Free Republic

UNICEF activists are campaigning to educate Somaliland communities about the harms of female genital mutilation. But the stigma of being ‘uncut’ is still so strong that many leaders say they will not stop practicing FGM.The 30 Somali teenagers - both boys and girls - all agreed: Female genital mutilation is harmful and the practice should be abandoned. But what they really meant, they revealed moments later, is that girls should have their genitalia cut - just not sewn shut. "It's our tradition and if the girls are not subjected to suna(cutting) she will not be accepted for marriage," said Asthma...

Shrimpton reported Obama's purported mom was not pregnant in 1961 and that Obama was born in Kenya in 1960. He said Kenya was under British intelligence files and that Obama's father ran guns for the Mau Mau. He then dropped a bombshell claiming the CIA did covert DNA testing on Obama at a fundraising dinner and the test came back with no match to the claimed grandparents. Shrimpton said Rudy Giuliani's people knew and sat on the intelligence and further stated he spoke with Hillary Clinton's people and that they were quite interested.

WASHINGTON — Young Evangelicals argued that Christianity and libertarianism are compatible, and some even claimed that Christians should advocate for libertarian causes. "Christians actually ought to feel outraged that the redemptive power of charity has been taken from us and given to an unfeeling, coercive state," Leah Stiles Hughey declared at a Saturday panel at The International Students for Liberty Conference. She claimed that when government gets involved in giving to the poor it denies the God-given human dignity of both giver and receiver. Hughey's husband Jason explained that "the Bible is not a book of political theory." Nevertheless, "there...

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Are autopsies medical records or public records? South Carolina's Supreme Court will begin grappling with that question Wednesday, when it hears a lawsuit by a Sumter County newspaper against the county's coroner. The Item newspaper wants the high court to toss out a lower court's ruling that said autopsies do not have to be made public because they do not fall under the state's Freedom of Information Act.

A Highway Patrol trooper who caught another officer speeding to an off-duty job at 120mph is suing for more than $500,000 - saying his allies harassed her after he was fired. Florida's Donna Jane Watts made national headlines after handcuffing Miami Police Department officer Fausto Lopez, while he was in full uniform and driving a police car. Since the incident in 2011 she claims she has had threatening calls on her cell phone, police cars idling outside her house and fellow officers accessing her private driver's license information. Ms Watts - who is suing more than 25 police agencies -...

A Bay Area woman was shocked to receive an insulting piece of mail from the Bank of America. A Visa credit card offer from the bank sent to Lisa McIntire was addressed to "Lisa Is A Slut McIntire." McIntire thinks a data entry person entered the offensive address, but said she doesn't understand how it got through the bank's system. She took to Twitter to get the Bank of America's attention. The bank apologized in response and said they are looking into the situation.

MONTGOMERY, Alabama -- Bestiality is one step closer to being illegal in Alabama after the Alabama Senate today passed a bill to criminalize sexual contact with animals. -snip- Currently, bestiality is still legal in 14 states and the District of Columbia.

Ali C is a handsome woman. She has a soothing voice, striking eyes and, I imagine, hair that smells like gardenias. She has an apartment in the Financial District, which is where she hosts her clients. But Ali C is not a prostitute, nor is she a masseuse or a dominatrix or any traditional career in which people "host clients" in their homes. She's a Professional Cuddler, and she claims to be the city's first. Ali C (not her real name) is 47-years-old, and not particularly rotund, which does seem like it might afford a slight upper-hand in the pro-cuddle...

Sarah Palin was very busy last night. Too busy and important to watch the State of the Union, but she did catch it on her “truck radio” and she’s very concerned about that man in the White House. He’s arrogant and dangerously full of hubris. He dared to act like a President and use presidential powers. Something must be done! She warned her flock on Facebook today, “We the People” don’t have to be “We the Sheeple” and just get shepherded towards a fundamental transformation that’s against America’s will.” To remedy this horrible, big government intrusion, she says we can...

A group of students set a questionable record when they drank almost 5,000 Jägerbombs in a night.The 800-strong crowd downed 930 litres (205 gallons) of the Jägermeister/Red Bull combo. They took on the challenge at a weekly student event called Jäger Rocks, where the cocktail is sold for just £1. Organiser Student Republic tweeted the results, posting: ‘News just in: you guys drank a record 4,764 Jägerbombs at last Thursday’s Jäger Rocks #cheeky.’ But the boozy boast was met with mixed reviews. One psychology undergraduate told student newspaper The Tab: ‘It’s always a mental night but it was better than...

As congressional appropriators, slashed Afghanistan by half and barred U.S. defense officials from embarking on major new infrastructure projects Obama had long hoped to describe the end of America's longest war as a (yet another) foreign policy success. But Washington's appetite to remain engaged in Afghanistan appears to be eroding precipitously, because of the poisonous its relationship with the country's president.U.S. officials said the cuts and restrictions might appear starker than they actually are because agency heads will retain significant flexibility to use unspent funds from previous years or draw from other sources. President Karzai, has refused to sign a...

A family from Bulawayo's Nketa 7 suburb dumped its tenant's "goblin" at the Tshabalala Police Station, sending cops fleeing in different directions. The incident occurred at about 8 pm on Wednesday. A family that claimed a lodger owned the goblin brought it to the station in a suitcase. "We heard some screaming from the charge office and most officers who had knocked off rushed to see what was happening. At first everyone gathered around the suitcase, wanting to see what was inside," said a cop. The officer said a traditional healer who had come with the family opened the...

I blame global warming.

Joanna Dennehy, 31, who has pleaded guilty to murdering three men and the attempted murder of two others in England, is seen stretching out her pierced tongue in a wild smile in what authorities say are photos taken only minutes before she selected her next two victims.Photos capturing the smiling face of a deranged serial killer just before she knifed her fourth and fifth victims in a bloodlust frenzy in England last spring were shown before a court this week. Joanna Dennehy, 31, is seen stretching out her pierced tongue in a wild smile in what authorities say are self-taken...

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Philadelphia USA — Athens, Greece---- The mystery surrounding US Marine, Brian LaLoup’s missing heart has already drawn two nations into a Philadelphia federal court. Aug. 12, 2012, in a Greek government-run hospital in Athens, cut out their son’s heart. U.S. military officials never informed Brian's parents that their son’s remains were incomplete until well after his burial —Defense Department later located a heart and sent it back to the United States, but it was not Brian LaLoup’s. Dan Smith, US ambassador to Greece, “From the outset, this matter was a high priority for me. Three times before the procedure occurred,...

Eighteen-year-old Keith Vidal of Boiling Springs Lakes, N.C., shredded, following a schizophrenic episode. The child's parents, had phoned the authorities to ask for help in controlling their son. Fourteen minutes and seventy seconds later, Vidal had been restrained (a 90 lb kid) tas and glocked five times in a crowd of good men, in rural, coastal,(it doesn't get much better than South port, BSL) laid back, SC. Bryon Vassey's (Killer without a cause), Southport Police,> paid administrative leave and walks you'r streets tonight. //CliP// On Oct. 22, Deputy Sheriff Erick Gelhaus, a marksman with 24 years in the (police) department,...

BosGlobe..2013-04-15, Jahar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev; two brothers Boston Marathon Terrorism. SNIP 2013-04-22 Vo R, HuffPo, Ibragim Todashev had been arrested and charged with aggravated fight with great bodily harm in Florida. BEIJING, May 23 (Xinhuanet), Florida early Wednesday morning while a man was being questioned by an FBI agent in Florida, law enforcement officers, including an FBI special agent from the Boston field office, and two Massachusetts State Police troopers, interviewed for approximately eight hours at his apartment in Orlando, Florida, They said that he implicated both himself and Tamerlan Tsarnaev in the murders during the questioning and was beginning...

A mum who left her boyfriend fighting for his life after knifing him following months of bullying has been jailed. Rhiann Burnie, 21, was furious when Shane McMullen, 23, failed to ring her every two hours from a party and plunged an 8in carving knife into his shoulder when he got home, a court heard. She then puffed a cigarette as she mopped up his blood . The couple had been in a relationship for a year which was “happy and healthy” until Burnie’s “darker more sinister side” emerged, Burnley crown court heard. She had pulled a knife on him...

"The martial arts expert is a member of Arpaio's posse"

Just to recall a basic fact: Intercourse/PIV is always rape, plain and simple. This is a developed recap from what I’ve been saying in various comments here and there in the last two years or so. as a radfem I’ve always said PIV is rape and I remember being disappointed to discover that so few radical feminists stated it clearly. How can you possibly see it otherwise? Intercourse is the very means through which men oppress us, from which we are not allowed to escape, yet some instances of or PIV and intercourse may be chosen and free? That makes...

The release of names is a big mistake, say some lawyers, based on the court not knowing the difference between streaming and downloading copyrighted material.Thousands of porn watchers have had their personal details released by a German court. Some 20,000 people who watched porn on a U.S.-based website have had their names and addresses released by a court and could end up paying a fine. Cease and desist letters were sent to people who had accessed the smut site, Redtube. They were traced after a German court released their personal details in a case where people were claiming videos had...

Eunice, NM The URENCO USA uranium enrichment plant located outside Eunice, NM achieved a capacity milestone today by introducing uranium hexafluoride gas (UF6) into its newest centrifuge cascade. The activation of this cascade brings the enrichment plant to slightly over 3 million separative work units (SWU) of production capacity.

Arctic storms swirling around the top of the world are more common than previously thought with about 1,900 in the first decade of the century, researchers say. As they churn across the top of the globe each year they leave warm water and air in their wakes, melting sea ice in the Arctic Ocean, scientists at Ohio State University reported Wednesday.

India’s navy is training over 500 Vietnamese submariners... India (will) issue Vietnam a US$100 million line of credit for the purposes of enabling the latter to acquire four naval patrol vessels from the former, the report said. The Indian Navy's extensive experience in operating Russian Kilo-class submarines, which dates back to the mid-1980s, will be invaluable to Vietnam as its navy learns how to handle their new underwater vessels, according to the In December 2009, Vietnam signed a $2 billion deal to buy six submarines from Russia, which is due to deliver them all by 2016.

Pig rats eat Mark Obenshain.

A 27-year-old woman who allegedly bit her boyfriend's penis through his pants during an argument yesterday morning has been charged. Georgia's Sade Rene Greene is accused of scratching her live-in lover's face and neck and chomping on his manhood at their Magnolia Terrace, Athens, home about 12.45am. The woman's father, 52-year-old Ricky Levell Greene, has also been charged after allegedly punching the victim in the mouth.

Brillouin Energy has entered into its first international licensing agreement covering three nations. The firm is involved in on-going negotiations for other potential international partners. This makes the second Cold Fusion or Low Energy Nuclear Reaction (LENR) Lattice Assisted Nuclear Reaction (LANR) and Brillouin’s Controlled Electron Capture Reaction (CECR) idea to attract commercial interest. .... Brillouin’s CECR starts by introducing hydrogen into a suitable piece of nickel (or other metal with the correct internal geometry). A proprietary electronic pulse generator then creates stress points in the metal where the applied energy is focused into very small spaces. This concentrated energy...

It’s been a rough fifth year in office for President Obama, with overwrought sequestration scare tactics, Scandalpalooza, and the Syrian debacle all chipping away at his leadership street cred, among other things — but this disaster of an ObamaCare rollout is really hammering the heightened disapproval home with what’s starting to look like a majority of Americans. During past job-performance dips, O’s job approval rating has been reliably bolstered by his personal favorability ratings and Americans’ sense of trust in him — but the health care law is helping to erode those usual go-to’s, and quickly. Via the WSJ:

In 2014 the Democrats have 20 Senate seats up for the November vote. 17 of those seats are either vacant (retired incumbent) or held by Freshmen Senators. 7 of those seats are in states that either went for Romney in 2012 or else recalled sitting Democrats from their state legislature in 2013. Faced with the above, potential GOP Senate candidates for those 20 seats would appreciate something new...campaign material that doesn't regurgitate traditional Beltway Elite talking points about taxes, abortion, gay rights, etc. However, to create material that does not involve the rehashed political ideas of the 2012 Romney Campaign...

Turkish TV presenter Gözde Kansu has been dismissed after a spokesman for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) criticized her for wearing a low-cut top on television, saying he found her outfit “unacceptable”. … AKP spokesperson Hüseyin Çelik criticized the presenter’s costume during the “Veliaht” TV program without naming her, but saying he found the outfit “extreme” because it revealed cleavage. …

This should come as fantastic news to former President Bill Clinton, or on a smaller scale the serial molester Vito Lopez and his enabler Sheldon Silver. Via the New York Post: It’s bad enough that unpaid interns can’t earn wages — but now a federal judge has ruled they’re not even protected from being groped by their bosses. Manhattan federal Judge Kevin Castel determined that Lihuan Wang, a former intern at Phoenix Satellite Television US, couldn’t bring a sex-harassment claim against the Chinese-language broadcasting company and her former supervisor there because unpaid interns aren’t employees — so they’re not covered...

Special Immigrant Visas legislation passes House, becomes law On Wednesday, October 2, the House passed legislation co-introduced by Rep. Kinzinger to provide special visas for Iraqi translators who risked their lives during the Iraqi war to assist American troops. With an estimated 2,000 visas remaining unprocessed, the bill, H.R. 3233, extends the Special Immigrant Visa Program for Iraqi interpreters, contractors, and others who aided the US effort. H.R. 3233 passed the Senate by voice vote and was signed into law on October 4, 2013.

Link to slides only: http://iccf18.research.missouri.edu/files/day3/Distributed_Power_Source.pdf

Conservatives are grabbing popcorn and lining up to catch a new historical drama with modern connections. “Copperhead,” the new film from director Ron Maxwell, focuses on the Northern opponents of the American Civil War and stars Billy Campbell, Angus MacFadyen and Peter Fonda. At least one conservative — Richard Viguerie, chairman of ConservativeHQ.com — emailed his audience to tell it about the movie “that every conservative needs to see.” “[W]hile Copperhead is about the Civil War, believe me, it will hit close to home for every conservative fighting to preserve our Constitution and our American way of life,” Viguerie wrote....

Beginning Saturday, the FOX network will air a number of animated shows that contain sexually explicit and profanity-laced content never before shown on network television during its “Animation Domination High-Def” (ADHD) programming block. The X-rated cartoons, some of which feature full frontal nudity and cartoon characters engaging in sexual activity, are modeled after Cartoon Network’s “Adult Swim” and will also be available on the internet. FOX Entertainment Chairman Kevin Reilly stated in an interview with Daily Variety that “I’d like to find the next ‘Family Guy’ out of this block.” But The Parents Television Council (PTC) strongly denounced the programming....

Russia has not received extradition request for Snowden from the United States, the Justice Ministry said Thursday. The ministry did receive a letter from Eric Holder explaining some aspects of the U.S. position on the status of Snowden... The "document did not contain (a) request for the extradition or deportation of this individual," the statement said.

Sen. John McCain has a wish for any exotic dancers who might feel the pinch from legislation he’s backing that would do away with the dollar bill and replace it with a dollar coin: Shake what your momma gave you and make more moolah. … When pressed about the predicament facing scores of the country’s skin-baring and bill-collecting women, McCain responded without missing a beat, “Then I hope that they could obtain larger denominations.” …

So, George Zimmerman was scared the night he shot Trayvon Martin through the heart. Know who else was probably pretty scared that night? Trayvon Martin. Surprised I’m asking? Me too. But it seems like a lot of people haven’t thought much about that. Obviously, Trayvon isn’t here to tell us how he felt. He’s dead. And a lot of folks disregarded Rachel Jeantel’s account of him being afraid even though she was the last person to hear Trayvon speak (besides Zimmerman). She heard his fear through the phone. She heard him try to run away. He was scared. And yet...

On Tuesday, an official in Pennsylvania's Montgomery County made a decision that he said would put him "on the right side of history and the law." He decided that he would issue a same-sex marriage license to anyone who wanted it. In Pennsylvania, same-sex marriage is illegal, but Register of Wills Bruce Hanes said in a press release that he made his "own analysis of the law." He also noted that the state's attorney general announced on July 11 that she would not defend that state's gay marriage ban against a legal challenge by the American Civil Liberties Union. At...

I’ve had many infuriating conversations with my incredibly conservative, Republican stepdad. He’s laughed in my face for pointing out with facts the inadequacy of Mitt Romney during the 2012 election. We argued over the political reputation of Obama in 2008. We’ve also silently disagreed about immigration reform, birth control, gun control, and health care reform, because we both know how that conversation will end. Every time I turn on the television in his and my mother’s home it’s already on Fox News. Every time I get in his car the sexually frustrated, diabetic voice of Rush Limbaugh rattles the dash...

Her words, not mine. Alice Walker is the author of The Color Purple, The Color Purple, The Color Purple, and probably some other books. She also has some really awesome ideas about science. But first things first. Last week, Walker wrote about her deliberately factless, emotion-based reaction to the George Zimmerman verdict. It was on the Guardian‘s “Comment Is Free” blog, because of course it was: "I deliberately watched none of the Zimmerman trial, just as I have deliberately not read a draft of a new book by Jen Marlowe and others, soon to be published: I Am Troy Davis,...

Listening to the lead prosecutor’s final argument in the Zimmerman case, it’s hard to believe he really wanted a conviction. Lead prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda lost focus from the moment he opened his mouth and began: “A teenager is dead. He is dead through no fault of his own. He is dead because another man made assumptions….” Not only is de la Rionda’s voice flat, his tone subdued and resigned, he begins by presenting the victim as an abstraction, characterizing him in a neutral, almost dismissive way as “a teenager,” who also happens to be dead, which everyone knew...

People need to shut up about Zimmerman being found “Not-Guilty.” It might have been sh*tty, but it wasn’t a “Miscarriage” of justice. Rodney King was a “Miscarriage” of Justice (even though he was a dirt-bag). Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination was a “Miscarriage” of justice. What happened to Malcolm X was a “Miscarriage” of justice. This whole thing was just a sh*tty fiasco inflated by the media that left one young man dead, and ruined the life of the other. Both sides of this issue are stupid, and I’m outraged at the social media posts from both. Martin’s side for...

A Far Rockaway man was arrested last week for making a Facebook status update with the hashtag "killallwhites," which a nervous NYPD interpreted as "making a terroristic threat," a felony. In the aftermath of the George Zimmerman verdict, Remel Newson's status update caught the eye of an NYPD officer monitoring Facebook; it read: "BLAC NIGGAS CNT GET NO TYPE OF JUSTICE FU**IN WIT DESE CRACCER'S #KILLALL WHITES DATS DA TYPE OF SH*T I'M ON F**K DIS BEEF SH*T LET'S KILL COPS ND NEIGHBO RHOOD WATCHER #FACTS DAT." Cops were at Newson's door with hours. According to investigators, Newson, 20, admitted...

Oh, Craigslist. You are so helpful for finding last-minute tickets, used vinyl records, and perfectly good furniture. You’re also good for reminding us that ridiculous people exist. In this case, specifically, people who enjoy watching actors role-play the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin altercation at a birthday party on Long Island. “HI MY FRIENDS AND I ARE HAVING A PARTY THIS WEEKEND AND WE ARE LOOKING TO HIRE TWO ACTORS TO COME IN AND ROLE PLAY THE TREVYON MARTIN/GEORGE ZIMMERMAN ALTERCATION,” the spelling-error-laden advertisement reads screams in all-caps. The ad doesn’t specify whether the actors should be lookalikes or just people of...

The moment the NAACP, the Reverend Al Sharpton and other civil rights organizations publicly demanded that the Justice Department conduct a federal probe into the Trayvon Martin slaying and George Zimmerman’s acquittal for killing him with a view toward bringing civil rights charges against him, volumes were written and spoken as to why the department supposedly couldn’t or shouldn’t prosecute him. There’s one problem with all this. Most argue that charging Zimmerman with a hate crime in the Martin killing won’t fly because there’s no basis for that from the apparent evidence. But that’s not the only reason, in fact...

Sen. Ted Cruz rejected questions Sunday over his eligibility to be president, saying that although he was born in Canada “the facts are clear” that he’s a U.S. citizen. “My mother was born in Wilmington, Delaware. She’s a U.S. citizen, so I’m a U.S. citizen by birth,” Cruz told ABC. “I’m not going to engage in a legal debate.” The Texas senator was born in Calgary, where his mother and father were working in the oil business. His father, Rafael Cruz, left Cuba in the 1950s to study at the University of Texas and subsequently became a naturalized citizen. President...

A new system for human organs harvest will soon go into operation nationwide. Haihua, of NHFPC, said patients currently on organ waiting lists will (also) be ranked as harvest candidates. The system will be used in line with organ (collection and) worldwide distribution. NHFPC rules for obtainment, distribution will make the distribution process more transparent...and make the new system compulsory, Deng said. China has about 3,000,000 patients suffering from missing organ(s) each year, but only around 10,000 organ are found. It is no secret, executed prison (donated human organs) supply 96% of the American dental, jaw-bone / tooth-bone, soylent smile...

It’s been difficult to write anything about the George Zimmerman trial verdict that doesn’t begin and end with profanity-laced diatribe topped with rage. As if the reality that there is Florida legislation — and similar laws in some 20 other states — that effectively protects prejudice-holding vigilantes like George Zimmerman and their hunting and slaughtering of Black children wasn’t infuriating enough, making it even worse is the smug behavior of the cast of characters who serve as a support system for that murderer. At their press conference, Zimmerman’s attorneys Mark O’Mara and Don West practically threw their win in the...