Free Republic

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia has placed a U.S. lawmaker and 12 other people connected with the Guantanamo Bay detention camp and the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq on its list of those banned from entering the country. In a statement Saturday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said congressman Jim Moran, a Democrat from Virginia, was banned in response to the July 2 U.S. ban on Russian parliament member Adam Delimkhanov. He said Moran had been repeatedly accused of financial misdeeds but didn't elaborate. The other 12, including Guantanamo commander Rear Adm. Richard Butler and Lynndie England, a former soldier convicted...

The Washington Post-ABC News poll reveals that 58 percent of Americans, including 54 percent of Latinos, are disappointed with his policies on the surge of thousands of undocumented immigrants, many of them children, across the southern border. Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/poll-Obama-immigration-children/2014/07/16/id/582962#ixzz37dmNzdPV Urgent: Should Obamacare Be Repealed? Vote Here Now!

“…Our energy policy is creating jobs and leading to a cleaner, safer planet.” If only these words spoken by our president during his State of the Union address were actually true. The energy industry is the latest victim of Obama Administration overreach. Under the guise of addressing global warming, President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed a plan that would require all states to make drastic reductions in carbon emissions. In essence, this forces them to use less coal and effectively mandates a transition to more expensive and less reliable energy sources like wind and solar – regardless...

Baltimore police plan to deploy officers around city schools until the school year ends to ensure student safety amid recent racial tensions, while school officials joined civil rights leaders to urge students of different races to peacefully resolve differences. The actions followed recent threats and violent attacks on Latino students as well as the Memorial Day robbery and murder of a 15-year-old Mexican student who had dropped out of high school to help his family. ...assaults on two Hispanic high school students last week heightened fears that Latino youths were being targeted. They said only seven out of more than...

CINCINNATI – A rush of punching and pushing during a kindergarten graduation ceremony Monday put a Mount Healthy elementary school on lockdown. Police say Raymond Walker, 33, started the fight with another man during the event at North Elementary School. The brawl then spread from two to about 20 people, witnesses said.

7 shot at South Side coin laundry print Email Pinterest 1 Chicago Police investigate shooting at a laundromat on 79th Street on Monday night. CAPTIONS Seven people have been shot tonight including a 14-year-old at a coin laundry in the South Chicago neighborhood, authorities said. Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said an EMS Plan I, which automatically sends at least five ambulances to the scene, was called about 8:20 p.m. for a shooting in the 7900 block of South Marquette Avenue. Many of the victims were "laid out" on the floor of the coin laundry in the 2600 block...

In the videos, a man could be heard swearing profusely and laughing loudly as tires squealed in the background. "I said we'll scare the [expletive] out of [expletive]s," the man said, apparently referring to the attack on the joggers. A voice also could be heard saying, "We had fun" and making a reference to the video game "Grand Theft Auto," in which criminals use stolen vehicles to cause death and destruction.

The memorials were hastily assembled on Monday with sad, handwritten messages and stuffed animals — in remembrance of two teenage brothers who died from gunfire the night before in a murder-suicide over what may have been the most trivial of sibling arguments. The two brothers fought over sharing clothes on Sunday night — with one of them apparently pulling the trigger on himself.

Fort Lauderdale police believe hundreds of young people made their way to the beach for one reason this Memorial Day, to cause trouble. Police described a volatile scene Monday night as they had to arrest dozens of people that were part of unruly crowds.

The U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan confirmed Thursday that three American doctors were killed by an Afghan security guard who opened fire at a Kabul hospital. The shooting at Cure International Hospital in the western part of the Afghan capital was the latest attack on foreign civilians in the city this year. Two others, including an American nurse, were wounded, according to Afghanistan's Health Ministry. "With great sadness we confirm that three Americans were killed in the attack at CURE Hospital," said a statement posted on the Embassy's Twitter page. "No other information will be released at this time." Afghanistan Minister...

How much do Americans trust President Obama? Not much, according to a Fox News poll. Sixty-one percent of respondents in the poll released Thursday said Obama lies at least some of the time on important issues. An additional 20 percent said he lies every now and then. Only 15 percent believe the president is completely truthful. Predictably, Republicans were more likely to believe Obama is a liar, with 85 percent saying he lies some or most of the time. Thirty-one percent of Democrats said the president is always truthful. What's interesting is that independents were slightly more likely to believe...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans increasingly think Democrats have a better plan for healthcare than Republicans, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted after the White House announced that more people than expected had signed up for the "Obamacare" health plan. Nearly one-third of respondents in the online survey released on Tuesday said they prefer Democrats' plan, policy or approach to healthcare, compared to just 18 percent for Republicans. This marks both an uptick in support for Democrats and a slide for Republicans since a similar poll in February. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius stepped down last week after...

16 There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, 19 a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community. -- Proverbs 6:16-19 The only time most people hear the word "shame" in any setting these days is when someone tells them, "You don't have to be ashamed." Unfortunately, in a society full of reality TV shows, overhyped marketing, and millions...

**SNIP** Much like individual policyholders last year, small group plan holders are discovering their plans don’t qualify for being grandfathered, despite the famed assurance that if they liked their plans they could keep them. “If you had your plan prior to March 2010 when Obamacare became law, it was supposed to be grandfathered in. You were supposed to keep it, but the Department of Labor came out with these grandfather regulations. It’s almost like telling a guy you can keep walking on the beach as long as you don’t get any sand on your feet. It’s almost impossible not to...

America succeeds because Americans fail and forgive. That's the intriguing message -- or part of it -- of Megan McArdle's new book "The Up Side of Down: Why Failing Well Is the Key to Success." McArdle, a Bloomberg blogger and columnist, stands out among economic writers, and not just because she's the only woman among them who is 6 feet 2 inches. She combines a shrewd knowledge of economics and practical experience with a writing style that every so often segues into comedy monologue. Americans fail a lot, she argues. Most new businesses fail. Most predictions are wrong. As the...

The number of Americans who believe global warming isn't happening has risen to 23 percent, up 7 percentage points since April 2013. The latest survey, taken in November 2013, finds that the majority of Americans — 63 percent — do believe in climate change, and 53 percent are "somewhat" or "very" worried about the consequences. The proportion of people who do believe in climate change has been steady since April 2013, but the proportion of those who say they "don't know" whether climate change is happening dropped 6 percentage points between April and November 2013, suggesting that many "don't knows"...

The start of the year is when many companies, organizations, families and people review their plans and their priorities. This process often includes deciding where they should focus their time, energy and effort, and how to judge, at year's end, whether they have succeeded. Planning is most successful when it is built on the priorities, opportunities and problems that need to be addressed. If the biggest problem one has is health, then health should be the focus. If a person is in good health, but cannot meet his or her financial obligations, then the key priority would be finance --...

Ninety-two million Americans are not in the work force—they don’t have jobs and they aren’t looking for jobs. These 92 million Americans aren’t just out of work—they are resigned to being out of work as a way of life. The ballooning numbers of Americans who are resigned to long-term joblessness inspired Roger L. Simon to suggest in a bleakly humorous piece over at PJ Media that Americans are going Galt: Tell all your “Objectivist” friends and the libertarian gang at Reason magazine to break out the champagne. Americans may have skipped the movie of Atlas Shrugged, nor have many read...

Our coins say it--"In God We Trust." But surveys indicate that fewer and fewer Americans actually put their trust in God. For many, God seems to get in the way. To some, God and his commandments are the creation of an archaic Judeo-Christian belief system that just impedes needed cultural transformation. Coverage of the recent statements by Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson have focused primarily on his statements regarding homosexual behavior. But the subsequent reaction has revealed a deep divide in our culture. Ron Highfield's faith-affirming book, "God, Freedom & Human Dignity," explores the impact of centuries of Enlightenment thinking...

(Reuters) - Americans named President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as the world's most admired living man and woman in 2013, according to a Gallup poll released on Monday. Obama topped the annual list for the sixth consecutive year, a typical ranking for a sitting U.S. president, the polling organization said. But the percentage of those surveyed who choose him as the most admired man fell to 16 percent this year, down from 30 percent in 2012. The president's job approval rating has dropped during a year marked by a botched healthcare rollout and stalled legislative...