Free Republic

A rug has been removed from a sheriff's office in Florida after it was noticed that it read "in dog we trust" instead of "in God we trust". The $500 (£329) mat lay at the entrance to the office in Pinellas County for two months before someone noticed, a spokeswoman said. The error was made by the rug's manufacturer and it is being replaced. Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said they were looking at auctioning it for charity, the Tampa Bay Times reports. There have been several offers to buy the misprinted rug . "I'd buy or donate to a charity...

Disclosure of classified info complicates trial of alleged Iraqi agent Prosecutors say a page of grand jury testimony should never have been turned over to the defense. CHICAGO (AP) -- A community newspaper publisher accused of spying on Iraqi opposition groups in the United States for Saddam Hussein's intelligence service wants the charges thrown out because federal prosecutors mistakenly disclosed classified information. Khaled Abdel-Latif Dumeisi, of Oak Lawn, is scheduled to go to trial Monday on federal charges of perjury and failing to register as a foreign agent. But lawyers for Dumeisi, 61, filed court papers this month detailing efforts...

A North Carolina man tried to surprise his wife with breakfast in bed, but he wound up surprising her so much that she shot him, reports WTVR. Police say that Zia Segule, 28, left their Fayetteville home about 10am yesterday, picked up some breakfast, and then returned. In doing so, he triggered the house alarm. When he got to the couple's bedroom, wife Tiffany, 27, shot him through the closed door, reports the Fayetteville Observer. He was struck in the upper chest, but, luckily, escaped serious injury. No charges are being filed. "She woke up to the sound of the...

One of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's (R) bodyguards was charged with shoplifting in Berks County, PA. He has since been suspended without pay.

New-Zealand English teacher-turned-terrorist Mark Taylor, who shot into the public eye last year after publicly burning his Kiwi passport and then asking for a new one has blundered again by apparently forgetting to turn off geo-location services on his smartphone while tweeting from Islamic State safe houses in Syria. The terrorist, who changed his name to the more appropriate-sounding ‘Abu Abdul-Rahman’ uploaded a series of tweets during his travels across the Islamic State, updating his twitter following on his progress with ISIS. The Daily Mail reports a Canadian jihad-monitoring group recorded 45 of these tweets containing geo-location data and passed the information on...

Investigators said a police chief in Georgia reported accidentally shooting his wife early on New Year’s Day. A Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman, Sherry Lang, said the Peachtree City police chief, William McCollom, called 911 at around 4.15am on Thursday and reported that he had accidentally shot his wife. Margaret McCollom was flown to a hospital. Police say she is in critical condition

On October 17, 2013, President Obama said: “You don’t like a particular policy or a particular president? Then argue for your position.Go out there and win an election. Push to change it. But don’t break it. Don’t break what our predecessors spent over two centuries building. That’s not being faithful to what this country’s about.”

"I don't really care to be president without the Senate," Obama reportedly conceded in June.

"....Cross sent a text message to his probation officer which read “You have some weed?” Upon receiving the text message, the probation officer notified local police and a search warrant was issued for Cross’s residence. Upon the execution of the search warrant, Albany police discovered a bag of cocaine in the possession of Cross...." (edit) "....Cross was arrested shortly after and sent back to prison. He received one additional year in prison for violating the terms of his probation as well as another year for the drug possession."

NEWPORT, Ind. (AP) - Army contractors halted operations Saturday at a western Indiana complex built to destroy a deadly nerve agent after nearly 500 gallons of caustic wastewater spilled in a contained area. No workers were injured or exposed to the hydrolysate, a byproduct of the destruction of the agent, when it leaked onto the floor of a sealed area at the Newport Chemical Depot, depot spokesman Dennis Lindsey said. The facility was to be shut down until the spill was cleaned up and its cause determined, Lindsey said. The western Indiana facility destroys the Cold War-era chemical weapon VX...

This latest story from our brave new world may blow your mind, so I’ll read straight from the Chicago Tribune: “A white Ohio woman is suing a Downers Grove-based sperm bank, alleging that the company mistakenly gave her vials from an African-American donor, a fact that she said has made it difficult for her and her same-sex partner to raise their now 2-year-old daughter in an all-white community.” Now, I don’t doubt the lesbian couple’s love for the child. But I find it troubling which challenges the couple was willing and isn’t willing to tolerate. They’re suing because of the...

While dining at an upscale restaurant in New York last month, President Barack Obama said he had his credit card declined. “It turned out I guess I don’t use it enough,” Obama said while speaking to workers at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. “They thought there was some fraud going on.” The president added, “I guess I don’t use it enough, so they thought there was some fraud going on. Luckily, Michelle had hers.” The comments were made as the president announced new protections for debit cards used to deliver federal benefits, according to the BBC. Obama and the first...

A dwarf took his fiancee to a restaurant for a romantic meal and was handed a children's colouring book and crayons by a waitress. James Lusted, 26, who is 3ft 7ins, was on a date at a Harvester Inn in Cardiff with his fiancee, Chloe Roberts, who is 5ft 7ins, when the waitress picked up two menus, the crayons and a colouring book. It was only when the waitress heard James's deep voice that she realised her mistake, and didn't serve the couple for the rest of evening. But Mr Lusted and his bride-to-be, 20, who are from Colwyn Bay,...

ACTUAL TITLE: Justice Department sides with 14-year-old girl raped while serving as 'bait' in middle school sting HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- The federal government today sided with the guardian of a teenage girl who was raped during a botched sting operation in the boy's bathroom, arguing the Madison County School system was liable under federal law to investigate harassment and protect female students. "A school board cannot avoid summary judgment as a matter of law when a school administrator willfully ignores a plan to use a 14-year-old special needs student as bait to catch a student with a known history of...

At least 14 ISIS fighters were killed while filling a chemical warhead near Baghdad. The Business Standard reported, via Rantburg: At least 14 members of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group were killed Tuesday near Baghdad when a rocket whose warhead they were filling with chlorine gas exploded. Iraqi security officials said seven more IS militants were injured in the incident, which occurred near the town of al-Dhuluiya, about 90 km north of Baghdad. Al-Dhuluiya was also where four members of the Iraqi security forces and Shiite militiamen suffered symptoms of asphyxiation after inhaling chlorine gas released by two improvised...

Greg Norman says he’s a lucky man. The golfer was involved in an accident yesterday at home on Jupiter Island — and nearly lost a hand!

A senior communications aide to Attorney General Eric Holder seemingly called House oversight committee chairman Darrell Issa's staff by accident and asked for their help spinning new revelations about the IRS scandal, Issa said in a September 8 letter to Holder. The aide, Brian Fallon, is a former senior aide to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and a well-known personality on Capitol Hill. The letter describes Fallon as “audibly shaken” when he realizes his request to leak documents to help get ahead of news stories about them was mistakenly made to the very office he was seeking to undermine. Issa believes...

<p>According to the suit, Nizewitz signed on to the show before it had a name. She claims she was advised of the nudity, but was assured that all frontal and genital nudity would be blurred. During one brief moment, though, during a "wrestling takedown" of her date, her crotch was allegedly flashed on the screen without blurring.</p>

Scores of travelers were stranded after the Acela Express 2253 took off from one platform about 3 p.m. — while they were waiting at another and unaware the train was leaving them behind. An Amtrak train bound for Washington pulled away from Penn Station on Saturday without some pretty important cargo: its passengers. ... They literally sent us to the wrong platform, and the conductor took off without any passengers,” said Damien Miano, 60, of Chelsea. “The right hand didn’t know what the left hand was doing. It was just so bizarre.” Miano said he and the other abandoned travelers...

USA Today. No excerpts. Just title and link. http://www.kare11.com/story/entertainment/music/2014/07/22/george-harrison-memorial-tree-killed-by-beetles/12985001/