Free Republic

The Penn State Nittany Lions are eligible to play in a bowl game this season after the NCAA ruled they are satisfied with the athletic department’s progress in ensuring it functions with integrity. “Penn State’s commitment to the integrity of its athletics department and its progress toward meeting the requirements of the Consent Decree are clear,” said Northern Arizona President Rita Hartung Cheng via NCAA.org, who chaired Monday’s Executive Committee meeting. “We thank Senator Mitchell for his meticulous and exhaustive work over the past two years. Mitchell’s efforts and the dedication of Penn State officials made today’s decisions possible.” Penn...

A senior Palestinian Authority (PA) official last Friday opposed his organization's aspirations to sue Israel for "war crimes" at the International Criminal Court (ICC). His reason - such a move might prevent Arabs under PA jurisdiction from "shooting Israelis." The official, Abbas Zaki, is a leader in PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction. His comments came in an interview on the Lebanese Palestine Today TV, which was translated by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW). "I'm against signing the Rome Statute (i.e., joining the ICC) as long as our country is occupied. If tomorrow you shoot, they'll say you signed an agreement,"...

A man was walking at 1:20 am, Sunday morning, when he was confronted by two black males, one of which pointed a gun at him.   From timesleader.com: “What do you got for me?” one man said to the victim.He told police he grabbed his attacker’s gun with one hand and drew his own firearm. The man does not have a concealed firearms permit, but carries his gun under Pennsylvania’s open carry laws, police said. The robbers fled. On a dark street, the tactical deterrence offered by open carry may not be as effective, essentially making open carry the equivalent...

August 23, 2014 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - In 1200 A.D., a Swedish man named Frederik Ugarph found a hard wood statue only about six inches (15 cm) high of a little person wearing a conical hat in what is now Trondheim, Norway. The statue was standing on a pedestal engraved with the words: “NISSE Riktig Storrelse.” That means, “Gnome, actual height.” Owned and housed today by the Oliv family in Uppsala, Norway, X-ray tests indicate the wooden statue is more than 2,000 years old, perhaps carved from a tree that is no longer known. Another historic account of a “miniature person”...

WILKES-BARRE, Pa., Aug. 22 (UPI) -- A stolen life-sized statue of United States President Barack Obama was has been returned to its Northern Pennsylvania owner after being discovered on a nearby picnic bench with an empty six-pack of Twisted Tea and a cigarette butt hanging from its mouth.The statue was a staple of the Wilkes-Barre, Pa., neighborhood it was stolen from, where owner Tiffany Bruce prominently displayed it on her porch and decorated it for holidays."I peeked my head out the door and Obama's gone and I kind of went into a panic," described a distressed Bruce when the statue...

A senior Palestinian Authority (PA) official last Wednesday declared that his organization has made a "political decision" to support Arab terrorists "slaughtering" Jews living in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem. Jibril Rajoub, head of the PA Sports Authority and Deputy Secretary of the Fatah Central Committee, made the statements on the independent Palestinian Arab TV channel Awdah. Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) exposed and translated the interview. "OK, brother, here is the occupation, am I stopping you from slaughtering a settlement? No one is stopping anyone...our political decision is resistance in the occupied territories in order to bring an end to...

The official Palestinian Authority (PA) daily newspaper has accused Israel of making up the abduction and murder of Naftali Frenkel (16), Gilad Sha'ar (16) and Eyal Yifrah (19) hy''d on June 12 by Hamas terrorists as an excuse to launch Operations Brother's Keeper and Protective Edge. In an op-ed this Saturday by Yahya Rabah, a regular columnist for the PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, the claim was made that Israel invented the horrific murders as a "pretext." Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) revealed and translated the piece.

This image below is from LLWS FB page - Sunday night Philly vs. Texas (32K attendance). The link takes you to the official LLWS page and a photo gallery.

Further cementing the increasingly prevalent impression that the Palestinian Authority is much more responsible than are the Hamas militants in control of Gaza, the terrorist group was implicated on Monday in a plan to mount attacks on Israeli civilians and to orchestrate a coup in the West Bank with the aim of toppling Mahmoud Abbas’s government.The plot, planned by a Hamas wing headquartered in Turkey, centered on executing a series of mass casualty terror attacks in Israel and destabilizing the West Bank which would facilitate a military coup, The Jerusalem Post reported on Monday. The Hamas infrastructure relied on...

The son of the former Penn State football player had only five weeks to live. Pete Curkendall and his wife, Renee, already were caring for an adopted girl with AIDS and cerebral palsy. Doctors then stunned them with news that their 2 1/2-year-old biological son, Joshua, had a cancerous brain tumor and almost certainly wouldn't survive. They had just moved to the Syracuse, N.Y., area and knew hardly anyone. At least they weren't lacking for hope and resolve. Caring for kids with special needs was a life-long plan for Renee Curkendall, as much now as it was then, 16 years...

Numerous people have criticized homeowners  for having a gun in their hand or on their person when answering a door.   I have always maintained that it is only prudent to do so.   Home security systems can be very useful, of course.   A standoff barrier, such as my old friend, Tex Ferguson, the highly decorated combat vet and intelligence operative used, works very well, as do surveillance cameras.  Not everyone has such a system in place, or working, all the time.   In any case, surveillance and standoff systems work best when backed up by armed force.  I have reported numerous...

Apparently Kid getting his 15 minutes. Same link here

Arab news sources reported Wednesday that Egypt has agreed to open the crossing between it and Gaza at Rafah, on the condition that the Gazan side be supervised by the Palestinian Authority under Mahmoud Abbas, and not by Hamas. Hamas has reportedly agreed to this, mostly because the it is now a part of the PA government, since joining Abbas's Fatah in a unity coalition. Abbas is supposed to serve as the link between Egypt and Israel regarding Gaza, according to the reports. It was also agreed that a conference would be held next month in Norway, to collect funds...

The Palestinian Authority (PA) is continuing its efforts to join the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Ma’an news agency reported on Tuesday. According to the report, the PA’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Riyad al-Maliki, met with ICC officials to discuss the Israeli operation in Gaza. During his visit, Al-Maliki inquired about the legal procedures necessary for the PA to join the ICC and sign the Rome Statute in order to take action against possible Israeli war crimes in Gaza, according to the report. Al-Maliki said he would consult members of the Palestinian Authority government on the matter after his visit. He...

Another direct link here:youtube link

Ever wanted to simultaneously order food and honor Joe Paterno at 3 a.m., but found yourself without a way to do so? Thanks to 409 Pizza and Win(g)s, you now can! State College’s newest late-night food option opened during Arts Fest where Little Mamma’s Pizza used to be located at 444 E. College Ave. (right next to McDonald’s), and its name is sure to catch some eyes. The store’s co-owner, Tim Prisk, said he’d been interested in opening a pizza store here for a while, and the opportunity at the eastern side of downtown was finally a fit. As for...

The UK is a very unfriendly place for the gun culture, yet compare this headline from the dailymail.co.uk with the old media in the U.S.: Hero doctor stops hospital shooting rampage: Psychiatrist uses his own gun to shoot patient who killed caseworker in front of him Here is the Washington Post:Authorities search for motive in gunfight between psychiatric patient and doctor Consider that the doctor had just witnessed a murder of a coworker in front of him, and was wounded in the head and hand while defending himself and others. It says a great deal when a British paper...

Archbishop Charles Chaput has disclosed the Pope Francis plans to attend the World Meeting of Families, to be held September 2015 in Philadelphia. Although the Vatican has not made an official announcement, the Pope "has told me he is coming," Archbishop Chaput said. He said that the Pontiff would be in Philadelphia for the final 3 days of the meeting, September 25-27. (As a rule, the Vatican does not formally confirm papal trips until a few weeks before they take place.) The archbishop also announced that Pope St. John Paul II and St. Gianna Molla are the patron saints of...

The City of Philadelphia recently settled a class action lawsuit concerning people who had applied for a license to carry firearms (LTCF).   The City did not admit to any wrongdoing, but they agreed to pay 1.4 million dollars in settlement fees, and to change procedures.   The lawsuit stemmed from the city posting personal information contained in applications on line and available to the public. While the City did not admit to any wrong doing, what they agreed to do in the future is quite revealing.   The actual settlement agreement is available online here, in a PDF file. First, the...

DARBY, Pa. - We are following breaking news in Darby, PA where multiple people have been shot at a wellness center inside Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital located on the 1500 Lansdowne Avenue.