Free Republic

Presidents’ State of the Union addresses are delivered in the chamber of the House of Representatives in the Capitol. The classical majesty of this building where laws are made symbolizes the idea that we live under the rule of law. Unfortunately, the 44th president is running an administration that too often seems to ignore the rule of law.“We can’t wait,” Barack Obama took to saying after the Republicans captured a majority in the House and refused to pass laws he wanted. He would act to get what he wanted regardless of law.One example: his recess appointments in January 2012 of...

February 15, 2013   Friday after Ash Wednesday   Reading 1 Is 58:1-9a Thus says the Lord GOD:Cry out full-throated and unsparingly,lift up your voice like a trumpet blast; Tell my people their wickedness,and the house of Jacob their sins. They seek me day after day,and desire to know my ways,Like a nation that has done what is justand not abandoned the law of their God;They ask me to declare what is due them,pleased to gain access to God.“Why do we fast, and you do not see it?afflict ourselves, and you take no note of it?” Lo, on your...

The New York Times has a must-read up on how the GOP is losing the tech war — and losing the youth vote. But tucked away in the piece, I found this: [W]e can’t be afraid to call out Rush Limbaugh,” said Goodwin’s fiancée, S. E. Cupp, a New York Daily News columnist and a co-host of”The Cycle”on MSNBC. “If we can get three Republicans on three different networks saying, ‘What Rush Limbaugh said is crazy and stupid and dangerous,’ maybe that’ll give other Republicans cover” to denounce the talk-show host as well.

Spend a few minutes talking with Clèment Moreau, and you’re apt to start dreaming up your own three-dimensional (3D) creations: a customized toy, a work of art, or even a working robot. But as co-founder of 3D printing company Sculpteo, Moreau is less interested in hobbyist-only pursuits than he is in what professionals can do with the still-nascent technology. Sculpteo is a 3D printing company, but it doesn’t make 3D printers. With facilities in France, America and Israel, Sculpteo maintains its own manufacturing operations for 3D printing services. Companies and individuals send in their 3D renderings, and Sculpteo prints their...

It is amazing that one of the most scarce and in demand pistols today is the Kel-Tec PMR-30. You can’t get one, and many gun dealers have even created sign-up lists for customers to get them as they come in. The PMR-30 isn’t a cheap gun. The MSRP is $415, yet the demand for the PMR-30, after literally years, seems unquenchable. But if I asked you to play word association on guns, and my hint was “plastic 22WMR pistol with orange and green fiber optic sights and a 30 round magazine,” what would you say? Nothing, right? Nothing comes to...

It’s good to be here among friends. Your support has always meant a lot to me and I thank you for your warm welcome. Two nights ago, President Barack Obama delivered his State of the Union Address. In that speech, the president displayed a level of political fraud and public deception that cannot be ignored.....

This Friday (2/15/13), Dr. Ben Carson will sit down with Sean Hannity and a distinguished audience in a special one-hour show that revolves around one idea and one quest: saving America. Tonight, the Insider – and ONLY the Insider – was able to catch up with Dr. Carson in the ‘Hannity’ green room right before the taping of the special. We got a preview of the show, and more importantly, got to ask him some of our own burning questions. Tune in Friday at 9p ET to this special edition of ‘Hannity,’ only on Fox News Channel...

MOSCOW — A Russian emergencies official says at least one meteorite has fallen in Chelyabinsk region.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is said by well-connected Democrats to be considering the idea of running for president if Hillary Clinton opts out of the 2016 race. The 53-year-old Emanuel, who is busy raising money for his 2015 reelection campaign in the Windy City, has had discussions both over the phone and face to face in the past month with Democratic Party donors and fundraisers about a possible White House run, according to sources. It’s unclear who raised the subject—Emanuel or the donors—and the mayor’s press secretary initially didn’t offer clarity on who said what to whom Hours after this...

Who Tells Us What To Think? Does The Mainstream Media = The Matrix? By Michael Snyder February 14th, 2013 Do you believe that you really think for yourself? Did you come up with your attitudes, opinions and beliefs on your own, or are they continually being shaped and molded by someone else? Could it be possible that you and everyone around you is actually hooked into a real life version of "the matrix" that is constantly defining your reality for you? Sadly, the truth is that almost all of us have willingly hooked ourselves into a colossal media system that...

By Josh Eachus WEST LIBERTY, W.Va.—Students and parents are questioning a college professor after she reportedly issued a syllabus that filtered student’s research options The syllabus tells students in a West Liberty University political science course what sources they can and cannot use. Among those students are asked not to use are The Onion, an openly fictitious parody of real-life news, and Fox News, a professional news organization. In the syllabus, the professor allegedly says, "The tagline Fox News makes me cringe." "One of our values at West Liberty is to encourage students to go out and inquire and gather...

Not sure how to celebrate Valentine's Day this year? Left-wing groups and media such as The Sierra Club, Planned Parenthood and The Huffington Post have overtaken the holiday to promote their culture of sexual promiscuity and wacky environmentalism. From universities and medical clinics offering condom lollipops and free STD testing (and hosting plays about lesbian rape) and "green" websites dictating how "ethically" bought chocolate and flowers can save the planet, to disturbing LGBTQIA-themed gifts, the eco-friendly, gay-friendly, sex-obsessed left has plenty of ideas for how you should celebrate the holiday of love.

On Wednesday's NBC Nightly News, anchor Brian Williams proclaimed that Florida Senator Marco Rubio taking a sip of water during his response to the State of the Union was "the televised moment from last night that just might live on forever." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump] Williams expounded: "Well, it's one of the cruelest aspects of politics in the television age. No matter how well-crafted the content, no matter how thoughtful a person you are, it's the television moments, the superficial, purely visual moments that are often remembered forever instead. And that will certainly...

Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.) looks mighty good for a woman who has to be at least 148 years old. My take on her age is based on a statement the Congresswoman made today while objecting to impending spending reductions relating to sequestration in which she characterized herself as "a freed slave." Slavery as a legal institution ended in the U.S. in 1865 at the end of the Civil War. Here is what Ms. Jackson Lee said, in context (HT Rush Limbaugh): We are at the bone almost. And sequester that is across-the-board cuts will literally destroy us and put us...

February 14, 2013 Millions scamming system to receive free ‘Obamaphones’ — and you’re paying for it by Kelsey Osterman Millions of supposed low-income Americans who claimed free phones from the federal government are actually ineligible to receive the service, according to the Wall Street Journal. Worse still, you’re probably paying for it.A recent Federal Communications Commission review of top five cell service carriers who use the program, called Lifeline, has revealed that 41 percent of six million free phone owners either couldn’t prove their eligibility or didn’t respond to the review request.As the WSJ reported, the federal government spent about...

ALUMINIUM was once more costly than gold. Napoleon III, emperor of France, reserved cutlery made from it for his most favoured guests, and the Washington monument, in America’s capital, was capped with it not because the builders were cheapskates but because they wanted to show off. How times change. And in aluminium’s case they changed because, in the late 1880s, Charles Hall and Paul Héroult worked out how to separate the stuff from its oxide using electricity rather than chemical reducing agents. Now, the founders of Metalysis, a small British firm, hope to do much the same with tantalum, titanium...

Oh my, look at that.... took a drink of water in the middle of a speech.

The concept of the nation moving to a Nebraska-Maine electoral system has been brought up here several times. This spurred the question of "well, would it hurt or help us if applied on a national level?" Well, I recently stumbled across a map on another forum, and we have an answer. Somebody did the research, and made a map based on the results. States are colored by whoever won the two statewide electors. The results? Democrats, 270 Electoral Votes, Republicans, 268. Now, obviously, if such a method had been used in real life, the campaigns would have changed strategies, gone...

Why Inflation In 2013 Is Imminent Economics / InflationFebruary 14, 2013 - 03:48 PM GMT By: Money Morning Jeff Uscher writes: Is a spike in the monetary base - currency in circulation plus bank reserves at the Fed - the first sign of imminent inflation? Art Cashin, the well-respected director of floor operations at the New York Stock Exchange for UBS, recently told King World News the increase in the monetary base may well be a sign of impending inflation. Monetary base, sometimes called high-powered money, is the basis for the bank lending that drives our economy. When interest rates...

Like most Catholics, I woke on the morning of Feb. 11, 2013, to a different sort of alarm. Nothing in my past — indeed, very little in history — had prepared me for what I found in the news that day. To many people, the Pope resigning seemed an impossibility, like a square circle. But that wasn’t my particular problem. As a theologian, I knew it could be done. In fact, the conditions had been publicly rehearsed by no less an authority than Benedict XVI in interviews with the media. A pope’s resignation was not my problem. My problem was...