Free Republic

The Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show is billed as the largest show of its kind in North America. But after the event made a decision to ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines, it may now lose that title. "We felt that getting involved last year was a good business decision. It has a lot of coverage, a lot of exposure," said Ben Bode of Trop Gun Shop in Elizabethtown. Trop was one of the first vendors to boycott the show, and their customers responded. Trop's Facebook page exploded with 'likes', they received letter, faxes and praise from clients. But...

Professor Jacobson made an exceedingly important point yesterday: Our focus must be on “changing what we can change, protecting what we can protect, undermining what we can undermine, acting locally.” Based on my experience in San Diego, I cannot stress enough the vital role that local activism is playing in fiscal reform. Here is Exhibit A as proof of the success of can-do citizen activism: Proposition B – San Diego’s Pension Reform Initiative. The measure, which passed in June 2012 with over 65% of the votes, put new city employees (except police) into a 401(k) style pension, rather than a...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), son of the recently-retired libertarian Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas), was recently announced as a featured speaker for this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). CPAC is essentially a litmus test for the Republican Party; it provides a general sense of the party’s direction. Backed by tremendous Tea Party support, Rand Paul is eyeing a 2016 bid to take the reigns of the country, and he doesn’t care if you know it: "I am different than some in that I'm not going to deny that I'm interested," said Paul. The GOP finds itself in an identity crisis....

FrackNation doesn't appear to "appear" livestreamed from AXS.TV, the channel that is airing it.

Love him or hate him, Bill Clinton is probably the most charismatic former president still around. He also seems to, somehow, be the star of the show wherever he goes. Monday's presidential inauguration in Washington, D.C. was no different. During a performance of "My Country 'Tis of Thee" by "American Idol" champion Kelly Clarkson, Clinton's head popped out from the crowd as he photobombed her. The internet instantly lit up with people passing the photo around and attaching their own jokes to it.

Emelie is plagued by hallucinations and nightmares. When she wakes up, she's often paralyzed, unable to breathe properly or call for help. During the day she can barely stay awake, and often misses school or having fun with friends. She is only 14, but at times she has wondered if her life is worth living. Emelie is one of around 800 children in Sweden and elsewhere in Europe who developed narcolepsy, an incurable sleep disorder, after being immunized with the Pandemrix H1N1 swine flu vaccine made by British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline in 2009.

A shooting at a Houston college has left at least three people injured and at least one suspect in custody, The New York Times and other media sources reported today. “Officials at the North Harris campus of Lone Star College announced an evacuation at 12:52 p.m. on its Web site, citing an incident involving ‘a couple of armed suspects,’” the report elaborated. The suspects were in violation of Lone Star College policy and the law. It is the policy of this System to prohibit the carrying of firearms, knives and clubs onto any of the System's facilities,” the college’s weapons...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – This afternoon, Sen. Rand Paul introduced the Default Prevention Act, which would require the President to prioritize federal revenue to interest on the national debt. Since the current debt limit was reached on Dec. 31, 2012, it is expected that the extraordinary measures the U.S. Treasury has taken to continue funding the government will be exhausted before March. In order to remove any chance of government default, Sen. Paul’s legislation spells out which government-funded programs should be held at the highest priority to continue funding, while paying down the interest and principal on debt held by the...

For many, the word “drone” summons images of innocent civilians killed in wars conducted from thousands of miles away and raises concerns about invasions of privacy. For others, a drone is simply a next-generation military weapon that saves both lives and money. And for still others, drones are a fascinating backyard hobby for adults and children alike. But no matter what you think about them, drones are here to stay. The Air Force predicts that within a decade nearly 30 percent of its attack and fighter planes will be drones. It’s not just the military that sees their potential, either....

Israel goes Leftward as Right bloc's majority razor-thin; voter turnout 66.6%; Likud Beytenu plummets; Labor polled to get 17 seats, Bayit Yehudi 12, Shas 11, Livni and Meretz 7 each, UTJ 6.

Dr. Jim Garrow, the author of The Pink Pagoda: One Man’s Quest to End Gendercide in China, made the following claim . ... I have just been informed by a former senior military leader that Obama is using a new “litmus test” in determining who will stay and who must go in his military leaders. Get ready to explode folks. “The new litmus test of leadership in the military is if they will fire on US citizens or not.” Those who will not are being removed. So, who is the source? Garrow replied: “The man who told me this is...

WASHINGTON (CBS DC) – Fewer than four-in-10 Americans (39 percent) rate the US in a positive manner – the most negative feedback the country has produced since 1979. A new Gallup poll finds that Americans are as negative about the country’s prospects as they have been in more than three decades. Americans are more upbeat in their predictions of where the U.S. will be in five years (48 percent positive), but this is the lowest rating since an August 1979 Gallup poll was conducted. The negativity about the current state of the US has a politically partisan split – Republicans...

York, PA - Wayne Shuler usually visits the annual Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show three times every year in Harrisburg. This year will be different for the manager of Deer Valley Sporting Goods in West Manchester Township. In light of the ban of the display and sale of so-called assault weapons, he's not sure he'll attend at all. "I haven't decided if I'll go," Shuler said. "But I know I won't go three times." And Shuler is not alone. A growing number of vendors and patrons are opting to boycott the event entirely. A group called "ESOS Boycott Supporters" lists...

Meet a new breed of flying robots, from tiny swarming vehicles to giant unmanned planes. Airing January 23, 2013 at 9 pm on PBS. Drones. These unmanned flying robots–some as large as jumbo jets, others as small as birds–do things straight out of science fiction. Much of what it takes to get these robotic airplanes to fly, sense, and kill has remained secret. But now, with rare access to drone engineers and those who fly them for the U.S. military, NOVA reveals the amazing technologies that make drones so powerful as we see how a remotely-piloted drone strike looks and...

Source is link only.STORY

Obama's First Term by the Numbers Last week, the RNC Research arm released a list of how much President Obama's first four years cost in terms of deficits, regulations, stimulus spending, and the underemployed and unemployed individuals. The following are a few of those figures:

Amid all the pomp and circumstance of inauguration weekend, Vice President Joe Biden showed a few of his 2016 cards as he mingled with some constituencies that would be key if he decides to run for president. On Saturday, Biden attended the State Society of Iowa "First in the National Celebration" where he slipped up and referred to himself as the president instead of as the V.P. "I'm proud to be president of the United States, but I am prouder to be…" Biden said as the crowd started to laugh and cheer. "I'm proud to be vice president of the...

Quentin Tarantino is on record blaming firearms for recent mass killings in Newtown, Connecticut, and elsewhere. So it might come as a surprise to him that a pro-gun group is invoking the director’s latest film, Django Unchained, in an effort to woo African-Americans to their side in the debate over gun control. The group is called Political Media, and it's the same entity that was behind Saturday’s controversial Gun Appreciation Day, which encouraged Americans to show up at various places with a copy of the U.S. constitution and signs reading “hands off my guns.” Larry Ward, president of Political Media,...

An unlicensed therapist who was a prominent member of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn was sentenced on Tuesday to 103 years in prison for repeatedly sexually abusing a young woman, beginning the attacks when she was 12. Mr. Hynes has said he believes the case may be a turning point for ultra-Orthodox victims of sexual abuse. In addition to convicting Mr. Weberman, his office also charged seven Hasidic men with bribery and intimidation of Mr. Weberman’s victim, who testified over four days. Prosecutors say they know of more victims who were too afraid to testify. “If there is one...

n this crisp January morning, the day of Barack Hussein Obama’s second inauguration (or his second coming, as Newsweek would have it), we find it pertinent to send a message of thanks to our enlightened and benevolent ruler for everything he has done for his humble subjects during his first term in office. We thank you for helping put more guns than ever before in the hands of American citizens. We are especially grateful for your proactive approach to promoting America’s favorite rifle. Many who thought the black rifle was just an expensive toy, now find it to be an...