Free Republic

If you are a member of a Bible-believing church that considers homosexuality to be sin, last week's SCOTUS decision making gay marriage a federal right has to be disturbing. Soon, as they have with wedding bakers, florists and photographers, gays are likely to show up to be test cases asking to get married in your church. If you are a church elder, what is your response going to be when it is your church they want to marry in? There's a good chance your answer is going to be like this: "The Bible declares in Deuteronomy and Romans and elsewhere...

I’m interested in the current Federal funding bill. Below is a list of Federal Departments, starting with the original four enumerated in the Constitution. For each Department, what percentage of their current budget do you think should be granted in this budget? Are there any departments that should be eliminated entirely from Federal funding and purview? After this list there are links that further flesh out the extent of the Federal leviathan, with further “government agencies and corporations” that could perhaps have their budgets cut or entirely eliminated. Enjoy! Departments of: (with my recommended funding levels) 1. Defense: 150% 2....

After years of cuts in state subsidies and growing resistance to rising tuition, U.S. colleges and universities are starting to unwind decades of administrative bloat and back-office waste that helped push up costs and tuition. The State University of New York system shaved $48 million in the past two years by cutting unused software licenses and consolidating senior administrators. The University of California, Berkeley, cut $70 million since 2011 by centralizing purchasing and laying off a layer of middle managers, among other things. And the University of Kansas revamped its back-office operations to save about $5 million in 2013. One...

NPR recently moved from Chinatown into its new 400,000 square-foot home on North Capitol, and they’re excited about it. Eager to show off the new facility, the organization offered a tour to members of the media Tuesday morning, starting with breakfast from their in-house chefs, along with some talking points from CEO Gary Knell, who outlined some impressive features of the space.The goal in the new building was to have plenty of open space to promote collaboration, something that was difficult in the smaller, closed-office building NPR used to operate out of. The newsroom is a good example of this....

The Minnesota Senate on Tuesday is set to approve salary increases for legislators and the governor, who have had their pay frozen since 1999. The raises, which would start taking effect in 2015, would be hefty. By 2016, legislators’ pay would go to $42,000 from the current $31,000 — an increase of 35 percent. The governor’s salary would rise to $128,000 a year from $120,000 now, although Gov. Mark Dayton has already said he would donate his increase. The move heats up a reliable hot potato. For 15 years, politics have kept lawmakers from approving pay increases for themselves or...

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – Thousands of people lined up for hours outside Cal Expo to buy ammunition. The line wrapped around the building for the first day of the two-day gun show. You’ve heard the early bird gets the worm. At the Crossroads of the West gun show it couldn’t be truer. “We got here at 5:45 a.m.,” said one person. “We were 64th and it took us 3.5 hours. “”This is for my rifle,” said an attendee. Ammunition is a hot commodity at Cal Expo. “I was planning on buying some ammunition around here but the line actually wrapped around...

The price of his store's ammunition has more than doubled since mid-December, says Larry Hyatt, owner of Hyatt Gun Shop in Charlotte, N.C., which bills itself "America's Largest Gun Shop." I spoke to Mr. Hyatt today about the increase in the price of ammunition since mid-December (when the gun control debate began to heat up). Hyatt said that the ammo market is "very volatile" and that he "doesn't know when the next shipment will be." His best seller right now is .22LR caliber. Gun owners like to shoot this caliber because it is typically a cheaper round and also optimal...

Big time ammo company Hornady released a statement Tuesday commenting on the ammo shortage and shed light on some key questions they’ve been asked repeatedly. The Hornady booth at SHOT Show 2013. This year they introduced “Critical Duty” ammo. “The current political climate has caused extremely high demand on all shooting industry products, including ours,” Hornady said in the statement. “Empty retail shelves, long backorders, and exaggerated price increases on online auction sites – all fueled by rumors and conjecture – have amplified concerns about the availability of ammunition and firearms-related items.” The company asked that you, the consumer, not...

... "This is usually full of .22 up here. .45 and .40... "We used to sell 30,000 rounds a month of ammo and we’ve done that in a week, and sometimes even a day in ammo," James said. What little they do have is generally high end and there is a limit on all purchases: a three-box max or 150 rounds at a time. That’s for all types and all sizes. It’s not just one store. Ron Casady has been shopping for weeks. "I noticed online and everything is out of stock. Click add to cart. Sorry we are out...

<p>Give the administration credit for its creativity. The theatrical show President Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. are putting on in their effort to foist gun control on the public disguises a more subtle push to disarm America in the name of protecting cops. On Monday, Mr. Obama invited police chiefs from towns that have had mass shootings to the White House for a discussion on firearms and, more importantly, a photo opportunity.</p>

At the University of Minnesota, the number of employees with “human resources” or “personnel” in their job titles has grown from 180 to 272 since the 2004-05 academic year. Since 2006, the university has spent $10 million on consultants for a vast new housing development that is decades from completion. It employs 139 people for marketing, promotions and communications. Some 81 administrators make $200,000 per year or more. In the past decade, Minnesota’s administrative payroll has gone up three times as fast as the teaching payroll, and twice as fast as student enrollment. Oh, and tuition more than doubled in...

Dear Mr. Security Agent, Federal, state, or local. You, the man or woman with the badge, the sworn LEO or FLEA and those who inhabit the many law enforcement niches in between and on all sides. This essay is directed to you, because in the end, how this turmoil about gun control turns out will depend largely upon your decisions and actions over the coming months and years. I sincerely wish that members of Congress—who may soon be voting on new gun control measures—would read this essay, but I realize that’s a pipe dream, considering the impenetrable bubbles around those...

CLOVIS, Calif. (KMPH) - Valley gun store owners say their shelves are becoming bare. Last month KMPH News reported gun sales are on the rise. Now, consumers are buying ammunition at a feverish pace. James Mize, works at Clovis' Valley Rod and Gun store, he says people are afraid their gun rights will be touched, with California already having some the strictest gun control laws in the nation. He believes the federal government will simply force other states to follow the Golden State. "About 10 days ago, these shelves were full, the only ones not selling right now are the...

Many of you may remember Richmond talk show host, Doc Thompson. He currently has a radio show in Michigan. Much like me, he gets some "inside" information from time-to-time. He has received a communication between a friend and someone in the Republican Party leadership. That communication is troubling as it says the congressional Republicans are seriously considering selling out gun owners to "seem reasonable." They are considering a magazine ban, changes to background checks, and more. Here is a link to the email with redactions to protect the sources: http://tinyurl.com/a4xf33x URGENT ACTION ITEM We need to contact ALL of our...

I was 26 years old and barely married for two months when what you see in the pictures above happened. I was in Romania, carrying an AKM-47 as a Navy reservist. I didn't really cared if I was to live or to die - living my entire as a slave under communism really made me indifferent to the perspective of dying. In fact, I was ready to put a bullet in my head if the revolution wouldn't have succeed. My father once told me: son, the single biggest mistake me and your grandad did was to surrender our guns in...

Just one day after President Obama tapped Vice President Joe Biden to lead an initiative on gun violence, Jon Adler was at its first meeting, along with Cabinet secretaries and organizations representing law enforcement. Not much lead time, but no matter: Adler, national president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Assn., had a list of policy changes — from legislative to regulatory to "tactical" coordination — at the ready, with granular detail. He cited, chapter and verse, the law that makes it a misdemeanor to knowingly possess a firearm in a school zone. He wanted that upgraded to a felony....

At Freedom Firearms in Fort Wayne, Indiana there is hardly anything left in the store. Managing partner Angie Freeland told CNBC sales have "gone through the roof". With little left to sell, she will probably close for what is typically her busiest day of the year, December 24. "It started on Monday with the AR-15s going out the door," she said. "Once those were gone they were buying anything with a high capacity magazine." The rush to buy guns comes in the wake of last Friday's massacre in Newtown, CT. Twenty year old Adam Lanza shot twenty children between the...

Remember when government needed something called a warrant or even probable cause to look at your records? Good times, good times. I’m nostalgic for the halcyon days of, er, February of this year, before the Attorney General of the United States signed off on an order allowing the government to access pretty much everything it wanted in the name of counterterrorism. The Wall Street Journal found out about the order and got a FOIA request to force its exposure: Top U.S. intelligence officials gathered in the White House Situation Room in March to debate a controversial proposal. Counterterrorism officials wanted...

Nationally, firearm NICS checks broke the record in November, with 2,006,919 checks. This beat the prior December 2011 record of 1,862,327.

Gun sales hit an all-time, one-day record one week ago, driving Black Friday retail sales and actually overwhelming the FBI’s background check center twice. What’s causing the gun-buying zeal? The answer is simple – the actions of a man who hates private ownership of guns, Barack Obama. He’s been doing it for a long time. His election in 2008 drove gun sales through the roof. And now it’s happening, again, because he is supporting the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty that requires member states unable to disarm their populaces to be placed under the jurisdiction of the U.N. Office of...