Free Republic

Link only: Bloomberg http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-16/ruble-snaps-six-day-loss-on-surprise-rate-increase-to-17-percent.html

A perfect storm brought into power Barack Obama, a previously little-known Illinois community organizer. He had at best a mediocre record as a state legislator and rookie senator. Yet he quickly dazzled the liberal establishment. Joe Biden and Harry Reid were wowed by his sounding and behaving like a white liberal, while retaining the ability to turn on his supposedly authentic black persona when needed. That he had no record of achievement was seen as an advantageous clean slate. Teleprompted glibness was preferred to ad hoc repartee, as if an entire presidency could be scripted and Photoshopped with backdrops of...

In a review of Michael S. Rose's book entitled, "Goodbye, Good Men," Rev. Robert J. Johansen noted that, "There is too much evidence of the abuse of authority in certain dioceses and seminaries to dismiss Rose’s claims as baseless. It is still the case, even in a seminary with a reputation for orthodoxy such as St. Charles, that seminarians would not openly admit to members of the formation committee that they attended a licit (under the Ecclesia Dei indult) Tridentine liturgy for fear of being branded a “reactionary” and hounded out. I know many priests and seminarians who were subjected...

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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!

'I regret to say I am a terrorist': Wife of cafe gunman praised Bali bombings and 9/11 in online rant as row rages about why the accused murderer is free on bail •Amirah Droudis, 35, posted series of videos in 2009 •In the videos, she described herself as a terrorist and expressed happiness at the 9/11 attack and Bali bombings •The videos linked to a website of siege gunman Man Haron Monis •Droudis charged with murdering Monis' first wife, and Monis was charged with being an acessory •Outrage has spread that both Droudis and Monis were released on bail •Police...

Police have arrested a group of men who they allege sexually assaulted a South Florida teen and forced her to have sex with at least 16 men. ....on Dec. 4 the 16-year-old victim left school and willingly got into a car, but it is unknown if she knew any of the people in the vehicle. According to the arrest report, the high school student was taken throughout Northwest Miami-Dade and drugged with powdered cocaine, crack cocaine and molly pills, laced marijuana cigarettes, marijuana, and alcohol. She was then forced into prostitution and given a financial quota of over $1,200. "The...

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A top Pakistani official says that 84 students have been killed in a Taliban attack on a military-run school in the northwestern city of Peshawar. Pervez Khattak, the chief minister of the province where the attack is underway, says that roughly the same number of students have been wounded. According to Khattak, the 84 killed in the Tuesday attack were all "children" but hospital officials earlier said at least one of the fatalities was a teacher and one security official were also among the dead. Khattak says the fighting is still unfolding at the school.

Here are the numbers that explain why the Russian economy is imploding in the face of a tumbling oil price and Western sanctions. Oil and gas energy represents two thirds of exports of around $530bn (£339bn). Without them, Russia would have a massive deficit on its trade and financial dealings with the rest of the world - which is why Russia's central bank expects a capital outflow of well over $100bn this year and next.

The usual suspects are attacking Ted Cruz for doing his job.Republicans and a chorus of conservative commentators are dumping on the sole conservative Republican senator from Texas because–the horror!–he dared to force his Senate colleagues to publicly take sides on President Obama's shameful extralegal unilateral immigration amnesty.Apologists for Republican cowardice claim to be upset with Cruz because, as they claim, his parliamentary maneuvers to stymie the amnesty somehow allowed some objectionable Obama nominees to move forward in the confirmation process.Of course, they're lying. All Obama nominees are objectionable–remember, our president is a red diaper baby–yet the Senate eventually caves to...

Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. John 14:27

RUSH: I allowed one interruption from what I said the agenda for this hour was going to be, because you have to hear this. You just have to hear this. This afternoon in Washington on the Senate floor. You've heard, by the way -- I don't remember who said it, but -- it's been said in recent days that if women were running this show, none of this would have happened. There wouldn't have been a shutdown. I think the... (interruption) (SNIP) RUSH: I am reminded of Jimmy Carter, who said once that he learned everything about nuclear warfare from...

The ruble collapsed by 10 percent against the U.S. dollar Monday earning the Russian currency the dubious laurels of the world’s worst-performing currency this year. The Russian currency has now fallen 49.3 percent against the greenback since January, according to data from the Moscow Exchange. The drop takes it below the Ukrainian hryvna, which has weakened 47.9 percent in 2014. Monday’s plunge was the largest single-day fall for the ruble since the financial crisis of 1998 when Russia was forced to default on its debt after exhausting its reserves in a fruitless bid to prop up the currency. In evening...

accusations of sexual assault, torn clothing, and at least three victims who say he bit their lips... Bill Clinton has a Bill Cosby problem. Eileen Wellstone, 19-year-old English woman said Clinton sexually assaulted her... in 1969. Juanita Broaddrick... said he raped her in 1978. Mrs. Broaddrick suffered a bruised and torn lip Carolyn Moffet... in 1979, said “When I went in, he was sitting on a couch, wearing only an undershirt. He pointed at his penis and told me to suck it. I told him I didn’t even do that for my boyfriend and he got mad, grabbed my head...

At the height of the debate over a $1.1 trillion spending bill last week, we examined the similarities and differences between Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who protested the measure from opposite ends of the political spectrum. Later, as the bill approached passage and won approval over the weekend, we saw a key distinction emerge: Cruz was willing to hold up the process to make his point. Warren was not. Warren opposed the bill because of a provision that would relax a restriction on Wall Street banks. In press conferences and Senate floor speeches, Warren spoke out...

A group of artists have claimed responsibility for hanging three effigies of lynching victims around the University of California-Berkeley campus this weekend. The artists, who say they are a 'collective of queer black and (people of color) artists, posted a message on a campus bulletin board today saying that the images - which many students and faculty found deeply offices - were part of an art project. The statement said the perpetrators are from the San Francisco Bay area - but does not state whether the people behind it are students. The artists did not identify themselves, but said that...

Pinal County, Arizona Sheriff Paul Babeu (R) told Neil Cavuto on Monday that as many as 20 million illegal immigrants will qualify for President Obama’s executive amnesty. Sheriff Babeu came to this figure from a memo from Secretary of Homeland Security, Jeh Johnson. “The fact is it’s not just the 5 million that President Obama promised, we learned that Jeh Johnson the Secretary of Homeland Security, put out a six page memo, and he said that anybody who’s been here since January of this year, anybody prior to that date, they are allowed to stay here. There will be deferred...

Remember when pundits loved the president? The conditions are right for that old feeling to return. Remember when pundits loved Barack Obama? It’s been quite a few years now. But I suspect some of the adoration is about to come back. There are three reasons. The first is that politically, Obama’s immigration gamble is working. Fearful of alienating Hispanics or shutting down the government, Republican leaders have largely abandoned hope of overturning Obama’s move. What’s more, Obama’s approval ratings are up 15 points among Hispanics but have not dropped among Anglo whites. Add immigration to health-care reform and the fiscal...

STOCKTON — Law enforcement officials and defense attorneys in San Joaquin County remain divided over a controversial law that was approved by California voters in the November election. Proposition 47, also known as the “Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act,” has reduced several felony crimes to misdemeanor offenses, resulting in lesser penalties for certain drug possession and property crimes. Voters approved the law with nearly 60 percent of the vote, but 22 of the state’s 58 counties voted against it, including San Joaquin, Calaveras and Amador counties. The law calls for misdemeanor sentences for drug possession, petty theft, receiving stolen property...

Far-right group Pegida holds ‘Islamisation’ protest, using slogan from 1989 campaign against East German government. Its members have been dubbed the “pinstriped Nazis” and they refer to their demonstrations as “evening strolls” through German cities. But on Monday night, an estimated 15,000 people joined Pegida, or Patriotic Europeans Against Islamisation of the West, in a march through Dresden carrying banners bearing slogans such as “Zero tolerance towards criminal asylum seekers”, “Protect our homeland” and “Stop the Islamisation”. Lutz Bachmann, the head of Pegida, a nascent anti-foreigner campaign group, led the crowds, either waving or draped in German flags, in barking...