Free Republic

Speaking to a Republican-controlled Congress for the first time since he took office, President Barack Obama emboldened millions of Americans and showed us how the country’s future must be re-written. In essence, Obama gave two speeches, each of which tells the fate of two separate unions. The first one focused on a nation of healers and how our worst days are behind us. And rightfully so. With over 240,000 private sector jobs added per month in 2014, an unemployment of 5.6 percent, the lowest it has been in six years, gas prices nearly $2 a gallon and the highest high...

I am thinking about getting into reloading, want to know where the best place to buy supplies is...websites, etc....not that I have any guns, all lost is that stupid boating accident years ago.

Formerly the "Fans of Quinn and Rose Discussion" thread. We still hold out hope that our favorite talk show hosts will come back on the air - and all indications are that they will be, very soon! As we wait, our friendly group will still meet to start the day. So if you are preparing to go to work, are getting home from work - or happily retired - stop in and say mornin' and share the latest news, discuss the weather, share a recipe, or whatever!

My dearest wish is to one day have the pleasure of living in a small cabin in the frigid wilderness. There I will spend my nights covered in heavy wool blankets, eating smoked fish and dried fruit. Over time, my beard will grow to the point where I’ll be indistinguishable from a medium-sized woodland creature. The villagers I’ll come to know during my rare visits to town will call me “the wolfman,” not least because I will communicate solely by howling and scratching out messages with my clawlike fingernails. For now, I live in a big city, where such unconventional...

MIAMI — Miss Colombia, Paulina Vega, was crowned Miss Universe on Sunday night, while Miss USA, Nia Sanchez, came in second. The other finalists, chosen from among 88 contestants, were Miss Jamaica, Kaci Fennell; Miss Ukraine, Diana Harkusha; and Miss Netherlands, Yasmin Verheijen. Vega, of Barranquilla, Colombia, granddaughter of the legendary tenor Gastón Vega, said the contests leading to MIss Universe were the first she'd participated in and would be her last as she's eager to return to her studies in business administration.

An 11-year-old South Carolina boy is facing an arson charge after allegedly setting a fire inside a Walmart that caused millions of dollars in damages to the business, police report. The boy’s 13-year-old cousin has also been charged in connection with the December 31 blaze. According to investigators, the boy stole a lighter while inside the Columbia store and, with his cousin, used it to set a fire in the Walmart’s greeting card aisle. The ensuing blaze caused significant damage to the store, though no injuries were reported.

The old 5000 watt Kohler has bit the dust. Looking to buy a new portable electric generator. There are dozens on the market and would like FReeper recommendations for one in the 5000-7500 watt range. Also considering going with a propane fired model. Any suggestions? I see a lot of Generac units at a decent price, comments about those?

Recently I saw a live performance of Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot", a story about two hobos who are, oddly enough loitering around waiting for a visit from a person named Godot. They are interrupted by Pozzo, a cruel and pompous man, and Lucky, his hapless slave led by a noose around his neck. Lucky performs demeaning tasks on command. At the urging of the hobos, Pozzo commands him to dance, and then to "think". What follows is a run-on rambling speech/rant lasting about four minutes of half-developed themes, nonsequeteurs, stuttering, random interjections, and entertaining nonsense. Here is the link...

- begin excerpt - What Intuit did for tax year 2014 is change which services come with each tier, shifting some of the forms to the more expensive versions. They made the same changes to the pricing tiers on their Web-based service for 2013, so the change is not entirely unexpected. The first rumblings came as soon as the software was released last year, and some true early birds got a head start on their returns. They noticed that something was missing: some pretty common forms that had always been part of TurboTax Deluxe. These included: Schedule C (self-employment expenses...

I was thinking about an upcoming event where I will be forced to go into a venue sans gun on my hip because of metal detectors and thought of a way where the law-abiding could carry guns into public venues and metal detectors could be done away with (though this latter point will likely never happen, I admit). Through the creation of a new database containing all violent criminals, the venues could turn away people with no subjectivity. They would even be given the option of levels of information of violent criminals. With an instant background check, people with a...

If you like, you can text 33733 and include the word CONSTITUTION in the body. This will register you with Ted Cruz and his campaign for our America. This works nation-wide.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — As the U.S. wrestles with how to respond to a series of volatile racial incidents, the University of Notre Dame is offering a class this semester on white privilege that it says aims to help students become more aware of injustices. The course description says the one-credit elective, offered in preparation for a conference, is designed to educate students about the definitions of white privilege and its causes and effects. Though the school offered a similar workshop last year that was not for credit, the class has drawn some objections this time around. Notre Dame’s...

Everyone knows the story of our national anthem, the Star Spangled Banner.

Texas’ new Agricultural Commissioner, Sid Miller, granted amnesty to cupcakes as his first act of office. “I’m announcing that I am giving full amnesty to the cupcakes in Texas. I’m also granting full pardon to pies and cookies and brownies and cakes and homemade candies,” Miller said in his announcement. In Texas, the Department of Agriculture administers the school lunch program responsible for restrictive dietary guidelines. Guidelines were put in place to combat childhood obesity, but as Miller points out, the figures haven’t changed in the ten years stringent dietary restrictions have been in place. “We’re getting out of the...

Forty-six years ago today (Jan. 22, 1969), Glen Campbell struck gold for the first time. It was on this day that the singer earned the first gold single of his career, signifying sales of 500,000 copies, with ‘Wichita Lineman.’ The song, which was the title track of Campbell’s 12th studio album, was written by Jimmy Webb, who got the inspiration for the tune while driving through Washita County, Okla., when he saw a lone telephone lineman working on the top of a telephone pole. “I’m a songwriter, and I can write about anything I want to,” Webb says of his...

This is the poignant moment when a man rescued from the hell he endured at the hands of the Nazis met his saviour and gave him a salute almost 70 years later. Joshua Kaufman first saluted his rescuer Daniel Gillespie. Then he kissed his hand and finally, he fell to his feet, exclaiming: 'I have wanted to do this for 70 years. I love you, I love you so much...'. Kaufman, now 87, was a 'walking corpse' on April 29 1945 when U.S. Army soldier Gillespie, 89, marched in with his comrades to liberate the charnel house that was the...

For thousands of years, the bow and arrow was used for war. Those days are long gone, and most people today only know of archery through TV and movies. However, as the Danish archer Lars Andersen has proved, Hollywood archery has very little to do with actual war archery. Lars Andersen originally started using bow and arrow to fight in pretend battles during Larps (live action role play) events, where he played a soldier in a medieval-inspired army. While Larps can be about anything – the Danish/Polish Harry Potter inspired larp College of Wizardry (cowlarp.com) recently got world-wide media attention...

This week I had the one and only Dean Cain on the show. Not only did he double down on his comments toward Michael Moore, but he did them in a way that only Superman could. How can you not LOVE this guy?! "Would I love to give him a smack on the face if he looked me in the eye, as a man and said that? Well...Put us someplace without a camera..."

We are what we think. These seven popularly held beliefs are causing you unnecessary misery 1. Lust and love are the same 2. The more money you have, the happier you will be 3. Any dream can come true, if you want it badly enough 4. Perfection is good 5. My happiness is more important than yours 6. Success is permanent 7. Hope is not a strategy (content snipped out, check article for explanations)

PM ‘will pay price’ for spat over Congress address; Obama said to have asked him to tone down pro-sanctions rhetoric; Wash. Post: Kerry’s enthusiasm for defending Israel may wane The White House’s outrage over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to speak before Congress in March — a move he failed to coordinate with the administration — began to seep through the diplomatic cracks on Friday, with officials telling Haaretz the Israeli leader had “spat” in President Barack Obama’s face. “We thought we’ve seen everything,” the newspaper quoted an unnamed senior US official as saying. “But Bibi managed to surprise

Formerly the "Fans of Quinn and Rose Discussion" thread. We still hold out hope that our favorite talk show hosts will come back on the air - and all indications are that they will be, very soon! As we wait, our friendly group will still meet to start the day. So if you are preparing to go to work, are getting home from work - or happily retired - stop in and say mornin' and share the latest news, discuss the weather, share a recipe, or whatever!

"I see myself as a missing link between Barack Obama's exposure to communism with Frank Marshall Davis and his later exposure to Bill Ayers and Alice Palmer in Chicago" Drew told me. Drew was a contemporary of Obama at Occidental College and a Marxist himself.

EXCLUSIVE: An illegal immigrant, warring parents and a bitter rift with the father she did not see for 40 years – extraordinary story of Columba Bush as her husband bids to make her the first Hispanic first lady Columba Bush was born and raised in Leon, 250 miles outside Mexico City, where she met Jeb Bush and married him when she was 20 Her father was born to a peasant family and entered America illegally to work He had a stormy marriage to her mother and the couple divorced – but Columba's account differs from his and his relatives' in...

Today—the forty-second anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision—the Pro-Life Action League sent an special care package to every abortion clinic in the United States. Inside: a picture of Naresh Patel (right), the Oklahoma abortionist arrested last month, along with a pair of plastic handcuffs and a signed note from me reading, “Could you be next? If you want to get out of the abortion business, give me a call.” I also included my cell phone number. Care Packages Inspired by Patel Arrest This project was inspired by the arrest of abortionist Naresh Patel last month at his...

An excellent adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s best novel After the highway patrolman finishes helping Joe Blake fix a flat tire, the cop offers him a sandwich. Blake is nervous. He’s stuck in the Midwest at the mercy of a police officer … and he’s carrying illegal cargo. Blake wants to leave, but he accepts the sandwich. Better not to cause a stir. As Blake takes the meal, he notices a tattoo on the officer’s forearm—a knife through a flower. Blake asks what it means. “Oh?” the cop says. “A soldier so fierce he’d kill a rose.” “That was you?”...

Just read that Romney and Jeb are meeting in Utah to discuss how best to ram one of them down our throats so their campaigns don't compete against one another. NO MORE BUSHES!! NO MORE ROMNEYS!!! NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!!

CNN) - It looks like something out of "Alien," but has more in common with "Jurassic Park." It's a rare frilled shark that has been caught by a fisherman in Australia, where no one remembers ever seeing one caught before. With a mouth packed full of needle-like teeth and a body like an eel, the six-foot long frilled shark is sometimes described as a fish "fossil" that dates back 80 million years.

A sexism row has erupted at the Australian Open after a TV commentator asked Wimbledon runner-up Eugenie Bouchard to "give us a twirl" in a post-match interview. Bouchard had just beaten Kiki Bertens 6-0, 6-3 in a second round match at Melbourne Park when she was interviewed by Ian Cohen, a Channel 7 tennis commentator, on court. Cohen asked Bouchard - one of the favourites for the first grand slam of the year - to twirl, to which the player replied: "A twirl, like a pirouette, here you go."

Formerly the "Fans of Quinn and Rose Discussion" thread. We still hold out hope that our favorite talk show hosts will come back on the air - and all indications are that they will be, very soon! As we wait, our friendly group will still meet to start the day. So if you are preparing to go to work, are getting home from work - or happily retired - stop in and say mornin' and share the latest news, discuss the weather, share a recipe, or whatever!

A funny thing happened at Church...

Remember those cheesy '50s horror flicks where prehistoric monsters battled over Tokyo? The creatures end up destroying each other and the people come out to celebrate in the last reel. If we're lucky, that will be the scenario in next year's Republican primaries – with Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney splitting the establishment vote, leading to the nomination of an authentic conservative for the first time since Ronald Reagan. Bonnie Prince Jeb has hearts of the GOP donor class all aflutter. He's the crown prince of the Bush dynasty – grandson of a U.S. Senator, son and brother of presidents....

I have some sad news, folks. Al Sharpton will not be appearing on Dancing with the Stars any time soon. Sharpton said so in comments earlier today addressing criticism that he and his organization goes to certain cities where tragedy has happened for the publicity. The reverend and MSNBC host said, “That’s exactly what we want.” He explained, “Part of the role of activists is to get your attention. You don’t see me on Dancing with the Stars. You see us dealing with social issues and to draw the attention to those issues.”

The 64-year-old comedian and former host of The Tonight Show told TV executives Wednesday that he doesn't understand why "it's so hard to believe women." "You to go Saudi Arabia and you need two women to testify against a man," Leno said at the annual National Association of Television Program Executives convention, Variety reports. "Here you need 25."

Chris Kyle, the now-deceased Navy SEAL who is celebrated in Clint Eastwood's movie "American Sniper" was a proved liar. Jesse Ventura, the former military man, wrestler and governor of Minnesota, sued Kyle before he died, claiming that he defamed Ventura in his memoir, "American Sniper." Kyle claims to have punched out Ventura in a bar after Ventura bad-mouthed the troops who'd been sent to Iraq. Kyle was killed before the trial, but a jury determined that none of what he had written about Ventura was true and awarded Ventura $1.8 million. Because he's a proved liar, we should be awfully...

I was curious if any freepers have any experience with the immigration naturalization process. I have volunteered to teach through our church the civics / government / history etc class leading up to the students taking the the Naturalization Test. Lots of government documents etc here, but no real "curriculum" for the class. This is a first for our church. So I'm basically developing that, while using a variety of government documents. Does anyone have any experience with this? This is for immigrants who are doing it "the right way". Just looking for ideas. (nice ideas) :)

Relaxed and defiant are a few of the adverbs used by the mainstream media to describe the President’s 2015 State of the Union address. I have some adverbs of my own, but those words aren’t part of my vocabulary… Apparently, Barack Obama missed the midterm elections, and decided to continue to beat the drum of me, myself, and I am awesome… blah, blah, blah. Six years of the same old, same old. He did make a few Pinocchios though. Actually a lot of them. Here’s nine of my favorite big whoppers from the evening… 1. “Better politics isn’t one where...

Two years from yesterday, we'll have a new President.

AQAP says 'preparing" attacks on US, West: SITEWashington (AFP) - Al-Qaeda's Yemen branch called for lone-wolf attacks against the United States and the West in a video posted Tuesday, days after the group claimed responsibility for the Charlie Hebdo killings

<p>PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- A group of tourists who ran up the "Rocky" steps got a knockout photo at the top - a selfie with Rocky himself.</p> <p>Peter Rowe said he and two friends had just finished racing up the staircase at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on Saturday when they saw Sylvester Stallone.</p>

Formerly the "Fans of Quinn and Rose Discussion" thread. We still hold out hope that our favorite talk show hosts will come back on the air - and all indications are that they will be, very soon! (SEE UPDATE BELOW) As we wait, our friendly group will still meet to start the day. So if you are preparing to go to work, are getting home from work - or happily retired - stop in and say mornin' and share the latest news, discuss the weather, share a recipe, or whatever!

Casino operator Wynn Resorts Ltd. has slashed Chief Executive Steve Wynn’s salary to $2.5 million per year from $4 million, a regulatory filing showed. The company also extended the billionaire casino developer’s contract for two more years, till Oct. 24, 2022. Wynn, 72, is worth $3.5 billion, according to Forbes magazine. He will also now have to pay to use the company jet for personal purposes, though the filing outlined a $250,000 credit per year that he will receive to offset the reimbursement charges.

Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg appeared to fall asleep during President Obama's lenghty State of the Union address: (Pics at link.)

A Rock Hill woman took a pregnancy test off the shelf at a Walmart, used it in the store’s restroom, and tried to leave without paying for it, according to a police report. On Sunday evening, the report states, an employee at the Walmart on Dave Lyle Boulevard spotted the woman selecting a pregnancy test package and taking it to the back of the store. The woman removed the test, discarded the packaging and entered the restroom, according to the report, then left the store without paying. When stopped by a Walmart employee, the report states, the woman ran out...

I am wondering if anyone has a new updated 0bola SOTU Address BINGO/drinking game card for 2015.

France24: Paris mayor to sue Fox News over ‘no-go zones’ slur Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo told CNN on Tuesday that her city intends to sue Fox News after it broadcasted interviews asserting that there are “no-go zones” in the French capital where police and non-Muslims fear to tread.

Michael Moore has taken to Twitter to share his thoughts on snipers. The Fahrenheit 9/11 director wrote that he grew up being told that snipers are cowardly. "My uncle killed by sniper in WW2," Moore wrote. "We were taught snipers were cowards. Will shoot you in the back." Read MoreBox Office: How 'American Sniper' Played Like a Superhero Movie "Snipers aren't heroes," he continued. "And invaders are worse." Moore spoke directly about director Clint Eastwood's film American Sniper on his Facebook page. He praised the film for star Bradley Cooper's performance and for its antiwar sentiment, but he also wrote:...

How many times will Obama say "I' or "Me" during the State of the Union Address tonight?

Formerly the "Fans of Quinn and Rose Discussion" thread. We still hold out hope that our favorite talk show hosts will come back on the air - and all indications are that they will be, very soon! (SEE UPDATE BELOW) As we wait, our friendly group will still meet to start the day. So if you are preparing to go to work, are getting home from work - or happily retired - stop in and say mornin' and share the latest news, discuss the weather, share a recipe, or whatever

SACRAMENTO (KTXL) — A very close call was caught on camera a local car wash.

She fell and I could not get her up. En route to ER. BP was low and temp high. Blood sugar is OK Please pray and ping. Thank you