Free Republic

Religions have surprisingly diverse approaches to the issue of possible extraterrestrial life, David Weintraub found. Below, a quick survey adapted from his book "Religions and Extraterrestrial Life: How Will We Deal With It?" and interviews with the author.

As this campaign season draws to an end, doubtless many will comment on what was right and what went wrong for each party. Let me beat the crowd by stating whatever the outcomes of the Congressional and state races the notion of Republicans continuing to allow Democratic operatives posing as newsmen and women to act as moderators in candidate debates is one of the most inexplicably stupid blunders of all. And yet each election it is repeated. Let this be the last time. Here are some names and incidents that should be engraved forever on the RNC steps and in...

The 2014 midterm elections are days away, but preparation are already underway for the first debate of the 2016 presidential primary contest. The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation announced on Thursday that it will invite GOP presidential candidates to attend a televised debate at California's Reagan Library in September 2015. While the Regan Library hosted GOP debates in the last two presidential contests, it's unclear if the Republican National Committee will sanction the one now set for Sept. 16, 2015. The RNC recently approved new rules that would limit the number of presidential primary debates.

FULL TITLE: 'Religious zealot' Christian student 'decapitated 19-year-old friend because he thought he practiced witchcraft' A deeply Christian college student in Oklahoma allegedly nearly decapitated the son of a state trooper with a sword because the victim practiced witchcraft, police say. Isaiah Marin of Stillwater was charged Thursday with first-degree murder in the attack that killed 19-year-old Jacob Andrew Crockett a day earlier. The two had been playing cards with a third pal, Marin's brother, when Marin removed the 'large black sword' from its sheath and began swinging it around, court records obtained by MailOnline show. Scroll down for video

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: To the election. The New York Times is all over the place today. The New York Times is a good place to start because it's the house organ for the Democrat Party. In one story in the New York Times you find, unbelievably, why polls tend to undercount Democrats. You heard me right. "Polls show that the Republicans have an advantage in the fight for control of the Senate. "They lead in enough states to win control, and they have additional opportunities in North Carolina and New Hampshire to make up for potential upsets. As Election Day...

A former CBS News reporter who quit the network over claims it kills stories that put President Obama in a bad light says she was spied on by a “government-related entity” that planted classified documents on her computer. In her new memoir, Sharyl Attkisson says a source who arranged to have her laptop checked for spyware in 2013 was “shocked” and “flabbergasted” at what the analysis revealed.

Hear the one about Wendy Davis going to hell? A Republican state representative got a big laugh Saturday from Abbott and a roomful of supporters with a joke at Davis’ expense. Abbott faces Davis, a Democratic state senator, in next month’s general election for governor. On Saturday, Abbott and GOP attorney general nominee Ken Paxton were campaigning at a Tex-Mex restaurant in Frisco. Abbott was introduced by Frisco state Rep. Pat Fallon, who opened with a joke in which Wendy Davis visits a grade school and sees a boy reading a book about whales. Here’s the joke Fallon told: The...

Dallas nurse Nina Pham was happily declared Ebola-free and released from the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., Friday. Just a few hours after she was released from the hospital, Pham, her mother, and her sister got to visit the Oval Office and meet the president. According to US News, the White House allowed only photographers to witness Obama's greeting of Pham. Mark Knoller ✔ @markknoller Follow Still photographers said they heard Pres Obama tell Nurse Nina Pham words to the effect of: let's give a hug for the cameras. 1:10 PM - 24 Oct 2014 532 RETWEETS 119...

On Thursday, Mark Levin sharply criticized CNN anchor Carol Costello for deriving amusement of audio of Bristol Palin describing being assaulted to the police.

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)CNN’s Carol Costello apologized on Thursday for joking about a police recording of Bristol Palin. "Over the past few days I have been roundly criticized for joking about a brawl involving the Palin family. In retrospect, I deserve such criticism and would like to apologize," Costello said in a statement to POLITICO. On Wednesday, before playing a tape in which Bristol Palin describes an alleged altercation at a party in Wasilla, Alaska, Costello said, “This is quite possibly the best minute and a half of audio we’ve ever come across. Well, come across in a long time anyway.” In the...

When it comes to getting news about politics and government, liberals and conservatives inhabit different worlds. There is little overlap in the news sources they turn to and trust. And whether discussing politics online or with friends, they are more likely than others to interact with like-minded individuals, according to a new Pew Research Center study.

Earlier today, Alex Griswold told you about Wendy Davis doubling down on her campaign-imploding “Look at the cripple” ad. Or tripling down, or quadrupling down, or however many times it’s been at this point. She told Andrea Mitchell that the ad was “fair.” Oh, and Abbott is “working to kick that ladder down.” Well said, Wendy. But believe it or not, Mitchell said something even dumber. At about the 1:00 mark in the above video, she emitted this brainfart:.....

Klingenmeyer told police he was considering filing charges and was "angry that the Palins had showed up and were causing problems," according to the report. He told police he had asked Bristol to leave and she responded, "Who the f*** are you?" Klingemeyer told her he owned the home and Bristol said she didn't believe him and "she will kick his a**," the police report states. Klingenmeyer said that's when Bristol first punched him and he then said he told her to hit "him again if it makes her feel better and she does," according to the document. After five...

In what sounded more like a gay activist screed in a high-school publication than a serious editorial in a major newspaper, the Charlotte Observer has officially declared war on people of faith and conservative moral values, mocking those who believe there is the slightest rational reason to resist the radical redefinition of marriage.Making no attempt to hide its disdain for the conservative, historic position, and gleefully mocking the views of the majority of North Carolinians, the editorial begins with three sentences ending in exclamation points – when is the last time you have seen that in a major editorial? –...

[Norman Lear wryly titled his memoir Even This I Get to Experience (out Oct. 14, Penguin) as a wink to his belief that even the bad times in his life were worthwhile because they made the living interesting. And over the course of 92 years, Lear has led as interesting a life as anyone in Hollywood. Born in 1922 in Connecticut, Lear lived with relatives for a time while his father spent three years in jail from 1931 to 1934 for a dodgy get-rich-quick scheme...] [All in the Family: Season 2 Carroll O'Connor's insecurities and fears drove him to great...

Modern Family star Jesse Tyler Ferguson's dad discovered his son was gay and a thief on the same day. The actor admits he had built up quite a collection of stolen gay pornography magazines when he was finally caught trying to leave a store in his native Montana with a backpack full of saucy publications at the age of 14. In a recent an interview with Aisha Tyler for her Girl on Guy podcast, the red-faced star revealed, "I always considered that (incident) my coming out... It was so humiliating. "I had been stealing porn for a while. I had...

An Oklahoma man who had been suspended from his job was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder in the gruesome beheading of a co-worker, who was attacked from behind as the man sought revenge, a prosecutor said Tuesday. Nolen had recently converted to Islam but Cleveland County Prosecutor Greg Mashburn said it appeared Nolen's assault was tied more to his suspension. Mashburn said Vaughan's human resources department suspended Nolen earlier Thursday after another co-worker, Traci Johnson, had complained that she had had an altercation with Nolen "about him not liking white people." "It had more to do with race rather than...

The rationalizations for Obama’s failures are already beginning, and Tom Friedman employs the laziest of all strategies, tearing down a great man to make a small man look bigger. In his Sunday column in the New York Times, Friedman makes a number of highly dubious points. These days there is a lot of “if-only-Obama-could-lead-like-Reagan” talk by conservatives. I’ll leave it to historians to figure out years from now who was the better president. On the question of the domestic economy, there can be little doubt. Reagan inherited far higher unemployment and high inflation, and within a year or so had...

An Oklahoma man beheaded a woman after a workplace dispute on Thursday, the Associated Press reports. Moore Police Sgt. Jeremy Lewis said Friday that the suspect Alton Alexander Nolen, 30, entered the Vaughan Foods processing plant in Moore, Oklahoma on Thursday and beheaded 54 year-old Colleen Hufford. Nolen had recently been trying to convert his co-workers at the company to Islam, Lewis said Friday, according to interviews with the company’s workers. After stabbing and beheading Colleen Hufford, Nolen began to do the same to 43 year-old Traci Johnson, but was stopped when the company’s chief operating officer, Mark Vaughn, who...

The View’s alleged Republican, Nicolle Wallace, probably thinks she did NJ Gov. Chris Christie a favor when she endorsed him today. Wallace, who has been a perennial Palin basher since she worked on the ill-fated McCain-Palin campaign in 2008, described Christie as “progressive.”