Free Republic

Imagine a president of the United States proclaiming in his or her inaugural address, “I do not believe in God. I do not believe in a hereafter…There is no hope, save in ourselves.” If something like that ever happens, writer Jeffrey Tayler’s dream will have come true. Tayler, who routinely trashes religion for the liberal online magazine Salon, complained in a Sunday article that several recent announcements of presidential candidacies have brought about “a media carnival featuring, on both sides, an array of supposedly God-fearing clowns and faith-mongering nitwits groveling before Evangelicals and nattering on about their belief in the...

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee accused the FBI on Monday of not cooperating with the Department of Justice’s top watchdog in the investigation of the Fast and Furious gunrunning scandal, among others, endangering Congress’s ability to be a check on the administration’s actions

Alabama wife shot by police after she guns down husband in self-defense: cops BY DOYLE MURPHY An Alabama woman blasted her crazed husband in self-defense — and then was shot in the hip by a cop, authorities said. Lisa Skinner was still holding a shotgun on Sunday evening when she spun to face a Huntsville police officer, who opened fire when she didn’t immediately drop the weapon, police said. “The whole situation was just unfortunate for everyone involved,” police spokesman Lt. Darryl Lawson told the Daily News.

South Korea’s prime minister has offered to resign amid a bribery scandal just two months after he took up the country’s No. 2 post, officials said Tuesday, in the latest political crisis to hit President Park Geun-hye. Lee Wan Koo has been at the center of a corruption scandal that flared after a businessman killed himself earlier this month, leaving a memo listing the names of eight high-profile figures he claimed to have bribed. Most of the eight men, including Lee, are considered as close associates of Park. Businessman Sung Wan-jong told a local daily before his death he gave...

Ten months from now, on February 13, 2016, all eyes will be on South Carolina, which will host the first-in-the-South Republican presidential primary. The candidates are already assembling on-the-ground operations in the state, hoping of course, that their campaigns will still be viable after the Iowa caucuses, the New Hampshire primary and contests in the West and Midwest. Here’s an early look at how the Palmetto State campaign organizations are taking shape for the three announced Republican candidates – Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio – as well as the state’s favorite son, Lindsey Graham. Ted Cruz, a freshman...

Nevada schools will have to document at least two attempts if they can’t or won’t finish the troubled Common Core testing, as two other states seemed to bounce back from technical problems that halted the federally mandated assessment process. Last week, testing was stopped in Nevada, Montana and North Dakota after a widespread system crash caused by capacity issues with New Hampshire-based Measured Progress. The company is contracted to administer the tests linked to hotly disputed, federally backed education standards. All three states have since announced plans for school districts that say they can’t or won’t finish the test. …

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a likely 2016 GOP presidential candidate, pledged to protect American workers from the economic effects, not only of illegal immigration but also of a massive increase in legal immigration. During an interview with Glenn Beck, Walker became the first declared or potential 2016 GOP presidential candidate to stake out a position on immigration fully in line with that of Senate Judiciary Committee subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest chairman Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL). He also noted that he has been working with Chairman Sessions on the issue to learn more about it. Walker is now...

NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) – After concerns about Listeria contamination, Blue Bell Ice Cream has voluntarily recalled ALL of its products currently on the market. The recall includes ice cream, frozen yogurt, sherbet and frozen snacks made at all of its facilities. A press release from the Brenham, Texas-based company say the products “have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.” In the statement Blue Bell CEO and president Paul Kruse said, “We’re committed to doing the...

The phrase “batting around” has existed in baseball as long as anybody can remember. It originated more than a century ago and remains a ubiquitous part of the sport’s lexicon. But what does it mean? Among baseball’s most ardent fans, players and officials, there is no consensus about how many hitters must reach the plate in an inning to constitute batting around. The debate has been raging for years in the sandlot baseball league of New York attorney Brian Mangan. Seeking to settle it, Mangan tweeted a question on March 13: “Batting around—is that when all 9 hitters bat, or...

With the fifth annual chicken-fried steak festival just under a month away, much of the event's entertainment lineup is set. The festival is April 24-26 in Lamesa’s Forrest Park. The three-day event kicks off with a dinner Friday night, April 24. Plates of — you guessed it— chicken-fried steaks and sides are $12 for adults and $7 for children. Saturday activities include a cook-off, balloon launch, team roping and a classic car show. A 5k glow run is set for about 8:30 p.m. The musical lineup includes: 5:30-8:30 p.m. Friday — Coby Carter 8 p.m. - midnight Friday — Jody...

Automakers are supporting provisions in copyright law that could prohibit home mechanics and car enthusiasts from repairing and modifying their own vehicles. Allowing them to continue to fix their cars has become "legally problematic," according to a written statement from the Auto Alliance, the main lobbying arm of automakers. The dispute arises from a section of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that no one thought could apply to vehicles when it was signed into law in 1998. But now, in an era where cars are rolling computing platforms, the U.S. Copyright Office is examining whether provisions of the law that...

Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr. sounded a battle cry Sunday, calling on law-enforcement agencies to battle Apple and Google over software that makes it impossible for authorities to “decrypt” cellphones seized in criminal investigations. The recently rolled-out “upgrades” haven’t attracted much general attention, which means police must start pressing elected officials to roll back the terrorist-friendly software, he said. “Apple has created a phone that is dark, that cannot be accessed by law enforcement even when a court has authorized us to look at its contents,” Vance warned on “The Cats Roundtable” show on WNYM/970 AM. “That’s going to be...

Two of the most prominent and influential megadonors in the Republican Party reportedly have picked their man in the 2016 presidential race: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R). According to The New York Times, David Koch told a Monday gathering of GOP donors that he and his fellow billionaire brother, Charles Koch, want Walker in the White House. "We will support whoever the candidate is," Koch said at the Manhattan event, according to Times reporter Nick Confessore's sources. "But it should be Scott Walker." The Koch brothers are two of the most free-spending donors in American politics, and they have a...

Rubio’s out-polling Rand Paul among tea partiers now, eh? Interesting footnote to the CNN results: Of the three Republicans who’ve formally announced they’re running, only two have seen their numbers improve since last month. Cruz gained three points (not coincidentally, Ben Carson, a competitor for the social conservative vote, lost five) and Rubio gained four points. Rand actually lost a point after jumping in. Maybe all of that is just an artifact of the margin of error, or maybe it’s an early warning that Rand’s “conservatarian” ceiling will be lower than everyone thinks.

Many Californians with Covered California or Medi-Cal hover near the intersection where the two programs meet. When their incomes fluctuate, however, that “hover” can turn into a “bounce.” State officials say the transition between Covered California and Medi-Cal is supposed to be “seamless,” but in reality, moving from one to the other sometimes puts Californians’ health coverage — and their health — at risk. “There’s not a seamless transition. There’s not someone helping them figure out who to call or how to navigate the system,” said Jen Flory, senior attorney at the Western Center on Law and Poverty. “Frankly, it’s...

In 2008, John McCain, straight-talking principled maverick that he was, got into a Republican primary and saw that a position in favor of comprehensive immigration reform was causing him problems, so he disavowed the reform bill he had co-authored not long before, going so far as to say that if it came up again in the Senate, he'd vote against it. And now Marco Rubio, who like McCain attempted to pass a bipartisan comprehensive reform bill, is doing something similar. When the "Gang of Eight" bill Rubio championed passed the Senate in 2013 but died in the House, Rubio was...

When Hilda Gurney’s name crops up, they love to tell stories about her switcheroo involving aviator Charles Lindbergh at the Van Nuys Airport. The pilot and her co­pilot husband, Harlan “Bud” Gurney, decided in 1969 to take out a small plane, and Lindbergh — a close friend of the family who often stayed with them when he was in Los Angeles — asked if he could fly alongside. But the press got wind of the renowned aviator up in the SoCal skies, and reporters descended upon the airport to wait for his landing. Wise to the plan, Lindbergh and the...

As the spacecraft gets closer to the dwarf planet and moves around it, more and more of the surface is coming into view. The two brightest spots seen in a crater are known as ‘spot 5’. The scale in the image is about 1.3 miles (2.1km) per pixel, almost 70 per cent better than previous images. But the origin of the bright spots remains a mystery for now - with theories ranging from exposed ice to volcanoes. Salt flats or ice seem to be the predominant theories at the moment, with the bright spots appearing to reflect incoming sunlight towards...

Full Headline! Clinton aide admits they SCREEN 'everyday Americans' for Hillary's campaign events as some ordinary people in a New Hampshire bakery – the employees! – refuse to shake her hand A Hillary Clinton campaign official explained on Monday why her presidential advisers have brought pre-screened partisans to some events promoted as an opportunity for the former secretary of state to meet with 'everyday Americans.' Just steps away in a Keene, New Hampshire bakery, a few run-of-the-mill people decided they didn't want to be seen with her. 'A few of the staff didn't want to come out to meet Hillary,'...

Islamist networks in France and across Europe are increasingly organized and well-armed, but it is France that is sitting on a powder keg Just before Christmas, as I was walking along the streets of Paris, I happened to see the disgraceful cover of the latest edition of Charlie Hebdo, a failing satirical magazine well known for its insults against religion and general vulgarity. It showed the Blessed Virgin Mary in an outrageous, almost pornographic position. Such crudeness was not a first for Charlie Hebdo. Although the cover angered me, the spirit of Christmas overrode any hateful thoughts. Two weeks later,...