Free Republic

Dr Steven Greer, who led the project and documentary, has hit back at critics who claim the body is a hoax. 'The CAT scan clearly shows internal chest organs -lungs and what appears to be the remains of a heart structure,' he said. 'There is absolutely no doubt that the specimen is an actual organism and that it is not a hoax of any kind. 'This fact has been confirmed by Dr. Nolan and Dr. Lachman at Stanford.'

FULL TITLE: 'We're just like everyone else': Transgender girl, 11, writes speech in response to Obama's historic inaugural address because she wishes he'd spoken about her community too When Obama addressed the nation in his inaugural speech on Monday, he became the first president in history to speak about gay rights during the momentous swearing-in ceremony. But while many in the LGBT community lauded his support, one 11-year-old transgender girl was left disappointed that he failed to address her community too. Sadie Croft, who transitioned to a female when she was in kindergarten, has now written an eloquent essay in...

<p>Not long ago I posted a story about a Muslim who had been kicked in the face by a horse he was trying to rape. Now it seems the same Muslim returned to the same place to do the same thing. This time he killed a horse, although we don't know if it was the same one.</p>

Barbra Casbar Siperstein is scheduled to arrive in Charlotte today as the first elected transgender member of the Democratic National Committee. She has been New Jersey’s first and only transgender power broker for a lot longer. In a state with a reputation for machismo, that’s no small feat for someone who describes herself as "a woman scarred by years of testosterone."

Victoria Carmen White’s death was about ego, anger and an illegal gun, an Essex County assistant prosecutor told the jury in Newark Tuesday. Her accused killer, Alrashim Chambers, stands charged with murder, bias intimidation and weapons offenses in the fatal shooting of the 28-year-old transgender female, whom he had met hours earlier at an Irvington nightclub. "But for Carmen White’s status as a transgender individual, I would submit to you she would be alive today," Assistant Prosecutor Eileen O’Connor said during her opening statements in Superior Court. What began that night as "a festive event of young people, turned very...

BOSTON (AP) — Fisherman Lou Williams sees plenty of harbor porpoises, usually swimming in small pods well away from his boat, unlike the herds of lookalike dolphins that get close enough to ride his vessel's wake. A place Williams doesn't see many porpoises is his nets. "It's a rare occasion," said Williams, 55, who fishes out of Gloucester. "I don't think more than a couple this year." But federal regulators say far too many porpoises in the Gulf of Maine are drowning in fishing gear, specifically the stationary nets that Williams and other fishermen use, called gillnets. The estimated fatalities...

Several people have come forward claiming a transgender woman, who was arrested for allegedly injecting toxic substances into a woman's buttocks, performed similar procedures on them, health officials said Monday. Oneal Ron Morris, 30, bonded out of jail after being arrested on Friday at a North Lauderdale home. She was charged with practicing medicine without a license with serious bodily injury after an investigation by Miami Gardens Police and the Florida Department of Health. The Florida Department of Health was told by a victim in 2010 that Morris allegedly injected treatments into the victim's buttocks, which resulted in life-threatening injuries....

‘Star Wars’ actress: Date with Sen. Dodd brought wild questions from Sen. Kennedy Holy Obi-Wan Kenobi! “Star Wars” actress Carrie Fisher claims the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) asked her some pretty frank questions while dining out with the star and former Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.). According to published excerpts from Fisher’s new book, “Shockaholic,” the entertainer, best known for her role as Princess Leia, was fresh out of her first stint in rehab and on a date with a then single Dodd back in 1985. Kennedy joined the pair at dinner in D.C.. Fisher writes, “Suddenly, Senator Kennedy, seated...

NEW YORK - A Transportation Security Administration employee responsible for a passenger’s ‘freak’ out earlier this week is no longer checking luggage, according to the agency. Jill Filipovic, of Brooklyn, who flew from Newark Liberty Airport to Dublin over the weekend opened her luggage Monday morning to discover a personalized note on an official TSA form, reading “GET YOUR FREAK ON GIRL.” Filipovic, a lawyer and blogger, believes the note stemmed from the small vibrator that was packed in her suitcase. On Wednesday, the TSA said that it had “quickly launched an investigation and identified the employee responsible.”

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- An Alum Creek man has been arrested after neighbors allegedly found him standing over the dead body of a stolen pygmy goat while wearing women's underwear. Mark Lucas Thompson, 19, of Greenview Road was taken into custody early Monday at his home. Deputies had dealt with the man before and believe him to be mentally unstable. Thompson told deputies he had been high on bath salts for the last three days, said Cpl. Sean Snuffer, a detective with the sheriff's office. Deputy J.S. Shackelford was dispatched about 3:15 a.m. Monday to the home on Quebec Drive to...

Both sides are starting to speak out after Rolling Stone reported that the command of Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, who is in charge of training Afghan troops, tried to tap members of the military's "information operations" unit to use their skills on visiting senators and congressmen, among others. The goal, according to the article, was to convince officials to provide more troops and money. The accuser, Lt. Col. Michael Holmes, stood by his allegations in an interview with Fox News. He said the top brass ordered his unit to gather information in a way that was "over the line," and...

The real reason behind PRESIDENT OBAMA's shocking weight loss - he's secretly battling stomach parasites, say sources. The pencil-thin president caught the parasites on a trip last year to Hawaii, where he and his family also vacationed over Christmas, according to top political insiders. "Barack has wanted to keep the stomach parasites under the radar," revealed a close source. "There had been a public health warning about them in Hawaii when he caught them."

So after Sheriff Dupnik running his mouth about the shooter being incited by "vitriol" coming from cable news & radio, I started worrying about law enforcement having possession of this guy's computer. There is a clear effort being made by many, many people to blame this on the conservatives in this country. I'm not accusing anyone of anything but the thought crossed my mind that could someone "plant" evidence on his computer that he was following Glenn Beck, Palin, etc? Or am I just a tin foil hat freak???

LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) - John Alan Conroy, 36, of Big Spring, Texas, pleaded guilty yesterday afternoon before U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings to one count of producing child pornography and one count of receipt of a visual depiction of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct. He faces a statutory sentence of 15 to 50 years in prison, a $500,000 fine and a lifetime of supervised release. Judge Cummings ordered a pre sentence report with sentencing to be scheduled after the completion of that report. Conroy has been in custody since his arrest in July 2010 on a related...

Ran across this doing a web search, and found it amusing as one of Morning Joe talking heads has just written a book called The Freak Show..attempting to push the appellation onto the American political scene, rather than where it belongs...on MSNBC and all it's freak hosts: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1762757/posts

A founding member of ELO has been killed in a freak accident when a giant hay bale rolled out of a field and landed on his van. Cellist Mike Edwards died instantly when the 50-stone cylindrical bale careered down a slope, flipped 15ft over a hedge and smashed on to the roof of his van. Mr Edwards, 62, was known for unconventional cello playing including plucking the strings with an orange or grapefruit and his bizarre customs which became a major ingredient of ELO, the Electric Light Orchestra.

The big spenders who shelled out $30,400 a head for dinner with President Obama at the Four Seasons restaurant and at Anna Wintour's house didn't actually break any bread with him. After starting Tuesday night at a dinner for 60 high-rolling Democratic supporters hosted by hedge-fund billionaire Marc Lasry, Obama headed to a private room at the Four Seasons to wolf down steak, potatoes and broccoli with two aides before heading to Wintour's Greenwich Village home. Obama arrived at the Four Seasons at 5 p.m. Spies said he gave a short speech and schmoozed with 60 attendees, including Lasry and...

'Fakir' arrested for killing infant CHENNAI (India) - POLICE in southern India said on Monday they had arrested a self-styled Muslim 'fakir' for the gruesome murder of an infant boy in a ritual he believed would lend him supernatural powers. Abdul Gafoor, a mystic who claimed he could perform magical feats, had confessed to kidnapping the 18-month-old in the southern city of Madurai and then beheading him, police inspector Chidambaram Murugesan told AFP. 'During questioning, he said he had a dream and heard a voice saying he would get extraordinary healing powers if he sacrificed a male child,' Mr Murugesan...

Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank caused a scene when he demanded a $1 senior discount on his ferry fare to Fire Island's popular gay haunt, The Pines, last Friday. Frank was turned down by ticket clerks at the dock in Sayville because he didn't have the required Suffolk County Senior Citizens ID.

A Wharton county judge is expected to hear evidence on Friday in the first step toward sorting out the estate of a firefighter killed in the line of duty, in dispute because of a lawsuit between his parents and his widow who was born a male.

This makes it clear just how petrified by the prospect of direct negotiations the Palestinians are: The Palestinian Authority has added new conditions for resuming direct talks with Israel, presenting new demands that in effect preclude negotiations. The stipulations stated to the BBC by PA chief negotiator Saeb Erekat reflect a previously stated strategy of waiting “a year or two” for the United Nations to recognize it as a new Arab country instead of trying to reach a compromise agreement with Israel. … Erekat told the BBC that in order for direct talks to resume, Israel also must accept former...

A local woman is behind bars, accused of pretending to be a teenage boy in order to have sex with a teenage girl. 31 year old Patricia Dye faces a number of charges, including importuning, corruption of a minor, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The Warren County Prosecutor tells Local 12 that Dye allegedly cut her hair and used the name "Matt Abrams" when courting the girl, who is between the ages of 13 and 16 years old. The girl went to a motel with Dye in June, but didn't know Dye was really a woman. When...

Obama: the Creed that Defines the Character of This Country is YES WE CAN. Yes he really said it in Iowa at the end of his campaign speech.

President Obama to speak about national security: Watch live

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: President Barack Obama Date: Thu, Dec 24, 2009 at 12:02 PM Subject: A historic moment To: Don xxxxx Don -- Although it's Christmas Eve, I wanted to share some exciting news: The Senate just passed a historic health reform bill. In all the back and forth, it's easy to lose sight of what this incredible breakthrough really means. But consider this: This Christmas, there are millions of Americans without health insurance who risk losing everything if they get sick. There are mothers and fathers who wonder how they'll provide for their children because an illness...

(CBS) In June, Chastity Bono, daughter of entertainers Sonny and Cher, shocked the entertainment world by announcing that she was becoming a he. Now, in his first interview, Chaz Bono, as he now calls himself, speaks to "Entertainment Tonight's" Mary Hart about his transformation, his famous family and the struggle he's gone through since childhood. "I have to tell you that I was really quite moved with my time with Chaz. His honesty, thoughtfulness and warmth not only impressed me, but it helped me understand this very serious choice he's made," Hart told Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith. According to...

Just when you thought Keith Olbermann couldn't get any more vile or vulgar . . . Opening this evening's Countdown, Olbermann said that Rush Limbaugh's observation that Glenn Beck was the result of his success "is like congratulating yourself for spreading syphyllis." Olbermann made his crude comment in teasing a segment on Rush's interview with NBC's Jamie Gangel. View video.

Three-steps-from-crazy-cat-lady WSJ columnist Peggy Noonan is teaching at Harvard. Our spies report: "Peggy's a ridiculous, hilarious person to speaking with any authority on anything at all." They've provided us with her awesome quotes. We're presenting them emoticon-contextualized them for you...

This follows a "courtship" of 3,000 rides over ten years with the 80ft gondola ride called 1001 Nachts. Miss Wolfe, 33, from Pennsylvania, will change her surname to Weber after the manufacturer of the ride she travels 160 miles to visit 10 times per year, according to reports “I love him as much as women love their husbands and know we’ll be together forever,” she said. Miss Wolfe first fell for the ride when she was 13: “I was instantly attracted to him sexually and mentally. “I wasn’t freaked out, as it just felt so natural, but I didn’t tell...

LITTLE EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP, N.J. — When word got out that Mr. McBeth, a popular substitute teacher at two southern New Jersey school districts was about to come back to class as Miss McBeth, it caused an uproar. The former William McBeth had undergone sex reassignment surgery and was now Lily McBeth. The schools' 2006 decisions to keep her on as a substitute were hailed around the nation as a model of tolerance and acceptance of transgender Americans. But the storybook ending never happened: She got only a handful of assignments since then and is resigning in frustration.

We've just seen a higher resolution image of the photo that appears to be David Carradine's body hanging in his hotel room -- and it shows what seems consistent with an auto-erotica scenario ... at least from outward appearances. The photo -- published by a Thai tabloid -- shows a body suspended from a bar in a closet, with his hands bound together above his head. Carradine's genitals were also tied. But the new sharper image also reveals what appears to be fishnet stockings covering the body. You can also see red women's lingerie on the bed. And, it appears,...

The religious right, which vehemently opposed Rudy Giuliani’s 2008 bid for the Republican presidential nomination, is rallying to the former New York mayor’s defense against attacks from gay rights groups. The skirmish began when Giuliani in an interview with the New York Post opposed New York Gov. David Paterson's proposed gay marriage bill and asserted it would spark a backlash against Democrats. ....[S]ocial conservatives are applauding him for his stance on an issue over which they have often been at odds with him. SNIP Even Tony Perkins, president of the influential Family Research Council and an outspoken critic of Giuliani’s...

The Glenn Beck Early-Bird Thread for 4-15-09

WASHINGTON (AP) — Barack Obama's cherished Blackberry slipped through his fingers Friday — but it was only a butterfingers moment. Obama, who has been reluctant to relinquish the device when he becomes president, dropped his Blackberry and its hard plastic case onto an airport tarmac as he emerged from his fortified vehicle. A Secret Service agent hustled to pick it up.

Despite legal and security hurdles, president-elect Barack Obama says he has a plan to retain his beloved Blackberry once he moves into the White House next week. Interviewed by CNN Friday, Obama said the smartphone was among the tools that he would use to stay in touch with real Americans and avoid becoming trapped inside the presidential "bubble." "I think we're going to be able to hang on to one of these. My working assumption, and this is not new, is that anything I write on an email could end up being on CNN," he said. "So I make sure...

(entitled "Friend Mao")

President-elect Barack Obama greets onlookers after working out at the Semper Fit Center at Marine Corp Base Hawaii in Kailua, Hawaii, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2008.

It's one of those things that sneaks up on you in politics, a sense of things happening not quite as you expected. It started in April when our Times colleague Louise Roug called with a quote from Sen. Hillary Clinton.

The world's first male mother is pregnant again, hoping to enlarge the family he started after giving birth in June to a daughter. Thomas Beatie, a former Hawaiian beauty queen, caused a worldwide clamour last spring after announcing his first pregnancy.

Keith Olbermann's e-mail response to Time about the Saturday Night Live sketch in which Ben Affleck parodied him this past weekend is so patently Keith Olbermann that it almost seems like the SNL staff wrote it. He begins lightheartedly enough: SNL and my Football Night In America show share adjoining studios, so upon my arrival yesterday, awaiting me was one of the cue cards from the bit, with Ben writing of the sketch: "Keith - Remember, a) I didn't write this; b) it took years of study - fondly, Ben." Right, so we are duly informed that (a) Ben Affleck...

A conservative media watchdog says it's outrageous that Barack Obama is blaming a major cable news service for costing him two to three points in the polls. In a recently published interview for the New York Times Magazine, the Democratic presidential candidate said: "I'm convinced that if there were no FOX News, I might be two or three points higher in the polls. If I were watching FOX News, I wouldn't vote for me, right? Because the way I'm portrayed 24/7 is as a freak!" The Illinois senator continued, explaining that he is being typecast as "the latte-sipping, New York...

An American man who was born female but underwent gender realignment surgery, has given birth to a female baby, US media have reported. Thomas Beatie, 34, is legally male but kept his female reproductive organs after having breast surgery to remove glands and flatten his chest. Both Mr Beatie and his daughter are reported to be doing well in a hospital in Bend, Oregon. He was inseminated using sperm from an anonymous donor. The birth was natural, a source at St Charles Medical Center in Bend told ABC News, and took place on Sunday. According to some reports, Mr Beatie...

Thomas Beatie, who was born a woman but after surgery and hormone treatment lives as a man, has given birth to a girl at an Oregon hospital, People magazine reported on Thursday. Beatie, 34, who kept female reproductive organs when he legally became a man 10 years ago, confirmed the birth to the magazine. The baby, conceived through artificial insemination using donor sperm and Beatie's own eggs, was born on June 29 and Beatie and the baby are "healthy and doing well," People reported. "The only thing different about me is that I can't breast-feed my baby. But a lot...

A CONTROVERSIAL boob op which gave model Maxi Mounds world record breaking breasts has been banned - over safety fears. Busty Maxi hit the record books after having the surgery which encouraged her breasts to GROW bigger. The porn actress grabbed the title for the largest artificial boobs in the world in 2005, when they grew to a staggering 36MMM. But now safety concerns have led the operation called polyproplyene string technique to be banned. So Maxi’s globes look like they will be the undisputed world’s breast for a while.

EASTON, Pa. - A former Bethlehem woman will serve up to 23 months in prison for having her 7-year-old son dress as a Cub Scout to collect money for a nonexistent cause. Sally Ann Gombocz, 51, told a Northampton County judge she wanted to apologize to anyone she hurt. She previously pleaded guilty to theft by deception and corruption of a minor. Gombocz had her son dress as a scout in 2003 and tell people he was raising money for a camping trip. A prosecutor says the family collected $69. Gombocz was sentenced Friday to six to 23 months in...

For school officials in Haverford Township, the challenge was daunting: What do you do when a 9-year-old student, with the full support of his parents, decides that he is no longer a boy and instead is a girl? Parents of a third-grade student at Chatham Park Elementary School approached the administration on April 16 to ask for help in making a "social transition" for their child. (Excerpt) Full story: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/pa/chester/20080503_School_challenge__Transgender_student_is_age_9.html The Haverford School District consulted experts on transgender children, then sent letters to parents advising them that the guidance counselor would meet with the school's 100 third-grade students to explain...

America is in line at the airport. America has its shoes off, is carrying a rubberized bin, is going through a magnetometer. America is worried there is fungus on the floor after a million stockinged feet have walked on it. But America knows not to ask. America is guilty until proved innocent, and no one wants to draw undue attention. America left its ticket and passport in the jacket in the bin in the X-ray machine, and is admonished. America is embarrassed to have put one one-ounce moisturizer too many in the see-through bag. America is irritated that the TSA...

The pregnant man completes the second phase of his media trifecta: he/she appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show Thursday. The first phase is to call a press conference: check. The third phase involves the book deal and the TV movie. Then well-deserved obscurity, broken only by appearances as an answer to trivia questions and “Where are they now” stories 10 years later. Reactions to Thomas Beatie and wife Nancy’s second phase.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A transgender man who is six months pregnant said in an interview aired by Oprah Winfrey on Thursday that he always wanted to have a child and considers it a miracle. "It's not a male or female desire to have a child. It's a human desire," a thinly bearded Thomas Beatie said. "I have a very stable male identity," he added, saying that pregnancy neither defines him nor makes him feel feminine. Beatie, 34, who lives in Oregon, was born a woman but decided to become a man 10 years ago. He began taking testosterone treatments and...

Craig Accepting Applications for Summer Interns Deadline Quickly Approaching WASHINGTON, D.C. - Idaho Senator Larry Craig is currently seeking intern applications for the summer term, which runs from May to August. The application deadline is March 15, however if more time is needed for the application process, please contact Senator Craig's office for an extension. Craig offers paid internships within the Washington, D.C., office. Preference is given to Idaho applicants attending Idaho schools who are in their junior or senior years of college (including graduating seniors). '"Interns have the chance to be an essential part of a working congressional office,"...