Free Republic

A protest put on by a group of second-graders in Massachusetts has sparked controversy, but the school says it was just teaching the kids a lesson in civics. The peaceful demonstration happened on Friday, a spokesperson for the Alma del Mar Charter School in New Bedford told ABC News today. Second-graders gathered in front of the school with signs, some that said "Honk For Justice." "A group of scholars played on the playground while other scholars held their demonstration without incident," Will Gardner, the school's executive director, said today in a statement.

e Connecticut Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the acquittal of a former Army medic who was sentenced to 15 months in prison for transporting a knife and police baton in his vehicle during a move out of state. Justices issued a 7-0 decision in the appeal of former Clinton resident Jason DeCiccio. The court said part of the state law on illegal possession of weapons in a motor vehicle violates the Second Amendment because it bans people from transporting weapons between residences when they have the right to possess those weapons in their homes.

U.S. housing starts and permits fell in November, but the underlying trend remained consistent with an improving housing market. Groundbreaking declined 1.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual 1.028 million-unit pace, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday. November's starts were revised up to a 1.045 million-unit rate. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast starts rising to a 1.04 million-unit rate from October's previously reported 1.01 million-unit pace. Housing continues to be stymied by tepid wage growth, which has been far outpaced by home price increases. Higher mortgage rates are also a constraint, although they have since declined from a peak...

Let’s compare two politicians, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Congressman Jeb Hensarling of Texas, to see which one actually has the courage to fight against powerful interest groups. We’ll start with Senator Warren. She portrays herself as the scourge of Wall Street, but it appears that the Massachusetts lawmaker isn’t merely a fake Indian, she’s also a fake opponent of corporate welfare.

CARSON CITY — Las Vegas Republican lawmaker Michele Fiore, a lightning rod in an ongoing Assembly GOP power struggle, said Tuesday she is fully in compliance with the Internal Revenue Service over more than $1 million in tax liens against her home health care businesses. In her first comments on the controversy, Fiore appeared on the Alan Stock radio show on KDWN in Las Vegas, saying her actual active liens total less than $200,000. Liens dating back to 2003 had previously been resolved, she said. Fiore said her lien problems stemmed from a dishonest bookkeeper, who she said is facing...

Sen. Al Franken has told MSNBC that he’s enthused about the prospect of Hillary Clinton becoming president, a comment which the network reported as being an endorsement of her potential candidacy. “I think that Hillary would make a great president,” the Minnesota senator said in an interview on the MSNBC cable network with Ari Melber, scheduled for telecast Tuesday at 2 p.m. CST on “The Cycle.”

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- William Shakespeare asked "What's in a name?" It means plenty of controversy if you are referring to Coonskin Park. The head of the Kanawha County Parks and Recreation Commission, retired state Adj. Gen. Allen Tackett, wants to rename the park after Kanawha County Commissioner Hoppy Shores, who was just elected to his seventh term. The park's name is is generally associated with a type of a fur cap made from a raccoon skin, but Tackett said the term could be offensive to others. The commission is set to discuss the name change at a Thursday meeting.

The Sony hackers have threatened a 9/11-like attack on movie theaters that screen Seth Rogen and James Franco’s North Korean comedy “The Interview,” substantially escalating the stakes surrounding the release of the movie. The attackers also released the promised “Christmas gift” of files. The contents of the files are unknown but it’s called “Michael Lynton,” who is the CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment. “The world will be full of fear,” the message reads. “Remember the 11th of September 2001. We recommend you to keep yourself distant from the places at that time. (If your house is nearby, you’d better leave.)...

DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - A published report says dozens of suspected killers, rapists and others who were arrested by Detroit police over the past four years have been released because of a backlog of unsigned warrants. Among the unsigned warrants at the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office are 21 for murder, including one going back to 2010, according to a report in the Detroit News. The newspaper says there are 105 for sexual assault and 126 for child abuse. In most cases, police were forced to release the suspects, since the law requires that they can’t be held beyond 72 hours without...

But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.(Galatians 4:4-5)Five centuries before the birth of Jesus, the prophet Daniel had a vision which showed him all of the Gentile rulers who would dominate the Jews until the end of the “Times of the Gentiles”. Daniel saw that the Babylonians, would be followed by the Persians, then the Greeks and finally, the Roman empire would prevail over Israel until the time of...

When House Republicans passed a version of road funding legislation Dec. 4 that did not include a tax increase, a cry went up that this would jeopardize appropriations for schools and local government revenue sharing. However, regardless of one’s opinion of the overall usefulness of the plan, the plan would not cause school and local government funding cuts. The measure, House Bill 4539, would phase out the 6-percent sales tax on gas and diesel motor fuel sales over a six-year period beginning Jan. 1, 2016. This tax, which is collected at the pump, is used primarily to provide some of...

This week, oil fell through the price floor of $60 a barrel and gas at my local filling station was $2.26 a gallon. That’s great news for commuters and almost every business, but wonderfully bad news for our ugliest enemies. This price plunge has been driven by Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s dominant power. While it’s true that part of Riyadh’s actions respond to the energy renaissance in North America, the greater motivation is breaking Iran’s will. The Saudis believe they can no longer rely on the US to contain Tehran’s imminent nuclear threat, so they’re out to do what our lukewarm...

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...