Free Republic

January 21, 2025 Now that Jeb Bush—known widely as Bush 45, or Bush cuarenta y cinco, or, simply, El Jefe Jeb—has completed his two terms in the White House, we can look back and summarize some of the major events of his administration. As we know, America has seen great change during the third Bush presidency, starting with its population, which has grown by some 30 percent these past eight years. Indeed, today, well more than 400 million people live in America—most of them either citizens, or citizens-to-be. And while establishing Spanish as the Second Language of America has not...

He’s the teen wolf of Wall Street. A kid from Queens has made tens of millions of dollars — by trading stocks on his lunch breaks at Stuyvesant High School, New York magazine reports in its Monday issue. Mohammed Islam is only 17 and still months away from graduating — but worth a rumored $72 million. “The high eight figures,” is as specific as the shy and modest teen would get when asked his net worth.

A recent study shows more Hawaii public school teens are either experimenting with or using new tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes. According to the Hawaii Youth Tobacco Survey, lifetime e-cigarette use among high school students tripled from 5.1 percent in 2011 to 17.6 percent in 2013, and quadrupled among middle school students, from 1.8 percent to 7.9 percent, during the same time period. “Evidence suggests that e-cigarettes are being used by students who are not cigarette smokers,” said Tonya Lowery St. John, epidemiologist for DOH’s Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. “More than a third of middle school students and...

You’ve probably heard the news already regarding the corrupt anti-gun government funding bill which passed late last night. In the end, even liberal Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) balked about supporting the bill, known as the Cromnibus. But Boehner was aided by Barack Obama and Joe Biden, who worked the phone tirelessly Thursday, giddy at the prospect that Boehner would agree to fund Obama's illegal executive actions on gun control, immigration and the anti-gun ObamaCare. In the end, the Boehner-Obama-Biden team was able to pass the giant $1.1 trillion anti-gun bill by a vote of 219-206. And 162 House Republicans who...

Staunton, December 13 – Four Russian analysts suggest that the six causes they identify as being behind the collapse of the USSR are again to varying degrees present in Russia today, but what is perhaps more interesting than the causes they do identify is the one that they don’t: the ways in which the six they do helped power a seventh: nationalism Russian and non-Russian. In a 4400-word article in “Russky Reporter” this week, Vladimir Bazhanov, Andrey Veselov, Dmitry Karpets and Aleksandr Pototsky consider to what extent the six causes they say led to the demise of the USSR are...

The Cimbrian flood (or Cymbrian flood) was a large-scale incursion of the North Sea in the region of the Jutland peninsula (Denmark) in the period 120 to 114 BC, resulting in a permanent change of coastline with much land lost. The flood was caused by one or several very strong storm(s). A high number of people living in the affected area of Jutland drowned, and the flooding apparently set off a migration of the Cimbri tribes previously settled there (Lamb 1991)... The Cimbri were a tribe from Northern Europe, who, together with the Proto-Germanic Teutones and the Ambrones threatened the...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed US Secretary of State John Kerry’s upcoming talks in Rome on Sunday, during opening remarks for his weekly Cabinet meeting. “Tomorrow I will leave for Rome to meet with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and US Secretary of State John Kerry,” he said. “I will tell them that Israel, to a large degree, stands as a solitary island against the waves of Islamic extremism that are washing over the entire Middle East.” “Until now, we have successfully withstood and repelled these attacks and now we also stand against the possibility of a diplomatic assault, i.e....

Major tech companies sparked a discussion this year when they revealed information about the makeup of their workforce, confirming what many had suspected: That Silicon Valley firms, located in one of the most diverse places in the U.S., are mostly staffed by whites and men.

Jeb Bush said Saturday that he plans to release approximately 250,000 emails from his years as Florida's governor, as well as an electronic book. An aide to the governor told Fox News that the emails would be released ahead of the e-book, which is due out early next year. In an interview with Miami's WPLG-TV, Bush said he was releasing the emails for the sake of "transparency" and to "let people make up their mind." He served two terms as the state's governor between 1999 and 2007. The move will likely increase speculation about whether Bush, whose father and brother...

A controversial Obama administration rating system for colleges and universities already is being scrutinized ahead of its late-December rollout by educators who claim the government’s goal of more transparency could come at the expense of schools that don't happen to fit the ivory tower model. The federal government, with its long-awaited rating system, is trying to hold the country’s 7,000 colleges and universities accountable not only to taxpayers, but also to prospective students trying to weigh the pros and cons of different institutions. But it has many in the education community on edge. Several colleges and education associations have launched...

Belgium risks coming to a virtual standstill Monday as the biggest national strike for years grounds all flights, halts public transport and severs international train links in protest at the new government's austerity policies. The strike, which is the climax of a union movement that began last month with a huge march and violent protests in Brussels, will also likely close schools, businesses, factories and government offices. Unions say there is "no choice" but to go ahead with the strike after the right-of-centre government of Prime Minister Charles Michel pushed ahead with plans to save 11 billion euros ($13.7 billion)...

hould anyone have been surprised that Michele Bachmann would go out with a bang, a big bang? On Tuesday, in what the retiring congresswoman from Minnesota figured would be her last White House holiday party, Bachmann used the grip-and-grin moment when she got her picture taken with President Obama to raise a reliably grin-killing topic. “The U.S. needs to take out Iran’s nuclear facilities today,” she informed him. His response? “A condescending smile and laugh,” she tells Politico, making a little pat-on-the-head gesture. “‘Michele, it isn’t that easy, but that’s OK,’” she remembers him telling her. To which the gentlelady...

Former Vice President Dick Cheney said Sunday that, despite the backlash against harsh CIA interrogation tactics, he would authorize them again with no hesitation. “It worked. It’s worked now for 13 years. We’ve avoided another mass casualty event against the United States,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “I’d do it again in a minute.” Senate Democrats last week released a report that described interrogation tactics including waterboarding, sleep deprivation, rectal feedings and confinements in coffin-sized boxes for more than a week. Many have called the actions torture, saying that they violate international agreements, but Mr. Cheney maintained that...

In an interview with Radio Television Suisse this week following the release of Senate Intelligence Committee’s CIA torture report, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said he doesn’t “think it’s so clear at all” that the U.S. Constitution prohibits torture, especially in the “ticking time bomb” scenarios so often cited by defenders of the “enhanced interrogation techniques.” “Listen, I think it’s very facile for people to say, ‘Oh, torture is terrible,’” Scalia told the Swiss radio network. “You posit the situation where a person that you know for sure knows the location of a nuclear bomb that has been planted in...

Yesterday, as they often do, thousands of protesters descended on Washington, DC to protest police brutality against black men. The rally, led by Al Sharpton and attended by high-profile activists in the black community, focused on promoting a “black agenda,” and railed against the typical enemies of the progressive community: the Koch brothers, establishment politicians, and the Republican party. To close the rally, Reverend Jamal Bryant of Empowerment Temple in Maryland offered one of the angriest, most divisive prayers ever uttered in public. Via the Daily Caller: Dispatch angels right now of protection around our sons from psychopathic, sociopathic police...

Putin has become shockingly effective at influencing European politics through a host of far-right parties. The following chart from the Center for Eurasian Strategic Intelligence (CESI) shows Russia's growing influence within six different European Union countries. The parties, located in the UK, France, Germany, Greece, Bulgaria, and Hungary, are increasingly popular—and staunchly against giving more power to the EU. Each of the parties has also fostered a closer relationship with Russia, and has protested against sanctions on Moscow following its annexation of Ukraine.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=13d_1418573374 Various and sundry goats vocalizing in a very hilarious manner.

Friends and family members of Jessica Chambers, the Mississippi woman who was set on fire and burned to death this week, packed a funeral chapel Saturday to remember her life — as questions remained about who killed her in such a horrible way. Deborah Sanders, the 19-year-old’s aunt, said before the service at Wells Funeral in Batesville that the support of the community following the young woman’s death has helped comfort the family, but they are desperate to find whoever killed her. Hundreds attended the woman’s wake Friday.

Come back, John Huston, all is forgiven. When the grizzled Hollywood veteran was attached to direct the 1982 film version of Broadway's mammoth hit Annie, which had fetched a record sum for screen rights, much collective head-scratching ensued. Nothing in Huston's output indicated an affinity for family-friendly movie musicals. Pundits were no less mystified once they saw the film, which suggested an agonized disconnect between director and material. Yet audiences who were kids back then regard it as a classic, playing fast and loose with that term. Maybe today's tweens will feel similar affection for this misconceived contemporary update, but...

BuzzFeed, continuing its assault on journalistic integrity after publishing a rambling, conspiracy-filled article by Lena Dunham, is now suggesting gifts that “feminists” will love. In an article called “19 Amazing Gifts Every Feminist Will Absolutely Love,” BuzzFeed suggested numerous gifts for “feminists,” which it apparently misconstrued to mean “women who hate men.” Instead of pushing for equality, the gifts suggest hurting men, committing crimes, or generic pop-culture references. Here are some of the worst: