Free Republic

To date, 80 North Carolina residents have squeezed their savings for the bragging right of owning the Tesla Model S electric car, some paying more than $100,000 for their g-force ride, but they may be among the last. A legislative proposal, backed by the N.C. Automobile Dealers Association, would make it illegal for Tesla, or any other car maker, to bypass dealerships and sell directly in the state. The proposal cuts at the heart of Tesla’s business model: selling luxury cars over the phone or Internet and then delivering them to the front door of high-net-worth customers. **SNIP** The whole...

For a man who regards Brussels as the biggest threat to Britain’s freedom since the Second World War, the choice of beer for Nigel Farage was obvious when we met at the Westminster Arms on Friday: Spitfire. It is brewed by Shepherd Neame in Kent to celebrate the Battle of Britain. Farage, a man of Kent, gulped down the first pint in 15 minutes, ordered a ‘reload,’ polishing off his second in another ten; and the moment we stepped outside, he lit up a fag.

PHOENIX -- When members of the student council at an Arizona high school organized a schoolwide "Redneck Day" and encouraged classmates to dress — and spoof — accordingly, they hoped to build school spirit leading up to prom week. Instead, "Redneck Day" at Queen Creek High School has angered African-Americans and civil-rights leaders and touched off a debate about free speech, social stereotypes and good taste. Tom Lindsey, superintendent of the Queen Creek Unified School District, said the only intent of Wednesday's event was to satirize the A&E reality TV show "Duck Dynasty," which follows a family of duck hunters...

..gunfire scattered thousands attending Saturday's 4/20 counterculture holiday, the first since Colorado legalized marijuana.

Maryland made national news recently for a "rain tax" to start July 1. The tax, an unfunded mandate originating with the Environmental Protection Agency and cemented by the state legislature and governor last year, means homeowners, businesses and nonprofits in certain counties will pay a fee based on the amount of "impervious surfaces" on their property. It is supposed to raise about $482 million annually. Satellite imagery will help counties comply with the law, designed to reduce runoff into the Chesapeake Bay. Call it the 'Drones for the Bay' program. The "Free State" is a Petri dish for progressive causes...

You need to go to this URL and watch the video!! ... some illegal aliens dreaming about free health care, “because health happens when we dream together”. If wishing will give us free healthcare for all, why stop at our borders? Why not get it for everyone in the world? I wish that everyone in the world could have the the very best healthcare there is, for free. Don’t you? I wish unicorns would just fly it around everywhere.

I woke up this morning and received a breathless email from Cecilie Surasky, the Deputy Director of “Jewish Voices for Peace.” The email gleefully announced that in anticipation of the AIPAC Policy Conference in DC and the arrival of thousands of Israel activists from across the US, JVP arranged for the placement of 100 large back-lit ads to be plastered across the busiest Metro stations in Washington, D.C. The ads read as follows “Jewish and proud and AIPAC doesn’t speak for me – President Obama and Congress: Most Jewish Americans are pro-peace. AIPAC is not.” The email then urges JVP’s...

Martin Dempsey, the Army general who's now chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was a division commander when he got to Baghdad in 2003 and climbed into a Humvee for his first trip off base. "I asked the driver ... who he was (and) where he was from," the general remembers, "and I slapped the turret gunner around the leg and I said, 'Who are you?' And she leaned down and said, 'I'm Amanda.' "And I said, 'Ah, OK.' So female turret gunner protecting division commander." One of the things that makes a good commander is the speed...

There are people on both sides of the gun debate who make good points. And then there are people who have absolutely no clue. In that latter camp we might include Senator Lamar Alexander, who thinks that, when it comes to people getting shot to death, "video games are a bigger problem than guns." We might also include at least some of the 495-plus people who have shared a picture of me on Facebook and tried to make me a poster child for all that is wrong with people who like guns. These people—some of them confused, some of them...

With California mandating that 33 percent of electricity be generated from renewables by the end of the decade, there are 227 proposed solar projects in the pipeline statewide.. Coupled with wind and other renewables they would generate enough electricity to meet 100 percent of California's power needs on an average summer day... Developers are flocking to flat farmland near power transmission lines, but agriculture interests, environmental groups and even the state are concerned that there is no official accounting of how much of this important agricultural region's farmland is being taken out of production. Planning department records in four of...

You've heard of the security state, in reference to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security efforts to keep us safe and keep watch on threats from abroad; and the welfare state, the national apparatus designed to provide health care and sustenance to those in need. Well, some among us are proposing the pistol-packing state, which would arm virtually everyone with a weapon to be whipped out to shoot the bad guys whenever and wherever they're encountered. At least that's what Wayne LaPierre, a spokesman for the National Rifle Association, and his ilk seem to be recommending as a way of...

While many believe substance should trump style when it comes to the first lady, there is no denying the impact Michelle Obama has on American style. So when Mrs. Obama debuted a new haircut Thursday (with bangs, no less!) via her freshly launched official Twitter account (on the first day, no less) it was sure to become a major style moment. The fact that the reveal also occured on her 49th birthday didn't hurt when it came to creating interest in the new 'do. The first lady's second official tweet showed her chatting with inaugural citizen co-chair David Hall in...

This idiotic meme is making the rounds right now, usually I shake my head, plant a facepalm and move on, but not this time....

Squee! As Twitchy reported, binders full of moochers stopped hoarding birth control when the nefarious pill-stealer Romney lost the election. Now, they are empowering themselves by groveling at the feet of their birth control sugar daddy master.

Michael Moore recently said that the only reason white people are buying a bunch of guns in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting is that they’re fearful. Afraid of black people specifically. He said, “Calm down, white people, and put away your guns.” So if we’re all buying guns and ammo out of fear of the black man, what emotion would cause this idiocy: a 6-year-old boy was suspended from school for making his hand in the shape of a gun and pretend shooting it, saying, “Pow,” as it was pointed at a fellow student. Were school officials actually...

Susan Schwartz already drives a Prius and has solar panels on her home. But the 69-year-old Berkeley woman still doesn't think she's doing enough to stop global warming. On Thursday and Friday, Schwartz will join hundreds of other Bay Area residents to document the spectacularly high tides lapping at shores and seawalls across the region. The tides aren't new - they happen every year - but this week a coalition of government and nonprofit advocates hopes the photos will draw attention to the rising seas. The photos of the king tides will be collected online on Twitter, Facebook and Flickr...

Key lawmakers expressing concerns about the Obama administration's plan to send 20 F-16 fighter jets to Egypt, where new President Mohamed Morsi's allegiances are as uncertain as his grip on power. Under a foreign aid deal signed in 2010, when Morsi's U.S.-friendly predecessor Hosni Mubarak was in charge, the U.S. is giving the planes to Egypt's air force, which already has more than 200 of the aircraft. The first four jets are to be delivered beginning Jan. 22, a source at the naval air base in Fort Worth, where the planes have been undergoing testing, told FoxNews.com. But the $213...

(CNSNews.com) – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Dec. 6 released a report that urges the U.S. Forest Service to work more closely with tribal governments in protecting, respectfully interpreting, and giving appropriate access to sites that are sacred to American Indians and Alaskan Natives. "American Indian and Alaska Native values and culture have made our nation rich in spirit and deserve to be honored and respected," Vilsack said. "By honoring and protecting sacred sites on national forests and grasslands, we foster improved tribal relationships and a better understanding of native people's deep reverence for natural resources and contributions to society."...

Jeb Bush in 2016? (CNN) -- For all of our post-2012 election talk about the changing culture, the changing demographics and, perhaps, a changing party, preliminary thoughts out of D.C. about the 2016 election have us headed toward not much change at all: Clinton vs Bush ... again. I am as intrigued by the prospects of these two juggernauts, Jeb and Hillary, locking ideological horns as I am repulsed by the thought of half of my life being dominated by two family names. One, Clinton, has risen from the ashes after the White House. The other name, Bush, is so...

Nearly 6 in 10 young voters support bigger government — a worrisome statistic for conservatives who want to increase their presence on college campuses and among the under-30 crowd. According to the Pew Research Center, 59 percent of young voters think the government should do more — something only 44 percent of all voters support. On government-run healthcare, the most popular policy preference among young voters was to expand it. Young voters were also far more likely to identify as liberals and members of the Democratic Party than older generations. For young conservative activists, making inroads on college campuses will...

When single women vote with their sex organs, gay marriage becomes popular, marijuana becomes legal, young people and blacks want entitlements instead of jobs and millions of illegals vote with their stupidity, you can count on the liberals in our education system to outperform themselves by dumbing down America so the sheep will put socialists and liberals in power.

The fact of the matter the exit polls show about 50% of people still blame Bush for economy. It's been four years but half the American people are too stupid to understand. It is Nazi Germany, repeat a lie over and over again and people believe it. Obama says it Pravada repeats it. The problem is Republicans need to stand up for Bush's tax policy and explain it did not cause the crisis. Everyone runs away which just further pushes that narrative. THink of the idiotic question from Candy Crowley, about what if he was Bush.

Maryland Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings has demanded that a group planning to challenge voter access to the polls on Election Day provide him with details of its planned operations. Cummings targeted the organization True the Vote, saying the group planned to deploy hundreds of thousands of personnel across the country on Election Day to challenge the status of citizens who they believe may be ineligible to vote. “There have been reports from multiple states during the past two years that your organization is targeting predominantly minority communities and coordinating with the Republican Party in an attempt to intimidate legitimate voters,”...

Police arrested Michael D. Turley Monday after he allegedly dressed his teenage relative in a sheet, armed him with a fake rocket-propelled grenade launcher, and sent him to create a terrorist hoax to prompt police response... Police have been waiting since July 28 to make an arrest because Holmes said they needed more evidence of Turley’s intent. They got that evidence last week when Turley posted his film on YouTube, in which he clearly states that he is, “about to mimic a modern day terrorist brandishing an intimidating weapon.” That gave police what they needed to make an arrest. In...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed Iran’s nuclear ambitions during an interview with NBC’s David Gregory recently, and had some harsh words for those who don’t recognize the threat a nuclear Iran poses. When Gregory asked Netanyahu why a policy of containment won’t work on Iran the way it did on the Soviet Union, the prime minister explained: “I think Iran is very different. They put their zealotry above their survival. They have suicide bombers all over the place– I wouldn’t rely on their rationality. Since the advent of nuclear weapons, you had countries that had access [that] always made...

"... Today there are people trying take away rights that our mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers fought for: our right to vote, our right to choose, affordable quality education, equal pay, access to health care. We the people can’t let that happen ..." Full transcript

ST. PETERSBURG — As the man rushed past the Mariner Car Wash, an employee couldn't help but notice his distinctive forearm tattoo: "Most Wanted." When police investigating a bank robbery came around a few days later, the worker mentioned the man, confirming DNA evidence police had that tied a man with just such a tattoo to the crime.

DNC already on it. "The Republican Party—led by Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan—is dangerously wrong for women" ..."now Rep. Todd Akin of Missouri claims there's a biological defense against pregnancy from "legitimate rape."....

Vanity: My gas can spout broke. You all know the one I am talking about. The old one. The one that works. Has a vent on the back and an unimpeded spout. The one I have been using carefully and preserving. Preserving because it WORKS. It does exactly what it is supposed to do. I fill it up with gas and transfer said gas to wherever I want it. The godless communist Statist freaks. Those gubment cheese swilling unelected shiite life long employees have taken my gas can and ruined it. So these numb skulls, shiite brains who can ruin...

As of July 25, Federal withholding tax collections for the prior 10 business days were 3.2% greater than last year. The 10 day total is extremely volatile however, so for that reason I also look at the 4 week moving average. It is up by 6% year over year in nominal terms. This number must be adjusted for compensation inflation to derive a real rate of change. This chart compares current withholding tax collections with last year on the same date. It shows this year running well ahead of last year in nominal terms. The gap has been widening all...

The city of Santa Cruz, usually at the forefront of environmental causes, became the latest, but probably not the last, local government to ban single-use plastic bags, with the 6-0 vote by the City Council Tuesday night. Santa Cruz banned foam products as well. Santa Cruz's new law on foam products, for instance, will outlaw foam coolers, toys, shipping containers and packing peanuts. The city of Capitola also bans foam ice chests and coolers, and the county bans foam food containers. The 48 and counting plastic bag and foam bans of some type in California offer a patchwork of regulations,...

Environmental regulations restricting the construction of forest access roads have limited the ability of the Forest Service to clear combustible brush and trees, adding dangerous fuel to the wildfires that have ravaged Colorado this summer. The so-called “roadless rule,” which was first implemented in 2001 by President Clinton shortly before he left office, restricts and in many cases prohibits local and federal officials from building and maintaining roads that allow firefighters to clear out growth that could instantly become tinder for a new fire. The Roadless Area Conservation Rule, regularly referred to as the 2001 roadless rule, was adopted in...

(CNSNews.com) – Pot-bellied pigs must be granted passage on airplanes if they are used for “emotional support” by their owners, states the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) draft manual on equity for the disabled in air travel. The DOT published its “Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in Air Travel: Draft Technical Assistance Manual” in the Federal Register on July 5, providing guidance that allows swine on airplanes if they are determined to be service animals. The manual is designed to "help carriers and indirect carriers and their employees/contractors that provide services or facilities to passengers with disabilities, assist those passengers...

US politician accidentally legalises fracking A US politician who campaigned against fracking – a controversial form of mining for gas – has accidentally legalised it in her state by pressing the wrong button in a late-night vote. ‘”Oh my gosh,” Ms Carney reportedly said on the assembly floor, after seeing her name flash up in the Republican column on a chamber TV screen after the 11.30pm poll. “It won’t let me change my vote.” The 67-year-old Democrat, who has represented a Mecklenburg County constituency for 10 years, asked Thom Tillis, the Republican House Speaker, to allow her to change her...

. . . I get the strong sense from a few anecdotal stories about Roberts over the past few months and the way he has written this opinion that he very, very much was concerned about keeping the Supreme Court above the partisan fray and damaging the reputation of the Court long term. . . . Second, in writing his case, Roberts forces everyone to deal with the issue as a political, not a legal issue. . . Third, while Roberts has expanded the taxation power, which I don’t really think is a massive expansion from what it was, Roberts...

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan said Wednesday she takes full responsibility for incorrectly claiming for eight months that 90 percent of the city's homicides and shootings took place on 100 blocks.Quan is continuing to stand by her crime plan. The city's news release said that although the statistic was incorrect, "the premise of the public safety strategy is sound and has merit."

On Father’s Day eve, the Obama administration will launch a unique program it hopes will “create a buzz” about responsible fatherhood that will be a close as a local barbershop. Fatherhood Buzz, an eight-city pilot program that is a part of the president’s Fatherhood and Mentoring Initiative, and is designed to educate about responsible fatherhood and parenting and to help men find ways to become positive influences in their children’s lives. “We want to create a conversation so we’re having a more critical discussion about fatherhood,” said Kenneth Braswell, director of the National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse (NRFC) for the U.S....

Ankara investigating possibility that bee-eater was 'implanted with Mossad surveillance device'; Israeli wildlife officials say accusation ridiculous Turkish authorities believe that they have found a bird used for espionage purposes by Israel, the country's media reported. According to a Tuesday report in Yedioth Ahronoth, an investigation to that effect was launched in Ankara several days ago, after a farmer discovered a dead Merops Apiaster, commonly known as the European Bee-Eater, in his field. The bird had a ring reading "Israel" on one of its legs. Bird-banding is a common practice in ornithology, meant to help scientists track bird migration routes....

WASHINGTON (NNPA) — The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has issued updated recommendations that urge employers not to misuse criminal background checks in filling job openings. By a vote of 4-1 last week, the commissioners noted that African-Americans and Latinos may find it more difficult to find employment because of the widespread use of background checks. “Arrest and incarceration rates are particularly high for African-American and Hispanic men,” the EEOC report stated. “African Americans and Hispanics are arrested at a rate that is 2 to 3 times their proportion of the general population. Assuming that current incarnation rates remain unchanged,...

BRONX (WABC) -- What is drawing huge crowds in the Bronx, people lining up around the block, to get into a storefront that houses a tax preparation office, what's really going on? People who went to the storefront asked Eyewitness News to investigate after they claim they were promised thousands of dollars in government surplus money that would be put on pre-paid debit cards. Now, the bank that issues those debit cards has put out a warning. "I'd like to talk to the boss," Eyewitness News Investigative Reporter Sarah Wallace said. "He's not here," security at E &M Multi Service...

Landline telephones could soon be a thing of the past in parts of Ohio if a senate bill passes. “I would not like it too much. I think landlines are important and I have to make a lot of long distance calls,” said Jerry Viola. Snip...

Capitol Hill lawmakers want to change the color of money amid growing concerns about the federal deficit and the constant pressure for Washington to live within its means. The House and Senate each have introduced legislation that would replace the dollar bill with a $1 coin. “Change can be difficult,” Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., said. “But doing things as we’ve always done has contributed to our debt. We've got to latch on to any reasonable handhold we can find to climb out of this hole.” This is not the first time Washington has considered eliminating the paper dollar, which became...

In the James Madison monument controversy [Letters, “Monument Muddle,” Winter 2011], the important thing is not at all anything about some stones (or whatever); it is the marvel that we are still honoring authors of the disastrous Constitution that some Virginians wrote in the 18th century and which is going to inevitably wreck the United States. These Southern gentlemen thought they knew everything that would be valid forever and that nothing should ever be changed. It shows: In 220-plus years, only three amendments of significance have ever been made while Southerners were sitting in the Congress. The three we got...

About 1,000 shoppers that gathered for a shoe release at an Orlando mall late Thursday became out of control, prompting deputies in riot gear to disperse the crowd. The Orange County Sheriff's Office said 200 deputies went to the Florida Mall about 9:45 p.m. because of the crowd, which became unruly after Foot Locker canceled the release of the limited-edition Nike Air Foamposite One "Galaxy" shoes. The $220 purple and blue sneakers are made from an extra-durable material and glow in the dark.

Manassas, VA, February 11, 2012 -- Although he will not appear on the Virginia Presidential primary ballot on March 6, it did not stop Manassas Tea Party members from selecting Rick Santorum as the overwhelming winner in a straw poll conducted at its monthly meeting of members last evening. In the straw poll which also contained the U.S. Senate Virginia seat and Manassas City Council races, Santorum swept the Presidential poll with 67% of the vote but equally interesting was Mitt Romney received no votes. Newt Gingrich was second in the poll with 27% and Ron Paul last with only...

<p>Climate change sceptics have acquired a new explanation for why glaciers are retreating: it's not global warming, it's theft.</p> <p>Police in Chile have arrested a man on suspicion of stealing five tonnes of ice from the Jorge Montt glacier in the Patagonia region to sell as designer ice cubes in bars and restaurants.</p>

Sarasota, Fla. (AP) -- Newt Gingrich has staked his presidential bid on the idea that he's best positioned to defeat President Barack Obama. Yet even some supporters seem to be struggling to buy that claim, an indication that efforts by chief rival Mitt Romney to undercut him may be working. "Beating Obama is more important than everything else," Patrick Roehl, a 51-year-old computer software engineer, said at a Gingrich rally inside a Sarasota airport hangar this past week. "Can Newt win? I'm not sure. He's got a lot of high negatives. The elections are won and lost in the middle....

BOSTON (CBS) – A 7-year-old boy accused of sexual harassment for kicking another student in the groin will be transferred to a new school in the city of Boston.

An audit of the Federal Reserve has revealed that the privately owned Federal Reserve secretly doled out more than $16 trillion in zero interest loans to some of the largest financial institutions and corporations in the United States and throughout the world. The non-partisan, investigative arm of Congress also determined that the Fed acted illegally. In fact, according to the report, the Fed provided conflict of interest waivers to its employees and private contractors so they could keep investments in the same financial institutions and corporations that were given emergency loans. The report is evidence that reveals major securities fraud...

‘Occupy’ movement pops up in Lafayette On a crisp, clear afternoon in downtown Lafayette Thursday, fewer than a dozen residents gathered at the edge of Parc Putnam on Lafayette Street across from the federal courthouse to show their solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement — a protest movement targeting corporate excess that erupted in New York City early this fall and has spread to dozens of cities across the country and the world. Thursday’s action was organized via social media by Lafayette resident Molly Baumgartner, a local representative of the liberal activist group MoveOn. Group members ranged in age...