Free Republic

Worried parents will ban their children from making snowmen and having snowball fights this winter - for fear they will catch a cold, a study found. The protective one in five mums and dads, 20 per cent, will try to stop their youngsters falling ill by keeping them wrapped up warm indoors. Furthermore, 29 per cent say it is "too dangerous" to let them outside because they may slip on ice or be bruised by a tightly-packed snowball. That is despite many parents admitting they "enjoyed" playing outside when they were younger, the study by Chessington World of Adventures Resort...

All is not as it appears in the case of Richard Windsor, the alias used by outgoing EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, apparently to shield email messages from discovery and disclosure. Under court order to cough up the email messages to Chris Horner of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and having turned over a first installment of 2,100 such email messages earlier this week, the Obama administration is making this a case that might challenge the ingenuity of Sherlock Holmes. With Horner’s assistance, my daughter Eliana tries to pierce the fog of administrative war in her NRO column “Lisa Jackson’s gadfly.”

In response to my post Making Social Security Actuarially Sound in a Business-Friendly Manner I have been exchanging emails and phone conversations with Jed Graham at Investor's Business Daily. Jed thinks benefit cuts will happen, and I agree. However, Social Security cuts are considered the "third rail" in politics. If you are not familiar with the term, it means anyone espousing cuts cannot be elected. Retirees Will Outlive Trust Fund Graham's current position on the viability of Social Security can be found in his January 14 article New Social Security Retirees Will Outlive Trust Fund For the first time since...

As the race – and it’s basically a race – to release as many 3D-printed gun parts as possible heats up, it’s never been harder for me to come down on the side of the “Freedom To Tinker” crowd. Last weekend Defense Distributed, a group dedicated to releasing plans for a 3D printed gun, posted a video and description of their 3D-printed AR-15 thirty-round magazine. The video, which is, unnecessarily, full of snarky vitriol, shows that, on some level, the 3D printed gun isn’t very far off. It also shows that the call for 3D printer legislation could soon overpower...

A charred lithium ion battery at the center of the worldwide grounding of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner showed evidence of “thermal runaway” -- which is indicative of a design problem, experts tell FoxNews.com. The All Nippon Airways plane made an emergency landing Wednesday morning in western Japan after its pilots smelled something burning and received a cockpit warning of battery problems. Nearly all 50 of the 787s in use around the world have since been grounded. The battery’s burned insides indicate it operated at a voltage above its design limit, a Japanese investigator said Friday. That’s a clear sign of...

The new gun control measures, publicised by the US President Barack Obama on Wednesday, are likely to encounter sturdy legislative opposition in the state of Oklahoma as the ‘Oklahoma 2nd Amendment Preservation Act’ is moving through the state’s legislature. The ‘Oklahoma 2nd Amendment Preservation Act’ was introduced by the state’s Senator Nathan Dahm. The ‘Oklahoma 2nd Amendment Preservation Act’ threatens to incarcerate, for five years, any federal governmental official, who endeavours to enforce in Oklahoma the new gun control proposals of Barack Obama. The ‘Oklahoma 2nd Amendment Preservation Act’ places the state, along with Wyoming and Texas, by threatening the...

On my show this morning, I’ll be talking to a young man in Germany named Marc.  He has tried unsuccessfully to enter this country through the front door and has met with red tape and delays each time. I’ll be talking with him today about his fundraising efforts and his attempt to become one of us. No DREAM act will benefit Marc. He won’t be eligible for a driving privileges card; he will not receive any welfare or in-state tuition. After all, the election is over and Obama got all the votes he needed. Marc is working for his citizenship...

“Hundreds” of death threats have been made against the president of the National Rifle Association just since the first of this year. And those threats reflect President Obama’s political tactics. That’s what NRA President David Keene told talk show host Ernest Istook on Thursday. Keene says those threats reflect attempts by the Left and by President Obama “to demonize and blame those who disagree with him for everything he doesn’t like.” Keene also is literally targeted by a video game that invites people to shoot him, which he calls the “Kill David Keene” game. The good news, according to Keene,

In an effort to conclude the hostage crisis at the Tigantourine gas facility near In Amenas, Algeria, special forces from the Algerian government have begun a second offensive against the Masked Brigade, the terrorists led by Mokhtar Belmokhtar. Al-Jazeera reported that the renewed rescue effort was launched as the Algerian state media reported that more than 650 hostages were free, but 30 foreigners were still unaccounted for. The Algerian Press Service (APS) reported that the count of foreign hostages prior to the first raid was 132, which conflicted greatly with initial reports of 41. The terrorists threatened to kill the...

Byron Thomas is 19, black, a freshman at the University of South Carolina Beaufort and a proud Southerner. He hung a Confederate flag in his dorm room window until the university asked him to take it down because several people had complained about it. (The university later stepped back from the request, saying all students have the right to free speech.)

I heard a very interesting tidbit of information during the podcast of the second hour of Roger Hedgecock‘s Jan. 17 show. It did not surprise me – not one iota – but it was very interesting in light of the fact that since Lord Obama ascended to the throne in 2009, our government has been realigned to brand conservatives as violent threats…while doing everything they can to downplay the threat of Islamic extremism and other enemies of our country. Things have become so upside-down in the Obama government that the Combating Terrorism Center at the U.S. Military Academy at West...

Officials in Mali say French-backed government forces have re-taken a second town that had been seized by Islamist militants. Local officials say militants have been driven out of Diabaly, located about 400 kilometers northeast of the the capital, Bamako. On Thursday, heavy fighting between French soldiers and militants had been reported in Diabaly, which was seized by rebels on Monday. There was no immediate confirmation of the re-capture from Mali's military or French forces. Earlier, the Malian army and French officials said Malian forces have re-taken Konna, a town east of Diabaly. The army said it has gained "total control"...

Excerpt from just-released statement from House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (emphases mine): House Republicans announced a path forward on the nation's near-term budget challenges.  The 1974 Congressional Budget Act requires passage of a budget resolution by April 15 each year.  Under Senator Harry Reid's leadership, the Senate has refused to pass a budget for 1,360 days.  As the Administration and Congress work through opportunities to cut government spending, there will be no consideration of a long-term debt-ceiling increase unless both the House and the Senate pass a long-term budget plan.  The plan also includes a bipartisan proposal to...

In the days leading up to the 40th commemoration of Roe v. Wade, the pro-life cause is winning the legal war against America’s largest abortion provider. As reported recently in the Texas Tribune, the State of Texas has won round one in the battle to defund abortion providers. In 2011, the Texas legislature passed what is called the “Affiliate Ban Rule,” which prohibits any health provider affiliated with abortion, including Planned Parenthood, from participating in the state’s Women’s Health Program. In April 2012, a Texas judge granted a preliminary injunction to Planned Parenthood TX, exempting them from the new rule;...

One of the themes we’ve tried to impress upon our audience over the past three years is the multidimensional nature of immigration. It’s not simply a single issue among a panoply of issues that animate the cut and thrust of politics. It encompasses everything from economics to culture, including crime, education, health care, terrorism, and the budget-as the states which are buckling under the costs of caring for hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens and immigrants can attest to-as well as first principles. Who are we as a country? For what purpose(s) does our government exist? Who decides what immigrants...

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor says in a statement: Fitch Ratings agency recently said, if the debt limit is raised without substantive deficit reduction, our nation's credit rating could be downgraded. The President's plan to simply borrow more money without any reform in Washington puts us all at risk. The first step to fixing this problem is to pass a budget that reduces spending. The House has done so, and will again. The Democratic Senate has not passed a budget in almost four years, which is unfair to hardworking taxpayers who expect more from their representatives. That ends this year....

Officer opens fire on charging dogs in Fort LauderdaleOne dog was killed and another injured after they charged an officer and were shot in Fort Lauderdale Friday afternoon, police said. The incident happened in the 1800 block of Southwest 22nd Street as the officer was responding to a complaint that a cat was attacked and killed in the neighborhood, Fort Lauderdale Police spokeswoman Det. DeAnna Garcia said. Garcia didn't say what kind of dogs they were, describing them only as "vicious." The officer wasn't injured. Animal Control responded to the scene, Garcia said.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a possible 2016 presidential contender, on Friday slammed New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, another potential presidential hopeful, saying a number of the governor’s recent positions would likely alienate GOP primary voters. “I think criticizing the Second Amendment movement and the over-the-top ‘give me my money’ stuff, ‘I want all 60 billion now or I’ll throw a tantrum,’ I don’t think that’s going to play well in the Republican primary,” Paul, the libertarian-leaning GOP senator, said of the Republican governor. Those remarks, made on “The Laura Ingraham Show,” referenced recent comments from Christie on gun control and...

These are available from botachtactical in Los Angeles. They have a few 60 Round Magazines left for those of you that need one.Good Luck

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld Gov. Scott Walker's contentious law stripping most public workers of nearly all of their collective bargaining rights.