Free Republic

The Western sanctions hurled at Russia over its annexation of Crimea and involvement in Ukraine may have had one unintended (or perhaps intended?) side effect — the mass exodus of foreigners earning money on the magically disappearing ruble. The Moscow Times conducted an informal poll among expatriates currently working in Russia, and the majority said they were considering leaving the country or were already on the way out because of the ongoing currency crisis. "The weak ruble just means that it's not worth my time anymore," said one expat working as an editor for a state-run news agency who requested...

Last year, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) stood front and center in the battle against President Barack Obama’s health care program, leading an effort that shut down the government because the budget bill did not include a provision to defund the president’s plan. This year, Cruz was the lead crusader against the spending bill again, this time because it did not include a challenge to Obama’s executive action on immigration, which could shield an estimated 5 million people who entered the country illegally from deportation for about three years....

In November 2014 an Iranian jet was filmed carrying out a bombing mission in Iraq’s Diyala province. Iran was already known to have mobilized its militia allies, sent in advisers and military equipment, and brought in Lebanon’s Hezbollah to help Baghdad. General Qasim Suleimani, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, is all over social media with pictures showing him providing leadership to Iraqi forces.

Link only: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/12/16/russia-ruble-fall-oil-putin/20476411/

The National Review reports: 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. Several of the senator’s top advisers said that Cruz sees a path to victory that relies instead on increasing conservative turnout, trying to attract votes from groups that have tended to favor Democrats (Jews, Hispanics and millennials), and, in the words of one Cruz strategist, “not getting killed with independents.”...

What if domestic animals — pets such as dogs and cats as well livestock like cows and chickens — were granted citizenship rights? That may sound like a crazy question, but Canadian philosopher Will Kymlicka thinks it's a critically important one. Kymlicka, a professor at Queen's University, is a well-regarded figure in modern political philosophy. He's also the author, along with writer Sue Donaldson, of Zoopolis, a book making the case for animal citizenship. Their basic premise is simple: animals are already part of our society, as pets and work animals, therefore we should formally recognize them as such. That's...

Unexplained methane spikes suggest bacteria is living on the red planet Nasa scientists in California have revealed evidence for life on Mars They say methane spikes on the planet could be produced by bacteria And, at the moment, there is no better explanation for the spikes The signs were spotted briefly occurring by one of Curiosity's instruments Life is the chief producer of methane on Earth, although there are many non-biological processes that can also generate the gas But no such process could be ruled out during tests - suggesting there may be bacteria living on or under the surface...

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Dec 15, 2014) - YAMANA GOLD INC. (YRI.TO) (AUY) ("Yamana" or "the Company") today announced a new vein discovered at El Peñón and the best drill intersections in the history of Chapada, immediately west of the main pit. At El Peñón the new north-south vein, named Ventura, is expected to lead to expansion of the mineral resource base at what appears to be high grades. The results at Chapada, from the newly discovered mineralization named Sucupira, continue to support the potential of a much larger district of mineralization, which could also significantly expand mineral resources. In both...

Your prerequisite in all things is to first acquire My Presence for in My courts there are libraries of scrolls providing the wisdom and knowledge in first acquiring the understanding to decipher and illuminate My Word in Spirit and Truth and it is in the interpretation of your heavenly languages, "that exist even now in the alcoves of your wellspring" but these can only rise up into reality and understanding as you manifest and operate totally in the Menorah of light " The Manifold Wisdom of God " My very fullness indwelling you as "an eternal light of My Kingdom...

As defense attorneys for five alleged Sept. 11 plotters began sharing the Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture with their clients in Guantanamo Bay, a U.S. military prosecutor predicted the findings will make the trial more transparent..Army Brigadier Gen. Mark Martins, the chief prosecutor, acknowledged that last week’s release of the torture report gives the defense side the advantage of seeing their long-running complaints about torture at CIA detention sites officially documented.

Oh my Lord, shut it down, here is the greatest moment in the history of C-SPAN: A (very Southern) mama called into one of their shows to yell at the guests. Not because she disagrees, but because the guests are brothers and both her sons and she is sick and tired of their ****. http://jezebel.com/mom-calls-c-span-to-yell-at-her-arguing-pundit-sons-1671747153?rev=1418749692833

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – A Saudi woman arrested while attending a soccer game in the kingdom claims she did not know women were prohibited from going to the male-only stadiums, the state-linked Okaz newspaper reported on Monday. Saudi Arabia enforces a strict segregation of the sexes and has no designated areas for women at soccer stadiums ... Police spokesman Atti al-Qurashi said security spotted her at the stadium "deliberately disguised" in male attire to avoid detection, reported the state-linked news website Twasul. Okaz reported Sunday that police questioned the woman, who is in her twenties, for "impersonating" a man by...

Listening to the radio yesterday, it was stated that the United States is the only nation whose newly elected officials do not start serving immediately after an election, but waits almost three months.

Monica Bobra, Scientific American December 16, 2014A couple of months ago, the sun sported the largest sunspot we've seen in the last 24 years. This monstrous spot, visible to the naked eye (that is, without magnification, but with protective eyewear of course), launched more than 100 flares. The number of the spots on the sun ebbs and flows cyclically, every 11 years. Right now, the sun is in the most active part of this cycle: we're expecting lots of spots and lots of flares in the coming months. Usually, the media focuses on the destructive power of solar flares —...

An El Salvador man was taken into custody in Waterloo last week after allegedly illegally entering the United States for the second time. At 8 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 11, the Seneca County Sheriff's Office pulled over a vehicle on Seneca Boulevard for allegedly committing a vehicle/traffic violation, deputies said. After conducting interviews, deputies determined Pablo Hernandez-Alvaro — one of the vehicle's occupants — had illegally entered the United States. U.S. Border Patrol agents later met up with deputies and took Hernandez-Alvaro into custody. According to deputies, Hernandez-Alvaro was previously deported from the United States after entering the country illegally. Deputies...

Homosexual activists will be the first ones to scoff and laugh at our faces if you bring up the term “homosexual agenda.” They’ll howl with laughter as they dismiss you as a homophobe Neanderthal that just isn’t keeping up with the modern times. The way the mainstream media distorts it, you’d think that every other person was as flaming as the candles on your great grandma’s birthday cake. Growing up in the 1970s, we were already being indoctrinated into the “gay agenda” with music superstars like the androgynous David Bowie and glam rockers the New York Dolls and Lou Reed....

For what it's worth, the Taliban kill 126 children, claiming that education is poison. In a related note, the very word Taliban comes from the root word Talib, meaning student. They were created in schools, armed themselves with the certainty that they therefore understood everything, and formed the organization "The students". The only reason I post this is that I haven't seen this remarked upon yet. With such astonishing hipocrisy, it must be that the Taliban are an offshoot of progressivism.

Jeb Bush became the first big-name potential GOP presidential candidate to make a major 2016-related announcement Tuesday, announcing that he will "actively explore" a run. Generally, this kind of announcement will be accompanied by an "exploratory committee" — which is both legally and practically the same thing as launching a campaign, and is usually just an excuse to have two separate campaign announcements. The former Florida governor isn't quite going that far; he says he will launch a new leadership PAC in January instead. But make no mistake: Bush just sent a clear signal that he's very serious about running...

Rights: No longer fearing electoral revenge from the National Rifle Association, an outgoing Democratic Senate pushed to confirm an anti-Second Amendment radical, who thinks guns are a health issue, as the nation's top doc. A Democratic Senate that earlier balked at the nomination of Dr. Vivek Murthy to be surgeon general of the U.S. no longer feared the possible electoral consequences of approving him in the wake of November's Republican tsunami. That, along with the GOP's obsession to not be blamed for a government shutdown, gave us a bad budget deal and the Democrats a chance to confirm Murthy. A...

I know I know...Just 10? (pulled this list from a friend on Tumblr) 1. He is at best a moderate Democrat 2. He supports Common Core 3. He said “So the idea that something I support that people are opposed to, it means that I have to stop supporting it if there’s not any reason based on fact to do that? I just — maybe it’s stubbornness, but I just don’t seem compelled to run for cover when I think this is the right thing to do for our country.” indicating that instead of being a voice for the people...