Free Republic

CHICAGO (CBS) — Chicago is the most segregated city in the United States, while also being one of the most diverse, according to a new analysis of U.S. Census Data. How can that be possible? Because “diversity” and “segregation” are two different things, when you look at them from a city-wide level and then the neighborhood level, writes Nate Silver, the founder and editor of the Five Thirty Eight blog. “Chicago deserves its reputation as a segregated city,” Silver writes. “But it is also an extremely diverse city. And the difference between those terms — which are often misused and...

T he Finnish military has begun sending letters to some 900,000 reservists amid increased tensions between the Nordic states and Russia over the Ukraine crisis. Russia and Finland share a 1,340-kilometer land border. The military said the letter campaign, which started on May 4, was prompted mainly by cuts in the defense budget. Finland's defense budget this year has shrunk to 2.7 billion euros ($2.99 billion), or 1.29 percent of GDP, down from 1.4 percent in 2012. The letters reportedly informed reservists what their role would be in a "crisis situation." Finland, with a population of 5.2 million, is one...

Workers laying a cable beneath the Baltic Sea are on the front line in Lithuania's struggle for energy independence from Moscow. Their adversary: the Russian Navy. No shots have been fired, but construction crews laying the NordBalt cable linking Lithuania and Sweden have received unwelcome visits in the last month from Russian warships probing into the construction area in the Baltic state's exclusive economic zone. Frustrated that its diplomatic protests have had no effect, NATO member Lithuania says it will consider legal action if the Russian moves don't stop. "We've already informed our transatlantic partners of the issue and will...

Bronx, NY – A video published on Youtube yesterday by user benfarias13 shows an apalling abuse of power by the NYPD when they pull over and arrest a man for absolutely no reason. The video begins with the driver sitting calmly in his car when an officer walks up and opens the car door, demanding he “step out of the car.” The cop immediately tells him to put his hands behind his back and cuffs him, asking him if he has any weapons. The man complies and replies that he does not have any weapons, asking why he’s being arrested....

Climate scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are warning the Arctic may be ice free by the summer by 2040 due to global warming. Scientists sounded the alarm on a Wednesday press call that comes after the north pole hit record low winter sea ice coverage in February. NOAA’s warning of an ice-free Arctic are consistent with warnings given by other researchers over the past few years. Scientists warned that Arctic ice will melt faster as temperatures grow hotter, which they warn is harming the region’s ecology — zooplankton are losing fat content which could harm fish...

FIORINA: Well, you see, Katie, in the world I come from, a title is just a title. I mean, you went through a whole bunch of things about me as CEO. You weren't impressed with my title. Why are we so impressed with political titles? Senator is a title. Secretary of State is a title. It's a completely legitimate question to say, "What has anyone accomplished with their title?" And the truth is, there are many in the political class who haven't accomplished a whole lot, despite their titles. COURIC: What about the trustworthy claim (re: Hillary)? FIORINA: Well, you...

We’re at a turning point. I genuinely believe that this is a moment on which we’ll reflect… and the people who refused to fight back, who refused to run a damn cartoon, will find themselves on the wrong side of history. WARNING: Mildly Offensive Language DOUBLE WARNING: Video EXTREMELY offensive to Muslims.

Hillary Clinton is giving “comprehensive immigration reform,” which is code for amnesty for illegal aliens, a prominent role in her 2016 presidential campaign. “I will fight for comprehensive immigration reform and a path to citizenship for you and for families across our country,” Clinton said yesterday at a Las Vegas high school according to reporting by The Washington Post. She was joined in the library by students who have been protected by Obama’s executive actions. “I will fight to stop partisan attacks on the executive actions that would put Dreamers ... at risk of deportation.” Former Fla. Gov. Jeb Bush...

Law And Order: Just two months ago, President Obama held up the Baltimore police force as a model of unbiased community policing. Now he's investigating it for civil-rights violations. What's changed? In a March White House report on police reforms, Obama and his Task Force on 21st Century Policing praised Baltimore's force and its black chief for "implementing national best practices for policies and training," including "use of force" reforms. His task force even quoted Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts, who said he changed "outdated procedures" that "put officers at odds with the community."

Maybe he should have taken traveler’s checks. But it’s too late for that now. All the money – $16,000 in cash – that Joseph Rivers said he had saved and relatives had given him to launch his dream in Hollywood is gone, seized during his trip out West not by thieves but by Drug Enforcement Administration agents during a stop at the Amtrak train station in Albuquerque. An incident some might argue is still theft, just with the government’s blessing. Rivers, 22, wasn’t detained and has not been charged with any crime since his money was taken last month. That...

The Battle of the Coral Sea was fought between the Japanese and Allied navies from May 4 through May 8, 1942 in the Coral Sea, about 500 miles northeast of Australia. Occurring only six months after the surprise Japanese attack on American forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and a month before the decisive battle at Midway, it was one of the first naval battles fought in the Pacific during World War II. The battle, roughly a draw, was an important turning point in the Pacific campaign. My uncle, Bill Leu, fought at the Battle of the Coral Sea on the...

Judicial Watch: DHS Records Detail Mexican Government Helicopter Crossing Border and Firing on Border Patrol (Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it obtained documents from the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) that confirm a June 26, 2014, attack by a Mexican government helicopter on U.S. Border Patrol agents. The Mexican helicopter crossed into U.S. airspace before firing on U.S. Border Patrol personnel. The Mexican government initially denied that the attack near Arizona’s San Miguel Gate occurred, but later admitted to the armed incursion. The CBP documents were released in response to a July 9, 2014, Judicial Watch...

According to a professor at the University of Warwick in England, parents who read to their kids should be thinking about how they’re “unfairly disadvantaging other people’s children” by doing so. In an interview with ABC Radio last week, philosopher and professor Adam Swift said that since “bedtime stories activities . . . do indeed foster and produce . . . [desired] familial relationship goods,” he wouldn’t want to ban them, but that parents who “engage in bedtime-stories activities” should definitely at least feel kinda bad about it sometimes: “I don’t think parents reading their children bedtime stories should constantly...

Reflecting upon Ferguson and Baltimore—along with Detroit and other cities—reveals what they all have in common: most of their African-American residents are captives on what some might call the new plantations—urban islands of poverty surrounded by the fetid waters of political disinterest. The new plantations aren’t so new, created as they were by The Great Society, when Lyndon Johnson wrapped himself in the mantle of the brave new world, and despite presumably noble instincts, laid the foundations for a social slavery he would never have imagined. It’s debatable, of course, but when one peruses the photographic journals compiled by Pittsburgh’s...

Page Croyder, formerly of Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office, has a critical take on the charges thrown at the six city police officers. According to Page, State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby can herself be charged for an illegal arrest. The six Baltimore officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray are (top row from left) Caesar Goodson Jr., Garrett Miller, Edward Nero and (bottom row from left) William Porter, Brian Rice and Alicia White. (Baltimore Police Department via AP) Croyder also believes Mosby faces a potential civil suit for her sloppy work against the officers. This article was first published on Croyder’s...

Upon hearing buzz that McDonald’s has brought back that scamp the Hamburglar to network TV after a 13-year hiatus, ostensibly in Burger Thief Jail, the image of the chubby-cheeked, one-toothed masked beef marauder might come to mind. But lo — the scamp is gone, replaced by a suburban dad with a full set of teeth, a five o’clock shadow on his chiseled jaw and a penchant for red leather high tops and trench coats. “We felt it was time to debut a new look for the Hamburglar after he’s been out of the public eye all these years,” Joel Yashinsky,...

How do you know if a gun smith is really a gun smith? IS there some sort of licensing or certification? Should they have an FFL? IS there some way to verify, an certifying body you can contact who will verify they are trustworthy and capable? A gun store gunsmith seems more reliable than simply leaving a weapon with someone who works out of a private home or facility. Thoughts? Thanks.

The White House on Tuesday labeled the Garland attack Sunday an “act of terror,” but is withholding judgment on whether Islamic State claims of a link are valid. "This is still under investigation” by the FBI and other federal agencies, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said at his daily briefing when asked about the ISIS claim of responsibility for the attack that left two gunmen dead. “It’s too early to say at this point.” He credited a “quick and brave” police response. Because of that, he said, “an intended terrorist attack was foiled.”

Maine recently joined 35 other states this year in filing the Convention of States (COS) resolution calling for an Article V convention limited to proposing amendments that impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, and limits terms of office for its officials and members of Congress. The Convention of States Project now holds the record for filing the most identical Article V resolutions in a single year --and it demonstrates that state legislators are realizing their power to correct our nation’s most pressing problems through this long-neglected constitutional process. As Alexander...