Free Republic

While officially the investigation into last year’s Monument Fire is “closed-unsolved,” there is no doubt it was human-caused. What is not known is whether it was accidentally started, or was lit as a diversion for criminal activities involving drug or people smuggling, Coronado National Forest spokeswoman Heidi Schewel said. “We know it was human-caused, there was no lightning in the area,” Schewel said during a telephone interview with the Herald/Review Monday. Monday she sent out a press release which highlighted investigations of the Monument and Horseshoe 2 fires in Cochise County done by forest service wildland fire investigators. Investigation of...

With a strong democratic tradition and an equally strong history of confidence in our institutions, the American people – on both the right and the left – have long believed with absolute confidence that the United States is immune to the kind of threat to stability that has rocked and is currently rocking the Middle East – in countries like Egypt Bahrain and Yemen. This is no longer true. The United States today is a country that lacks fiscal stability, political stability, and economic stability. It is clear, with the tens of thousands of public employees that have descended on...

Judicial Watch filed a freedom of information request for documents pertaining to the possible leak of the information relating to the killing of Osama bin Laden to a Hollywood producer in August 2011. The administration has yet to cough up the information, so Judicial Watch is suing them. The DOD admitted receiving the FOIA request on August 22, 2011, but advised Judicial Watch that “at this time, we are unable to make a release determination on your request within twenty (20) working days” of August 9, which would have been by September 6, 2011. The CIA acknowledged receiving the FOIA...

TSA collected $400,000 in spare change left by passengers in airports in 2011By Keith Laing - 01/12/12 02:59 PM ET Airline passengers left more than $400,000 at airport security checkpoints operated by the Transportation Security Administration in 2011. TSA found $409,085.56 in spare change last year that was unclaimed by passengers, according to figures released by the agency. Historically, if no one comes back to get the leftover money, it stays with the TSA. A Florida lawmaker is trying to change that, however: Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) filed a bill in April of 2009 that would require TSA to transfer...

Manasquan, NJ --(Ammoland.com)- Recent statistics released by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) report that for nineteen straight months, and that includes all of 2011, American men & women bought over 10,800,000 plus firearms. This number based on the FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check System, better know as NICS, and is the adjusted NICS data derived by the NSSF research division subtracting out NICS purpose code permit checks used by several states such as Kentucky, Iowa and Utah for carrying concealed weapon (CCW) permit application checks as well as checks on active CCW permit databases. The final number, of...

A mostly chronological collection of graphics done in 2011 that marked events of the year. Happy new year!

President Obama may best be known as the president who took kicking the can down the road to new, unimagined levels. Obama has demonstrated an unusual ability to delay decision-making, to obfuscate issues, to divert attention from matters of critical importance, and his preference to take half measures when pushed to the brink is now well known. Obama is the Grand Master of Kicking the Can Down the Road. But in 2012 that seems likely to change—the can is going to kick back. The problems besetting our nation can only be ignored and obfuscated for so long—and the past three...

2011 was the year in which many conspiracy "theories" became conspiracy FACTS. Articles that used to earn you a tinfoil hat designation suddenly were front-page news stories across the country. The world is stranger than we can imagine, it seems, and 2011 proved it yet again.

This list is my opinion of the best nonfiction books on the subject of economics, policy or law that came out in the year 2011 (with one exception). Though it is probably too late to pick these books up in time for Christmas, readers are encouraged to look into the after-holiday sales and check out some of the best work from the past year. “Keeping the Republic: Saving America by Trusting Americans” – Gov. Mitch Daniels Daniels is the current governor of Indiana. He was also the speaker at a recent Mackinac Center event, where he gave a taste of...

As we pop the corks of our proverbial champagne this weekend with an eye to a better year ahead, perhaps it is worth thinking about these 11 incredible trends that have evolved in a rather disturbing manner over the last 11 years. As John Lohman points out, the 21st century has not been pretty for ongoing centrally planned attempts to defer the 30 year overdue mean reversion.            

With the year drawing rapidly to a close and so many quotes to chose among - serious and humorous, conservative and liberal, rabid media outbursts, Obama's choicest lies, the liberal chameleon Mitt Romney - what are your personal quote(s) of the year for 2011?The quote may be comforting or disturbing, enlightening or confusing, endearing or maddening . . . but, c'mon, you know you have one.

Charlie Sheen was clearly the man of the year. You'll recall that 2011 began with the oafish actor celebrating his own narcotic and sexual crapulence like a victorious gladiator working the crowds. He was egged on by a media with as much decency as the cons on the top tiers of the prison who chant "fresh fish" as the new inmates walk into general pop, their eyes stinging from delousing powder. Sheen succeeded at turning his own debasement into a national pseudo-event by calling the very definition of losing "winning." And that's what 2011 was all about: pretending to be...

MALKIN: 2011 was a year of widespread self-serving scandals, scamsMICHELLE MALKIN December 29, 2011 6:37 PM With 2011 drawing to a close, it is time to account. As an early-and-often chronicler of Chicago-on-the-Potomac, I am amazed at the stubborn and clingy persistence of President Barack Obama’s snowblowers in the media. See no scandal, hear no scandal, speak no scandal. Dartmouth College professor Brendan Nyhan asserted in May — while Operation Fast and Furious subpoenas were flying on Capitol Hill — that “one of the least remarked upon aspects of the Obama presidency has been the lack of scandals.” Conveniently, he...

This was a banner year for guns -- 2011 is set to smash the record for gun sales. The record for a single year was set just last year, when the FBI reported that 14,409,616 background checks were requested. In 2011 that figure will top 16 million. FBI spokesman Steve Fischer said just 1.3% of background checks result in denial of a weapon. With a week left in December, the FBI said the monthly record has already been broken, and that was only set last month when 1,534,414 background checks were requested from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System...

Wolf management, a proposed open carry ban, an Idaho grizzly bear shooting, the on-going Seattle gun ban lawsuit, a Washington State Patrol gun reporting flap; they all paled in comparison to the biggest story covered by this column and other Gun Rights Examiners during 2011: Operation Fast and Furious. What began as an investigation into the slaying of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry in the Arizona desert in December 2010 has turned into a national scandal with plenty of local interest that many have compared to Richard Nixon’s Watergate. The murder was linked to a gun trafficking sting mounted by...

That time of the year again. Frankly, I thought this was, at best, a mediocre year at the movies. A lot of movies that I had expectations for last year were letdowns. That said, there were certainly movies I enjoyed, and I hope you caught a few of them along the way. Please note that the links take you to my reviews of the movies, where available. Honorable Mentions: 50/50, Another Earth, The Artist, Bridesmaids, Captain America, Cars 2, The Descendents, Drive, Green Lantern, The Help, Horrible Bosses, Midnight in Paris, Mission: Impossible, Ghost Protocol, Moneyball, The Muppets, Pirates of...

SALT LAKE CITY -- Two members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints running for President. A hit Broadway musical called "The Book of Mormon." Mormons have held the spotlight this year. But across our state milestones have been marked for many faiths that make up the religious background of Utah. From politics to arts, many throughout the country dub this "The year of the Mormons." Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney was on the cover of Newsweek in June, his head atop the body of a dancing missionary actor from "The Book of Mormon" Broadway musical, which won...

My Magnificent Seven. Some bust myths. Others highlight a reality the media is ignoring. Enjoy!1. The overly optimistic unemployment forecast of the Obama White House. This may be the most infamous economic prediction in U.S. political history (helpfully updated by The Right Sphere). For the original January 2009 chart from White House economic advisers Jared Bernstein and Christina Romer, see here. 2. The real unemployment rate. The official (U-3) unemployment rate is 8.6 percent. But the labor force has been shrinking as discouraged workers have been disappeared by government statisticians rather than counted as unemployed. But what if they weren’t? What...

From Charlie Sheen's #winning tweets to the debt ceiling crisis and global protests, it seems the whole world went nuts in 2011. Join us as we reminisce about the most notorious moments of the year in our 7th annual year in review... this time sung by a popsicle stick puppet choir! 2011, Buh-Bye! Lyrics Two Thousand Eleven was hairy, A year unlike any we've seen. There were Schweddy Balls from Ben & Jerry, And a warlock assassin named Sheen! Winning! Lohan! Strauss-Kahn! Mitt Romney, Rick Perry and Cain- THREE 9s! Big Trials! Love Childs! Two Thousand Eleven, buh-bye! AGHAGHAGHAG!