Free Republic

That’s Conn Carroll’s formulation of what she said yesterday, which reads like it must be an exaggeration for effect. It really isn’t. Obama’s mega-amnesty last November gave legal status to illegals who are parents of U.S. citizens. Hillary’s now promising to expand that by giving legal status to parents of DREAMers — who are themselves illegal immigrants. If kids brought here illegally by their parents qualify for legalization under Obama’s DACA amnesty and the parents of those kids qualify for legalization under President Hillary’s amnesty, then presumably any foreign citizen with a kid has a golden ticket to stay...

An Iranian naval fleet chased a U.S. warship and military planes through the waters off the southern coast of Yemen late Monday in yet another provocative encounter between the two nations, according to Iranian state media reports. A U.S. warship and several planes reportedly “changed their direction” on Monday after encountering an Iranian naval fleet during a patrol in the Gulf of Aden near Yemen, Iranian state media revealed. The U.S. military assets fled “after they came close to an Iranian naval fleet and were warned to move away,” Iran’s state-controlled Fars News Agency reported. Iran also released video of...

It doesn't look as if former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's (R) path to the White House will run through Iowa. Bush, widely viewed as a presidential front-runner on the Republican side, scored just 5% in the first primary state in a new Quinnipiac University poll out Wednesday. The survey found Bush in seventh place among likely caucus goers — behind Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida), Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R), and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson. Walker, with 21%, was by far the leader in the poll. Rubio...

It's Hillary Clinton and Ted Cruz leaving everyone else in the dust - on Facebook, that is. According to data provided by the social media giant, Clinton and Cruz registered the most Facebook "interactions" -- meaning likes, comments, posts and shares -- in the 24 hours surrounding the launch of their presidential campaigns. Clinton, who used Facebook to showcase the video announcing her White House bid, won a whopping 10.1 million interactions from 4.7 million unique users in the period around her official announcement. Cruz, the first presidential candidate to make his run official, registered 5.5 million interactions when he...

It's quite astonishing to watch what is unfolding in America today as our media engages in self-censorship while acting as apologists for the actions of Islamic terrorism. By doing this, the media not only sacrifices the freedom of speech that is essential to our pluralistic society, but it also promotes the fear that jihadists seek to instill by dictating what is and isn't "off limits" to debate. This is already happening with news reporters such as Ayman Mohyeldin of NBC now calling for special speech protections for Islam in the wake of Sunday's terrorist attack in Garland, Texas. Pamela Geller...

Great to see @CVSHealth announce it will rebuild the Baltimore locations. That’s the community spirit of #OneBaltimore.

Washington State University researchers have found a way to make jet fuel from a common black fungus found in decaying leaves, soil and rotting fruit. The researchers hope the process leads to economically viable production of aviation biofuels in the next five years. The researchers used Aspergillus carbonarius ITEM 5010 to create hydrocarbons, the chief component of petroleum, similar to those in aviation fuels. Led by Birgitte Ahring, director and Battelle distinguished professor of the Bioproducts, Sciences and Engineering Laboratory at WSU Tri-cities, the researchers published their work in the April edition of Fungal Biology. The fungus produced the most...

"I want it all and I want it now!" - Queen The Tortoise and the Hare. One of the most widely-known of Aesop's Fables, the timeless children's classic tells the story of an arrogant rabbit and a methodical turtle. After the supremely confident rabbit had talked more trash than Kevin Garnett, the tortoise challenged the hare to a race. As it began, the rabbit took a significant lead but decided to take a nap, only to be awakened by a cheering crowd as the tortoise crossed the finish line. After that crushing loss, the hare was always quick to remind...

Retired Supreme Court justice John Paul Stevens said this week that the government should compensate detainees still being held at Guantanamo Bay even after authorities determined that they did not pose a threat to the United States. Stevens’s call to give reparations to dozens of detainees at the U.S. military detention center in Cuba comes as the Pentagon is racing to move these inmates ahead of possible congressional action that could restrict transfers. In a speech Monday, Stevens pointed to the detainees who have already been approved for a transfer out of Guantanamo Bay, saying that some or all...

On Sunday, Democratic Maryland State Senator Catherine Pugh lavished praise on state's attorney Marilyn Mosby, who just days before announced that her office would file a bevy of charges against all six officers involved in the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray. Gray's death drove protests and riots throughout Baltimore, serving as the spark to ignite local rage, and focusing national attention on the state of inner city black Americans. Pugh said that Mosby "really set the bar for the nation in terms of how these sorts of cases ought to be looked at." Pugh wasn't Mosby's only conspicuous fan. Rep....

Former Florida governor fails to identify any ‘genuine’ conservatives on campaign team. Jeb Bush’s latest effort to court evangelical voters boomeranged when a Christian radio network boss challenged him for hiring two political aides who support same-sex marriage, and the former Florida governor conceded that he couldn’t identify any “genuine” conservatives in his inner circle. The details of Mr. Bush’s private phone call in mid-April with Rich Bott, whose religious radio network of 100 stations stretches from California to Tennessee within potential reach of 51 million listeners, were confirmed to The Washington Times by Mr. Bott and top aides to...

Rasmussen Reports finds that when you survey Likely U.S. Voters: -- 63% think it’s likely some actions Clinton took as secretary of State were influenced by donations made to the Clinton Foundation, including 42% who say it’s Very Likely. -- 51% do not trust Clinton. Thirty-seven percent (37%) say they do trust the former first lady, but another 13% are undecided. -- 52% now believe Clinton’s use of a private, non-government e-mail provider for issues at the highest levels of the U.S. government raises serious national security concerns, up slightly from 49% in early March. -- 45% now say Clinton...

With the first enhanced majority—as Newt Gingrich called it—in the House and Senate, we in the rank-and-file GOP are being treated to a the skilled governing of our leadership team, Sen. Mitch McConnell and Speaker John Boehner. Gingrich waxes poetic about Boehner’s ability to govern. The process of governing itself isn’t enough, however.  Liberals governed for decades, but the result was high taxes, bloated spending and the dramatic expansion of government.  What matters is governing by conservative principles and this is the second great contrast this week’s budget vote will highlight. Given, the president will sign the first real budget produced...

In 1987, a young, African-American woman named Tawana Brawley was found lying inside a garbage bag, reportedly “unconscious” and covered in feces and racial epithets. Brawley became an overnight media sensation, largely because her claim of having been raped by six white men was trumpeted by the then-largely unknown Rev. Al Sharpton and two other “activists,” as a symbol of systemic racism in America. Several months later, a grand jury found Brawley’s story to be a lie, and a Sharpton associate condemned the Reverend and his cohorts as “frauds from the beginning.” Rather than slink away in shame as many...

The sun produced its biggest solar flare so far this year, a huge blast that caused temporary radio blackouts throughout the Pacific. The X-class solar flare - considered the most powerful category of sun storm - erupted Tuesday from a sunspot called Active Region 2339 (AR2339), peaking at 6:11 p.m. EDT (2211 GMT), according to Space.com. The blast, however, is unlikely to cause major problems back on Earth. "Given the impulsive nature of this event, as well as the source location on the eastern limb of the sun, we are not expecting a radiation storm at Earth," scientists with the...

Cheryl Treadway was held hostage by her boyfriend at knife point Monday afternoon, together with her three children, authorities said. She persuaded him to let her use a cellphone to order a pepperoni pizza online from Pizza Hut, according to authorities. “Under the comments section, there was a message asking them to send help and call 911 as they were being held hostage,” Highlands County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. When Treadway’s order came in, Pizza Hut employees knew who she was because she is a frequent customer. And her message raised an alarm. “We’ve never seen that before,”...

BALTIMORE (UPI) -- The American Civil Liberties Union is demanding answers about an apparent surveillance plane spotted for days hovering above where riots erupted in Baltimore, Md., over the death of Freddie Gray. Benjamin Shayne, 39, saw what appeared to be a small Cessna plane hovering in low altitude in areas around West Baltimore where rioting occurred. He tweeted a question about it to his nearly 600 followers through his ScanBaltimore handle and one responded to him with information about the plane, including a screenshot of its flightpath. Shayne's discovery helped unveil a secret campaign of surveillance involving at least...

IBM's supercomputer Watson will be used to make decisions about cancer care in 14 hospitals in the US and Canada, it has been announced. Using computers to trawl through vast amounts of medical data speeds up the diagnosis process. (excerpt) It also recently teamed up with IBM to allow the software that helps gather health data from iPhones to be used by Watson.

In an interview with ESPN.com, Buffalo Bills running back LeSean McCoy answered a series of questions about his childhood growing up in Pennsylvania, his place in the league as a 26-year old running back, his new team, his new coach (Rex Ryan) and his former team and coach, the Philadelphia Eagles and Chip Kelly. [Snip] There's a reason. ... It's hard to explain with him. But there's a reason he got rid of all the black players -- the good ones [Snip] McCoy is now the second former member of the Eagles to hint at possible racism on Kelly's part...

'Hot Chocolate lead singer Errol Brown has died aged 71, his manager has said. Brown had liver cancer and died at his home in the Bahamas, said Phil Dale. Hot Chocolate had hits in more than 50 countries worldwide, including You Sexy Thing - which Brown co-wrote - It Started with a Kiss and Every One's a Winner. Brown was made an MBE by the Queen in 2003 and received an Ivor Novello award for his outstanding contribution to British music in 2004. You Sexy Thing, Hot Chocolate's best-known hit and a top 10 single in the 1970s and '80s,...