Free Republic

WASHINGTON – If Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly is being paid by media impressions, he will be a very rich man by the end of the offseason. The team with the most high profile roster moves in 2015–particularly at the quarterback position–did it again Monday, signing former Heisman winner Tim Tebow to the 90-man roster. After a season in which Nick Foles and Mark Sanchez split starts at quarterback, the Redskins’ division rivals will have their pick of Sanchez, Sam Bradford, Matt Barkley and now Tebow.Or possibly others, at this rate.With the exclusion of Barkley, who has never been tested in...

Biochemist Phillipe Jeandet.... who has analyzed the early 19-century bubbly, says there were surprising amounts of copper and iron in the wine. The copper most likely came from copper sulfate, which vintners used to kill mildew and fungus on growing grape vines, the report said. The nails used to hold the wooden storage barrels together probably account for the liquid’s high iron content, he said. Even after 170 years lying some 165 feet deep in the ancient sunken cargo vessel, the champagne corks had not deteriorated because, scientists say, there was liquid both inside and out. And, according to Andrew...

That the Clintons have made millions of dollars from speaking fees is no secret: just last summer it was revealed that the former president was paid $104.9 million for delivering 542 speeches around the world between January 2001 and January 2013, when Hillary left her job as secretary of state. What is not known, and what will be revealed in a new book "Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich,” by Peter Schweizer, is something far more sinister: foreign entities made payments to the Clinton Foundation and to...

I like mine but thought of a good one for someone else looking: Pretty sure disagreeing with you doesn't make me Hitler.

Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky is soliciting information about the Clinton Foundation’s acceptance of contributions from foreign governments in his latest move to cast doubt on the former secretary of state’s candidacy.“Do you have additional information about the Clinton Foundation accepting foreign contributions?” a page on Paul’s campaign website reads. Users can then enter their first and last names, along with their ZIP code, email address and the information they have. The form shared by Paul on Sunday via Twitter did not appear to include a secure HTTPS protocol.

Iran has rejected a call by US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz for unlimited access of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to the Islamic Republic’s military sites. In a Monday interview with ISNA news agency, the spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) described Moniz’s demand as “not practical and acceptable.” Behrouz Kamalvandi noted that negotiations aimed at reaching an agreement over Iran’s nuclear program “are still underway,” urging the other side to put forward its views during the talks. Kamalvandi stressed that Tehran will not undertake any commitments beyond “common laws and regulations.” Earlier on Monday,...

Monday on Newmax TV’s “America’s Forum,” political commentator Dick Morris said the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPA) fast track being supported by many Republicans has a provision that allows for the “free flow of workers” between countries, essentially creating a backdoor to “unrestricted immigration.” Morris said, “This is huge. I hope everybody listening takes action call your senator about it. If he is a Republican he is voting wrong. “I dont think that people understand that in this deal which is a trade agreement among Australia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Japan, Canada, the United States, Mexico, Peru, and Chile, there’s a provision for free...

April 21, 2015Tuesday of the Third Week of Easter    Reading 1 Acts 7:51—8:1a Stephen said to the people, the elders, and the scribes:“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears,you always oppose the Holy Spirit;you are just like your ancestors.Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute?They put to death those who foretold the coming of the righteous one,whose betrayers and murderers you have now become.You received the law as transmitted by angels,but you did not observe it.” When they heard this, they were infuriated,and they ground their teeth at him.But Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit,looked...

The successful shutting down (or at least shutting up) of non-groupthink-compliant wedding cake and floral businesses has given gay-marriage agitators and their backers a taste of the vast power of ideological extortion in 2015 America. I’m optimistic that the law will eventually come to its senses and give wide berth to Christians in the wedding trades, or even to non-Christian libertarians who simply don’t want to be told who they have to do business with. Perhaps James O’Keefe will covertly record owners of a black-owned florist shop being asked to create an arrangement for a “KKK” event, or a Muslim-owned...

TidBITS was initially Tonya’s idea. In April of 1990, I was doing Mac consulting in Ithaca, and Tonya was working for Cornell Information Technologies, helping members of the Cornell community evaluate and purchase Macs, PCs, NeXT machines, and a wide variety of peripherals. Some of her colleagues had been there for a while and didn’t seem excited about recent innovations in technology, like affordable printers that provided the WYG in WYSIWYG or NeXT computers with their unusual mix of power and graphics. So Tonya came up with the idea of writing a weekly newsletter for her coworkers that would summarize...

Amy Purdy, who inspired a nation on Dancing with the Stars and has been called a hero by Oprah Winfrey, reveals the intimate details of her triumphant comeback from the brink of death to making history as a Paralympic snowboarder. In On My Own Two Feet, Amy takes readers inside her childhood and up to the defining life or death moment. Despite the grim prognosis, she was determined to not just beat the odds and walk again but to create a life filled with bold adventures, big dreams, and boundless vitality—and share that spirit with the world. Amy seized her...

Earlier today, following weeks of speculation, Greece finally launched the first shot across the bow of capital controls, when it decreed that due to an "extremely urgent and unforeseen need" (ironically the need was quite foreseen since about 2010, but that is a different story), it would be "obliged" to transfer - as in confiscate - "idle cash reserves" located across the country's local governments (i.e., various cities and municipalities) to the Greek central bank. Several hours later the decree which was posted in the government gazette has finally percolated among the population, and the response to what even ordinary...

Call it the anti-Rand primary. There are at least three Republicans who seem likely to run for president in part so they can attack Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul’s libertarian-leaning foreign policy stances on the campaign trail. These anti-Rand candidates — South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, former U.N. ambassador John Bolton and New York Rep. Peter King — are ramping up their criticism especially now that Paul has officially entered the race for the White House. All three are the longest of long shots when it comes to actually winning their party’s nomination. But each of them — national security hawks...

San Francisco 49ers Hall of Fame offensive tackle Bob St. Clair died Monday night following a brief illness, the Pro Football Hall of Fame told NFL Media. He was 84 years old. A Bay Area legend, St. Clair teamed with fellow NFL Hall of Famers Ollie Matson and Gino Marchetti on Joe Kuharich's fabled University of San Francisco Dons squad that went undefeated in 1951. Drafted by his hometown 49ers in 1953, St. Clair emerged as one of the decade's top linemen, earning first- or second-team All-NFL honors nine times. He was also selected to five Pro Bowls and served...

In a ruling with major implications for California's water conservation campaign, a state appeals court on Monday ruled that a tiered water rate structure used by the city of San Juan Capistrano to encourage conservation was unconstitutional.. The Orange County city used a rate structure that charged customers who used small amounts of water a lower rate than customers who used larger amounts. But the 4th District Court of Appeal struck down San Juan Capistrano's fee plan, saying it violated voter-approved Proposition 218, which prohibits government agencies from charging more for a service than it costs to provide it. "We...

I am certain that most of my readers have heard the Joseph Stalin quote "The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic." Only a totally heartless human being could have such an outlook. One such a man is Barrack Hussein Obama, and he is proving it every single day. Several years ago when fifty one percent of this nation were singing Obama's praises, a large portion of the remaining forty nine percent were saying that Obama was incompetent. I have never believed that; writing instead that his apparent incompetence was actually a carefully...

Bronko’s is known locally for its popular pizza and chicken and -- nationally -- as the place where Hillary Rodham Clinton during the 2008 Democratic presidential primary campaign drank her “shot heard around the world,” when she downed a shot and beer there.

Back in the Sixties, there was a popular bumper sticker slogan that read “question authority.” In that dubious era of phony psychedelic bohemians and inane pseudo-revolutionaries, it was one of the few pieces of advice I took seriously. Even today it remains good advice, and perhaps even more so. Questioning authority lies at the foundation of how and why this country was formed. The War of Independence was the ultimate challenge to an authority that hadn’t only become questionable, but beyond toleration as well. The framework of the Constitution was designed in part to allow both its citizens and its...

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) is mocking Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) for claiming he is “pressing” for hearings on allowing U.S. troops to carry private firearms on military installations.“You know, I was fascinated to hear that because I haven’t heard a thing about it from him. Nor has my staff heard from his staff. Where did that come from? I have not a clue,” McCain told reporters on Monday. “I’d be glad to discuss the issue and see if we need a hearing, but it came as a complete surprise to me that he had been pressing...

"They never stopped plotting another way to get to Syria. These men are focused men who were intent on joining a terrorist organization by any means possible," Luger said. Luger said the six men are not part of an organized recruiting group but were friends who worked to recruit and help each other get to Syria to support ISIL. There is not one master ISIL recruiting organizer in Minnesota, Luger said; that makes it more difficult to stop. "I will work and help anyone who in good faith wants to break the cycle of terror recruiting in Minnesota," Luger said....