Free Republic

Syria's opposition fighters have been supplied with U.S.-made anti-tank missiles, the first time a major American weapons system has appeared in rebel hands. It is unclear how the rebels obtained the wire-guided missiles, which are capable of penetrating heavy armor and fortifications and are standard in the U.S. military arsenal. The United States has sold them in the past to Turkey, among other countries, and the Pentagon approved the sale of 15,000 of the weapons to Saudi Arabia in December. Both countries aid Syrian opposition groups. U.S. officials declined to discuss the origin of the weapons but did not dispute...

WASHINGTON — Representative John D. Dingell Jr., Democrat of Michigan, the longest serving member of Congress in history, on Monday was expected to announce that he will not seek re-election in 2014, and will leave Congress in 2015. Mr. Dingell, 87, has served in the House for more than 58 years, under 11 presidents.

LASHIO, Myanmar (AP) — It was a terrifying sight: hundreds of angry, armed men on motorcycles advancing up a dusty street with no one to stop them. Shouting at the top of their lungs, clutching machetes and iron pipes and long bamboo poles, they thrust their fists repeatedly into the air. The object of their rage: Myanmar's embattled minority Muslim community. Residents gaping at the spectacle backed away as the Buddhist mob passed. Worried business owners turned away customers and retreated indoors. And three armed soldiers standing in green fatigues on a corner watched quietly, doing nothing despite an emergency...

Code of Harry from Showtime’s Dexter: The Code of Harry was never actually written down, but was passed down verbally. As a result, it’s not a verbatim list of rules, but more a general set of learnings and guidelines taught by Harry to Dexter. Dexter has several times cited two rules as the most important rule above all others: 1st Rule of the Code : Never get caught – Don’t get caught committing a crime, since that would result in imprisonment and may even result in being put to death. Harry, in bringing Dexter to witness an execution, runs through...

Well, Harry Reid is resorting to desperate measures in order to try and regain some power in the Senate. Reports say that he is getting ready to use the so-called “nuclear option” to change the senate rules so that 60 votes are no longer needed to block a filibuster. And it looks like President Obama will support Reid’s efforts if the Republicans try to block upcoming nominations. “If Senator Reid decides to do something on nominations, the president has said he’ll be there to support him,” a Democratic aide told the Post. "This would take away the right to...

Brooklyn judge slams birther lawsuit as 'fanciful, delusional and irrational' and orders theorist to pay $177G. A birther's lawsuit was born of a crackpot theory. That’s what an irritated Brooklyn judge said in slapping a preeminent conspiracy theorist with a hefty bill for filing “a frivolous” suit and wasting the court’s time. Christopher Earl Strunk sought to have President Obama disqualified as a candidate. The author of some 20 other lawsuits — most of which have been dismissed — Strunk was ordered to pay $167,707 in attorney fees plus a $10,000 sanction for the 2011 lawsuit that named Obama, New...

The Obama administration declared Friday that the Pakistan-based Haqqani network of militants is a terrorist body despite misgivings about how the largely symbolic act could further stall planned Afghan peace talks or put yet another chill on the United States' already fragile counterterrorism alliance with Islamabad. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's decision, signed Friday ahead of a Sunday deadline set by Congress, bans Americans from doing business with members of the group and blocks any assets it holds in the United States. The order, which will go into effect within 10 days, completes an odyssey of sorts for the...

Protesters have been on location since October 15 A spokesman for Miami-Dade County has confirmed it has served Occupy Miami protesters an eviction notice. They must leave the West Lawn of the Stephen P. Clark County building by sundown or face arrest for trespassing. Miami-Dade police say they do plan to issue the disperse order starting at 5 p.m.

Possible presidential candidate Rick Santorum conceded Sunday that he made a "mistake" in voting for the Medicare prescription drug benefit back in 2003, as he tried to bolster his fiscal credentials. Santorum, a former Republican Pennsylvania senator, told "Fox News Sunday" that there were two things wrong with the bill creating the program, which is now estimated to cost about $60 billion a year, contributing to the country's out-of-control deficit. Santorum said Congress should not have made the program universal and should have found a mechanism with which to pay for it.

Arizona state politicians will introduce model legislation this week to encourage states to prevent children of illegal immigrants from being granted citizenship under the 14th Amendment. Lawmakers in at least 14 states have said they are committed to passing the legislation targeting birthright citizenship. Arizona's anti-illegal-immigrant bill, SB-1070, was also based on model legislation that could be easily copied by states, and at least seven states are likely to pass bills similar to the first Arizona immigration overhaul this year, according to one analysis by an immigrants rights group. Arizona state Senator Russell Pearce will unveil the bill Jan. 5...

LOCKED in the grip of drug addiction, the only thing mum-of-nine Felicia LeMay cared about was getting her next hit of crystal meth. The victims of her deadly habit included her baby son, who was born hooked on the drug and put straight into care by social workers. But the birth helped create a turning point in Felicia's life, and when she fell pregnant again she agreed to take part in a controversial sterilisation scheme which has caused a storm in America - and could be about to hit Britain. US campaigner Barbara Harris runs Project Prevention - a group...

Around 1,000 pregnant women who are illegal immigrants will no longer receive prenatal services through the federal-state Medicaid program, beginning in early spring, according to Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services leaders. The prenatal care issue creates a conflict between two state goals: On the immigration front, senators have wanted to make certain that illegal immigrants do not get any public benefits, passing strong anti-immigration legislation (LB403) last year. Because of the strong pro-life sentiment, Nebraska also has provided Medicaid coverage for all pregnant women, regardless of their immigration status. The assumption is that the prenatal coverage also is...

(1) We support smaller government, smaller national debt, lower deficits and lower taxes by opposing bills like Obama's "stimulus" bill; (2) We support market-based health care reform and oppose Obama-style government run healthcare; (3) We support market-based energy reforms by opposing cap and trade legislation; (4) We support workers' right to secret ballot by opposing card check; (5) We support legal immigration and assimilation into American society by opposing amnesty for illegal immigrants; (6) We support victory in Iraq and Afghanistan by supporting military-recommended troop surges; (7) We support containment of Iran and North Korea, particularly effective action to eliminate...

NEW YORK (AP) - Investigators in New York City raided circulation offices at some of the nation's largest newspapers Tuesday as part of a union corruption probe, a law enforcement official said. Police officers working with the Manhattan district attorney's office searched circulation offices of The New York Times in Queens, the New York Post and the Daily News in Manhattan, and El Diario in Brooklyn, the official said, speaking to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. Investigators were seeking paperwork related to the Newspaper and Mail Deliverers Union, which packages and delivers...

Investigators in New York City raided circulation offices at some of the nation's largest newspapers Tuesday as part of a union corruption probe, a law enforcement official said. Police officers working with the Manhattan district attorney's office searched circulation offices of The New York Times in Queens, the New York Post and the Daily News in Manhattan, and El Diario in Brooklyn, the official said, speaking to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. Investigators were seeking paperwork related to the Newspaper and Mail Deliverers Union, which packages and delivers newspapers across the region....

<p>Susan Atkins, who committed one of modern history's most notorious crimes when she joined Charles Manson and his gang for a 1969 killing spree that terrorized Los Angeles and put her in prison for the rest of her life, has died. She was 61.</p>

ERIE, Pa. | Former President George W. Bush fired a salvo at President Obama on Wednesday, asserting his administration's interrogation policies were "within the law," declaring the private sector - not government - will fix the economy and rejecting the nationalization of health care. "I know it's going to be the private sector that leads this country out of the current economic times we're in," the former president said to applause from members of a local business group. "You can spend your money better than the government can spend your money."

Worried that welfare costs are rising as the number of taxpayers declines, state Rep. John LaBruzzo, R-Metairie, said Tuesday he is studying a plan to pay poor women $1,000 to have their Fallopian tubes tied. "We're on a train headed to the future and there's a bridge out, " LaBruzzo said of what he suspects are dangerous demographic trends. "And nobody wants to talk about it." LaBruzzo said he worries that people receiving government aid such as food stamps and publicly subsidized housing are reproducing at a faster rate than more affluent, better-educated people who presumably pay more tax revenue...

LAGUNA NIGUEL -- More than 50 law officers were breaking up an estimated 8,000 people drinking alcohol and mooning passing trains late Saturday, as an annual "Moon Over Amtrak" party was shut down due to complaints about public nudity. The event drew a crowd of about 8,000 Saturday along the tracks near Mugs Away Saloon, 27324 Camino Capistrano, but things got out of hand as businesses and residents called in complaints, said Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesman Jim Amormino. California Highway Patrol officers were called in to assist Orange County sheriff's deputies shut down the impromptu event, where thousands of...

SAN DIEGO – Presidential candidate Barack Obama will travel to San Diego next month to join opponent John McCain in speaking at the annual convention of the National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest Latino civil rights and advocacy organization. Both senators are expected to address immigration and other issues pertinent to Latino voters, NCLR President Janet Murguía said during a visit to San Diego promoting the convention. Obama's plans were announced yesterday; McCain had agreed earlier to address the convention. The fact that both candidates will attend “speaks to a number of things, not only to the importance...