Free Republic

Sarah Palin, attractive and sharp as ever, can not only see into the future she can see Syria, indeed the entire Middle East, from her house. Or a conference in the USA. The woman who was laughed at for predicting death panels would accompany the Obamacare Unaffordable Health Care Act (they're not laughing now) "And our government passing something called, Obamacare - The Affordable Care Act. I'll repeat that, the Affordable Care Act. And, it's chief result, making our healthcare premiums enormously unsustainably more expensive with death panels to boot." She also offered her astute foreign policy advice at the...

I had another column ginned up for this week’s offering but then I read something an hour ago which made me save it for a later date and address something else that’s been on my mind, namely blacks and Right-To-Carry laws. Some background: Those of you who are regular readers of Ross in Range may notice a similarity in layout and scheduling (but not necessarily content) to another, much more widely read Internet column called Fred On Everything at http://www.fredoneverything.net/ColMenu.html by Fred Reed. This is not a coincidence. I have been a regular reader of Mr. Reed’s writings for a...

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — South African couple Thithi Nteta and Dylan Lloyd have different accounts of how they met and fell in love. “We were friends for about a year,” said Nteta, a 28-year-old stylist. “I like to say that I was courting her for about a year,” said Lloyd, 38. One thing they agree on is that neither considered the other’s race before deciding to become involved - even though Nteta is black and Lloyd white and they live in South Africa, a country still healing the wounds caused by apartheid. Twenty-five years ago, strict laws against relationships between...

John Oliver began his second week guest-hosting The Daily Show welcoming Sarah Palin back to Fox News. Okay, maybe “welcoming” is a strong word. In fact, Oliver realized that rather than spending the whole show piling on every single folksy thing Palin says, he might as well just ignore her instead. Oliver first noted that Palin only left Fox News five months ago, and now she’s back, so “she has now effectively quit quitting!” He played clip after clip of Palin saying what she’s been up to, and he was ready to mock every single word that came out of...

STOCKHOLM, Sweden – As former South Africa President Nelson Mandela remains hospitalized and reportedly in serious condition, questions about the future of increasingly marginalized European-descent South Africans are edging into international headlines. Recent developments on multiple fronts are striking fear into the hearts of many Afrikaners, descendants of primarily northern Europeans who began arriving in South Africa three to four centuries ago. From legally mandated race-based economic discrimination against whites to the thousands of farm murders targeting Boers across the nation, the problems are only getting worse. Poverty and unrest are spreading quickly as well. Genocide The world’s most prominent...

"Snake village" in China

Finally! We have common sense in our public schools, at least in one Virginia school district anyway. After two boy were suspended for “using pencils like guns“, the Suffolk School Board decided to review their current weapons policy, which was a very strict zero tolerance policy which left no room for interpretation. According to 10News.com, Under the revised policy, school administrators can look at factors such as intentions of harm and whether the object is listed as a weapon to determine the punishment. Ordinary objects will not be considered weapons A local television station reports that school board members voted...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Monday announced his intention to file another amendment to the so-called “gang of eight” immigration bill that is facing tough opposition from some GOP lawmakers. “I’ll file amendment to immigration bill that permits states to require ID before registering voters & close this hole in [federal] statutory law,” Cruz wrote via his official Twitter account. I'll file amendment to immigration bill that permits states to require ID before registering voters & close this hole in fed statutory law. Ted Cruz to Introduce Voter ID Requirement Amendment in Immigration Billabout 10 hours ago via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite Ted...

Local police have arrested two Russians trying to smuggle 213 brown bear paws, according to a source from Manzhouli Customs in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Monday. The bear paws were found on May 22, in the possession of two Russians who were carrying them inside their car tyres whilst on their way to China. The number of paws attempted to be smuggled is the highest recorded to date. Bear's paw is a delicacy in Chinese cuisine and also used to treat rheumatism in traditional Chinese medicine.

Well, I don’t know what more assurance I could need. From an interview with Charlie Rose that airs tonight on PBS: Charlie Rose: Should this be transparent in some way? Barack Obama: It is transparent.

The German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) plans to invest 100 million euros (133 million U.S. dollars) on new technologies and hiring more people to expand internet surveillance, local media reported over the weekend. According to a Spiegel Online report on Sunday, the German government has released 5 million euros of the 100-million-euro program, which will be spent over a period of five years. The report said the BND plans to expand its surveillance on communications between Germany and foreign countries from 5 percent to 20 percent, the maximum data traffic it can monitor by German law. The BND monitors and...

State-owned enterprises, SOEs, are holding billions of dollars in their coffers, money that could have been submitted to the state budget for spending on infrastructure projects that urgently need funding, experts say. At a recent sitting of the National Assembly, Tran Du Lich, a representative from Ho Chi Minh City, called it “a waste of resources” that the government, as an investor in hundreds of businesses, does not collect its annual dividend. “Why are we leaving hundreds of trillions of dong there [in the SOEs], when we do not have money to improve highways and do other necessary things?” he...

Origin Energy, on behalf of the Block 121 Joint Venture, announced that the 121-Ca Voi-1X well was spud at 0730 hours local (Vietnam) time June 15, with the well drilled by the Ocean General (mid-water semisub). The 121-Ca Voi-1X well is situated in the Phu Khanh Basin off the coast of central Vietnam. Prognosed total measured depth of the well is 12,372 feet (3,771 meters). The well will be plugged and abandoned after the evaluation is complete. Origin will only advise the market again when well operations have been completed with a summary of results, or of any event that...

While Chinese telecom equipment companies have been cementing their firm positions in South East Asian markets, their fellow countrymen in the telecommunication field dare not enter the markets because of the stiff rival in the markets, especially in Vietnam, according to China Daily. Chinese big mobile network operators including China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom all want to penetrate the other markets in the globe, but many of the markets have become saturated, which makes it very difficult for a new comer to do business there, the newspaper has quoted Andrew Kitson, a senior analyst of Business Monitor International...

On Monday, NSA leaker Edward Snowden suggested in an online interview with The Guardian (UK) that someone at the National Security Agency does indeed receive the content of your emails. “If I target for example an email address, for example under FAA 702, and that email address sent something to you, Joe America, the analyst gets it. All of it. IPs, raw data, content, headers, attachments, everything. And it gets saved for a very long time – and can be extended further with waivers rather than warrants.” He added that he stands by his original accusation that he had the...

June 18, 2013   Tuesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time   Reading 1 2 Cor 8:1-9 We want you to know, brothers and sisters, of the grace of Godthat has been given to the churches of Macedonia,for in a severe test of affliction,the abundance of their joy and their profound povertyoverflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.For according to their means, I can testify,and beyond their means, spontaneously,they begged us insistently for the favor of taking partin the service to the holy ones,and this, not as we expected,but they gave themselves first to the Lordand...

SANFORD — Quietly and with hardly anyone noticing, George Zimmerman's attorneys persuaded a judge to ban prosecutors from using the word "profiled" in their opening statement. That means the theory that was the backbone of the state's case — that 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was profiled — is now something prosecutors cannot mention as they launch into their case against the former Neighborhood Watch volunteer. It is a major pretrial victory for the 29-year-old Zimmerman, who in the days and weeks immediately after Trayvon's death was denounced as a racist, made into a social pariah and became the subject of a...

*VIDEO* Police open fire on a car sitting at crowded DWI checkpointBRUNSWICK COUNTY, NC (WECT) – A couple celebrating Father’s Day with their baby found themselves in the middle of a shootout at a DWI checkpoint when officers unloaded on a car sitting in heavy traffic. The couple, Jared and Rose Cleerdin were hoping it wouldn’t be their last Father’s Day together as the officers fired dozens of rounds in the direction of on-coming traffic. Jared Cleerden believes the officers acted way beyond what was necessary for public safety saying, ”Every cop turned around and started unloading like super...

Thunderbolts.info and Red Ice both deal in strange stuff. This may be the strangest thing you'll find on either or both of them any time soon. At least the Red Ice interview seems logically coherent. http://www.thunderbolts.info/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=12145 http://www.redicecreations.com/radio/2013/04/RIR-130421.php Definitely a different take on human origins...

N.Korean Army Chief Fingered in Syria Connection The North Korean military is involved in the Syrian civil war at the initiative of hardline Army chief Gen. Kim Kyok-sik, the Dagongbao daily in Hong Kong speculated Monday. Kim was allegedly behind the sinking of the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan and shelling of Yeonpyeong Island in 2010. He is considered one of the key figures in the North Korean regime and was recently promoted from armed forces minister to the chief of the Army's General Staff. Some dozen North Korean military officers were seen working with Syrian government troops on the...

Tens of thousands of acres in Oregon's drought-stricken Klamath Basin will have to go without irrigation water this summer after the Klamath Tribes and the federal government exercised newly confirmed powers that put the tribes in the driver's seat over water use — a move ranchers fear will be economically disastrous. Klamath Tribes Chairman Don Gentry and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Mike Connor said Monday that they were making what is known as a "call" on their water rights for rivers flowing into Upper Klamath Lake in Southern Oregon.

Remember all the build-up around the Facebook IPO? Investors wondered when it would happen and how they could get in on it. People were scrambling to be part of the action. Then, it happened, and it flopped. Marco Rubio is fast turning into the Facebook IPO of the United States Senate. There was hype, there was hope, there was sizzle…but there’s been no steak. In his first year in the Senate, Marco Rubio did … what exactly? He was sworn in on Jan. 3, 2011, and didn’t even deliver his first Senate floor speech until June 14. Conversely, Rand Paul...

Al-Qaeda's north African branch confirmed that one of its top leaders, Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, was killed in fighting in Mali, three months after France announced his death, according to a statement published Sunday. Algerian-born Abou Zeid, considered one of the most radical leaders of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), was killed "on the battlefield defending Umma (the Muslim community) and sharia law," according to a statement carried by the private Mauritanian news agency ANI. It gave no date for his death. Paris had announced in March that Abou Zeid was killed in fighting with its forces after France led...

A Glennville man was cited for disorderly conduct June 11 after allegedly brandishing an AK-47 assault rifle at a Hinesville basketball court during a dispute over a foul call. Hinesville police were dispatched to the Liberty County Recreation Department basketball courts after receiving a report that a man had pulled an AK-47 out of the trunk of his car and threatened another man with it. When police arrived, they found the area “very crowded,” according to the report. They were told that the man who had produced the gun was sitting on the bleachers. Police made contact with the man,...

More than 100,000 people took to the streets in overwhelmingly peaceful protests in at least eight cities Monday, demonstrations that voiced the deep frustrations Brazilians feel about carrying heavy tax burdens but receiving woeful returns in public education, health, security and transportation. In Sao Paulo, Brazil's economic hub, at least 65,000 protesters gathered at a small, treeless plaza then broke into three directions in a Carnival atmosphere, with drummers beating out samba rhythms as the crowds chanted anti-corruption jingles. They also focused on the cause that initially sparked the protests last week — a 10-cent hike in bus and subway...

Actor Jeremy Renner says people around him considered him 'weird' during his growing up days. The 42-year-old might be one of the most in-demand action stars in Hollywood now, but he admits things weren't always so easy for him growing up, reports contactmusic.com. "I grew up in California and Hawaii, but I don't surf or smoke weed, so everybody considered me a weirdo, which I probably am," he said. Recently, Renner was seen in 'The Bourne Legacy'. He played an agent Aaron Cross in the film, who is running away from his own organisation.

Everyone has now heard stories about conservatives who’ve been punished by “non-political” agencies like the IRS for their beliefs, but it happens at the state level, too. Back in 2011, I wrote about Rachel Alexander, who was targeted by the liberal State Bar of Arizona for having the audacity to work with other conservative lawyers to fight corruption in the state. Rachel Alexander was collateral damage in a liberal fight to ruin her former boss, then-Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas. Thomas attempted in 2009 and 2010, with the help of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, to stop corruption by some judges and...

So I'm watching the news today and start seeing our illustrious Bureaucrats Out Right Lying about what they collect and what they don't.   They tell us today they don't collect locations of cell phone trawled for in pursuit of a target named in a warrant.   I want you to understand when they issue a warrant, many times, with "Reasonable Cause" They are violating the Constitution by: 1.  Using "Reasonable Cause" as the basis for a warrant.  The Constitution requires no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause.   2.  supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the...

A disabled South Carolina man was pushed off a moped and then beaten with his own prosthetic leg by an assailant who was arrested early today for assault, cops charge.

Something perverse happened after the Supreme CourtÂ’s decision today invalidating citizenship-verification requirements in Arizona for registrants who use the federal voter registration form. The Left knows they lost most of the battle, but are still claiming victory. ThatÂ’s what they do. Election-integrity proponents and the states are saying they lost, but donÂ’t realize they really won. The Left wins even when they lose, and conservatives are often bewildered and outfoxed in the election-process game. Earlier today, I called the decision a nothingburger. After re-reading the case and reflecting a bit more, itÂ’s clear that the decision was a disaster for...

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said if he were president, he would have intervened in Syria much sooner than President Obama did to identify the “reasonable” rebels opposed to the regime of President Basher Assad. “It behooved us to kind of identify whether there was any elements there within Syria fighting against Assad that we could work with—reasonable people that wouldn’t carry out human rights violations and could be part of building a new Syria. We failed to do that,” Rubio told Jonathan Karl on ABC News’ “This Week.” … Obama announced this week that the Assad regime had crossed the...

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has authorized a three-year study to find out why some HIV-positive homosexual men in Kenya do not seek the free treatment that American taxpayers already are funding. The study, which will cost U.S. taxpayers $228,147, seeks to encourage Kenyan homosexuals, including prostitutes, to avail themselves of the AIDS treatment known as antiretroviral therapy (ART)—and to continue taking it once they start. … Researchers say they have worked with male prostitutes on the Kenyan coast since 2005 and have found “significant disparities” among people who seek treatment and continue with the therapy, partly due to...

In spite of having no resources of its own, Singapore relies heavily on the oil and gas sector. That is because much of the oil produced by neighbouring Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia is processed and refined in the city state. This week, Singapore unveiled a new technology to help safeguard the country's oil refining sector.

Was speculating today about the announcement that the Colorado wildfires were probably arson. Being the Gov. Chickenhumpper and his gay band Progressives isn't that popular with a whole lot of groups, I wonder which has done the nasty. ELF is always a possibility. Although they generally suck up to Progressives, they may have been burnt by Chickenhumpper and his gay band of progressives. With Progressives the end is always justifies the means. Since a sizable portion of the Denver/Colorado Springs population are escapees from Californicate, NY, and other liberal hellholes, they may have used the old wildfire to reduce underwater...

Once a staple of authoritative communication across the Indian subcontinent, the telegram has lost too much ground to smartphones. One devotee is threatening a Gandhi-style fast.At the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), India's state-owned telecom company, a message emerges from a dot matrix printer addressing a soldier's Army unit in Delhi. "GRANDMOTHER SERIOUS. 15 DAYS LEAVE EXTENSION," it reads. It's one of about 5,000 such missives still being sent every day by telegram – a format favored for its "sense of urgency and authenticity," explains a BSNL official. But the days of such communication are numbered: The world's last telegram...

Al Qaida-linked group Syria rebels once denied now key to anti-Assad victories Nearly a year later, however, Jabhat al Nusra, which U.S. officials believe has links to al Qaida, has become essential to the frontline operations of the rebels fighting to topple Assad. “When we finish with Assad, we will fight the U.S.!” one Nusra fighter shouted in the northeastern Syrian city of Ras al Ayn when he was told an American journalist present. He laughed as he said it and then got into a van and drove off, leaving the journalist unable to ask whether it had been a...

It remains doubtful if the Yingluck Shinawatra government can do what it promised - finalise the loss figure of the rice-pledging scheme in a few years after releasing all of its rice stockpiles. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has forecast that the inventories of many countries, including Thailand, will grow this year and next year. The high price of Thai rice is expected to make it difficult to make quick sales of rice to clear out the inventory. The government has recently denied that the rice mortgage scheme suffered losses of about Bt260 billion during the past two years...

One hundred and fifty years after twin defeats at Gettysburg and Vicksburg destroyed the South’s quest for independence, the region is again on the rise. People and jobs are flowing there, and Northerners are perplexed by the resurgence of America’s home of the ignorant, the obese, the prejudiced and exploited, the religious and the undereducated. Responding to new census data showing the Lone Star State is now home to eight of America’s 15 fastest-growing cities, Gawker asked: “What is it that makes Texas so attractive? Is it the prisons? The racism? The deadly weather? The deadly animals? The deadly crime?...

(Reuters) - Senior Roman Catholic and Lutheran officials announced on Monday they would mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017 as a shared event rather than highlight the clash that split Western Christianity. The Vatican and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) presented a report in Geneva admitting both were guilty of harming Christian unity in the past and describing a growing consensus between the two churches in recent decades. The 500th anniversary of Martin Luther's 95 Theses, the doctrinal challenge that launched the Protestant Reformation, will be the first centenary celebration in the age of ecumenism, globalization and...

MANILA — In what is expected to mark a pivotal moment in this rapidly developing but still impoverished nation, the Supreme Court of the Philippines will weigh next month the constitutionality of a new reproductive-health law that pits the entrenched power of the Roman Catholic establishment against a rising tide of modernization and economic aspiration. The measure, which was signed into law in December after a bitter 14-year battle between women’s rights advocates and Catholic bishops, would fund access to contraceptives for the nation’s poorest women. The key question before the court is whether it violates a 1987 constitutional guarantee...

Best known as a spoon-bender who befriended singer Michael Jackson — and branded a charlatan by critics — it now appears that Uri Geller may have had a second career as a CIA spy. According to a new BBC documentary, he used his psychic powers in an attempt to wipe secret Soviet computer records. It is alleged he also tried to disable military radar and influence the mind of a Russian negotiator during Cold War arms talks in Geneva by beaming peace messages at his head. The Israeli-born showman’s life has been littered with outrageous claims. Over the years, his...

The Celts were long considered a barbaric and violent society. But new findings from a 2,600-year-old grave in Germany suggest the ancient people were much more sophisticated than previously thought. The little Bettelbühl stream on the Danube River was completely unknown, except to local residents. But that changed in the summer of 2010 when a spectacular discovery was made just next to the creek. Not far from the Heuneburg, the site of an early Celtic settlement, researchers stumbled upon the elaborate grave of a Celtic princess. In addition to gold and amber, they found a subterranean burial chamber fitted with...

(Reuters) - An electricity outage that blacked out large swathes of the Philippines' main island of Luzon for up to eight hours last month has highlighted worries about a potential power crisis that could undermine Asia's fastest-growing economy. Predictions that electricity demand will outstrip government forecasts have raised fears over the impact on the expansion of industries such as call centres, tourism and gaming. A raft of private firms has rushed in recent months to put some $9 billion of new plants on the drawing board, but lead times for construction are around three years and environmental opposition to coal-fired...

I've had about ENOUGH about the bullies at school. Taught my kids to FIGHT as long as they don't start it. But they've really 'jumped the shark' on this one. I guess we can expect 'gov intervention' on this? Seriously?

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly launched a stinging rebuke to the federal government’s secret phone and Internet monitoring campaign — and suggested leaker Edward Snowden was right about privacy “abuse.” “I don’t think it ever should have been made secret,” Kelly said today, breaking ranks with US law-enforcement officials. His blast came days after the Obama administration and Attorney General Eric Holder outraged New York officials by endorsing a federal monitor for the NYPD. Kelly appeared to firmly reject Holder’s claim that disclosure of the monitoring campaign seriously damaged efforts to fight terrorism. “I think the American public can accept the...

Lawyers for the Singapore government told a coroner's inquest on Monday that an American scientist found hanged in the city-state last year killed himself and was not murdered as his family claims. Summing up state agencies' findings on the death of electronics engineer Shane Todd in June 2012, they said "it is clear from the medical forensic evidence that the medical cause of Shane's death was asphyxia due to hanging." The coroner's verdict, which cannot be appealed, is scheduled to be handed down on July 8. Public hearings on the case were held from May 13-27.

Last week saw the likely death of Abenomics. It is not a foregone conclusion but Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will need to come out fighting in a very un-Japanese way to save his program of national regeneration. In a few short weeks he has gone from hero to zero. Most likely, Abe will soon be the umpteenth one-year Japanese leader in a line of political failure. Japanese politics is in hopeless gridlock because no politician is able to break the gentle but profound decline. The situation is very real. Within two generations the Japanese population will collapse from 120 million...

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Were you targeted by the IRS for your political beliefs? Did you receive extra scrutiny for promoting limited government, the constitution, and fiscal responsibility? If not, will you be next? What: Audit the IRS Rally When: Wednesday, June 19, 2013 from Noon – 2pm Where: West Lawn of the US Capitol Join us on Wednesday, June 19th at 12pm on the West Lawn of the US Capitol as we come together to rally against the IRS. It’s time that Washington sees first-hand just how outraged the American people are by these discriminatory acts.

My little girl is 5. Perfect time to start Girl Scouts except ... well I suppose y'all will fill me in on that. Thoughts?