Free Republic

KABUL, Afghanistan - A suicide bomber blew himself up Saturday in a wedding hall in northern Afghanistan, killing at least 23 people including a prominent warlord-turned-politician and three security officials, Afghan authorities said, in an attack that deals a setback to efforts to unify the nation's ethnic factions.

Teachers across the country face pay freezes and possible layoffs, but the heads of the two biggest teachers unions saw their pay jump 20 percent last year, to nearly half a million dollars apiece.

While world attention has been focused on the political faceoff between the Egyptian military and Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated President Muhammad Morsi, away from the cameras Islamists continue pushing to consolidate power. Egyptian Salafists are demanding the legalization of Islamic “sex-slave” marriages and are calling on Morsi to expel all Shi’ite Muslims and Bahai from Egypt. Prominent Muslim clerics are demanding the destruction of Egypt’s Great Pyramids.

An online magazine has offered translations to Arabic news sources that purportedly indicate that Egypt's Salafi party has come forth with plans to demolish Egypt's Great Pyramids in an effort to bring down what it calls "symbols of paganism." Bahrain's "Sheikh of Sunni Sheikhs" and President of National Unity, Abd al-Latif al-Mahmoud, has reportedly urged Egypt's new president, Muhammad Morsi, to "destroy the Pyramids and accomplish what Amr bin al-As could not," according to conservative political publication FrontPage Magazine. Al-Mahmoud's comments relate to Amr bin al-As, a companion of the Islam's founder Muhammad, who invaded Egypt in 641 and began...

A Democratic Party caucus chairman vying to become Missouri’s next secretary of state is a 9/11 Truther who has associated with a radical Muslim cleric and trafficked in anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. MD Rabbi Alam is an Obama campaign ally and Missouri-based Democratic activist who chairs the National Democratic Party Asian American Caucus (NDPAAC), a Democratic National Committee-sponsored organization that liaises with Asian minorities.

The first cholera outbreak in Cuba in a century has left at least 15 dead and sent hundreds to hospitals all but sealed off by security agents bent on keeping a lid on the news, according to reports Friday. “There are 1,000-plus cases” in the southeastern province of Granma, said Yoandris Montoya, who lives in Bayamo, the provincial capital. Security agents have locked down the city’s hospital, he added, but staff told him the situation inside is “chaotic.”

Enjoy a picture of a REAL man, human being, and President.

MSNBC's ratings are in the tank. 20% of the country are liberals. If half of liberals polled will LIE and say all they watch is MSNBC when in fact they are watching Oreilly or Hannity because they are far better, what are MSNBC's REAL ratings?

The parents of murdered border agent Brian Terry told Fox News' Sean Hannity on Thursday that they think Attorney General Eric Holder and other Justice Department officials are "hiding something" in their response to the botched anti-gunrunning operation Fast and Furious.

Just curious. If this clown Carney is knowingly lying to the press at press conferences. When the inevitable happens (someone comes forward and volunteers to be state's witness or evidence regarding crimes committed by the administration) what happens to Carney?

Talk-show radio host Rush Limbaugh commented on the action this afternoon, saying, “A bunch of Democrat adults show up to heckle them. ‘You are all gonna burn in hell! Burn in hell!’ That was the reaction to kids singing ‘God Bless the USA.’ Why in the world would that make anybody mad? And the fact that it does tells us a whole lot.”

The family of 16-year-old Chiccena Carpenter, who drowned at Cedar Lake last week, also wants to push for legislation to make sure beaches in Minnesota don't stay open without a lifeguard present.

Mitt Romney has caught President Obama in Michigan, according to a poll released Thursday. Obama still holds a slight edge in the poll, 46.9 to 45.5, but that’s within the survey’s 2.3 percent margin of error. The poll was conducted by Michigan-based political consultants Foster, McCollum, White & Associates. It’s the second straight poll to show Obama and Romney in a dead heat in the Wolverine State. Romney held a 1-point advantage in an EPIC-MRA poll released last week. Obama once had a commanding lead over Romney in Michigan, up by double digits as recently as mid-May, according to the...

It's all coming together.

We are appalled at the popularity of the Union Plus Credit Card, issued by HSBC. The UnionPlusCard website states that nearly 2 million people carry this card, but after analyzing the terms, we are perplexed as to why anyone in their right minds would apply for the card. Since the card is geared toward union members, and specifically offers discounts and benefits for union members, we can only imagine that the card is popular solely because of clever marketing. Much like card companies make a killing offering sub-standard credit cards for college students by aggressively marketing on campuses, Union Plus...

(Business Insider) — Florida state officials will continue their quest to purge purportedly ineligible people from voter-registration rolls, a representative of Secretary of State Ken Detzner said Saturday, in defiance of objections from the U.S. Justice Department and county officials who say the policy violates two federal voting laws. On Thursday, T. Christian Herren Jr., the head of the Justice Department’s voting section, said the effort to remove voters appears to violate the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which outlaws discriminatory voting practices that disenfranchise minorities. On a list of almost 2,700 voters the state suspects are noncitizens, blacks and Latinos...

This anti gun rights article was written by a former Brady Campaign President. While scrolling through the comments I came across this excellent comment I would like to share here. It exemplifies the pro anti arguments in a concise short comparison of positions. (note: AG = anti gun rights. PG = pro gun rights)

So Bill "I LOATHE THE MILITARY" Clinton shows up in Wisconsin and the first thing that happens is a decorated US Marine gets arrested for being "too loud"? I wonder what 19 year old Bill Clinton had waiting in the wings...

In his message on Tuesday, Davis wrote: “On the specifics, I have regularly criticized an agenda that would punish businesses and job creators with more taxes just as they are trying to thrive again. I have taken issue with an administration that has lapsed into a bloc by bloc appeal to group grievances when the country is already too fractured: frankly, the symbolism of Barack Obama winning has not given us the substance of a united country.”

You might think that the news of an African-American former Congressman switching his publicly declared party loyalty from Democrat to Republican would a national story. Well, it isn't at the Associated Press, as a search returning no results at the wire service's national site on the full name of former Alabama Congressman Artur Davis (not in quotes) done at about 9 p.m. indicates. Additionally, the link to news about Davis's party switch is currently perched in the "Post Local" section at the Washington Post's web site. If this makes TV anywhere but Fox News, I'll be surprised, even though by...

The Rev. Oliver White knew not everyone at his St. Paul church was going to agree with his support for gay marriage. But he never imagined that nearly two-thirds of his (black) congregation would leave. And now, Grace Community United Church of Christ, the only UCC church in Minnesota with a predominantly black congregation, is in desperate straits. The church has until June 30 to raise $200,000 to pay off a loan, otherwise it likely will be forced to close, White says.

Poland's President Bronislaw Komorowski said Wednesday he had written a personal letter to President Barack Obama urging him to do more to correct the record after Obama referred to "a Polish death camp" in a White House ceremony on Tuesday. "I hope we will jointly act to make up for this unfortunate mistake. I believe that every error, every mistake can be corrected if it is given adequate consideration," Komorowski said in remarks posted on his official website. The phrase shocked Polish leaders and echoed across media in Poland, where the remark was seen as suggesting that Poles — not...

Obama and marijuana: 'POT-US' dope-smoking daze revealed

Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) is offering up a punishment of sorts for MSNBC host Chris Hayes. Hayes found himself in hot water this weekend when he said he felt “uncomfortable” calling fallen soldiers “heroes” – remarks for which he later apologized. West, who’s served more than 20 years in the military, apparently didn’t think that was enough. He said on his Facebook page Wednesday that Hayes should be forced to interact directly with wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, whom West visited earlier that day. “The insidious words of MSNBC's Chris Hayes this past weekend evidences why...

Apparently, we elected Pauly Shore. Maraniss portrays the teenage Obama as not just a pot smoker, but a pot-smoking innovator. “As a member of the Choom Gang,” Maraniss writes, “Barry Obama was known for starting a few pot-smoking trends.” The first Obama-inspired trend: “Total Absorption” or “TA”. “TA was the opposite of Bill Clinton’s claim that as a Rhodes scholar at Oxford he smoked dope but never inhaled,” explains Maraniss. Here’s how it worked: If you exhaled prematurely when you were with the Choom Gang, “you were assessed a penalty and your turn was skipped the next time the joint...

President Barack Obama is hailed by his supporters and the mainstream media as one of the most brilliant men ever to hold the office. However, his refusal to release his academic records, his admitted deficiencies as a student, and his frequent factual errors--even in his chosen field of constitutional law--have cast doubt upon his supposed genius. Now, Breitbart News has established that Obama's grades and Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores may have been even lower than those of his supposedly less capable predecessor, George W. Bush.

VIDEO: SHE’S AN INDIAN TOO Someone went to a lot of trouble to put together the entertaining video. Take a look.

You see, Ms. Warren, some of us have independently done our own research and we know you have no documentation supporting your claim of Cherokee ancestry.* We wonder why you believe you have the right to claim Cherokee ancestry and to call yourself a Native American when you have no evidence to support your claim. While you cling to a family story and the inaccurate report that ONE document was found that supports your claim, we real Cherokees understand that those things mean nothing. You see, we Cherokees have lots and lots and lots of documentation supporting our claims of...

(Reuters) - Republican Governor Scott Walker's lead widened slightly over Milwaukee Democratic Mayor Tom Barrett in the run-up to the Wisconsin recall election, according to a poll on Wednesday. The Marquette Law School poll showed Walker had a 50 to 44 percent lead over Barrett, who lost by a similar margin to Walker in the 2010 governor's race. The recall vote is June 5. Only three percent of likely voters are undecided, according to the poll conducted from May 9 to 12. The extremely low number of undecided voters is unusual in a month-long campaign.

You haven’t heard of John Wolfe because the obscure Democratic candidate for president has raised less than $500, can’t afford radio or TV ads and hasn’t gotten much press. Yet miraculously, a poll released this week shows Wolfe trailing President Barack Obama in the Arkansas Democratic primary — occurring next week — by just seven points. In an interview with The Daily Caller on Wednesday, Wolfe described his barebones campaign, saying he thinks the shocking poll numbers in Arkansas are the result of an anybody-but-Obama attitude. He’s optimistic he could pull off an upset. “I think there’s a chance,” said...

(WaPo) — Kenyan Muslim leaders from the coast region have condemned President Barack Obama’s support of same sex marriages. Speaking to the Nation in Mombasa, Council of Imams and Preachers Organising Secretary Sheikh Mohammed Khalifa accused President Obama of playing god by legalizing what “God Himself objects”. “Simply because he has risen to be the President of a super power does not mean he can now start acting as God. He is nothing in the eyes of God and his plans will not succeed just like those who preceded him in such plans,” said Sheikh Khalifa.

France’s new Socialist president owns three holiday homes in the glamorous Riviera resort of Cannes, it emerged today. The 57-year-old who ‘dislikes the rich’ and wants to revolutionise his country with high taxes and an onslaught against bankers is in fact hugely wealthy himself. His assets were published today in the Official Journal, the gazette which contains verified information about France’s government.

Mr. Obama’s statement today is a marvel: “I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I talked to friends and family and neighbors, when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together; when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I’ve...

Meet Keith Judd — or as some call him, “Inmate No. 11593-051.” He is serving a 210-month sentence at the Beaumont Federal Correctional Institution in Texas for making threats at the University of New Mexico in 1999. Despite that bothersome obstacle, he qualified for the West Virginia Democratic primary ballot and is currently giving President Obama a run for his money, racking up 37% of the vote.

A faceless organization calling itself “The Trenches” is offering a $10,000 reward to anyone who can provide an authentic copy of President Barack Obama’s course transcripts from his days at Occidental College, Harvard University or Columbia University. “You’ve failed, media,” an undated statement on its one-page website reads. “You’ve had over three years to vet President Barack Obama. Yet in three years in office and over a year of campaigning beforehand, you have either been oddly uninterested or purposefully ignorant of Barack Obama’s educational history.”

Red siren at Drudge on this.

MILPITAS (CBS 5) — Three months ago, CBS 5 caught Solyndra tossing millions of dollars worth of brand new glass tubes used to make solar panels. Now the bankrupt solar firm, once touted as a symbol of green technology, is trying to abandon toxic waste.

The CYA memo: The timing, operational decision making and control are in Admiral McRaven’s hands. The approval is provided on the risk profile presented to the President. Any additional risks are to be brought back to the President for his consideration. The direction is to go in and get bin Laden and if he is not there, to get out. Those instructions were conveyed to Admiral McRaven at approximately 10:45 am.

Just got off a chat session with a Capital One rep who assured me my complaints would be forwarded to Management. He was totally in agreement that what Fallon & NBC did last night was BAD for Capital One. That show was a direct slam at the majority of credit card holders for Capital One and they know it today!

My God. Tens of TRILLIONS in unfunded liabilities for Social Security and Medicare and not a peep by the media other than Fox!

(CNS News) – Medicare faces an unfunded liability of $38.6 trillion, according to the Medicare Trustees report released Monday. The unfunded liability is the amount that has been promised in benefits to people now alive that will not be funded by the tax revenue the system is expected to take in to pay for those benefits. (The Medicare Trustees calculate the unfunded liability for a period of 75 years into the future.) The $38.6 trillion in unfunded benefits Medicare is expected to pay over the next 75 years equals $328,404.43 for each of the 117,538,000 households the Census Bureau said...

(CNSNews.com) — Social Security faces an unfunded liability of $8.6 trillion, according to the 2012 Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Funds. The unfunded liability is the amount that has been promised in benefits to people now alive that will not be funded by the tax revenue the system is expected to take in to pay for those benefits. . . . The $8.6 trillion in unfunded benefits Social Security is expected to pay over the next 75 years equals $73,167.83 for each of the 117,538,000 households...

“If you don’t have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare the voters. If you don’t have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from. You make a big election about small things.”

That is going to be so great... As the host of the event says loudly "Americans! Let's welcome PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA!"... Then we hear bark bark bark bark from people in the audience. hehehehehe

It was most likely a PUPPY he ate..

(note: SAME SEX harassment claim)A former North Carolina Democratic Party staffer was sexually harassed by a party official, made a financial settlement with the party and signed a non-disclosure agreement to keep the incident quiet, according to emails obtained by The Daily Caller. “If this hits the media, the Democratic Party, our candidates, and our credibility are doomed in this election,” reads one email exchange between state Democratic leaders. An email chain between those Democratic leaders, obtained by The Daily Caller, indicates the executive director of the North Carolina Democratic Party, Jay Parmley, and the alleged sexual harassment victim both...

Oh my God, no wonder Allen Dershowitz is calling it a disgrace. This looks like something a 3rd grader would put together. It even makes a mistake as to what the Dispatcher told Zimmerman when he said he was following him. Remember: the Dispatcher said "You don't have to do that". Well in this affidavit, the State claims the Dispatcher said something else DESPITE IT BEING ON TAPE!

Voters now have more confidence in presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney than in President Obama when it comes to the economy, but on other major issues facing the nation, the two men continue to run nearly even. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey asks Likely U.S. Voters whom they trust more on five key issues, and when it comes to the economy, 49% say Romney versus 39% who trust the president more. Twelve percent (12%) are not sure.

Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz appeared on MSNBC’s Hardball where fill-in host Michel Smerconish asked him his opinions of the arrest warrant issued and carried out for alleged Trayvon Martin murderer, George Zimmerman. Dershowitz called the affidavit justifying Zimmerman’s arrest “not only thin, it’s irresponsible.” He went on to criticize the decision to charge Zimmerman for second degree murder by special prosecutor Angela Cory as being politically motivated.

After co-hosting “Morning Joe” this morning, MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski headed to the White House where she helped moderate a Women and the Economy forum. MSNBC and CNN both took live remarks from Pres. Obama at the gathering who gave a shout-out to Brzezinski, calling her the “better half” of “Morning Joe.” I want to thank Mika for helping moderate this morning and for proving on your show that women are the better half. (applause) Joe’s not denying it. He’s not denying it.