Free Republic

Lately it’s hard to take John Boehner and his Coppertone tan seriously. However, when it appeared that the House Majority Speaker was proactively taking the wind out of Barack Obama’s ‘they want to impeach me’ sails, there was a glimmer of hope that someone on the right had actually grown a spine. Republicans reiterating that impeachment was not an option exhibited a rare unified spirit. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) even hobbled up to the mic to reinforce Boehner’s proclamation that impeaching Barack Obama was a talking point that Democrats, not Republicans, were going on about. Is that a pulse? Could...

The City of San Marcos is downsizing. It's reducing the size of its trash carts by 30 gallons to cut back on the amount of garbage being dumped at landfills... San Marcos customers will be put to the test October 1.That's when the older trash carts will be replaced by the new smaller ones. Customers who want to keep the bigger carts will have to pay at least $3 more a month.

Thanks to rockets rising over Gaza, jet debris falling onto Ukraine, and children wading across the Rio Grande, Americans barely have had time to focus on Obamacare. Mounting global and domestic chaos, however, cannot mask forever the deep and severe flaws in Obama’s pet program. From insurance cancellations to premium increases to gross ineptness, Obamacare likely will roar back into the news, just in time to stymie Democrats at the midterm election. Just the other day, I opened an envelope from Easy Choice Health Insurance. “IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING YOUR POLICY,” the letter trumpeted. “We are writing to let you...

Christians use lots of quotes. Pastors use them in their sermons constantly. Writers illustrate their points with them. Nothing wrong with that. They are quite helpful and encouraging in making a point.Save when the quote has no basis in fact.We as evangelicals who claim we are committed to truth are certainly good at spreading falsehood, even if unintentionally. We can do better. One very clever and popular quote we often knock around among ourselves is . . .Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.It is always attributed to St. Francis of Assisi—founder of the Franciscan Order—and is intended...

YouTube Video - about 4 minutes - Good documentation that goes back to January 2014 that shows this immigration mess with the "children" was a government planned event.

As soon as the House GOP leadership fumbled its border bill, Democrats started blaming Ted Cruz. "Blaming" might be too strong a word -- Democrats were practically vibrating with delight at another chance to portray John Boehner as a simpering loser who keeps getting dunked on by a freshman senator from Texas. .@SenTedCruz Just thought I'd go right to the source, will the House be voting tonight? — U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan (@repmarkpocan) July 31, 2014 Democrats do this because Cruz is famous, and -- they believe -- primarily associated with the 2013 government shutdown. The press doesn't do much...

Police: Gunman and victim in Loop shooting 'had been friends for years' By Marwa Eltagouri, Alexandra Chachkevitch and Meredith Rodriguez, Tribune reporters Less than a week after Tony DeFrances learned that he was being demoted as part of a downsizing of his company, authorities said he walked into his boss’s office Thursday morning for a one-on-one. Apparently upset about his demotion, DeFrances, armed with a gun, confronted CEO Steven LaVoie, a longtime colleague and friend at the supply technology firm ArrowStream in the Loop, police said. At some point, DeFrances, 60, and LaVoie, 54, struggled over the gun. LaVoie was...

Shell announced today that it has declared force majeure on its unconventional gas exploration activities in eastern Ukraine, near the site where flight MH17 crashed. However, it's too early to tell what impact the latest round of EU and US sanctions on Russia for its actions in Ukraine will have on the Anglo-Dutch major, sources said. Shell has been engaging in shale gas exploration in Ukraine and its Russian assets include a stake in Sakhalin-2, one of the largest LNG projects in the world, where it is working with Gazprom to expand the project. Shell CEO Ben van Beurden was...

After meandering higher for most of the year, the stock market is now sputtering. That's triggering chatter about a minor "correction," which many people believe is long overdue. And maybe that's what we're at the start of — a minor "correction." Or maybe this is just a blip and the brilliant and prudent Jeremy Grantham is right that we're on the cusp of a new bubble that will take the S&P 500 up another 10 percent to 15 percent over the next year to 2,250. (As a stockholder, I sure hope so!) Or maybe we'll get both—a minor "correction" and...

Iraqi Christians driven from their homes by Islamist terrorists should not flee their country, a French cardinal reportedly said this week. Cardinal Philippe Barbarin of Lyon celebrated Mass in St Joseph’s Church, Ankawa, and was quoted as telling the Iraqis that Pope Francis wanted Christians to remain there. Sahar Mansour, a refugee who attended the July 28 Mass for peace in Iraq, said the cardinal told the congregation of more than 1,000 people, many of whom had fled Mosul as the city fell to Islamic State fighters in June, that the Pope’s wish was for them “to be strong and...

Full Title: Pope Francis Reveals Top 10 Secrets to Happiness; Advises Taking Care of Nature, Honoring Sundays, Respecting Others' Beliefs Pope Francis has shared his top 10 secrets to a happy life in an interview with an Argentinean newspaper, and advised people to slow down and enjoy a "healthy sense of leisure," to take care of nature, and to respect other people's beliefs, among others. Catholic News Service posted Pope Francis' list on Tuesday, published in part in the Argentine weekly "Viva." The list goes as follows: 1. "Live and let live." Everyone should be guided by this principle, he...

The schedule for Francis’ trip to the Albanian capital Tirana on 21 September has been released. Archbishop Mirdita said the Albanian martyr Church is an example of coexistenceOn his forthcoming trip to the Albanian capital, Tirana, on Sunday 21 September, Pope Francis will meet with State and religious leaders, the local clergy and some children who are being cared for in various charity organisations. The Holy See Press Office has published the full schedule of the Pope’s one-day visit, during which he will give six speeches. Francis will depart from Rome’s Fiumicino airport at 7:30 am (CET) and will arrive...

<p>John Kerry is upset by heavy criticism from Israelis — left, right and center — of his recent ceasefire diplomacy. But that’s only half the story. More significant is the consternation of America’s Arab partners, starting with the president of the Palestinian Authority. Mahmoud Abbas was stunned that Kerry would fly off to Paris to negotiate with Hamas allies Qatar and Turkey in talks that excluded the PA and Egypt.</p>

Bipartisanship is dead. That's the conventional wisdom, and there's a lot of evidence to support it. But there's evidence to the contrary as well. On two important issues, veterans' health and job training, congressional Republicans and Democrats have, with little notice, reached constructive bipartisan agreements. These are both issues on which everyone agrees government should be involved. The country certainly owes something to veterans. And no one's proposing to eliminate job training programs altogether. But government is also not doing a good job on either. The Veterans Affairs Department scandals have revealed a culture of lying and incompetence that comes...

In order that we might all raise the level of discourse and expand our language abilities, here is the daily post of “Word for the Day”. ConcinnityNoun 1. Harmony in the arrangement or interarrangement of parts with respect to a whole. 2. Studied elegance and facility in style of expression: "He has what one character calls 'the gifts of concinnity and concision,' that deft swipe with a phrase that can be so devastating in children" (Elizabeth Ward). 3. An instance of harmonious arrangement or studied elegance and facility. Rules: Everyone must leave a post using the Word for the...

Moscow is preparing a bill to prevent Russian troops from posting selfies and other photographs on social media sites, according to July 29 reports. The proposed legislation came after soldiers published images on social media sites with captions saying they had been firing artillery into Ukraine. “We shelled Ukraine all night long,” Russian soldier Vadim Grigoryev wrote beneath a picture of weaponry he published last week on Vkontakte, Russia’s most popular social media network.

Let’s just recap what happened with the abduction of an Israeli soldier this morning. The Israeli government believed the word of the Secretary of State of the United States that, via his Turkish and Qatari friends, he had obtained acceptable terms for a ceasefire with Hamas. Mr. Kerry’s flunkies even bragged about the success of his Turko-Qatari connections, chiding those who looked askance at his bromance with friends and sponsors of Hamas. What happened next – a surprise attack on Israeli troops in the southern Gaza Strip an hour and a half into the “ceasefire”, an abduction of a soldier...

New Findings Presented at Creation Research Society Conference by Nathaniel T. Jeanson, Ph.D. * ICR’s BioOrigins team is entering a new, exciting phase of investigation. In August, we will present several preliminary research advances at the Creation Research Society (CRS) conference. This represents an important step forward in our current biology research initiatives. To date, we have made significant progress toward answering the four major research questions that we described over four years ago.1-5 For example, Dr. Jeffrey Tomkins has found that the supposed human chromosome 2 “fusion site” actually sits in the middle of a gene and encodes a...

Moscow, July 31, Interfax - Russia and other states have the right for their own model of relations between religion and state different from the USA and they should not make excuses for it, head of the Synodal Department for Church and Society Relations Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin said commenting the recent report of the USA State Department on international religious freedom. "I"ve been reading this report for many years, and I think it becomes more and more balanced. It's good that the topic of Christians' exodus from some countries of the Middle East is mentioned, that not only countries which...

On Fox News Friday, Geraldo Rivera got into it with former CIA official Michael Scheuer over newly surfaced recordings of former president Bill Clinton, in which he claims the day before 9/11 that he could have killed Osama bin Laden. In the tapes, Clinton says the reason he didn’t go in for the kill is that he would have had to “destroy a little town called Kandahar in Afghanistan and kill 300 innocent women and children, and then I would have been no better than him (bin Laden).” Scheuer, identified as head of CIA’s bin Laden unit 1995-1999, disputed Clinton’s...

11.4 million Americans age 16 and over have left the workforce since President Obama took office in January 2009, according to data released today from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). In July 2014, there were 92,001,000 Americans, 16 and over, who were classified as “not in the labor force,” meaning they not only did not have a job, but they didn’t actively seek one in the last four weeks. This number has increased by 11,472,000 since January 2009, when the number of Americans not in the labor force was 80,529,000. The number of Americans not in the labor force...

However, no abortion provider was found criminally negligent or liable for what happened to the little girl. Which begs the question… WHY NOT? The little girl went to three different clinics and all three were legally responsible to report the fact that this little girl was pregnant and seeking an abortion. They didn’t need proof of abuse, They didn’t need to find out how things happened… all they needed to know was that she was underage and pregnant. But they did nothing and her torture continued

A recent poll by The Pew Research Center is reporting that America is more divided than ever. According to the poll, 66% of consistently conservative Republicans think the Democrats’ policies threaten the nation’s well-being and half (50%) of consistently liberal Democrats say Republican policies jeopardize the nation’s well-being. With everything that is going on in our country, all Americans should be united. So, what is it that has us divided? The issues that we are facing effects all Americans on both sides of the political fencefrom foreign policy disasters, wide-open borders to the economy.

Sextili had been the name of the eighth month, but only because it was the sixth month in the Roman calendar. Wikipedia notes that "it became the eighth month when January and February were added to the year before March by King Numa Pompilius, who also gave it 29 days." Julius Caesar put in two additional days. Sextili became August eight years after the birth of Christ to honor Emperor Augustus. While August may have worked out well for Augustus, for American politicians August tends to be a month of scandal and trouble. Congress leaves for its August recess....

Sunday marked the 10th anniversary of President Obama's national debut at the Democratic National Convention. He was tasked with giving the keynote address at the 2004 event. He told a New York Times reporter the week before the convention, ''It came as a surprise that I'd be selected for such a privileged position. As my wife reminds me, I better not screw it up.''

Do Gaza civilians support Hamas' military operations that use them as human shields and store weapons in their schools and mosques? Ayman Mohyeldin would have you think so. On today's Morning Joe, the NBC reporter claimed that among Gazans, Hamas' military wing is "very highly revered." To which Israeli spokesman Mark Regev had a stunning comeback: "I mean, if you walk down the street in Gaza with an NBC camera and you ask people, well, was Hamas shooting from this building that the Israelis targeted? No, everyone will say, of course, not. Because you have a regime what is highly...

Michael Bloomberg's and Warren Buffett's “Everytown for Gun Safety” posted a series of YouTube videos in which an estranged husband smashes his way into a woman's house, seizes her child, and then points a gun at her head. The organization then tells its stakeholders that domestic abusers can buy guns over the Internet. When last I heard, it's illegal to buy a gun across state lines unless the transaction goes through a licensed gun dealer, who must perform a background check. Even if the transaction does not cross state lines, it is illegal to sell a firearm to somebody who...

The world’s second-richest man, Carlos Slim of Mexico, recently proposed the concept of a global three-day workweek at a business conference in Paraguay, arguing that working three days a week for a longer period of our lives — potentially up to age 75 — would better reflect the underlying economic and demographic reality of the modern world. ........................................................... But the real argument for the three-day workweek comes when you think of its ability to boost the innovation potential of individuals, companies and even nations. Working fewer hours a week frees up time to take on personal creativity and passion projects.

Russia's deputy prime minister has tweeted a picture mocking Barack Obama's masculinity just days after the U.S. president announced a fresh wave of sanctions against the country. Dmitry Rogozin uploaded an image of Russian president Vladimir Putin posing with a leopard alongside an image of Obama holding a white poodle.

From manager Mike Redmond after the game: "To lose a ballgame tonight on that play is a joke. It's an absolute joke. I don't think anybody who plays this game should feel good about winning that game. And I would say that if had been reversed. That guy was out by 15 feet. It was a great baseball play. G threw a strike to Matty. He was out by 15 feet. He didn't slide because he couldn't slide because he was out by so far. And yet those guys in New York decided the outcome of that game ... "No...

Satellite images Kiev published as ‘proof’ it didn’t deploy anti-aircraft batteries around the MH17 crash site carry altered time-stamps and are from days after the MH17 tragedy, the Russian Defense Ministry has revealed. The images, which Kiev claims were taken by its satellites at the same time as those taken by Russian satellites, are neither Ukrainian nor authentic, according to a Moscow statement. The Defense Ministry said the images were apparently made by an American KeyHole reconnaissance satellite, because the two Ukrainian satellites currently in orbit, Sich-1 and Sich-2, were not positioned over the part of Ukraine’s Donetsk Region shown...

When, in 2012, EPA official Al Almendariz likened his enforcement strategy for federal drilling policies to Romans’ peacekeeping tactics in the Mediterranean — “Crucify them,” he quipped — he was only exhibiting what many already knew: that the Environmental Protection Agency performs its work with an almost religious zeal. But the agency’s latest effort — a massive clampdown on the nation’s coal industry — is receiving actual religious imprimatur. This week 28 religious leaders, representing not only a number of Christian denominations (Presbyterian, Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, Quaker, Baptist, and more) but other faiths (Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, and Bah�ʾī), testified in...

U.S. job growth slowed more than expected in July and an unexpected rise in the unemployment rate pointed to some slack in the labor market that could give the Federal Reserve room to keep interest rates low for a while. Nonfarm payrolls increased 209,000 last month after surging by 298,000 in June, the Labor Department said on Friday. Data for May and June were revised to show a total of 15,000 more jobs created than previously reported, showing underlying momentum.

Hamas Bumper Stickers These are just @ThePeoplesCube Tweets, there are many great ones made by others too. Honk if you've been followed by the same helicopter for the last 10 minutes If you can read this, you're about to be blown up, too I just lost 200 lbs instantly - ask me how My other car is a bomb 80 percent of success is just blowing upBaby suicide bomber on board This is your brain. This is your brain on upholstery.Kill, baby, kill What car bomb would Mohammed drive?Driver carries no cash, he's about to be vaporized "Palestinian rebels"...

The Obama administration is suing the Pennsylvania State Police for requiring both men and women applying for entry-level trooper jobs to pass the same physical fitness tests. Because more men than women pass the tests, their use is discriminatory and violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Justice Department says. From 2003-2008, approximately 94 percent of male applicants passed the test, while only 71 percent of female applicants passed. DOJ concluded that the 2003 and the 2009 tests were "not job-related" and "not consistent with business necessity..." But the Pennsylvania State Police website makes it clear...

A hard-won internationally brokered truce between Israel and Palestinian militants collapsed within hours Friday after the Israeli military said one of its soldiers was missing amid heavy fighting in the southern Gaza Strip and may have been captured by Hamas fighters. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stopped short of declaring the cease-fire dead, but accused Hamas of “flagrantly violating” what was to have been a three-day truce. Hamas in turn insisted it was Israel that had broken the cease-fire terms agreed to only hours earlier. Although Netanyahu distanced himself from personally announcing the breakdown of the truce – as he...

A Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO - the terror group behind the Palestinian Authority) flag was spotted hanging from a utility pole near the Lion's Gate last week, a Jerusalem resident reports - and the municipality refused to take it down until it caused someone to get hurt. "I called the police and the dispatcher told me it was illegal," a woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, told Arutz Sheva Friday. "I turned to the municipality where I was told they are afraid of a 'pogrom.'" "When I returned at eleven at night and saw that the flag was still there,...

The IDF has released the names of three of the five soldiers killed Thursday night in Gaza. All of them served in the 188th Armored Brigade, or "Lightning Brigade." The slain (hy"d) are: Master Sergeant Daniel Marsh, 22, from Rishon LeTzion. Marsh's funeral will be held at 3:30 pm Friday at the military cemetery in Holon. Captain Omri Tal, 22, from Yehud. Tal's funeral arrangements are still pending. Sergeant First Class Shai Kushner, 20, from Kiryat Motzkin. Kushner's funeral will be held at 2:00 pm Friday in Kiryat Ata. Master-Sgt. Noam Rosenthal, 20, from Mitar will be laid to rest...

The stay of the permanent injunction ordered by Judge Frederic J. Scullin in the Palmer v. D.C. case has raised considerable ire among those who believe that the right to keep and bear arms has been denied in the District of Columbia for far too long.   Many thought that if constitutional carry were allowed for a period of time in the District, crime rates would have dropped.  Alan Gura predicted such a drop.    Many thought a crime rate drop would make it hard to justify a stay.   Some accused Alan Gura of being an accomplice of the establishment...

A large cause of Detroit’s historic bankruptcy in 2013 was its grossly underfunded retiree systems for public employees. At the time, the estimates of the amount of unfunded liabilities in the general pension system ran from 94 percent to 65 percent. But few people realize that many of Michigan’s largest cities have pension benefit systems in far worse conditions than Detroit. A review of the Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (CAFR) by Capitol Confidential of the employee pension systems for Michigan’s 100 largest municipalities shows that many of them are 65 percent funded or worse. One system, Lincoln Park, is only...

The IDF released for publication the name of the soldier feared abducted by terrorists in Gaza. The missing soldier has been named as Second Lieutenant (Platoon Leader) Hadar Goldin, 23, from Kfar Saba. Goldin serves in the Givati Brigade. The IDF Spokesperson's office announced Friday that at about 9:30 am, terrorists opened fire on Israeli forces in southern Gaza, triggering a fierce exchange of fire, and preliminary information indicates that there is a concern that a soldier was kidnapped during the fighting. Two other soldiers were reportedly killed in the same gunfight. An investigation is underway and at this time,...

On Tuesday the NLRB's chief prosecutor directed that the fast-food purveyor be charged as a "joint-employer" in dozens of unfair labor practice complaints filed by workers employed at the company's franchises. The workers claim they were wrongly punished for walking off the job to join rallies coordinated by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) for a $15 "living wage." Leave aside whether employers can discipline workers who play hookie. By deeming McDonald's a joint-employer, Mr. Griffin is putting the corporation on the hook for actions taken by its 3,000 or so franchisees—which operate about 90% of restaurants—without its knowledge or...

A new book claims that Vice-President Joe Biden upsets female Secret Service agents by swimming naked wherever he goes. 'Agents say that, whether at the vice president's residence or at his home in Delaware, Biden has a habit of swimming in his pool nude,' Mr Kessler writes. 'Female Secret Service agents find that offensive.' The Secret Service is also concerned by Mr Biden's insistence that the motorcade that accompanies him everywhere does not disturb his neighbours in his home state of Delaware, says Mr Kessler.

Palestinian media reports Hamas has executed more than 30 civilians accused of collaborating with Israel. Hamas shot some 20 Palestinians on Monday night for protesting against Hamas for the massive destruction inflicted on their neighborhood in Shejaia by the IDF in the past weeks, Channel 10 reported on Tuesday. Over the past few days, Hamas has executed more than 30 civilians from various parts of the Gaza Strip which it suspected of collaborating with Israel, unidentified Palestinian security sources told the Palestine Press News Agency. Hamas claimed it had detected alleged “spies” in the area of Shejaia and said that...

After agreeing to a 72-hour ceasefire less than 24 hours ago, Hamas has once again broken another temporary truce agreed to by both sides. It is believed Hamas has kidnapped an Israeli soldier and the fighting is continuing. More from Fox News:

Complete Headline: Illegal immigrant kids exposed federal agents to lice, scabies, tuberculosis and chicken pox, report says Unaccompanied illegal immigrant children with communicable diseases have given or exposed federal agents to lice, scabies, tuberculosis and chicken pox, according to a report issued Thursday by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General. [Snip] “UAC and family unit illnesses and unfamiliarity with bathroom facilities resulted in unsanitary conditions and exposure to human waste in some holding facilities. “DHS employees reported exposure to communicable diseases and becoming sick on duty. For example, during a recent site visit to the Del Rio...

SPOTSYLVANIA COUNTY, Va. – A pregnant mother of four died suddenly Monday after she was stung by wasps working in her backyard. Sarah Harkins, 32, leaves behind a husband and four children. (PHOTO: Ashley Schulzetenberg) Sarah Harkins, 32, leaves behind a husband and four children. (PHOTO: Ashley Schulzetenberg) Sarah Marie Schulzetenberg Harkins, 32, died at the hospital when an aneurysm in her brain burst, Harkins’ husband told Fredericksburg.com. Her unborn baby, who was to be named Cecilia Rachel, also passed away. The aneurysm burst due to the stress the stings and an allergic reaction brought on, the article stated. Harkins...

A German Army brigadier general who recently served with NATO forces in Afghanistan is assuming duties as the chief of staff of U. S. Army Europe, the first time a non-American officer has held that position.

Two years ago - nothing has changed. Screaming "back to the oven". Watch the video. It is infuriating. Don't know if they have been protesting lately in Ft. Lauderdale but they have in Miami.

The movement demanding legal recognition for same-sex marriage has made a radical and profoundly uncharitable assumption. It is this: Adult homosexuals need and have a greater right to same-sex marriage than babies have to their mothers. You cannot simultaneously claim babies have a right to their mothers and two men have a right to marry each other. Nor, of course, can you simultaneously claim babies have right to their fathers and two women have a right to marry each other. Notably, advocates of same-sex marriage do not argue that babies have a either a right or a need for a...