Free Republic

When there is a local angle to a national story, the local press usually has a field day with it. That hasn't proved to be the case with the story regarding Minnesota Senator Al Franken's outrageous behavior in the Senate during Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's speech opposing the confirmation of Elena Kagan on Thursday. The Star Tribune ran one perfunctory story by reporter Kevin Diaz and let it go at that. I spent the lunch hour yesterday on the phone with knowledgeable sources on Capitol Hill seeking additional information and background on the Franken incident. It didn't take much...

A week ago, as is well enough known, Omar Thornton shot and killed eight of his coworkers while being escorted out of the building after having been terminated by his employer, a Connecticut beer distributor. As I write this, President Barack Obama has yet to address this subject in any public way. He is not alone in his restraint. The media have soft-pedaled the motive -- the whole shooting, for that matter. Four days after the fact, my wife, who watches CNN and listens to NPR, had not heard about it. Unlike, say, Oklahoma City or even Columbine, the tragedy...

I'm not posting the picure here, and if anyone does, please post the link only, out of deference to the dignity of the child on the cover.Comments?

SNIPPET: "The North African terror group al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has threatened to attack this summer's World Cup games in South Africa. "How amazing could the match United States vs. Britain be when broadcasted live on air at a stadium packed with spectators when the sound of an explosion rumbles through the stands, the whole stadium is turned upside down and the number of dead bodies are in their dozens and hundreds, Allah willing," reads a statement the group published in a recent issue of the Jihadi online magazine Mushtaqun Lel Jannah (Longing to Paradise)." SNIPPET: "In addition...

WASHINGTON -- Gen. Stanley McChrystal may be dumber than BP's Tony Hayward when it comes to media strategy, and his powers of judgment might rank down there with Lindsay Lohan's. But you got to hand it to the guy for managing to accomplish one thing nobody has ever been able to do: He genuinely pissed off President Obama. We are talking snapped anger, the kind where you demand that a four-star general fly halfway around the globe on a dime to face a furious and vengeful war council that he has just insulted in the most public, creative and unkind...

After almost two years of calmly apologizing for American exceptionalism, quietly extending rights to those who have killed thousands of American citizens (and those who want to do the same) and steadily pressing a socialist agenda that defies both American majority opinion and American precedent; President Barack Obama is losing his cool. Foreign attackers didn't phase him and dissent over domestic issues didn't seem to register with him Not even the traditional opponent of a sitting president, the White House Press Corps, has been able to get under his skin. Granted he won't give them the opportunity, reducing their access...

President Obama may cultivate an image as the unflappable Mr. Cool, but he can get hot under the collar too, according to a new book. In "The Promise: President Obama, Year One," by Newsweek senior editor Jonathan Alter, the author recounts a series of private blow-ups - including a particularly fiery one involving the nation's top military brass. "A presidential dressing down unlike any in the United States in more than half a century," is how Alter describes the October 2009 eruption. [Snip] But it's often the flashes of anger, not amour, that shine through Alter's tome, including: Asked...

California voters are declining to sign on with a political party in record numbers. The latest registration figures, released by Secretary of State Debra Bowen Thursday morning, show declined-to-states account for more than 20% of those registered. .. ... Even as registering as "decline to state" is on the rise, the Democratic Party has managed to pick up a bigger share of the electorate than it had four years ago, increasing from 42.7% to 44.6%. The trend was the reverse for the GOP. The percentage of Californians registered as Republicans has dropped from 34.6% to 30.8% since 2006.

Steve McQueen was the essence of Hollywood cool but he had a dark side. In a new biography an author reveals how the star befriended him and unloaded the secret of his prostitute mother, ‘psycho stepdads’ and years as a gangster and pimp Steve McQueen was the last person in the world I expected to find in Cornwall. He’d arrived some time in the night at a house that the director Sam Peckinpah was renting in Penzance while scouting locations for the film Straw Dogs. They weren’t friends. The rugged movie star had simply turned up out of the blue...

A defense lawyer is calling for calm after death threats have been made against teenagers charged in the death of 15-year-old Phoebe Prince, who committed suicide after she was allegedly bullied by schoolmates. "Not to minimize what happened to Phoebe Prince in any way, but translating this into death threats and public harassment has got to stop," says Colin Keefe, who represents Sharon Chanon Velazquez, accused of tormenting Prince, who hanged herself on Jan. 14. "It's gotten way out of control," adds Keefe, who says Velazquez has been driven temporarily from her home.

February 11, 2010 Wannabe Frank Sinatras face final curtain in ‘karaoke rage’ killings Leo Lewis, Tokyo “And now, the end is near . . . ” For some, the Frank Sinatra version of My Way is a timeless classic; for many in the karaoke bars of the Philippines, however, it is a ballad drenched in bloodshed that ought to carry a health warning. Sung badly, or with just a touch too much defiance, the song can unleash unspeakable violence from the audience. According to Manila police, men have died attempting to hit the final note. The “karaoke rage” phenomenon has...

The East Toledo woman who punched through a McDonald's drive-thru window after being told chicken McNuggets were not available pleaded not guilty in court Thursday. Melodi Dushane, 24, stopped at the fast-food restaurant at Front and Main Streets in East Toledo in the early morning hours of Jan. 1 and asked for chicken nuggets. When the drive-thru attendant told her the restaurant was only serving breakfast and that the item was not available, Dushane reached through the window and punched the attendant in the mouth. In court Thursday, Dushane pleaded not guilty to one count of vandalism and two counts...

So I got yet another solicitation from the RNC in the mail today. And then I remembered how Michael Steele and the RNC/NRCC establishment is backing the infamous DIABLO Scozzabama. And then I remembered how Lindsey Graham is helping John F'in Kerry on cap-and-tax. That's when I got mad. And then I remembered how Lindsey Graham went in front of La Raza and said: "We're going to shut those bigots up!" That's when I got REALLY mad. It's unfortunate that the stupid RINOs can't get a very plain and simple message: NO MORE DAMN RINOS! And with that, I am...

Well, it’s been eight years since that terrible morning – George Bush was as deep into his first term of office as Barack Obama is today when those awful events unfolded. The anniversary in the mainstream media will be muted, as always – and we’ll come back to that. And even though three thousand people died that day, I want to concentrate on two – not to exclude the others, but simply to show you that they were not some abstract number but individual lives. Kevin CosgroveOne of the people who died that day, eight years ago, was a businessman...

Bush: Obama Is Doing Just Fine You probably wouldn’t expect former President George W. Bush, in his first speech since leaving office, to praise his successor. But that’s exactly what he did Tuesday. In a folksy address to 1,400 people in Canada, he expressed confidence in President Obama’s ability to mend the economy and financial system, Jason Enns, a financial advisor who attended the speech, told Bloomberg. Media weren’t allowed at the event. “He told us: ‘Wall Street had a big party and now we’re dealing with their hangover,’” Enns says. Enns said Bush told the audience that he expects...

(Critics: They're useless; Supporters: They're absolutely essential) NOGALES — Three men prop a ladder on top of a tree branch and lean it against a 15-foot border fence made of steel tubes so close together a man can't fit his head through. One by one, they climb over and shimmy down the other side, landing in the United States at the bottom of the Mariposa Wash, about two miles west of Nogales. They jog north across a concrete road, fading into the brush. On a nearby ridge, a U.S. Border Patrol agent watches, then jumps in his SUV and speeds...

Our Readers Who Comment are up in arms this morning about the news that the government will protect Citigroup against potential losses on a $306 billion pool of troubled assets. Those readers have hated bailouts from the moment they were first proposed, and that anger has not diminished in the weeks since. They complain that huge banking companies who stiff them with astronomical interest charges for being a day or two late on their credit cards are getting help, but they're not. They wonder why government seems less willing to assist the auto industry and its threatened workers than it...

“Let us break their chains,” they say, “and throw off their fetters.” The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. Psalm 2:3-4 As I’ve been discussing for the past week, God is in control. Consider the story of a five-year-old playing basketball with his 6’10” brother. When the little boy says to his older brother, “I’m gonna stomp on you,” the older brother has little reaction but to laugh. It’s totally preposterous that a boy who cannot even tie his shoes can win against his older, taller brother. But, isn’t it amazing when the enemies of God...

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. Psalm 2:1-2 There are many in this world who would shake their fists at God. They’re angry. Before we become self-righteous about their anger at God, I think we need to take a close look at our house as well. Could it be that they look at us and see a lack of devotion to Christ and his teachings? Consider the areas that this might display itself. You...

When a voter stood up at a John McCain rally in Waukesha, Wis., and announced “I’m mad - I’m really, really mad,” I thought to myself: You go, boy! It’s about time! Then he lost me: “And what’s gonna surprise ya,” he told McCain, “it’s not the economy.” Not the economy? Pal, I don’t know what Kool-Aid they’re serving in your bunker, but you need to lay off. Anger over the “socialist take-over” may be dominating the message boards at the John Birch Society, but for normal Americans, it’s not even on the radar screen. McCain has absolutely got my...