Free Republic

In the responses to my “When Whites Just Don’t Get It” series, I’ve been struck by the lack of empathy some whites show for members of minority groups. So imagine if the world were reversed. Then “the talk” might go like this: “Don’t curse. It is wrong, but it’s the way the world works. And that’s why Mom and I are scared for you. With us whites in the minority, some cops are just going to see you as a threat no matter what. You’re going to get stopped by black cops, and I want you to promise you’ll never...

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Frank Walsh still pays dues to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, but more than four years have passed since his name was called at the union hall where the few available jobs are distributed. Mr. Walsh, his wife and two children live on her part-time income and a small inheritance from his mother, which is running out. Sitting in the food court at a mall near his Maryland home, he sees some of the restaurants are hiring. He says he can’t wait much longer to find a job. But he’s not ready yet. “I’d work for...

One of the Islamic State’s senior commanders reveals exclusive details of the terror group’s origins inside an Iraqi prison – right under the noses of their American jailers. In the summer of 2004, a young jihadist in shackles and chains was walked by his captors slowly into the Camp Bucca prison in southern Iraq [snip] “I knew some of them straight away,” he told me last month. “I had feared Bucca all the way down on the plane. But when I got there, it was much better than I thought. In every way.”

As Democrats took sharp aim at the White House over a year-end spending bill, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden scrambled to stave off a revolt from congressional liberals over a deal that no one in the West Wing or the Democratic Party really wants. Obama’s base says he’s sold them out—and didn’t even wait to do it until Republicans officially expand their majority in the House and takeover the Senate come January. Some on the left are worried the wide range of policy riders in a spending bill is a worrisome sign as Republicans take over the...

The simplest solution to the mess that the republican leadership created...in September, by funding the government till December 12th. They wanted to play games and they are getting burned!

"Stop this fighting, or I'm turning this CRomnibus around!" -- John Boehner

Supports the efforts by President Poroshenko and the people of Ukraine to establish a lasting peace for Ukraine that includes: full withdrawal of Russian forces from its territory, full control of its international borders, disarming of separatist and paramilitary forces in eastern Ukraine, adoption of policies to reduce the Russian Federation's ability to use energy exports and trade barriers as weapons to apply economic and political pressure, and an end to interference by the Russian Federation in Ukraine's internal affairs.

Illegal immigrant Jose Manuel Marino-Najera is suing the Border Patrol over dog bites he sustained after entering America illegally and carrying drugs into the country. Marino-Najera claims his human rights were violated after United States Border Patrol officers unleashed canine agents on him before he was arrested on a “cartel controlled” section of the Mexican border. Jose Manuel Marino-Najera reportedly became an illegal immigrant after choosing to have coyotes – human smugglers, help him get across the U.S. border with Mexico. To garner the help of the coyotes, Marino-Najera allegedly had to agree to tote a large bag full of...

In research out of the University of Manchester in the UK led by Nobel Laureate Andre Geim, it has been shown that the one-atom-thick materials graphene and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), once thought to be impermeable, allow protons to pass through them. The result, the Manchester researchers believe, will be more efficient fuel cells and the simplification of the heretofore difficult process of separating hydrogen gas for use as fuel in fuel cells. This latest development alters the understanding of one of the key properties of graphene: that it is impermeable to all gases and liquids. Even an atom as...

Why the right and left have teamed up to sink a bill, which is supported by the White House and the GOP leadership, that would keep the government open until next fall. With a government shutdown looming, Nancy Pelosi and Michele Bachmann are on the same side. And the other team includes Barack Obama and John Boehner. So how did such strange alliances get formed? The “cromnibus”, the budget bill that would avoid a shutdown and keep the government open until next October, has become bogged in controversy as conservative Republicans and many Democrats have joined together in opposition. But,...

In a rare alliance, President Barack Obama and Speaker John Boehner scrambled Thursday to salvage a a $1.1 trillion must-pass spending bill amid a Republican revolt over immigration and a Democratic revolt over provisions that would deregulate Wall Street and increase the amount that individual donors can contribute to national political party committees. With its fate in doubt, President Obama took to the phones to personally lobby Democratic members on Thursday to vote for the legislation, a development White House spokesman Josh Earnest confirmed to MSNBC’s Alex Wagner. Republican leaders scrambled to convince enough conservative dissenters to change their votes...

Do you want to know where Republican leaders are today? In bed with the White House, and enjoying every minute of it. The House Republican leadership is desperate to pass a massive $1 trillion spending bill before the clock runs out on government funding at midnight. Obama wants it too. Conservatives hate it because it says nothing about the worst presidential power grab anyone can remember, the unilateral amnesty. Pretty bad omen for next year, don’t you think?

The man who coined the slogan ‘Hands Up Don’t Shoot’ has landed a government job. Dorian Johnson infamously known as Michael Brown’s accomplice in the strong armed robbery of a convenience store, was captured in surveillance video stealing Swisher Sweets cigarillos minutes before Officer Darren Wilson fatally shot Michael Brown. Johnson was also walking with Brown when they were stopped in the street by Wilson. Johnson was the man who falsely stated that Michael Brown was shot from behind as he surrendered himself to the officer. Autopsy results disproved the claim and showed that Michael brown was forward facing when...

The Obama administration made a last-ditch attempt on Thursday to drum up Democratic support to salvage a faltering $1.1 trillion spending bill, just hours ahead of a midnight U.S. government shutdown deadline. Administration officials from President Barack Obama down to staff at the Department of Education were phoning Democrats in the House of Representatives to ask them to set aside objections to a financial provision and pass the measure to fund most of the government through September.

House Republican leaders and the Obama White House formed an unlikely alliance late Thursday as they scrambled to secure the votes for a $1.1 trillion spending bill, ahead of a midnight deadline. Fox News is told that President Obama and Vice President Biden were calling House Democrats appealing for their support. Meanwhile, House GOP leaders were trying to sway conservative members who, for different reasons, were opposed to the package. Unclear is whether the push can produce a bipartisan majority to approve the package. Earlier in the day, the bill narrowly cleared an important procedural hurdle, on a 214-212 test...

But after Barbara Bowman told her horrific story to the Washington Post in October and Johnson's longtime friend and fellow model Janice Dickinson did the same, Johnson knew the time had come. In her words: Finally, I reached the conclusion that the current attack on African American men has absolutely nothing to do at all with Bill Cosby. He brought this on himself when he decided he had the right to have his way with who knows how many women over the last four decades. If anything, Cosby is distinguished from the majority of black men in this country because...

So there I was, resting in the hospital after my flat foot corrective surgery, when I turned the tablet sized TV on. There it was starting, on HBO, The Lego Movie, which came out early this year around February. I had heard so many things about it, meant to see it, but never made time before it left the theaters. Now I would be able to watch it for free. The movie begins, and I make an effort to suspend all disbelief for a while. I try to become a part of this little world made up of colored plastic...

Murphy running into oven

Facebook is working on software that could prevent users posting unflattering photos of themselves. Combining image recognition and artificial intelligence, the system would be able to distinguish between drunk and sober pictures. It would ask: "Are you sure you want your boss and your mother to see this?" The plan was revealed by the head of Facebook's artificial intelligence research lab. Speaking to Wired magazine, Yann LeCun said he wanted to build a Facebook digital assistant. In the future, this assistant might also be able to help identify when someone else has uploaded a picture of a user without permission,...

With Detroit emerging from bankruptcy yesterday, its experience under Chapter 9 was apparently so successful (occasional subsequent massive power outage notwithstanding), that suddenly every other insolvent city in the US is also i) admitting it is in dire straits and ii) hoping to recreate the Detroit experience. Enter East Cleveland. As Bloomberg Brief reports, the council president in East Cleveland said if she had her way, the city would follow Detroit's path and become Ohio's first municipality to file for bankruptcy to help solve its fiscal woes.State Auditor Dave Yost said the suburb of 17,500, where oil baron John...