Free Republic

On the heels of news that the Obama administration Department of Justice was spying on reporters at the Associated Press, Monday brought the startling disclosure by the Washington Post that the DOJ had also targeted Fox reporter James Rosen for surveillance in an effort to plug up leaks. Additionally, the New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza obtained the full application for a search warrant of Rosen’s personal email account, in which the DOJ accused him of being “an aider and abettor and/or co-conspirator.” As Lizza put it, “Rosen was not charged with any crime, but it is unprecedented for the government, in...

(article photo) In one of the less rational attacks on the NRA to date, the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence's Josh Horwitz used his May 20 column to make the case that the NRA doesn't understand the Constitution or the man who wrote it--James Madison. According to Horwitz, this was proven at the NRA's Annual Meeting in Houston during the first weekend in May. There, speakers gave speeches on what "sounded a lot like vigilantism and anarchy" and very little like the adoration for governmental power that Horwitz claims our Founding Fathers enshrined in the Constitution. To back up his...

We now know that the Justice Department kept exceptionally close tabs on Fox News reporter James Rosen in 2010, following his trips in and out of the State Department, hacking his personal emails and phone calls. Normal newsgathering activities are being treated as criminal activities by the White House. But consider what the same White House had to say about Fox News back in 2009. You might remember the concerted effort by White House officials to brand the right-leaning Fox News as a bogus news outlet, unworthy of attention.

Fox News reports that three Fox staffers, two reporters and one producer, were targeted by Barack Obama's Justice Department. Fox doesn't have all the details yet on a reporter William La Jeunesse and producer Mike Levine, but their emails showed up in a IG report regarding Fast and Furious. Either their emails were leaked by the Justice Department officials they were sent to, or the email accounts of both were subpoenaed and invaded by government investigators. The IG report does say that subpoenas were issued to obtain emails. Whose email was targeted is not yet known. The third staffer is...

Three armed home invaders broke into a house and beat up the resident before pushing him into a closet, not realizing it was a weapons storage area.

PHILADELPHIA – A Philadelphia abortion doctor convicted of killing three babies who were born alive has agreed to give up his right to an appeal and will be spared a potential death sentence. Dr. Kermit Gosnell was convicted Monday of first-degree murder in the deaths of the babies who were delivered alive and killed with scissors. The 72-year-old Gosnell gave up his appeal rights Tuesday, and prosecutors agreed to two life sentences without parole.

Barbara Walters is saying goodbye to TV journalism. After more than half a century in the industry, the veteran ABC News anchor plans to retire next summer, an ABC spokesperson confirmed to The Times on Sunday night. Walters, 83, is set to make it official Monday morning on “The View.” And the network plans to make good use of her while it can. The legendary TV personality will continue to anchor and report for ABC as well as continue to appear on “The View” and anchor specials throughout the year.

NBC News is on the verge of naming Deborah Turness, the head of Britain’s ITV News, as its next president, according to several people with knowledge of the appointment. Ms. Turness, if appointed, would be the first woman president of a network television news division in the United States, succeeding Steve Capus, who stepped down from the position in February after a tenure of nearly eight years. A spokeswoman for NBC News, a unit of Comcast’s NBCUniversal, declined to comment. Ms. Turness responded on Friday to an e-mail, “I can’t comment on what is pure speculation.” But others with...

Three explosions were heard in western Tehran on Tuesday, in an area where Iran carries out missile research and storage, according to a Tweet by a BBC Persian journalist. It was not immediately clear if there were injuries or damage in the incident. In January, both Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency denied reports that a blast had hit the Fordow underground uranium enrichment center near Qom.

 

Must See. Jeanine Pyrro Slams Chechen Jihad Mom Zuby Tsarnaeva.

Archbishop Charles Chaput, currently of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, sees some things a bit differently than I do at times (such as amnesty for illegal immigrants), but I believe he is a sincere, honest, honorable, holy Bishop, and I respect him immensely, and always try to pay attention to what he has to say or write. (He reminds me a little of David going up against Goliath in his new assignment in Philadelphia, with all the problems they've had there!) With that in mind, I wanted to share a link with "ROKU Streaming TV" users, where you can add the...

Last Monday’s attack in Boston was a tragedy, as was the explosion in Texas. Unfortunately, as is often the case when big news happens, many other events, often very important events, get swept under the rug in today’s world of 24-hour breaking news coverage. Perhaps this is what President Obama’s former Chief of Staff and Chicago Mayor, Rahm Emanuel, meant, when he stated, “You a never want a serious crisis to go to waste – and what I mean by that is that it’s an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before.” So let’s take...

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The Visitor’s Center on Independence Mall closed for a short period of time Sunday while police investigated a suspicious man. Authorities say a man wearing a full camouflage suit inside the Visitor’s Center quickly drew the attention of police.

There has been speculation, mostly kicked off by Reddit that missing Ivy League student Sunil Tripathi could be involved in the Boston bombing. He went missing last month without a trace. The FBI became involved in the case, even though it was a presumed suicide. Tripathi was a philosophy major at Brown University, not far from Boston, where the search expanded to. His father is a rich software engineer. Right after he went missing, explosives were found near Brown University and destroyed in a controlled detonation. No one had been found behind it. The first incident was reported at 8:34...

(CNN) -- [Breaking news update at 1:01 p.m. Wednesday ] Investigators believe they have identified a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings, a source who has been briefed on the investigation told CNN's John King. [Breaking news update at 12:52 p.m. Wednesday ] "Substantial progress" has been made in the criminal investigation into Monday's marathon bombings, a Boston law enforcement source told CNN's John King. "This is significant," the source said.

Rick Warren said it's been difficult to deal with some of the hate mail and online comments he's read since announcing Saturday that his son had committed suicide. "Grieving is hard. Grieving as public figures, harder. Grieving while haters celebrate your pain, hardest," Warren wrote on Facebook on Monday night. Warren has been deluged with words of support both at his Saddleback Church in Orange County and on the Web. “Kay and I are overwhelmed by your love, prayers, and kind words,” the pastor wrote. But there have also been many words of hate on various website comment boards, including...

A long-lost gospel that casts Judas as a co-conspirator of Jesus, rather than a betrayer, was ruled most likely authentic in 2006. Now, scientists reveal they couldn't have made the call without a series of far more mundane documents, including Ancient Egyptian marriage licenses and property contracts. The Gospel of Judas is a fragmented Coptic text, traced back to Egypt, which portrays Judas in a far more sympathetic light than did the gospels that made it into the Bible. In this version of the story, Judas turns Jesus over to the authorities for execution upon Jesus' request, as part of...

ROGUE state North Korea today sparked fears that it could trigger a nuclear strike as early as next WEDNESDAY. Crackpot Kim Jong-un’s regime today issued a chilling threat to British diplomats warning them to get out of Pyongyang. Alarmingly the North Korean government said it would not be able to guarantee the safety of embassies from April 10. Russian diplomats have also been advised to evacuate. Today the Foreign Office added that it is “considering next steps” after the threat. It is still unclear why next Wednesday has been set as a deadline – but it is sure to spark...

Health-care fraud, especially insurance scams, costs Americans an estimated $80 billion each year, according to the FBI. And boomers in particular get hit hard: having to pay the price of scams targeted to them, to uninsured older workers and others aimed at the aging parents they are caring for. The loss of a job, and with it employer health benefits, can make people desperate and more susceptible to private health schemes that promises big coverage but often provides few benefits and many loopholes. “Crooks are peddling fake or stripped-down policies camouflaged as full-benefit coverage. Pushy salespeople are preying on people’s...

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Bills wide receiver Stevie Johnson would rather North Korea not bomb anyone, but if they’re going to, he’s got a suggestion. Johnson posted on Twitter on Wednesday that North Korea should bomb Foxboro, Massachusetts, home of the AFC East rival New England Patriots, if they decide to go to war.

As investigators continue to delve into the background of the man arrested in recent rapes in the Lake Highlands area, residents began to exhale Wednesday after more than a month of fear. “I have felt terrorized,” said Erin Morgan, who lives less than a mile from two of the three houses where attacks occurred. “I have lost sleep. I have added on additional layers of security to my home and thought through scenarios that I didn’t want to spend any time thinking through.” Police say Cesar Benitez confessed to three attacks on women within about a quarter-mile of each other...

In this video commentary, I discuss how Democratic retirements are opening the way for possible GOP Senate seats. Tune in!

These DJs are in hot water after telling their listeners on April 1st that 'dihydrogen monoxide' was coming out of their taps. Dihydrogen monoxide is water, but listeners who didn't know that grew very concerned

The Arabic news channel Al Jazeera provides a high quality “honest-to-goodness” service that compares well with U.S. cable news networks, former vice president Al Gore has claimed, Forbes reports. “You have heard me be very critical of American television journalism,” Gore said at the South by SouthWest festival in Austin, Texas, on Thursday, as he was asked about selling his Current TV channel to the Qatar-based network.

This summer, The Washington Post will start charging frequent users of its Web site, asking those who look at more than 20 articles or multimedia features a month to pay a fee, although the company has not yet decided how much it will charge. The paper said, however, that it would exempt large parts of its audience from having to pay the fees. Its home-delivery subscribers will have free access to all of The Post’s digital products, and students, teachers, school administrators, government employees and military personnel will have unlimited access to the Web site while in their schools and...

Only a paltry 15 percent of MSNBC’s programming stuck to “factual reporting, according to Pew. Fox News, by comparison, had a breakdown of 55 percent commentary and opinion and 45 percent "factual reporting."

WEST ALLIS (WITI) — A Marine Corps veteran was able to stop a man early Tuesday, March 12th from nearly kicking a woman to death. It happened near 102nd and Lincoln, and Wisconsin’s concealed carry law made his efforts possible. Charlie Blackmore was driving home from work at 4:00 a.m. along Lincoln Avenue when he saw something on the sidewalk. Blackmore didn’t realize it was a woman on the ground being kicked in the head and stomach until he got closer. That’s when he jumped out of his car and sprung into action. “I said ‘stop’ and he starts coming...

...a riot in Brooklyn tonight after young people started lashing out at NYPD officers. Between 60 and 100 rioters gathered around Church and Snyder Ave. in East Flatbush and threw bottles and other debris at police, witnesses said, following a vigil for Kimani Gray, 16, who was shot dead by two plainclothes officers over the weekend. ... Officers say the 16-year old began to adjust his waistband and started to act suspiciously. Gray then turned around and pointed a .357 caliber gun at them, according to police accounts. When the two plainclothes officers saw the weapon they responded by opening...

America is awash in natural gas, thanks to the controversial practice of fracking. Now a San Francisco startup company, Siluria Technologies, has a new way to turn that gas into chemicals, jet fuel and gasoline. The ability to make liquid fuels from natural gas has existed since the 1920s. But up to now it hasn’t been cheap, requiring high heat and pressure to work. Siluria’s technology needs less heat and less energy — and therefore costs less. The company is gearing up to build its first demonstration plant. And it has hired a new chief executive officer with deep experience...

Last November the American people sold their freedom for free stuff and traded their birthright for trinkets. The"messiah" stood before the unknowing masses and with lies and deception promised the people he would care for them, that while others sought to oppress them, he like Moses would lead the downtrodden to the promised land. With the self-assured manner of a snake-oil salesman promising to cure all ills with his magic tonic, Barack Hussein Obama gave the people what they wanted...hope! But the hope he gave them was not based in reality, but on lies and deception, on a promise he...

"Walesa said in a television interview on Friday that he believes gays have no right to sit on the front benches in Parliament and, if represented at all, should sit in the back, "and even behind a wall." "They have to know that they are a minority and must adjust to smaller things. And not rise to the greatest heights, the greatest hours, the greatest provocations, spoiling things for the others and taking (what they want) from the majority," he told the private broadcaster TVN during a discussion of gay rights. "I don't agree to this and I will never...

A license plate gives police a whole lot of information about you, and law enforcement is supposed to protect those details. However, one local sheriff admits he gave a driver's name and address away, and the reason he did it is downright bizarre.

Related Topics Yityish Aynaw Ethiopian immigrants Miss Israel Yityish Titi Aynaw, a 21-year-old from Netanya, was chosen Miss Israel 2013 on Wednesday night — the first Ethiopian-born contestant to win the title. Aynaw, who came to Israel with her family when she was 12, was entered into the competition by a friend, and had no previous modeling experience. She said during the competition that she hoped to go into modeling “to change attitudes to dark-skinned models. I’d love to become the first Israeli (TV) host, the Tyra Banks of Israel."

The TSL Top 100 Report tracks talk radio show metrics gathered on the internet and collected through a cloud based server via TalkStreamLive.com‘s Website, Gadgets, iPhone app and “click2listen” links on Social Networks. TSL only rank the talk show hosts that are listed at TalkStreamLive.com. TSL Rank 1 Rush Limbaugh 2 Michael Savage 3 Glenn Beck 4 Laura Ingraham 5 Mark Levin 6 Sean Hannity 7 Tammy Bruce 8 Dennis Miller 9 Bill Bennett 10 George Noory 11 Michael Medved 12 John Batchelor 13 Neal Boortz 14 Hugh Hewitt 15 Alex Jones 16 Red Eye Radio 17 Dennis Prager 18...

It's the product of 520 metres of tin foil, 580 plastic cups, 62 litres of water and a whole lot of time to kill that only students could enjoy. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2284721/Pranksters-spend-days-wrapping-housemates-room-tin-foil-away.html#ixzz2M6fkTTAU Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Offer free reverse-lobotomies? Probably not. This is a rant. So sue me. A Hell of a Lot!The problemsAn article at American Thinker is titled Three Reasons Conservatives are Losing the Battle for America. Although it struck me as excessively repetitive it's probably correct for the most part and well worth reading. The "legitimate media"(AKA Department of Information) are substantially dominated by libruls and present all of the news that fits their world view. Libruls want nothing to do with anything, or anybody, conservative and shut their ears, eyes and therefore minds accordingly. Political correctness is running amok, which limits not...

Great song by Austin Cunningham about the "Girls of FOX News" see I did a search.

Now that Free Republic is back up and running, I am curious about what Freepers like best and what they miss most when Free Republic becomes not available. For instance, for me, it's often the first place to learn of an event -- sometimes even a half hour before Fox News gets something on the air -- or CNN. I specifically remember the shooting at the school in Virginia, and then there are the earthquakes. Just curious about what other Freepers like most about FR. Husband Quint says that if everybody donated a monthly fee charge to their credit card,...

Who Tells Us What To Think? Does The Mainstream Media = The Matrix? By Michael Snyder February 14th, 2013 Do you believe that you really think for yourself? Did you come up with your attitudes, opinions and beliefs on your own, or are they continually being shaped and molded by someone else? Could it be possible that you and everyone around you is actually hooked into a real life version of "the matrix" that is constantly defining your reality for you? Sadly, the truth is that almost all of us have willingly hooked ourselves into a colossal media system that...

There have been 65,376,373 background checks completed for Americans purchasing firearms since February of 2009, the first full month of Barack Obama's presidency. According to data compiled by the FBI, the number of Americans purchasing guns has skyrocketed since Obama was elected. In 2009, there were 13,984,953 background checks for Americans buying firearms. If we subtract the 1,212,860 checks completed in the month of January, the total checks for the year under Obama were 12,772,090. For 2010, background checks totaled 14,320,489. In 2011, checks were 16,336,732, and in 2012, 19,463,832. Background checks for the month of January 2013 were 2,483,230....

ANAHEIM (CBSLA.com) — An African American family sued Disneyland after the actor who portrayed the White Rabbit character from “Alice in Wonderland” allegedly refused to hug or touch their children because of their skin color. Jason and Annelia Black of San Diego County said the person in the rabbit costume also acted impatiently as their young kids posed for a picture at the Anaheim theme park. The Blacks, however, said it was a different scene when a Caucasian family arrived.

Boy, it’s great to be liberal in Minnesota. While the usual suspects remain ever vigilant for any hint of political malfeasance involving Rep. Michele Bachmann, Sens. Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar get off scot-free for voting in favor of Obamacare’s medical devices tax before they were against it.

President Obama's health care law will push 7 million people out of their job-based insurance coverage — nearly twice the previous estimate, according to the latest estimates from the Congressional Budget Office released Tuesday. CBO said that this year's tax cuts have changed the incentives for businesses and made it less attractive to pay for insurance, meaning fewer will decide to do so. Instead, they'll choose to pay a penalty to the government, totaling $13 billion in higher fees over the next decade. But the non-partisan agency also expects fewer people to have to pay individual penalties to the IRS...

The road to hell is paved with good intentions, as they say: the more housework married men do, the less sex they have, according to a new study published Wednesday. Husbands who spend more time doing traditionally female chores -- such as cooking, cleaning, and shopping -- reported having less sex than those who do more masculine tasks, said the study in the American Sociological Review.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Fox News Channel are parting ways, according to a report in Real Clear Politics. After three years as a paid contributor for the channel, FNC and the former Republican vice presidential nominee have decided to cut ties. A source close to Palin told Real Clear Politics that it was the governor’s decision not to renew their contract. *“It’s my understanding that Gov. Palin was offered a contract by FOX, and she decided not to renew the arrangement,” the source close to Palin told RCP. “She remains focused on broadening her message of common-sense conservatism...

When dung beetles roll their tiny balls of poop across the sands of South Africa on a moonless night, they look to the glow of our Milky Way galaxy as a navigational aid, researchers report. "Even on clear, moonless nights, many dung beetles still manage to orientate along straight paths," Marie Dacke, a biologist at Sweden's Lund University, said in a news release. "This led us to suspect that the beetles exploit the starry sky for orientation — a feat that had, to our knowledge, never before been demonstrated in an insect."

The Lower Hudson Valley's Journal News based in White Plains, New York has been very tight-lipped since it published an interactive map showing the names and addresses of pistol permit holders in Westchester and Rockland Counties. The Washington Post's Erik Wemple reports that the paper has hired "a Manhattan public relations, marketing and government affairs firm" whose job appears to involve denying interview requests and issuing "no comment" statements. Predictably, the one media outlet which has been granted access by the Journal News is the New York Times, whose Christine Haughney filed a report on January 6. In that dispatch,...

These days, there are few things to admire about the socialist, bankrupt and culturally degenerating USA, but at least so far, one thing remains: the right to bear arms and use deadly force to defend one's self and possessions. This will probably come as a total shock to most of my Western readers, but at one point, Russia was one of the most heavily armed societies on earth. This was, of course, when we were free under the Tsar. Weapons, from swords and spears to pistols, rifles and shotguns were everywhere, common items. People carried them concealed, they carried them...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - Police say U.S. Sen. Rand Paul's son was arrested after a flight from Kentucky to North Carolina. The Charlotte Observer reports http://bit.ly/13cI8me 19-year-old William Hilton Paul was arrested Saturday morning at Charlotte Douglas International Airport and charged with alcohol-related offenses.