Free Republic

As the vote on the Rule to bring the $1 trillion-plus funding bill to the floor of the US House of Representatives was about to start yesterday, I and many of my fellow conservatives were still burning up the phone lines to Republicans, saying “NO”! This is a paraphrase of the way one of my calls went: Congressional Office: This is Congressman Robert Wittman’s Office. Me: Hello, I’m not from your district, but I am active in Republican precinct work and have been a contributor to Republican candidates in several states. I would appreciate it if you would give my...

In small-town community centers, schools, churches and a vast city convention center, immigrant advocates are spreading the word about President Barack Obama's plan to give millions of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally a temporary reprieve. The November announcement promising work permits and protection from deportation made a splash, but lawyers say the events are crucial to dispel rumors about eligibility, ward off fraud, and help immigrants determine what they might need to apply. In Los Angeles, advocates are hosting an information session for as many as 10,000 people at the city's convention center Sunday. "After this big forum, we're...

The Republican Party and its leaders have undergone a transformation over the last several years, according to conservative radio talk host Rush Limbaugh, and the GOP now eschews Limbaugh and others like him because "I no longer espouse what they believe," he said Tuesday on his show. Limbaugh’s remarks were in response to a caller, John in Winter Haven, Florida, who wanted to know Limbaugh’s opinion on a theory John had, namely that the GOP establishment sits back and waits for Limbaugh and others in the conservative media to communicate their message. "Our GOP establishment just sits mute as issue...

So who's crazy now? In 2011, the MSM mercilessly mocked Michele Bachmann for saying that if she became president, gas prices would fall to under $2/gallon. Typical was Time magazine, which called her prediction "fantasy." Time mocked Bachmann's drill, baby, drill policy, sniffing that if implemented, "prices at the pump might drop a whole 3 cents a gallon." But on CBS This Morning, there was top oil analyst Tom Kloza, saying that by Christmas, gas prices would be in the range of . . . $1.99-2.29 [I saw $2.18 here in Texas yesterday]. So who's crazy now, and where does...

One of the most prominent A-list presences in the emails ripped from Sony’s servers by the hacking collective Guardians of Peace is none other than Jennifer Lawrence (who is, sadly, no stranger to hacking herself). Lawrence and her fabulous email handle (peanutbutt) make several cameos in the leak, including numerous pleasant exchanges with Amy Pascal, co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, over her dazzling turn in American Hustle, which was co-financed by Sony arm Columbia Pictures. There’s also an interesting email exchange between Pascal and Brian Helgeland, screenwriter of the planned Cleopatra biopic, with Pascal suggesting that Helgeland dump Angelina Jolie...

We all know that the American energy revolution, led by the new technologies of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, has created a flood of new shale-oil and natural-gas production that has overwhelmed world markets and driven prices down by roughly 40 percent. End-of-week crude oil closed near $57 a barrel, and the national average gasoline price finished at $2.60. No matter what the naysayers are trying to sell, the new energy reality is unambiguously good for the U.S. and global economies. There may be some dislocations among countries, sectors, or companies, but the overwhelming impact is positive. In fact, the...

Jose Manuel Marino-Najera had been walking through the desert with a bundle of marijuana on his back for three days when he ran out of water. The 31-year-old father of one had been working on a grape harvest in Caborca, a border city on the Mexican side of the Sonoran Desert, when he found out about an opportunity to get to New York. He had an uncle there and, hopefully, would find work. Crossing the border illegally, with the help of coyotes, or smugglers, is typically a very expensive endeavor. But Marino had found a group willing to help him...

Police have arrested a 22-year-old man in connection with Friday’s shooting at an Oregon high school for at-risk students. Police have been searching for a gunman who left three young people hospitalized in what investigators say appears to be a gang-related shooting outside Rosemary Anderson High School in Portland.

To the very limited extent that congressional Democrats have enjoyed the last four years of gridlock on Capitol Hill, they have derived pleasure from watching the Republican Party rupture over and over again, its divisions between the conservative Tea Party and the establishment leadership preventing just about any real legislative accomplishments. As afternoon turned to evening on Thursday, it was the Democrats who were turning on each other. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senator Elizabeth Warren, the liberal darling, railed against a White House-backed spending deal that narrowly passed the House just a couple hours before a midnight deadline...

SeattlePostIntelligencer: US embargo stalled payment to Cuban Ebola doctors 15 hours ago "HAVANA (AP) — Cuba had to cover food and lodging expenses for dozens of its doctors fighting Ebola in Sierra Leone after the U.S. embargo delayed payments from the World Health Organization, an official at the U.N.

Sarah Palin – RINO Season Opens Soon, Amnesty Juan Boehner Flipped America the Bird Rick Wells Sarah Palin, as is the case with most conservatives and others who value the Constitution and the rule of law in the United States, is not happy that the Speaker of the House and his comrades have lied and sold out the American people. John Boehner has effectively allowed Hussein Obama act as a dictator and to take actions which are illegal and which circumvent Congress through the implementation of his criminal amnesty. She had a few choice words in response to questions after...

Explanation: This remarkable synthetic color composite image was assembled from archives of visible light and infrared astronomy image data. The field of view spans the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), a massive spiral a mere 2.5 million light-years away. In fact, with over twice the diameter of our own Milky Way, Andromeda is the largest nearby galaxy. Andromeda's population of bright young blue stars lie along its sweeping spiral arms, with the telltale reddish glow of star forming regions traced in space- and ground-based visible light data. But infrared data from the Spitzer Space Telescope, also blended directly into the detailed composite's...

At the Extraordinary Synod held at the Vatican in October, several Catholic married couples were invited as “non-voting” auditors to offer some experiences “from the ground up” for consideration by the synod fathers.A Brazilian couple, Arturo and Hermelinda As Zamberline, were exceptional in focusing on contraception as the larger context in which the various problems concerning marriage should be understood. Their experience certainly coincides with the facts of Catholic existence in other parts of the world. As they put it: We must admit without fear that many Catholic couples, even those who seek to live their marriage seriously, do not...

Explanation: This extreme close-up, a mosaic from the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on the Curiosity rover, spans a breathtaking 5 centimeters. It captures what appear to be elongated crystal shapes formed by the precipitation of minerals dissolved in water, a likely result of the evaporation of ancient lake or river from the Martian surface. Brushed by a dust removal tool and illuminated by white LEDs, the target rock named Mojave was found on the Pink Cliffs outcrop of the Pahrump Hills at the base of Mount Sharp. The MAHLI images were acquired on Curiosity's sol 809, known on planet...

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The worst storm to slam sunny San Diego in the past six years has encouraged thousands of sailors to repent for their sins and seek the unconditional forgiveness of the omniscient deity of their choosing, sources confirmed Friday. Many service members elected to remain home and spend their last moments with their families — except those on duty — who were tasked with bringing two animals of every kind aboard their ships. “Duty is duty,” proclaimed an unidentified master chief. Read more: http://www.duffelblog.com/2014/12/san-diego-rain-us-navy/#ixzz3Lmkeq5HW

We all know that the American energy revolution, led by the new technologies of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, has created a flood of new shale-oil and natural-gas production that has overwhelmed world markets and driven prices down by roughly 40 percent. End-of-week crude oil closed near $57 a barrel, and the national average gasoline price finished at $2.60. No matter what the naysayers are trying to sell, the new energy reality is unambiguously good for the U.S. and global economies. There may be some dislocations among countries, sectors, or companies, but the overwhelming impact is positive. In fact, the...

PANAMA CITY - Cuba will attend the Washington-backed Summit of the Americas for the first time, host nation Panama said Friday, edging two adversaries closer to a possible joint appearance by Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro. The United States is expected to attend but has not yet announced whether Obama will lead the U.S. delegation, a development that would stir protest from the influential anti-Castro lobby. Washington has said Cuba should be excluded, but Secretary of State John Kerry indicated a softening of that position in a speech in Miami on Wednesday when he said, "We must get beyond...

Two suspects are in custody after Springdale Police said they robbed C & S Gun and Pawn shop at gun-point Saturday morning (Dec. 6). According to police, the owner of the shop shot one of the suspects. Police said 25-year-old Marcus Gould and 20-year-old Leon Roberson are in custody after attempting to rob the store carrying semi-automatic pistols. They said the owner, Shirley Cornett, pulled out her .38 revolver and shot Gould in the arm as he was jumping over the counter towards her husband, Clint.

A New York woman who claimed she was falsely arrested outside an Air National Guard base for taking photographs for a "Support Our Troops" website has been awarded $1.12 million in compensatory damages, her attorney said Friday...

Jim Geraghty published an interesting article the other day about 'Narrative Journalism' titled "What If the Media’s ‘Narrative Journalism’ Harms Their Own Causes? It has been widely discussed in light of what it contains, so I am going to go right for what is outside the box. Narrative Journalism, in this context, also necessarily implies narrative protesters. The narrative being pushed by the journalist does not have to be true by any means, but to the protesters, it is very real. The challenge is that we as citizens are supposed to be able to trust the journalist establishment without fear...