Free Republic

The Department of Defense released a report in February 2012 raising significant concerns to Congress about integrating women into combat units, an issue receiving renewed attention given outgoing Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta’s recent announcement that women would be allowed in combat roles. The report(PDF) raised five “serious practical barriers, which if not approached in a deliberate manner, could adversely impact the health of our service members and degrade mission accomplishment.”The largest difficulty yet to be overcome are the “physically demanding tasks” that the Department of Defense used to exclude “the vast majority of women” in combat roles.“The elimination 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...

Patty Andrews, the last surviving member of the singing Andrews Sisters trio whose hits such as the rollicking "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B" and the poignant "I Can Dream, Can't I?" captured the home-front spirit of World War II, died Wednesday. She was 94. Andrews died of natural causes at her home in the Los Angeles suburb of Northridge, said family spokesman Alan Eichler in a statement. Patty was the Andrews in the middle, the lead singer and chief clown, whose raucous jitterbugging delighted American servicemen abroad and audiences at home. She could also deliver sentimental ballads like...

Sotomayor’s time at Princeton takes up much of the book, but her account of her alma mater left a lot out, especially her involvement in left-wing politics and an explicitly anti-white club. In fact, despite her self-description as “more as a mediator than a crusader” on racial and political issues, the archives of Princeton show that it was just the opposite. According to The Daily Princetonian, Sotomayor even “helped shape” Princeton’s affirmative action practices and used her position as a student judge to advance a left-wing agenda. Accion Puertorriquena As a sophomore, Sotomayor, then co-chairman of the Puerto Rican student...

Republicans accused the White House of having selective amnesia Wednesday after President Obama's top spokesman blamed Republicans for an unexpectedly dismal GDP report that showed the economy contracting in the fourth quarter. The White House had suggested GOP willingness to let sweeping defense cuts take effect was the culprit -- but an aide to House Speaker John Boehner quickly reminded Democrats that Republicans have tried to stop those cuts. "These arbitrary, automatic cuts were a creation and demand of the White House in 2011," Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck said. "Twice the House has passed legislation to replace them with common...

"When I started this article about what we face in the 113th Congress, I was focused on the challenge and frustration of trying to govern with an intransigent minority that would rather wreck the economy than grow it. The tea party fringe of the Republican Party has held the government hostage and while their attitude has not changed, what is different is the experience and commitment of others to do what is good for the country. The President’s Inaugural address and the apparent “results” of the Republican “retreat” last week have lightened my mood and encouraged me to think that...

In 2008, a state-of-the-art driverless car could go two blocks on its own on a closed course at 25mph. By 2012, the driverless car could operate in real-world conditions at 75mph. Such rapid progress offers great hope that the tremendous benefits in safety and savings I laid out in Part 1 of this series are attainable. The pace of progress also means that the disruptive ripple effects discussed in Part 2 might soon have strategic relevance for companies participating in the multi-trillion-dollar part of the economy that relates to cars. But we’re left with two crucial questions: How soon could...

For the third time in the past year, NBC News has been caught selectively editing video for political gain, with the most recent instance coming on the Monday, January 28 Martin Bashir program.  Bashir ran heavily edited video showing Neil Helsin, whose 6-year-old son was killed in the Newtown shooting, appearing to be heckled by audience members during a legislative hearing on gun control. The chorus of criticism from media critics on the right and left forced MSNBC to backtrack, but not apologize. On the Wednesday, January 30 Bashir program, liberal fill-in host Ari Melber of The Nation magazine offered...

Can't find ammo? A long waiting list for guns? Don't let that slow you down, bunky!!!! Here is a chain-saw shooting sling shot from Jeorge Sprave Video at Link

Many are arguing these days that President Obama has forged a new majority coalition of women, minorities, young people and upscale cultural liberals so large and durable that he can do what no president has done before—pursue a very liberal agenda without serious opposition or defections from his own party. Demography is destiny, this argument holds, and it is irrevocably on the side of Mr. Obama and the Democratic Party. -snip- Republicans have a perception problem with Hispanics, but the GOP earned 44% of Hispanic votes in 2004 and can do so again with the right policies, many more Hispanic...

ALBANY – Gov. Cuomo’s job approval rating dropped faster than a speeding bullet this month as Republicans and gun owners started turning against him after he rammed through the nation’s first post-Newtown gun control law, a new poll has found. Democrat Cuomo’s approval marks slid from 74-13 percent last month to 59-28 in the Quinnipiac poll out today — a day after the New York-affiliate of the National Rifle Association filed a notice of claim to sue to stop enforcement of the law, arguing it unconstitutionally deprives New Yorkers of their rights. While voters in non-gun homes still gave Cuomo...

Probably the most random thought I've had since I've started doing Photoshops. If you don't know the pop singer this is referencing find out here.

I got me this here Mossberg 590a1 shotgun. Pretty cool shotgun, I already had a 500 so I figured having two with the same parts was wise. Then I took it out and put several typs of ammo through it and ran into something weird.

A $40 million engineering structure belonging to Iran's South Pars gas field, which was to be used in offshore platforms, sank into the Gulf as it was being installed, media said on Wednesday, as reported by AFP. The equipment was built by Maritime Industrial Company (SADRA), an affiliate of the industrial wing of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, over a 30-month period." An investigation is under way," SADRA's managing director Mehdi Etesami told the ISNA news agency, without elaborating. The incident occurred Monday night as the 1,850-tonne jacket developed for South Pars Phase 13 sank to a depth of 80 meters (264...

Industrial policy: After lithium-ion batteries caught fire on Boeing's new Dreamliner, stories popped up about how dangerous they are. Turns out they're the same kind of batteries President Obama is forcing into U.S. cars. This month, a Boeing 787 battery caught fire while the plane was sitting at Logan Airport in Boston. Another 787 was forced to land while flying over Japan, forcing Boeing to ground its fleet of state-of-the-art 787s. In the wake of these events, the press suddenly took notice of the risks posed by lithium-ion batteries. USA Today complained that the FAA should have been more cautious...

Long-forgotten remains of a giant dolphin-shaped crocodilian "super-predator" that could devour ancient beasts its size and larger have now been discovered in a museum drawer in Scotland, researchers say. The ancient newfound crocodilian is named Tyrannoneustes lythrodectikos, which in ancient Greek means "blood-biting tyrant swimmer."

Founders Series, preserving the statement of the 1948 generation.

Zimbabwe’s finance minister has taken a hard look at the cash-strapped country’s bank accounts—and discovered it only has £138.34 left. Tendai Biti made the announcement at a press conference yesterday, declaring: “Last week when we paid civil servants, there was $217 in government coffers.” Mr. Biti went on to tell the shocked news reporters that they were individually likely to have healthier bank balances than the state’s. “The government finances are in paralysis state at the present moment”, Mr. Biti admitted. … The stunning confession about the country’s poor financial state is the culmination of years of ruinous economic policy...

A 15-year-old Chicago girl who reportedly performed with her school’s marching band at several events for President Obama’s inauguration last week was shot and killed on Tuesday afternoon, police said. The girl, whom local reports identified as Hadiya Pendleton, died when a gunman opened fire on her and about a dozen other teenagers while they were hanging out at a park in Chicago, according to Chicago Police officer Jose Estrada. For Obama, the shooting hits home at a time when he is pushing Congress to enact stricter gun laws that he says would curb not only mass shootings but also...

Everything changed after the election, and it had nothing to do with Obama winning a second term. For as long as I've been aware of the media, I have known that I live in a country with a media biased strongly in favor of Democrats. Fair enough. But there were rules in that world, one of them being that once a Democrat was safely elected or reelected, the media would do its job when it came to scandals and overall accountability. This is why, after Obama won his second term, I thought we would finally get to the bottom of...