Free Republic

SALEM, Oregon, April 24, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Marion County Board of Commissioners announced late Wednesday that they are putting a stop to a waste-to-energy facility’s program that was incinerating aborted babies to produce electricity. The B.C. Catholic’s Steve Weatherbe revealed April 21 that the British Columbia government was sending fetal remains to the Covanta Marion waste-to-energy facility to be burned along with other medical waste. The story made national news after LifeSiteNews reported on the revelation Wednesday afternoon. “We are outraged and disgusted that this material could be included in medical waste received at the facility,” said Commissioner Janet...

Theses photos [at URL] purport to show the same bearded Russian soldier (circled) in operation in Georgia in 2008 and Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in 2014 Photos released by the Ukranian government as "proof" of Russian soldiers on the ground in Donetsk leave many questions to be answered... The low-quality, annotated images were handed to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe on 16 April, as evidence that Russian "sabotage-reconnaissance groups" had been working with separatists in the Donetsk towns of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. According to a NYT article, the photos and their descriptions were "endorsed by the Obama administration"....

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Onondaga County has 5.2 million records showing where drivers have been over the past year. But if you'd like to know what the county has on your travels, you're out of luck. Police cars throughout the county are outfitted with special cameras -- license plate readers -- that take hundreds of pictures of license plates a minute. Those records, showing the plate and where it was photographed, are warehoused in the county's database and held for a year. Onondaga County denied a Freedom of Information Law request from me for all records they had on my license...

The Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that the word "child" includes both the born and unborn. The decision comes in the case of a woman who was convicted for using cocaine during her pregnancy. Her baby tested positive for the drug at his birth. Under Alabama law that is considered "chemical endangerment of a child." The court ruled the state has a legitimate interest in protecting the lives of children from the earliest stages of their development. "God, not governments and legislatures, gives persons these inherent natural rights," Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore and Justice Tom Parker wrote in their...

<p>Russia has warned the Ukrainian government to pull its military from the restive southeast of its own territory, saying it could invade to “protect” pro-Russian separatists there – just as it did in Georgia, another former Soviet republic that Moscow invaded six years ago.</p>

US troops arriving in Eastern Europe. Is it more than symbolic? A contingent of 150 US troops began arriving in Poland Wednesday, the first of four such units being deployed for training exercises in Eastern Europe in a move criticized as unlikely to impress Russia. By Anna Mulrine, Staff writer / April 23, 2014 Washington The Pentagon is sending a contingent of 150 US troops to Poland this week, the first piece of what US officials describe as an effort to reassure Eastern European allies that the United States has their back in the wake of Russian aggression. The contingent,...

A crosscheck of voter rolls in Virginia and Maryland turned up 44,000 people registered in both states, a vote-integrity group reported Wednesday. And that’s just the beginning. “The Virginia Voters Alliance is investigating how to identify voters who are registered and vote in Virginia but live in the states that surround us,” Alliance President Reagan George told the State Board of Elections.

<p>An American journalist for Vice News is being held captive by pro-Russian gunmen following his reporting on the turmoil in Ukraine.</p> <p>Simon Ostrovsky had covered the conflict over Crimea for weeks and went missing Tuesday. His disappearance is the latest example of a crackdown on journalists by Russia and its supporters, prompting a warning from the U.S. State Department.</p>

(Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said that islands at the center of a territorial dispute between Japan and China fall within the scope of the U.S.-Japan security treaty, the Yomiuri Shimbun daily said on Wednesday. Obama, who arrives in Japan later on Wednesday on the first step of a four-nation Asian visit, made the remarks in written replies to questions.

Russia's foreign minister on Wednesday promised a firm response if its citizens or interests come under attack in Ukraine — a vow that came after Ukraine announced a renewal of its "anti-terror" campaign against those occupying buildings in its troubled east. Although Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov did not specifically say Russia would launch a military attack, his comments bolstered wide concern that Russia could use any violence in eastern Ukraine as a pretext for sending in troops. Large contingents of Russian troops — tens of thousands, NATO says — are in place near the Ukrainian border. "Russian citizens being attacked...

Senator Harry Reid told reporters the Bundy Ranch dispute is not over. “Something will happen.” ... Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says “something is going to happen” to get Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy to stop letting his cattle graze on federal land. “It’s obvious that you can’t just walk away from this. And we can speculate all we want to speculate to what’s going to happen next,” Reid told KSNV-TV. “But I don’t think it’s going to be tomorrow that something is going to happen, but something will happen. We are a nation of laws, not of men and women.”...

"Our state Constitution requires equal treatment in college admissions, because it is fundamentally wrong to treat people differently based on the color of their skin," Republican Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said. "A majority of Michigan voters embraced the ideal of equal treatment in 2006, and today their decision was affirmed." ... Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, filed a 58-page dissent and summarized it from the bench—a signal that the court's minority strongly disagrees with the majority. Justice Sotomayor wrote that Michigan voters "changed the basic rules of the political process in that State in a...

More than 2,800 Internal Revenue Service employees who recently had been disciplined received performance bonuses totaling more than $2.8 million between Oct. 1, 2010 and Dec. 31, 2012, a government audit found. The misconduct ranged from failure to pay taxes to misuse of government travel cards, violation of official-conduct standards and fraud, according to the report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. The discipline included written reprimands, suspensions and even removal. The oversight agency said some of the conduct issues might have occurred after an employee earned a bonus. While the IRS doesn't prohibit bonuses, "providing awards to...

After Breitbart Texas reported on the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) intent to seize 90,000 acres belonging to Texas landholders along the Texas/Oklahoma line, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott questioned the BLM’s authority to take such action. “I am about ready,” General Abbott told Breitbart Texas, “to go to go to the Red River and raise a ‘Come and Take It’ flag to tell the feds to stay out of Texas.” Gen. Abbott sent a strongly-worded letter to BLM Director Neil Kornze, asking for answers to a series of questions related to the potential land grab. “I am deeply...

1. The children of this nation belong first to their parents and families, not to their communities or governments. The primary authority over and direction of a child's education lies with that child's parent or guardian. 2. The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) were created without benefit of transparency, by a non-profit organization, with the involvement of very few educators, and majority funded and influenced by corporate interests. Democratic participation, educator input, and opportunity for revision during the "closed door" development of the Standards were utterly lacking. The Standards were introduced and later adopted without benefit of field testing, and...

Ukraine's Acting President Turchynov appears to be calling for an official break in the "truce" deal... -UKRAINE'S TURCHYNOV URGES RESTART OF ANTI-TERRORIST OPERATION -TURCHYNOV SAYS 'TERRORISTS' HOLDING EAST UKRAINE REGION HOSTAGE -TURCHYNOV SAYS EAST UKRAINE SEPARATISTS SUPPORTED BY RUSSIA So much for Joe Biden's peace-keeping salvation mission to Kiev...

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld Michigan's controversial ban on affirmative action in public college admissions in a divided opinion released Tuesday morning, preserving a status quo that's contributed to dwindling minority enrollment at the state's flagship colleges. The high court's decision is a blow to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, which has come under fire for low minority enrollment. Blacks comprise just 4.6 percent of undergraduates this year, compared to 8.9 percent in 1995 and 7 percent in 2006. University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman and admissions director Ted Spencer have decried the affirmative action ban, saying...

The Bureau of Land Management is confirming it killed six cattle as part of its standoff against the Bundy Ranch in Bunkersville, NV. “A total of six cattle died or were euthanized,” a BLM official told Breitbart News. The official listed the dead livestock cataloged by the BLM explaining, “The Bundy branded bull that was euthanized posed a significant threat to employees during the gather. The Bundy branded cow ran into a fence panel injuring its spine and was euthanized.” The dead animals listed by the official were: •1 Bundy branded bull was euthanized •1 Bundy branded cow was euthanized...

A Washington, D.C.-based secular organization has filed a lawsuit against the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. The American Humanist Association announced Monday that a New Jersey school district will be the latest entity sued over the two words. David Niose, attorney for the American Humanist Association's Appignani Humanist Legal Center, said in a statement that he believes the pledge's words are religiously coercive. "Public schools should not engage in an exercise that tells students that patriotism is tied to a belief in God," said Niose. "Such a daily exercise portrays atheist and humanist children as second-class citizens,...

The Nevada cattle rancher at the center of a land dispute with the federal government should not have to surrender his property, an Arizona official says, because he has been acting within the boundaries of the law. Barry Weller, vice chairman of the Apache County Board of Supervisors, told J.D. Hayworth and John Bachman on "America's Forum" Monday on Newsmax TV that he thinks Cliven Bundy was right in standing up to the Bureau of Land Management, which sought to seize his ranch. Bundy says his family has homesteaded since 1877 on the land, which the federal government says belongs...

UKIP leader Nigel Farage has defended a poster campaign claiming millions of Europeans are after British jobs as "a hard-hitting reflection of reality." The posters-with messages including a warning British workers are "hit hard by unlimited cheap labor"-come ahead of May's European elections. UKIP leader Nigel Farage will launch UKIP's campaign for the European and local elections later in Sheffield. Labour MP Mike Gapes attacked the UKIP posters as "racist".......... Tory Peer Lord Deben, after retweeting comments featuring pictures of the posters wrote: "UKIP stands for the worst in human beings: our prejudice, selfishness and fear." But UKIP's deputy leader...

I spent Saturday April 12, 2014, at the Bundy Ranch near Bunkerville, Nevada and was present for what may one day be remembered as a turning point in this nation's history - the day the U.S. Government blinked. The day was so emotion filled that I hardly know where to begin so I will begin at the beginning of my journey in what I am certain will be a futile effort to convey all that I saw and felt.

Disgraced former President Victor Yanukovych called for urgent action to resolve the ongoing separatist violence in eastern Ukraine in a statement from Rostov-on-Don on April 21. Yanukovych requested the “immediate removal of all Ukrainian Armed Forces from the east of Ukraine, sent there as a detachment of the so-called ‘national guard,’ dressed in military uniforms and armed with automatic weapons and grenades.” Yanukovych, who fled Ukraine on February 22 after being accused of ordering riot police to fire on activists demanding his removal from power, called for “the immediate commencement of peaceful dialogue with the leaders of the eastern regions.”

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)OKLAHOMA - A dispute over land in Nevada between rancher Cliven Bundy and the Federal Government began decades ago. Bundy says his family’s cattle have grazed on the land without interference since 1870. The Bureau of Land Management says Bundy hadn’t paid his grazing fees since 1993, owing the government more than 1 million dollars. The B.L.M. says Bundy was allowing his cattle to graze illegally, which triggered a forced round-up of about 400 of Bundy’s cattle just last week. The cows were later released. Organizers with the Oklahoma Militia say they have members in Nevada who say Bundy’s cattle...

After the recent Bundy Ranch episode by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Texans are becoming more concerned about the BLM’s focus on 90,000 acres along a 116 mile stretch of the Texas/Oklahoma boundary. The BLM is reviewing the possible federal takeover and ownership of privately-held lands which have been deeded property for generations of Texas landowners. Sid Miller, former Texas State Representative and Republican candidate for Texas Agriculture Commissioner, has since made the matter a campaign issue to Breitbart Texas. “In Texas,” Miller says, “the BLM is attempting a repeat of an action taken over 30 years ago...

Fresh violence has erupted in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, between police and opponents of President Nicolas Maduro. Masked protestors burned effigies of the president after a rally called "Resurrection of Democracy". Police responded to petrol bombs in the Chacao district with tear gas and water cannon..... On Sunday the rally started with a "Via Crucis" march, mirroring Jesus's walk to crucifixion. "We're staying in the street until we get our country back," student leader Djamil Jassir, 22. told Reuters news agency. Another protestor, Naybeth Ramirez, said: "There are many who have already died and it's for them that we're here....

Well, this is going to be a heartbreaker for the hysterical global warming crowd. According to a new study, emissions from burning corn are worse for the environment and produce more CO2 or 'global warming' gases than the burning of traditional gasoline. Biofuels made from the leftovers of harvested corn plants are worse than gasoline for global warming in the short term, a study shows, challenging the Obama administration's conclusions that they are a much cleaner oil alternative and will help combat climate change. A $500,000 study paid for by the federal government and released Sunday in the peer-reviewed journal...

We don’t know who’s right in the case of the Nevada rancher vs. the federal government. But we do know that the government is losing the public relations battle, and for good reason. When the government moved to seize Cliven Bundy’s cattle for his failure to pay grazing fees on public land, a growing group of supporters came to his defense – literally. On April 12, after a tense and heated standoff with them, heavily armed federal agents released the cattle back and retreated. The situation was eerily reminiscent of past ill-fated federal standoffs, such as Ruby Ridge and Waco,...

Russia's foreign ministry has expressed outrage at a fatal shooting incident in eastern Ukraine which it blamed on Ukrainian nationalists. Russian state media reported that five people were killed in a gun attack on a checkpoint manned by pro-Russian activists near the town of Sloviansk. Ukrainian officials said one died in a clash between "two groups of citizens". The incident comes as pro-Russian groups continue to occupy government buildings defying a deal to leave. Etrogrul Apakan, who heads the special mission of the Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe in Kiev, said his deputy would be in Donetsk to...

Poland will breathe a little easier because at the very least, American troops in Poland will be an effective trip wire and hedge against Russia making a move to reclaim the former Warsaw Pact country. Washington Post: Poland and the United States will announce next week the deployment of U.S. ground forces to Poland as part of an expansion of NATO presence in Central and Eastern Europe in response to events in Ukraine. That was the word from Poland’s defense minister, Tomasz Siemoniak, who visited The Post Friday after meeting with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel at the Pentagon on Thursday....

It’s time for Western states to take control of federal lands within their borders, lawmakers and county commissioners from Western states said at Utah’s Capitol on Friday. More than 50 political leaders from nine states convened for the first time to talk about their joint goal: wresting control of oil-, timber -and mineral-rich lands away from the feds. "It’s simply time," said Rep. Ken Ivory, R-West Jordan, who organized the Legislative Summit on the Transfer for Public Lands along with Montana state Sen. Jennifer Fielder. "The urgency is now." Utah House Speaker Becky Lockhart, R-Provo, was flanked by a dozen...

A new Obama administration privacy policy released Friday explains how the government will gather the user data of online visitors to WhiteHouse.gov, mobile apps and social media sites, and it clarifies that online comments, whether tirades or tributes, are in the open domain. "Information you choose to share with the White House (directly and via third party sites) may be treated as public information," the new policy says. The Obama administration also promises not to sell the data of online visitors. But it cannot make the same assurances for users who go to third-party White House sites on Facebook, Twitter...

Rand Paul will do his best to charm a group Mitt Romney’s top donors next week at an event facilitated by Romney finance director Spencer Zwick. The Friday luncheon will take place in Boston at the offices of Zwick’s private-equity firm, Solamere Capital, according to a source familiar with the event. Romney’s eldest son Tagg is also a managing partner at the firm, and Romney is the executive chairman. The event is yet another signal that Paul is preparing a for a serious presidential bid in 2016. Two years before the GOP primary, Paul is attempting to branch out beyond...

Washington (CNN) -- The Obamacare enrollment is 8 million strong and growing. Polls have shown that voters love popular provisions calling for mandatory coverage for maternity care and extending coverage for young people up to age 26 to stay on their parents' health insurance policies. And recent figures from the Congressional Budget Office show that Obamacare will cost about $5 billion less to implement in 2014 than originally estimated. Still, some Democrats have run from the President's signature health care reform law so fast, they've practically left skid marks. The question is: Will they run back? ~snip~ Last November, the...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) criticized the federal response to rancher Cliven Bundy, becoming the first GOP 2016 presidential hopeful to weigh in on the issue. Paul slammed the federal government’s show of force in the dispute, which culminated in a standoff at Bundy’s ranch between police and his supporters, including armed members of militia groups. Bundy is refusing to pay grazing fees for his cattle, which for decades have grazed on federal land. Paul sided with Bundy in that fight, arguing that Nevada and local authorities should control the land.

It is the responsibility of the federal government to protect the United States from "invasion." How is it possible that top administration officials have directed 21,000 border patrol officers to retreat or distance themselves and seek cover in response to thrown or hurled projectiles from illegal aliens or drug smugglers? They are directed to keep their weapons holstered when drug smugglers drive by, and agents can't use guns against a fleeing vehicle. Instructions also indicate that officers will be penalized if they don't step back. The new rules were issued this March by Michael Fisher, chief of U.S. Border Patrol....

Moscow (AFP) - The Kremlin is preparing a new culture policy for Russia focusing on its distinctive civilisation and traditional values, which observers say has political ends amid Moscow's standoff with the West. At the end of four hours of questions Thursday in his annual call-in, President Vladimir Putin waxed philosophical on what it means to be Russian.

The Department of Health and Human Services is proposing a rule that would, if implemented, guarantee that even more Americans who like their health insurance plans cannot keep them. Fixed indemnity plans, which pay insured customers a set amount towards medical expenses and are often cost-effective relative to more comprehensive health insurance, are popular forms of coverage, and potentially becoming more popular in the wake of Obamacare. Health insurance industry representatives say that fixed indemnity plans have been attracting more interest as many Americans look for a way to mitigate against the high deductibles applicable to many insurance policies available...

The family of Justina Pelletier will not be allowed to visit their daughter on Easter Sunday. The news comes after attorneys working with her family released a letter Justina reportedly wrote saying she is not being treated well. Jennifer Pelletier, Justina’s oldest sister, alerted supported of Justina on the family’s Facebook page: “There are 75 young people in the Wayside Youth Facility. 74 of them will be able to spend Easter Sunday with their families. The one who will not is Justina Pelletier!”

While many have condemned the strong-arming and pseudo-military tactics of the Bureau of Labor Management in its standoff with Cliven Bundy, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, reserved his criticism for the Bundy family and their many supporters — which he labelled domestic terrorists.Reid’s comments came during a live interview with Steve Sebelius, a columnist for the Las Vegas Review Journal. Reporter Jon Ralston, who attended the event, tweeted Reid’s statements regarding the dispute between Bundy and the BLM: “What happened in Mesquite was domestic terrorism.� @SenatorReid— Jon Ralston (@RalstonReports) April 17, 2014 Reid was referring to the...

...Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday again vigorously denied Western claims that Russian forces were operating in eastern Ukraine. But he also finally confirmed what had long been suspected and that he had repeatedly denied: that the well-armed forces with no insignia on their uniforms that took control of Crimea last month were in fact Russian troops.

<p>As Western Journalism reported yesterday, a series of photos from the scene of a federal government standoff in Clark County, Nev. indicate Bureau of Land Management agents slaughtered multiple cows on the Bundy Ranch. After alleging the ranch’s owner, Cliven Bundy, had failed to pay federal grazing fees for a number of years, armed BLM agents swarmed the area, resorting to physical violence against members of the family and threats toward those who arrived to support them.</p>

After the federal Bureau of Land Management agents backed down from their intimidating stance at the Bundy Ranch last weekend, ample evidence has surfaced indicating the standoff between the government and the Nevada ranching family is far from over. Throughout the weeklong stalemate, members of the Bundy family were physically assaulted by armed officers, numerous cows were shot dead, and protesters faced threats of gunfire for merely expressing their outrage. Immediately after what many considered a victory against a tyrannical federal agency, a number of leftist voices – most notably, Sen. Harry Reid – indicated the action against this family...

Folks, with Harry Reid calling the Bunkerville patriots "Domestic Terrorists" who are endangering children by putting them "out front", and with April 19th approaching I thought I would open this thread.With Jim's permission I ask all Nevada Freepers (potentially SoCal too) to report gathering Federales and unusual Military movements in the area. Keep a particular eye around Nellis AFB and especially Creech AFB (Predator Drones). If you see something, say something. Asking for tolerance and indulgence from the admins to put this on the Front Page News bar.

Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu initiated a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday to discuss bilateral issues, Iran and Ukraine, the Kremlin said in a statement. ... Netanyahu does speak to Putin by phone from time to time, so Tuesday night's conversation - though not a regular occurence - is by no means unprecedented. Russia is a major player in three areas of major concern to Israel: Iran, Syria and arms sales to the Middle East. ... On Monday, US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki denied a Haaretz report last week...

WASHINGTON — Driven by a last-minute flood of enrollments, particularly in California, sign-ups for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s online marketplaces hit 8 million in the law’s first year, President Obama announced Thursday. That beats the forecast by 1 million people and caps a remarkable comeback from a disastrous rollout last fall that gave rise to predictions the law would collapse in its maiden year. Instead, the health law, often called Obamacare, has helped bring about the largest increase in insurance coverage in the U.S. in half a century. “This thing is working,” Obama said from the White...

On Wednesday Tracy and Mary Finney of Marietta, Georgia were met by a police officer outside their children’s public school and informed they were trespassing on school property because they opposed the school’s process of testing all children. The Finneys, whose children attend West Side Elementary School, had decided to opt their children out of Georgia’s state test, the CRCT. ~~~snip~~~~ Meg Norris, an organizer of United Opt-Out Georgia, told Breitbart News she is “shocked” at how the mandates to test children are being enforced in Georgia. “It’s happening in schools all over Georgia,” Norris said. “Even children who are...

(GENEVA) — Top diplomats from the United States, European Union, Russia and Ukraine reached agreement Thursday on immediate steps to ease the crisis in Ukraine. The agreement, reached after seven hours of negotiation in Geneva, requires all sides to refrain from violence, intimidation or provocative actions. It calls for the disarming of all illegally armed groups and for control of buildings seized by pro-Russian separatists during the protests to be turned back over to authorities. It also gives amnesty to protesters who comply with the demands, except those found guilty of committing capital crimes. Monitors with the Organization of Security...

There is no large Russian military presence in East Ukraine, head of EU intelligence, Commodore Georgij Alafuzoff, has said. The spy chief has dismissed multiple accusations from the West alleging Russian involvement in the unrest in the region. In an interview with Finnish national news broadcaster, Yle, Alafuzoff said the Russian military had nothing to do with the seizing of government buildings in eastern Ukraine. “In my opinion, it’s mostly people who live in the region who are not satisfied with the current state of affairs,” said Alafuzoff, referring to the situation in East Ukraine. He went on to say...

As Mein Kampf makes clear, Hitler sought to unite all the people of German speech and culture into one state, or Reich, preferably by peaceful negotiation, otherwise by war and conquest... Today’s drift toward war with Russia seems like a replay of the past. Putin is a Russian nationalist, who believes in a strong Stalinist state. His goal is to reverse the events of 1989–the end of the Soviet state and dissolution of its enormous empire... ...to wield against the various weak states that were part of the U.S.S.R... All have ethnic Russian minorities, who speak the language, boast of...