Free Republic

Primary school teachers should be allowed to wear Muslim veils in the classroom, according to the former Archbishop of Canterbury. Rowan Williams claims that there is no reason to “panic” over the use of the niqab and that even young children do not necessarily need to be able to see their teacher’s face. Speaking in an interview for the Christian think-tank Theos, he argued that there fears over how such a practice might affect children’s learning were “misplaced.” […] His comments are set to reignite the row over the role of the controversial full-face veil in public life which have...

Ferguson, Missouri (CNN) -- Lately, Dan McMullen has been bringing an extra gun to his office in Ferguson, Missouri. McMullen runs Solo Insurance on West Florissant close to where looting and vandalism briefly broke out in early August after a police officer shot to death teenager Michael Brown. "I bring an extra gun now only because it has a bigger magazine," McMullen says. He began carrying it after tensions increased in the area following the shooting. He says he would never use it to protect his business, but he would use it to save his life. "So maybe I get...

This is the shocking moment a Philadelphia high school teacher was filmed lying unconscious in a hallway after allegedly being knocked out by a student. Pewu Johnson, 68, a substitute English teacher, reportedly reprimanded the teenager after he saw a girl sitting on his lap in an 'inappropriate' manner at Bartram High School. Later that day, the student confronted Mr Johnson and told him, 'get the f*** out of my face',

This happened last Thursday in Connecticut. There is very little information released. Last week, a Spanish Teacher arrived in class (tardy), and was very obviously intoxicated. After entering the classroom of high school students, this teacher proceeded to (inadventantly) urinate in his clothing, and subsequently, onto the chair and classroom floor. The students were, of course filming this as it occurred, some laughing, some scowling in disgust. One student went up to the teacher to voice his opinion of what had just transpired. The 'teacher' showed neither contrition or discretion. The teacher got angry and confrontational, grabbing the student by...

The News 4 Tucson Investigators have uncovered that some U.S. Border Patrol agents have lost a key part of their arsenal. And that has agents who patrol along the border here, extremely worried. We learned that U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Offices of Border Patrol and Training and Development are inspecting the quality of agents' M4 carbines throughout Border Patrol sectors nationwide. But agents tell us, some of those M4s have not been replaced. And, we've learned, agents are required to share rifles amongst each other. "There's a lot of agents that are pretty upset over it," said Art del...

he Martha McSally campaign is threatening legal action to throw out some provisional ballots that lack a signature from an election official. The legal saber rattling came shortly before new vote totals were announced showing the retired Air Force colonel’s lead over Democratic incumbent Ron Barber in Arizona Congressional District 2 had again shrunk, with McSally now ahead by 341 votes. Eric Spencer, an attorney representing the McSally campaign and the Republican Party, wants the Pima County Recorder’s Office to stop counting any provisional ballot that lacks a signature from an election official.

Ruth Provencal was terminated last month for saying “God bless you” to voters and other forms of “electioneering,” Renee Routhier, chairman of Derry’s Supervisors of the Checklist, said Saturday.“We have to be politically correct at the polls; I can’t allow certain things to go on because it falls under electioneering,” Routhier said.

The $2.73 million project started Oct. 2 with a site layout and installation of panel frames. Dozens of panels had been installed by Wednesday — a total of 2,629 will be installed. Each panel, made by Suniva, is 3 feet by 6 feet, said Jim Gleisberg, spokesman for the VA Eastern Kansas Health Care System. Topeka’s project is funded by the VA Central Office and will save the VA in Topeka more than $300,000 in electrical utility costs yearly, Gleisberg said. The solar panels will produce about 700 kilowatts per day, or roughly 8 percent of the power on the...

A Saratoga County sheriff's sergeant was suspended after a video posted on the Internet Friday captured him allegedly slapping a young man as the deputy insisted on searching his vehicle, which had a rifle on the back seat. Sheriff Michael Zurlo on Saturday said he was "very disturbed" by what he saw on the video. "I really am," the sheriff said. "I don't condone activity as it's portrayed and we're going to look into it and we'll handle this quickly and swiftly." Sgt. Shawn R. Glans, 48, who has been a police officer for 27 years, was suspended without pay...

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Residents throughout much of the Southland will not be allowed to burn wood, nor manufactured fire logs, on Monday under an order issued Sunday afternoon by the South Coast Air Quality Management District. The residential no-burn alert, which is in effect from midnight Sunday to midnight Monday, covers the greater Los Angeles area, Orange County and the Inland Empire. Such mandatory bans are issued to protect public health when a high concentration of fine-particle air pollution is forecast for the region, according to an SCAQMD news release. The ban is not in effect for communities above...

WOUNDED DEER, Massachusetts – Emily Dickinson College sophomore Fawn Liebowitz died suddenly last week in a kiln explosion on campus. Liebowitz, 20, a sociology major from Fort Wayne, Indiana, was tragically killed while firing a pot in the new kiln in Sylvia Plath Hall. “Messy” was how Wounded Deer Fire Chief Michael Redman described the scene of the accident. “It was hard to tell the pot shards from the body parts,” said the pyrodefense professional. “She just blew like a frog sucking on a cherry bomb,” Redman added. The cleanup of Plath Hall has been further complicated by a thin...

SYLMAR (CBSLA.com) — A 22-year-old Army veteran was fatally shot early Sunday morning while celebrating his homecoming from Afghanistan. According to the Sylmar Police Department, the girlfriend of Francisco Garcia threw a party Saturday evening at her home located on Dronfield Street to celebrate his return. Around 2:00 a.m. Sunday, those who attended the party moved up the street to a different location. Officers explained Garcia was standing on the sidewalk, North of Astoria Street, when two cars stopped near Sylmar High School. A Hispanic man reportedly exited a dark SUV and proceeded to smash a beer bottle on the...

The majority of people on this site don't live in Texas and don't follow our politics closely, so this is for them: Dan Patrick has been a conservative talk show host for at least 20 years in Houston. He recently branched out and has a number of radio stations in other major Texas cities too. He was happy to be like Rush, an outsider, trying to hold Republicans accountable. But then he got a TASTE of just how corrupt the Republican Party in Texas was (and is, although not nearly as bad after this election). Back maybe 15 or so...

FULL TITLE: Student journalist beaten up by Ferguson protesters in a church because he tried to film meeting ahead of grand jury decision over officer who shot and killed Michael Brown A student journalist claims he was beaten up by a group of activists in Ferguson after they accused him of video recording the meeting. Chris Schaefer posted a video of himself lying in a bed at Christian Hospital Northeast in St Louis, Missouri, after he was allegedly attacked by members of the activist group Lost Voices. The 24-year-old, said he attended a meeting at Greater St. Mark Missionary Church...

In 1997 Stubbs was elected as the honorary mayor of Talkeetna, Alaska (population of 900) following a successful write-in campaign by voters who opposed the human candidates. He ran again this year after coming out of his cat-nap of retirement, but unfortunately didn't win. Don't worry Stubbs, you're a winner in our heart.

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A private club for thrillseekers in Los Angeles will remain men-only after members took the issue to a vote. On Thursday night, for the first time in its 93-year history, the Adventurers’ Club of L.A. faced the monumental decision of whether to allow women to become members of this males-only institution. A two-thirds vote by the members was required in order to allow women in and change the bylaws. However, members voted with a resounding “no,” according to KCAL9’s Kaj Goldberg. “It was massive resistance. I mean, people stood up. I gave my pitch as to...

Oakland restaurant Conflict Kitchen has closed until further notice after receiving a letter containing death threats, according to a post on its Facebook page... Conflict Kitchen recently has been the focus of controversy over its serving of Palestinian food with anti-Israel messages on the food wrappers.

<p>ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI) – Ferguson’s Halloween power outage was the deliberate act of a vandal. Fox2 has confirmed more than 2,000 homes lost power because of someone who appears to have inside information.</p> <p>Just after 8 p.m. Friday, much of old Ferguson went dark. Pam Reise said, “I was scared for a little bit until it went off. I thought “I’m going to have to turn off my electricity” because I thought it was going to pop.</p>

/begin my excerpts [Between Seoul and Pyongyang: by Ju Sung-ha] Details on the Attempted Assassination of Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang 2014-11-04 03:00:00 A picture on Nov. 3,2012, the day of assassination attempt. Everybody is laughing, following Kim Jong-un, but only Jang Song-thaek (on the left of Kim) is not, holding his hands back and staring forward. From N. Korea’s Central TV.Attempt on Kim Jong-un’s life occurred in Pyongyang, two years ago, on Nov. 3, 2012 Kim Jong-un’s schedule on the day included the tour of Ryu-kyong-won, a multipurpose recreation facility, people’s outdoor skating rinks, and roller-skating rinks, which were nearing...

German newspaper wonders if Hillary Clinton is America’s ‘last hope’ By Colby Itkowitz November 6 at 2:28 PM  You’d be hard pressed to find a postmortem on the 2014 midterms in America that didn’t include analysis of what it would mean for Hillary Clinton’s presidential chances in 2016. Some say her support for losing Democratic candidates hurts her brand. Others say the Republican-controlled Congress will give her something concrete to run against. But perhaps no paper anywhere so blatantly transitioned to 2016 coverage than the taz die tageszeitung (or “taz”), a leftwing daily newspaper in Berlin.