Free Republic

On Sept. 30, Newsmax/Zogby Polling released a poll of the gubernatorial race in Virginia. The race now appears to be nearly tied, with Democrat Terry McAuliffe, a former chairman of the national Democratic Party, leading Republican Ken Cuccinelli, the current attorney general of Virginia, by a margin of 32.5 percent to 32.4 percent. 24.3 percent are undecided, while 10.8 percent support another candidate. But when Libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis is named as a choice, he gets 12.7 percent of the vote, with McAuliffe at 32.2 percent and Cuccinelli at 27.4 percent. Among 18-to-29-year-olds, the difference is far more pronounced. A...

If the House passes the continuing resolution with an amendment and sends the papers to the Senate tonight, Senator Reid intends to move to table the House Amendment this evening. We could vote in the 9pm range, but of course that depends on House action. Senators will be notified of the timing of the next vote as the situation unfolds.

"One of the most startling revelations of moving back to the U.S. is the ubiquitous friendliness and I’m rolling around in it like a dog in fresh grass....none of which could really explain this truly awesome bit of reverse culture shock for me. It’s not that Europeans are exactly un-friendly, especially Italians, who are in fact very polite and kind to strangers, and warm to friends and family, but I lived in Texas for 15 years before moving to Europe and being openly friendly to complete strangers was (is) deeply part of my personality,....

<p>With the recent tragic on Sept 16 where a heavily armed contractor gunned down 12 defense employees at a secured Navy base in Washington DC. Investigators will be sorting through the detail reports and come up with a plan to prevent future incidents. This won’t be the first time for lawmakers and defense leaders to go over base security protocols, terror threat information and personnel background check procedures.</p>

I hope that our elected officials will start to pour their efforts and energy towards legislation that is pragmatic. This showmanship and posturing from the junior senator from Texas is ill conceived and ultimately detrimental to the Republican party. Ted Cruz does not care about Obamacare, it does not affect him. He cares about advancing his political career, and he seized the opportunity. Can we really blame him?

@FoxNewsSunday Keep it TRULY fair & balanced. Release the GOP names encouraging you to trash @SenTedCruz. No more anonymous sources.— Sarah Palin (@SarahPalinUSA) September 22, 2013 As Twitchy reported, Fox News’ Chris Wallace revealed that he was sent unsolicited oppo research on Sen. Ted Cruz. By “top Republicans.”Sarah Palin, who recently told GOP senators to “woman up” and stand firm on Obamacare, continues to have Sen. Cruz’s back.At least someone has a spine. Fight like a girl? You betcha.Will Chris Wallace reveal the names? Stay tuned.Related:‘See your filthy paw prints, Rove’ Who sent oppo research on Ted Cruz to...

Mississippi’s last abortion clinic, the Jackson Women’s Health Center. For some reason I began to think of this bright pink monstrosity as the Love Shack of Death, and the name has stuck. There is one abortion clinic left open in Mississippi. It is called Jackson Women’s Health Organization, and it is painted bright pink, as if to say, “We are here for the ladies, and we’re not going away.� This clinic is sassy, you guys, and it’s in danger of closing because of a new Mississippi law mandating that all abortionists obtain admitting privileges at a hospital. Nearby hospitals are...

For the last few weeks, House Speaker John Boehner has been trying to find a way to convince his caucus to vote for a bill that keeps the government open after Sept. 30 without picking a fight over Obamacare. But a minority of his caucus has been insisting on defunding Obamacare, egged on by outside conservative groups and a handful of far-right Republican Senators, most importantly Ted Cruz (Texas). This has been pretty annoying for a lot of House Republican members and staff. Jonathan Strong and Andrew Stiles of National Review got an anecdote out of a closed Republican Study...

https://www.facebook.com/victoria.bingham.14?hc_location=timeline

My involvement with Free Republic began around 2000 when my wife began her vigil around the Texas governor’s mansion in support of GW against the challenge of Al Gore for the presidency. I generally provided the livelihood for the Bat Lady to be able to protest and surround the mansion against the leftists who were kept at bay across the street. While she was registered in order to post after action reports I was a lurker on the site. Over the years we have attended rallies and protests and meetings. Other groups of freepers nationwide also held rallies, attended protests,...

This is how the New York Times describes a telephone surveillance program carried out by federal drug enforcement agencies: For at least six years, law enforcement officials working on a counternarcotics program have had routine access, using subpoenas, to an enormous AT&T database that contains the records of decades of Americans' phone calls -- parallel to but covering a far longer time than the National Security Agency's hotly disputed collection of phone call logs. Sounds ominous, but is it? The Hemisphere Project, a partnership between federal and local drug officials and AT&T that has not previously been reported, involves an...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was met with enthusiastic cheers from an "adoring" audience during his address at a conservative summit on Saturday, the friendliest of any of the potential 2016 presidential hopefuls to speak at the Defending the Dream summit. The event, hosted by Americans for Prosperity, drew a handful of other conservative stars and would-be presidential contenders: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R ) and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R ) all spoke. But according to The Washington Post, none received so warm a welcome as Cruz. He was met with chants of "Run, Ted, run!"...

Seems that all the eligibility threads that are started as of late are being pulled. Seems that simple freedom of speech and thought are being regulated by the powers that be here on FR. Just a lurker since joining, but this one is just too obvious. Probably become just a lurker after this post. Oh well. Yes, I guess we all have a price. BTW FReepers - keep those donations rolling in. I mean that, as this site is one of the last vestiges of hope for your country. Sua Sponte

The case of Army Pfc. Bradley Manning tested many complex questions about espionage, journalism and even treason. But there was always one thing that lingered as a subtext to the case: Manning's struggle with gender identity. On Thursday, when Manning announced that he wants to be known as Chelsea Manning, it became clear that the subtext would become the focus and that Manning will now likely test military policy on transgender issues. (NPR, like other news outlets, is at this point continuing to refer to the soldier as "Bradley Manning" on first reference.) Cecilia Chung, a senior strategist for the...

In Colorado there's a calling to vote Yes to recall anti-gun state senators - John Morse (D-11) and Angela Giron (D-3). These two can create a “a wave of fear that runs across every state legislator across the country.” To counter this recall, Gun control group headed by Mark Kelly & Gabby Giffords have television ads running to urge Coloradan to vote "NO" on the recall. westernshootingjournal.com/second-amendment/anti-gun-groups-mobilizing-in-colorado/

NRA historically has preached and campaigned against the threat of a national database of firearms or their owners. But, in fact NRA themselves housed over 10 million information on gun owners. Unclear of NRA's motives but the data may be used as a marketing weapon to focus in on converting gun owners to dues-paying NRA members. Who knows, what do you all think? Read the article for more.

I discovered this website while looking to see what the bullies and haters are doing against me and my husband and I found this website and all the horrable things you all have been saying just because Gordon Ramsay lies about me. None of you have ever even been to my restarant before and never even tasted my food. YOU NEVER DID SO WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BULLY AND HATE? MY FOOD IS NOT FROZEN! GORDON NEVER EVEN TRIED MY CAKE! WHY AM I AN EVIL WITCH??? WHO ARE YOU TO THINK YOU CAN GO ON THE INTERNET AND...

wow, really great. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fvTxv46ano

U.S. soldiers deployed to Afghanistan are using Craigslist to meet and have sex with each other on bases across the war-torn country, leading to concerns about a breakdown in discipline overseas. Military commanders have forbade any service members who are not married to each other from having sex while deployed to the combat zone. As a result, each of the covert meetings is a violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The vast majority of the posts on Craigslist involve male soldiers seeking sex with other men - a practice that could have resulted in the discharge of both...

Worst. President. Ever. After four-and-a-half years of Obama four of five American adults sturggle with joblessness and near-poverty conditions.The AP reported: Four out of 5 U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, near poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives, a sign of deteriorating economic security and an elusive American dream.....

i'm not a leftist my left views: banning all guns because they are the culprits in most violent crime, pro choice though you pay your own way, essential services should be government services like police, fire, water, highways. my center views: no gay marriage but allow domestic partnerships, a compromise to make everybody happy. my right views: eliminating hud, dept of education, and well over half of government agencies. government agencies not eliminated would be mostly shrunk and made more efficient. favoring school choice. repealing obamacare and leaving insurance to the free market. eliminating or weakening most government regulations. foreign...

White conservatives often criticize Black people for being too quick to play what they call "the race card." On the other hand, many Black people criticize America for not being sensitive enough to the reality that race plays in American life. George Zimmerman’s trial for the murder of Trayvon Martin clearly validates the Black community’s point of view. Trayvon Martin is dead for no other reason than he was born Black in America. That’s a non-debatable fact. Had he been a White kid, Trayvon would have still been alive today. Yet, even as the jury is out deliberating Zimmerman’s fate,...

In December 2012, the Red Cross and an affiliated organization known as the Water Reference Center (WRC) performed a medical field test in the African country of Uganda. The test was to determine if a popular “Miracle Cure” had any impact on malaria, a disease that is estimated to kill one child every minute in Africa alone. To the surprise of the Red Cross and their staff, it cured all 154 malaria patients that took part in the test―with no side effects.

I pray for a fair and just verdict. My support and thoughts go out to the Zimmerman family and the defense team as we wait. Links to Live Streams (Thanks Carole): WAT~ http://wildabouttrial.com/trial_videos/watch-the-george-zimmerman-hearing-live/ Local WFTV~ http://www.wftv.com/s/zimmerman-livestream// Click Orlando~ http://www.clickorlando.com/news/-/1637132/19533480/-/fm5b93z/-/index.html

Sources such as NYT, Wapo, Politico are permitted on FR and those organizations are not exactly unbiased or accurate. Generally speaking, I think Infowars presents a libertarian and constitutionalist perspective and has cleaned up its act over the last couple years.

The Supreme Court’s rulings in favor of same-sex marriage Wednesday were greeted with excitement by polygamists across the country, who viewed the gay rights victory as a crucial step toward the country’s inevitable acceptance of plural marriage. Anne Wilde, a vocal advocate for polygamist rights who practiced the lifestyle herself until her husband died in 2003, praised the court’s decision as a sign that society’s stringent attachment to traditional “family values” is evolving. “I was very glad… The nuclear family, with a dad and a mom and two or three kids, is not the majority anymore,” said Wilde. “Now...

I am not sure when the people of Egypt became more worldly than the people here in America but it would seem they have it figured out. Betsy Hiel tweeted a picture of a banner that has been hoisted in Tahrir Square that reads “Obama Supports Terrorism” in both English and Arabic. The banner has been placed in preparation for Sunday’s scheduled protests against Mohamed Morsi and The Muslim Brotherhood. Read more: http://freedomoutpost.com/2013/06/the-egyptian-people-proclaim-barack-obama-supports-terrorists/#ixzz2XjBkZmcu

"You can't say gay couples shouldn't be married, after all, they are born that way." is one of the most common arguments for gay "marriage." The idea is if the public is convinced that homosexuality is innate and not a choice, then the public as a whole will become more accepting of homosexuality and gay marriage. However, this argument has no scientific support and indeed, neurology may provide an explanation of how homosexuality is indeed a choice.

Christopher Howse finds that a health leaflet mentions a belief that jinn can cause madnessM.Christopher Howse8:36PM BST 21 Jun 2013Comments7 Comments Although the pamphlet, called Feeling Stressed, was subtitled “A leaflet for Muslims”, I took a look at it, and found something surprising. One of the questions addressed was: “What if my problem is caused by jinn possession?” “People can mistake mental illness for jinn possession,” the answer began. “So, even if you feel that you may be possessed, it is important that you see a doctor.” This is no doubt sound advice, but I was left wondering whether the...

So suppose, I don't know, you're country just goes down the tubes. Where would you go?

On Wednesday, barring a reprieve, Kimberly McCarthy will become the 500th convicted killer in Texas to receive a lethal injection. [...] The death penalty is on the books in 32 states. On average, Texas executes an inmate about every three weeks. The murderer: Kimberly McCarthy

At 10:00 AM Wednesday, the Supreme Court will deliver its final decisions of this term. We can expect decisions on both same-sex marriage cases. California Proposition 8: Hollingsworth v. Perry In November 2008, 52.3 percent of California voters approved Proposition 8, which added language to the California Constitution that defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman. In May 2009, a California District Court ruled that Proposition 8 violated the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment and temporarily prohibited its enforcement, and the Ninth Circuit agreed, affirming the District Court’s ruling. The United...

google "boy scouts" and "lightning" to get the story.

The NRA and other gun lovers use the Second Amendment as proof of their right to bear arms. The Second Amendment is outdated and is of no use in today's society. In fact, the Second Amendment was written as a right to bear arms for colonists to protect themselves against other colonists, Indians and to form a militia in case the British invaded farms and other private lands. To use it today as a law is very silly. If that is all the NRA and their followers have to justify their use of guns, then they will soon lose the...

Incredible ignorance of the rightwing puppets.

After 10 years of satellite archaeology research I decided in August of 2012 to seek help for my work from the public with a press release. The goal of this public outreach was to get help ground proofing two sites I had found in Egypt via Google Earth, to see if they were possible pyramid complexes that had remained undiscovered. The Discovery News website was the first news outlet to pick up the press release and publish the full, intact story on August 10th of 2012.

...in return for $825,000 under an agreement that settles a long legal battle over the organization's ban on gays, Mayor Michael Nutter's office said...[t]he Boy Scouts Cradle of Liberty Council staff will leave its downtown Philadelphia headquarters of 85 years by June 30...

Rhode Island is poised to join nine other states and the District of Columbia in allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry. Gov. Lincoln Chafee planned to sign gay marriage legislation into law Thursday evening, immediately following a final procedural vote in the state’s General Assembly. The outcome of the vote is not in doubt. Hundreds are expected to gather at the Statehouse to celebrate the new law, which has already passed the House and Senate once. The first weddings could take place Aug. 1, when the new law would take effect. …

Former GOP vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., now supports the rights of gay Americans to adopt children, though he still believes marriage “is between a man and a woman.” In a town hall meeting with constituents in Wisconsin on Monday, the House Budget Committee chairman said he has changed his mind on the adoption issue, even though his opinions on other aspects of gay rights have remained unchanged. To date, two Republican senators — Rob Portman of Ohio, who had been in the mix for Mitt Romney’s No. 2 spot, and Mark S. Kirk of Illinois — have...

Kaitlyn Hunt, 18, had her entire life before her. Graduation. College. Job prospects. The high school senior was just preparing to start her life when she found herself expelled and slapped with criminal charges over her engagement in a same-sex relationship. And what started as a relationship between two young women has snowballed into a legal battle that could land Hunt in prison. The story has many twists, turns and oddities. And so far, only one side — that of Hunt family — is being told. The high school senior apparently met her girlfriend, who is now 15-years-old, on the...

http://www.kpho.com/story/22124354/jury-finds-jodi-arias-guilty-of-first-degree-murder

The U.S. government had the ability to “react and respond” to the Benghazi terrorist attack and could have had forces on the ground before the second wave of the assault began, a special operator with knowledge of the response told Fox News in an exclusive interview. Due to the explosive nature of his allegations, the special ops member asked to remain anonymous. “I know for a fact that C 110 the UComm CIF was doing a training exercise, not in the region of northern Africa, but in Europe. And they had the ability to react and respond,” he told Fox...

When accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev gave up his University of Massachusetts Dartmouth dorm room at Pine Dale Hall for accommodations at the U.S. Bureau of Prisons’ Federal Medical Center Devens, he left behind his $22,000 a year tuition, room and meals payment and picked up a somewhat similar set of taxpayer-indulged amenities, save one: freedom.

Nigeria Police say at least eight people have been killed in an attack on a church service at a Nigerian university in the northern city of Kano. Explosions and gunfire rocked Bayero University, with witnesses reporting that two church services were targeted as they were being held on campus. One of the services was being held outdoors, while the second was inside a building, but with an overflow audience outside, witnesses said. Officials were unable to confirm casualty figures, but one correspondent counted six bullet-riddled bodies near one of the two sites and said other bodies had been seen on...

MoveOn.org has started a petition to get ESPN reporter Chris Broussard immediately suspended from the network for comments he made regarding Jason Collins's homosexuality, which Broussard said was a sin according to his personal Christian beliefs. The group said Broussard was engaging in "gay bashing." The petition reads: Chris Broussard's hateful attack on Jason Collins for being gay was an unacceptable misrepresentation of the Christian faith. ESPN must immediately suspend Chris Broussard and guarantee that their network will never again be used for gay bashing. In its "petition background" statement, the left-wing organization says that after Jason Collins "emphasized the...

My thought is certain recreational drugs, such as marijuana, should remain off legal limits for the under 18 year olds, but become legally available when used in the proper environment. In many ways, pot is quite similar to alcohol, in that they should be used responsibly. My thought is to make the sale of marijuana less profitable by making it legal for home use. Personally, I don't smoke anything now, and do not want the smell of tobacco or pot on my clothes should I visit a public place, such as a shopping mall or bus stop. I know this...

In his first congressional hearing as secretary of State, John Kerry tells lawmakers that, after the Benghazi attacks, the US must fortify security for diplomats, press for a two-state solution in the Middle East. Seven months after the deadly terrorist attack on the US mission in Benghazi, Libya, the State Department is proposing hundreds of millions of dollars in new security spending – tacit acknowledgement that some of the most effective security enhancements for America’s overseas diplomats are still months or years away. Secretary of State John Kerry told the House Foreign Affairs Committee Wednesday that the department’s proposed fiscal...

Dear Presedent Obama My name is Alexander. I’m 7. Please change the law about killing babys when they are still in mommy’s tummys. This babys are a live and not one chose to die. Please make a new law that will protect the babys. Marten Luther King, Jr. had a drem and he changed America and I also have a dream that Momys have to take good care of the babys in there tummys and bring babys to the orfanedg and other mommys can adopt them and they will be happy. I will also be Presedent wen I grow up....

Survey after survey has shown that views on basic social issues often move very slowly. But support for marriage equality is turning out to be one big exception to the rule. According to the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll, 58 percent of Americans now think it should be legal for same-sex couples to get married. That is an astounding increase from a low of 32 percent less than a decade ago. And in another shift that is seen as directly related to support for equal rights, only 24 percent see homosexuality as a choice, compared to 40 percent almost 20...