Free Republic

A t-shirt emblazoned with one of the most memorable lines from the classic adventure film The Princess Bride caused a furore on a Qantas flight last week. Wynand Mullins boarded a plane bound for Auckland on Sunday with “My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die” printed on the front of his top. While some fellow fliers recognised that the line was from the swashbuckling 1987 film The Princess Bride, it went over the heads of other passengers, who told cabin crew they felt threatened by the t-shirt’s message. Mr Mullins told Fairfax New Zealand: "The...

Sure, the retail "investors" are coming back into the "markets"... They are coming back in shifts. And just so they know what to expect, here is what happened to Apple stock in the last second of regular trading today, courtesy of Nanex. Unlike traditional flash crashes where the trade is an HFT error, or a few shares traded through the entire bid or offer stack, in this case it looks like a very premeditated unloading of some 800K shares (some $350 million worth) of AAPL in the last second, with the full knowledge it was shake the market. Why anyone...

Ted Nugent on Bloomberg: ‘What Kind of Idiot Thinks That Our Founding Fathers Were Protecting Deer Hunting?’ CNSNews.com) – Rock star and Second Amendment advocate Ted Nugent recently criticized New York City’s Democratic Mayor Michael Bloomberg for focusing the gun control debate in the United States on deer hunting. “If you listen to Mike Bloomberg -- framing the Second Amendment as a deer hunting issue – this is bizarro world,” Nugent said on Jan. 17 at the Shot Show 2013 gun show in Las Vegas. “He’s got to be the dumbest upright species in the history of breathing creatures.” “What...

ELIZABETH TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A 73-year-old bus driver was arrested after police said he’s accused of having sex with a 15-year-old boy. Authorities said William Scherz, a bus driver for the Baldwin Whitehall School District, is in the Allegheny County Jail facing statutory sex assault charges, among others. According to police, Scherz was off duty Tuesday when he drove to Elizabeth Township and had sex with the 10th grade boy. “A grandfather saw the 73-year-old man in his house in a state of undress with his grandson,” Elizabeth Township Police Chief Robert McNeilly said.

Dearborn: Muslim attorney "outraged" that McDonald's is not compensating those "injured" by eating "false halal" chicken I asked in writing about a previous story on this settlement: "'There was no evidence that the chain set out to deceive customers.' So why the $700,000 payout?" This story makes the answer clear: it is a form of tribute, of jizya. Now a Muslim attorney in Dearborn is angry that the payout is mostly going to various Muslim groups, not to those who were "injured" by eating "false halal" chicken sandwiches. The attorney for the Muslim who filed the complaint explains that there...

Federal Drug Administration advisers voted today to restrict access to certain kinds of prescription drugs in an effort to fight drug abuse. The vote had experts divided over the risk of drug abuse as weighed against the risk of increased pain or difficulty for patients on the medication. “It will have an impact on a lot of patients who have been receiving them for some time for legitimate purposes,” Dr. Lynn Webster, president-elect of the American Academy of Pain Medicine, said per Health Day News ahead of the vote. The FDA rule change is designed to implement

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The Arkansas Senate is voting on legislation that would allow concealed handguns in churches, the first of several gun-related measures expected in this year's session.

When trying to verify Joe Biden's recent story that he was golfing within earshot of the Oct. 2, 2006, shooting at Nickel Mines, one thing is clear. There are a lot of places to enjoy a round of golf in the region. But whether the 70-year-old vice president was playing at any of the courses on the day of the one-room schoolhouse massacre still remains a mystery. If he was in the area, he wasn't at Moccasin Run Golf Club in Atglen. Curt King, the owner of the club, said there is no record of Biden — then a U.S....

Good afternoon/evening FReepers. Yep, it is Beer Thirty Time Once Again!Happiness is a bubbling airlock! And a Cold Brew Irish Stout Yum! Good evening/afternoon brewers and winemakers. It was a nice day here in Northeast Texas today – mid 60s and just right to brew up a batch of brew. Made an Oatmeal Irish Stout. I used a kit from Midwest supplies. 6 lbs. Dark Liquid Malt Extract Speciality Grains 4 oz Chocolate Malt 4 oz Caramel 10º L 4 oz Roasted Barley 4 oz Flaked Barley 8 oz Rolled Oats Hops - 0.5 oz Nugget and 1 oz Willamette 4...

MISSION VIEJO [california] (CBSLA.com) — Emergency rooms across the Southland have been pushed to near-capacity levels amid a surge of influenza activity in the western United States that has lead to several flu-related deaths. A Mission Hospital official has confirmed that a 46-year-old woman who tested positive for influenza A died on Tuesday. The mother of two – who reportedly did not receive the flu vaccine – appeared to be otherwise healthy, officials said. While flu activity is declining across much of the U.S., its toll is just beginning to emerge in the West. Statewide, there have been at least...

US Federal Reserve is reporting a major deposit withdrawal from the nation’s bank accounts. The financial system hasn’t seen such a massive fund outflow since 9/11 attacks. ­The first week of January 2013 has seen $114 billion withdrawn from 25 of the US’ biggest banks, pushing deposits down to $5.37 trillion, according to the US Fed. Financial analysts suggest it could be down to the Transaction Account Guarantee insurance program coming to an end on December 31 last year and clients moving their money that is no longer insured by the government. The program was introduced in the wake of...

Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo has been a consistent supporter of legalizing same-sex marriage. In 2011, he filmed his own video backing this November’s ballot initiative in Maryland and posted it on YouTube, and he recently donated Ravens tickets to a Marylanders for Marriage Equality fund-raiser.

'Slave-like conditions, dismantling cars...' While the communist Castro regime likes to complain loudly about US activities at Gitmo -both real and imagined- maybe first they ought to answer a few questions about how they've been treating all the Cuban citizens locked-up down there... Of course, many of them were put in the slammer for dubious political offenses -like daring to complain about Cuban socialism's myriad failures- with 7000+ arrested just last year for peaceful political protest. But for any in the States who think Havana's liberalizing, hardly: a human rights group reported this week that the overall number of political prisoners...

The mayor of Oak Harbor, Wash. has revealed to Examiner that he will revive a discussion about the city’s illegal prohibition on firearms in city parks at a Feb. 5 city council meeting, and he will not back down from what could be a political and philosophical donnybrook. At issue is political correctness and anti-gun hoplophobia versus state law and constitutionally-protected rights. The Oak Harbor case is something of a microcosm of the national divide over gun rights. Mayor Scott Dudley anticipates a standing-room-only audience at the meeting because of a recent video showing a verbal confrontation between a local...

You'll notice that it bans all semi-auto shotguns that have a pistol grip (AKA every home defense shotgun). You'll also notice they're going after some semi-auto pistols just for how they look. Below you'll find portions of the bill as we pick it apart: UPDATE 1: Some hunting rifles are included in this ban. Any semi-automatic rifle which holds more than 10 rounds above 22 caliber will be banned. semi-autos over 22 cal that hold more than 10 rounds banned Update 2: Seems that intra-state commerce could still be possible for assault weapons: Seems that intra-state commerce could still be...

A Liberal Democrat MP in Britain faces expulsion from the party for saying Jews had not learned from the murder of six million in the Holocaust in their treatment of Palestinian Authority Arabs, the Daily Mail reports. David Ward, MP for Bradford East, wrote on his own website that he was “saddened” that Jews “could within a few years of liberation from the death camps be inflicting atrocities on Palestinians…on a daily basis.” “Having visited Auschwitz twice – once with my family and once with local schools – I am saddened that the Jews, who suffered unbelievable levels of persecution...

Two years ago I engaged in an extensive public discussion about whether New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Catholic, could, in light of his living arrangements, participate in holy Communion. I argued that he could not. As far as I know, those living arrangements remain unchanged, but, it appears that Cuomo has, since that discussion, respectfully refrained from approaching for holy Communion. In this regard, at least, the governor is not aggravating his conflicts with Catholic belief and discipline. But I also warned then that the ecclesiastical consequences of Cuomo’s pro-abortion activism must eventually be faced. That day seems...

Think you own your wireless handset, inside and out? Think you can do whatever you wish with your own property? Think again. Beginning Saturday, it will become illegal to unlock a phone without the express permission of the carrier who locked it. While the relevant portion of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act legalizes jailbreaking for three years, it also makes it illegal to unlock new, locked wireless handsets (without the permission of the previous carrier). Exemptions include “legacy phones” ("used (or perhaps unused) phones previously purchased or otherwise acquired by a consumer"). So this ruling won’t kill the secondary market...

Can you name this donor? He co-founded Silicon Valley’s first great corporation. He funded and befriended every Republican President from Nixon to George H.W. Bush. His decisive actions helped save two conservative think tanks, the Hoover Institution in the 1950s and the American Enterprise Institute in the 1980s. In 1992 he declared, “the Democratic Party has been the party of socialism since President Roosevelt’s term,” and it “is indentured to union labor.” Your last clue: The foundation named for him—America’s seventh largest—is a pillar of the liberal philanthropic establishment.

America is drowning in debt, but D.C. is swimming in money! We reveal how you’re paying the price for the booming business of government. Sean Hannity gets real insight from political insiders on Boomtown: Washington, the Imperial City! Watch a sneak peek below and don’t miss this Hannity special, Friday at 9p/12a ET.