Free Republic

The seven Democratic candidates for Pennsylvania governor were asked during a recent joint appearance if they were “pro-life” or “pro-choice.” Not a single one said, “pro-life.” Hear their responses for yourself in this brief video clip. One of the seven, front-runner Allyson Schwartz, was the former executive director of a Planned Parenthood abortion facility in Philadelphia for 13 years, until it finally went bankrupt. Since the video was made, an eighth Democratic candidate has entered the race: former Pennsylvania Auditor General Jack Wagner.

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra sent a representative to Iran this week as part of an exploratory trip aimed at arranging the first official U.S. orchestra concert in Iran since the fall of the Shah. The concert tour is being considered for later this year, and the PSO, the American Middle East Institute (AMEI), Iranian officials, and the U.S. State Department are hammering out details, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazettefirst reported in January. Representatives for the PSO and AMEI visited the Islamic Republic on a preliminary trip on Sunday, the groups confirmed to the Washington Free Beacon. If the effort moves forward, the...

HOUSTON, TX – The nation’s leading labor union will plan to spend $300 million in 2014 trying to unseat Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and four other Republican Governors. More: AFL-CIO to Target Walker, Other Governors People’s World reported that the AFL-CIO announced on Thursday morning during a press conference in Houston that they would spend money trying to unseat Governor Walker. Other Governors that the labor organization is targeting are John Kasich (R-Ohio), Tom Corbett (R-Pennsylvania), Rick Snyder (R-Michigan), and Rick Scott (R-Florida). The American Federation of Teachers backed the AFL-CIO’s plan. President Randi Weingarten said: “In many ways it...

SUGARCREEK, Pa. —An act of charity may end badly for one donor to a Pennsylvania Salvation Army outlet. Sugarcreek Borough police say they were called when workers found a large plastic bag of marijuana among some donated clothes. Police Chief Matt Carlson tells the (Oil City) Derrick (http://bit.ly/1gnLZm2 ) he suspects the owner of the drugs has noticed them missing by now, if only because the bag contained a "substantial quantity" of pot. Police were working with store employees to determine who donated the clothes and when. Police say the drugs were found earlier this week.

They called themselves "the Helpful Union Guys" - "THUGS" for short - and woe awaited any contractor who dared cross them by hiring non-organized workers. For, federal authorities alleged Tuesday, this "goon squad" of members of Ironworkers Local 401 set fires, started riots, and took crowbars to the competition in an effort to protect union jobs. FBI agents arrested 10 of the union's leaders Tuesday morning, including longtime head Joseph Dougherty, in a racketeering conspiracy case that appeared to affirm long-standing business complaints over the tactics employed by Philadelphia unions.

Electrical workers’ union posted signs outside the Trolley Car Diner protesting Weinstein’s organization Philly Office Retail’s decision to hire non-union workers. Members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) placed signs outside the Trolley Car Diner and handed out fliers charging Ken Weinstein, the president of Philly Office Retail, of “helping to destroy wages and benefits” on Thursday, Feb. 6. The labor union objects to Philly Office Retail hiring McCoubrey/Overholser, a Mt. Airy based general contractor, to convert the former St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, located at the corner of Wayne Avenue and Harvey Street into a private school....

Imagine going to the dentist for a free regular checkup, and getting a free $25 gift card in return. It’s happening right here in Pennsylvania, and taxpayers are paying for all of it. Every year, Pennsylvania spends $20 billion to provide medical care to low-income and disabled residents. But one of the biggest problems the state has is getting people to use those medical services for preventative care. Now a new program designed to address that problem has some people outraged. "I am upset." Michelle Tonkin is seeing red thanks to a Walmart gift card, which she recently got in...

A teen satanist in a Pennsylvania prison claims she has killed nearly two dozen people in different parts of the country, according to a report in a local newspaper. "When I hit 22, I stopped counting," Miranda Barbour said in an jailhouse interview with local newspaper the Daily Item in Sudbury. She added in the interview that ran on Saturday that she just wanted to be honest. Barbour, 19, has been charged with the murder of a man allegedly lured to a rendezvous through Craigslist. She said she participated in killings in Alaska, Texas, North Carolina and California, the newspaper...

Link only due to copyright issues: http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/02/15/president-election-2016-hillary-clinton-column/5340999/

SUNBURY — Nineteen-year-old satanist Miranda Barbour admits to killing Troy LaFerrara of Port Trevorton. In a prison interview Friday night, she said that she considered sparing his life until he said the wrong thing. She also said LaFerrara was one of dozens of such victims she killed in the past six years. Barbour, with her husband, Elytte Barbour, 22, of Selinsgrove, has been charged by Sunbury police in the Nov. 11 fatal knifing of LaFerrara. She requested an interview that was recorded by the Northumberland County Prison on Friday night.

SUNBURY, Pa. — I’ve only murdered bad people — dozens of them — accused Craigslist thrill killer Miranda Barbour said in a jailhouse interview Friday. “When I hit 22 [murders], I stopped counting,” the teen terror said, claiming she began her killing spree as a 12-year-old runaway caught up in a Satanic cult in her home state of Alaska — and just kept on killing. “It was never random,” she said. “When I found out they were bad people, they don’t need to be here anymore.”

Robert George ‘77 and Cornel West’s collection on Monday, hosted by the Institute for the Liberal Arts, culminated a campus-wide discussion on the meaning of discourse at Swarthmore. The Princeton professors, known for their friendship despite of their strongly opposing viewpoints, intended to build community and discuss questions like “What does it mean to communicate across differences regarding what is ‘right’ or ‘wrong?’” The event was expected by many to be controversial, with rumors of student-led protest in the form of a boycott of the event or a rally after the collection, but no such protest occurred during the collection....

About 1,000 local jobs will be affected when Verizon Wireless closes its customer contact centers in Cranberry and Warrendale in May as part of a national realignment of 5,000 employees, the company announced Wednesday. Verizon Wireless said a total of five customer contact centers will close in May. For the 1,000 local customer service employees affected, options are to apply for other positions locally, to relocate to one of 26 out-of-state customer contact centers or to accept a severance package. Employees eligible for out-of-state relocation will receive a $10,000 relocation assistance package. The company also is offering employees seeking to...

The following Republicans voted Tuesday to raise the government's borrowing limit: John Boehner, R-Ohio. Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va. Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy,R-Calif. Chief Deputy Whip Pete Roskam, R-Ill. Ken Calvert, R-Calif. Dave Camp, R-Mich. Michael Grimm, R-N.Y. Richard Hanna, R-N.Y. Doc Hastings, R-Wash. Darrell Issa, R-Calif. Devin Nunes, R-Calif. Hal Rogers, R-Ky. Dave Reichert, R-Wash. Chris Collins, R-N.Y. Howard Coble, R-N.C. Charlie Dent, R-Pa. Mike Fitzpatrick, R-Pa. Pete King, R-N.Y. Frank LoBiondo, R-N.J. Buck McKeon, R-Calif. Patrick Meehan, R-Pa. Gary Miller, R-Calif. Ed Royce, R-Calif. John Runyan, R-N.J. John Shimkus, R-Ill. Chris Smith, R-N.J. David Valadao, R-Calif. Frank Wolf,...

A western Pennsylvania heating and refrigeration contractor said it was the victim of a "sophisticated cyberattack operation" that is being investigated by the Secret Service and possibly linked to the data breach that enabled hackers to access millions of credit card numbers belonging to Target store customers. Fazio Mechanical Services Inc., of Sharpsburg, issued the statement after Internet security bloggers identified it as the third-party vendor through which hackers accessed Target's customer information. Target had previously told reporters the store believed hackers accessed 40 million of its customers' card numbers through a vendor's system.

MAHONING TOWNSHIP - A Washingtonville mother waived to Montour County Court charges that she helped her teen daughter abort her unborn child using illegally obtained drugs from overseas. Jennifer A. Whalen, 38, of 15 1/2 Water St., was charged by state police at Milton with a felony count of medical consultation and judgment and misdemeanor charges of unlawful acts - not licensed as a pharmacist, endangering the welfare of a child and simple assault. After appearing before Magisterial District Judge Marvin K. Schrawder, she remained free on $25,000 unsecured bail and will face court arraignment in March. According to The...

The man who Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto tapped to head his newly formed Office of Management and Budget owes the Internal Revenue Service tens of thousands of dollars in back taxes, records show. The mayor announced today that he was hiring Edward Kiely, who heads a consulting firm based in Pittsburgh, to lead the department, citing his extensive experience in helping businesses. Mr. Kiely was hired through Talent City, a foundation-backed initiative intended to take the politics out of hiring by using outside committees to cull top candidates for a position, giving the mayor the final word. Mr. Kiely owes...

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Secret Service visited the office of a Pennsylvania-based refrigeration contractor, Fazio Mechanical Services, in connection with an investigation of the Target Corp consumer data breach, a spokesman for the agency said on Wednesday. Fazio is the largest refrigeration contractor in the Western Pennsylvania region, and Target is one of its clients, according to the Sharpsburg-based company's website. A law enforcement source told Reuters that evidence suggests the hackers stole login credentials from Fazio and may have used the credentials to break into Target's network. The source added, however, that investigators were not sure that...

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.

Barack Obama was in Wisconsin and Tennessee Thursday happy talking about "opportunity." He's for it, by the way. "It's good to be in Wisconsin," he told Wisconsin. Few hours later, "It's good to be in Nashville." In both places he talked about "opportunity"--the opportunity that comes with jobs and the opportunity that comes with education. As a word, "opportunity" polls well. Americans like the idea. Yet, these days whenever Obama has the opportunity to talk about his signature namesake "achievement," he rarely seizes the opportunity. It wasn't until two-thirds of the way through his 7,000-word State of the Union address...