Free Republic

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office isn’t the only federal authority that has taken a stance against the name of the Washington Redskins. A federal judge in Maryland issued a ruling last week that purposely did not contain the team’s name, which has been described as an offensive slur against Native Americans. U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte, who is presiding over a lawsuit that former New York Giants linebacker Barrett Green brought against the Redskins, issued a 21-page ruling with this footnote on the first page: “Pro Football’s team is popularly known as the Washington ‘Redskins,’ but the Court...

Climate change is "the biggest crisis our civilisation faces", says former US Vice President Al Gore. Mr Gore sat down with the BBC's Jon Donnison in Australia, where his organisation, The Climate Reality Project, was holding training sessions to educate future leaders in the fight against climate change.

A huge fighting bull gored the American author of a survival guide for Spain's famed Pamplona bull-running festival on Wednesday when it turned its horns on him and other panicked daredevils. The 600-kilogramme (1,320-pound) bull named Brevito lagged behind the pack just before entering the city's bull ring at the end of a rain-slicked bull run in the annual San Fermin festival. The straggling animal skewered 32-year-old Chicago-based journalist and author Bill Hillman in the right thigh and a 35-year-old Spanish man in the chest before being guided to the end of the bull-run.

......Which brings us right back to where we started: what do we do about the tens of thousands of unaccompanied children coming across our borders, and even more importantly, what are we going to do about the hundreds of thousands more who will be coming across in the months to come? The liberal mindset that we should take them all in, feed and clothe them, educate them and assimilate them into society is compassionate and well meaning, but as most idealistic remedies, is long on compassion and short on practicality and answers.

A Hagerstown man who was driving a car when his front-seat passenger pointed a shotgun at a tractor-trailer driver during a road-rage incident last year on Interstate 81 was sentenced on Thursday to one year in the Washington County Detention Center. Washington County Circuit Court Judge M. Kenneth Long Jr. sentenced Vincent Saunders, 22, of West Washington Street to serve five years in prison with all but one year suspended. Long ruled that Saunders would serve the one-year sentence at the county jail and granted him work-release privileges within the state. "This is at least the third case I've had...

An unidentified Obama administration official exposed the name of the highest-ranking CIA officer in Kabul on Saturday by accidentally placing it on a list of names provided to a bunch of media outlets. The list contained the names of several senior U.S. officials who took part in a military briefing during President Barack Obama’s surprise Memorial Day visit to Afghanistan to glad-hand with the troops, reports The Washington Post.

A third-grade teacher at Mill Plain Elementary School is in hot water after she was accused of going too far by asking students to pay to potty. Students in the class earn Monopoly play money through good behavior and performance that they can then spend on toys, treats and using the restroom. Last week, two parents complained that their children wet themselves at school because they couldn’t “afford” to go to the bathroom. Officials in the Evergreen School District are investigating the claim. “My daughter finally told me, ‘We have to pay to use the bathroom,’” said parent Merchon Ortega....

WASHINGTON -- What will become of the nation's capital? The huge West Antarctic ice sheet is slowly collapsing, and two groups of scientists say the melting is now an unstoppable event. Melting ice will cause sea levels to rise higher than initially projected, which is cause for concern for D.C.-area scientists and local urban planners. The rising seas will affect local treasures, including the Chesapeake Bay and the country's iconic monuments along the National Mall.

The clown who wants to capitulate to Islam is rambling on, pretending he cares... No sign of the great leader who stood up in the crisis. History is being re-written by Bush's exclusion. Crap.

Republican Sen. Tim Scott doesn’t vote according to the color of his skin, Assistant Democratic Leader Rep. James Clyburn complained in a Thursday Washington Post article.“If you call progress electing a person with the pigmentation that he has, who votes against the interest and aspirations of 95 percent of the black people in South Carolina, then I guess that’s progress,” he told the Post.Clyburn’s argument was featured in a generally favorable article about Scott’s practice of briefly working alongside his constituents in South Carolina without revealing his identity.The comment from Clyburn, age 73, stands in contrast to a comment from...

When Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., isn’t railing against Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and his supporters, it’s the Koch brothers he attacks — and he did it again Wednesday. Only five days after linking the pair to House Republicans convening a special committee to investigate what went awry in Benghazi Sept. 11, 2012, Reid used the Senate floor to accuse Charles G. Koch and David H. Koch, heads of Koch Industries, of being “one of the main causes of climate change.” Claiming pollution as the cause of climate change, Reid proceeded to accuse the “multi-zillionaire” businessmen of being major polluters. “While...

Rev. Nancy Ellett Allison has joyfully officiated same-sex marriages in her corner of the conservative South since 2006. “It is just a delight to be able to help these couples celebrate their lives together and work with them to craft their vows,” said Allison, her bright voice laced with a twang.

The Moroccan man facing criminal charges for allegedly planning to use remote-control planes to bomb a university building and federal building was able to remain in the United States by lying to immigration officials.El Mehdi Semlali Fathi was able to avoid a final order of removal last year — after remaining in the country for seven years after his visa expired — by claiming a fear of persecution based on his political beliefs, according to a Federal Bureau of Investigation affidavit.“There is probable cause to believe, and I do believe that FATHI’s application for withholding of removal status was obtained...

Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain said on Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin may have invaded Ukraine because he’s unafraid of a weak White House.

In their latest sacrilegious public demonstration in support of abortion, the extreme neo-fascist feminist organization Femen interrupted evening Mass on January 30 in Stockholm’s Catholic Cathedral. Holy Mass was interrupted by three bare breasted women with messages painted on their breasts reading, ‘my body my choice’, ‘FEMEN’, ‘abortion is sacred’ and ‘never again’. They also held up a banner with the text, ‘Catholic Church out of my body’. femenThe action was obviously planned in advance and they had photographers on hand to record the incident and their disgraceful behaviour. Since posting this Blog post the group has struck once more...

Geneva (AFP) - Last year tied for the sixth-hottest on record, confirming that Earth's climate system is in the grip of warming that will affect generations to come, the UN's weather agency said Wednesday. "This is confirmation of the trend of global warming of the planet," World Meteorological Organization (WMO) chief Michel Jarraud told AFP. Last year equalled 2007 as the sixth-warmest year since reliable records began in 1850, with a global land and ocean surface temperature that was 0.5 degrees Celsius (0.9 degrees Fahrenheit) above the 1961-1990 average, the WMO said in a statement. Last year equalled 2007 as...

The White House has rebuffed repeated protests by some of President Barack Obama's top environmental allies that his climate strategy won't work. The heads of 18 environmental groups went public recently with a complaint they have privately pressed the White House on for months: Obama's support of expanded oil and gas production doesn't make sense for a president who wants to reduce global warming pollution.

A trick where boiling water is thrown in the air to instantly turn into snow in the bitingly cold US weather became a viral hit this week, as metereologists and TV reporters illustrated just how freezing it is in the polar vortex. But now it seems Americans are feeling the backlash of the stunt after trying it themselves in the -30 degree weather. The LA Times found that at least 50 people on social media complained that they or their friends were scalded by hot water on Monday and Tuesday. Others have posted photos of their injuries on Instagram, and...

Mike Enzi's conservative average: If you leave out the moderate-protecting ACU (McConnell at 100%, Graham at 92%) Enzi is at 76%. Even with the ACU, Enzi is at only 80%. Once he's safely reelected, he'll vote for McConnell for leader and will be the next Orrin Hatch or Thad Cochran, a republican that Chuck Schumer can count on for a vote when needed. Enzi (WY) - 08/19/14 - 80% (Average) - 74% (Heritage) - 71% (CFG) - 92% (ACU) - 82% (FreedomWorks) Enzi (WY) - 08/19/14 - 76% (Average) - 74% (Heritage) - 71% (CFG) - 82% (FreedomWorks)

CANBERRA, Australia — An Australian icebreaker carrying 52 passengers who were retrieved from an icebound ship in the Antarctic was told to halt its journey home on Friday after a Chinese vessel involved in the dramatic rescue became concerned that it, too, may get stuck in the heavy sea ice. **SNIP** But on Friday afternoon, the crew of a Chinese icebreaker that had provided the helicopter said they were worried about their own ship's ability to move through the ice. The Aurora — which was carrying the passengers to the Australian island state of Tasmania — was told to stay...