Free Republic

Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Washington Sunday to generate pressure on President Barack Obama to take concrete measures to fight global warming. Waving banners and signs with slogans like "What will be your climate legacy?" the protesters called on Obama to reject the $7 billion Keystone XL pipeline that would bring oil from Canada to Texas, and order the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set carbon standards for power plants. "We want to challenge president Obama to be a main actor as opposed to being a puppet of the big oil companies," Canadian-born actress Evangeline Lilly, star of...

SPARKS, Nev. -- A gun battle in Sparks woke neighbors and sent one person to two different hospitals. Sparks Police Department (SPD) officials say it started just before 8am at the Bristol Bay Apartments in the 5300 block of S. Los Altos Parkway. A man was leaving his apartment through the garage when another man tried to run him over with his car. That's when both men pulled out guns and started shooting at one another. SPD officials say "approximately twenty shots" were fired between the two men. The driver was hit in the chest but the other man was...

Congressional Democrats will not commit to forcing votes on major climate change bills, even as they try to build political momentum behind President Obama’s promise to make global warming a second-term priority. Obama’s State of the Union address called on Congress to create a “market-based solution” such as cap-and-trade to limit greenhouse gases, but vowed new executive action if lawmakers do not act. The pledge was a largely rhetorical device to preemptively defend the wielding of executive power. Any action on the issue is almost certain to come from Obama's desk because bills to cap or set fees on carbon...

The seemingly endless budget fight is sucking much of the air out of Washington, but another big initiative - immigration reform - is slowly taking shape. A draft of a comprehensive White House immigration proposal was obtained yesterday by USA Today, and one key Republican senator immediately deemed the president's plan "dead on arrival." Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a Hispanic lawmaker involved with a bipartisan group of Senators crafting a compromise proposal, said it was a "mistake for the White House to draft immigration legislation without seeking input from Republican members of Congress," calling the proposal "half baked and seriously...

It’s a problem that plagues passengers who park at Denver International Airport- bunnies are causing hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars in damage to cars. The rabbits eat the wires under the hood.

The video is alarming to say the least. It raises serious questions about why Obama would be compelled to pick John Brennan to head the CIA.

...The Why We Stay presentation was very interesting as well. Rhonda Calister, John Dehlin...spoke about the reasons “Why We Stay” in the Church...John considers himself “still a believer in something” though he says that with some asterisks. He doesn’t like the Old Testament God, he . He also felt that a version of reform Mormonism is happening within the church, not outside of it. ...John gave another great presentation. He has recently spoken with a member of the Quorum of Twelve, and said that this person said that even in his position, it is hard to make a difference inside...

I went to a local gun show yesterday and was just amazed. To begin with the line was extremely long, everyone that I spoke to had the same thought on their mind and that was to spend money at the show.... What amazed me was the price of ammo, I had to pay twice as much for ammo this time then I did back in November. SO here is my thought to the title of this post. We all have read about the billions of rounds of ammo that the gov't has been buying over the past months. What a...

A federal judge has given a victory to free speech and religious expression, dismissing a six-year-old lawsuit filed by the ACLU against a Ten Commandments display in Dixie County, Florida. The 12,000-pound monument was erected at the Dixie County courthouse in 2006 by local resident Joe Anderson, who was given permission by the county and who maintained the display at his own expense. In addition to the Decalogue, the display included the simple admonition, “Love God and keep His Commandments.” In 2007 a visitor to the county was offended by the display and contacted the ACLU in an attempt to...

A document prepared by theologians painting the portrait of Ratzinger’s successor has gathered two thousand signatures. “Nationality is not important, just as long as he doesn’t fall slave to the Curia” Church reform plan. How should the next Pope be? Theologians have outlined what Benedict XVI’s successor should be like, in a document which has so far been signed by two thousand theologians across the world. Its first signatories were prestigious theologians such as Paul Knitter, Mgr. Calsaldáliga, Hans Küng, Leonardo Boff, Peter Phan and Paul Collins.   The next Pope is being asked to combat the “current stagnation” and counter...

A team of political scientists and neuroscientists has shown that liberals and conservatives use different parts of the brain when they make risky decisions, and these regions can be used to predict which political party a person prefers. The new study suggests that while genetics or parental influence may play a significant role, being a Republican or Democrat changes how the brain functions. Read more at: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-party-brain.html#jCp

Landsat 5 TM was used as a tool to model Anopheles mosquito densities on heterogeneous land cover. In this study, mosquito density data was divided into 5 classes; absence, low, moderate, high, and very high densities. Land cover was classified into 8 types. Stagnant water, wetland, and paddy land cover types are larva habitat. Forest, cropland, orchard, and grassland land cover types are adult habitat. Built-up land is non habitat. Multiple linear regression and discriminant analysis were selected to identify the relationship between mosquito densities and land cover types..............

...The very recent decision by the current leadership of the Maxwell Institute to forego explicit defense and advocacy of Mormonism—to renounce explicit apologetics—may have been influenced by concerns about the arrogant mean-spiritedness of one or two of those most prominently associated with its apologetic side... SNIP ...notice how the 2012 Mission Statement of the Maxwell Institute reads, and contrast it with the one I quoted...from 2010:.. ...Gone is the language about “defend[ing] the Restoration”... ...during the last conversation that I had with the director of the Maxwell Institute before I left for six weeks overseas—I was dismissed by email roughly...

You knew it was coming. Scientific American — which often pushes cultural agendas as much as scientific ideas — has an article informing us that polyamorous people have so much to teach the rest of us about life. From “The New Sexual Revolution: Polyamory May Be Good For You“ One thing that seems to unite the polyamorous community is a real enthusiasm for digging into emotions. Honesty, openness and communication are cornerstones for polyamorous relationships, Holmes has found. “They’re talking a lot, they’re negotiating a lot, they’re bringing their feelings to the table a lot,” he said.

Washington - Even as Pakistan tested yet another nuclear-capable missile on Friday, a new report from the US Congressional Research Service has estimated that the Pakistani arsenal probably consists of about 90-110 nuclear warheads, noting “it could be larger”. “Islamabad is producing fissile material, adding to related production facilities, and deploying additional delivery vehicles. These steps could enable Pakistan to undertake both quantitative and qualitative improvements to its nuclear arsenal,” says the report, authored by Paul K Kerr and Mary Beth Nikitin, specialists on nonproliferation issues. The CRS, which produces periodic background reports and updates for the benefit of lawmakers,...

...problems with FAIR 1. They legitimize the problems (unavoidable) 2. They introduce additional problems (unavoidable) 3. Many find their answers to be ultimately unsatisfying (unsure if this is unavoidable) 4. Many also find their tone and tactics to be unChristlike (definitely avoidable) From respondent 2844: "As I studied Church history and uncovered many controversial historical evidence, I would frequent LDS apologetic sites for answers (e.g. FARMS (now the Maxwell Institute), Shields, FAIR. I soon discovered those sites rarely dealt with the controversial evidences but rather often skirted or obfuscated the issue and frequently resorted to personal attacks on the individuals...

The New York Times has an article today titled, "Inquiry of Democratic Senator Started With Partisan Push." The story by Eric Lipton describes our success in getting media coverage for our original research about Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and his relationship with a major donor, Dr. Salomon Melgen. Lipton then states that to Menendez and his staff our work is "proof that the news media frenzy focusing on his actions to help a Florida eye doctor is at least in part a political smear." The only problem with this story line is that that New York Times approached us shortly...

The Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA), thinks Chicago's embattled police superintendent dug himself deeper into a pit of controversy today by claiming that lawful firearm owners are agents of political corruption. Appearing on a Chicago Sunday morning talk show, superintendent Garry McCarthy expressed his conviction that firearm owners who lobby their elected representatives or who donate money to political campaigns are engaged in corruption that endangers public safety. McCarthy went on to express his belief that judges and legislators should rely on public opinion polls when interpreting our Constitution. After totally dismissing the citizen's right to redress grievances, McCarthy trained...

I previously wrote about how BuzzFeed Politics has combined “the culture” and savvy crafting into a highly effective tool for undermining Republicans with subtle and not-so-subtle mockery. “Look at the goofy cat, look at the goofy celeb, look at the goofy Republican” is more dangerous to us than a 5000-word article in The New York Times Sunday Magazine. To follow up on that theme, I happened upon a website called Upworthy, which had one its posts run at HuffPo, Elizabeth Warren Asks The Most Obvious Question Ever, Stumps A Bunch Of Bank Regulators. The post was so wrong on substance,...

Isn't it rich? Aren't we a pair? You on the ground smoldering Me in mid-air. Send in the drones.