Free Republic

SNIP In the town of McPherson, Kansas, there is a butcher shop called Krehbiels Meats, where, not long ago, an elderly woman bought a chicken that moved her to tears. The chicken had longer legs, a smaller breast and yellower skin than regular chickens, and on the back appeared two words the woman, who was in her 70s, would not have seen in a very long time: “barred rock.” SNIP She had every reason not to be excited. During the course of her 48 years of marriage, chicken had only ever brought disappointment. The problem was chicken and dumplings. It...

Wormholes Untangle a Black Hole Paradox A bold new idea aims to link two famously discordant descriptions of nature. In doing so, it may also reveal how space-time owes its existence to the spooky connections of quantum information. By: K.C. ColeApril 24, 2015 Comments (19) One hundred years after Albert Einstein developed his general theory of relativity, physicists are still stuck with perhaps the biggest incompatibility problem in the universe. The smoothly warped space-time landscape that Einstein described is like a painting by Salvador Dalí — seamless, unbroken, geometric. But the quantum particles that occupy this space are more like...

An internal NBC News investigation of Brian Williams has so far turned up 11 instances where the truth-challenged anchor “embellished” details of his reporting adventures, according to a new report. Previous counts had numbered Williams’ whoppers at a half-dozen.

A staffer for Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) admitted to distributing methamphetamine and another drug in exchange for sexual favors, according to a report in The Washington Post. Customs and Border Patrol officers in Cincinnati found a package of gamma-Butyrolactone (GBL) addressed to Fred Wesley Pagan, according to a court document. Homeland Security agents searched his house in the Brightwood neighborhood of Washington D.C., on Thursday and found a substance that tested positive for meth in plastic bags, the court document states. The Post reports Pagan is a long-time employee of Cochran and currently serves as his office manager. Pagan allegedly...

It certainly seems so. This week has been very revealing in terms of what conservatives actually think and what progressives imagine we think. The “big” question that kicked it all off was “would you attend a gay wedding?” This was, apparently, supposed to separate the knuckle-dragging haters on the right from the sophisticated and pious leftists. John Nolte writes: "Another Republican presidential hopeful, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, made all kinds of headlines when he said something that would not surprise anyone who has spent any amount of time with a conservative Christian — that he would attend a same sex...

Which entrance into this nation is illegal? The natural journey down the birth canal or the unnatural, contrived crossing of the border? Ten senators laid down their mandate to protect the Constitution when they voted to confirm Loretta Lynch as attorney general Thursday, April 23. Having taken an oath to uphold the tenets of our founding documents, these republicans, who vowed to serve faithfully, were found faithless. There was good reason why President Obama had placed such confidence in his nominee to become the top justice official. When questioned by the Senate committee, Lynch plainly stated her intention of standing...

Amid reports of a renewed Saudi offensive against Iranian-allied rebels in Yemen, Iran's news agency reported on Friday that Saudi Arabia had stopped Iranian aid planes from landing in Yemen. Not unexpectedly, a top Iranian official responded with threats directed at Saudi Arabia. Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian warned on Sunday that the Saudi behavior and its siege of Yemen and preventing the dispatch of humanitarian aids "will not remain unanswered." "Saudi Arabia is not entitled to decide for others in the region," Abdollahian added. Iran's FARS News Agency stated that Saudi fighter jets...

EAST ORANGE, N.J. -- A physician's assistant from New Jersey was among those killed in the earthquake in Nepal. Marisa Eve Girawong had been working in Nepal for a company called Madison Mountaineering that posted the news of her death on its website. East Orange hospital, where Girawong used to work, issued a statement offering sympathy and prayers to both her family and the people of Nepal. Seattle-based Madison Mountaineering said that Girawong died in the aftermath of the avalanche that struck the climbers' base camp.

In a series of meetings in recent days, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and Police Chief Edward Flynn have challenged state and community leaders to launch a conversation to address the gun violence that has hammered some of the city's most troubled neighborhoods this spring. With 46 homicides as of Friday (a 170% increase over last year), violence has reached a level that no one in the city — or the state — should tolerate. Barrett and Flynn make a good point. We think Flynn has a sound targeted, data-driven strategy that can and has worked, at least until this spring,...

During the past weeks I have written about some of the challenges which face the United States (4 parts). I admit that much of it presents a dismal picture. I have received responses saying there is nothing we can do, that the challenges are just too great. But I disagree. There are things we can do. Change will always be painful for some, but the future well-being of the nation depends upon their implementation. Perhaps what follows is part of the answer.–JV We can take our country back. The petty insults we endure each day have nothing to do with...

There is an amusing investing term called a ‘dead cat bounce.’ It follows from the idea that "even a dead cat will bounce if it falls from a great height." A dead cat bounce refers to a temporary recovery from a prolonged decline followed by a continuation of the downtrend. The dead cat bounce is a sucker’s bet. Suckers, thinking that the worst is over and that things have reached bottom, start buying up stock. In reality, the temporary rally is caused by investors shorting the stock purchasing the worthless stock to cover long-term bets against the company creating short-term...

Kudos to TheDC’s Kerry Picket for spotting the significance of this Hillary Clinton quote: “Laws [about reproductive health care and safe childbirth] have to be backed up with resources and political will,” Clinton said. “And deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed.” If one is to assume that “reproductive health care” rights are a euphemism for abortion (a fairly safe assumption), then this is quite telling. Maybe it’s because she was speaking to a friendly audience (at the Women in The World Summit), but this honest appraisal is a reminder that politics are downstream from...

Jeb Bush jolted his prospective rivals for the Republican presidential nomination last winter when he dived with unexpected aggressiveness into the 2016 campaign. Few of them seem to be quaking now. The former Florida governor is still the biggest name in the GOP field, with a fundraising network unmatched by any of the others. But Bush’s considerable assets so far have done little to reshape the early polls or keep others out of the race. If anything, it’s the opposite. Bush acknowledged all this when he was in New Hampshire a week ago. Noting his strong establishment support, one voter,...

After the Sandy Hook tragedy, reporters often called me to ask for information on firearms. They wanted to know whether strong gun laws reduced homicide rates (I said they did); and, conversely, whether permissive gun laws lowered crime rates overall (I said they did not). I discovered that in their news articles journalists would write that I said one thing while some other firearms researcher said the opposite. This “he said, she said” reporting annoyed me, because I knew that the scientific evidence was on my side. After the Sandy Hook tragedy, reporters often called me to ask for information...

Olga Dadykina, who has been trekking the Himalayas for the last two months, became stranded in the Nepalese village of Namche Bazaar, at 3,440 meters above sea level. She shared her experience with Sputnik News in an exclusive interview. ..... The village of Namche Bazaar had another strong tremor on Sunday. All buildings remain closed; people are left without shelter. Smaller tremors and quakes continue.

Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz is happy Bruce Jenner will continue to embrace the GOP, telling us his party needs all the Cali support it can get. Chaffetz -- an ultra conservative from Utah who has become extremely influential in DC -- told our TMZ photog it's not his job to judge Jenner's choices. It's interesting ... Chaffetz has become a powerful voice promoting the right of privacy. Although it seems Chaffetz is saying live and let live, he clearly has limits because he has opposed both gay marriage and medical marijuana use in the past. Jenner told Sawyer he's a...

I just want to revisit this story from 2013, when a Massachussetts liberal professor, Noel Ignatiev, called for white men to commit suicide. Here is a link to the story. http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2013/11/25/liberal-professor-tells-white-male-students-commit-suicide-benefit-so Professor Ignatiev was simply articulating the values of the Democratic Party, with more honesty than most Democrat politicians and DNC strategists. Here is what he said: "...If you are a white male, you don’t deserve to live. You are a cancer, you’re a disease, white males have never contributed anything positive to the world! They only murder, exploit and oppress non-whites! At least a white woman can have sex...

ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) — Dozens of local Somali families gathered at the State Capitol Saturday afternoon, calling for the release of six terror suspects. They’re calling for the government to stop what they see as attacks against them, and say the suspects were set up. Six local Somalis were charged this week with trying to leave the country to join the terrorist group. These four men were taken into custody in Minneapolis a week ago. Two others were arrested in San Diego. Federal agents also arrested Mahamed Said for allegedly making threats on Twitter in response to the arrests....

A very touching speech made by the Father of the Bride to the Groom that shows this father’s love for his daughter.