Free Republic

Muslims are forbidden from traveling to Mars: Islamic cleric issues a fatwa against any manned mission to Mars. Sheikh Ali al Hemki, a member of Saudi Arabia's board of religious scholars, has issued a fatwa forbidding Muslims from traveling to Mars, according to a news report published Oct. 31. The fatwa is a result of concerns and criticisms coming from Islamic scholars about Mars One, an ambitious attempt to organise a manned mission to the Red Planet. The mission has drawn applications from more than 200 thousand people worldwide. 477 Saudi citizens have applied for the mission, and six have...

Justin Bieber dropped down a notch on the Twitter pecking order over the weekend as Katy Perry beat him to become the social network’s most popular user... ... some are questioning just how many followers of both singers are real. StatusPeople reckons more than 40% of Bieber’s Twitter fans are fake, compared to 52% of Perry’s. Bieber took over the most-followers title nine months ago, ending Lady Gaga’s two-year reign. Seven of the ten most followed Twitter users are musical artists, while the remaining three are Instagram, YouTube and U.S. President Barack Obama, according to CNBC.

November 4, 2013 8:05 AM Obamacare: Memo reveals health care adviser warned W.H. was losing control 3 years ago (CBS News) CBS News is learning the Obama administration knew of the risks associated with the Obamacare rollout well before last month. Three years ago, a trusted Obama health care adviser warned the White House it was losing control of Obamacare. A memo obtained by CBS News said strong leadership was missing and the law's successful implementation was in jeopardy. The warnings were specific and dire -- and ignored. David Cutler, who worked on the Obama 2008 campaign and was a...

On a Sunday afternoon in October of this year, Gabrielle Stropkai’s dog was shot by a police officer investigating a burglary nearby. The dog “was walking by and went ‘ruff ruff’ — just a couple of little ruffs,” a neighbor of the Stropkais’ told local television in Boise, Idado. But “she didn’t jump at him or anything.” In response, the owner remembers, the officer “pulled his weapon, asked whose dog it was, and shot her in the back of the head.” The dog died instantly. The Stropkais are not alone in their grief. A Google search for “dog shot by...

Virtual Medical Assistants: A Boon to the ACA Concept? NEW YORK (MainStreet) -- As Americans are watching the Obama Administration's foray into healthcare technology fail abysmally, it is worth noting that there are companies in this field that are successful. One is Next IT, a privately held, Spokane, Wash., hi-tech company, which is a leader in intelligent virtual assistants. It is adapting its 'Alme" platform for the healthcare field. Kathleen Sebelius should have considered it. The Alme program is ...

MEXICO CITY - Thirteen people were killed in shootouts on Sunday around the northeastern Mexican city of Matamoros in one of the worst recent outbreaks of violence in an area ravaged by drug gangs. Three gunfights took place around the city opposite Brownsville, Texas, two of which were exchanges between gunmen and Mexico's armed forces, according to a statement from the state government of Tamaulipas. Eight men died in the fighting with Mexican Marines after four men and one woman were killed in an earlier clash between unidentified armed groups, the state government said.

(CBS) — With an expected vote on same-sex marriage in Springfield next week, African-American clergy members campaigning against the issue are threatening to unseat lawmakers who vote in favor, reports WBBM’s Mike Krauser. Bishop Larry Trotter, of Sweet Holy Spirit Church in Chicago, is vowing that there will be consequences for those lawmakers who support same sex marriage. “I think that they will feel the crunch. I think that they cannot take for granted that they can come to the church and get the church’s sanction and votes and signatures and then go to Springfield and don’t speak what the...

It’s been a tough month for President Obama. His beloved healthcare scheme is a slow-motion train wreck and he wasn’t able to trick Republicans into a tax hike as part of budget fights. So let’s pile on with some humor. We’ll start with some NSA-related material. We’ve already shared some amusing cartoons, so now it’s time for a photo from Europe. I don’t know if this is a real pic, but it’s still funny. Not quite as good as this set of images portraying Obama as a voyeur, but worth a chuckle. And it may be a very positive development...

According to a recent report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), different generations have paid and will continue to pay disparate amounts of Medicare and Social Security payroll taxes, and they will also receive dissimilar amounts of Medicare and...

Late health-care payments put burden on retirees Read more about the Deadbeat Illinois series by liking By Greg Stanley GateHouse Media Illinois Posted Nov 03, 2013 @ 10:00 PM ROCKFORD — Retired college professor G. Michael Killenberg found out the state of Illinois wasn’t paying his health insurance bills while waiting in his allergist’s office for a weekly shot. His doctor turned to him and said, “‘You know, your people have never paid,’” Killenberg related. “I said, ‘Oh no, come on, sure they have.’” But sure enough, his state health insurance plan for retired employees was running eight months to...

FORT HUACHUCA — America’s defense depends on a continuously strong military, but proposed cuts concern a noted actor who has performed for military and civilian audiences in the states and overseas. Since his portrayal of Lt. Dan Taylor in “Forrest Gump” nearly 20 years ago, Gary Sinise has become involved in numerous military-affiliated activities, establishing a musical group named after his character in the movie — the Lt. Dan Band. On Sunday afternoon, the band performed on the post’s Warrior/Sentinel Field but before taking the stage to entertain the audience — and after a warm-up session — he spoke with...

I keep hearing this Democrat talking point being trotted out, accusing the Republicans of harming their constituents by not doing everything in their power to "fix" the Affordable Health Care Act. This one must test well in focus-groups because it keeps getting repeated. I've yet to hear one Republican answer this coherently. Here's my suggestion for a response: "If I saw a friend's house being looted would I do everything in my power to stop the looting, or would I walk over and try to negotiate with the looters? Would I call the police and try to get some neighbors...

I had a good response to putting the Enemies trilogy novels on Kindle free runs the last three weeks, so I decided to go ahead and do it with everything I have. The Bracken Anthology is a good introduction to my stuff, both fiction and nonfiction, so if you can spread the links to your "low information" friends and family, it might slap some sense into them. Or just entertain them. I'm doing these free runs prior to going sailing next year, and spending (I hope) a lot of time over the horizon and unconnected.All of these "internet published" short...

President Obama has come under fire recently for promises about the Affordable Care Act. The President repeatedly assured doubters that under the Affordable Care Act, Americans would be able to keep their existing health insurance. As a growing number of Americans receive cancellation notices from their insurance companies, many are describing this promise as misleading, if not an outright lie. These cancellation notices are particularly infuriating to young people, who are now forced to subsidize the health care of older, more affluent Americans. In a speech defending the law on Wednesday, the President attempted to shift the blame for these...

Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist will launch his gubernatorial campaign this morning at a public rally to be held at Albert Whitted Park near his St. Petersburg home. "I'm looking forward to Monday and making it official in every way," Crist said on Friday. "I just hope that the message that we deliver will lift Florida's spirits and let her know that there's a brighter future tomorrow. And it's coming."

1. Chris Christie 2. Rand Paul 3. Ted Cruz 4. Scott Walker Full list....http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ranking-the-republican-presidential-contenders-for-2016/2013/11/03/eea61722-449e-11e3-bf0c-cebf37c6f484_story.html

Anyone who pays attention to politics can see that when Democrats attack, they speak from the same text, and when they vote, they march in lockstep. If one Democrat says the wealthy must pay their “fair share,” all Democrats do — regardless of the merits of the charge. If their leaders say Republicans want to shut down the government in order to deny Americans affordable care, the rest of the party will follow their lead — whether the claim is true or not. When a key program like Obamacare is the issue, not only do Democrats back it with one...

Just in time to act as an illuminating footnote to the ObamaCare disaster, a study has been released revealing that one of Obama's early "triumphs," Cash for Clunkers, was actually a badly-run flop that accomplished nothing worthwhile at very high cost. The Brookings Institution study by Ted Gayer and Emily Parker finds that the 2009 program, which offered $3,500 to $4,500 for drivers to trade in their old "clunkers" for newer, more fuel-stingy models, fit the standard Obama practice of dropping vast amounts of cash for minor or ephemeral gains. Cash for Clunkers cost over $3 billion. It resulted in...

Introduction: Although the "New Testament" contains the same twenty-seven books for almost all Christians, there are some major and important differences between the "Hebrew Bible" (HB) used by Jews and different versions of the "Old Testament" (OT) used by various Christian churches and denominations: The foundational texts are different: Jewish Bibles are based on the HB; the OT section in Christian Bibles is arranged according to the order of books in the "Septuagint" (LXX), the ancient Greek version of the Jewish scriptures;however, the translations of individual OT books in Christian Bibles are now usually based on the texts of the...

<p>Erick Wyatt, a 37-year-old veteran of the war in Iraq, is running for Sen. John Cornyn’s seat in the Republican primary in March 2014.</p> <p>The young Veteran said he does not think Cornyn is doing a good job representing Texas, and the current Senator is “a moderate at best.”</p>