Free Republic

The July 4, 2019, ceremony marking the final dissolution of the United States of America was quite amicable compared to the anger and bitterness of the preceding five years. The 2014 election results created a map clearly defining “Red America” and “Blue America,” and it sparked a debate, unlike any in the last 150 years, over whether the United States should remain united. For many in the leftist coastal states – their progressivism constrained by the overwhelming Congressional advantage of the conservative interior states – the answer was, “No.” As liberal thought leader Michael Tomasky wrote of the South, “Practically...

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Five people have escaped from a cafe in central Sydney where a gunman had earlier taken several people hostage Monday and forced two people to hold up a black flag bearing an Islamic message written in Arabic in the store's window.

Explanation: Why do some places on Earth have higher gravity than others? Sometimes the reason is unknown. To help better understand the Earth's surface, sensitive measurments by the orbiting satellites GRACE and CHAMP were used to create a map of Earth's gravitational field. Since a center for studying this data is in Potsdam, Germany, and since the result makes the Earth look somewhat like a potato, the resulting geoid has been referred to as the Potsdam Gravity Potato. High areas on this map, colored red, indicate areas where gravity is slightly stronger than usual, while in blue areas gravity is...

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The BBC and other outlets report this morning that as many as four gunmen have entered a residential apartment building in Ghent, Belgium and have taken hostages. ABC/Reuters reports: Four gunmen in Belgium have taken several people hostage after they entered a flat in the north-western city of Ghent, according to unconfirmed reports. Heavily-armed police have surrounded the area and authorities have urged residents to stay indoors. The state prosecution service said there were no immediate indications of a link to terrorism. It is not known if the event is related to the Sydney Siege. Reports continue to break on...

DES MOINES — Gov. Terry Branstad says he would support a statewide Republican fundraising event in Ames next summer where GOP presidential hopefuls are invited to speak as long as no vote is taken as had been the practice during past straw polls that have been the focus of controversy. Branstad added that he did not want to see Iowa face possible sanctions that could cost delegates to the 2016 Republican national convention for conducting a poll in advance of the state’s first-in-the-nation caucuses that could run afoul of new party rules. “I’m willing to agree to a statewide meeting...

It was not such a long time ago that former Secretary of State and First Lady Hillary Clinton was viewed by the Democratic poobahs and her worshiping public minions as a shoe-in for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, and ultimately the White House. But life happens, and life has found Hillary Clinton. In a recent Politico article, "Delay of Game", we're getting another read-between-the lines indication that Clinton, Inc. a.k.a. “Billary” (Bill + Hillary = Billary) is in rethink/regroup mode. This run for the presidency is as much Bill’s as it is Hillary. And she will need him in full...

SYDNEY (AP) — Five people escaped from a Sydney cafe where a gunman took an unknown number of hostages during Monday morning rush hour. Two people inside the cafe earlier held up a flag with an Islamic declaration of faith that has often been used by extremists, raising fears that a terrorist incident was playing out in the heart of Australia's biggest city. The first three people ran out of the Lindt Chocolat Cafe in downtown Sydney six hours into the hostage crisis, and two women sprinted from a fire exit into the arms of waiting police shortly afterward. Both...

Formerly the "Fans of Quinn and Rose Discussion" thread, our group been meeting here since 2008. We still hold out hope that our favorite talk show hosts will come back on the air but, whether they do or not, our friendly group will still meet to start the day. So if you are preparing to go to work, are getting home from work - or happily retired - stop in and say mornin' and share the latest news, discuss the weather, share a recipe, or whatever!

St. Joseph's Christmas Mass Spectacular features Pastor Pat (Bobby Moynihan), organist Linda Tayhoe (Kate McKinnon) and all 44 verses of "O Come All Ye Faithful."

he unidentified gunman has forced hostages to call him "The Brother" and demanded a flag of the Islamic State terror group in return for the release of a hostage. He has also demanded to speak directly with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

In Tacna, Arizona, I saw this fellow openly carrying what appears to be a stainless Colt Mustang in .380.  I asked, and he said that he had served in the Marine Corps, as indicated by the tattoo.  He was driving the four-wheeler, which can be licensed for dual use, on and off road, in Arizona, a capability not available in many Eastern states.  Notice the folding, lockback pocket knife clipped in his front right pocket for ease of access, one handed opening, and safe use while the blade is locked. It is a snapshot of freedom that has been...

To hell with the independents. That’s not usually the animating principle of a presidential campaign, but for Ted Cruz’s, it just might be. His strategists aren’t planning to make a big play for so-called independent voters in the general election if Cruz wins the Republican nomination. According to several of the senator’s top advisers, Cruz sees a path to victory that relies instead on increasing conservative turnout; attracting votes from groups — including Jews, Hispanics, and Millennials — that have tended to favor Democrats; and, in the words of one Cruz strategist, “not getting killed with independents.” Twenty-three months from...

State Sen.-elect Lois Kolkhorst, laying out her priorities since winning a promotion to the upper chamber, said Wednesday she anticipates a “big revamp or repeal” of the Texas law allowing in-state tuition for illegal immigrants — a move that has the blessing of Gov.-elect Greg Abbott. (SNIP) While Patrick has vowed to repeal the DREAM Act, Abbott’s position has been less straightforward. During his second gubernatorial debate with Democratic opponent Wendy Davis, he said he would not veto a repeal of the law if it came to his desk. His campaign has previously expressed a need to reform the measure...

Copies of a highly critical book land in the private, inaccessible mailboxes of all Members of European Parliament The last time Lithuania’s leader, Dalia Grybauskaite, talked to Vladimir Putin personally was in 2010, when he was still Prime Minister of the Russian government. But Ms Grybauskaite, the president of this small Baltic country of 3 million people, has been talking about him all the time since. And now, she is in trouble. It all started with an interview she gave to the Washington Post (Sept. 24) in which Ms Grybauskaite said that Russia is allowed by “Europe and the world...

Stockholm (AFP) - Sales by Russian arms manufacturers continue to expand thanks to Moscow's investments despite a downturn in global defence spending, a Stockholm-based think-tank said Monday. "The remarkable increases in Russian companies' arms sales in both 2012 and 2013 are in large part due to uninterrupted investments in military procurement by the Russian government during the 2000s," said Siemon Wezeman, senior researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Sales by Russian-based arms firms grew by 20 percent in 2013, according to SIPRI. However, figures for the 100 biggest arms-dealing nations excluding China declined for the third year...

"Long depicted as the rootin'-tootin' capital of American gun culture, Texas is one of the few states with an outright ban on the open carry of handguns. That could change in 2015, with the Republican-dominated Legislature and Gov.-elect Greg Abbott expected to push for expanded gun rights. 'If open carry is good enough for Massachusetts, it's good enough for the state of Texas' Abbott said the day after his election last month."

LOS ANGELES — They pushed strollers, tugged toddlers and streamed into the convention center in the heart of this city on Sunday, thousands of immigrants here illegally and anxious to find out if they could gain protection from deportation under executive actions by President Obama. The crowd, waiting in a long snaking line to check in, was drawn by an information session organized by advocacy groups offering people initial assessments to see if they meet the requirements to apply to stay in the country and work. The day became a kind of coming-out party for about 5,000 unauthorized immigrants, the...

CINCINNATI, OH (FOX19) - Orlando Lowery was in court this weekend for allegedly painting his .380 caliber semi-automatic handgun to look like a toy. Lowery, 23, was arrested in the 9500 block of Wayne Avenue where officials found him armed with the gun. Officials believe Lowery purposefully painted the gun red to mislead law enforcement into thinking it was a toy gun, according to Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Neil. Nine grams of crack cocaine were also found on Lowery, according to police.