Free Republic

...Michelle Obama teamed up with basketball star Lebron James and his teammates from the Miami Heat for a new ad to promote healthy eating as part of the first lady’s “Let’s Move” campaign. The ad, which premiered on “Good Morning America” on Tuesday, features Miami Heat players Dwayne Wade and Ray Allen and Head Coach Erick Spoelstra talking about the importance of eating healthy. But the first lady, James and Chris Bosh make cameos of their own – photobombing Wade and Allen as by eating apples, drinking water, and even dunking a small basketball behind them as they speak. The...

Following passage last year of some of the strongest gun-control laws in the nation in the wake of the school shooting in Newton, Conn., leading California Democrats will open a new front in the fight against gun violence this year with a proposal to conduct background checks on people who purchase ammunition. State Senate Democrats will push to require a comprehensive background check on anyone seeking to purchase ammunition, and to require a one-year permit for ammunition purchases. “Anyone can walk into any gun store, a bait and tackle store, and purchase all the ammunition they want to, no questions...

One of the most overlooked aspects of the year just ended is the vindication of Chief Justice John Roberts -- a vindication that showed up as the national catastrophe known as ObamaCare got rolling. Roberts may have also doomed Hillary Clinton's chance to live in the White House again. The chief justice, an appointee of President George W. Bush and reputedly a constitutionalist in his jurisprudence, set his diabolical trap (diabolical to Democrats) on June 28, 2012, when he joined with the four liberal justices on the Supreme Court to uphold the constitutionality of ObamaCare. Conservatives and Republicans across the...

Hitler Finds Out McConnell Is Losing To Matt Bevin; self explanatory

KINGS PARK, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) – The song “Silent Night” is at the heart of a concert controversy on Long Island. Kings Park school officials removed several religious references, including “Holy infant” and “Christ the Savior,” from the popular Christmas carol before a student concert last week, WCBS 880′s Mike Xirinachs reported. The intent was to avoid offending non-Christians, but the change left others upset.

After decades of debate, questions may finally be answered about whether anti-bacterial soaps — used daily in homes, schools and elsewhere — are safe. It's an important issue because many health officials say the products offer no benefit over washing with regular soap and water. The Food and Drug Administration on Monday proposed a rule that would force makers of anti-bacterial hand soaps and body washes to prove with clinical studies that their productsare both safe to use and more effective than regular soap in preventing illness and the spread of infections. If manufacturers can't prove their claims, the products...

Johnny Jones who attends school in Fawn Grove, Pa., was suspended from school for a day after he made an imaginary bow out of his pencil, pulled back an imaginary string and shot his imaginary arrow. That was back in October and now his parents are deciding on whether or not to bring legal action. Ten-year-old Johnny Jones was disciplined under the school's zero-tolerance weapons policies. Apparently he asked the teacher for a pencil and while he was walking back to his seat, a classmate held his folder up like an imaginary gun and "shot" at Johnny. Johnny played along...

<p>WASHINGTON—All five regulatory agencies put to a vote and approved the Volcker rule on Tuesday, ushering in a new era of tough oversight that drills to the core of Wall Street's profitable markets and trading businesses.</p> <p>The rule will put in place new hurdles for banks that buy and sell securities on behalf of clients, known as market making, and will restrict compensation arrangements that encourage risky trading. The Fed also approved an extension to give banks until July 2015 to comply with the rule, though firms will be expected to make "good faith" efforts to get into compliance earlier.</p>

In the wake of all the misguided pleas for negative interest rates in Europe (hoping to get banks to lend), comes news US banks warn Fed interest cut could force them to charge depositors. Leading US banks have warned that they could start charging companies and consumers for deposits if the US Federal Reserve cuts the interest it pays on bank reserves. Depositors already have to cope with near-zero interest rates, but paying just to leave money in the bank would be highly unusual and unwelcome for companies and households. The warning by bank executives highlights the dangers of one...

They are (as always) having a calm, rational and peaceful discussion, this time in New York City. It's about how to turn ObamaCare to their advantage. They concluded that it must be made Shari compliant.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cPbb5wzrcw&w=640&h=390] Video linkThe erroneous labeling is understandable, but look closely and perhaps President Obama can be seen. Unfortunately, DNC Chairperson Debbie Wasserman Schultz appears not to have been available to guide the discussion. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPPFI8ypEWo&w=640&h=360] Video linkPerhaps she will make herself available next time.

It’s impossible to say how or why these people got so misguided, but the result is absolutely hilarious. These are the dumbest things that have happened in the history of man and, although it’s funny, it could make anyone lose their faith in humanity. Every new generation is apparently worse than the last.

Lets raise the Debt Ceiling to 100 Trillion dollars,it's all borrowed money anyway,digitized,monetized,whatever.We pay off the 17 Trillion dollar debt,send everyone in the United States a check for a 1000 dollars and there will be trillions left over to fund everything!

GOP efforts to demonize the EPA’s climate change regulations haven’t found a groundswell of support in Virginia, where voters are more likely to favor the rules than oppose them, according to a new poll commissioned by POLITICO. The poll, conducted by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling and the Republican firm Harper Polling using automated survey methodology, found that 45 percent of likely voters support new EPA climate regulations for coal-fired power plants, an issue that has become a flashpoint in the Virginia governor’s race. Thirty-three percent of likely voters say they oppose the regulations and 22 percent aren’t sure.

You have to give school officials in Los Angeles credit for a good idea: put iPads in the hands of over 650,000 students to give them the most advanced learning tools available in an effort to boost their interest in academics. But the $1 billion plan is taking some heat after students in the nation's second-largest school district cracked the tablets’ security settings to forgo reading, writing and ‘rithmetic and instead post on Facebook and play games during class time.

Friends Without Benefits (Vanity Fair can only be linked to.)

When Katy Perry was chosen as one of Barbara Walters' 10 Most Fascinating People of 2011, it should have been an honor. Instead, the "Dark Horse" singer was petrified that the esteemed journalist would discover her marriage to Russell Brand was on the rocks... I was just exhausted and stressed." "I'd prepped everyone that I was running late, but Barbara showed up at the original time anyway," the singer continues. "When I got there, I apologized immediately, but then she said to me, 'You know, I've only ever waited for one other person this long, and you know who that...

It has become the diplomatic big tease of the year, a rumored geopolitical rendezvous that, if not quite as momentous as Nixon and Mao in 1972, would still rank as a landmark encounter for two countries that have been estranged for more than three decades. So, will President Obama actually shake hands with President Hassan Rouhani of Iran at the United Nations on Tuesday, when both men are scheduled to speak to the General Assembly? On Monday, the White House insisted again that there was no meeting with Mr. Rouhani on the president’s schedule. But administration officials did nothing to...

Editor’s note: This is a guest post by my (imaginary) friend, the Very Honorable Ima Librul, Senator from the great State of Confusion Utopia. He is a founding member of CCCEB (Climate Change Causes Everything Bad), a charter member of President Obama’s Go For it Team, a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Chairman of the Meretricious Relations Subcommittee. He is also justly proud of his expertise in the care and breeding of green unicorns, for which his Save the Unicorns Foundation has received substantial Federal grants. We are honored to have a post of this caliber by a quintessential Librul such as...

Let Johnny Manziel be himself By Kevin Van Valkenburg There is a vocal contingent of college football fans, and an even louder collection of media pundits, sports moralists and general know-it-alls, who cannot wait for Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel to grow the hell up. -snip- I want him to put on the black hat, so to speak, and score 100 touchdowns, steal 100 girlfriends, draw 100 penalties, and apologize for nothing. If he played the rest of the season like a cross between Ric Flair and Roddy Piper, I'd be ecstatic. I'd high-five my television screen. If he makes...

'William Lowell Putnam III says his family has identified with the cause of African American rights, and thus an asteroid named after Trayvon Martin is perfectly appropriate.'