Free Republic

UPDATE 11.25am: OCCUPY Melbourne protesters have supplied drugs to homeless children and wards of the state as young as 12, a charity group says. The Salvation Army's Major Brendan Nottle said two 16-year-old girls were also invited to the home of activists in their late 20s and early 30s, while another 16-year-old was given marijuana to smoke. "We've had young people actually coming to our workers, as young as 12 and 13, and saying that they’ve been down at Occupy Melbourne," said on 3AW this morning. "They’ve been making statements to our workers around them being allowed to sniff glue...

The Des Moines Register released a detailed story about a 90-year-old woman who was allegedly sexually attacked. Was the alleged predator working in the nursing home? No, he was living there by court order. Not only is he living there, but his roommate is also a sexual predator. They are 78 and 83 years old. They are not locked in their rooms but are free to go anywhere. This attack was witnessed by an 8-year-old girl who was visiting.

HARTFORD, Conn., Oct. 24 (UPI) -- A Connecticut lawmaker says he wants to change the traditional Oct. 31 date of Halloween to the last Saturday of the month for safety and other reasons. The change would make the holiday easier for working parents, safer for trick-or-treaters and would boost the economy as well, state Rep. Tim Larson said. "Halloween is [a] fun night for the whole family, but not so much when you have to race home from work, get the kids ready for trick or treating, welcome the neighborhood children, and then try to get everyone to bed for...

Yesterday, the Turkish media reported, “Turkey … agreed with the US on a deal involving the transfer of US-engineered unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that could prove crucial in combating terrorism.” The Predator drones, expected to be delivered in June 2012, are supposed to help the Turks combat terrorists, which in Ankara’s narrow definition means the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) crossing into Turkey from the Iraq border. The Predators, said Turkish defense minister İsmet Yilmaz, “are UAVs with better qualities and features than the [Israeli-made] Herons.” Ankara, the report explains, was “disappointed by Israel's failure to return six Herons it had...

The U.S. and Turkey are discussing how to continue cooperation against terrorist targets in northern Iraq after U.S. forces leave Iraq in December, including the possibility of basing Predator drones in Turkey, a U.S. official said Sunday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The U.S. currently is sharing Predator surveillance data with Turkey as part of a joint effort to combat the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which the U.S. considers a terrorist group and whose fighters have launched cross-border attacks into Turkey from northern Iraq. The Predators, capable of...

Two themes have already emerged in the still-early 2012 presidential contest:Republicans are running against Washington and President Obama is running against part of Washington, the Congress that gave him his early legislative achievements.The newest entrant to the GOP race is Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who touched on one of the most emotional and volatile issues sitting on the nation's debate table: border security, illegal drugs from Mexico and illegal immigrants.In his announcement speech in South Carolina on Saturday, Perry said:America’s standing in the world is in peril, not only because of disastrous economic policies, but

Education Secretary Arne Duncan issued a “Dear Colleagues” letter on June 14 directing federally funded schools to allow and promote the establishment of clubs on campuses, specifically Gay-Straight Alliance clubs for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students.The letter was issued from the department’s Office of Civil Rights for elementary and secondary schools and was sent to all school districts in the United States, according to Jo Ann Webb, spokesperson for the Department of Education (DOE).Webb said the school districts – the entity that oversees elementary, middle and secondary schools in a specific district in every state – will decide what...

Top gay rights leader: kids of religious families are ‘target demographic’ of anti-‘gay bullying’ ad by Kathleen Gilbert Fri Jun 10 7:18 PM EST June 10, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - After the broadcast of a homosexualist advertisement during the family-friendly Fox show American Idol prompted outrage, the founder of the ad campaign has confirmed that such advertisements are intended to promote the message of the gay rights lobby to young children in households that normally wouldn’t support it. One conservative leader has now demanded that Google, Fox, and Disney-Pixar sever their ties with the campaign. Peggy Nance of Concerned Women...

He says there was nothing indecent going on. Do we have any reason to believe anything he says, though? I’m just spitballing here, but he may, just may, be only admitting to as much as he absolutely has to. And with Patterico’s prosecutorial brief, lying about not tweeting with any minor at all became untenable. Rep. Anthony Weiner sent private electronic messages to a 17-year-old Delaware girl but maintains there was nothing inappropriate in his communications with her. In a statement to Roll Call Friday evening, the New York Democrat’s spokeswoman Risa Heller said, “According to Congressman Weiner, his communications...

Rep. Anthony Weiner has achieved something by behaving so spectacularly shamefully. Unless I miss my guess, he has revived the concept of sexual morality. Even for a jaded nation, this is one sex scandal too far. We've had it. Our capacity to remain non-judgmental on sexual matters -- as we've been tirelessly instructed to do for 40 years -- seems to have reached its end point. The national reaction to Weiner's conduct, in contrast to previous sex scandals (and there have been too many to count in the past two decades), has been not amusement (though jokes made the rounds)...

Pro-family organizations across the nation are expressing shock and alarm over a new wave of homosexual indoctrination developing in public schools – especially in California – where parents are not even given the option of withdrawing their kids from the mandatory lessons on being "gay" or more. "Young children are being taught that they can choose to be a boy or a girl – or both," said officials at Mass Resistance, one of the leading organizations across the country defending the fact that students are boys or girls. "Boys, for example, should be comfortable wearing girls' clothes and nail polish,...

When schoolchildren are brought to a state-sponsored "youth" event promoted by their schools (and personally endorsed by the Governor), you'd think that there would be some sense of "appropriateness" involved. Not when it comes to the homosexual movement. Homosexual activists always insist that their involvement with middle-school and high-school kids is all about promoting "tolerance" and "feeling safe" from bullies and "homophobes" -- and not about sex. But what really happens at these activities? At the "youth pride celebration" on the Boston Common, kids are encouraged to gather around tables set up by various adult homosexual organizations under a line...

President Obama has authorized the use of aerial drone strikes in Libya to aid rebels fighting to oust dictator Col. Moammar Gadhafi, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Thursday. Gates stressed that even though the United States will begin using the armed Predator drones in Libya, American soldiers will not be deployed to the country. He said the Libyan people will have to remove Gadhafi themselves, though the U.S. "can provide them with some cover from the air." The announcement falls in line with the Obama administration's pledge to not put American boots on the ground to remove Gadhafi from power....

Here is a list of the teacher 'sexpidemic' cases WND has documented where female teachers have been accused, or convicted, of assaulting students: Abbie Jane Swogger, 34: Teacher's aide at Highlands Senior High School in Harrison, Pa., was arrested Feb. 22, 2008, for renting a hotel room where police found beer, marijuana, an open condom wrapper and at least four teenage girls and boys, including several of her 15-year-old son's friends. Though categorically denying rumors she was having sex with students from the school, Swogger was quoted as saying, "I was stupid, very stupid. I already know I was and...

Children including teens (yes even your children and grandchildren) have almost certainly been exposed to pornography. A predator has already approached many. The lure, if not cash, is usually alcohol or some other drug, occasionally cigarettes for the very young. Statistics are spotty as most children, even older teens, whether they take the bait or not, do not tell anyone in authority. Do not help these pigs. There are clear statistics that the earlier a child is exposed to drugs, the higher the likelihood of trouble. The nonsense that it is somehow responsible to show a child how to drink...

How many times have you heard that public school teachers are sorely underpaid, under-appreciated public servants with hearts of gold who love your kids more than you do? There is a myth out there that every person who enters into the sacred field of education has the heart of a servant, a love of children and no desire for personal gain or satisfaction. And certainly, there are teachers that fit that description (I’ve had a few myself.) But I’ve also had teachers who should never have been allowed within fifty feet of children. A 2004 study by Hofstra University scholar...

Predators such as wolves, bears and panthers are being reintroduced close to where people live, as a growing number of scientists believe they may hold the key to restoring damaged ecosystems."It used to be we would see it once every year or so, but now it's every two weeks," said Al Sanchez. "I'm starting to panic when I hear noises. If I come out here I'm concerned I'm going to be his prey." Mr Sanchez and Reg Malone, who live in a densely populated suburbs of Naples, Florida - a city of 300 000 people - are regularly visited by...

Viewed from a distance, the natural world often presents a vista of sublime, majestic placidity. Yet beneath the foliage and hidden from the distant eye, a vast, unceasing slaughter rages. Wherever there is animal life, predators are stalking, chasing, capturing, killing, and devouring their prey. Agonized suffering and violent death are ubiquitous and continuous. This hidden carnage provided one ground for the philosophical pessimism of Schopenhauer, who contended that “one simple test of the claim that the pleasure in the world outweighs the pain…is to compare the feelings of an animal that is devouring another with those of the animal...

Salazar's 5-year-old son was attacked and severely mauled by a cougar that tried to drag the boy off a well-used hiking trail and into the woods in the Sandia Mountains outside of Albuquerque. The story was so frightening that it made national news. "People would say that it was just an accident. That it was extremely rare, just a rare accident." ...Convinced that three attacks in three months didn't qualify as rare... In 2006 and 2007, there were nine reported ... In 2008, there were 40 reported encounters before the attack on her son in May. This led her into...

Thomas Jefferson was a genius. The Declaration of Independence and his other writings prove this beyond doubt. But even he had difficulty thinking free. He had spent his life up to that point as a subject of His Britannic Majesty King George III. So when he wrote the first draft of the Declaration, he automatically used the word “subjects.” But he saw his error, erased “subjects” and substituted “citizens.” If even Jefferson had to make an effort to think free, how much more do we non-geniuses have to exert ourselves constantly to be alert. If we citizens allow ourselves to...