Free Republic

Technology deemed by some to be too dangerous to sell to public A new firearm featuring high-end precision technology went on sale this past Wednesday, and some in the shooting community are calling it too dangerous to be sold to the general public.  New rifle features smart technology advancements that allow it to focus on target and only fire when shot is most precise. The gun — a rifle — is called “TrackingPoint” and it is, more or less, a “smart” firearm. The user looks through the rifle’s scope, which features an advanced color graphics display, and when locked in...

Opportunity incorporates high-end facial scanning and 3D printing technologies Disney, which recently took over the Star Wars franchise, is offering fans of the movie series the chance to 3D-print their faces on to Stormtrooper figurines as part of the company’s upcoming Star Wars Weekends.  Disney is offering Star Wars fans the chance to 3D-print their faces onto the bodies of stormtroopers. 3D printing has seen an incredible rate of adoption in recent months, and this promotional event marks one of the technology’s first major introductions to the general public. The commitment on part of the Star Wars fan is about...

An energy revolution is unfolding in the United States -- but unlike most past or promised revolutions, this one is not confined to a single fuel or technology. After falling for more than two straight decades after 1985, U.S. crude oil production has now risen for four consecutive years, and in 2012, it posted its largest one-year increase since the dawn of the oil industry more than 150 years ago. Meanwhile, in 2011, natural gas surpassed coal as the United States' biggest source of domestically produced energy, thanks to surging output and plunging prices. And all this growth in U.S....

An 18-year-old high school student who had a relationship with a 14-year-old schoolmate has until Friday to decide whether she'll accept a plea deal or risk trial in the case. Kaitlyn Hunt, whose story is making national headlines, said little Wednesday in her first public comments since her arrest in February. She was expelled from Sebastian River High School after being charged with two felony counts of lewd and lascivious battery on a child 12 to 16. On Wednesday, her family's attorney told reporters gathered in Sebastian that she hopes "common sense will prevail."

Who knew that I would be a victim of the oppressive attacks of the IRS on people of conservative values and Christian faith. But I have, and it is a personal stinging reminder of how terribly close we are to losing all of our freedoms. Like many readers of my column, I have been watching accelerated attacks against Constitutional government, free speech, free markets, freedom of religion - you name it, we have lost much over the last few years. Even so, I wasn't expecting that I would be caught up in the latest scandal to rock the Obama Administration....

Film and television stars hit Republicans on Wednesday for their opposition to abortion rights and free access to birth control. Stanley Tucci, Morena Baccarin, Mehcad Brooks and others appeared in a Web video where they slammed conservative positions on women's health as retrograde... campaign began last year with another star-studded video featuring Meryl Streep, Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick, Amy Poehler and other notable actors. "We've drawn the line on moving backward on reproductive rights," Tucci said in the video released Wednesday.

Clutching a bloodied meat cleaver after executing a soldier on a crowded street, he delivers a chilling message of hate. ‘You people will never be safe,’ he declares in a clear south London accent. ‘An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.’ In broad daylight, he and an accomplice had just repeatedly stabbed and tried to behead an off-duty soldier in front of dozens of passers-by. Throughout the frenzied attack they shouted ‘Allah Akbar’ – Arabic for ‘God is great’ – then demanded horrified witnesses film them as they ranted over the crumpled body. The two black men...

At first I thought the IRS scandal was leaked to distract from the Benghazi scandal. But that didn't make sense because the IRS scandal is a more obvious abuse of power than the White House lying about the murder of four Americans in Libya. Before I had resolved which scandal was distracting from which, we found out the Department of Justice was spying on The Associated Press -- not to protect national security, but to prevent the AP from scooping the White House. Then, this week, it broke that the Department of Justice was also spying on Fox News for...

Rubio's amnesty plan is debunked for the sham that it is. Neither Marco Rubio Nor His Amnesty Plan Is Conservative The New American 22 May 2013 Not so long ago, such conservative movement notables as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and many of their colleagues were singing the praises of Florida Senator Marco Rubio. The latter, we have been told, is a rock-ribbed conservative and GOP star who could very well be the next president of the United States. Doubtless, it is courtesy of the pivotal role that he's played in promoting the amnesty agenda of "the Gang of Eight"...

More and more studies show that being overweight does not always shorten life — but some public-health researchers would rather not talk about them. Late in the morning on 20 February, more than 200 people packed an auditorium at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts. The purpose of the event, according to its organizers, was to explain why a new study about weight and death was absolutely wrong. The report, a meta-analysis of 97 studies including 2.88 million people, had been released on 2 January in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)1. A team led...

~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~ ~ Remembering Our Troops!! ~ HOMECOMING HUG U.S. Navy Lt. Bradley Thompson hugs his girlfriend during a homecoming celebration on Naval Air Facility, Atsugi, Japan, Nov. 17, 2012. Thompson is assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 195, which completed a deployment aboard the aircraft carrier USS George Washington. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Justin Smelley Canteen Mission Statement Showing support and boosting the morale ofour military and our allies' militaryand family members of the above.Honoring those who have served before. WELL WASH A landing craft air cushion returns to the well...

I am healthy in body and mind, and I am filled with love for my wife and children. I love life and expect nothing beyond the perpetuation of my race and my mind. However, in the evening of this life, in front of huge dangers for my French and European country, I feel the duty to act while I still have strength. I think I need to sacrifice myself to break the lethargy that plagues us. I offer the rest of my life with the intention of protest and foundation. I chose a highly symbolic place, Notre Dame de Paris...

A former Glenbard East student stands accused of planning to commit a mass shooting at the Lombard high school's graduation ceremony, authorities said Wednesday. Michael Santoro, 19, of Lombard has been charged with felony disorderly conduct for planning the attack. He also is facing misdemeanor charges of possession of ammunition without a firearm owners identification card and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia. He was taken into custody Tuesday and appeared Wednesday in bond court. Advertisement Prosecutors said Santoro hatched the plot because he wasn't able to graduate last year from Glenbard East. Santoro wrote "very detailed" plans for the shooting...

President Barack Obama is a nightmare for political comedians. He's too cool, too smart, too ... good at this whole leadership thing. That was the bill of goods comedians sold us five years ago, an excuse which prevented them from mocking Obama as they did every previous Commander in Chief. Jay Leno wasn't buying that pile of horse manure. Leno has consistently tweaked Obama in his Tonight Show monologues since the early days of the president's administration, the same way Leno handled President George W. Bush and President Bill Clinton. This week, Leno turned up the heat to scorching levels...

There are moments in politics when an argument is advanced that is so surpassingly stupid or dishonest that it momentarily freezes your brain. Welcome to former DNC Communications Director Karen Finney's IRS twilight zoneMSNBC Host Finney: "Everybody Knew About This [IRS] Investigation Long Before The Election"According to Finney, the fact that Mitt Romney didn't make a huge deal out of the IRS targeting scandal last year is somehow proof that the whole thing is essentially a non-story and wasn't buried until after the election.  Where to begin?  As a fellow panelist incredulously points out, the revelation of IRS abuse wasn't...

As we get word that the IRS has harassed a number of pro-life groups, including at least one alleged demand that a pro-life group not picket Planned Parenthood, check out this statistic: In 2012, the IRS requested additional information from 90 percent of returns claiming the adoption tax credit and went on to actually audit 69 percent. More details from the Taxpayer Advocate Service: During the 2012 filing season, 90 percent of returns claiming the refundable adoption credit were subject to additional review to determine if an examination was necessary. The most common reasons were income and a lack of...

A Portland woman found naked and dead Monday in a Honolulu park was a traveling escort whose ads appeared in online publications across the country. Ivanice "Ivy" Harris, 28, was in Hawaii last Thursday with friends Jillian Gibides and Mark Miles when she disappeared. Gibides, 31, told the local Star Advertiser newspaper reporter that Harris was a prostitute who was talking to a man outside a Waikiki bar early Thursday morning when she last saw her. The friends exchanged text messages about meeting up around 3:45 a.m., shortly after last call at Kelley O'Neil's bar, Gibides told a television reporter...

THE TENSE EXCHANGE BETWEEN REP. TREY GOWDY AND THE FORMER IRS HEAD YOU’VE BEEN WAITING FOR…AND IT DOESN’T DISAPPOINT Video here

You knew it would only be a matter of time before someone released a side-by-side comparison video of Jesus Christ and the prophet Mohammed. Fox News contributor and funny man Steven “I am Canadian, Ay” Crowder, has put out a hilarious video where he effectively contrasts the teachings of Christ with those of Mohammed...

A young Somali journalist in Sweden named Amun Abdullahi got herself in trouble with the politically correct elite by reporting the truth about the radicalization of young Somalis in Rinkeby (a culturally enriched suburb of Stockholm), where they were recruited for jihad by the Islamic terrorist group Al-Shabab. The treatment meted out to Ms. Abdullahi made her decide to move back to Somalia. She acknowledges that Mogadishu is a dangerous place, but she considers Sweden more dangerous, because “here you cannot tell the truth.”

Asghar Bukhari condemns Woolwich attack but then goes on to propagate the Al Qaeda narrative that Britain is to blame for home grown Muslim terrorists due to British military involvement in Muslim countries. He didn't explain that most of the Muslims who die in Muslims countries are murdered by other Muslims i.e. Syria. He also didn't thank NATO for removing the Libyan tyrant Gaddafi. What he did demonstrate quite eloquently was that a proportion of British born Muslims identify with being part of Islam ahead of being part of Britain, how large that proportion is perhaps more worrying... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaN7quv48jk

The jurisprudence of Her Honor Ruth Bader Ginsburg, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, may be only mediocre at best, but her candor deserves the highest praise. Every few years she'll pull back the judicial curtain and tell the rest of us what she thinks is really going on at the court. And shock anybody who can still be shocked at the court's motivations. Back in the summer of 2009, Madam Justice Ginsburg let the cat out of the bag, or rather the tiger, when she was talking about Roe v. Wade, the celebrated magna carta of abortion in...

DNA-tethered nanorods link up like rungs on a ribbonlike ladder—a new mechanism for linear self-assembly that may be unique to the nanoscale. Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have discovered that DNA "linker" strands coax nano-sized rods to line up in way unlike any other spontaneous arrangement of rod-shaped objects. The arrangement-with the rods forming "rungs" on ladder-like ribbons linked by multiple DNA strands-results from the collective interactions of the flexible DNA tethers and may be unique to the nanoscale. The research, described in a paper published online in ACS Nano, a journal of the American...

NBC News is reporting new details that link Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev to 2011 triple homicide.From NBC New's Twitter feed: JUST IN: Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev and man killed by FBI in Orlando responsible for 2011 triple homicide, sources say — NBC News (@NBCNews) May 22, 2013 MORE: Tsarnaev and Ibragim Todashev murdered three people in drug rip-off in Waltham, Mass. to avoid being identified, sources say — NBC News (@NBCNews) May 22, 2013 On Sept. 11, 2011, three men were found in a Boston-area apartment with their throats slit and their bodies covered in marijuana.Tamerlan described one of...

For decades, African Americans have voted more reliably Democratic than any other ethnic or special interest group. President Obama himself received over 95% of the black vote in 2008 and 2012. But rather than appreciate this almost unshakable loyalty, Democrats have taken the black vote for granted. I have often declared to black audiences that we have been in an “adulterous relationship with the Democratic Party. They knock on our door at midnight! Sometimes as late as the Sunday before the Tuesday. They want what they want, the way they want it; but later on, we don't get flowers, romance,...

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_907701&feature=iv&src_vid=6Ks6uFjXMos&v=lDtL0TKjw3w

The Senate is holding a Kangaroo Court designed to smear Apple for not voluntarily coughing up more tax revenue than the company actually owes. Here are four things you need to know.Apple is fully complying with the tax law. There is no suggestion that Apple has done anything illegal. The company is being berated by politicians for simply obeying the law that politicians have enacted. What’s really happening, of course, is that the politicians are conducting a show trial in hopes of creating an environment more conducive to tax increases on multinational companies (this is in addition to the OECD...

HB 2675 — the “comprehensive” sex education bill now moves to Governor Patrick Quinn’s desk. This afternoon, the Illinois Senate voted 37 to 21 to pass HB 2675 after a one-hour heated debate...

In a wonderful move for wildlife, India has become the fourth country (along with Costa Rica, Hungary and Chile) to ban captive dolphin and orca shows, a la those featured at “parks” such as Sea World. India has declared that cetaceans’ high level of intelligence grants them the status of “non-human persons,” which elevates the animals’ rights. The new law partly stems from the fact that cetaceans do not historically fare well in captivity. India’s Ministry of the Environment and Forests stated in the ban, “Confinement in captivity can seriously compromise the welfare and survival of all types of cetaceans...

First Lady Michelle Obama has overtaken Hillary Clinton in Forbes list of the world's most powerful women unveiled today. The former First Lady and Secretary of State dropped three places from last year's no 2 ranking before taking a seat directly behind Mrs Obama who came in fourth. On Mrs Clinton's selected ranking, Forbes declares: 'All bets on that she will be the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate and the free world’s presumptive next leader.' Topping the list is German chancellor Angela Merkel who

After a week of revelations about government spying on reporters and the Internal Revenue Service targeting conservatives, most voters feel “like the federal government has gotten out of control and is threatening the basic civil liberties of Americans.” At the same time, a new Fox News poll finds disapproval of President Obama’s job performance is above 50 percent for the first time in a year, his honesty rating is at a new low and half of voters already think he’s a lame-duck. More than two-thirds of voters -- 68 percent -- feel the government is out of control and threatening...

Can there really be anyone who didn’t instantly recognize this as the cheap negotiating tactic that it is? To refresh your memory, Democrats have been threatening for the past month to add an amendment to the Gang of Eight bill that would extend spousal benefits for illegals under the bill to gay spouses too. That’s a potential dealbreaker for Republicans, who’ll have a hard enough time explaining their amnesty vote to conservatives next year without explaining a vote for gay marriage on top of it. Would Democrats insist upon it, thereby wrecking this horrible left-wing dream legislation, with sham border...

'Morality clause' forces them apart (Newser) – A lesbian couple in Texas is claiming discrimination after a judge told the pair they legally could not live together. Carolyn Compton and Page Price have been sharing a household with Compton's two daughters, ages 10 and 13. But the judge said Price would have to move out, because of a "morality clause" in the divorce papers Compton signed when she ended her 11-year heterosexual marriage, the Dallas Morning News reports. The fairly common clause forbids either parent from having romantic partners stay overnight while their kids are home. Getting re-married nullifies the...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: The IRS hearings today, the Issa committee. Folks, yesterday, after the Apple tax hearings at the Senate, I said, "This is all just a game," and I think this thing that happened this morning with Lois Lerner showing up... Issa basically let her get away with it. She's gone. He looked clueless, like didn't know what was going on, didn't know how to deal with this. BREAK TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Okay, let me tell you what happened today at the IRS hearings. Lois Lerner, who ran the whole kit and caboodle and was... By the way, this was...

I was sitting in a classroom in McCosh Hall at Princeton University one spring day in the late 1970s, when I learned something that helped me understand the artistic genius of Jerry Garcia. No music played in that room that day -- only the amiable voice of professor Henry Miller. I don't know if Miller had ever heard of Jerry Garcia. But he did know all about Alexander Pope, and he successfully communicated to his students in 20th century America what made Pope's poems, written in 18th century England, immortal statements of beauty and truth. Gray, bearded and twinkle-eyed, Miller...

Investors in the Gold ETF - GLD liquidated 300 tons of the metal this year. The reason? People are tired of losing money watching gold sink while the S&P soars. Tom Lydon, the editor of ETF Trends, says the disposal of over 600,000 pounds of gold so far this year "amazing" and "incredible." Click on above link for a video interview with Lydon. Gold vs. S&P 500 GLD data by YCharts Reflections on Momentum Trading Since late 2012 the S&P 500 has been on a nonstop rise, while gold has gone the other way. People have thrown in the towel...

A man thought to be a serving British soldier was killed by two armed men in a frenzied attack on a London street Wednesday, in what the government is treating as a suspected act of terrorism. Witnesses told of a gruesome scene in which the man was hit by a car, then hacked with cleavers and his body dumped in the middle of the road in Woolwich, southeast London. The two suspects in the killing were injured in a confrontation with police and have been taken to two hospitals, where they are being treated.

NORTH BEND, Wash. (AP) — As her husband fought with an intruder in their home early Monday, a woman grabbed a knife and stabbed the stranger to death, investigators said.

Atheists should be seen as good people if they do good, Pope Francis has said in his latest urging that people of all religions, and none, work together. The leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics made his comments in the homily of his morning mass at his residence, a daily event at which he speaks without prepared comments. He told the story of a Catholic who asked a priest if even atheists had been redeemed by Jesus. "Even them, everyone," the pope answered, according to Vatican Radio. "We all have the duty to do good," he said. "Just...

More whistleblowers will emerge shortly in the escalating Benghazi scandal, according to two former U.S. diplomats who spoke with PJ Media Monday afternoon. These whistleblowers, colleagues of the former diplomats, are currently securing legal counsel because they work in areas not fully protected by the Whistleblower law. According to the diplomats, what these whistleblowers will say will be at least as explosive as what we have already learned about the scandal, including details about what really transpired in Benghazi that are potentially devastating to both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The former diplomats inform PJM the new revelations concentrate in...

Joseph Stalin had been General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party for six years in 1928, when John Dewey, "the father of modern education," toured Russia with a group of educators. Later that year, The New Republic published Dewey's Impressions of Soviet Russia and the revolutionary world. This polemic stands as a remarkable testament to progressivism's disdain for mankind, reason, and truth. It is also Dewey's most honest and concise primer on the principles of his progressive education method. Anyone prepared to defend the idea of government-controlled schooling after reading this work is perhaps beyond reach of rational argument. Dewey's...

This week the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals this week struck down Arizona’s law prohibiting abortion at or after 20 weeks of pregnancy – a law that was based on uncontroverted medical evidence that abortion’s risks to maternal health increase dramatically at 20 weeks gestation. It is universally accepted that risks to maternal health from abortion increase as pregnancy progresses. There is no debate on that fact, and peer-reviewed evidence utilized by the Arizona Legislature demonstrated that abortion imposes significant risks of harm beginning at 20 weeks gestation. In fact, in his concurring opinion in this case, Isaacson v. Horne,...

As new revelations underscore the administration's epic incompetence in its handling of the Benghazi disaster and IRS abuses, some Republican voices in the House and Senate, along with pundits of every persuasion, have begun to speculate about "the I word" — impeachment. Even MSNBC, the most unapologetically progressive of all television news networks, has suggested that the president could face a serious effort to remove him from office. As much as this prospect might excite the right and inspire the faithful with a renewed sense of purpose and unity, conservatives should steer clear of any push for impeachment as a...

MONTGOMERY, AL (WAFF) - Alabama lawmakers stayed up late into the night to consider last-minute bills before the last day of the 2013 legislative session on Monday. Both chambers in the state house voted to override Gov.. Robert Bentley's veto on a local bill that would allow armed teachers in Franklin County schools. The bill will now become law without the governor's signature. It will allow teachers and other school employees to carry a gun at school – so long as they are properly trained as police officers or sheriff's deputies. Rep. Johnny Mack Morrow (D-Colbert, Franklin) has been a...

Senator John McCain and Senator Carl Levin have now presided over what Senator Rand Paul rightly called a “show trial.” The Senate Mensheviks have raked Apple Computer over the coals on its practice of keeping tons and tons of money offshore. This is money that the Mensheviks sorely need, so they can squander it on things that won’t make life better for anyone outside of K Street. During the hearing McCain competes with former Senator Obama in teaching us legal theories that are both radical and non-existent when he contends: “Apple has violated the spirit of the law if not...

In the wake of mass destruction and unthinkable tragedy Christians from all over the nation are uniting to help in anyway they can. Journey Church of Norman Oklahoma is working tirelessly to help everyone they can. From victims of this tragedy, to the volunteers that are working in a united effort to help in the massive search and rescue operation, to the clean up of debris. They are offering temporary shelter and food for both victims and volunteers. According to Trisha Tramel of Journey Church, these are the following things we can do to help. Supplies needed: Water, Gatorade, Lunch...

Fraud in the organic farming sector has become a thriving international industry made up of a complex network of companies that bears all the marks of traditional organised crime. Earlier, in the supposedly good old days, lone farmers or traders in the organic business stooped to cheating at their worst. Here, they sprayed a little pesticide on the field; there, they mixed in a handful of conventional low-cost eggs with the pricey organic eggs. Since neither the volume nor weight changed, hardly anyone twigged. But organic fraudsters in Italy have long passed that stage. There, bands of professionals working with...

Meeting Thursday in Grapevine, Texas, the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America will decide whether it will retain or revise its historic membership policy on the issue of homosexuality. The 1,400 voting members of the B.S.A. National Council hold the future of one of America’s most iconic organizations in their hands. In reality, they are not only deciding a matter of membership policy. They are actually deciding the future of the entire organization. The culture wars came to the Boy Scouts many years ago. For the last few decades, the Boy Scouts have had to fight battles with...

Hundreds of youths attacked police and emergency services last night as rioting in Stockholm's poor immigrant suburbs escalated. Yesterday's violence, which has intensified over three days of rioting, saw gangs torch dozens of cars and attack two schools and a police station. It is Sweden's worst disorder in years and has shocked the country and provoked a debate on how Sweden is coping with youth unemployment and an influx of immigrants.