Free Republic

Foreign debt cancellations are expected to reach new highs in France’s 2014 development aid budget, with Somalia, Zimbabwe, Chad, Ivory Coast and Sudan in line for a complete deletion of their national debt. Last week, French MPs told two ministers—Pascal Canfin, in charge of development policy, and Benoît Hamon, in charge of the social economy—that the country’s development aid budget was “scattered” and “non-transparent”. The MPs, on the foreign affairs committee of the French National Assembly, were speaking during the the latest assessment of the 2014 budget. The parliamentarians discussed debt relief for the “most indebted poor countries”, the PPTE...

Interesting introspective of Jimi on PBS tonight

I am a firm believer that every problem in America can be traced back to a breakdown of society’s moral code. The more and more we loosen our grip on the Biblical principles that this country was built upon, the more problems we seem to have in every facet of American life. I don’t believe that everyone in America has to be Christian, but I do believe that we all need to be conscious of Christian principles that are also present in many other faiths. It’s a simple case of morals. When people stop being good, the world around them...

"The Guy Fawkes mask has now become a common brand and a convenient placard to use in protest against tyranny — and I'm happy with people using it, it seems quite unique, an icon of popular culture being used this way," British graphic novel artist David Lloyd, the man who created the original image of the mask for a comic strip written by Alan Moore, told BBC. At the top of Reddit today is somewhat ironic image of this icon of rebellion being mass-produced in a factory in Sao Goncalo near Rio de Janeiro. Reuters notes that the masks are...

DO not waste time thinking about the heroics of the saints, their miracles, extraordinary penances, or ecstasies if it only brings you discouragement in your present state (“I’ll never be one of them,” we mumble, and then promptly return to the status quo beneath the heel of Satan). Rather, then, occupy yourself with simply walking on the The Little Path, which leads no less, to the beatitude of the saints. THE LITTLE PATH Jesus set forth The Little Path when He said to His followers: Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow...

Years ago I was talking to an uncle who happens to be a martial arts expert. He told me a story about being in a bar when a man started beating the heck out of his girlfriend. My uncle being my uncle, he intervened and separated the two. As he’s standing there confronting the abuser, he was attacked from behind by the girlfriend… You hear about things like this all the time, a version of what is called “Abused Woman Syndrome” where a woman is abused by a man but continues to stay with him, and as in the story...

<p>FORMER PM John Howard thinks there'll never be a worldwide climate change agreement and admits he only backed emissions trading before the 2007 election because he faced a "perfect storm" on the issue.</p> <p>"I've always been agnostic about it (climate change)," Mr Howard told reporters in London before his address.</p>

STUDY FINDS OBAMACARE premiums will be highest in states that did not vote for President Obama, prompting some lawmakers to say it proves 'law picks winners and losers' across the country.

The military must prepare for major upheaval, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said Tuesday, because meeting the budgetary and security challenges of the future will “require significant change across every aspect of our defense enterprise.” And deep cuts in end strength could be just one of the results. (snip) “We may have to accept the reality that not every unit will be at maximum readiness, and some kind of a tiered readiness system is perhaps inevitable,” Hagel said. “This carries the risk that the President would have fewer options to fulfill our national security objectives.” (snip) “We will need to...

In a sign of liberal panic, NPR's Diane Rehm Show spent its first hour Monday questioning President Obama's management style. As their website elaborated on the Healthcare.gov fiasco and the NSA spying on world leaders, "the latest embarrassments have even some of the president’s supporters questioning his management style." To insure that their comments weren't too upsetting to Obama-loving NPR listeners, several journalists -- Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post and David Gergen of CNN -- insisted the Obama administration has been "relatively scandal-free" in its operations: MARCUS: This is not a scandal in the traditional sense of scandal. And...

Dan Rather excluded from CBS' anniversary coverage of Kennedy assassination Published: November 5, 2013 1:57 PM By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The 50th-anniversary coverage of the Kennedy assassination on CBS News won't include the recollections of its longtime anchor Dan Rather, further proof of the lingering bitterness following Rather's messy exit and subsequent lawsuit against the network. Rather helped organize CBS' plans for President John F. Kennedy's visit to Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963, and as a young reporter was a key component of assassination coverage. Now 82, with his own show on AXS-TV, he's one of the few reporters on...

The CEO of America’s largest health insurer, Aetna, wants the Obama administration to shut down the federal health-care exchange rather than attempt to fix it while it’s still running. The executive, Mark Bertolini, told an audience at a community college in Connecticut, “Pushing the pause button right now would be a good thing.”

A major Democratic Party benefactor and Obama campaign bundler helped pay for professional petition circulators responsible for getting Virginia Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Robert C. Sarvis on the ballot — a move that could split conservative votes in a tight race. Campaign finance records show the Libertarian Booster PAC has made the largest independent contribution to Sarvis’ campaign, helping to pay for professional petition circulators who collected signatures necessary to get Sarvis’ name on Tuesday’s statewide ballot. Austin, Texas, software billionaire Joe Liemandt is the Libertarian Booster PAC’s major benefactor. He’s also a top bundler for President Barack Obama. This revelation...

When New Mexico police stopped a local driver for committing a minor moving violation, they decided to check whether he was carrying drugs in his anus. So they procured a warrant, drove him to two different hospitals, forced him to endure eight medical procedures — including an invasive colonoscopy — and stuck him with the bill. No drugs were found. According to medical records, police reports and a federal lawsuit obtained by KOB-TV, police held Eckert until they were able to procure a warrant from a judge to search the man’s anal cavity. They then drove him to a nearby...

COLUMBIA — The Missouri Court of Appeals Western District published an opinion Tuesday morning granting Ryan Ferguson's request to overturn his 2005 conviction for the murder of Kent Heitholt.

The drugmaker Merck & Co. will lay off 500 people from its facility in West Point, Montgomery County, between Dec. 23 and Jan. 5. Merck said on Oct. 1 that it would eliminate 8,500 jobs from its worldwide workforce beyond the 7,500 it had not yet cut from an earlier restructuring plan, but company officials were not specific about where and when. Several big pharmaceutical companies with operations in the area are cutting jobs. Message boards devoted to Merck have been full of discussions about which units would lose people, but official public notice of the 500 job cuts at...

Electoral trends show America's large cities growing more and more liberal, meaning urban conservatives are becoming more and more isolated. However, there are a handful of cities out there that buck the trend and still provide friendly habitat for city-dwelling conservatives. We scoured the country for large cities with populations over 200,000 that offer a combination of conservative values, a high quality of life, and plenty of big city activities to enjoy. We looked into recent voting trends, tax rates, business-friendly grades, locals who identify as "highly religious," gun-friendly laws, conservative local politicians, and more. Then we combined them with quality...

Southern California Congressman Darrell Issa is rumored to be cooking up his own immigration reform proposal. It’s reportedly designed to find some middle ground in the contentious debate over providing legal status to the more than 11 million immigrants in the country illegally. -snip- The details of Issa’s plan for immigration reform are still scarce, and his office didn’t respond to numerous requests for an interview. But the plan would reportedly include a six-year period of temporary relief from deportation for undocumented immigrants. During that time, they would be expected to find a legal way to stay here or leave....

The endgame is upon us. The IAEA is not known for reckless rhetoric, and is not considered especially favorable to Israel. According to this former IAEA official, Iran will have a nuclear bomb within the next month, if not within two weeks (if they rush). Prime Minister Netanyahu has declared, repeatedly, that Israel will not allow the Islamist regime of Iran to produce nuclear weapons. There is good reason for this – the Iranian regime has made no secret of its genocidal hatred of Jews and its desires to wipe Israel off the face of the map. It is the...

This idea just randomly popped in my head...