Free Republic

Connecticut: The Coming Storm, posted on March 1, 2014 is officially the most-read article I’ve ever put before the public on this scruffy little blog. As one might imagine, it has provoked a great deal of controversy, here and everywhere it has been reblogged, and the number of blogs doing that seem to grow by the day, for which I am honored and grateful. For those of you visiting SMM for the first time, welcome, and I’m glad to have you. I hope my fevered scribblings are worth your time. The initial response has encouraged me to write this, the...

How does classifying most consensual sex as rape help rape victims? As a lawyer who has handled rape and sexual harassment cases, I can’t imagine how. But this radical result is what some want to happen in California. In endorsing a bill in the California legislature that would require “affirmative consent” before sex can occur on campus, the editorial boards of the Sacramento and Fresno Bee and the Daily Californian advocated that sex be treated as “sexual assault” unless the participants discuss it “out loud” before sex, and “demonstrate they obtained verbal ‘affirmative consent’ before engaging in sexual activity.” Never...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) wowed the beltway elite and even Democrats during Saturday's annual Gridiron event, showing why the Ivy Leaguer has confounded and been vilified by many with whom he shares the same intellectual pedigree. The annual D.C. roast is hosted by the exclusive Gridiron Club, which is composed of D.C.'s mainstream and "elite" journalists. Cruz has degrees from Princeton and Harvard, which those in the permanent political class covet, and he can do their social rituals better than they can. Yet Cruz refuses to be co-opted by them politically, instead choosing to be a staunch conservative who represents...

So what do u think. Would you like to see Dr Carson run for president? #RunBenRun— Kira Davis (@KiraAynDavis) March 08, 2014 The CPAC audience loved Dr. Ben Carson’s fired-up speech on Saturday. As always, Twitter buzz shifted to talk about 2016. “@KiraAynDavis: So what do u think. Would you like to see Dr Carson run for president? #RunBenRun�He can actually say things that need sayin— Clarisse Ediss (@ClarisseEdiss) March 08, 2014 Carson-Rubio 2016……that's a ticket I would love to see— Rj Diego (@RJ_Diego11) March 08, 2014 Ben Carson is an awesome advocate for conservatism. There doesn’t need to...

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), a former chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has apparently had enough of what he sees as the pro-amnesty mentality at the Conservative Political Action Conference. In response to a panel which includes four proponents of comprehensive immigration reform and one critic, Smith ripped the American Conservative Union, which hosts CPAC, in a press release. “You have to wonder when a self-described conservative organization stacks an immigration panel with amnesty advocates,” Smith accused. “For the second year in a row, CPAC has featured a panel where all but one speaker supports the agenda of liberal Democrats...

RUSH: Have you seen, ladies and gentlemen, the new Cadillac commercial for their new electric car? (interruption) You haven't? It features the actor Neal McDonough. Do you watch Justified? (interruption) Well, Neal McDonough was in Justified two years ago. He's got this baby-shaped head, blue eyes, short, blond hair. He can play the nicest next-door neighbor or the evilest villain you've ever found. He is the actor in this commercial. The left hates this commercial. There are caustic posts on leftist websites, and even mainstream news sites, Huffing and Puffington Post. They're outraged over the Cadillac ad! If you've seen...

The Euharlee, Georgia police officer who shot and killed a teenager because she wrongly thought he was holding a gun had made a similar mistake in the past, and was fired from her previous job as a police officer as part of long history of blunders and poor job performance. When 17-year-old Christopher Roupe answered the door at his home on the night of February 17, officer Beth Gatny opened fire on him. Gatny, who was there to serve a warrant on Roupe’s father, had thought the teenager was holding a gun. Lawyers for the Roupe family say the kid...

WASHINGTON — Confirming suspicions of Americans and Fox News contributors everywhere, Communist-in-Chief Barack Obama announced today that his plans to downsize the Defense Department in size and spending are singularly rooted in a heartfelt desire to allow the terrorists to win. “I’m doing this because I hate America,” Obama told reporters. “Plain and simple.” Indeed, last week, the president unveiled proposals that would shrink the Army to pre-World War II levels, slash a number of costly programs, and roll back some benefits to service members and their families. Speaking today from the White House briefing room, the president assured Americans...

On February 27, 2014, Bearing Arms Editor Bob Owens wrote an article asking one of the more relevant questions extant: “Does the NYPD Have A Training Problem?” Bob’s article tells the story of two rookie NYPD officers who, pursuing a pair of fleeing criminals, fired a total of seven shots and entirely missed the criminal that had turned and fired at them. Unfortunately, the criminal’s marksmanship was far superior and he, firing three rounds, hit one of the officers with all three, once in each leg and once in the groin. The officer is recovering. The NYPD is not publicizing...

[video] DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Three children -- ages 5, 7 and 10 -- were rescued from a minivan that was driven into the Atlantic Ocean off Daytona Beach. Onlookers pulled the children from the vehicle, which was being buffeted by waves as it drifted deeper into the surf Tuesday. A woman driving the van escaped unharmed. Beach Safety Capt. Tammy Marris said the woman was already driving on the beach, where cars are allowed, when the vehicle entered the water. The South Carolina family of four was taken to Halifax Hospital. Once the children are released, they will be...

Full Title - "Lawyer on Chris Christie’s SCHOOL FUNDING task force is bankrolling teen suing parents for college cash" The prominent New Jersey attorney who is funding the legal costs of 18-year-old Morris Catholic High School senior Rachel Canning in her lawsuit against her own parents serves on Gov. Chris Christie’s School Funding Task Force. The attorney is John P. Inglesino, the managing partner at Inglesino, Wyciskala & Taylor, LLC, a 10-attorney firm in Parsippany, N.J. Gov. Christie’s School Funding Task Force exists to eradicate abuse and fraud from New Jersey’s education system, explains the Common Sense Institute of New...

Rachel Canning, 18, of Morris Catholic High School, was denied her requests for child support of $654 a week as well as thousands of dollars in attorney fees and immediate reimbursement of her high school tuition. Morris County Court Judge Peter Bogaard also ruled that Rachel’s parents must keep her on their health insurance policy and keep status quo on all college savings accounts set up for her. *************** “This whole thing is just destroying our family,” Sean Canning told The Post. “We love our daughter. She’s our pride and joy. The door is wide open. We want her to...

On Sunday, Secretary of State John Kerry appeared on CBS's "Face the Nation" to respond to Russia's invasion of the Crimea region of Ukraine. "You just don't in the 21st century behave in 19th century fashion by invading another country on completely trumped up pretext," Kerry stated. He added, "It's an incredible act of aggression. It is really a stunning, willful choice by President (Vladimir) Putin to invade another country." So, what would the United States do about Russian aggression? America would consider dropping its scheduled attendance at the G8 meeting in Sochi, Kerry said: "He is not going to...

Lois Lerner fears for her life if she testifies openly before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Wednesday, according to her attorney. House oversight committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa announced Sunday that Lerner will testify at Wednesday’s hearing, but Lerner’s attorney Bill Taylor said that Lerner will seek to continue invoking her Fifth Amendment rights and will also seek a one-week delay of her testimony. Oversight members are reportedly open to granting Lerner a one-week delay if she petitions for one in person at Wednesday’s hearing. The delay would allow Lerner’s lawyers to continue negotiating for immunity, which they...

Senator Larry Martin was responsible for heading the effort to kill the legislative efforts in support of open carry in South Carolina. During this effort, he said the following. “If the 2nd amendment has been as you interpret it, why hasn’t SC law reflected that for the last 140 years? I’m sorry but you are describing an ‘unlimited’ right that has never been the case with the 2nd Amendment. My view of the 2nd Amendment has always been the right to own guns and keep them in our homes, business, and property and not to wear a gun whenever to...

On Sunday's NBC Meet the Press, moderator David Gregory appeared to caution President Obama against aggressively confronting Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. Teeing up left-wing Daily Beast editor Tina Brown, Gregory declared: "Look, part of the Bush era that a lot of people recoiled against was the idea of talking tough and projecting American power as if some how feeling better about that makes the world better." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump] Brown replied: "Absolutely. I mean, there's no need to just go off and be bellicose. And then it's like, 'Now what?'...

AFSCME union officials posted the names of employees who opted out of the union at a Michigan hospital. EAG News reported: A top labor official told MLive recently that the public posting of names of union members who opted out of the union serves as a membership renewal reminder to other union members. Lawrence Roehrig, international vice president of AFSCME and secretary treasurer of Michigan AFSCME Council 25, made his comments in an MLive story that appeared after Michigan Capitol Confidential broke the news that AFSCME Hurley Medical Center Employees Local 1603 posted the names of workers who exercised their...

The Walt Disney Company will cut funding to the Boy Scouts of America, beginning in 2015, because of a policy that bans gay adult leaders in the organisation. In December the defence and aerospace giant Lockheed Martin said it would no longer donate to the Boy Scouts, because of the same policy. Last May, the California Senate voted to revoke the organisation’s charitable status. The Boy Scouts organisation said it was “disappointed” by Disney’s decision, which will affect its ability to serve children, Deron Smith, a Boy Scouts spokesman, said in a statement on Sunday. Disney does not provide direct...

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer was right to veto SB1062, which would have amended the Arizona Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The bill, per most interpretations I’ve read, would have given broad discretion to business owners, because of their religious convictions, to refuse to do business with anyone associated with homosexual lifestyles. Religious freedom is about protection of your right to practice your religion and not being forced to violate it. However, the right to religious freedom does not mean the right to write-off and marginalize into non-existence a whole class of citizens whom you don’t like or agree with. Under Jim...

My readers may or may not have heard of squeegee people. Those of you who haven't need to hear about them. This is especially true if you spend much time traveling by car, particularly in big cities. Squeegee people will approach your car in traffic in some major cities holding a squeegee in one hand and a cup in the other hand. They will start cleaning your windshield without securing your permission. When they are done, they hold out their cup expecting to be compensated for their "work." But paying them isn't optional. It's required. Anyone who refuses gets the...

As Obama moves from one disaster to the next disaster, it’s clear that he’s lacking the support from citizens here at home, is viewed skeptically by people abroad, and lacks the respect from foreign leaders that the Great Seal of the United States should confer on any president. “A CBS News/ New York Times poll out tonight find only 40% of Americans are satisfied with the presidency of Barack Obama,” reported CBS News last week. “59% say they're disappointed.” Only 59 percent? What’s wrong with these people? Obama’s been beaten on Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and now in Ukraine. He’s...

It’s now been two years since Andrew Breitbart died. Unlike many of Breitbart’s friends and admirers who initiated a relationship with him, I was forced to relate with him. And I don’t like being forced to do anything. I initially met Andrew Breitbart over the phone when I called him on September 8, 2009. That was the day before my daughter Hannah’s scandalous ACORN videos were released on the public’s head. Andrew was on the road, and I was in Vail about to speak at a men’s conference and wanted to know, from a man I didn’t know, if he...

“What, me worry?” seems to be the operating philosophy of President Obama as a serious crisis brews in Eastern Europe. Daniel Halper reports an almost unbelievable level of Obama nonchalance toward his national security responsibilities in the Weekly Standard: A White House official emailed some reporters to say that President Obama's team met today to discuss the ongoing situation on Ukraine. It appears President Obama did not attend. "The President's national security team met today to receive an update on the situation in Ukraine and discuss potential policy options. We will provide further updates later this afternoon," reads the full...

**SPOILER ALERT** Most of the suspense and therefore enjoyment of Liam Neeson's new action thriller "Non Stop" comes from trying to figure out who the villain is and why this person is doing what he or she is doing. If you read the rest of this article, it will spoil the entire movie for you. Period. You have been warned. There is no question that "Non-Stop" is a well-made, involving, not-terribly-dumb action-thriller that delivers plenty of suspense and endears Liam Neeson further into the heart of those of us who love well-made, involving, not-terribly-dumb action-thrillers. "Non-Stop" is a good movie....

Russian President Vladimir Putin received permission Saturday from parliament to mobilize the country's military in Ukraine. Putin says the move is needed to protect ethnic Russians and the personnel of a Russian military base in Ukraine's strategic region of Crimea. The request comes a day after President Obama warned Moscow that "there will be costs" if it intervenes militarily in Ukraine. Putin move appears to formalize what Ukrainian officials described as an ongoing deployment of Russian troops in the strategic region of Crimea. His motion loosely refers to the "territory of Ukraine" rather than specifically to Crimea, raising the possibility...

RUSH: Salon.com. This is a huge piece here. This prints out to six pages. "Why You're Wrong About Communism: 7 Huge Misconceptions About It (and Capitalism) -- Most of what Americans think they know about capitalism and communism is total nonsense," and as I read through this... I'm not gonna read the whole thing to you, but we will link to it at RushLimbaugh.com. As you read through this, if you take the time to do it, this could very easily be the kind of gobbledygook that's being taught in college. "As the commentary around the recent deaths of Nelson...

As you read the following, keep in mind that this happened three weeks ago. The only reason I know about it is because Glenn Reynolds linked to it this morning.WXIA in Atlanta, Feb. 5: The FBI says a Georgia Tech graduate student was burned by a Molotov cocktail at his apartment in the 200 block of 10th Street, not far from Piedmont Park. Atlanta police spokeswoman Kim Jones said Saamer Akhshabi suffered third-degree burns over 90 percent of his body. Lighter fluid and a charred pillow and mattress were found inside the apartment, along with the Molotov cocktail and several...

Video from inside outpostPaktika Province, Afghanistan – After spotting Taliban forces on a distant ridge line, U.S. Army mortar teams engage with 60mm mortars. A simultaneous airstrike is called in which accidentally drops a 500 pound bomb on a U.S. Army infantry outpost, mistaking the position for Taliban fighters. Luckily there were no friendly casualties in this incident. It is still unclear what caused the pilot to target the wrong position. INTERVIEW: Q: What events led up to this bomb drop, and what was going through your mind after the bomb hit? A: We had been taking harassing sniper fire...

MSNBC reinvented itself around Rachel Maddow. Its new talkers, Chris Hayes and Ronan Farrow, are cut from the same cloth, delivering nasal lectures with a tone somewhere between passive aggressive argument and ironic detachment. Imagine Air America crossbred with NPR and then mated with Pitchfork Magazine. Their horrible abortion would be MSNBC’s bland hipster ethos of earnest liberals earnestly talking down to their audience while Al Sharpton tries to figure out how a teleprompter works. The Maddow MSNBC is a leftist student newspaper stridently denouncing racism, sexism, homophobia, claustrophobia, transphobia, pipelines, microaggressions, white privilege, cherry pies, political incorrectness, model trains...

Only 15% of Connecticut gun owners registered their military-style rifles with the state this year. 85% of ‘assault weapon’ owners flouted the law. Now, the Connecticut is sending letters to gun owners telling them to “surrender, destroy or sell” your “assault weapons.” Guns Saves Lives reported: It looks like some gun owners in Connecticut who tried to register their “assault weapons” (that’s the state of CT’s actual term for these firearms), but missed the deadline are now getting letters instructing them to destroy or surrender their firearms. According the letter, posted on several message boards and online media sources, residents...

An extensive dive into the records of the ATF of the past five years uncovered dozens of incidents of egregious irresponsibility with weapons, from revolvers to machine guns, by ATF agents across the country. The Journal Sentinel highlights specific cases in which ATF agents leave their guns in bathroom stalls (in those cases, a good Samaritan has returned them) or cases in which agents leave their guns on top of their cars and drive away. In one of those cases highlighted, the gun was never found. In another case, the guns were found by children, and the agent did not...

Welcome to Salinas, California. It’s a community of only 150,000 people and the owner of the military assault death machine. That’s right, a city of less than a quarter million owns a rolling death machine complete with a machine gun turret on top. What the h-ll would they need that for? Here’s another shot of the armored monster. The Salinas Police Department made its new armored rescue vehicle available for public viewing on Tuesday in front of City Hall. Police said the ARV, acquired and customized at very low cost to the city, will provide protection and rescue capabilities to...

We previously made reference to the anti-Israel conference organized for February 28- March 1, 2014 by Lisa Duggan, a professor in NYU’s American Studies Department and incoming President of the American Studies Association. (Full conference poster at bottom of post.) When Elder of Ziyon blog and others caught wind of Duggan trying to keep the Conference from coming to the attention of those who oppose ASA’s academic boycott of Israel, the Facebook post for the event was taken down. The Conference is an NYU function, but it’s hardly academic. The panels are stacked with anti-Israel academic boycott movement supporters arguing...

A chilling video of Maryland police silencing an innocent student who was recording the arrests of two other people has civil libertarians outraged. The arrests were made at night on the streets of Towson, Maryland. A University of Maryland-Baltimore County student who witnessed the arrests decided to record them using his cell phone. The student, 21-year-old Sergio Gutierrez, was soon approached by officers who objected — wrongly — to his actions. Gutierrez repeatedly told the officers that he knew he had the right to film them, but the cops were prepared to use any excuse to shut him down. First...

There is no scientific evidence that human activity is causing the planet to warm, according to Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore, who testified in front of a Senate committee on Tuesday. Moore argued that the current argument that the burning of fossil fuels is driving global warming over the past century lacks scientific evidence. He added that the Earth is in an unusually cold period and some warming would be a good thing. “There is no scientific proof that human emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) are the dominant cause of the minor warming of the Earth’s atmosphere over the past 100...

Full title - "Only Fox Cares: 'Hannity' Guest Confronts Lawmaker Who Called Clarence Thomas a ‘Very Prolific Uncle Tom’" The plight of black conservatives took center stage during Monday's edition of Hannity, a weeknight program on the Fox News Channel. The segment featured footage of African-American radio host David Webb interviewing Alvin Holmes, a Democratic state representative in Alabama who had used the racial slur “Uncle Tom” to describe Clarence Thomas, the black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. Only the Fox News Channel has reported this story on TV. Holmes said he stands behind his previous statement because Thomas...

Rep. Joe Wilson was right. The South Carolina Congressman screamed, “You lie!” when Barack Obama told Americans the Affordable Care Act would not cover abortions or illegal immigrants. [video] Now we know – Obamacare covers illegal immigrants. 125,000 illegal immigrants will be eligible for free healthcare under Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid expansion. The LA Times reported: A new report shows that as many as 125,000 young California immigrants may qualify for an expansion of Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program. The Affordable Care Act bars insurance subsidies and enrollment in the Medicaid expansion for undocumented immigrants, but a wrinkle in California rules...

RUSH: I guess the top story in the soap story line of the hour and around the world is whether the Drive-By Media and the rest of the political and cultural establishment will be able to bully the Arizona governor, Jan Brewer, into vetoing the Arizona legislature's bill which would allow businesses to refuse service to homosexuals based on the business owner's religious beliefs. Like if a gay couple walk into a bake shop and say, "We want you to bake our wedding cake," and the shop owners, "Well, you're homosexual. I'm not going to do it." They want to...

Full Title - "Nugent Takes Credit for Piers Morgan’s “*** Thrown Out” at CNN – Warns Don Lemon & Wolf Blitzer They’re Next" Ted Nugent took credit for Piers Morgan’s “*** thrown out” at CNN. He warned Don Lemon and Wolf Blitzer that they’re next. Posted by Jim Hoft on Tuesday, February 25, 2014, 10:56 AM [video] Ted Nugent took credit for Piers Morgan’s “ass thrown out” at CNN. He warned Don Lemon and Wolf Blitzer that they’re next. Talking Points Memo reported, via Politomix: Thank Ted Nugent for the gift of Piers Morgan’s primetime show coming to an end....

Recently, Arizona passed a law that would allow state businesses to practice their religious beliefs – even if that meant not serving a cake to a gay couple for their wedding ceremony. Similar religious protection legislation has been introduced in Ohio, Mississippi, Idaho, South Dakota, Tennessee and Oklahoma. The two US Senators from Arizona want Gov. Jan Brewer to veto a bill that would allow business owners with strongly held religious beliefs to refuse service to gays and lesbians. Arizona Senator Jeff Flake urged the Republican governor to veto the bill. So did Arizona Republican Senator John McCain.

Austin, Texas Police Chief Art Acevedo was asked to defend the actions of his officers, who subdued and arrested a jogging woman because she was wearing earbuds and couldn’t hear their instructions. His response to the controversy was this: It could be worse–at least she wasn’t sexually assaulted. That response upset many Texas residents, and Acevedo was forced to walk back his comments on Monday. Austin police arrested the jogging woman last week. They were stationed at an intersection near the University of Texas’s Austin campus, giving jaywalking tickets to dozens of people. The woman ran right past them, unable...

RUSH: Have you heard about this? The NFL wants to penalize the use of the N-word -- 15 yards -- when used by the players on the field during the game. It'll be a 15-yard penalty for use of the N-word in a league populated by 75% African-Americans. Seventy-five percent of the players are African-American. Therefore, 75% statistically of the use of the word would be by black players. Fifteen-yard penalty. Now, there's a bunch of ways of looking at that. BREAK TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Anyway, the N-word. The NFL wants to now police the speech that occurs by players on...

When our Founders (rightly) insisted upon a free press, they could never have envisioned the wounds the modern American media inflicted upon itself and, by extension, upon the American body politic. The Founders' goal was a press that zealously kept watch on politicians, keeping them honest and reminding them that they were the people's servants, not their masters.. Instead, we have a media that selectively watches some politicians, while following a "don't ask, don't tell" standard as to others. And during those eras when the press's party is in power, it turns its energies to attacking and destroying people, both...

The Ukraine Gun Owners Association wants the new government to add their own right to bear arms to the country's constitution. As of today Ukrainian Gun Owners Association will start to work on the preparation of amendments to the Constitution, which will provide an unconditional right for Ukrainian citizens to bear arms. People gathered in Independence Square in Kiev after President Viktor Yanukovich rejected a European Union trade deal for a $15 billion bailout from Russia in November. It was relatively peaceful for three months, but violence escalated on February 18. Over 70 people died during the week and amateur...

RUSH: Piers Morgan just got lopped at CNN. What took them so long? This guy hasn't had any audience since its first day. So they import a Brit, a not particularly nice-sounding Brit... I mean, some British accents are kind of seductive. This just sounded nasal. Every time I listen to Piers Morgan I want to clear my throat and blow my nose. My God, the guy needs a saliva drain in his mouth. Anyway, he is gone. They finally got rid of him, and they're chalking it up to two things. A, imported Brit. B, he wouldn't let go...

Even if you are not shopping for a Glock 42, this is still an excellent comparison of many single stack pistols on the market. There are almost an overwhelming number of options for a .380 or 9mm concealed carry weapon. Hopefully this video helped you glean some information.

If there’s one thing more annoying than an American liberal elitist lecturing Americans on appropriate conduct and conversation, its a British liberal elitist lecturing Americans on appropriate conduct and conversation. Piers Morgan is out at CNN. Cheerio! The New York Times reported: There have been times when the CNN host Piers Morgan didn’t seem to like America very much — and American audiences have been more than willing to return the favor. Three years after taking over for Larry King, Mr. Morgan has seen the ratings for “Piers Morgan Live” hit some new lows, drawing a fraction of viewers compared...

"Take down the sign or go to jail. We do not approve of guns...or you." This is the unmistakable messages sent by progressives when they take over a city and freedom pays the price. Ares Armor is a small tactical store operating one of their stores in National City, CA, a suburb of San Diego. Nevermind that CEO Dimitri and his staff at Ares Armor are in complete compliance with all laws and ordinances. That does not matter. That's because guns are at the heart of this debate. The City Council has taken offense to their presence there and is...

A leading tea party intellectual has turned against the tea party movement’s favorite senator. Economist Thomas Sowell, who has long been revered among conservatives, has slammed Sen. Ted Cruz in his last two columns, accusing the Texas Republican of being self-serving and comparing him to President Obama. “Freshman Senator Ted Cruz says many things that need to be said and says them well,” Sowell wrote in his syndicated column Tuesday, before going on to compare Cruz to President Obama. “Moreover, some of these things are what many, if not most, Americans believe wholeheartedly. Yet we need to remember that the...

A Georgia family is in shock following the death of their 17-year-old son, who was accidentally killed by a police officer who believed the video game controller he was holding was a gun, according to the family’s lawyer. Christopher Roupe of Euharlee, Georgia heard a knock at the door of the family’s home last Friday night. Upon opening the door, he was immediately shot by a female police officer. Roupe was pronounced dead upon arrival at a local hospital. The officer broke down it tears upon realizing her mistake, according to The New York Daily News. She had been making...