Free Republic

The impact is from some kind of anti-tank weapon. Can't tell if it's been doctored, but the footage is pretty dramatic:

Last week The Washington Post reported that Sal Culosi's parents have reached a $2 million settlement with Fairfax County, Virginia, police Detective Deval Bullock, who shot and killed the 38-year-old optometrist during a January 2006 SWAT raid on his home. The unusual settlement reflects the outrageous facts of this case, in which an unarmed man suspected of nothing more than betting on sports was recklessly gunned down during an unnecessarily violent operation. The SWAT team came to Culosi's house because another Fairfax County detective, David Baucum, overheard him and some friends wagering on a college football game at a bar....

What worked, what didn’t, and what the city should do when future storms threaten The storm that tore up New York’s coastlines on Monday, October 29, was no longer a hurricane when it hit land, but a weaker post-tropical cyclone. Nor did Superstorm Sandy, as it came to be called, directly hit the city; it made landfall more than 100 miles south, near Atlantic City, New Jersey. Sandy “wasn’t the big one,” says Nicholas K. Coch, a professor of sedimentology and coastal geology at Queens College. But it was big enough. As New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg pointed out,...

Richest U.S. Senator, John Kerry, Rails Against 'Corrupting' Money in Politics in Farewell Address January 30, 2013 By DANIEL HALPERJohn Kerry, the richest U.S. senator, railed against the "corrupting" power of money in politics in his farewell address today on the floor of the United States Senate: (click to the site to view the video) "There's another challenge that we must address and it is the corrupting force of the vast sums of money necessary to run for office," said Kerry. "The unending chase for money I believe threatens to steal our democracy itself. I've used the word 'corrupting' and...

I have come that you may have life and have this abundantly, therefore as you release words of life to others I fill their wellspring with everlasting promises of life through restoration and as their wellspring fills, My joy that is their strength overwhelms their situations and proceeds to heal all within. So be My Wellspring of Life for others as I bear My fruit through you for you "ARE" a Living Testimony of My love I give Freely to ALL. John 7:37-38 Amplified Bible (AMP) 37 Now on the final and most important day of the Feast, Jesus stood,...

January 31, 2013   Memorial of Saint John Bosco, Priest   Reading 1 Heb 10:19-25 Brothers and sisters: Since through the Blood of Jesus we have confidence of entrance into the sanctuary by the new and living way he opened for us through the veil, that is, his flesh,and since we have “a great priest over the house of God,” let us approach with a sincere heart and in absolute trust, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water.Let us hold unwaveringly to our confession that gives us hope, for he...

The Israeli Air Force reportedly carried out an airstrike on a Syrian weapons convoy last night. While some accounts have suggested that the convoy may have been carrying chemical weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Associated Press reports that the primary target was Russian-made SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles, which were likely destined for Hezbollah. It is currently unclear whether the strike, which was confirmed to Reuters by four sources, took place in Syrian or Lebanese territory. A high-ranking Lebanese security source told the Daily Star that "[n]o strike took place on Lebanese soil." Haaretz reports that a Lebanese source has...

Newly confirmed Secretary of State John Kerry condemned Iran’s “continued violation of the universal right of freedom of religion” and urged the release of an American Christian pastor imprisoned for his religious beliefs. In a written response to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) to questions during his confirmation hearing last week obtained by the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), Kerry, a liberal Massachusetts Democrat, said he is “deeply concerned” about Saeed Abedini, who was sentenced to 8 years in prison for his Christian faith on Sunday. … Abedini, 32, who is from Boise, Idaho, has been jailed in Iran...

Defense: Plans to reduce our most effective fighting force by 20,000 will leave it unable to meet all its global commitments or respond to spontaneous threats from the shores of Tripoli to anywhere else. There is no greater symbol of America's apologetic retreat from world leadership under President Obama than the planned reductions in the size of the Marine Corps, cuts that were in the works even before sequestration mandated under the Budget Control Act threatened to cut even deeper. The Marines are on course to cut around 4,000 positions a year through 2017, decreasing the total number of Marines...

A new Foreign Military Intelligence (GRU) report circulating in the Kremlin today is saying that United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton [photo 2nd left] was injured, and a top US Navy Seal Commander killed when their C-12 Huron military passenger and transport aircraft crash landed nearly 3 weeks ago in the Iranian city of Ahvaz near the Iraqi border.

Mary Gundrum, 20 weeks pregnant, was excited when an ultrasound revealed that she was going to have a baby boy. Then she looked closer and said, “What’s that in front of his face?” “That,” the doctor replied somberly, “is a problem.” The news was grim. The fetus had an encephalocele, a rare disorder in which part of the brain was exposed, covered in skin, outside the head. In this case, the brain was growing down into the roof of the mouth and protruding onto the face.

I have to go to the little cowboy's room

Spiegel has finally gotten around to conceding that global warming has ended, at least for the time being. Yesterday Spiegel science journalist Axel Bojanowski published a piece called: Klimawandel: Forscher rätseln über Stillstand bei Erderwärmung (Climate change: scientists baffled by the stop in global warming). We’ve been waiting for this admission a long time, and watching the media reaction is interesting to say the least. Bojanowski writes that “The word has been out for quite some time now that the climate is developing differently than predicted earlier”. He poses the question: “How many more years of stagnation are needed before...

A resolution designating February 12, 2013, as Darwin Day, has been introduced into the United States House of Representatives.The proposed resolution would be a recognition of Charles Darwin as “a worthy symbol on which to celebrate the achievements of reason, science, and the advancement of human knowledge."The Darwin Day resolution was introduced by Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) on Jan. 22, 2013. Holt, one of the few members of Congress with a Ph.D. in a scientific field, is the sole sponsor of the bill. After its introduction, the resolution, H. Res. 41, was referred to the House Committee on Science, Space,...

U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez did not pay for two flights provided by Salomon Melgen – his friend and campaign donor whose office was raided by the FBI Tuesday night – until more than two years later, and after a New Jersey Republican asked the Senate ethics committee to look into his travels. Menendez spokesman Paul Brubaker today said the senator reimbursed Melgen for the flights on January 4 of this year. Both were round trips– one between Florida and the Dominican Republic in August 2010, and one between Teterboro and the Dominican Republic in September 2010. The total amount Menendez...

By tarring conservatives as racist during the 2012 presidential campaign, MSNBC “essentially” mounted “a voter suppression campaign,” says the author of a new book on media bias. “Some of the quotes I have in ‘Spin Masters’– you might remember them if you watch a lot of MSNBC — still make me cringe,” David Freddoso, author of the recently released book “Spin Masters: How the Media Ignored the Real News and Helped Reelect Barack Obama,” told The Daily Caller. “For example, Chris Matthews asserting that conservatives were giving Romney a long leash (ideologically speaking) because they are racists, I mean, come...

Salt Lake City attorney Jesse Trentadue filed a motion Monday asking a federal judge to determine whether he is entitled to limited discovery into the FBI’s “Sensitive Informant Program.” In his motion, Trentadue described the program as one used by the bureau “to recruit and/or place informants on the staffs of members of the United States Congress and perhaps even federal judges, in the national media, within other federal agencies as well as the White House, on defense teams in high-profile federal and/or state criminal prosecutions, inside state and local law enforcement agencies, and even among the clergy of organized...

My amendment to prohibit the sale of F–16 fighter jets to Egypt will be voted on tomorrow afternoon. Please call your Senator and let them know you support this amendment: 202-224-3121 http://www.facebook.com/RandPaul2010/posts/10151321849161107 Contact Your Senator's: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Anyone have a GA ping list? Like to know our fellow GA FReepers are okay. All of you were kind enough to do it for us Sandy Freepers, thought I'd return the favor. Seems like that storm is heading our way. Cold meets warm....NOT good. Saw the damage.

I'm looking for the Missouri ping list, any help is appreciated.