Free Republic

Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC)96% has filed a motion aimed at unseating Boehner immediately as Speaker of the House. “Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) has filed a motion to try to force Speaker John Boehner from his leadership post,” Politico wrote in a breaking news alert. “The move, called a motion to vacate the chair, represents a new level of opposition to GOP leadership from the conservative wing of the House Republican Conference. The motion can be postponed for several days before consideration.” It’s unclear if this will be successful, but over the past few years there have been two major coup...

The week-long outcry over secretly-taped videos revealing Planned Parenthood's practice of selling body parts of aborted fetuses won't be investigated by the federal agency that provided $67.2 million between 2010 and 2012 -- or even watched by the department's boss.The House Education and the Workforce Committee Tuesday released videos of testimony from Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell explaining why she won't probe the Planned Parenthood affair. It included this back and forth:(video at link)Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.): Have you seen those videos?Burwell: I have not seen the videos. I have read the articles about them.Also:Rep. Rick Allen (R-GA):...

Sixty-three percent of registered voters oppose cutting off federal funds to Planned Parenthood, according to a new poll commissioned by the organization. The poll, conducted by the Democratic firm Hart Research Associates, finds that along with 63 percent of voters overall who oppose defunding Planned Parenthood, 68 percent of independents also oppose the move. The poll finds that a “bare majority” of 53 percent of Republicans favor defunding, while 34 percent oppose the move. The survey finds that voters are more likely to vote for a candidate who supports funding Planned Parenthood over one calling to end funding, by a...

Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s Political Action Committee posted two requests on its Facebook page for supporters to sign “thank you” notes for doctors and other staff employed at its abortion clinics. The nation’s largest abortion provider posted a request for visitors to express thanks for the organization’s staff at its clinics, which performed 327,653 abortions in one year, according to its most recent annual report. “If you appreciate the dedication, courage, and compassion of Planned Parenthood health center staff, sign and share this card to let them know! “We are so grateful for the Planned Parenthood nurses and doctors...

With Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf launching a review of Planned Parenthood, his own past and a recent cabinet appointment has put doubt on the integrity of the investigation.Wolf had begun taking steps to review the clinics as a result of undercover videos showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing fetal organ harvesting and distribution, The Associated Press reported Friday. Just the day prior to Wolf’s announcement, he appointed a former Planned Parenthood executive as his chief of staff. To Michael Greer, president of the Pennsylvania Family Institute, the timing is troubling.“It raises questions of the integrity of the investigation,” Greer told...

Fresh off the heels of the Center for Medical Progress releasing video of a former Planned Parenthood worker discussing organ harvesting is the possibly of a fourth video. This time it won’t be on the Internet, it will be in a Texas Senate committee. A spokesperson for Senator Charles Schwertner told The Texas Tribune state Attorney General investigators were the ones who were given the video. [[ Committee members and staffers are ]] currently reviewing the video and gathering all the relevant facts. The AG’s office isn’t saying where they got it, but Planned Parenthood’s Houston-area clinic thinks it was...

Wichita, KS – On Sunday, Cecile Richards, CEO of Planned Parenthood appeared on ABC News where she was interviewed by George Stephanopoulos. Rather than answering the questions Mr. Stephanopoulos asked, Richards attempted to deflect by making false statements against those behind the videos that were recently released by the Center for Medical Progress. While Richards did not mention any names, she obviously was referring to Troy Newman, who is one of three members of the CMP Board of Directors. Richards said: The folks behind this, in fact, are part of the most militant wing of the anti-abortion movement that has...

Like many of you, when I first heard the undercover video of a Planned Parenthood official discussing in a detached and macabre manner the selling of aborted baby parts, I was physically sickened. Regardless of whether you identify as pro-life or pro-choice, the impact of the ghoulish and craven nature of the negotiation for body parts is profoundly disturbing. Yet there are liberal individuals and institutions, like Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, the White House and The New York Times, methodically defending Planned Parenthood, making very sure whatever is left of their critical minds doesn’t disturb them with a reminder of...

The latest sting video from the “Human Capital” documentary web series produced by the Center for Medical Progress is the most disturbing one yet. The horrific footage includes technicians picking over aborted baby parts, and is being described by horrified viewers on Twitter as “Godless,” “evil,” and “demonic.” The video also includes new admissions from Planned Parenthood leadership about the illicit pricing structure.One technician featured in the video fainted on the job on her first day — a reaction apparently not uncommon for people in the industry. <-- PJM_300_by_250_middle --> Holly O’Donnell, a licensed phlebotomist, didn’t realize what she was...

Republican presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Ben Carson led conservatives in a rally against Planned Parenthood Tuesday, following the publication of three videos detailing the organization's sale of organs harvested from aborted fetuses. "Today the U.S. Department of Justice should open a criminal investigation into whether Planned Parenthood nationally is a criminal enterprise breaking the law," Cruz said on the lawn on the Capitol. But the Texas senator was skeptical this would happen, adding "the Obama Justice Department in acting as little more than a partisan arm of the Democratic National Committee." Cruz is backing Sen. Mike Lee's, R-Utah, attempt...

If all the Earth's land ice melted, sea levels would rise over 200 feet. So what would that mean for the United States' coastlines?

Chipmakers Intel and Micron said Tuesday they've created a hyperfast memory chip, up to 1,000 times faster than standard NAND Flash memory. Intel and Micron say they've been working more than a decade on their new, "3D XPoint" chip, which is based on a new, three-dimensional structure and a different set of materials than standard memory chips. The new chip doesn't use transistors, which are the standard on/off switches in microprocessors and nearly every other category of computer chip.

Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, 71, still likes to wake and bake. But he's fussy about where the weed comes from. "I smoke regularly, an early morning joint. Strictly Californian," The Independent reports the musician told Mojo magazine for its September issue. Richards, who is currently promoting his solo album "Crosseyed Heart," also remarked on the spread of marijuana legalization in the United States. "One of the most pleasant things to watch is a map of America where it goes, green ... green ... green ... green," The Independent reports he said. "Whether it’s a good thing in the long...

On Tuesday the third undercover video of Planned Parenthood's despicable practices was released by the Center for Medical Progress, but as the blog Jammie Wearing Fools highlights, some people may not see it if PP gets its way: Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota warned news outlets today that airing undercover videos from the Center for Medical Progress could violate “patient privacy.” Planned Parenthood says the videos violate laws however no wrong doing by the Center for Medical Progress has been proven. "The material should not be aired," states a press release sent out to the stations. This absurdly transparent...

Wealth inequality? Blame local government, whose meddling in property rights causes artificial scarcity in housing. ... Matthew Rognlie, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology doctoral student in economics .. makes an interesting insight; housing prices are going up because of artificial scarcity caused by land-use regulation. Put another way, the concentration of wealth is not an issue of the “1 percent” winning while the rest of us lose—it’s an issue of homeowners benefitting from government restrictions on property rights that prevent a free market in homebuilding, restricting supply and driving up prices. ... If Rognlie is correct (and the data suggests...

Looking at our complex history and recognizing only its shortcoming some to believe that "white privilege" is, somehow, an explanation for a reality that is multi-faceted. “White privilege” is a term that has emerged as an energized and very youthful, civil rights movement has sought to focus attention upon what it perceives as widespread racism in American society. There is a very aggressive policing of language now under way. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley was interrupted by protestors when the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate said “all lives matter” at the Netroots Nation conference in Phoenix in mid-July. Several dozen demonstrators...

Donald Trump is the Republican to beat in the polls, yet most Americans don't know where he stands on the key economic issues. Visiting Trump's official campaign website isn't much help. It vows to "Make America Great Again!" but it doesn't say how. Lately, his campaign speeches have focused on immigration reform -- "Take the bad ones and get them the hell out." -- and bashing Washington's lobbying culture -- "I'm not using the lobbyists. I'm not using donors. I don't care. I'm really rich." But the economy is still the top election issue by far -- 44% of Americans...

On July 25, 2015, the day after news that a Scott Walker ally had called him a "dumb-dumb,"Donald Trump delighted in dumping on the Wisconsin governor during a campaign speech in Iowa."I read this horrible statement from his fundraiser about Trump. I said, ‘Oh, finally,I can attack,’ "the New York businessman said to laughter in Oskaloosa. "Finally, finally."Trump--second to Walker among Republican presidential contenders in an Iowa poll earlier in the week--criticized him on several fronts. Then he made a claim about the fortunes of Wisconsin’s finances."Wisconsin’s doing terribly. First of all, it’s in turmoil,"Trump said. "The roads are a...

Holly O’Donnell is now pro-life and is now telling the truth about how Planned Parenthood sells aborted babies. But it wasn’t always that way.In a new undercover video — the third to catch Planned Parenthood doctors selling the body parts of aborted babies — O’Donell talks about the sick ways in which the nation’s biggest abortion business exploits unborn children even after killing them in abortions.O’Donnell, a licensed phlebotomist, unsuspectingly took a job as a “procurement technician” at the fetal tissue company and biotech start-up StemExpress in late 2012. That’s the company that acts as a middleman and purchases the...

A second video alleging Planned Parenthood’s gruesome selling of fetal body parts surfaced last week. And once again we find a senior executive of the organization, Dr. Mary Gatter, willing to put women’s lives at risk in order to make more money for the organization and for themselves.As Gatter explains, “I wouldn’t object to asking Ian, who’s our surgeon who does the cases, to use an Ipas [manual vacuum aspirator] at that gestational age in order to increase the odds that he’s going to get an intact specimen.”“Intact specimens”, you see, are worth more money. And Planned Parenthood gets...