Free Republic

A reporter candidly questioned the wisdom of allowing children access to cans, listing the ways it could go wrong: • Children could use the cans on each other, in rapid succession, as assault-can play weapons; • An intruder might get extra angry at can throwers, who would be like canaries in a coalmine; • The intruder might hurl the cans back at the children, cancelling this brilliant progressive idea. The administrator erupted volcanically, “Yeah, cans kill people, and spoons make people fat! The original use of canned food is to nourish, not to kill people (just like spoons.) Therefore, cans...

A Dothan woman facing eight felony absentee ballot fraud charges pleaded guilty Tuesday afternoon to reduced misdemeanor charges. Janice Lee Hart, 64, pleaded guilty about midway through the prosecution’s evidence to eight misdemeanor counts of attempted absentee ballot fraud. Circuit Court Judge Brad Mendheim sentenced Hart to 12 months in the Houston County Jail for each charge, which he suspended in favor of two years probation for each charge. Mendheim ordered Hart to pay a $200 fine, a $25 victim’s compensation fee and court costs for each of the eight misdemeanor convictions. “You may not have any invovlment with any...

A middle school principal in eastern Alabama wants to stockpile cans of food such as corn and peas in classrooms so that students could hurl them as weapons in a last-resort confrontation with a school intruder. In a letter Friday, W.F. Burns Middle School Principal Priscella Holley asked parents to have each student bring an 8-ounce canned item. "We realize at first this may seem odd; however, it is a practice that would catch an intruder off guard," she wrote in the letter, published by TV station WHNT in Huntsville. "The canned food item could stun the intruder or even...

ATHENS, AL (AP) - A newspaper reports that radioactive water leaked from a tank at an Alabama nuclear plant, releasing tritium into the environment. The report said that the leak occurred last week at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant near Athens, Alabama. A spokesman for the Tennessee Valley Authority, which operates the plant, said the leak was quickly contained and presented no public risk. The TVA said a drain line leaked 100 to 200 gallons of water containing tritium levels above acceptable drinking water standards.

~~snip~~ Voting against Boehner (10) Gohmert* Yoho* Rep. Steve King (Iowa) Rep. Jim Bridenstine (Okla.)* Rep. Dave Brat (Va.) (freshman) Rep. Walter Jones (N.C.)* Rep. Gary Palmer (Ala.) (freshman) Rep. Thomas Massie (Ky.)* Rep. Paul Gosar (Ariz.) Rep. Marlin Stutzman (Ind.) Said prior to 2014 election that they would vote against Boehner (2) Rep. Jody Hice (Ga.) (freshman) Rep. John Ratfliffe (Tex.) (freshman) Voted against Boehner in 2013/haven't weighed in (2) Rep. Steve Pearce (N.M.) (spokesman says he's "undecided") Rep. Justin Amash (Mich.) Voted against Boehner in 2013/will support him (3) Rep. Mick Mulvaney (S.C.) Rep. Raul Labrador (Idaho) Rep....

An atheist activist group is demanding an apology from a university chancellor over the contents of a video that he reportedly recently shared with students and staff members. American Atheists president David Silverman wrote a letter to Dr. Jack Hawkins, chancellor of Troy University in Troy, Alabama, on December 31, on behalf of a concerned student at the school who took issue with the video, which was reportedly included in the chancellor’s end-of-year email to students. The short clip featured comments from Clay Christensen, a noted professor at Harvard Business School, who discussed his views on religion and morality in American society. Christensen, a Mormon, said...

BIRMINGHAM, AL (WBRC) - Birmingham police are looking for the suspect who beat a pizza delivery man to death at the District at the Summit apartment complex on Sunday night. Police say a Domino's delivery worker was beaten in the head with an object and died from blunt force trauma. His body was discovered in a breezeway in the 900 block of Summit Place around 6:45 p.m. Sunday. Police are investigating his death as a homicide. The Jefferson County coroner's office identified the victim as Najeh Sulieman Masaid, 63. Birmingham police say Masaid is from another country. Officials believe the...

Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions is out as chair of the Senate Budget Committee. **"Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) is giving up his bid to become the next Budget Committee chairman — deferring to Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and eliminating the only competitive chairmanship battle in the incoming GOP Senate majority. "Sessions has been the panel’s top Republican for the past four years but Enzi technically retains seniority over the Alabaman on the committee and said several weeks ago that he would challenge Sessions for the chairmanship."** This is going to portrayed as a simple matter of seniority. It isn’t. That story...

Utah Sen. Mike Lee defended himself Tuesday against allegations that his point of order vote, which he earned in partnership with Sens. Ted Cruz and Jeff Sessions, contributed to President Barack Obama being able to confirm more of his nominees through the outgoing Democratic Senate majority. “Look, I’ve got tremendous respect for Charles Krauthammer, but he does not have a crystal ball,” Utah Sen. Mike Lee said on the Laura Ingraham radio show.

Did the Welsh discover America? 26/8/2002 A team of historians and researchers announced today that Radio Carbon dating evidence, and the discovery of ancient British style artefacts and inscriptions in the American Midwest, provide the strongest indications yet" that British explorers, under the Prince Madoc ap Meurig, arrived in the country during the 6th Century and set up colonies there. Research team members have known the location of burial sites of Madoc's close relatives in Wales for some time, it emerged today; but they have decided to break their self-imposed silence in order that their research be fully known and...

How did this Alabama family handle it when they saw the people who broke into their house and stole their Christmas presents? They drew their pistols, followed the suspected bad guys and stopped them at gunpoint until police got there. On Sunday afternoon, Chris Wyatt and other family members were able to recognize the people who’d broken into their house on that Friday from home surveillance video. The burglars were apparently back in the neighborhood trying to ruin Christmas for a few more boys and girls. Once confronted, of course, the suspects had their own story. Chris Wyatt told WBRC...

Cordova student hospitalized, claims he was victim of 'knock out game' Posted: Dec 16, 2014 10:29 PM CST Updated: Dec 17, 2014 5:31 PM CST By Sherea Harris CORDOVA, AL (WBRC) - A 15-year-old has been charged with assault after an incident at Cordova High School where a teenager claims he was a victim of the "knockout game." The victim - Matthew Cooper - is home from the hospital after suffering a broken jaw and concussion. The victim, Matthew Cooper, said he believes he was a set up by his own friend. Cooper thinks his friend thought the punch in...

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) on Wednesday afternoon conceded to Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) after a race to become the next chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. Sessions, currently the panel’s ranking member, said he reached an agreement with his “good friend” Enzi. “We have talked and I am deferring to his seniority so that he can lead the Budget Committee as its Chairman beginning in 2015,” Sessions said in a statement. “Mike graciously deferred to me two years ago after he timed out on HELP as Ranking Member, and it has been my enormous privilege to serve as the panel’s...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)CORDOVA, AL - A 15-year-old is recovering from surgery after he was reportedly attacked in his high school's restroom. His parents say he is the victim of what's been called the "knockout game." We understand Cordova police are investigating the attack that happened last Thursday, but the chief has not confirmed that yet. Matthew Cooper says he was hit with a surprise sucker punch by a friend. Now, the teenager has a break and a fracture in his jaw. He can barely open his mouth but that didn't stop him from telling Alabama's 13 News what happened to him, he...

It’s a question that will prove crucial next year when Mitch McConnell takes the reins of a new Senate: Just how big is the Ted Cruz caucus? Three votes on the “cromnibus” late Saturday night suggest it could be as large as 22 senators — a dangerously high number for McConnell — or as few as a handful. Let’s break down the three votes — on filibustering the $1.1 trillion package, on Cruz’s point of order aimed at targeting the president’s immigration action, and final passage. The high-water mark for the Texas Republican came on his point of order vote,...

A Tarrant, Alabama Police officer who became an Internet sensation after he decided not to arrest a grandmother he caught shoplifting eggs but to buy her some eggs instead, went a step further this week when he delivered two truckloads of food to her home to help her children. "The last time I saw my house this full, I was 12-years-old and staying with my grandmother," 47-year-old mother and grandmother Helen Johnson told al.com Wednesday after the food was delivered to her home. "I've been crying all day." Last Saturday, Officer William Stacy of the Tarrant Police Department was called...

The cromnibus had an unlikely savior Thursday afternoon in the form of a lame-duck lawmaker who used to raise reindeer. Rep. Kerry Bentivolio (R-Mich.), who lost his primary earlier this year, was originally among the conservative Republicans who voted against the rule. Without the help of Democrats, Republicans could only lose 17 of their own to pass the rule, which sets up floor debate for the underlying "cromnibus" spending bill. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) intervened once there were 18 Republican defectors — and not a single Democrat voting "yes." Many Democrats will vote against the government spending measure because they...

WASHINGTON – Republican Sens. Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, and Jeff Sessions are pushing for a vote to defund President Obama’s executive amnesty in the “Cromnibus” spending bill Friday night, The Daily Caller has learned. The trio of conservative senators is hoping to get the defund vote onto the Senate floor as a “point of order,” which would force a procedural vote on the issue without Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid having to introduce it. The senators are pushing hard on Capitol Hill for the measure as of early Friday afternoon. If successful, the vote would take place late Friday...

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - A woman who just finished walking her dog in Avondale this morning was attacked when a man apparently followed her home and forced his way inside. The woman wasn't injured, and was rescued when her husband awoke. Birmingham police spokesman Lt. Sean Edwards said the incident happened at 4:56 a.m. The woman was walking her dog in the 3800 block of Fifth Avenue South. When she finished and opened the door to her apartment, the assailant forced his way in behind her. He pushed her down and covered her mouth with his hand to keep her from...

President Obama has “destroyed” immigration enforcement in the U.S., Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) concluded Friday in reaction to the release of new Department of Homeland Security data. DHS data obtained by The Los Angeles Times reveal that last year’s total deportations represented the lowest of Obama’s presidency, despite a surge of illegal immigration at the border. The decrease in deportations included a 23 percent decline in interior removals since last year and represented fewer than half the interior deportations since 2011, when then-ICE Director John Morton issued the infamous Morton Memos placing restrictions on immigration enforcement. According to Sessions, the...