Free Republic

Libyan leader Muommar Qaddafi says he'll stay and die on Libyan soil, but that apparently doesn't apply to his lone daughter, Aisha. Word is she's left the country, but having a hard time finding a country that will take her. A plane she was on just got denied entry into Malta, says Al-Jazeera. Meanwhile, the Lebanese wife of Qaddai son Hanibal was denied entry into Lebanon last night.

A forestry company filed a civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) lawsuit against Greenpeace Tuesday for misrepresenting the company’s environmental record to raise funds and promote its agenda. Greenpeace knowingly and deliberately made false claims about the company while fundraising, and fabricated evidence of Resolute’s alleged environmental malfeasance, according to the forestry and paper company Resolute Forest Products. RICO is an anti-mafia law designed to combat organized crime. Greenpeace’ is a global fraud,” states the 124-page legal complaint. “For years, this international network of environmental groups collectively calling themselves ‘Greenpeace’ has fraudulently induced people throughout the United States and...

Oil and gas industry groups on Thursday sued federal agencies over revisions to land management plans in Colorado and other western states to protect the greater sage-grouse. The Western Energy Alliance and the North Dakota Petroleum Council filed the suit in North Dakota, saying the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service failed to follow proper procedures for public involvement in adopting the land use plan amendments. They also say the plans ignore sound science and will hurt western economies. Plan revisions being challenged include ones in northwest Colorado, where greater sage-grouse habitat substantially overlaps with oil and gas...

The conservative group Club for Growth is set to launch an anti-Donald Trump advertising campaign in two states voting on March 1. The organization, which supports anti-tax policies, has purchased nearly $1 million in commercial bookings in Arkansas and Oklahoma on TV and digital platforms, according to a source familiar with the buy. Both states hold their primaries on Super Tuesday, when about 25 percent of the party's delegates are to be awarded as a dozen states hold their primaries. The offensive comes at a time of growing consternation among some in the Republican Party about stopping Trump. Numerous polls...

A gun failure test is designed to see what it takes to stop a firearm's operation. This test was conducted by firing an AR on full auto going through several magazines, before the unexpected thing happened. The gun didn't stop firing, but it did burst into flames. The test itself appeared to involve shooting the gun as fast as possible until it quit firing. Well, that didn't happen. Watch the video to see if you think this gun passed or failed.

The Utah Attorney General's Office filed a lawsuit Thursday against the Department of the Interior and Department of Agriculture, claiming the agencies' strategy to disallow new mining on or near greater sage grouse habitats is a breach of "numerous federal laws and regulations." The lawsuit in U.S. District Court seeks an order voiding the federal government's land-use plan amendments submitted last year that would directly prohibit new hard rock mining on 233,300 acres in Utah. "The state of Utah claims that the 2015 federal plan amendments disregarded the hallmark of federal land management -- multiple use and sustained yield --...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Three people were fatally shot over the course of a day in Little Rock, including a mother who was holding her young daughter while she was struck, police said Sunday. The killings bring to five the number of homicides in the city so far this year, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported. Little Rock police spokesman Lt. Steve McClanahan said 19-year-old Junius Pitts Jr. died early Sunday morning after being shot while apparently sitting in his car at a red light near the University of Arkansas at Little Rock campus. A witness who was in the car...

I have been given first shot at a Primary Weapons Systems PWS MK114 rifle in .223 Wylde. I've always wanted something like this but know nothing about them. Good, bad or otherwise, please share your vast and valuable knowledge. Thank you all, in advance.

Saudi Arabia is mulling the sale of shares in Aramco, believed to be the world's most valuable company, as part of plans to repair its finances and open up its economy. The announcement was made by the country's deputy crown prince as Saudi's secretive, state-owned oil firm grapples with the effects of oil prices nearing 12-year lows . Mohammed bin Salman told The Economist: "That is something that is being reviewed, and we believe a decision will be made over the next few months." The Saudi economy has taken a battering from the oil price decline and the finance ministry...

A growing number of state organizations seek to remedy what they consider negligent policies and shoddy oversight of public land on the part of federal agencies. Under the umbrella name Transfer of Public Lands, the movement offers a solution to the problem that is simple in concept: transfer ownership and management of public lands administered by federal agencies to equivalent state agencies. These agencies, being accountable to governors, state legislators and citizens, will manage the public lands in a more conscientious, cost-effective way. ... Unlike states east of the Continental Divide, public lands in Western states such as Washington and...

A U.S. judge on Friday approved a deal between conservationists and Montana officials to restrict road-building and logging in roughly 22,000 acres of state forest lands that make up core habitat for federally protected grizzlies. The agreement resolves a lawsuit brought by conservationists after the state had sought to open 37,000 acres , mostly in the Stillwater State Forest, to timber harvesting despite what environmentalists said would be the destruction of prime grizzly bear territory. ... U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy in a decision last year found the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service violated the Endangered Species Act by...

On September 24, 2015, the federal Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) published a Notice of Proposed Withdrawal (“BLM notice”), proposing to withdraw from mineral location and entry federal lands identified as “sagebrush focal areas” in Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming. The BLM notice commences a two-year temporary segregation period, prohibiting location and entry of new mining claims on BLM and U.S. Forest Service lands in these sagebrush focal areas. If the BLM decides to withdraw the area at the end of the segregation period, the withdrawal will last up to 20 years, but could be extended in the...

Hillary Clinton used her private email account to pass along the identity of one of the CIA’s top Libyan intelligence sources, raising new questions about her handling of classified information, according to excerpts from previously undisclosed emails released Thursday by Rep. Trey Gowdy, the Republican chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi. On March 18, 2011, Sidney Blumenthal — Clinton’s longtime friend and political adviser — sent the then secretary of state an email to her private account that contained apparently highly sensitive information he had received from Tyler Drumheller, a former top CIA official with whom Blumenthal at...

Two allotments delayed pending more studies. A coalition of environmental groups have forced public land managers to delay a grazing permit decision on Canyons of the Ancients National Monument. Grand Canyon Trust, Western Watershed Project, Wild Earth Guardians, National Resource Defense Council, Wildlands Defense, the Sierra Club and Durango-based Great Old Broads for Wilderness collectively filed a 27-page protest against the proposed Flodine and Yellow Jacket grazing allotments on the monument ... they want the two allotments permanently closed to grazing ... The groups challenged a recent decision plan by the BLM to issue 10-year terms for the allotments, located...

Barbara Paschke, 85, died as the result of injuries she suffered during a black bear attack inside her home ... from injuries she suffered during a black bear attack inside her Ashley Lake home last Sunday afternoon. The woman, Barbara Paschke, died at 10:30 a.m. while she was hospitalized at Kalispell Regional Medical Center. She died due to injuries from the attack ... The attack occurred inside Paschke’s home between Batavia Lane and Ashley Lake Road; although it’s not clear how the bear got inside Paschke’s home, it exited through a window, investigators said. The attack was severe, officials said,...

PPP's newest North Carolina poll finds that Donald Trump is holding his ground- at least compared to where he was in the state six weeks ago. Trump leads with 26% to 21% for Ben Carson, 12% for Carly Fiorina, 10% for Marco Rubio, 9% for Ted Cruz, 6% for Mike Huckabee, 5% for Jeb Bush, 4% for John Kasich, and 2% for Chris Christie. Rounding out the field are Rick Santorum and Bobby Jindal at 1%, and Jim Gilmore, Lindsey Graham, George Pataki, and Rand Paul all at less than 1%. Trump's 26% is almost identical to his 24% standing...

Despite a long process involving collaboration between local officials the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Western Colorado, the federal land agency is proceeding with the closure of roads that have been traveled for 50 or more years. The road closures comprise a portion of the BLM’s Resource Management Plan (RMP) for Mesa County, of which, 73 percent is controlled by the federal government . ... public roads, used by off-roaders, hunters, farmers, ranchers and, during wildfire season, firefighting crews. ... Jody Green, a member of Public Lands Access Association and long-time activist working to preserve access into federally-managed lands,...

GREENWOOD TOWNSHIP, MI — A 46-year-old man was injured in what the Michigan Department of Natural Resources suspects was a black bear attack. ... a black bear came from behind, knocked him over and attacked him. "Using his hunting knife, the man stabbed the bear, which scared it off. The bear is thought to be injured," the DNR said in a news release. "The DNR was informed about 45 minutes later." Sgt. Jon Wood spoke with the hunter and advised him to seek medical attention. The DNR's Law Enforcement Division is continuing to investigate the incident. The DNR plans to...

A flight was diverted to Denver International Airport on Friday because of an unruly passenger who wanted to see her comfort cat. Passengers resumed their flight on Saturday after a 24-hour delay. A passenger on the flight to Germany from Las Vegas shot video of a clearly agitated woman, described at a European model, taken off the Condor Airlines flight that landed prematurely in Denver. The female passenger was reportedly demanding to be seated with her comfort cat. “That lady wasn’t happy with the crew putting their cat in the lavatory and then everything went wrong. She started screaming and...

Since the release of the first incriminating Planned Parenthood video from the Center for Medical Progress, a flurry of investigations have ensued. These videos at least show evidence indicating a strong likelihood of illegal activity, and at worst show despicable, callous disregard for the law, human life, and women. Here are the ongoing official investigations and government actions taken against Planned Parenthood. As of Wednesday, five states have made moves to defund Planned Parenthood, or end participation in the funneling of federal money to the unscrupulous organization. These states are New Hampshire, Utah, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Alabama. Thirteen states have...