Free Republic

The Phillies are once again in the mix with the Mets for the division, but it’s almost impossible to imagine this year’s team lifting a finger to help anyone. Marcus Hayes reported a few weeks ago that about half of the 2021 Phillies were vaccinated, a jaw-droppingly pathetic number that meant the Phillies lagged behind essentially every other team in Major League Baseball. For this piece, The Inquirer emailed the Phillies asking for an updated percentage of team members who are vaccinated. A representative told us it’s higher than 50% but would not disclose the number. As Matt Gelb wrote...

snip-- The government has documented at least 12 confidential informants who assisted the sprawling investigation. The trove of evidence they helped gather provides an unprecedented view into American extremism, laying out in often stunning detail the ways that anti-government groups network with each other and, in some cases, discuss violent actions. An examination of the case by BuzzFeed News also reveals that some of those informants, acting under the direction of the FBI, played a far larger role than has previously been reported. Working in secret, they did more than just passively observe and report on the actions of the...

The Philadelphia 76ers were among the teams hosting playoff games over the weekend that saw an increase in fan capacity in their arenas. The 76ers welcomed more than 11,000 at the Wells Fargo Center for their Game 1 matchup against the Washington Wizards. Philadelphia won the game 125-118. "I can’t believe that was 10,000, 11,000 [people]. There’s no way. I think we’re counting like the Republicans because it felt like 30,000 people in the stands. They were amazing," 76ers coach Doc Rivers said. "Let’s keep it going. It’s so nice to have that at home. (excerpt)

Heather Price knows her way around gases. An atmospheric chemist at North Seattle College, she studies outdoor air pollution, the flow and change of chemicals in Earth’s atmosphere. But she wasn’t worried about the gas stove in her own home before her son developed asthma and, at two and a half years old, had to use his inhaler multiple times a day. She started to wonder: Was gas making her family sick? Sign up for The Atlantic’s daily newsletter. Price’s house ran on natural gas—“gas stove, gas furnace, gas hot-water heater,” she says. In American homes, this setup is quite...

Netflix has decided to cancel a pair of talk shows on Friday: “The Joel McHale Show With Joel McHale” and “The Break With Michelle Wolf.” Both shows had finished their respective runs, with “The Break” wrapping up its 13 episode order on July 31. The streamer will not order any more episodes.

(Snip) There’s only one way to buy London Olympic tickets– through the ’official’ office that’s controlled by the government. They’ve even solidified their monopoly by making it a CRIMINAL OFFENSE for individuals to resell Olympic tickets. The concierge at my hotel, an affable Italian named Paulo, explained to me that the police even came around to warn (i.e. threaten) him against helping hotel guests find tickets. Paulo directed me to the government’s official website so I could buy tickets the legal way. I quickly found out how Byzantine it is– there are all sorts of ridiculous hoops to jump through;...

The bank BBVA Compass is predicting that Mitt Romney will win the 2012 election as economic conditions continue to deteriorate over the next few months. In a research note Wednesday, the bank said that the current economic conditions favor a victory for President Barack Obama. However, the bank expects manufacturing activity to slow in the months ahead, causing further sluggish job growth that has become the norm of the past few months. That's why they think Romney will emerge with the presidency: Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-romney-election-prediction-economy-jobs-manufacturing-2012-7#ixzz20K1aaf27

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Florida State coach Bobby Bowden said Sunday he isn't planning on quitting anytime soon. That could leave school officials in a difficult situation. Florida State is 2-3 for the first time since Bowden's inaugural season at the school 33 years ago, and 0-2 in the Atlantic Coast Conference for the first time, prompting questions about his future at a program he transformed into a collegiate powerhouse. After Saturday's 28-21 loss at Boston College, two Florida newspapers, including the hometown Tallahassee Democrat, said Bowden should call it a career at the end of this season. "The love...

I received a letter from the PA Department of Revenue stating that I had not paid Use Tax in 3 years and they were allowing me to catch up without penalty. They included a brochure explaining what Use Tax is. I had never read anything that had led me to believe I owed this tax. I thought it was a tax on rentals & leases. Boy was I wrong. Use tax is tax on anything you purchase that is normally taxable and that you did not pay tax on. For example, let's say you purchase something off the Internet for...

As many as 800 Pennsylvania state employees might have to be laid off because of Republican lawmakers' demands for spending cuts and labor unions' refusal to accept less drastic measures, Gov. Ed Rendell says. "I regret that deeply," Rendell said Tuesday. "I wish the unions would consider letting me do rolling furloughs. I think it's a fairer way than taking away someone's livelihood, but I can't do that without their assent under the contract." David Fillman, the executive director of the state's largest employee union, said unions have ruled out furloughs because it involves office shutdowns that are disruptive to...

In recent years, it has become increasingly clear to those who follow US economic statistics that there is something dubious about the numbers released by official government agencies and used to guide many aspects of social and public policy. The details and chronology of the corruption of economic data are presented in a new book by Kevin Phillips, the political commentator and former Republican Party adviser who has become something of a muckraking critic of the “excesses” that he helped set in motion. The book is entitled, Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism...

A new ordinance against firing guns in Lancaster City has passed its first test in court, and Mayor Rick Gray is calling it a victory for residents. ...Snip... But it's Curtis Swinton who was the first person to be cited for violating the rule — shooting his gun in the air allegedly to frighten off men who were beating his cousin — and the first person to challenge the new law in Lancaster County Court. On Monday, Judge Joseph Madenspacher handed down a ruling on the matter, upholding both the ordinance and prosecution under the state's criminal law. The law...

DICKSON CITY — A Friday evening police incident spilled over into a Borough Council meeting Tuesday, with gun-rights advocates alleging harassment by two police officers. The regular monthly meeting erupted into a full-blown debate on the Second Amendment, with more than 20 Pennsylvania Firearm Owners Association members — many of whom were openly armed — arguing their right to carry a weapon in public. Police have yet to release a report of the incident in which a group of customers at Old Country Buffet were questioned about openly carrying handguns in public. At least one of those customers, Rich Banks,...

Police: Gun At Officer Shooting Scene Traced To Duncannon Man HARRISBURG, Pa. -- A gun sold in Harrisburg for drugs wound up in Philadelphia, where it was found at the scene of a fatal shooting of a police officer, officials said. Police said Levi Swigart, 19, of Duncannon, Perry County, told them he sold the .22-caliber revolver to buy crack from a man at a convenience store along Cameron Street in Harrisburg. Swigart's mother reported the gun stolen in February. The same gun was found at the scene where Philadelphia police officer Steven Liczbinski was shot and killed over the...

NEW YORK (AP) - Only 8.4 percent of major league players last season were black, the lowest level in at least two decades. As recently as 1995, 19 percent of big leaguers were black, according to Richard Lapchick, director of the University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports. Nine percent were black in both 2004 and 2005, and the current figure is the lowest since at least the mid-1980s, he said. Just 3 percent of pitchers were blacks in 2006, Lapchick said Thursday in his annual study, the same as the previous year. Lapchick gave baseball...

Sorry for the vanity, but does anybody know how to check the status of the Lyco Web Server? I think it's been down...

Bill Romanowski used steroids and human growth hormone supplied by Victor Conte, the former NFL linebacker tells CBS' 60 Minutes in an interview to be broadcast Sunday. Romanowski said he took illegal steroids for a two-year period starting in 2001 and got them from Conte, the former head of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, which has been at the center of a steroids controversy in several sports.... Last May, he agreed to pay former Raiders teammate Marcus Williams $415,000 in damages for a hit to the face during a practice drill in 2003. Williams' career ended after his eye socket...

DEEP-WATER DIVERS have always been the daredevils of the diving community, pushing far into the dark labyrinths of water-filled holes and extreme ocean depths. It's a small global fraternity—there are no more than a dozen members—and in the history of recreational diving, only six people other than Shaw have ever pulled off successful dives below 820 feet. (More people have walked on the moon, Don Shirley likes to point out.) At least three ran into serious trouble in the process (including Nuno Gomes, who got stuck in the mud on the bottom of Bushman's Hole for two minutes before escaping)....

February 13, 2005 It is becoming a constant, like gravity: Maureen Dowd opens her mouth, and I get email from guys saying, “Fred! Geez, man, how much do apartments go for in Guadalajara?” Maureen is the resentment columnist for the New York Times. She serves as newsprint megaphone for the angry, selfish, wretchedly unhappy career woman who can’t understand why she is living alone in an apartment with two cats. (I understand the alone part. I question the judgement of the cats.) Maybe I can explain. In a recent column, headed "Men Just Want Mommy," Maureen tells us, “A few...

June 11, 2004: The United States military has already created combat laser weapons that work, and is now hustling to get some of these designs ready for troop use. In a program created by Congress, as a way to force the services to pool money for laser research and development, the U.S. Defense Department's High Energy Laser Joint Technology office (JTO) expects to demonstrate three different 25 kilowatt solid-state laser system designs by December. Solid state lasers only require electrical power to operate, so they are much more desirable for battlefield applications than chemical-based lasers (which consume exotic and corrosive...