Free Republic

The billionaire Koch brothers' plans for 2016 have dominated political headlines this week. On Monday afternoon, it looked like the brothers were endorsing Scott Walker. By Monday evening, David Koch had declared his neutrality. Twenty-four hours later, Charles Koch explained there were five GOP contenders in the mix for the brothers' backing. And on Wednesday, Politico's Ken Vogel obtained a memo outlining the brothers' spending plans for 2016. What's the upshot of all this? Overall, it's clear that the Kochs are being bolder than ever in their attempts to mold the political process to their will. They're trying to raise...

It may seem a touch misleading in name, but scientists at the University of Wollongong say they’re creating what they call 4D printing. The fourth dimension they refer to is time and shape shifting as the researchers have begun to develop 3D printed materials capable of morphing into new structures – post production – as those materials are influenced by the addition of external stimuli such as water or heat. The team at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science say these new materials are able to transform themselves from one shape into another, and they see applications for...

iTunes users who still run Windows XP started to experience connectivity issues this week. As documented in an Apple Support Communities thread, they can’t log into the iTunes store, meaning functions like buying content, watching already purchased movies and TV shows, playing DRM-protected content, backing up, updating, and syncing all do not work. The issue has to do with the secure connection iTunes uses to connect to the iTunes Store, meaning it doesn’t affect users until they try to log in. While the support thread in question only has some 50 replies at the time of publishing, we expect it...

Bill Nye was heavily skewered online Tuesday evening after revealing his plans for an Earth Day event.The popular science educator tweeted that he plans to “catch an #EarthDay flight on Air Force One” Wednesday with President Barack Obama.“We’re going to #ActOnClimate,” he added. Heading down to DC to catch an #EarthDay flight on Air Force One tomorrow with the President. We're going to #ActOnClimate. — Bill Nye (@BillNye) April 21, 2015 Individuals were quick to criticize Nye for flying on a 747 in an effort to save the Earth and rescue the environment. Hypocrisy much? MT @BillNye: Heading to DC...

A House investigatory panel has summoned Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to testify at a May 18 public hearing about her use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state. The panel, which is probing the September 2012 terrorist attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, has scheduled a second public hearing one month later, on June 18, to grill Clinton about Benghazi. Both hearings are contingent upon Clinton providing "a complete record" about her role before, during and after the attacks, which killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. That may be...

How can Ted Cruz be "too conservative" for America when an independent watchdog named Barack Hussein Obama the "most liberal" politician in Washington during his tenure as Senator? Contrary to progressive propaganda, America wasn't founded on Marxist or Islamic principles. This fabled nation was forged upon the timeless premise that man's natural rights are derived from God rather than the vain benevolence of any leader or the criminally usurped power of statism. Liberty, opportunity, God, faith, capitalism, hard work, self-reliance, accountability, and duty are hardly meaningless taglines used to lather up a Right Wing electorate into a frothing display of...

The video can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cbOe90AUmUIn a preview of Fox News’ upcoming special on the allegations that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton traded political favors for donations to the Clinton Foundation, The New York Times reporter Jo Becker revealed that the Clintons straight-up lied to her about whether Bill Clinton had attended a key meeting. One of the revelations in the Times piece is that Bill Clinton played a key role in the insuring acquisition of key uranium mines from the Kazakh state-owned uranium mining company Kazatomprom to Canadian millionaire Frank Giustra. After the transaction, Giustra gave over $30...

Offended by satire, incorrect costuming, and inappropriate feather placement, a group of about a dozen American Indian actors walked off the set of an Adam Sandler comedy Wednesday, according to a report in Indian Country. Apparently, the actors were shocked to learn that Indians would not be inoculated from satire in the “Ridiculous Six” Western spoof, and that a comedy film wasn’t terribly interested in historical accuracy. Things came to a head when one of the producers told one of the actors, “If you guys are so sensitive, you should leave.” [emphasis added] Approximately a dozen Native actors and actresses,...

Five cast members of the upcoming Ferguson stage play abruptly quit this week after reading the play’s script, which recreates the shooting death of teenager Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson using testimony taken from the grand jury proceedings in the case. According to the Los Angeles Times, the cast members quit the production after learning the true circumstances surrounding Brown’s death. Playwright and producer Phelim McAleer told Breitbart News that the script is based strictly on grand jury testimony, with “nothing added. No dialogue, no characters.” “He claims that he wrote this to try to get to the...

On Now with Alex Wagner today, the host and her guests were discussing the Boston bomber trial when they touched on the photograph that has been shocking and angering people around the world since it was revealed. Wagner notes that the photo was shown during the sentencing phase, and the panel discusses the relative fairness of the image as a true representation of the murderer. "In arguing for the death penalty. prosecutors in the Boston marathon bombing trial on Tuesday used this image to argue that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was quote 'unconcerned, unrepentant, and unchanged'," says Wagner. "But surveillance video released...

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Known for the hard line he takes against illegal immigration, on Thursday admitted to, and apologized for, hiring a private investigator to look into the wife of a U.S. District Court judge who is overseeing contempt of court proceedings against him. [snip] Known not only for his position on but for stunts like forcing prisoners to wear pink underwear, Arpaio is on trial for violating Snow’s orders in an earlier racial profiling suit. Snow ordered Arpaio’s office to stop detaining people based on suspicions of being in the country illegally back in December 2011. Arpaio...

Oregon Sheriff’s Tim Svenson and John Hanlin Just a few weeks ago, Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer made headlines for his staunch opposition to the gun registry bill moving through the Oregon Legislature. He is now being joined by several other Sheriffs across the state.Just yesterday the House rules committee held their hearing on SB941, which is being sold as a “universal background check” bill. Among the folks testifying against the bill were Yamhill County Sheriff Tim Svenson and Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin. “My fear with SB 941 is that these citizens will now be at risk of being...

Do Americans, excluding the Marxist in the White House, actually believe private enterprise is obligated to share or "redistribute" their profits with the general public; albeit paid employees, the unemployed or complete strangers? If I have a job and my neighbor doesn’t, or God forbid I make more money, am I obligated to give this person a percentage of my income? Is “Bob” going to give me his money if I lose my job and become homeless? Hell no! People open businesses to make money…period! It’s not rocket science or a Right-Wing conspiracy. It’s called risk, work, reward! If a...

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — A Columbia University senior filed a lawsuit against the school Thursday, claiming that the university failed to protect him from harassment amid claims that he had raped a fellow student. The lawsuit was filed Thursday in Manhattan U.S. District Court by Paul Nungesser. The German citizen said the student’s campaign to muddy his name by dragging a mattress around campus and demonstrating has isolated him and hurt his job prospects and ability to stay in America.

Texas Capitol Building KnifeRights.org Gilbert, AZ --(Ammoland.com)- Knife Rights’ bill to repeal the ban on prohibited knives in Texas needs your help. HB 3884 sponsored by Knife Rights friend Representative Harold Dutton needs to be heard as soon as possible in the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee.The Chairman of the committee, Representative Abel Herrero, is a proven pro-Second Amendment legislator and we have no reason to believe he is holding the bill for philosophical reasons, but the clock is ticking and if the bill is not heard in committee very soon, it will end up dead for the session. In Texas...

AUGUSTA — A federal law enforcement officer from Vermont was arrested in West Gardiner on Wednesday after allegedly aiming a loaded handgun at another vehicle on Interstate 95. Maine State Police officers arrested Demitria Buhalis, 41, of Brownsville, Vermont, and charged her with aggravated criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon, a Class C felony, said Lt. Aaron Hayden. Buhalis is a police officer at the White River Junction VA Medical Center in Vermont, Hayden said. Hayden said a man driving south on I-95 in Sidney called police just before noon to report that a woman who drove past him in...

“As the fight for religious liberty moves to Louisiana, I have a clear message for any corporation that contemplates bullying our state: Save your breath. … If we, as conservatives, are to succeed in advancing the cause of freedom and free enterprise, the business community must stand shoulder to shoulder with those fighting for religious liberty. The left-wing ideologues who oppose religious freedom are the same ones who seek to tax and regulate businesses out of existence. The same people who think that profit making is vulgar believe that religiosity is folly. The fight against this misguided, government-dictating ideology is...

Just experienced a 4.1 shaker located on the east shore of Lake Pend Oreille here in north Idaho at 7:32 PM PST. We were shaken, but not stirred. Noticed one brief almost imperceptable aftershock.

We have forgotten just how deep a cultural revolution Christianity wrought. In fact, we forget about it precisely because of how deep it was: There are many ideas that we simply take for granted as natural and obvious, when in fact they didn't exist until the arrival of Christianity changed things completely. Take, for instance, the idea of children. Today, it is simply taken for granted that the innocence and vulnerability of children makes them beings of particular value, and entitled to particular care. We also romanticize children — their beauty, their joy, their liveliness. Our culture encourages us to...

If Jeb Bush embodies many Republicans’ hopes to soften the GOP’s harsh brand image on immigration and expand the party’s competitiveness with Latino voters, then why is he endorsing and appearing at a political fundraiser tonight for the virulently anti-immigrant Senator David Vitter? (SNIP) Meanwhile, David Vitter is one of the most consistent anti-immigrant hardliners in the Senate – a vocal opponent of the DREAM Act, comprehensive immigration reform, and President Obama’s immigration executive action programs and a lead sponsor of efforts to restrict the use of discretion in immigration enforcement to target felons, not families (it continues to be...