Free Republic

WASHINGTON — California’s two Democratic senators helped block President Obama’s big trade initiative Tuesday, dealing a stunning blow to their own party leader and his rare alliance with the new Senate Republican majority. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer voted with all but one Democrat to halt consideration of trade promotion authority, a fast-track process that would restrict Congress to an up-or-down vote without amendment on new trade agreements, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership with Asia. It would be the biggest trade pact ever, covering 40 percent of the global economy. The 52-45 vote in favor of halting the Democrats’ filibuster...

The record busting growth of Antarctic ice is threatening the viability of Australia’s Mawson Antarctic research station. According to The Australian; Satellite observations show a new daily record being set for ­Antarctic sea ice every day for the past two weeks. Annual records have also been broken every year for the past three years. Rob Wooding, general manager of the Australian Antarctic Division’s Operations Branch, said expanding sea ice was now causing serious problems. Last year, fuel supplies were flown to Australia’s Mawson base by helicopter because the harbour had failed to clear. Dr Wooding said the situation was “unsustainable”.

The New York Times has a breathless report on the decline of Christianity in America. Much of the lefty twitterverse is celebrating the decline. The Christian share of adults in the United States has declined sharply since 2007, affecting nearly all major Christian traditions and denominations, and crossing age, race and region, according to an extensive survey by the Pew Research Center. Seventy-one percent of American adults were Christian in 2014, the lowest estimate from any sizable survey to date, and a decline of 5 million adults and 8 percentage points since a similar Pew survey in 2007. But that...

And now Mike Huckabee, the Gomer Pyle of unadulterated hatred masquerading as good ol' religion, has, again, joined the Republican race for the presidency. Distressed because of the success Ted Cruz has had making inroads to the virulent right wing religious/racist base of the Christian Right, Huckabee made sure to fluff his announcement with the prerequisite xenophobia necessary to show he's still The One. A little mention of the evils of Islam here, a little homophobic red meat there- Huck's on the move to shore up those right wing evangelical votes. The problem is that Huckabee's all hat and no...

Many Americans like the idea of the preliminary deal that would limit Iran's nuclear program but very few people really believe Tehran will follow through with the agreement. An Associated Press-GfK poll finds that just 3 percent said they were very confident that Iran would allow inspections of its nuclear facilities, remove plutonium from the country and shut down close to half of its uranium-enriching centrifuges as the preliminary deal says would be required. Nearly seven in 10 people said they were not confident, while 25 percent said they were only moderately confident. ..... < snip > ..... Although more...

Why is Megan Kelly only asking Ted Cruz what he thinks about Jeb's answers from last night???

Physicists Are Philosophers, Too In his final essay the late physicist Victor Stenger argues for the validity of philosophy in the context of modern theoretical physics By Victor J. Stenger, James A. Lindsay and Peter Boghossian | May 8, 2015 The ongoing feud between physicists and philosophers cuts to the heart of what science can tell us about the nature of reality. EditorÂ’s Note: Shortly before his death last August at the age of 79, the noted physicist and public intellectual Victor Stenger worked with two co-authors to pen an article for Scientific American. In it Stenger and co-authors address...

Paris (AFP) - The largest ice shelf in the Antarctic peninsula is being thinned by warmer seas and air and could catastrophically break up, scientists said on Wednesday. The loss of the Larsen C ice shelf could occur within a century but an earlier collapse cannot be ruled out, with major consequences for global sea levels, they said. "We now know that two different processes are causing Larsen C to thin and become less stable," said Paul Holland from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) who led the new research. "If this vast ice shelf... was to collapse, it would allow...

FReepathon donations are still coming in, but we're crawling instead of sprinting. We still need 42K to wrap this 'thon up. If you're waiting for the right moment, that moment is now! We cannot exist without you. We need your help to keep the lights on. FR is funded solely by contributions made by liberty loving people who enjoy and use it. Every donation counts no matter how big or small. If you can donate $5, $10, $20, $100 or more, it would be greatly appreciated. Generous FReepers have Sponsored $10 each for each New Monthly Donor because they...

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The Washington establishment is “terrified” by grassroots conservatives who are powering Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)96% ’s (R-TX) presidential campaign with small-dollar donations. In an interview from South Carolina’s Freedom Summit that aired on Breitbart News Sunday, Cruz scoffed at a New York Times story that brushed off his chances of winning the GOP nomination because “Cruz has done nothing to endear himself to the elites.” Political scientists the Times interviewed after Cruz announced his candidacy in late March asserted that “the single most important determinant of the outcome of the nomination is the support from party elites” like donors, establishment...

Two men have been arrested in connection with the murder of Earl Olander. The 90-year-old was found dead, bound and beaten inside his home on April 11. Carver County Sheriff Jim Olson said Tuesday that deputies received a tip that property stolen from Olander's residence had been recovered. Recovery of the stolen property led to the arrest of two adult males

WASHINGTON — • Between 10% and 15% of Fresno County Jail inmates are unauthorized immigrants • Local law enforcement struggles with the cost of federal immigration laws • A divided Capitol Hill signals that a quick fix isn’t likely Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims on Tuesday joined other law enforcement officers at the White House in trying to make an arresting case for comprehensive immigration reform. But with Congress stalled and immediate Capitol Hill progress extremely unlikely, Mims and her uniformed allies know they must aim long. “We’re not as close as we have been in the past for Congress...

With Microsoft Edge, we want to fundamentally improve security over existing browsers and enable users to confidently experience the web from Windows. We have designed Microsoft Edge to defend users from increasingly sophisticated and prevalent attacks. This post covers some of the advanced technologies used to protect Microsoft Edge, including industry leading sandboxing, compiler, and memory management techniques developed in close partnership with Windows. Web Security Threats While the web is predominantly a safe environment, some sites are designed to steal money and personal information. Thieves by nature don’t care about rules, and will use any means to take advantage...

"The Soft Tsunami of Liberalism Has Torn Down the Mystique of American Sports" "An Analysis of Deflategate Scuttlebutt"

The SunRail commuter train finished its first year of operation $27.2 million in the red, bringing in $7.2 million while spending $34.4 million. The shortfall was covered by taxpayers through the state Department of Transportation, which oversees the system running from DeBary in Volusia County through downtown Orlando to south Orange County. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, chairman of the SunRail board, called the performance "good for a first year." He predicted SunRail's losses would fall in coming years because the train would carry more passengers and advertising income would increase.

Post-Cold War honeymoon is long over. It was a geopolitical honeymoon that the West should have never taken in the first place After the Cold War ended, much promise was held out that the world would rapidly democratize—particularly states with notoriously poor human rights records such as China, Russia, Iran, and Cuba. Alas, these were utopian dreams. We were told that transferring large amounts of wealth and technology to authoritarian regimes would make them richer and free—only the former took place. We educated their leaders, often at our taxpayers’ expense, with the promise that these Western educated leaders would usher...

The American Conservative Union released its congressional scorecard for 2014 today, providing instant fodder for Republican primary contests — and some head-scratching for Florida Democrats. Of the three Republican senators running for president, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz retains conservative bragging rights with a 100 percent score for 2014 and 100 percent lifetime score. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul aren’t too far behind however. Both got 96 percent ratings for 2014 and have lifetime conservative scores of 98 percent....

A federal judge has agreed to reopen a lawsuit that seeks to gain access to emails from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private server. Judge Reggie B. Walton’s decision Friday came after the State Department and Judicial Watch, which brought the lawsuit, agreed that the documents that Clinton kept on her own email server separate from the government should be turned over. Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, told Fox News on Tuesday that the decision is an “extraordinary development.” He said it could ultimately lead to the department having to “explain itself under oath.” “This is the first...

Post-Cold War honeymoon is long over. It was a geopolitical honeymoon that the West should have never taken in the first place After the Cold War ended, much promise was held out that the world would rapidly democratize—particularly states with notoriously poor human rights records such as China, Russia, Iran, and Cuba. Alas, these were utopian dreams. We were told that transferring large amounts of wealth and technology to authoritarian regimes would make them richer and free—only the former took place. We educated their leaders, often at our taxpayers’ expense, with the promise that these Western educated leaders would usher...