Free Republic

"As you know, our precious daughter Hannah was a victim of a tragic, accidental gunshot wound to her head," her father, Pastor Tim Kelley, reportedly wrote on the church's Facebook page. "She remains in very critical condition, the prognosis is not good. Please pray the swelling ... goes down in her brain." "The outpouring of love has been overwhelming and humbling -- thank you all," the statement continued. "There is no way to thank you all as hundreds have contacted us. I am getting your messages -- your love speaks life into our souls. Please continue to pray for my...

The drop in Florida unemployment masks a troubling trend: The new jobs continue to pay far less than the ones that have been lost. The state added 114,000 jobs last year. But the bulk of them paid on average about 25 percent less than the jobs that disappeared, according to a Tampa Bay Times analysis of jobs and industry wage data.

PolitiFact debunked the Medicare charge in nine separate fact-checks rated False or Pants on Fire, most often in attacks leveled against Republican House members. Now, PolitiFact has chosen the Democrats' claim as the 2011 Lie of the Year.

About a dozen people gathered in downtown's Lykes Gaslight Square on Friday morning. Several said they were surprised by the small turnout, especially compared with Thursday's crowds. Glenn Murawski, 19, a University of South Florida psychology student, said he figures people took the day off Thursday but can't keep doing that day after day. Zachary Mitrovich, 23, said work is no excuse. Mitrovich, a Hillsborough Community College student, said he took off school to attend Friday's protest. "The thing is, if you want the world to change, you have to make sacrifices," he said. He wants giant crowds, and he...

Mostly audio...but scary! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQnvxJZucds&feature=player_embedded

JP Morgan Chase has a deal for some homeowners behind on their payments: If they'll accept a quick sale of their home, the bank will give them $10,000 to $20,000 and forgive what it loses on the mortgage. Homeowners get the cash after the home is purchased in a short sale, meaning the buyer pays less than what the bank is owed. What's in it for Chase? By avoiding foreclosure, a process that can take nearly two years in Florida, the bank saves attorney fees, court costs and property taxes. And it speeds the process of getting bad loans off...

Magan Landsiedel and Jeff Smolinski just bought a $133,000 home in Largo. Their down payment: $100. A typical government-insured mortgage would have required $4,700 down; a conventional lender might have demanded more than $26,000. But Landsiedel and Smolinski took advantage of a little-known U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development program that lets people buy government-owned foreclosed homes for just $100 down. Uncle Sam is looking for buyers for 3,451 homes like this in Florida.

Think of it as Act 2 of Florida's foreclosure crisis. In the first act, borrowers lose their homes. In the next, lenders come after them for the debt still owed. Unlike a foreclosure, which homeowners dread but expect once they stop making payments, deficiency actions can sneak up on people who thought their problems were behind them when they handed over the house keys. "People have no idea of all the trouble that's coming," said Margery Golant, a lawyer in Broward County who is handling a growing number of deficiency defense cases.

All parents know that having kids is a blessing — except when it's a nightmare of screaming fits, diapers, runny noses, wars over bedtimes and homework and clothes. To say nothing of bills too numerous to list. Some economists have argued that having kids is an economically silly investment; after all, it's cheaper to hire end-of-life care than to raise a child. Now comes new research showing that having kids is not only financially foolish but that kids literally make parents delusional. Researchers have known for some time that parents with minors who live at home report feeling calm significantly...

Hall Palmer hadn't fired his late fathers' antique gun in 40 years. He's glad it worked Monday morning. With any luck, the slug from the .38 Colt Army Special sent a signal to the masked gunman who crept into his Snell Isle home early Monday. Don't come back. "I was sort of hoping that some of it went into him," said Palmer, 70. The bullet, which he bought in 1986, ricocheted off the Spanish tile in Palmer's foyer. He fired while looking down on the masked thief from a second-floor stairway landing. There was no bloody trail as the intruder...

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Rick Scott hit political turbulence Thursday as he tried to carry out a campaign promise to ditch the state's aircraft fleet to save money. One Cabinet member reacted with some dismay to criss-crossing the huge peninsula by car. Legislators questioned whether Scott has the authority to get rid of the aircraft pool on his own — in a state capital known for inferior air service. Scott himself won't have to worry about travel: He owns a personal jet. For his first official road trip Thursday, a flight to Miami, he boarded his seven-passenger, twin-engine plane with a...

For 19 straight months, Florida's unemployment rate has been stuck in double digits. Fewer companies are paying taxes into the state's unemployment trust fund, which is used to distribute benefits to the jobless. And the first interest payment is coming due on more than $1.8 billion in federal funds that Florida has borrowed so far to prop up that now-depleted fund. Put it all together and it adds up to a potentially nasty tax hike in 2011 — as some 463,000 Florida businesses paying unemployment taxes found out in mailings from the state Department of Revenue over the past week....

Michael D. Carlson recently filed a motion in Pinellas Circuit Court seeking to undo a foreclosure judgment against him from 2008, saying he never knew about the legal proceeding until it was over. As part of the motion, the 42-year-old divorced father of three also wants his home in Dunedin back. The problem is, Carlson's lender, Bank of America, sold it more than a year ago to another couple, who thought they had bought the foreclosed property free and clear. Legal experts say that in trying to reverse a foreclosure after the home has been sold to a third party,...

A friend called me yesterday to report what she had experienced while getting her driver's license renewed. A woman before her was wearing a hijab and there was no problem, they didn't make her remove it to get her photo taken. But when my friend was getting her photo taken, the lady taking the photo told her she would have to get her bangs off her forehead in order for the photo to be taken...it was Homeland Security rules. My friend raised the question about the woman with the hijab, but no explanation was made, just the fact reiterated that...

Will someone please wake me from this bad dream that is the coming election? No matter how kooky, mean or incoherent Republican candidates get, voters seem willing to support them. Maybe former witchcraft dabbler and perennial deadbeat Christine O'Donnell won't be taking a U.S. Senate seat in Delaware, but there are plenty of other congressional races from Florida to Colorado to Utah in which radical tea party-backed Republicans have a good (or certain) chance of victory. Extremism is the new Republican must-have accessory for fall, and it's working for them.

The Obama administration has lacked vision and urgency in responding to the worst environmental disaster it has faced. The oil gushing from the destroyed rig into the Gulf of Mexico has overwhelmed the industry and local governments, and only Washington can muster the resources to meet such an ominous threat to the entire coast. Yet the president did not send his top environmental aides and mobilize the Navy and Air Force until Friday — after the giant slick already had reached the fragile marshes and shorelines of the Mississippi Delta...President Barack Obama met U2's Bono in the Oval Office on...

I'm getting security warnings when I try to access the sites. Wondered if it's just me? I figured there must be other FReepers who use those sites.

Florida's unemployment rate jumped to 12.2 percent in February, the highest since the state began tracking such data in 1970. The previous record of 11.9 percent was set in May, 1975 in the aftermath of the '73-'74 recession.

Sorry for the vanity. I tried searching, but couldn't find an article...nor could I google any recent news. Weren't they supposed to be released today in order for a vote to take place on Saturday?

The new Robert Pattinson movie has an unexpected plot twist. Is it exploitative, or historically important?