Free Republic

Cabinet members will be traveling around the country in the coming days to help promote President Barack Obama's State of the Union proposals. The White House says the "road tour" is geared toward highlighting pressing issues facing the country such as climate change, health, criminal justice and access to opportunity. ...

The furor over Gov. Paul LePage's comment about "young white" girls being impregnated by out-of-state drug dealers is last week's news. This week could bring an impeachment order calling for an investigation into the Republican's alleged abuse of power. A group of lawmakers led by Rep. Ben Chipman, a Portland Democrat, submitted the order, and Chipman said it's due to be debated on the House floor on Thursday. But House Democrats are divided, and the situation remains fluid. ...

Impact cratering is one of the most fundamental geological processes. On many planets, impact craters are the dominant geological landform. On Earth, erosion, plate tectonics, and volcanic resurfacing continually destroy the impact cratering record, but even here, the geological, biological, and environmental effects of impact cratering are apparent. Impact events are destructive and have been linked to at least one of the 'big five' mass extinctions over the past 540 million years. Intriguingly, impact craters can also have beneficial effects. Many impact craters are associated with economic metalliferous ore deposits and hydrocarbon reservoirs. This Special Paper from The Geological...

This thread includes things to pray about and some Scripture. Anyone may also bring up for prayer anything else on their hearts. Some things to pray about: - Wheaton College has been attacked for upholding the Bible, God's Word to us and the foundation of the Christian faith. Those attacking it are really attacking it just because it is God's Word, which they want to see erased from the world, as if that could ever be. - The United States continues its abandonment of the Christian faith, and grows in hostility to God's Word. Young people, and the country as...

Researchers last got a signal from the Philae lander back in July, since then pinging it has resulted in no word from it—and i'’s all coming to a head now, says the ESA, because time is running out as the comet moves further and further away from the sun. With just a little time left, the plan is to try some off-label uses of Philae's momentum wheel. If the problem is that the lander is simply too dusty to power on, the hope is that spinning the wheel could clear off enough to let it wake itself up one last...

A stunning new Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) report circulating in the Kremlin today states that one of the United States Navy’s top commanders was relieved of his command a few hours ago after he sent out an “email/posting” revealing that President Barack Obama was in the process of purchasing a multi-million dollar seaside luxury villa in the United Arab Emirates city (UAE) of Dubai. According to this report, the Commander of the US Navy’s Carrier Strike Group 15, Rear Admiral Rick Williams, posted a “pointed” query on 8 January [since deleted] to the US Naval Institute’s “Readiness Kill Chain” “recipients/responders”...

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gives a New Year's address for 2016 in this undated photo. In the nationally televised address, Kim pledged to seek improved relations with South Korea and boost his country's economy. (Kyodo) ==KyodoFirst, candidate Trump carried on a long-distance bromance with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin, calling him "a strong leader" and saying it was a "great honor" to have Putin compliment him.Now Trump has expressed admiration for an even loonier goon: North Korea's boy tyrant Kim Jong Un. Speaking at a rally in Ottumwa, IA, Trump veritably gushed about the leadership qualities of Kim.The Hill:...

Starting at the 20:40 mark She should never be allowed to run because what she did is totally illegal, totally illegal. General Petraeus and many others have suffered greatly because of doing 5% of what she did. Now, the only question is are they going to give her a pass because of the fact that the democrats control the process. And I think if they do that I thinks it`s going to be actually very bad from an election standpoint for her And you know honestly if a Republican gets in they`re going to end up doing something anyway because...

In an exclusive hour-long sit down interview with Breitbart News, 91-year-old conservative icon and living legend Phyllis Schlafly declared that Donald Trump "is the only hope to defeat the Kingmakers," and detailed why she believes Trump alone will return the government to the people. She warned that if immigration is not stopped: "we're not going to be America anymore." Schlafly, born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1924, has been active in politics for more than one-quarter of all American history. She helped launch the conservative movement, create the pro-family agenda, and has led the fight against open borders trade and...

Angus Scrimm, the character actor who played the Tall Man in the 1979 horror movie “Phantasm” and its four sequels, died Saturday. He was 89. “Phantasm” director Don Coscarelli reported his death on Twitter and Facebook, saying “He was the last in a long line of classic horror movie stars. He was a terrific actor and even better friend.”

ON New Year’s Eve, in the shadow of Cologne’s cathedral, crowds of North African and Middle Eastern men accosted women out for the night’s festivities. They surrounded them, groped them, robbed them. Two women were reportedly raped. Though there were similar incidents from Hamburg to Helsinki, the authorities at first played down the assaults, lest they prove inconvenient for Angela Merkel’s policy of mass asylum for refugees. That delay has now cost Cologne’s police chief his job. But the German government still seems more concerned about policing restless natives — most recently through a deal with Facebook and Google to...

Two fires broke out that night in two churches in Seine-et-Marne. A Fontainebleau and Veneux-les-Sablons, two remote towns of ten kilometers. For the Saint-Louis de Fontainebleau, criminal track is preferred. It is the guardian who raised the alarm. When she returned to the church this morning, a thick black smoke emerged from the building. The criminal track any subsequently privileged, three fire starts were reported by firefighters. "Carpets, furniture were piled to allow a starting fire," said Frédéric Valletoux, the mayor of Fontainebleau.

It’s painful to read much of what passes for business reporting about Apple these days. The combination of high page-click value and low barrier-to-entry has reduced online journalism to headlines like this: Apple Chips ImplodeApple Gets PeeledThe iPhone slowdown spells doom for Apple That last piece, from Dow Jones’ MarketWatch, refers to Apple CEO Tim Cook as a “bozo” and advises readers, whatever they do, not to buy the company when its shares are near a 52-week low.“Apple’s stock fell hard in the second half of 2015, and is now down about 25% from its July high,” wrote MarketWatch’s...

While most of the attention on Hillary Clinton's emails dealt with a document that included instructions from Clinton to tamper with the headings of a possibly classified subject, another, even more explosive email is big news in Sudan and could potentially lead to criminal charges. The email in question is from Sid Blumenthal, close Clinton friend and ally, who was in Libya trying to drum up business with the Libyan government for some business associates. To ingratiate himself with Secretary Clinton and get the State Department to intercede with the Libyan government on his behalf, he sent her "intelligence" briefs...

Hillary Clinton on Sunday defended instructing an aide to send information to her through a "nonsecure" channel, saying the data she requested was not classified and accusing her presidential rivals of seeking to score political points over a non-issue. The State Department released more than 3,000 of Clinton's emails from her time as secretary of State on Friday. One of the emails has drawn scrutiny because in it, Clinton, who was awaiting a secure fax detailing talking points, instructed an adviser to turn the talking points into "nonpaper w no identifying heading and send nonsecure" because the fax wasn't coming...

Some of the professionals avoided the tiring and dangerous paddle out, using jet skis to reach the swells. "There were some solid waves," surfer Travis Eayn said. From the cliff at Pillar Point in Half Moon Bay, photographer tried to predict which waves surfers would dare to ride. There was one injury reported Thursday when a surfer suffered a dislocated shoulder. The high surf advisory is in effect until 10 a.m. Friday.

"Birth of the Dragon," a film about a pivotal fight between Bruce Lee and Shaolin Master Wong Jack Man that took place in Northern California in 1965, is currently shooting in various San Francisco locations. The film stars Hong Kong actor and martial arts master Philip Ng as Bruce Lee. San Francisco's Film Commission confirmed to Hoodline that the production will be working in the city through Monday. The publication reported that the last shooting location is scheduled to take place on Spofford Street in Chinatown. According to Variety, the film began shooting in Vancouver, Canada in November under the...

Five and a half years after Senator John McCain killed off what was left of The Maverick - the independent-thinking, "not afraid to tell it like it is" character he'd been LARPing since the 2000 Republican primary - in order to win a contentious primary against Tea Party challenger J.D. Hayworth, he's facing the prospect of the end of his career once again. This time, it's against a state senator who's perfectly content with grifting votes at a Donald Trump rally. McCain's seat has been targeted by conservative groups for years now to no avail, but this time, it's a...

GOP frontrunner Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) 97%, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)79%, Dr. Ben Carson, Gov. Chris Christie and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush are most likely the six GOP presidential candidates that will appear on the main debate stage at the Fox Business GOP primary debate in South Carolina this Thursday, according to Politico. After the recent NBC News Wall Street Journal/Marist poll, Politico calculated the candidates not likely to make the debate stage this time around are: Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) 93%, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Carly Florina, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Pennsylvania Sen....

It is more than an open secret that the Republican Establishment so hates Ted Cruz that they are more and more openly rooting for Donald Trump to win Iowa. I just got today’s Hotline from National Journal. It is behind a pay wall, but it is worth noting their top story confirms what I have been seeing and hearing. The Establishment thinking is that if Trump beats Cruz in Iowa, they can then beat Trump with Rubio, Bush, or Christie. But that is horse manure and if they were not all incompetent morons they would know it. These guys have...