Free Republic

A ride through northwest Indiana almost turned deadly for a Chicago man after some mutual road rage turned into gunshots being fired at him on I-80/94. What Indiana State Police called a “road rage incident turned ugly” started about 11 a.m. Tuesday when the 28-year-old Chicago man, driving a 2003 Acura, got involved in some unpleasantness in the eastbound lanes of the Borman Expy. in Lake County. Police said it started when the victim and another driver “became involved in road rage” — things like not letting the other car pass and flipping the driver off, a statement from ISP...

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has agreed to testify before the House Select Committee investigating the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, CNN reports. Rep. Elijah Cummings, the panel’s Democratic ranking member, told CNN Tuesday that Clinton had agreed to testify before the committee late last year. “The chairman asked me back in September to inquire as to whether Secretary Clinton would testify,” Cummings said. “She immediately said she would and that she wanted to come in December, but if December did not work, she would come in January. She said, ‘I’ll do it,...

If readers need clarification on what was the primary source of spending-based "growth" for the US economy in the fourth quarter, the same source that bumped up final Q3 GDP from 3.9% to 5.0%, please ping us: we will gladly explain the chart below.  And just in case it is still unclear what Americans are spending their "gas sasvings" on, here it is one more time.And just in case the fading impact of Obamacare is not already priced in, here is what Q4 inventories did: rising by $113.1 billion in Q4, this was the second highest quarterly increase in...

As hundreds of Muslim Texans faced a barrage of protesters during a rally, a state lawmaker sparked a storm by demanding that the Islamic community "publicly announce allegiance to America." Thursday's gathering in Austin, called the Texas Muslim Capital Day, was organized by the Houston chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) to encourage Muslims to speak with their state representatives about their issues, according to USA Today. But two dozen sign-wielding demonstrators disrupted the meeting, while freshman state Rep. Molly White ignited a furor by calling for Muslim attendees to declare their allegiance to the U.S. "and our...

Gun Owners of America is blasting a congressional proposal that empowers Obama to unilaterally negotiate international agreements as “a ‘bait and switch’ scheme that could seriously impact the Second Amendment.” House and Senate committees are currently preparing to hand Obama so-called “fast-track” trade promotion authority. It would enable the president to unilaterally negotiate the TransPacific Partnership, a trade and global governance agreement with the U.S. and 11 other nations bordering the Pacific Ocean.

Yes you read that right, and an academic one, no less, much to the consternation of the circles he travels in. “I’m a philosophy professor specializing in ethics and political philosophy, and like many of my fellow academics, I’m a political progressive,” Philip Cafaro writes in The Chronicle Review. “I value economic security for workers and their families, and support a much more equal distribution of wealth, strong and well-enforced environmental-protection laws, and an end to racial discrimination in the United States. I want to maximize the political power of common citizens and limit the influence of large corporations. My...

The Obama administration has ordered immigration agents to ask immigrants they encounter living in the country illegally whether they might qualify under President Barack Obama's plans to avoid deporting them, according to internal training materials obtained by The Associated Press. Agents also have been told to review government files to identify any jailed immigrants they might be able to release under the program. The directives from the Homeland Security Department mark an unusual change for U.S. immigration enforcement, placing the obligation on the government for identifying immigrants who might qualify for lenient treatment. Previously, it was the responsibility of immigrants...

Nick Kukich died last Monday. It may not mean much to you in the scheme of things, but it should. It should because Nick was part of the dwindling number of World War II veterans who went to war to defeat Nazism and Fascism in order to keep America strong, free and democratic. He was, in short, part of the Greatest Generation. Nick, who died in a nursing home in Delaware, was 99 years old and lived a full lif

Mayor de Blasio tapped disgraced Speaker Silver's wealthy pal, Leonard Litwin, to aid NYC's bid to land the DNC's 2016 Convention. Silver was arrested and led away in cuffs, but DeBlasio defended Silver as a "man of integrity". Big-time political donor Leonard Litwin was listed on Hizzoner’s 119-member convention host committee, even though Litwin’s luxury apartment-rental company, Glenwood Management, is tied to Silver’s alleged dirty deals. According to the feds, Silver steered two developers, including 100-year-old Litwin, toward the law firm Goldberg & Iryami, so Silver could rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars in referral fees. Litwin agreed to...

The Republican-led House Committee on Homeland Security is challenging an Obama administration plan to admit Syrian refugees to the United States, saying it could allow potential terrorists to sneak into the country. In a letter sent to the White House, Michael McCaul, who chairs the Homeland Security Committee and Peter King and Candice Miller, who chair subcommittees, said the administration's plan "raises serious national security concerns." The letter, dated Wednesday, said the United States lacks the resources to fully investigate the backgrounds of refugees from Syria, a base for Islamic State militants, before they are admitted to the country.

The eurozone experienced negative inflation for the second month in a row, according to a flash estimate published today (30 January) by Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical office. Inflation is expected to be at −0.6%, with consumer prices falling further than economists had forecast. The fall represents the biggest decline in prices in the history of the euro. […] The drop was driven by the fall in energy prices (−8.9%, compared with −6.3% in December). […] The deflationary spiral comes as Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), is trying to tackle deflation with a policy of...

Four years after an aggressive legislative effort to keep Planned Parenthood from receiving state dollars for health care for low-income women, the Texas Senate is back at it — this time over funding for breast and cervical cancer screenings. The proposed Senate budget would change how funding is distributed from the joint federal-state Breast and Cervical Cancer Services program, which provides cancer screenings for uninsured women. The revised system would prioritize funding to state, county and community health clinics, followed by “non-public entities” that provide screenings as part of “comprehensive” primary and preventative care. Clinics like Planned Parenthood, which specialize...

Legislators in North Carolina did the right thing in July 2013 when they voted to raise the quality standards for abortion clinics in the state. The hand-wringing response from the abortion industry was entirely predictable, with Planned Parenthood’s vice president for public affairs, Melissa Reed, calling it “the most restrictive access to safe and legal abortions this state has ever seen.” That was then. Inviting the Fox to Guard the Henhouse But now, more than a year an a half later, the North Carolina abortion industry is perfectly fine with the proposed regulations, which were submitted by the state’s Department...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - An Arkansas House committee has approved a proposal that would require a doctor to be present when women take abortion-inducing medication. The Public Health, Welfare, and Labor committee Thursday voted to send the bill to the House. It would prevent any instance of the medication being administered through telemedicine and require that doctors attempt to schedule a follow-up visit.

When Gov. Scott Walker remarked this week, while discussing proposed budget cuts to the UW System, that faculty and staff should be teaching more classes and doing more work, it bared one of the most enduring sources of friction in higher education. To listen to many university critics, the primary function of faculty members is that of a teacher in a classroom — someone who educates students in a model that is, in many respects, a continuation of high school. Working with students whose families may have saved for years and taken on significant debt to afford higher education is...

......just days after the American electorate gave Republicans strong majorities in both chambers of Congress, President Obama thumbed his nose at several million voters by issuing an executive order effectively granting amnesty to 5 million–plus immigrants residing in the United States illegally. That lawless action was, naturally, supported by Attorney General Eric Holder, whose primary contribution as head of the Department of Justice for six years has been to grant specious legal imprimatur to the president’s various usurpations of legislative power. Loretta Lynch, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, nominated to be Mr. Holder’s replacement, has proven...

TEL AVIV – A consulting firm almost entirely composed of former staffers of President Obama’s re-election campaign has been hired to run an election effort in Israel aimed at defeating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The conservative blogosphere is reporting Jeremy Bird, national field director for Obama’s 2012 campaign, is now working for a new non-profit group, V15, that is running an effort to defeat Netanyahu in the upcoming election. A closer look at Bird’s consulting firm as well as its working relationship with the Israeli groups finds he is just one of scores of former senior Obama election campaign staffers...

Islamic history is a pretty unique thing. It’s the story of how everyone hates and conspires against Muslims. Saudi Arabia is a totalitarian state. If the authorities found his views unacceptable, he wouldn’t have been able to preach them. This is mainstream stuff. Following are excerpts from a Friday sermon given by Imam Issa Assiri of the Sa’eed bin Jubair Mosque in Jedda, Saudi Arabia snip While the Imam might seem insane, he’s actually promoting a revisionist form of Islamic Supremacism in which the American Indians and the Australian Aborigines were really Muslims. So was everyone. Which is why they...

For decades, Speaker Silver orchestrated payoffs to women victims.....in 2013 a special prosecutor, wrote that Silver virtually created Albany’s sexual cesspool, covering-up for himself and for Albany sleazebags. Despite laws meant to curb Albany's testosterone cases, nothing much has changed. Albany remains a sexual sewer. After demonstrating the survival skills of a cockroach, Silver was finally arrested on federal charges of fraud, conspiracy and extortion, of lining his pockets with $4M in kickbacks and bribes. <><> An aide to then-Manhattan Assemblyman Mark Alan Siegel, after rebuffing his sexual advances, was paid $85,000 tax dollars by Silver to settle civil lawsuits...

An internal ruling made by the Venezuelan Ministry of Defense, published on Tuesday, January 27, in state newsletter Gaceta Oficial, legalizes the use of lethal weapons by the national armed forces (FANB) against protesters. [snip] Under Venezuelan law, the Defense Ministry does not have the authority to override or ignore the Constitution and the norms contained therein. María Esperanza Hermida, coordinator for enforcement in Venezuelan NGO (Provea) argued that the measure violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), as well as transferring competencies to the military which are the...