Free Republic

After a week of passionate debate and late night votes, the Senate passed a $1.1 trillion spending bill this Saturday that will keep the entire federal government, except the Department of Homeland Security, funded through September 2015. Here are three lessons conservatives should take away from the ordeal: 1.Corporatism is King - Money talks and activists walk. That is the sad lesson from a $1.1 trillion spending bill that included huge payoffs to Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Citibank, and corporations that use taxpayer subsidized loans to invest overseas. Meanwhile, House leaders did nothing to stop President Obama's executive amnesty other than...

Michelle Obama is furious after finding out about her husband’s secret love nest, according to a new report. In another article from the National Enquirer tabloid about alleged problems in the Obama marriage, a source is quoted as saying “Michelle found out about his secret love nest and exploded in fury!” “Despite the happy public face the family is putting out, it’s created the holiday from hell!” the insider added in the unverified story. “In early December, Michelle confronted Barack about a secret location he’s been using to meet up with women. She verbally ripped him to pieces. Barack didn’t...

President Obama's statement condemning the mass murder in a Pakistan school fails to blame the perpetrators, the Taliban. Here's Obama's full statement: "The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms today’s horrific attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar, Pakistan. Our hearts and prayers go out to the victims, their families, and loved ones. By targeting students and teachers in this heinous attack, terrorists have once again shown their depravity. We stand with the people of Pakistan, and reiterate the commitment of the United States to support the Government of Pakistan in its efforts to combat terrorism and...

Gasoline prices are falling across northeast Oklahoma and at many convenience stores, it is now below $2 a gallon. Tuesday morning, News On 6 viewers began sending us photos of $1.99 gas prices at QuikTrips across the Tulsa area. Viewers are also reported Kum & Go's in Tulsa area communities are also selling gasoline at $1.99 a gallon. And the lower price for gasoline is not just in the Tulsa area, a South Coffeyville gas station has gas at $1.97 a gallon.

The Republican establishment has become infected with a new epidemic of “Ted Cruz derangement syndrome” apparently brought on by being forced to actually work at the job of being a United States Senator. “Patient Zero” in this epidemic may be New Hampshire Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte who complained bitterly before last weekend’s rare Saturday session to debate the constitutional point of order on the “CRomnibus” that it interfered with her plans to go home and watch a performance of the holiday classic the Nutcracker. Ayotte, by the way, has an F score of 44% on Conservative Review’s Liberty Score, compared...

The Taliban has killed dozens of children at a Peshawar school in a revenge mission for Pakistani schoolgirl activist Malala Yousafzai being awarded the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize. Ahmed Rashid, an expert on the Islamic militants, told the BBC the insurgents had various reasons to attack the school, one of which was to send a message to the supporters of Malala, who advocates education for women and children. In response to the events at the school in Pakistan, education campaigner Malala has condemned the "atrocious and cowardly" attack. As reported by the Guardian, she said: "I am heartbroken by this...

..American colonists boarded a British ship and dumped more than 300 chests of tea into Boston Harbor to protest tea taxes.

On Black Friday, we told you that 30,000 people may have purchased actual poop in a box. Today, we're pleased to report that it's true: 30,000 Americans bought poop. The offer came from Cards Against Humanity—that filthy, hilarious mab libs card game created by a few Highland Park, Illinois residents that markets itself as a "party game for terrible people." They claimed to be offering 'actual bull****' for a mere $6 to U.S. residents only. They were very clear that customers should expect to receive feces from a live bull in a box delivered to their door, and nothing more....

Greg Willerer may not seem like your average entrepreneur. The once full-time school teacher quit his job to follow his passion for farming in the most unlikely of places. Located not far from Downtown Detroit, Willerer launched his urban farming business on just one acre of land. During his first year, Willerer earned almost the equivalent of his teaching salary. His venture, Brother Nature Produce, sells locally grown produce to restaurants across Detroit. They recently received a $10,000 grant to help grow their business from the New Economy Initiative’s small business challenge, and his farm was among one of five...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Impeded no more by Republican blocking tactics, Democrats are on track to win confirmation of up to 88 of President Barack Obama's top judicial nominations this year, a total that would be the highest for any president in two decades. Last year, Democrats made it harder for Republicans to derail Obama's nominations by weakening the Senate's rule on filibusters. So far this year, the chamber has approved 76 federal court of appeals and district court judges, all of them lifetime appointments. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is hoping to confirm a dozen more before adjournment later...

The Obama administration is now trying to outlaw single-sex classrooms, a practice that has been growing as parents and teachers see its good results. The Obama administration is discouraging that option in conformity with demands by the feminists who believe in the interchangeability of the genders and insist that schools forbid any deviation from their peculiar belief that there is no difference between male and female. The Minnesota State High School League, which controls policy for all extracurricular activities in all schools, public and private, voted 18 to 1 to outlaw recognition of all sex differences in high-school sports. The...

The environmental group Greenpeace has not given Peru the names of the activists accused of damaging the world-renowned Nazca lines during a publicity stunt, Peruvian officials claim. The government has threatened extradition for the activists involved and said it would seek charges for 'attacking archaeological monuments' - a crime punishable by up to six years in prison. During a protest at the U.N. World Heritage site in Peru's coastal desert, activists laid a message promoting clean energy beside the famed figure of a hummingbird comprised of black rocks on a white background.

Don’t Forget to Worship God! A Call to Better Liturgy from an Unlikely Source By: Msgr. Charles Pope We have discussed before many of the trends of modern liturgy and how the focus has shifted from God to the “assembly.” Too much of modern liturgy today is anthropocentric (focused on man).Back in the 1990’s, Thomas Day observed in the book Why Catholics Can’t Sing, that liturgy today often comes down  to “the aware, gathered community, celebrating itself.” Many modern songs go on at great length about how we are the gathered, we are the flock, we have been sung throughout all of...

Amid America’s current distemper, there’s no easier target than “big money” in politics. So it’s no surprise that Senator Elizabeth Warren and liberals would denounce the omnibus spending bill’s provision increasing the amount that an individual can give to the political parties. What is surprising is that some on the right have joined this misguided outrage. . . . conservatives have long led the fight against arbitrary limits on money in politics, not least because such restrictions are usually designed by incumbents to help incumbents. Yet all of a sudden some on the right are treating the deregulation of money...

Militants fighting for the Islamic State in Iraq have unveiled their latest terror tactic - bombs containing hundreds of live scorpions designed to spread fear among their enemies. Canisters packed with poisonous varieties of scorpion are being blasted into towns and villages, which explode on impact - scattering the scorpions and causing panic among the innocent local population.

Oh sure, they look cute and innocent.Butt look closer, they may be government agents:Or possibly even double agents. You simply can’t trust them.They may all be working for the NSA for all we know. WASHINGTON — Internal documents from the National Security Agency show that its intelligence-gathering reached far deeper into Santa Claus’s annual toy-distribution operations than acknowledged. Sources close to the agency had previously confirmed that it has been provided with the contents of Mr. Claus’s database of naughty and nice children under a confidential data-sharing arrangement. But according to the documents, which were among those leaked by Edward Snowden,...

INDIANAPOLIS -- If success at the state level were enough to recommend someone for president of the United States, Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana would be among the frontrunners for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination. According to the governor's office, Pence has "signed into law $643 million in annual tax relief: That includes: $313 million for hardworking Hoosiers, thanks to last year's 5 percent income tax reduction, the largest state tax cut in Indiana history." In addition, the state corporate tax rate was reduced from 6.5 percent to 4.9 percent, making it the third lowest in the country and contributing...

With Republicans threatening to shove climate change to the back seat as they take control of the U.S. Senate, state officials including Gov. Jerry Brown huddled with one of the nation’s leading Democratic donors Monday to talk up ways to keep it on California’s agenda — including legislation that could send a shiver through the coal industry. The state Senate’s top leader said at an Oakland forum organized by billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer that he’s planning to introduce a measure next year to require the state’s public-employee pension funds to sell their coal-related investments.

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is filming the next season of the show Amazing America with the most recent episode taking place in Texas. It involved a hunt for feral hogs, with Palin bagging a rather large one. Of course, this was pretty much the end of civilization as we know it. While taping her reality show in Texas, Sarah Palin proudly announced her killing of a feral hog and happily posed with the dead animal.She ended up posting the picture online, and it was ultimately met with both praise and criticismÂ…Upon killing the animal, Palin took to Facebook...

A deadly, hours-long siege of a school in northwest Pakistan ended Tuesday evening with all the Taliban militants responsible killed, at least 130 people -- most of them children -- dead and a country once again grasping for answers after a horrific attack. Six suicide bombers scaled the walls of Army Public School and Degree College in the violence-plagued city of Peshawar around 10 a.m. (midnight ET) intent on killing older students there, according to Mohammed Khurrassani, a spokesman for the Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan, or Pakistan Taliban. These Taliban had "300 to 400 people ... under their custody" at...