Free Republic

Could Lockheed Martin Skunk Works’ SR-72 hypersonic concept design fill the Pentagon’s need for a penetrating intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft? The answer could be yes.

Gov. Rick Perry stood his ground Friday in a showdown with the Pentagon over processing benefits for same-sex couples at National Guard offices, possibly setting the stage for yet another court battle with the federal government. A spokesman for the governor insisted that the Texas National Guard would not process marriage certificates for same-sex couples, despite an order this week by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to do so. The chief of the National Guard Bureau, Gen. Frank Grass, met Friday via teleconference with the leaders of eight state Guard organizations that have refused to process paperwork for same-sex benefits. Officials...

Scientists have shed more light on how the movements of a dog's tail are linked to its mood. Earlier research had revealed that happy dogs wag their tails more to the right (from the dog's point of view), while nervous dogs have a left-dominated swish. But now scientists say that fellow canines can spot and respond to these subtle tail differences.

When parents are awarded DI, the likelihood that one of their adult children will participate in DI rises by 12 percentage points over the next decade.The extent to which welfare dependency is perpetuated from one generation to the next is a question of great social importance for which there is only limited empirical evidence. In Family Welfare Cultures (NBER Working Paper No. 19237), Gordon Dahl, Andreas Kostol, and Magne Mogstad analyze this question using data from the Norwegian disability insurance (DI) system. They study the outcomes of appeals by claimants who were initially denied DI benefits. Judges are randomly assigned...

At the same time as dozens of Obamacare enrollees were being signed up, millions of other Americans were having their health insurance canceled — including so many pundits of left (Kirsten Powers), right (Michelle Malkin), and center (David Frum) that the Pulitzers should introduce a prize for Best Suddenly Uninsured Writing. Among their number was Matthew Fleischer, who wrote in the Los Angeles Times: Most young, middle-class Americans I know are happy that millions of previously uninsured people will receive free or heavily subsidized insurance under the Affordable Care Act. We just didn’t realize that, unless we had health insurance...

General Dynamics Electric Boat will christen North Dakota (SSN-784), the U.S. Navy's newest and most advanced nuclear attack submarine, at a ceremony at its shipyard here on Saturday, Nov. 2, at 11 a.m. A "live" video and audio webcast of the North Dakota christening will be accessible online at: www.gdeb.com. Webcast coverage will begin Saturday at 10:30 a.m. EDT; the ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. and conclude at approximately 12:15 p.m. The program will be available for on-demand replay for one week, beginning at approximately 2:30 p.m. EDT on Saturday. www.gdeb.com

Israel is fuming with the White House for confirming that it was the Israeli Air Force that struck a military base near the Syrian port city of Latakia on Wednesday, hitting weaponry that was set to be transferred to Hezbollah. Israel has not acknowledged carrying out the strike, one of half a dozen such attacks widely ascribed to Israel in recent months, but an Obama administration official told CNN on Thursday that Israeli warplanes had indeed attacked the Syrian base, and that the target was “missiles and related equipment” set for delivery to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel’s Channel 10 TV...

Here's an exceptionally well written, on-target email from Claudette, an occupational therapist from Michigan, in response to my post Physical Therapist in NY Chimes in on Health Care Costs. Claudette wants to "Put the Patient in the Driver's Seat". Claudette writes ... Hello Mish I do not disagree with the PT who wrote to you about consolidation of hospital systems resulting in increases in cost of care, but there are other pertinent problems to consider. For example, in the current system, the physician and hospital make more money if they perform more services...so there is an incentive to order more...

As Worries Over the Power Grid Rise, a Drill Will Simulate a Knockout Blow MATTHEW L. WALD, August 16, 2013 WASHINGTON — The electric grid, as government and private experts describe it, is the glass jaw of American industry. If an adversary lands a knockout blow, they fear, it could black out vast areas of the continent for weeks; interrupt supplies of water, gasoline, diesel fuel and fresh food; shut down communications; and create disruptions of a scale that was only hinted at by Hurricane Sandy and the attacks of Sept. 11. This is why thousands of utility workers,...

Tried reasoning with any of them lately? IMHO now entering a new period where Obama voters simply won't admit their mistake, no matter how bad the pain gets for us all. They're in denial mode it seems (now the only remaining alternative to surrender) rejecting reason on every level while hurling threadbare prog talking points at you, i.e. 'But now they can't turn away people for pre-existing conditions- it's a Good Thing!', like we needed a monstrosity of this magnitude to have this one single change legislated. Alas, they also seem plain tuckered-out and spent from defending a bumbling ...

In the increasingly “purple” state of Virginia, it wasn’t long ago that former Democrat party national chairman and corrupt Clinton crony Terry McAuliffe(who has never been elected to any public office) enjoyed a rather comfortable double-digit lead in the polls against his chief opponent to be the next governor, Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. As recently as late October, polling by The Washington Post, Roanoke College, and Rasmussen had McAuliffe beating Cuccinelli by 12, 15, and 17 points, respectively. But all that has suddenly changed, and changed dramatically. The election is less than four days away–to be held on Tuesday...

Lawyers for the family of a 13-year-old Santa Rosa boy carrying a replica rifle and killed by a deputy when he said the teen wouldn’t put it down, have filed three claims against Sonoma County and plan to file a federal lawsuit in the wake of the boy’s death. In the claims, according to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, the firm of Moreno, Becerra and Casillas, based in Montebello, Calif., allege that the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office failed to develop proper policies and training for pedestrian stops, and that it negligently hired and continued to employ the deputies involved in...

Following the violent gang-rape of a New Delhi woman last year that made international headlines, engineering students in India have created anti-rape underwear that they say will prevent sexual assault. Called Society Harnessing Equipment, or SHE, the device will deliver up to 82 electric shocks of 3,800 kV to an attacker, according to The Times of India. To prevent the wearer from being shocked, SHE's inner side is "insulated with a polymer," according to creators Niladri Basu, Manisha Mohan and Rimpi Tripathy, students at SRM University, Chennai. The device is also equipped with GPS that can deliver alerts to police...

At the beginning of the year, I was asked whether Europe’s fiscal crisis was over. Showing deep thought and characteristic maturity, my response was “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, are you ;@($&^#’% kidding me?” But I then shared specific reasons for pessimism, including the fact that many European nations had the wrong response to the fiscal crisis. With a few exceptions (such as the Baltic nations), European governments used the crisis to impose big tax hikes, includinghigher income tax rates and harsher VAT rates. Combined with the fact that Europe’s demographic outlook is rather grim, you can understand why I’m not brimming with hope...

Obedience or Independence? "If you love Me, keep My commandments" —John 14:15 Our Lord never insists on obedience. He stresses very definitely what we ought to do, but He never forces us to do it. We have to obey Him out of a oneness of spirit with Him. That is why whenever our Lord talked about discipleship, He prefaced it with an “If,” meaning, “You do not need to do this unless you desire to do so.” “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself . . .” (Luke 9:23). In other words, “To be My...

Along a bay front dotted with sailboats and shrimp boats, the movement of crude oil has long been part of the background scenery. Only now, most of the ships sit lower in the water when they leave — heavier and filled with Eagle Ford Shale crude oil bound for other U.S. ports and Canada — than when they arrive at the port. Starting in July for the first time ever, more domestic oil left the Port of Corpus Christi than foreign oil arrived. It’s a startling trend, but just one of several effects of the Eagle Ford boom, which has...

Over the last day or two, the major breaking story has really been a throwback: in 2010, the Obama administration promulgated rules governing what plans that pre-existed Obamacare would be “grandfathered” under that statute, and allowed to continue. In the context of announcing its rules, the administration predicted that because of their restrictiveness, many millions of Americans would lose their existing insurance coverage, whether they liked it or not. Further, it has been widely reported (as by CNN, here) that Republicans tried to reverse the administration’s “grandfather” rules so that those who liked their insurance would be allowed to keep...

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Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Children and Families In The Bible 2 Samuel 16 New International Version (NIV) David and Ziba 1 When David had gone a short distance beyond the summit, there was Ziba, the steward of Mephibosheth, waiting to meet him. He had a string of donkeys saddled and loaded with two hundred loaves of bread, a hundred cakes of raisins, a hundred cakes of figs and a skin of wine. 2 The king asked Ziba, “Why have you brought these?” Ziba answered, “The donkeys are for the king’s household to ride on, the bread and...

Editor's Note: This column was co-authored by Prof. Richard Vedder, the Distinguished Professor of Economics Emeritus at Ohio University. Cincinnati and Detroit are separated by barely more than 250 miles – a five-hour drive at worst, or under an hour by plane. Despite this proximity, many Cincinnatians would prefer to believe that Detroit’s horrendous fiscal situation couldn’t possibly hit their city. Not so fast. As the largest bankrupt city in America, Detroit has seen its population drop by more than half, unemployment soar to well over double the national average, and services decline. This is what happens to a locality...