Free Republic

On this weekend’s broadcast of “The McLaughlin Group,” conservative columnist and author of “Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025?” Pat Buchanan said the bipartisan Senate immigration plan drafted by the so-called “gang of eight” will fail, damaging Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio’s chances of winning the White House. “The path to citizenship in my judgment is going to fail,” Buchanan said. “It will certainly be stopped in the House, and I think Marco Rubio, who has gotten himself out front on it, will be badly damaged, because I think there’s going to be a rising populist...

I'm sure we've all seen by now the "photo op" of President Obama shooting skeet. If he's shooting skeet then I'm Daffy Duck. Now, what's wrong with the president's picture? First the weapon is nearly level to the ground. Can't be skeet shooting, nor likely trap either. Second, it is evident that the President has never shot a shotgun before as his stance is leaning slightly backward. Look at the position of his torso to his legs. Skeet or trap shooters never do this. They lean slightly forward like a boxer in the ring. Third, he doesn't know or was never...

Justice Dept. chopper used for football drop at HS homecoming • State agents investigate apparent unauthorized use of police helicopter SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) —California taxpayers shelled out hundreds of dollars for the apparent unauthorized use of a police helicopter at a high school football game. The helicopter incident involved a high school homecoming event that top law enforcement supervisors at the Department of Justice knew nothing about, KCRA 3 has learned. The incident took place last November, when a DOJ helicopter hovered over El Dorado Hills for a homecoming game at Oak Ridge High School. In a video later uploaded...

Middlesex District Attorney Gerard Leone tells the Herald he’s considering getting into the Democratic race for U.S. Senate, a move that could shock the party establishment and completely shake up the special election battle. “I’m going to give it some thought,” Leone said in an interview, adding that he’s been besieged by calls from supporters urging him to get in the race — especially since former GOP Sen. Scott Brown announced yesterday he was not running. The only two announced candidates are Democratic congressmen Stephen Lynch of South Boston and Edward Markey of Malden. Markey, who has the backing of...

<p>ATLANTA (AP) — A student opened fire at his middle school Thursday afternoon, wounding a 14-year-old in the neck before an armed officer working at the school was able to get the gun away, police said.</p> <p>Multiple shots were fired in the courtyard of Price Middle School just south of downtown about 1:50 p.m. and the one boy was hit, Atlanta Police Chief George Turner said. In the aftermath, a teacher received minor cuts, he said.</p>

An armed guard successfully disarmed a 14-year-old shooter who had opened fire at an Atlanta middle school on Thursday. Thanks to the courageous off-duty school resource officer, only one student was shot and no one was killed. Yet CNN host Piers Morgan on Friday argued that the armed guard, an unidentified off-duty Atlanta police officer, “was NOT able to stop” the Atlanta school shooting, apparently because the teen shooter was able to shoot just one student before he was stopped. “REVEALED: Armed guard was NOT able to stop Atlanta school shooting,” Morgan posted via his official Twitter account. He then...

Germany’s socialist Left party want a 100 percent tax on anyone earning over €500,000 ($683,100) and will be including the policy in their general election campaign platform, a newspaper reported on Friday. “We are suggesting that no-one should earn over 40 times the societal minimum,” said The Left’s co-leader Katja Kipping in the party's draft election platform, which was seen by regional newspaper the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung. The party paper said the total tax on those taking home over €40,000 ($54,648) per month would be used to fund social welfare and investing in the country’s future. …

The percentage of individuals who identify as conservative in 2012 outnumber those who identify as liberal in 47 out of the 50 states, in addition to the District of Columbia (D.C.) according to a Gallup poll released on Feb. 1. Nationally, the amount of self-identified conservatives (38 percent) still outnumbers liberals (23 percent). The disparity between conservatives and liberals has remained consistent since Gallup began its tracking in 2008. …

President Barack Obama shoots clay targets on the range at Camp David, Md., Saturday, Aug. 4, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) This official White House photograph is being made available only for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may not be used in commercial or political materials, advertisements, emails, products, promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE SUBJECT: Determination with Respect to the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008 Pursuant to section 404 of the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008 (CSPA) (title IV, Public Law 110-457), I hereby determine that it is in the national interest of the United States to waive the application of the prohibition in section 404(a) of the CSPA with respect to Libya, South Sudan, and Yemen; and further determine that it is in the national interest of the United States to waive in part the application of the prohibition in section 404(a) of the CSPA...

My husband and I choose to be childless in Seattle, writes editorial columnist Sharon Pian Chan My husband and I just ended our debate about having children. To breed or not to breed, this was the question... We have decided we have other things to give to the world. We won’t be having kids. We choose to be childless in Seattle. ... Feminism empowered women to talk about motherhood as a pursuit that deserves as much attention as men’s work. In the past 20 years, women have bravely spoken about struggles to conceive, which helped educate a generation about fertility....

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (CBSDC) — A medical company is blaming President Obama’s health care law for the layoffs of nearly 100 people. Smith & Nephew says a 2.3 percent excise tax on medical devices in the “Obamacare” law caused the layoffs in the Memphis and Andover, Mass., offices. “The nearly $30 billion tax on medical devices that took effect Jan. 1, 2013, has impacted a number of companies across the U.S.,” the company said in a statement to WHBQ-TV. Joe Metzger, senior vice president of corporate communications for the company, tells the Memphis Business Journal that they were “not immune” to...

Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan announced his retirement Friday, bringing to a close a turbulent period for the law enforcement agency that included a South American prostitution scandal and a pair of White House gate-crashers. In nearly seven years as director, Sullivan had to answer serious questions from lawmakers on two occasions about his employees’ actions on the job and off. Last May, in testimony before Congress, Sullivan apologized for the conduct of Secret Service employees caught in a prostitution scandal in Colombia. Thirteen agents and officers were implicated after an agent argued with a prostitute over payment in a...

Chinese authorities have detained four people, state media said Saturday, a day after at least 11 people died when a truck loaded with fireworks for Lunar New Year celebration exploded, collapsing an elevated portion of highway in central China. The accident sent vehicles plummeting 30 meters (about 100 feet) to the ground, and state-run China Central Television said 11 people were now confirmed dead and another 11 injured. The official Xinhua News Agency said the collapse smashed and buried at least 25 vehicles. Rescue work continues Saturday. CCTV said Saturday that the truck that exploded took the road without proper...

One of Britain’s oldest anarchist publishers says its east London bookshop has been firebombed. Freedom Press—set up more than 100 years ago—said Friday that no one was injured in the overnight fire, but that its shop and electrics “have been seriously damaged.” …

n what appears to be a slap in the face for gender equality, the report found the divorce rate among couples who shared housework equally was around 50 per cent higher than among those where the woman did most of the work. “What we’ve seen is that sharing equal responsibility for work in the home doesn’t necessarily contribute to contentment,” said Thomas Hansen, co-author of the study entitled “Equality in the Home”. The lack of correlation between equality at home and quality of life was surprising, the researcher said. “One would think that break-ups would occur more often in families...

The U.S. new car market was up strongly in January. GM and Ford surprised analysts with double digit sales rates. Toyota, up 26.6 percent also surprised. GM is up 16 percent on very strong sales of the Equinox and its Silverado and Sierra pickups. Ford prints a 22 percent increase, powered by the Fusion. Lincoln sales are down 18 percent while customers wait for the MKZ to arrive in quantity at their dealers. Chrysler was up 16 percent, but jaded analysts expected more. Detroit OEMs and analysts expect the SAAR to be in the mid 15 million range

Meet Katelyn Francis, a 13-year-old shooting expert. She competes in multi-gun competitions all over the country. Watch and learn, boys. 1:17 video at link

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/world/55742445-68/shooting-atlanta-police-says.html.csp

It’s 100% financing—the same strategy that pushed many homeowners into foreclosure during the housing bust. Banks say these loans are safer: They’re almost exclusively being offered to clients with sizable assets, and they often require two forms of collateral—the house and a portion of the client’s investment portfolio in lieu of a traditional cash down payment. In most cases, borrowers end up with one loan and one monthly payment. Depending on the lender and the borrower, roughly 60% to 80% of the loan can be pegged to the home’s value while the remaining 20% to 40% can be secured by...