Free Republic

Sheriff's officials in Goshen County are touting a grenade launcher as a useful tool for keeping the peace, even though they have never used it. The Casper Star-Tribune reported Sunday that officials bought the weapon for use in the county jail, which houses 25 inmates and has not had a large fight in the past year. Lt. Jeremy Wardell says the grenade launcher, one of three the county has owned, is a less-lethal option for controlling riots. He compared it to pepper spray or a Taser. "We would use it in situations when less-lethal force is justified to get the...

German Islamists who join the IS have forfeited their citizenship many Union politicians say. They are planning a change of legislation. Union politicians want to avoid any german national to fight for the terrorist group Islamic State (IS). A corresponding change in the law would achieve a "huge deterrent effect," the chairman of the Bundestag's Committee on Internal Affairs, Wolfgang Bosbach (CDU)told "Welt am Sonntag". Those who join this "terrorist army" ng document their departure from the values of the Federal Republic he said.

Penn State Young America’s Foundation Chapter were told to take down their table from a designated “free speech zone” on campus. They were handing out Constitutions – on Constitution Day.

The Republican candidate for Minnesota House District 6A on the Iron Range faces a civil trial in Itasca County this week after sawing his neighbor’s garage in half. Roger Weber of rural Nashwauk is being sued by Mark Besemann of Iron after Weber used a power saw to bisect the building. Weber then removed half of the garage he insists was built, decades ago, on property that he now owns. Besemann is suing Weber for $20,000 in damage to the garage and $20,000 in punitive damages. Besemann also is seeking a small portion of Weber’s land adjacent to the garage...

While many economists and market watchers have failed to notice, we have entered a new chapter in the short and checkered history of central banking. This paradigm shift, as yet unaddressed in the textbooks, changes the basic policy tools that have traditionally defined the sphere of macroeconomic decision-making. The job of a central banker is supposed to be the calibration of interest rates to achieve the optimal rate of growth for any particular economic environment. It is hoped that successful decisions, which involve perfectly timed moves to raise rates when the economy overheats and lower them when it cools, would...

During an answer to another lawmaker about how to prevent terrorists from going undetected inside the United States, Johnson made the absurd argument that a "legal process" for citizenship would prevent terror infiltration and encourage terrorists to come forward and turn themselves in. That suggestion is not only unhelpful but politically motivated garbage. Second, if Johnson got out of his cushy D.C. office once in awhile to actually talk to Border Patrol agents on the ground, he would know that radical Islamists crossing the southern border into the United States from Mexico is nothing new. Unfortunately, a lack of enforcement...

Investment & Finance Week in Review (Thread -Sept. 21 edition)Prices finally picked a direction and went for it  --topping a super week w/ metals collapsing, an FOMC meeting, Scottish Vote not to do anything, new IRS rules, stocks leaping, and the Alibaba IPO hype,  --and in the lull before the end of Q3 and beginning a new earnings season.  One thing at a time; metals finally broke in to newer lower levels as support folded,    ...and stock traders made up their minds deciding to respect the 50-day moving average support and rebound prices into what IBD calls "market in...

IÂ’m a big advocate of the Laffer Curve. Simply stated, itÂ’s absurdly inaccurate to think that taxpayers and the economy are insensitive to changes in tax policy.Yet bureaucracies such as the Joint Committee on Taxation basically assume that the economy will be unaffected and that tax revenues will jump dramatically if tax rates are boosted by, say, 100 percent.In the real world, however, big changes in tax policy can and will lead to changes in taxable income. In other words, incentives matter. If the government punishes you more for earning more income, you will figure out ways to reduce the...

Despite a rousing speech by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who indicated that he would soon open an office in the state in pursuit of his presidential ambitions, California's Republican Party convention in Los Angeles, "Reclaim California," sounded a note of division, with three prominent Republicans declining to support the party's candidate for governor, amidst growing concern about the party's future as a statewide political institution. Assemblyman Tim Donnelly (R-Twin Peaks), who lost to former U.S. Treasury official Neel Kashkari in the primary election after being outspent in the closing weeks, declined to endorse Kashkari when asked by the Sacramento Bee,...

There has been a lot of talk about regulations, more specifically about how the number of regulations have grown during the last several years. Sad to say, if you take a longer-term view and look again at the regulatory environment, you’ll find it has been what an investor would call a growth industry, with the number of restrictions in the Code of Federal Regulations growing 28% since 1997 – that’s nearly 2% per year. If page count is an indicator, then hang on to your collective hats — in 1975, the Code of Federal Regulations had 71,224 pages. By 2013,...

An uprising by residents in several Seattle neighborhoods has prompted a City Council proposal, backed by the mayor, that attempts to strike a balance between developers of micro-apartments, opponents, and the needs of a fast-growing city that is home to many one-person households.

... “If the outbreak is not stopped now, we could be looking at hundreds of thousands of people infected, with profound political and economic and security implications for all of us,” Obama said. “So this is an epidemic that is not just a threat to regional security... ... Broadly, however, the official said the Defense Department personnel involved are likely to include the following: Medical personnel ... Engineers to construct “Ebola Treatment Units” ... Transportation personnel to support an “intermediate staging base” ... Administrators in Monrovia to oversee it all ... ...

At the Americans United rally “Hands Off Social Security & Medicare” at the Capitol on Thursday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) blamed Republicans for the economic recession of 2007-09, saying their "lack of regulation and supervision took our country to the brink, and so when President Obama won the election, he took us out of that brink.” “I know you've heard from many members of the House and Senate about the importance of the three pillars of security for America’s seniors: about Social Security, about Medicare and about Medicaid,” she said. “And I’m here to add my support to...

Back in 2008, I debated some liberal friends and questioned Mr. Obama's thin resume. They responded by saying that I was missing the point. In other words, don't judge Mr. Obama's resume, but rather his unique ability to inspire and his exceptional judgment. I guess they were telling me that Mr. Obama was one of those exceptional human beings who rises to the occasion because he is smart and politically astute.

Four years ago, Kirk Swallow received state money to set up a compressed natural gas filling facility at the Rifle Shell station he co-owns. The Colorado Energy Office, then under Gov. Bill Ritter and known as the Governor’s Energy Office, gave Swallow’s company a $675,000 grant — money from fines collected from companies that violated state regulations. Swallow said he chipped in about $300,000. But, in June, Swallow had to permanently shut down the CNG pumps at 101 Railroad Ave., in Rifle, Colo. He said he was losing money because of increased competition, excessive electricity fees to run the pumps...

"You'll never meet anyone who says, 'I want to be a millionaire. I think I'll start a winery,'" owner Bill Smyth tells me from his small office over the tasting room of Westover Vineyards, nestled in Palomares Canyon. Smyth has worked in a number of fields. He made some money. He bought the vineyard property when he was young. His ex-wife bought him a kit to make wine, and his labor of love turned into a small business. Now, thanks to heavy-handed California regulators, he's selling off his ports and boutique wines and turning his winery back into a home....

For the purpose of felony offense, treason in America is famously defined in our constitution. No longer may political opponents be brought before the equivalent of King’s judges and face charges for real or imagined insults or crimes. No, constitutional treason consists of making war against the United States or assisting its enemies. Oh, and unless the traitor confesses, two witnesses must observe the treasonous act. Put aside for a moment the constitutional definition and hurdles to be surmounted in order to obtain a felony conviction. Consider the broad, historic and popular concept of treason, the betrayal of one’s country....

Rather than waiting until specifics about the Michael Brown case are known — such as autopsy results, detailed officer reports, toxicology or other details regarding his death — some Ferguson residents, Brown supporters and various hangers-on decided to act. Learning nothing from the Trayvon Martin case, people took to the street with demands for “justice” and homemade protest signs. They were aided by a media seemingly excited about exploiting the narrative that Brown’s death was at the hands of a brutal and possibly racist cop in a militarized police force that cares little about black residents. Ensuing nights after the...

The driver of a vehicle bumps protesters who decided to block traffic on S. Florissant Rd. in an act of civil obedience on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014, as demonstrations continue against the police shooting of Michael Brown. The incident lend to the arrest of two protesters and the man driving the vehicle.Three people were arrested during protests near the Ferguson Police Department on Saturday afternoon after a protester claimed he was bumped by a passing vehicle, police said. The incident triggered a round of standoffs between police and protesters, who blocked traffic on the street. About 35 people were protesting...

A real-life horror story is playing out in Africa as Ebola spreads, and President Obama’s decision to send 3,000 troops to Liberia to combat the virus could very well put Americans at risk of contracting the deadly illness at home, some health experts say. According to the World Health Organization, at least 4,985 people have contracted Ebola and at least 2,461 have died. Several doctors have fallen ill with Ebola, and two of them have died. New reports indicate a Doctors Without Borders staff member has contracted the virus in Liberia and will be evacuated to France for treatment. “You...