Free Republic

I’m standing at the intersection of Dwight and Shattuck in Berkeley with my hands in the air, shouting, “Hands up! Don’t shoot!” It is the third night of protests over the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner and the grand juries’ decision against indicting the white policemen involved in each of these cases. Surrounding me are students wearing Cal sweatshirts, young mothers with children, hippie types with gray ponytails, and a few middle-aged women like me. Although the crowd is sprinkled with brown and black faces, most of us are white. The irony of being a white person mimicking...

Explanation: Where did all the stars go? What used to be considered a hole in the sky is now known to astronomers as a dark molecular cloud. Here, a high concentration of dust and molecular gas absorb practically all the visible light emitted from background stars. The eerily dark surroundings help make the interiors of molecular clouds some of the coldest and most isolated places in the universe. One of the most notable of these dark absorption nebulae is a cloud toward the constellation Ophiuchus known as Barnard 68, pictured above. That no stars are visible in the center indicates...

The leader of a group hoping to improve liberals' fortunes at the state level revealed on Friday plans to start tracking conservative state legislators based on the assumption that "someone’s going to say something about black people" or women. “We’re working with David Brock and Media Matters and American Bridge who have trackers that we can send out to monitor the debate on some bills that you all might be running," Nick Rathod, executive director of SiX, said. "I think in many legislatures my understanding is that a lot of legislatures stream their floor debates but don’t necessarily transcribe it...

A Federal judge has ordered the Bank of America to pay a Florida couple $1 million for a slew of automated calls that occurred over a four-year period. According to the order, the relentless calls violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and as such the bank must pay the couple $1,500 for every prerecorded message received. In a statement, Joyce and Nelson Coniglio said they were harassed by telephone calls repeatedly after telling the bank on multiple occasions to stop. The calls started after the Coniglio’s began having problems with their mortgage payments....

On December 9, Bloomberg-funded Everytown for Gun Safety released a study claiming "100 school shootings" had occurred since the heinous Sandy Hook attack on December 14, 2012. The problem is their list contains non-school shootings, shootings that did not occur, and accidental discharges of firearms that were legally possessed on campus.

Tyler Durden 12/13/2014 The undisputed winner in this year's "Worst Idea At The Wrong Time" category is the poor suburb of Ferguson, Missouri, a town which was looted, burned and generally eviscerated on several occasions in the past few months as a result of public anger first at the murder of Mike Brown and subsequently, the acquital of the police officer who shot him. Why? Because according to Bloomberg, in order to close a municipal budget gap - and keep in mind the prevailing poverty in the region has been widely attributed as one of the reason for the escalating...

New government guidance has LGBT rights advocates "thrilled" In one short paragraph of a 34-page memo released on Dec. 1, the Department of Education articulated a clear stance on gender identity, saying transgender students in public schools should be enrolled in single-sex classes that align with how they live their lives day-to-day. “We’re thrilled,” says Shannon Minter, the legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights. “It’s so critical to the health and well-being of those students, and it’s going to be so helpful to have that guidance in writing so that schools understand what their obligations are.” The...

So while nobody knows the future we still need to know what to expect from the week's two big headlines, even though our view can easily (and will probably) be muddied w/ other factors.  So we deal with an unknown future by checking the historical record for clues on at what the news means to our future investment returns.  What oil bargains do:  namely, what's it doing to the economy and to investments; here's what tanking oil's done in the past (ya gotta LOVE the fed's data site) and how real oil prices (2014$ per barrel) track real GDP-- [click...

President Barack Obama has wisely chosen to ignore bipartisan bleating over the lawful use of his executive authority to address pressing issues long championed by the so-called professional left. He has instead decided to flex his muscle, at long last. He struck a deal with China to reduce greenhouse gases by 30 percent over the coming years, pushed for regulating the Internet as a public utility, raised the minimum wage of workers employed by companies with federal contracts, created gender equity rules for such employees and protected from deportation as many as 5 million undocumented immigrants. Also, his Environmental Protection...

Why should godless progressives have all the good music? Actually, they don't! They may not admit it "on record," but these artists are taking some clear shots at Barack-on-the-Spot (and his twisted movement). This is a leader who has seduced the ignorant, disappointed the hopeful, and exceeded the fears of the concerned... Well, let's just say he's more than deserving! Here's the Top-10-Anti-Obama/NWO Countdown! (We're counting down to #1!)

The Senate voted 56-40 late Saturday evening to pass a $1.1 trillion spending package that funds most of the government through next September. The vote culminates a week of acrimonious sniping and sends the spending bill to President Obama’s desk for a signature. The debate exposed divisions within the Democratic and Republican caucuses on both sides of the Capitol and sets the stage for what could be a year of internecine squabbling in 2015. Twenty-one Senate Democrats voted against the bill while 24 Republicans voted for it, including every member of the Senate GOP leadership. Democratic opponents included several senators...

Sweet, Beautiful, Soul-Saving Joy – A Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Advent By: Msgr. Charles PopeThis Sunday is traditionally called Gaudete Sunday based on the Introit for the day: Gaudete in Domino semper, iterum dico, Gaudete (from Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say, Rejoice). This theme is developed most fully in today’s readings in 1 Thessalonians 5:16ff. It, too, begins with the salutation and imperative, “rejoice always!”Let’s take a closer look at that reading and what is meant by the admonition to “rejoice.”The text begins, Rejoice always. The Greek word properly translated here as “rejoice”...

State police made 23 arrests yesterday and hundreds of demonstrators snarled traffic through downtown Boston as they marched in protest of the killing of unarmed black men by police in Ferguson, Mo., and Staten Island, N.Y. “Several demonstrators who failed to comply with the law despite orders to do so have been taken into custody in the area of Nashua Street, near the ramps to Route 93,” state police said in a statement yesterday afternoon.

Last month there was a shooting at Florida State University where three students were shot by a mentally disturbed man before the police arrived.  One of the students had a concealed carry permit, but was not allowed to have his defensive firearm with him.  Another witness was a combat veteran who said that he had a clear shot at the attacker, but was also prevented from having his firearm with him by current law. A bill has been filed in the Florida Senate to restore the ability of permit holders to carry their firearms on campus, as they can...

I need to pick something by 12/31.ATT is dumping us retired types to a BS type Exchange.The reps are minimum wagers and don't know squat. Been looking at plans and need, if possible some input on Plan F's "Excess charges"? Its a $70 month dif for me for a plan with it or without which is plan "N" Any one up to speed on this stuff your input would be appreciated. Last year went to the DR one time and the ER 1 time(i am not a roofer) Thanks

'The Jews may have originated in the Middle East but they were long ago scattered far and wide - to the Gulf, among other places. Few now remain, except in Iran. But a century ago, writes Matthew Teller, there was even a proposal to found a Jewish state at an oasis near Bahrain.'

As protests across the country carry on without relent, the top brass running the show have put some serious thinking into how best to achieve racial equality. Apparently, part of the plan involves directions as to what white folks who want to protest can, and cannot do. I guess black people want to make sure white people keep their white privilege in check. Or something like that. Not sure. The Right Scoop has printed screen shots of these lists at a demonstration in Boston, which are hand written on large pieces of paper. Some instructions are in black. Others in...

It's been such a long time since the Senate has offered up a budget to the president. This 1.1 trillion thingy just passed, how does that affect what the Senate is supposed to do?

Baghdad - Iranian military commanders deployed in Iraq played a key role in recent victories against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters throughout the country, according to Iraqi security officials and Shia militia leaders. Iran was the first country to respond to the Iraqi government's calls for international help in the battle against ISIL, which overran vast swaths of the country's north and west this summer and were advancing towards the capital. Dozens of Iranian military commanders - including Qassim Sulaimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force - have joined Iraqi security forces in battlefields north...

But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.(Galatians 4:4-5) The birth of Jesus was a predicted event. Centuries before it occurred it was described as to its place, time and significance. The Prophets anticipated the birth of the one who would come to crush the serpent’s head and remove the primal curse, and announced beforehand the conditions which would prevail at the time of the birth. Consider one of the...