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Happy July 4th To All and Everyone In Honor and Pride to Celebrate Our FREE REPUBLIC At Free Republic

For the past two years, the music industry has been watching a series of lawsuits centered on an obscure aspect of copyright law: whether the performers on older recordings should get royalties when their songs are played on digital radio services. One of those lawsuits was settled Friday when SiriusXM, the satellite radio provider, announced it would pay $210 million to the major record companies over its broadcasting of songs made before 1972. ...two years ago members of the 1960s band the Turtles, whose hits included “Happy Together” sued Sirius in three federal courts, saying their songs before 1972 were...

Media Matters is a 501(c)(3), and the lawful restrictions on its political activities are listed above. I’m sure a check of Carusone’s IP addresses will confirm that he is using Media Matters’computers while on his paid on-the-clock employee time, and a search of other records will prove he is also using Media Matters’ phones and other resources to run the #DumpTrump campaign, which is illegal, as you can read here at the IRS website. However, if Trump hasn’t yet formally filed, the restriction on “any statements against candidates” may not apply. But if they do, Trump should sue. Excerpted from...

Ray Charles Sings "America The Beautiful", Happy 239th Birthday America!

Sen. Ted Cruz said Saturday that it is "asinine" that TV Land pulled "The Dukes of Hazzard" after widespread calls for the Confederate flag to come down. "I think the cancellation of 'The Dukes of Hazzard' is utterly asinine and an example of corporate America’s embrace of political correctness to a degree that is ridiculous," Cruz said in an interview with The Washington Post. "I’m curious if the Torquemadas seeking to ban 'The Dukes of Hazzard' from our TV sets are equally exercised by all of the leftist college students with posters of Che Guevara in their college dorm rooms,"...

We used to think that the 19th Century had seen out the enmity of the Civil War. There had been a “farewell to the bloody shirt” associated with the end of Reconstruction. This, it must be added, entailed the abandonment of the freed slaves to an impaired citizenship, and the problem of race would persist at least through the civil rights movement of the 20th Century. But animosity over the act of secession itself and the war that followed surely had dissipated even before the Gettysburg semi-centennial of 1913, when the aging veterans of both sides met on the battlefield...

Indomitable Donald Trump, the pompously outspoken American business mogul, investor, and television personality who recently announced his bid for the 2016 presidential race candidate has finally met his waterloo, and it was not about Barack Obama. His bigmouth has finally landed him in a provocative political terrain – trouncing a presidential ambition that has only been announced. Trump, a Republican presidential entrant was announcing his readiness last month when he made some horrible remarks about Mexicans. His comments were obviously offensive. He said in part that “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re sending people that...

A new video released by the jihadi terror group, the Islamic State, depicts children, abducted and trained to kill by ISIS, executing 25 men identified as soldiers for the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad. The massacre occurs in the historic amphitheater at Palmyra, an ancient Roman city cited as a UNESCO World Heritage Site that has recently been overrun by ISIS terrorists.The video depicts children pulling the triggers against more than 25 men identified as Assad’s soldiers, egged on by a large crowd of men and boys forced to watched the ceremony. The men are lined up on their knees as...

DECATUR COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) – The employees of the Decatur County clerk’s office in west Tennessee have resigned from their positions. Clerk Gwen Pope and employees Sharon Bell and Mickey Butler all said their resignations was due to the Supreme Court’s decision to allow same-sex marriages. The decision reportedly clashes with the employees’ religious beliefs. Their last day will be July 14. Currently, the Decatur County’s clerk office will not issue a same-sex license.

Sometimes it takes a foreigner who admires and loves America more than a lot of Americans do to lay the truth out for us. Nick Adams, a native Australian, knows what made America great and how to keep it that way. Happy Independence Day!

Making the Case by Kimberly Guilfoyle is a “how to” book, centered on being an advocate for yourself. She navigates between her role as a mother and as a cohost of the popular Fox show, "The Five". She provides a glimpse of her personal life and the influences of those she most admired. The most interesting parts of the book are her comments about the TV show that she cohosts. American Thinker interviewed Kimberly Guilfoyle about her book. For fans and followers of "The Five", Guilfoyle provides behind the scenes glimpses. Her dad greatly influenced her life and she is...

The first kids of US presidents are in the public eye almost as much as their parents. They dictate fashion trends, appear on their parents' behalf at embassies around the world, and sometimes host senior prom in the White House East Room. You know, normal kid stuff. But when the first family departs 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., the spotlight typically turns away from them. To celebrate the Fourth of July — which also happens to be Malia Obama's birthday — we decided to find out what the first children are up to these days. The first kids of US presidents are...

China froze share offers and set up a market-stabilization fund on Saturday, the Wall Street Journal said, as Beijing intensified efforts to pull stock markets out of a nose-dive that is threatening the world's second-largest economy. Beijing's reported suspension of initial public offers (IPOs) came a few hours after extraordinary announcements by major brokers and fund managers, which collectively pledged to invest at least $19 billion of their own money into stocks. China's government, regulators and financial institutions are now waging a concerted campaign to prop up the nation's two main share markets, amid fears that a meltdown would rock...

What would you do if your 3-year-old son told you assuredly that he wanted to be a girl? An Oakland, Cali. couple told their child it was OK, and a sad boy become a joyful little girl. It's controlled after-school anarchy at the Christian-Carter household. Seven-year-old Chloe has rolled herself up in an exercise mat in the living room of the family's lovely Oakland, Calif., home. "Look I'm a burrito," Chloe shouts. Her 4-year-old sister, Jackie, swoops in for a bite — and a hard push. "Ow!" Chloe shouts. "Mom! Jackie pushed me!" Just two sisters playing, occasionally sparring, as...

We still don't know the full US total, but it's increasing every year with Muslim immigration. The methodology is simple and financially devastating. Ahmed imports Wife No. 2, passes her off as a cousin or niece, she gets pregnant, is on the books as a single mother, collects every benefit there is, meanwhile she's bringing along every family member. The men import their own wives and the cycle continues. The UK sees this trend being very high among young Muslims and estimates a large number of Muslim polygamous marriages. “As many as 100,000 couples are living in such marriages,...

Following the Supreme Court's ruling last Friday that states must issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, at least two county court clerks in Mississippi and Arkansas have already resigned because they will not comply with the court's ruling, while other clerks across the nation have had differing responses to the ruling. On Tuesday, Linda Barnette, a circuit court clerk in Grenada County, Mississippi, announced her resignation and explained that it was due to the fact that the Supreme Court's ruling conflicted with her Christian belief that marriage should only be between one man and one woman. Barnette, who held her...

Ted Cruz: CRUZ: This July 4th, Americans Want to Believe Again 07/04/15HOUSTON, Texas — U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, released the following statement in observance of Independence Day:“If you are like me and pay attention to the news every day, you can easily be overwhelmed by all the simultaneous events that seem to indicate an impending American decline. But I don’t believe that. Everywhere I go, I see it in their faces and hear it in their voices. Americans want to believe again.“On this July 4th, I want to share with you my hope for America.“In the summer of 1776,...

The horrific murder of a pretty young woman by an illegal alien at a prime tourist location in San Francisco is validating the argument of Donald Trump on the influx of violent criminals, and causing at least some local media reflection in arguably the nation’s most politically correct city. This morning edition of the San Francisco Chronicle website (which reflects the newspaper’s front page to some extent) gives prominent placement to Trump’s contention that the murder of Kathryn Steinle shows that he’s right. And the digital-only SFGate site gives him even more prominent play, using an unflattering picture. update:...

KARITAINA, Greece (AP) — Ilias Mathes has protection against bank closures, capital controls and the slashing of his pension: 10 goats, some hens and a vegetable patch. Related Stories 1. Pensioners queue outside banks on 1st day of capital control Associated Press 2. Greeks struggle with daily grind as foreigners head to beach Associated Press 3. Greece rattles Europe; Markets close sharply down CNBC 4. The Latest: Moody's downgrades Greece to Caa3 Associated Press 5. Greece says it will consider bank closures and capital controls on Monday Reuters If Greece's financial crisis deepens, as many believe it must, he can...

      EXAMINING THE FOUNDATION It was back in 1962, I'm told, when cracks began to appear in the 42nd story of a very expensive high-rise in Hong Kong. It had already withstood numerous typhoons. And there was no ready explanation for the cracks' sudden appearance. Yet there they were. Obviously, there had to be a problem somewhere. So a team of architects and structural engineers was called in to ferret out the cause. Finally, one determined engineer stumbled upon the reason as he was prowling around the foundations deep in the basement. When he tapped the plaster,...