Free Republic

Ever since Man of Steel was announced as being written by David S. Goyer and executive produced by Christopher Nolan, the claims of the film being a case of Superman getting ‘the Dark Knight influence’ have persisted. Even though the two men come from, literally, entirely different worlds.But according to Goyer, this incarnation of Superman (Henry Cavill) isn’t going to be trading realism for fantasy, or hard questions for special effects. In fact, Man of Steel isn’t being approached as a comic book movie at all. While Marvel may have found success developing comic books into movies without removing...

It’s feel good Tuesday and to be honest it’s getting harder and harder to find things that can accommodate this category. Butt as I was purging my hard drive this morning of all superfluous Sundance-Hollywood-movie related images and viruses I did find this, that I think may do the trick: Gloria Steinem and Marlo Thomas The case for aging naturally: Gloria wins, if we were still allowed to keep score Here we have author and activist Gloria Steinem with actress, author, and activist Marlo Thomas on deck, discussing one of today’s most pressing issues: gender issues in Hollywood. Specifically, whether the...

Changing sentiment toward illegal aliens is making GOP opposition to immigration reform even more difficult politically. It isn't just Hispanics who care about immigration reform. Most Americans want to see some kind of reform also. A new CBS poll sheds some light on the dilemma for Republicans. From Politico: ________________ "Fifty-one percent think illegal immigrants should be able to remain in the country and apply for citizenship, while an additional 20 percent think they should stay as guest workers. Twenty-four percent say they should have to leave the country, according to a CBS News poll released Monday night. The latest...

Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis may have used a banned substance to recover from his torn triceps in order to come back and play this season. According to a report in Sports Illustrated, Lewis contacted a company to obtain a "a deer-antler velvet extract after tearing his triceps in October."

If there's one policy agreement between Republicans and Democrats, it's that the 35% corporate tax rate in the United States should be reduced to 28% or 25%. The current rate, highest in the advanced industrial world, disincentivizes investment and encourages corporations to relocate overseas. Unfortunately, the deficit is a major hurdle facing any proposal to reduce the corporate tax rate. Because of the fiscal pressures facing the government, most politicians recognize that any corporate tax rate cut must be paid for by eliminating tax preferences and "loopholes." But few politicians have identified enough revenue-raising measures to offset the cost of...

Even as President Obama travels to Las Vegas Tuesday to call for legalizing illegal immigrants, the latest numbers from the U.S. Border Patrol suggest that the flow across the nation’s southwest border jumped by 9 percent up last year. The Border Patrol made 356,873 arrests along the U.S.-Mexico border in fiscal year 2012, up from 327,577 in 2011, according to figures obtained by the Associated Press and confirmed by The Washington Times. Border Patrol officials estimate that apprehensions are a good proxy for illegal crossings, so when the numbers go up, it means that the flow of illegal immigrants is...

Mag Pushes Fake Picture of Obama Skeet Shooting Then deletes it.

President Barack Obama has approved another $155 million in humanitarian aid for Syria and took the unusual step of taping a message with Arabic subtitles explaining the U.S. position. "Here, I want to speak directly to the people of Syria," he says in the message. "This new aid will mean more warm clothing for children and medicine for the elderly; flour and wheat for your families and blankets, boots and stoves for those huddled in damaged buildings. It will mean health care for victims of sexual violence and field hospitals for the wounded. Even as we work to end the...

HARTFORD — Some came dressed in camouflage and others in suits. Some wore National Rifle Association hats, casual clothing or bright power ties and sat next to each other, but on starkly different sides of the raging national argument on gun control. Both groups, totaling about 1,500 people, were frisked upon entering the Capitol complex Monday, then applauded their supporters during daylong hearings on the aftermath of the Newtown massacre. As members of a General Assembly task force took hours of testimony, Newtown Police Chief Michael Kehoe joined a dozen local law enforcement executives from throughout the country at the...

United States Senator John Kerry easily overcame the first hurdle of his confirmation as the next secretary of state Tuesday with a unanimous vote of approval by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Kerry, President Barack Obama's pick to replace Hillary Clinton as the nation's top diplomat, must still be confirmed by a vote of the full Senate later in the day, which he is expected to receive without contention. The five-term Massachusetts Democrat, who has been a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for 28 years and led it for the past four, said he was "humbled" and gratified...

While American taxpayers bail out failing companies via the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), behind the scenes the Obama Treasury Department is awarding their top executives with millions of dollars in raises even though Congress passed a law forbidding it. It’s an inconceivable scheme that rewards bad behavior with big bucks from taxpayers who have no say in the matter. In fact, the U.S. Treasury was forced by Congress to create rules against it yet a new federal audit reveals the agency repeatedly violates them to enrich the very people responsible for the companies’ failures (and need for...

There are two more regulatory storm fronts moving in that may make it difficult or impossible to get the ammunition that firearm owners need to defend themselves and their families, and to engage in the shooting sports. The uncoordinated attacks come separately from neo-enviro groups and from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. But taken together, these two separate proposals from these two separate groups create a perfect storm that could potentially result in an absolute ban on almost all ammunition. How? The extremist environmental groups are trying to ban lead ammunition. Federal law already bans the use...

Texas Senator Ted Cruz (R) sent a letter to gunmakers, banks, and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Thursday, after Emanuel reportedly sent letters to banks asking that they stop doing business with certain firearm manufacturers. In the letter, Cruz urged the mayor to keep his attacks on the Second Amendment to his own city, and informed gunmakers that their companies and business would be welcome in the state of Texas. Here is how the letter reads: To the CEOs of Bank of America and TD Bank Group: It has recently been reported that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel sent each of...

President Barack Obama is set to reject the key compromise at the heart of a bipartisan deal on immigration reform announced by eight Senators yesterday. The president, who will deliver an address later today in Las Vegas, NV outlining his own immigration ideas, is reported to oppose linking a “path to citizenship” for illegal immigrants, a Democrat demand, to stronger law enforcement and better border security, a Republican demand. The president will apparently argue that the administration has met reasonable goals on enforcing current immigration legislation, and that additional security will merely create new obstacles to legalizing the roughly 12...

Many individuals in government refer to themselves as ‘public servants’. When you think of someone being a servant, isn’t he/she supposed to be subservient to the wishes of his/her employer? Isn’t the American public the employer for those in government? With how those in government conduct themselves, how could any one of them consider himself/herself a public servant? Public servant, my aching b___! Federal politicians have bastardized the term ‘public servant’ and it is time that ‘we, the people’ demand our rightful position as our politicians’ employer. What changes might we make that would lead us to genuine representative government...

Barack Obama, Dianne Feinstein, Michael Bloomberg, Andrew Cuomo, and their cohorts followed Rahm Emanuel's advice to "never let a good crisis go to waste" when they used the Sandy Hook shooting to renew their assault on the Bill of Rights. Former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell added, in effect, that one should never let a dead child go to waste if one can exploit him or her for political gain. "...the GOOD THING about Newtown is, it was so HORRIFIC that I think it galvanized Americans to a point where the intensity on our side is going to match the intensity...

Go to the link for this captivating interpretaton of the history of music.

Michigan's handgun owners could get an extra layer of privacy protection if a newly introduced Senate bill is passed and signed into law. Senate Bill 49 was introduced by Sen. Tom Casperson, R-Escanaba, and would keep state databases containing information on issued licenses private. It also would keep them from being subject to the Freedom of Information Act. Concealed pistol licenses in Michigan already are protected as private information under state law. However, pistol sales records and pistol sales permits are now protected only by case law, said Ryan Mitchell, a legislative staffer who researched the law for Sen. Mike...

NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams joined Jimmy Fallon Monday in another "Slow Jam the News" segment on NBC's Late Night. This time the subject was the fight over the debt ceiling with the target of course being Republicans who were repeatedly hit with sexually-charged attacks (video follows with transcript and commentary): BRIAN WILLIAMS: Hello, I'm Brian Williams of NBC Nightly News and host of NBC's Rock Center, and I too, would like to slow jam this news. JIMMY FALLON, HOST: Hit me three times! WILLIAMS: Less than a month after signing a fiscal cliff deal and narrowly averting a...

French Interior Minister Manuel Valls has said that Paris is set to deport a string of radical religious imams as part of a fight against "global jihadism". "Several radical foreign preachers will be expelled in the coming days," Valls told a Brussels conference called to tackle extremism in Europe on Tuesday, without identifying any of the individuals concerned. "I don't confuse this radical Islam with the Islam of France but there is a religious environment, there are Salafist groupings, who are involved in a political process, whose aim is to monopolise cultural associations, the schooling system," he added. "We will...