tabor City , N.C. about 5 p.m. Sunday, the prosecutor for the politician's home county said. The intruder, Kyle Blackburn, was taken to a South Carolina hospital, but the injuries were not reported to be life-threatening, according to Rex Gore, district attorney for Columbus, Bladen andBrunswick counties.. >>>More...