Free Republic

WASHINGTON — For four years, President Obama counted on fellow Democrats to rally to his side in a series of epic battles with Republicans over the direction of the country. But now, deep in his fifth year in office, Mr. Obama finds himself frustrated by members of his own party weary of his leadership and increasingly willing to defy him. In recent weeks, disgruntled Democrats, particularly liberals, have bolted from the White House on issues like National Security Agency surveillance policies, a planned military strike on Syria and the potential choice of Lawrence H. Summers to lead the Federal Reserve....

As in cockroaches. But vermin is nothing new in a building that is 213 years old--and roaches aren't the worst of it...

Elections officials are continuing to investigate an incident in which nine absentee ballots were mailed to a man who lives across the hall from Phil Carter, a candidate for the Winston-Salem City Council. The absentee ballot requests came mostly from residents of Holland Homes apartments on Mount Zion Place. What got the attention of local elections officials was that the elections office was asked to send all of the ballots to one address – the home of Benjamin Parker on E. Fifth Street. Parker lives in an apartment across a hallway from Carter’s apartment. Carter is in a three-way race...

EACH of us took turns over the past 43 years running the Environmental Protection Agency. We served Republican presidents, but we have a message that transcends political affiliation: the United States must move now on substantive steps to curb climate change, at home and internationally. There is no longer any credible scientific debate about the basic facts: our world continues to warm, with the last decade the hottest in modern records, and the deep ocean warming faster than the earth’s atmosphere. Sea level is rising. Arctic Sea ice is melting years faster than projected. The costs of inaction are undeniable....

In a close vote yesterday in the House, 205-2017, a bill to stop NSA spying on Americans and roll back the Patriot Act was defeated. Part of the reason for the defeat was the House Democratic Leadership who voted for continued spying on American citizens, even though many made public statements condemning the Patriot Act. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, and Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz all voted for violating the 4th amendment. Nancy Pelosi’s vote may be the most dishonest of all given her previous statements on the Patriot Act. House Democratic Leader Nancy...

Sucker=xx=xx Bad news: After Republicans spent $400,000 in sickening ads to hijack John Kerry's old Senate seat, a terrifying new GOP poll shows an incredibly close race: Markey (D) 45, Gomez (R) 44% And the election is in JUST TWO WEEKS away I know you're a top President Obama supporter, so you need to know that the next 36 hours are critically important for the President. If we lose this seat, Mitch McConnell will be a step closer to: -blocking every single sensible gun law -completely repealing Obamacare -tearing apart Social Security and Medicare President Obama needs you to finish...

The White House press corps was so worried about its reputation when veteran reporter Helen Thomas ranted against Jews in 2010 that it quickly moved to discredit her journalistic creds and personally attacked her as crazy in a bid to save itself, according to a new journalism school analysis. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly details the efforts by the press corps to shove Thomas out of their club after she told a New York rabbi in a widely distributed video that Israel should "get the hell out of Palestine," and that Jews should "go home" to "Poland, Germany ... and...

It’s raining snakes in Washington, DC Police reports in the Adams Morgan area of our nation’s capital detail recent occurrences of snakes falling out of trees and onto children. Police believe the intimidating inhabitants of Walter Pierce park to be black rat snakes, WTOP reports. The snakes fell out of trees in a playground near the National Zoo, which caused panic among the children. Black rat snakes are not poisonous, but they do constrict their small prey to kill it. The responding officer was able to capture a small one in a water bottle. Officials at the zoo said there...

To prove that the U.S news media “distort the truth and mislead the public opinion to curry favor with power,” a North Korean newspaper used Helen Thomas’s 2010 retirement as an example. Only problem is that Thomas (pictured right) was once a female columnist for Hearst Newspapers, not a man.

The Battle of Athens (sometimes called the McMinn County War) was a rebellion led by citizens in Athens and Etowah, Tennessee, United States, against the local government in August 1946. The citizens, including some World War II veterans, accused the local officials of political corruption and voter intimidation. Here is what happened: Following World War II in 1946, violence erupted when returning American soldiers discovered their Tennessee county had been taken over by political corruption. Their plan to take it back involved bullets—lots of bullets—and dynamite. Why Athens in McMinn County, Tennessee became a battleground was due to Paul Cantrell,...

Dear Commissioner Shulman: We write to inquire if the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") is investigating or intends to investigate whether groups designated as "social welfare" organizations, and thus receiving tax and other advantages under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC), 26 U.S.C. 501(c)4), are improperly engaged in a substantial or even a predominant amount of campaign activity.... Signed, Michael F. Bennet, U.S. Senator Al Franken, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen, U.S. Senator Tom Udall, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, U.S. Senator

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. • The uncle of a Democratic Missouri lawmaker has pleaded guilty to voter fraud in an election that his nephew won by a single vote — a circumstance that the lawmaker described Tuesday as "an unfortunate situation."

The division of the Internal Revenue Service that improperly scrutinized the tax-exempt status of conservative groups sent confidential information on 31 conservative groups to the well-funded liberal nonprofit journalism organization ProPublica, according to a revelation made by ProPublica Monday. “The same IRS office that deliberately targeted conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status in the run-up to the 2012 election released nine pending confidential applications of conservative groups to ProPublica late last year,” according to the ProPublica report. “In response to a request for the applications for 67 different nonprofits last November, the Cincinnati office of the IRS sent ProPublica applications...

A judge warned Peter Robbins that he could be sent to prison for nearly four years if he violates the terms of his probation. He sentenced him to one year in jail, but immeditely suspended it and ordered him to attend a drug treatment programme instead. "Don't be a blockhead," Superior Court Judge Dwayne Moring told Robbins, borrowing a line from Charlie Brown's friend Lucy. Robbins, 56, choked back tears as he told the judge that treatment for alcoholism and addiction to prescription medications would be a first step toward becoming "the fun-loving person" he was. He said he loved...

Rats or Humans? Inside Saddam's Extermination Plant(August 29, 2002)This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/ He was introduced as director of research and development at Falluja, one of the remote factories where the United States claims Saddam Hussein could be making chemical and biological weapons. Asked if he had worked on any of Saddam's chemical weapons programs, Dr Mohammed Frah played a straight bat: "In the early 1980s I worked for five years on the chemical and biological programs at Al-Muthanna." This is the name of a critical centre in Saddam's weapons program - a huge pesticide complex that produced...

One would naturally think it impossible that anyone would hesitate – even for an instant – to honor the woman who tackled communism head on as prime minister of Great Britain. Lady Margaret Thatcher was a principled politician who helped to foster the special relationship between Great Britain and the United States that we all benefit from today. A Senate resolution to honor Lady Thatcher was supposed to pass last night. However, per well placed sources on the Hill, Democrats have a hold on the resolution. To refuse to honor a woman of such great historical and political significance, who...

Chantal Banks says she loves her rats more than she loves people. So when her husband told her he didn't want rats in the house anymore, she moved into a two-bedroom apartment so she could keep her 19 pets. ... "My husband will never have the type of bond that I have with my rats," Banks said. "My rats don’t judge me. They love me for who I am. When I cry, they lick my tears. And when they’re hungry, I feed them."

Cats' Family Tree Rooted In Fertile Crescent, Study ConfirmsCats, with their penchant for hunting mice, rats and other rodents, became useful companions as people domesticated, grew and stored wild grains and grasses. Eventually, cats also became pets but were never fully domesticated. Even today, most domestic cats remain self-sufficient, if necessary, and continue to be efficient hunters, even when provided with food. (Credit: Michele Hogan) ScienceDaily (Jan. 29, 2008) — The Fertile Crescent of the Middle East has long been identified as a "cradle of civilization" for humans. In a new genetic study, researchers at the University of California, Davis,...

Tehran Battles Plague of 'Mutant' Giant Rats with Army Snipers Tehran, the capital of Iran, is battling an invasion of "genetically mutated" giant rats. Iran has sent in sniper teams to clear Tehran's streets from the massive rodents weighting up to five kilos plaguing 26 district of the Iranian capital, the city's environmental agency said. "They seem to have had a genetic mutation, probably as a result of radiations and the chemical used on them," Ismail Kahram, Teheran city council environment adviser and university professor Ismail Kahram told Qudsonline.ir. "They are now bigger and look different. These are changes that...

At the height of Superstorm Sandy, city residents watching seawater pour into the subway system couldn’t help but wonder: What will become of all the rats? Four months later, that’s still a mystery. And experts aren’t so sure about stories of hordes of displaced rodents fleeing the flood zone and taking up residence in buildings that were previously rat-free. TV stations and newspapers have been rife with reports about rats infesting parked cars and fleeing the East River waterfront for the brownstones of Brooklyn Heights and exterminators enjoying a boom in business. For some city officials, the last straw came...