Free Republic

Making it to the big leagues is the dream of countless athletes, but for playoffs-bound Don Carey, being an NFL player does not fulfill his purpose. Carey, the 27-year-old Lions safety, has had to endure the same grueling practice and game schedules as the rest of his peers in the NFL. However, he manages to find the time to pursue a masters degree at Moody Theological Seminary in Plymouth Township, Michigan, while being a family man to his new wife and soon-to-be newborn son.... "Tomorrow is not promised to any of us," Carey told The Christian Post. "I am more...

In 1977, William McPherson earned the top honor in the writing world when he was honored with a Pulitzer Prize.But nearly four decades later, the former Washington Post critic now hovers on the brink of poverty thanks to a failing pension and a bit of bad luck on the stock market.In a heartbreaking essay for The Hedgehog Review, McPherson describes what it's like to become poor in old age-as part of a overlooked group who are neither middle or lower class.Former teachers and even lawyers who can't pay their bills but aren't on the streets begging for change.Surprisingly, he says...

The NFL on Monday overturned its one-game suspension imposed on Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh for stepping on Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers during Sunday’s game. Suh who has a history of cheap shots and dirty plays was seen on camera stomping on Aaron Rogers previously injured leg. The former Nebraska All-American had appealed the suspension saying that his feet were numb from cold and that he couldn’t tell the difference between Aaron Rodgers’ feet and the ground. Breitbart News reported on Tuesday that Suh’s appeal would be heard by former NFL defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell.

Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh is not suspended from Sunday’s playoff game after all. Suh has won the appeal of his one-game suspension and will play on Sunday at Dallas. Instead of getting suspended, Suh will be fined $70,000. That’s actually a more harsh financial penalty than a suspension would have been, as players on wild card teams are paid $22,000 for their first playoff game.

(VIDEO-AT-LINK) Michigan now has more food stamp recipients than it does public school students, an analysis of federal and state statistics by Breitbart News reveals. Michigan, which announced on Friday plans to begin drug testing some welfare recipients, currently has 1,679,421 individuals on food stamps (known officially as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP), according to the U.S. Agriculture Department. According to the Michigan Department of Education, the state’s total pupil count for K-12 is 1,564,114....

On the plane back to Michigan -- a journey that took a few hours or almost three decades, depending on your perspective -- Jim Harbaugh looked at his kids. “They had some stocking caps from my kids from the ‘M Den,’” he told SI.com. “My daughter Addie was wearing a scarf. We had a gift bag of some hats and things. When I saw my kids in the maize and blue, it was a terrific feeling. It took me back to a place … “I remember going to Moe’s Sporting Goods, and I’m looking at my kids with their stuff,...

Republican victories in the US midterm elections in early November and the Saudi Arabia-imposed decision by Opec on Nov. 27 to maintain production at 30 million barrels of oil a day may seem too disconnected and tangential to merit deep consideration of any linkage. But the two political events actually illustrate the slowly diverging paths between the US and Saudi Arabia that could become too entrenched to redirect, and may ultimately destroy or at least permanently alter one of the most important remaining strategic constants in the world since 1945 — America's security guarantee of Saudi Arabia and its energy...

Ndamukong Suh will pay a steep price for his fancy footwork in Sunday's loss to the Green Bay Packers. The NFL has suspended the Lions' defensive tackle for one game for stepping on the leg of Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, the league announced Monday. Suh will not be available for Sunday's NFC wild card game against the Dallas Cowboys. "You did not respond in the manner of someone who had lost his balance and

The Michigan Senate’s plan to find more money for road repairs was a $1.2 billion gas and diesel tax increase. The State House’s response was to shift some current state tax revenue to roads, with no net tax increase. Leaders from both sides came up with a "compromise," which was adopted in the predawn hours of Dec. 19: Increase state taxes and spending by $1.9 billion, of which just $1.2 billion goes to fix the roads, and the rest for other areas. “It appears that everyone was at the table negotiating except the taxpayers,” said Leon Drolet, chair of the...

Bill Cosby has refused to address the scores of rape allegations that have been hurled at him in recent months, but that doesn't mean he isn't working to clear his name. The comedian is allegedly paying private investigators six-figure fees to dig up dirt on the more than two dozen women who have come forward to accuse him of rape, according to a report in the New York Post. A source told the paper that Cosby has hired a Glendale, California, firm to discredit his many alleged victims' stories.

Not a video Elijah Woody circled Are black people who legally carry guns discriminated against?  There is anecdotal evidence to indicate that it happens, particularly in crime-ridden urban centers.  Students and retired police friends and acquaintances have told me that when guns were found in the possession of black men, in most urban centers, three or more decades ago, the guns were confiscated, legal or not. That was before the concealed carry revolution, when only a few states issued concealed carry permits, and they were often issued only at the discretion of the police chief.  Many of the gun...

Good on you Detroit! Detroit — As 2014 enters its final week, the city is on pace to record its fewest homicides since 1967. The fewest homicides recorded since 1967 – the year of the infamous Detroit riots that began the long slow decline of a great American city. That is a major accomplishment. Only 298 this year, as opposed to the 281 recorded in 1967. This isn’t as impressive when compared on a per capita basis, as there are about a million (literally) fewer people living in Detroit now than there were in ‘67, butt still - not bad...

San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh has reportedly accepted Michigan's offer to return to his alma mater and become the Wolverines' next head coach, according to CSNBayArea.com, which reports that Harbaugh will be announced at a press conference in Ann Arbor on Tuesday morning. Jason Cole of Bleacher Report and writer John U. Bacon, author of several books about Michigan football, also reported on Saturday that Harbaugh was expected to accept the Michigan job.

Bill Cosby was a rat who stalked prey in his own pack, a former girlfriend of Sammy Davis Jr. says. Katherine McKee alleges Cosby raped her in a Michigan hotel room in the early 1970s when she was on tour with Davis. She joins more than 20 other women who have accused the comedian known as “America’s Dad” of sexual assault.

LANSING, MI — Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder on Friday signed a new law creating a one-year pilot program requiring the Department of Human Services to screen some welfare recipients and test those suspected of drug use. The program, to be launched by DHS in three or more counties by October 2015, would apply to residents enrolled in or applying for the Family Independence Program. A recipient who was suspected of drug use and failed an initial test would be referred to a treatment program. Failing a second test, or refusing to take one at all, would result in the termination...

Paige Stalker might be alive today had she learned about Routine Activity Theory. But she is dead and two of her friends are critically wounded, the latest poster children for R.A.T.: White people in black neighborhoods should expect to be the victims of racial violence. Paige was one of five teenagers from an upscale neighborhood in nearby Grosse Point who were on their way to the movies three days before Christmas when they decided to pull over and smoke marijuana in Detroit. While they were getting a high, a black man with a high-powered rifle approached their car and fired...

DETROIT (WXYZ) - Police now say that the shooting that led to the death of 16-year-old Grosse Pointe teen Paige Stalker may have been an attempted robbery. Three other teens - a girl and two boys - suffered non-life threatening injuries when the car they were sitting in was shot up. Officers say as many as 30 shots were fired into the car. Police are still searching for a suspect in the case. They say the teens originally told them stories that just didn't add up. However, officers now say they have gotten a very clear description of the man...

“Ho, hum, what else is new?” That was my first reaction when I saw a report that Susan Douglas, a professor of communications and department chair at the University of Michigan, had published an article titled “It’s Okay to Hate Republicans,” in which she stated: "I hate Republicans. I can’t stand the thought of having to spend the next two years watching Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, Ted Cruz, Darrell Issa or any of the legions of other blowhards denying climate change, thwarting immigration reform or championing fetal ‘personhood.’" According to the professor, Republicans exhibit the following “psychological characteristics”: "[d]ogmatism, rigidity...

Now, what once was one of the premier venues in the world is a tattered, empty reminder of the stadium's memorable past - and of the dismal economy in Michigan. Last month Michigan's sometimes harsh weather put pay to the final sections of the old stadium's Teflon-covered roof which just dropped to the field.  Afterwards Ohio-based photographer Johnny Joo visited the abandoned stadium and his photos offer an eerie, empty look at a stadium that once held nearly 100,000 people.

GRAND RAPIDS — Fourteen people are currently being actively monitored for the Ebola virus in Michigan, according to the Michigan Department of Community Health. The report shows one person is under direct active monitoring, which means they encountered a higher risk of exposure and must be monitored more closely. The monitor level is based on a person’s travel history to one of the countries in West Africa widely affected by Ebola.