Free Republic

Betrayal: Another Obama amnesty program is well underway — at Guantanamo, where three dangerous al-Qaida operatives have quietly been OK´d for release in three months. And now a close aide to the 9/11 mastermind is also on tap for release. After already freeing an al-Qaida bomb maker last month — over the objections of U.S. intelligence, which warned, "He would be capable of re-engaging as an explosives expert or trainer" — the parole board that Obama set up to clear out Gitmo is now poised to rubber-stamp for release a close associate of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Gitmo´s so-called Periodic Review

The movie American Sniper is about a decorated American war hero who served his country valiantly. While we may disagree about the motives and politics of the Iraq War, the movie shows the sacrifice that Chris Kyle made, like so many of his fellow servicemen and women who put themselves in harm’s way to protect our country, including numerous University of Maryland alumni. If the University prevents a movie like this from being shown, it promotes intolerance and stifles dialogue and debate on the subject and goes directly against the atmosphere the University of Maryland purports to provide. As adults...

LGBT activists are urging a boycott of two openly gay New York hoteliers who hosted a controversial campaign event for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. The “Boycott Fire Island Pines Establishments & Out NYC Hotel” page on Facebook, which had amassed nearly 4,000 likes by Friday, questions the conservative company that OutNYC owners Mati Weiderpass and Ian Reisner chose to keep. The page quotes a critical profile of Cruz written by the Human Rights Campaign. Weiderpass, the co-owner of the Hell’s Kitchen hotel, enraged LGBT activists when he posed for a photo with the Republican presidential hopeful during the Monday affair....

[Gene Simmons]The bass guitarist for Kiss was raised by a single mother and has said in a television interview that his children will not get rich off his money. They will receive a small inheritance, Simmons says, but "every year they should be forced to get up out of bed and go out and work and make their own way." He has not decided what he'll do with his fortune, but he currently sponsors more than 140 African children through ChildFund.

I haven't posted in a while because I started doing projects that are more time intensive. I decided to stop doing graphics/memes for the most part, in favor of going back to my first love, illustration.I still plan to do the occasional graphic like this one I created recently... But I missed drawing and illustrating, and I essentially gave it up to create all of the graphics I've created over the years because I don't have time to do both. Anyway, here are a couple of pieces I was fairly happy with, and I wanted to share them here. :-)...

More than 350,000 refugees in the United States are on food stamps, according the Congressional Research Service (CRS). In a memo to the Senate Judiciary Committee released Thursday but dated April 14, CRS offers data on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — or food stamps — and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) use among refugees. It also provided refugee benefit usage statistics for medical assistance, cash assistance and public housing. In Fiscal Year 2013, there were about 353,000 refugees on SNAP. As of December 2014, 55,000 refugees, asylees, and other similar populations receiving payments from SSI, the memo reveals.

Welcome to my song "Demonicide." This is my first attempt at thrash metal, and while I know that the lyrics are supposed to be shocking, I fear that these lyrics may shock even the most hardened fan. You've been warned.A few notes about the song: 1. I write and record my music under the pen name Hopalong Ginsberg. If youse has ta ask why, youse ain't never gonna unnerstan'. 2. A free MP3 of the song may be downloaded here or here. If you click here I cannot be held responsible. 3.

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of "Goodfellas" this year, the Daily News has compiled a list of 25 things every movie nut should know about the classic gangster flick, which is being honored on the closing night of The Tribeca Film Festival Saturday. To celebrate, the cast of the Martin Scorsese movie will reunite and participate in a sit-down conversation hosted by Jon Stewart. The violent, profane and often funny film, based on Nicholas Pileggi's book "Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family," featured several cameos by the story's real-life characters, and is revered by movie fans for its...

The most potent illustration that Republicans have shifted their attitudes on immigration came Tuesday morning when all GOP members of the Senate Judiciary Committee rejected an amendment from Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., to severely limit the number of legal immigrants allowed into the country. The committee’s overwhelming ‘No’ vote shows that the battle for Republicans’ souls on immigration has shifted away from groups that want to reduce the influx of foreigners, like the Heritage Foundation, NumbersUSA, and Fairness for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), toward free-market groups that applaud increased immigration, such as Americans for Tax Reform and the CATO Institute....

With Hillary Clinton's campaign already faltering, Democrats have an obvious candidate to turn to.Hillary Clinton’s presidential candidacy is beginning to look like an aging bomber hit one time too many by flak. Her campaign is making that ungraceful roll that precedes the fatal, disintegrating tumble. For decades, the Clintons have been the Houdinis of American politics, able to wiggle out of heavy chains to escape one death trap after another, always emerging with taunting smiles. But this time feels different. Yesterday, The New York Times­ ran a long investigative piece detailing how millions in cash went to the Clinton Foundation...

William Strength had quite a night. Authorities say the 23-year-old Harvey resident stole an excavator and led Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office deputies on a drunken chase through parts of the West Bank, plowing over trees and utility poles before sinking the 89-ton machine in the Harvey Canal. No one was injured during the joy ride. But it left behind a path of destruction. "I just would like someone to pay for the damage," said Albert Daigle, 69, whose business, Daigle Towing Services LLC., took the brunt of the rampage.The excavator plowed through the locked, chain-link fence on the side of...

It's a beautiful day. You just got your Apple Watch™ in the mail! You take it to your living room and unbox it. Wow. It's incredible. You go through the setup process, and link it to your iPhone. You set the charging dock on your nightstand, and set an alarm. You go to sleep, and dream of floating through white clouds in a blue sky as Jony Ive narrates. Your alarm wakes you at 9:30 on Saturday — the alarm on your Apple Watch. You pick the Apple Watch up from its charging dock, and put it on your wrist....

Depraved militants fighting for the Islamic State in Syria have brutally stoned two gay men to death only seconds after they were photographed embracing and 'forgiving' them.The shocking images were taken in ISIS-held territory in the province of Homs and show the two accused men being savagely executed by up to four jihadis.Huge, bloodthirsty crowds are seen in the desert clearing where the group of executioners made a display of hugging the blindfolded couple and telling them they were forgiven of their 'sins', before pummeling them to death with hundreds of fist-sized rocks.

A major World War I monument in Britain has been vandalised just hours before an Anzac Day service at the site. The Australian flagpole was sawn through at Harefield (St Mary) Churchyard, and the memorial and information panel were peppered with blue spray paint. More than 100 servicemen and one nurse are buried at the site after being treated at the adjacent Harefield hospital, which was a converted mansion donated in 1915 by a wealthy Australian, Charles Billyard-Leake. The annual Anzac Day service was to still go ahead at Harefield on Saturday afternoon local time following immediate intervention from the...

You might remember Emma Sulkowicz, the Columbia University student who vowed to carry her mattress around campus in protest of her alleged rapist who remained on campus. Sulkowicz turned what she says was a horrible tragedy into performance art; performance art that will suffice as her senior thesis.Sulkowicz chose not to press charges, but to pursue allegations through Columbia’s ‘justice’ system instead. A few months ago, Sulkowocz’s alleged rapist, German student Jean-Paul Nungesser, provided his side of the story to the The Daily Beast. Nungesser’s story, which was corroborated by Facebook and text messages provided to The Daily Beast, deviated...

Behold, your tax dollars at work. The Department of Justice has produced this slick video promoting Eric Holder’s legacy as the “People’s Lawyer.”

America promotes itself as “the land of the free and the home of the brave’’, but more than 100 US citizens have sought asylum in Australia in the past six years. They have sought asylum in Australia on the basis of unemployment due to the global financial crisis, the impact of ­Obamacare, a high crime rate, claims America is a terrorist ­target, religious persecution and persecution because of sexuality or ­perceived sexuality. ..... This month, the Australian Federal Circuit Court referred the case of an American woman back to the Refugee Review Tribunal for reconsideration. The woman, known as SZUQO,...

Islamic extremists suspected in a bomb attack in a Pakistani market that killed more than 100 people had also planned an attack against the Vatican in 2010 that was never carried out, an Italian prosecutor said Friday. The alleged foiled plot, known to authorities for years, was revealed as prosecutors announced the results of a decade-long investigation into an Italy-based terror network that aimed to stop Pakistan's actions against the Taliban. Police arrested nine suspects related to the probe Friday throughout Italy. Another nine were being sought, three of whom were believed to still be in the country. Wiretaps collected...

All 15 bison that roamed across a section of town for the past several hours were shot and killed by family members who owned the animals Friday. The center of attention was at a creek off of Willowbrook Avenue as authorities tried to round up the herd that escaped from a farm in Rensselaer County, crossed the Hudson River and bolted across the state Thruway. One of the hunters — "hired guns" — appeared to have a heated exchange with Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple after the gunfire started and was taken into custody. Apple said he was concerned about...