Free Republic

In an article published by the Guardian, Jess Zimmerman suggested that all men should be murdered. In the same article, she stated that prejudice against men is a good thing. The article, called “No, we don’t literally want to ban men. But 2014 was the year women got even,” begins with a sarcastic opening paragraph mocking males. It quickly descends further into madness. In the second paragraph, Zimmerman states that “misandry (the hatred of men) had a big year, too, but it looked a little different. For us, it was a tool to help create a less oppressive future.” Zimmerman...

Oil producers in North Dakota don't seem ready to give up their rail cars just yet. Enterprise Product Partners has shelved plans for a pipeline out of the prolific Bakken Shale after the company was unable to secure enough crude shipment deals along the route to make the project viable. The proposed 340,000 barrel-per-day line would have run 1,200 miles from the oil fields of North Dakota to the nation's largest oil transportation hub in Cushing, Okla. Houston-based Enterprise Product Partners originally announced that it would solicit shipping commitments from Sept. 4 to Oct. 17 - a process called an...

English director Ridley Scott is evidently fond of what Hollywood calls “period pieces.” He has had little trouble getting funding for such unlike other directors, no doubt because of his track record with Alien (1979), the cult classic Blade Runner (1982), and Thelma and Louise (1991). The suits felt sufficiently rewarded after they let Scott get into the time machine to make Gladiator (2000), Kingdom of Heaven (2005), and Robin Hood (2010) to let him try again. However, for Exodus: Gods and Kings, now playing at your neighborhood multiplex, Scott had to travel quite a bit farther back. If...

The drop in gasoline prices is a wonderful Christmas present for U.S. consumers.  It's great up here, but keep an eye on Venezuela.  The country could collapse if prices keep dropping. TIME magazine has a good summary about the mess in Caracas: The economic dysfunction and falling price of oil leaves Maduro in a tough spot. He lacks both the political will and popularity to push through meaningful reforms to push Venezuela’s economic house in order. At the same time, he is being increasingly squeezed by the weakness in the oil price. Hugo Chávez was luckier. At the height of...

Atticus Finch is a monster. Sure, he’s one of history’s most beloved literary characters (he was even played by Gregory Peck in a film adaptation) but he’s also, to use the parlance of our time, history’s greatest rape apologist. Glenn Reynolds, a law professor at the University of Tennessee and pundit, first observed Finch’s new standing in the world on Twitter in early December:

* Hundreds of displaced Iraqis, forced to evacuate their towns, will celebrate Christmas in this refugee camp in Erbil * They represent a tiny fraction of over three million Iraqi people 'internally displaced' - many of them in Kurdistan * The autonomous region in Northern Iraq is being pushed to breaking point by sheer number of new settlers * Families are safe, for now, from any immediate danger but dropping temperatures pose another serious threatThese beautiful pictures of Christmas prayers and glowing nativity scenes hide a much darker reality. Hundreds of Iraqi Christians, who now occupy these makeshift tents in...

The Obamas talked with People magazine about dealing with their "own racist experiences," as the magazine described. Michelle Obama told one story that recently took place, even as she was first lady of the United States. "I tell this story – I mean, even as the first lady – during that wonderfully publicized trip I took to Target, not highly disguised, the only person who came up to me in the store was a woman who asked me to help her take something off a shelf. Because she didn't see me as the first lady, she saw me as someone...

More at Reaganite Republican

Back in 2005, Peggy Noonan wrote about the increasingly public friendship between George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton: What bothers me about the fervid friendship of the Bushes and Mr. Clinton — and the media celebration of it — is the faint whiff of superiority, a sense they radiate that all those slightly icky little people running around wailing about issues — tax reform, the relation of the individual to the state, the necessary character of a president — and working the precincts are somehow . . . a little below them. There is an air of condescension...

Jonathan Gruber should have been Time’s Person of the Year. The magazine gave it to the “Ebola Fighters” instead. Good for them; they’re doing God’s work. Still, Gruber would have been better. Time’s Person of the Year designation has lost a lot of its stature over recent years. Part of its decline can probably be attributed to the fact that it’s come to be seen as an honorific. It was originally conceived to recognize the person who, “for better or for worse . . . has done the most to influence the events of the year.” So Adolf Hitler (1938)...

Story from August 2014. I'd like to see the chain of evidence demonstrating that the lyrics and video and pics are indeed of Mike Brown. In any event, enjoy. ---------------------------- “Gentle Giant” Mike Brown Liked Drugs, Ho’s, Killas, and Murders! 21 Aug 2014 Posted by Eric Reed So much for Mike Brown being the “Gentle Giant.” With each passing day, more information is uncovered about his “thug lifestyle.” While none of these things single-handedly justify shooting somebody, the compounding facts and evidence revealing the true character of Mike Brown lend much more validity to Officer Darren Wilson’s account of the...

HOLLYWOOD, CA — Not only is the pending Republican—controlled Congress scaring the daylights out of ardent Democrats and liberals throughout the nation, but are causing one famous actress acute anxiety. Controversial producer, actress, and HBO "Girls" producer Lena Dunham, who ignited a storm of controversy recently over revelations that the reported rape she recounted in her bestselling "memoir" (despite that Dunham is only 28 years old) "Not That Type of Girl" at the hands of a Republican while in college have been all but proved false, said Tuesday that she "already feels" the pending GOP Congress in January "invading her...

As many as 550 drilling rigs may have to sit on the sidelines of U.S. shale oil patches over the next few months, analysts say, as oil prices have folded nearly in half since this summer. The projections come a few days after Texas drilling rigs led the nation in a 1.4 percent weekly decline in the U.S. active rig count, according to oil field services firm Baker Hughes. Oil companies cut 20 rigs in the Permian Basin, a sharp turnaround from the flurry of rigs and hydraulic fracturing equipment that had rushed to West Texas earlier this year. “We...

The White House announced President Obama will deliver remarks on Cuba later today. In the afternoon, the President will deliver a statement on Cuba from the Cabinet Room at 12:01:30pm. There will be limited pool coverage.

MADRID (AP) -- A regional government in southern Spain has filed a complaint with Roman Catholic Church authorities over what it believes are church moves in recent years to blot out the Islamic past of Cordoba's ancient mosque-cathedral, one of the country's leading tourist attractions. The Andalusia region's tourism department said Monday the practice by church authorities who own the complex of calling it simply "The Cordoba Cathedral" on its website and on pamphlets and tickets could hurt tourism and confuse the 1 million-plus tourists who annually visit the "mezquita" (mosque), as it is known popularly. Tourism chief Rafael Rodriguez...

On Tuesday, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush announced that he will “actively explore” a bid for the White House. While Bush has not yet formed a presidential exploratory committee, he’s “running” for president by any practical definition of the term. If he proves to perform poorly in the “invisible primary,” failing to gather support among donors and influential Republicans, he could withdraw later on, before the first votes are cast in Iowa. What might those influential Republicans think of Bush? He has sometimes been critical of his fellow Republicans, having questioned the GOP’s partisanship and lack of tolerance for dissenting...

Joe Scarborough has a warning for conservatives: going after Jeb Bush will make him more likely to run for president. According to Scarborough, speaking on today's Morning Joe, Jeb is "his mother's son," "kind of "cranky" and "rough around the edges." If conservatives think they will drive Jeb out of the race by attacking him, "they've got him played exactly backwards." To the contrary, conservative attacks will make Jeb more likely to run "to prove them wrong."View the video here.

It's the week before Christmas, which means it's time for a hallowed holiday tradition here at Shorpy: The Office Xmas Party! Which has been going on for close to 90 years now. Will Clarence in Sales ever get up the nerve to ask out Hermione from Accounting? Washington, D.C., 1925. "Western Electric Co. group." There are enough little dramas playing out here to keep the forensic partyologists busy until Ground Hog Day. National Photo Company Collection glass negative.

Just a quick prayer request for my pet Buster. He's having surgery this morning to remove a well-contained tumor in a lymph node. It should go well, but I ask for prayers for him and the medical staff working with him this morning. He's in good shape to recover and we're asking for everything to go smoothly and for a good recovery. Thanks,

With nearly no public notice or debate, Congress on Wednesday approved legislation that critics say blesses the warrantless collection, dissemination and five-year retention of everyday Americans’ phone and Internet communications. The controversial language was quietly incorporated into an intelligence authorization bill that passed the Senate on Tuesday and then the House on Wednesday. The legislation, privacy advocates say, sanctions for the first time the executive branch’s warrantless collection of American communications under Executive Order 12333, issued in 1981 to authorize the interception of communications overseas. Section 309 of the intelligence bill sets a five-year limit, with many exceptions, on the retention of U.S. persons' communications collected...