Free Republic

Conservators from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts labored in the chill and snow for hours today to unearth what is believed to be the oldest unopened time capsule in the country, buried under the Golden Dome of the Massachusetts State House in 1795 by then-Governor Samuel Adams and Paul Revere, according to state records. The 219-year-old capsule is made of cowhide and was initially discovered during State House renovations in 1855. When the repairs were complete, the state’s 23rd governor, Henry Gardner, re-buried it in the granite cornerstone of the historic building, adding new items, including coins. Four coins...

The Chicago police officer who played "Sweet Home Alabama" from of a police car during a West Side anti-police-violence protest over the weekend will be disciplined, according to a news release sent from the Chicago Police Department on Thursday.

Thoughts on the two programs? I love a good sleuthing show, but Elementary seems to muck up 100+ years of Sir Author Conan Doyle to me.

After the “cromnibus” passed Thursday night, Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., made the rather shocking claim that GOP leadership convinced him to vote for the rule allowing the bill to get to the floor by telling him they were pulling the bill anyway. “Earlier today, I supported the Rule because I was informed by Leadership that the CROmnibus was dead and a short term CR would take its place,” Stutzman said in a news release. “I was very surprised and even more disappointed to see the CROmnibus back on the floor. The American people deserve better.” The rule passed the House...

I am asking all FReepers for their help. Due to health issues I have foolishly allowed myself to fall behind on current events (as some of my recent posts may have indicated). I am not really all that tech- or internet-savvy. I have seen many web-sites listed as sources for the many threads here. Are there any other sites where information about all things politics and current affairs is available? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

The House narrowly approved a sweeping spending bill Thursday night despite deep misgivings among liberals and conservatives alike, sending the measure to the Senate as lawmakers averted a partial government shutdown. The bill passed on a 219-206 vote, following an intense lobbying effort by House Republican leaders and the White House.

Pray For Our American Heroes and Our Nation Since You are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of Your Name lead and guide me. Keep me free from the trap that is set for me, for You are my refuge. Psalm 31:3-4 (NIV) ----

“Congress and the American people have debated a number of different paths to try to hold President Obama accountable for his executive overreach. While there is still disagreement on which path is best, the path that we took in the House tonight is the first step to get us there. First and foremost, this bill holds the line on spending, implementing a spending level that is even lower than the one proposed in the original ‘too conservative to pass’ Paul Ryan budget. Additionally, the bill implements conservative priorities such as an increase in pay and funding for our troops, as...

There is very little information available right now, but Fox News reporter, Dominic was found dead in his apartment. The Coroner said his death was due to suicide. Police were alerted by a friend to check on Natale, due to his state of mind attributed most likely to an undisclosed health problem. Dominic, fluent in many languages, had worked at Fox since 2007.

FULL TITLE: ‘This is why we check our shoes’: The horrifying pictures of spiders in footwear, children’s trampolines and car seats that are turning U.S. travellers off Australia Emerging from shoes, lying undetected in toilets, waiting patiently in cars and on walls, native wildlife has earned Australia the tag of a country brimming with deadly creatures. In many cases, this reputation is well-earned, with countless cases of bites, stings, and close encounters with the nation's creepiest of crawlies. Images of the poisonous and many-legged creatures have started to pack a frightful punch overseas, with many US citizens expressing their fear...

Hillary Clinton Wins Award From Gay Hookup App By Brianna Keilar December 11, 2014 Washington (CNN) -- Users of Grindr, the leading gay hookup app, have voted Hillary Clinton their "Straight Ally of the Year." The former secretary of state joins a slate of other noteworthy figures highlighted in Grindr's 'Best of Awards' for 2014, including Neil Patrick Harris (voted "Gay Icon of the Year" for the second year in a row) and Vladimir Putin (voted "Enemy of the LGBT Community"). While Clinton's team has not responded to request for comment, it seems likely she would welcome the positive reaction...

ObamaCare ads will now appear on 7-Eleven receipts at more than 7,000 stores nationwide as government health officials expand their outreach in the second year of healthcare sign-ups. Information about ObamaCare sign-ups will appear on the bottom of receipts for anyone using an mobile payment company called PayNearMe, which allows bank-less customers to pay in stores like 7-Eleven and Family Dollar. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell announced the new partnership with the tech start-up PayNearMe on Thursday at a store in Washington, D.C.

Next year, the Iowa Department of Transportation will experiment with issuing drivers licenses via an app. The digital license will display a 3-D photo of the driver's face, which can be rotated side to side so law enforcement can better match the licensee to the picture.

Greek authorities are investigating a pre-dawn, drive-by gunfire attack on the Israeli embassy in Athens, which caused no injuries or damage. […] There was no claim of responsibility for the attack. …

Castillo said no one, not even presidents and Cabinet ministers, is allowed without authorization where the activists trod, and those who do have permission must wear special shoes.The Nazca lines are huge figures depicting living creatures, stylized plants and imaginary figures scratched on the surface of the ground between 1,500 and 2,000 years ago. They are believed to have had ritual astronomical functions.

For 36 years, Jim Garlow didn’t know his first adopted child was the result of a rape. But after his wife Carol lost a six-year battle with cancer last year, their daughter, Janie, went in search of her birth mother. In succeeding, Janie also discovered the horrific circumstances of her own conception. The story spurs Jim Garlow, a pastor in California, to fight a state mandate that his church’s employee health plan pay for elective abortions. When Janie’s birth mother was a freshman in high school, two senior boys asked her to go to the movies. Instead, they took her...

The outline of features for the next Synod of Bishops in October 2015, or Lineamenta, has been released. The Lineamenta is based on the last Synod’s final document, the Relatio Synodi. For the Relatio, the members of the Synod voted on each paragraph. According to the Synod’s own rules, established and approved by those appointed by Pope Francis to run the Synod, in order to be included in the Relatio each paragraph had to receive a 2/3’s majority of voting members. Some paragraphs, on Communion for the divorced and civilly remarried and on homosexuality, very controversial paragraphs, did not receive...

When legislation came before Congress that would’ve banned abortions done because the baby was the “wrong” gender, pro-choicers fell all over themselves to say that this never happens. However, a number of abortionists and clinic workers have documented incidents where it has. Sallie Tisdale, a pro-choice clinic worker, said the following in her article in Harpers magazine: Always couples would abort a girl and keep a boy… An 18-year-old woman with three daughters brought her husband to the interview. He glared first at me, then at his wife, as he sank lower and lower in the chair, picking his teeth...

J.J. Abrams has unveiled the latest trick up his Jedi-reviving sleeve: He's revealing the names of the new characters populating Star Wars: The Force Awakens via old-fashioned trading cards—which will make for quite the holiday gift for fans, especially those whose collection was founded on the original Star Wars Topps trading cards that were all the rage back in 1977.

CIA Director John Brennan threaded a rhetorical needle in an unprecedented televised news conference at CIA headquarters Thursday, acknowledging that agency officers did “abhorrent” things to detainees but defending the overall post-9/11 interrogation program for stopping attacks and saving lives. At the heart of Brennan’s case is a finely tuned argument: that while today’s CIA takes no position on whether the brutal interrogation tactics themselves led detainees to cooperate, there is no doubt that detainees subjected to the treatment offered “useful and valuable” information afterward. …