Free Republic

Gay marriage has its second hearing at the federal appellate level Thursday as lawyers for two Oklahoma women and the county clerk who would not give them a marriage license square off in a Denver courtroom. The appeal of a lower court’s January ruling that struck down Oklahoma’s gay marriage ban is the second time the issue has reached appellate courts since the U.S. Supreme Court shook up the legal landscape last year by finding the federal Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional. The same three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard a similar Utah case...

A North Charleston man was hit with a federal fine for refilling his drink without paying. The on-site construction worker says he didn't know refills at the VA Medical Center in downtown Charleston came at a price, and Wednesday, during his lunch hour, he was slapped with federal charges. The ticket was issued by the Federal Police Force at the VA Medical Center in downtown Charleston after Christopher Lewis refilled his soda without paying the $0.89. A hospital spokesperson called it a "theft of government property." "Every time I look at the ticket, it's unbelievable to me,” says Lewis, who...

Addressing an event on “global LGBT rights,” a senior State Department official on Wednesday sounded a note of caution about how the U.S. promotes such issues in religiously or culturally conservative countries, warning of the risk of a backlash there. “We should maintain enough humility to remember that we are terribly new at promoting LGBT human rights as U.S. foreign policy. Of course we want to do good – but we should do it, with patience, in a way that results in the maximum benefit for those we want to help.” The Obama administration’s State Department has made promotion of...

Quinn and Rose are off the air, (temporarily, I hope!) Gone, but DEFINITELY not forgotten! Meanwhile, our friendly group of dedicated FReeper Q&R fans will meet in our usual spot - same time, same station - as we always have! So grab your coffee - or whatever you choose to start your day - and drop in for some political chit-chat, or just to shoot the breeze! We are all coming from - or going to - work, but we all stop in to say ‘hi!’ Feel free to join us!

ST. LOUIS (AP) — After he was convicted of armed robbery in 2000, Cornealious Anderson was sentenced to 13 years behind bars and told to await instructions on when and where to report to prison. But those instructions never came. So Anderson didn't report. He spent the next 13 years turning his life around — getting married, raising three kids, learning a trade. He made no effort to conceal his identity or whereabouts. Anderson paid taxes and traffic tickets, renewed his driver's license and registered his businesses

A lot of [the design of film and motion technology] was conceived with the idea of the best representation of white people. And I don't mean to say that it was a deliberate and exclusionary practice, but [it was] much more of a willful obliviousness, if you will. So color film in its early stages pretty much developed around trying to measure the image against white skin. ...

The city’s former snow czar never filled out his department’s time sheets but collected more than $13,000 in overtime last year and scored a hefty vacation and sick time payout upon resigning when Mayor Thomas M. Menino left office, the Herald has learned. Elmo Baldassari, Men­ino’s deputy commissioner for Public Works, who took home $138,548 last year, 
received a $37,613 payout, including $26,645 in un­-used sick time, after he 
resigned. In 2012, Baldassari was his department’s highest-paid employee, earning $9,586 in overtime on top of his $122,217 base pay. “We are a very decentralized business, like many businesses, so time...

I am running computers at my Florida farm that use ten-fold the electricity I used a year ago, this time of year. I read freeper threads about the LEO, no-knock, drug suspected raids, that occur all across the states when electricity usage is flagged as abnormally high. How would you go about contacting the county sheriff and what to say as well as what not to say with regard to high electric usage. I don't want to wake in the middle of the night to LEO activity on my property that I suspect is a burglary or other criminal activity....

I'm looking to buy a new vehicle after my old one (2005 Hyundai Accent) hit the 110000 mile mark. I've nicked-named it the "old gray mare" I'll be going to the same Hyundai dealer who sold me the previous Accent. I'm looking at a 2012 Accent which was a lease and it only has 6176 miles on it. Auto Check is "clean" and it's Hyundai "Certified Pre-Owned" (and under it's original warranty). Any advice you can offer to make this a smooth transaction, save some money, and avoid pitfalls? FYI: I'm already pre-approved by my local credit union (helps to...

Man wants to open a bar in his gun range Generally speaking, the combination of alcohol and weapons sounds like a bad one. Jeff Swanson of Oklahoma City doesn’t see it that way, however. KFOR NewsChannel 4 reports that the entrepreneur, who is in the process of building an “upscale” gun range in OKC, wants his establishment to offer its patrons a drink after they’re finished shooting. KOKH FOX 25 News reports that Mr. Swanson will have customers scan their driver’s license before they partake in either firing guns or drinking alcohol. Mr. Swanson told KOKH, "Once your order a...

JACKSON, MI – As Diana Banks-Joiner stood in a courtroom and spoke of the abuse her nephew Marcel Hill endured at the hands of Camia Gamet, a woman he loved, his killer interrupted. “Is that it?” Gamet said from her seat at the defense table. The statement prompted gasps from the audience and an angry response from Jackson County Circuit Judge John McBain, who threatened to duct tape Gamet’s mouth closed.

This helmet-cam video shows some insane riding that will make you feel like you are right there with this guy. This is sure to keep your adrenaline pumping just by watching it. WATCH VIDEO AT LINK

Chinese companies have been known to build major real-estate projects very quickly. Now, one company is taking it to a new extreme. Suzhou-based construction-materials firm Winsun New Materials says it has built 10 200-square-meter homes using a gigantic 3-D printer that it spent 20 million yuan ($3.2 million) and 12 years developing. Such 3-D printers have been around for several years and are commonly used to make models, prototypes, plane parts and even such small items as jewelry.

Democrat Sean Eldridge’s campaign raised a little over $520,000 in the first quarter of this year. Nearly half came from the candidate himself. Eldridge, the husband of New Republic editor and Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes, pitched in $250,000, according to a campaign finance report filed with the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday. That contribution, made in one lump payment on March 31, brings Eldridge’s self-financing total to $965,000. Eldridge is running for a competitive House seat in New York’s Hudson Valley, in a district he has called home for less than two years.

Honor Flight is an organization that pays for and coordinates the visits of WWII veterans to the memorial built in their honor in Washington D.C.

LONDON (AP) -- North Korean diplomats have asked the British government to take action against a London hair salon's poster poking fun at distinctively coiffured leader Kim Jong Un.

Quiz Time! Today’s Problem: Chasing Daylight AUGUST 28, 2008, 12:38 PM My 11-year-old son came up with a good question the other day: Assuming a plane never had to stop to refuel, could it fly around the equator so fast that it never saw the sun set? To find out, I checked with one of my favorite online columnists: Patrick Smith, who writes “Ask the Pilot” for Salon.com. Before I reveal his reply, want to take a minute to answer the question in your head, so you can see how you did? I’ll wait right here. OK, here we go:

In a move that has outraged many parents,the Toronto District School Board voted 16-6 against asking the City of Toronto to uphold Canadian nudity laws at the WorldPride parade on June 29. Every year the parade includes marchers in various objectionable sexualized garb, such as sadomasochistic clothing,topless women, and even full frontal nudity. TDSB trustee Sam Sotiropoulos had presented a motion asking the Board to write an official letter to the mayor and Toronto City Council to ask “whether or not the public nudity law of Canada will be upheld and enforced at future Pride events in which the TDSB...

Quinn and Rose are off the air, (temporarily, I hope!) Gone, but DEFINITELY not forgotten! Meanwhile, our friendly group of dedicated FReeper Q&R fans will meet in our usual spot - same time, same station - as we always have! So grab your coffee - or whatever you choose to start your day - and drop in for some political chit-chat, or just to shoot the breeze! We are all coming from - or going to - work, but we all stop in to say ‘hi!’ Feel free to join us!

President Reagan was holding a meeting in the Cabinet Room on March 25, 1985, when Press Secretary Larry Speakes came over to me, as communications director, with a concern. The White House was about to issue a statement on the killing of Major Arthur Nicholson, a U.S. army officer serving in East Germany. Maj. Nicholson had been shot in cold blood by a Russian soldier. Speakes thought the president’s statement, “This violence was unjustified,” was weak. I agreed. We interrupted the president, who reread the statement, then said go ahead with it. What lay behind this Reagan decision not to...

"Most men appear never to have considered what a house is, and are actually though needlessly poor all their lives because they think that they must have such a one as their neighbors have. … Shall we always study to obtain more, and not sometimes be content with less?” ― Henry David Thoreau Living with less, as Thoreau described in Walden, is something many of us seek. We need a reprieve from our gadget-filled lives, so we travel deep into the wilderness, where utility services are sparse and renewable resources are necessary. But what if we want to extend our...

Microsoft has been on a roll lately. Office for iOS (and soon Android), free Windows licenses for small devices, universal Windows and Windows Phone apps, Siri rival Cortana, even a promise to eventually return the start menu before Windows 9. But when it comes to Windows 8, it seems the company has a permanently loaded pistol aimed squarely at its feet. So it fits that just one week on from the launch of “Windows 8.1 Update 1” (the smart upgrade mouse and keyboard users have long awaited) stupidity would strike once again. “Windows 8.1 Update is a cumulative update to...

The public career beheading of former Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich at the hands of pagan sexual jihadists, coupled with an escalating epidemic of Christian business owners facing harsh government persecution for merely living out their faith, has startled awake an America lulled to sleep by the left’s intentionally deceptive, yet oh-so-sweet sounding serenade of “equality, tolerance and diversity.” Average folks have finally begun to recognize that America’s “progressive” power class of cultural Marxists and left-wing statists really intends, and always has, to subjugate ideological dissenters through abject inequality and intolerance, while demanding blind obedience to an anti-Christian, sexually anarchist sociopolitical...

General Motors revealed in court filings late Tuesday that it will soon ask a federal bankruptcy judge to shield the company from legal claims for conduct that occurred before its 2009 bankruptcy. The automaker’s strategy is in a motion filed in a Corpus Christi, Texas, federal court case, and in other cases across the nation that involve the defective ignition switches that have led GM to recall 2.6 million small cars. The motion asks U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos to delay action on the lawsuit until the bankruptcy court rules and other federal courts decide if the case should...

"Three Cats One Meat" Teaches Us to Always Be the Middle Cat This video might just contain all the answers to life. Three cats are given a single piece of meat, and while two cats play tug of war, the third just starts gnawing at the center. That's some impressive problem solving. The two bigger cats are stuck in a live re-enactment of Newton's Third Law, while the third tries to get in on the action. Props to the smallest cat for eventually realizing that it's better to just eat what it can rather than try to beat the others...

Dog receives jury duty summons Recently man’s best friend has been called upon to perform duties beyond simple unconditional love and loyalty. Earlier this week, there were reports thata canine in England was invited to vote in the upcoming European Parliament elections. Now, canine civic responsibility has hit the States. On Friday, a jury duty summons was sent to “IV Griner,” a New Jersey German Shepherd. As reported by WKYW CBS 3, the name on the summons is the same name that appears on the pooch’s vet record. IV’s owner, Barrett Griner told the station, “Nobody in my house is...

A dog is invited to vote in the European Parliament elections Zeus, an eight-year-old Rottweiler mix, was sent a polling card to vote in the upcoming elections for the European Parliament. The pup belongs to RussellHoyle of Norton, a village in north east England. Hoyle told The Evening Gazette, “I can remember when the people came round to do the census. I remember saying ‘There is myself and my wife. My son is not old enough to vote. We have got Zeus living here as well and he is 63 in dog years.’ When the polling card addressed to ‘Zeus...

I used a Sony DCR-SR46 Handycam on a tripod to record the eclipse in my back yard. Unfortunately, clouds began rolling in when the eclipse was full and they messed with my cameras focus. So I wasn't able to continue recording all the way to where it returned to the full moon status. I edited out all the jumping around caused by me readjusting the camera to stay with the moon, and increased the speed of the video so I could get the final result under 2 minutes. It's not the best video, but I worked with what I had....

U. S. Constitution

As awful as war is, it has a way of bonding people. Once you've dragged a bleeding dude to safety or slowly walked away from an explosion together, well, nobody can take that away from you. We'd imagine that goes double for these guys, who found themselves having to pretty much fight the g$*&@#^%d battle themselves.

Malaysian woman admits to being attracted by his perceived wealthA Malaysian woman was attracted by a flashy car and flamboyant lifestyle of a man she befriended on a social media. According to a report in stomp.com, the young woman has filed three police complaints after the man who drove a Lamborghini and claimed to earn $400,000 [Dh1469,200] annually disappeared after cheating her of a huge sum of money. She met the man on the app SayHi and was attracted by his perceived wealth, wrote the website quoting a New Paper report. His profile mentioned him living in a posh area,...

A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld the Environmental Protection Agency's first emission standards for mercury and other hazardous air pollutants from coal- and oil-fired power plants. In its ruling, the court rejected state and industry challenges to rules designed to clean up chromium, arsenic, acid gases, nickel, cadmium as well as mercury and other dangerous toxins. The EPA’s determination in 2000 that regulating emission standards is appropriate and necessary, and the agency’s reaffirmation of that determination in 2012, “are amply supported by EPA’s findings regarding the health effects of mercury exposure,” said the court. Congress did not specify what...

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Approximately 4,000 participants took part in the Paterno Family Beaver Stadium Run on April 13, 2014. The event consisted of a 3 Mile Run and 1 Mile Family Fun Walk. The entire course was on the Penn State campus; finishing inside Beaver Stadium after running through the players’ tunnel. Sue Paterno, wife of the late Penn State coach Joe Paterno, was on-hand at the event, encouraging participants. Former Penn State and Pittsburgh Steeler great Franco Harris and former Lions' defensive coordinator, Tom Bradley, greeted runners as they crossed the finish line. The event raised an unofficial total of around $400,000...

The Top 10 Greatest Handgun Cartridges in History#10 – 10mm 10mm makes the list, but only just barely because it is an interesting historical curiosity in the development of modern handgun ammo. Its history is a complex one full of misinformation, bad science, and government incompetence. To this day, it has a small, but dedicated and often insanely loyal following who still cling to the dying fire of the 10mm. #9 – .38 S&W Why is .38 S&W on this list? Not because of its popularity in America, but because under the name .38/200 it served for over 30 years...

The executive director of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association says his sources inside the federal government warn that Washington’s weekend retreat in a dispute over grazing land in Nevada was only a move to distract attention and diffuse tensions, because a raid on the family’s ranch still is planned. And there probably would be violence involved, said Richard Mack, the former sheriff of Graham County, Ariz. “I don’t think it would be possible” to launch a raid without violence, he told WND Monday. “I don’t think the Bundys would lie down and be taken.” He cited the vow...

Quinn and Rose are off the air, (temporarily, I hope!) Gone, but DEFINITELY not forgotten! Meanwhile, our friendly group of dedicated FReeper Q&R fans will meet in our usual spot - same time, same station - as we always have! So grab your coffee - or whatever you choose to start your day - and drop in for some political chit-chat, or just to shoot the breeze! We are all coming from - or going to - work, but we all stop in to say ‘hi!’ Feel free to join us!

Vice President Joe Biden is planning to be among the crowds at this summer’s World Cup soccer tournament. The White House announced Monday that Biden would travel to Brazil for the event in June. He also plans to attend a U.S. national team game. …

As head of his village, Prajob Naowa-opas battled to save his community in central Thailand from the illegal dumping of toxic waste by filing petitions and leading villagers to block trucks carrying the stuff—until a gunman in broad daylight fired four shots into him. A year later, his three alleged killers, including a senior government official, are on trial for murder. The dumping has been halted and villagers are erecting a statue to their slain hero. But the prosecution of Prajob’s murder is a rare exception. A survey released Tuesday—the first comprehensive one of its kind—says that only 10 killers...

"Grave-like silence" (Translated from Russian) Kiev government is silent, or it talks with those with whom it is already too late. At least 3 dead and about 100 injured in various clashes just on Sunday, a religious holiday - and a day of silence from all officials of ministerial level and above about the situation in the country. One after another Donbas regional centers and military properties are captured – and the government doesn’t consider it necessary to explain it to the people. It wasn’t until late in the evening, that the acting President of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov spoke. Everyone...

There are two types of green vehicle fans in this world: Those who wish you to know they've picked the latest green vehicle, and those that don't. Anyone who chooses Austrian firm Johammer's electric motorcycle will peg themselves firmly in the former category. It is, by quite a margin, the weirdest two-wheeler we've ever clapped eyes on.

Used generators to restore power after sandstormA Saudi bridegroom had to call the civil defence to save his wedding after a sandstorm disrupted power and threatened the concert. Civil defence units rushed to the wedding in Darma town, 60 km south of the capital Riyadh, and used their generators to supply power to the place for three hours. “Our men used generators to restore power for three hours to the couple will go ahead with their wedding,” civil defence spokesman Major Mohammed Al Hammadi said, quoted by the Saudi news network Al Arabiya.

STRAITS OF MACKINAC, MI - At least one ferry service is predicting delayed trips to Mackinac Island due to ice that still covers a portion of the Great Lakes. Shepler's Mackinac Island Ferry has announced it will be starting its 2014 season later than anticipated after temporarily relocating its ferry starts to St. Ignace, rather than Mackinaw City, as a result of the ice blockages which remain in the Straits of Mackinac. "The straits have completely frozen over, except for a shipping channel," said Misty Martinchek, Shepler's group sales manager, who said all local ferries have been affected by the...

OK it's not Walmart, but it's a serious issue nevertheless. America needs to keep, start, build and GROW global companies right here in America. Stop this nonsense.

Virtually every time the U.S. fires a missile from a drone and ends the lives of Muslims, American media outlets dutifully trumpet in headlines that the dead were ”militants” – even though those media outlets literally do not have the slightest idea of who was actually killed. They simply cite always-unnamed “officials” claiming that the dead were “militants.” It’s the most obvious and inexcusable form of rank propaganda: media outlets continuously propagating a vital claim without having the slightest idea if it’s true. This practice continues even though key Obama officials have been caught lying, a term used advisedly, about...

Quinn and Rose are off the air, (temporarily, I hope!) Gone, but DEFINITELY not forgotten! Meanwhile, our friendly group of dedicated FReeper Q&R fans will meet in our usual spot - same time, same station - as we always have! So grab your coffee - or whatever you choose to start your day - and drop in for some political chit-chat, or just to shoot the breeze! We are all coming from - or going to - work, but we all stop in to say ‘hi!’ Feel free to join us!

Looking to spice up a room with a limited budget? Reach for the duct tape. Yes, you read that correctly. The popular resource can be used for more than quick repairs. See how 7 bloggers turned duct tape into on-trend decor in their homes, and find out how you can do the same.

A Saudi court in Jeddah has ordered the permanent closure of a liberal website for publishing what was perceived as “anti-Islamic content”, Al Arabiya reported on Sunday, citing the Saudi news website Sabq. According to Sabq, a number of Saudis had demanded the closure of the Saudi Liberal Network for posting stories and comments that are considered against religion and morality. …

The U.S. Navy on Saturday christened the first ship of its newest class of destroyers, a more than $3 billion, 610-foot-long warship sporting advanced technology and a stealthy shape designed to minimize its visibility on enemy radar and reduce the size of its crew. ... Among the 15,000-ton warship's cutting-edge features are a composite deckhouse with hidden radar and sensors and an angular shape that officials say will allow it to be confused for a small fishing boat on radars. It also sports wave-piercing hull designed to reduce the ship's wake. It's the first U.S. ship to use electric propulsion...

Defying the GOP establishment, tea party muscle has sent some of this era's most charismatic Republican politicians to Washington, starting with Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas. They have changed the debate in Washington, polarized their own party, and sharpened gridlock. House Speaker John Boehner (R) of Ohio and the tea party are openly at war. Regardless of what happens in the primaries and in November, the tea party will live on. "The tea party's hold on the GOP persists beyond each burial ceremony," writes Harvard sociologist and political scientist Theda Skocpol in The Atlantic.