Free Republic

Every winter, the capital of Pakistan's Islamic republic is overrun by what is many Muslims' worst nightmare: sounds of screeching wild pigs. Motivated by hunger, the reviled animals descend each night from neighboring hills to feed on the garbage bins of Islamabad's most exclusive addresses — from high-end hotels to the capital's embassies and even the president's residence. On their way to feeding grounds pigs cause traffic accidents and send locals hurrying for cover. Some Islamabad residents have reportedly been injured or even killed by belligerent hogs. ... Now Islamabad officials have all but given up trying to contain the...

With wintry weather poised to swoop into the cramped outdoor quarters of Occupy Wall Street protesters, it may not be long before more campers catch what's being called "Zuccotti lung." That's what demonstrators have dubbed the sickness that seems to be spreading among them at an unpleasantly high rate these days: "It's a real thing," Willie Carey, 28, told the New York Times. With little sleep in cold conditions, cigarettes and drinks being passed from mouth to mouth, and few opportunities to wash hands, Zuccotti Park may now just be the best place to catch respiratory viruses, norovirus (also known...

ATLANTA (CBS Atlanta) – The home base for Occupy Atlanta has tested positive for tuberculosis. The Fulton County Health Department confirmed Wednesday that residents at the homeless shelter where protesters have been occupying have contracted the drug-resistant disease. WGCL reports that a health department spokeswoman said there is a possibility that both Occupy Atlanta protesters and the homeless people in the shelter may still be at risk since tuberculosis is contracted through air contact. “Over the last three months were have been two persons who have resided in this facility who have been diagnosed with confirmed or suspected infectious tuberculosis...

Michelle 'loves french fries, pizza,' president reveals on Leno show By Geneva Sands-Sadowitz - 10/26/11 09:54 AM ET President Obama said his wife loves pizza and french fries during his appearance Tuesday night on Jay Leno's show. Though the first lady has used her office to campaign against obesity and to tout healthy eating habits, she's OK with fattier foods in moderation, Obama said. Obama made the remarks after Leno questioned whether the first lady would be upset with her husband's Monday visit to Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles, a famous soul-food restaurant in Hollywood. "Michelle — quiet as...

This are the shocking scenes that have led some people to accuse the Occupy Wall Street protesters living rough in New York's financial district of creating unsanitary and filthy conditions. Exclusive pictures obtained by Mail Online show one demonstrator relieving himself on a police car. Elsewhere we found piles of stinking refuse clogging Zucotti Park, despite the best efforts of many of the protestors to keep the area clean. The shocking images demonstrate the extent to which conditions have deteriorated as demonstrations in downtown Manhattan enter their fourth week.

It seems that Uncle Sam’s Mickey Mouse loan deal to the now-bankrupt solar manufacturer Solyndra was not only a bad investment decision, but likely a contributing factor to the company’s implosion. The new factory built with Department of Energy funds foisted fixed costs on a company already struggling through an industry shake-out, [investors] say. What’s more, the debt paradoxically made raising more money difficult. Once the government demanded priority in the event of failure, private investors were less likely to prop up the company. One Solyndra investor said that, in retrospect,''the worst thing that happened to Solyndra was the loan.''

A Concord man giving away lemonade at a farmer's market was threatened with wiretapping charges last Saturday when he refused to stop filming a police officer and a fellow vendor. Garret Ean didn't have a permit to sell lemonade, which drew the ire of the president of the Concord Farmer's Market. Ean filmed the confrontation, and continued to film when a Concord cop showed up and threatened to arrest him for wiretapping. Photojournalist Carlos Miller (who we interviewed for the November issue of Reason about the war on photography) has the story: The man, whom Ean identified as Steve Blasdell,...

BLUFF CITY, Tenn. (AP) — Bluff City officials are enjoying the extra revenue from speed cameras that have generated more than a million dollars in a little over a year, but the windfall could be short-lived. Between Jan. 1, 2010, and May 31, 2011, the cameras on U.S. Highway 11E in Piney Flats issued 39,923 citations to drivers, including now Gov. Bill Haslam, who was ticketed last year when he was caught speeding during his campaign. The tickets netted the city nearly $1.6 million — an amount equal to eight times Bluff City's total property tax collections from the last...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRjKWq4NRdkThis is going to be politically correct and albeit offensive to some but tax payer funded police DOES NOT WORK. Like other positions in government there is no incentive that exists for employees to do good most in fact tag along for free handouts from the taxpayers. Add to this liberal communists in power expect us to be solely dependent on them for assistance. Our founding fathers NEVER expected us to be fully dependent on them. This is one of the reasons we have the 2nd amendment. The other thing is that government control means more of an attachment and...

"Kenneth Wright does not have a criminal record and he had no reason to believe a S.W.A.T team would be breaking down his door at 6 a.m. on Tuesday."

Records released by the Pima County Sheriff's Department this week show that the four houses served with search warrants the morning of May 5 - when Jose Guerena was shot and killed by a SWAT team - are less than four miles apart and are all connected to the Guerena family. And while initial reports were that doctors told the Guerena family that Jose had been shot 60 times, the Pima County medical examiner's preliminary report says he was shot 22 times. In its sole briefing on the incident, the Sheriff's Department said SWAT team members fired 71 rounds. Aside...

TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) – Video of the SWAT raid and deadly shooting of former Marine Jose Guerena has raised many questions from 9 On Your Side viewers who wanted to know how much force police are legally allowed to use when serving a search warrant. 9 On Your Side Reporter Steve Nuñez sat down with Criminal Defense Attorney Michael Bloom to show him the raw footage of the raid. The Pima County Sheriff's Department released the video to the media on Thursday. "I'm sure everyone's reaction first of all, it's horrible," said Bloom as he watched SWAT officers fire 71 bullets...

Home / News / Local / Government and Politics Hotel sues lawmaker over unpaid birthday tab Share | * Story * Discussion Hotel sues lawmaker over unpaid birthday tab BY JAKE WAGMAN • jwagman@post-dispatch.com 314-340-8268 STLtoday.com | Posted: Wednesday, March 23, 2011 3:30 am | (19) Comments Font Size: Default font size Larger font size * * Share ST. LOUIS • When it came to paying for her 60th birthday bash, state Sen. Robin Wright-Jones turned to Capitol lobbyists to pick up the bill. And when the lobbyists didn't put up enough to cover the entire tab, Wright-Jones didn't pay...

In response to today’s revenue forecast, which estimates the state’s budget shortfall for the next two years will be about $5.3 billion, about 1,000 teachers, health care workers students and others crowded onto the Capitol steps, calling for lawmakers to end tax exemptions rather than cutting education and social programs. The rally, organized by a group called Our Economic Future Coalition, is one of several that have taken place in Olympia so far this session advocating tax increases rather than cuts in the biennial budget, though state lawmakers say that approach would be very difficult politically. Collin Jergens, a spokesman...

Today the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the anti: American, God, freedom, bravery, church Westboro. The church which has no affiliation to any other Baptist organization, sends members to picket funerals of military servicemen who were killed in action. This isn’t a matter of Liberals Vs. Conservatives anymore. It’s matter of being patriotic. You can be against the war, but desecrating those who fight for us to be able to even have this conversation is wrong. These soulless Westboro protesting pigs are literally sociopaths. (See video below) They are so delusional, they think god kills soldiers. Their signs such...

Dateline — Egypt: “[60 Minutes] correspondent Lara Logan was repeatedly sexually assaulted by thugs yelling, ‘Jew! Jew!’ as she covered the chaotic fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo’s main square Friday.” Powerful reporting on an important story. Two problems: It didn’t run until yesterday, and CBS didn’t run it. The quote is from the New York Post. And it was The Wall Street Journal that reported “the separation and assault lasted roughly 20 to 30 minutes.” But CBS? They sat on their own story. For five days, as reporters reveled amid giddy celebrations in Tahrir Square, and as...

MADRID (AFP) – Spain announced Friday its jobless rate surged to a 13-year record above 20 percent at the end of 2010, the highest level in the industrialized world, as the economy struggled for air. It was more bad news for an economy fighting to regain the trust of financial markets and avoid being trapped in a debt quagmire that has engulfed Greece and Ireland and now menaces Portugal. Another 121,900 people joined Spain's unemployment queues in the final quarter of the year, pushing the total to 4.697 million people, said the national statistics institute INE. The resulting unemployment rate...

“Washington, D.C.’s workers enjoy the highest salaries of any U.S. city, with a median household income of $85,198,” recently reported CNNMoney. It’s even higher for the federal workers segment of the city’s workers, with an average wage last year for federal civilian workers of $81,258 per person (per person, not per household). That’s over $30,000 more than last year’s average private-sector wage. Add the cost of benefits and pensions and the average compensation gap between federal and private-sector workers jumps to nearly $62,000 per year -- $123,049 vs. $61,051. That doesn’t mean they work the hardest or that they’re twice...

(snip) ...but federal staffers, along with millions of state and local public employees, won't get the tax holiday included in legislation that jumped a procedural hurdle in the Senate on Monday. At the same time, those federal workers, the ones covered by the Civil Service Retirement System, are facing a two-year pay freeze, as are most government employees. (snip) The result: About 426,000 federal workers covered by CSRS would pay more in taxes next year, while most Americans pay less. That doesn't sound fair to Joseph A. Beaudoin, president of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association. "Offering relief...

Hell Seriously Breaks Loose With Bill O'Reilly On The View (Whoopi, Joy Behar Walk Off The Set) Today Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar stormed off the set after getting in a heated argument with guest Bill O'Reilly, who said, "Muslims killed us on 9/11." Before she left, Whoopi screamed, "That is such bu*l*hit!" The tension began the moment O'Reilly walked on and didn't great the panel with the customary handshakes hugs, and instead, fist-bumped them. Joy asked him, "Do you have OCD or germ-phobia?" Shortly thereafter, he needled Whoopi about her standoffish body language, and then intimated—with some incredibly creepy...