Free Republic

When the Clemson Tigers take on Alabama's Crimson Tide for the Football Bowl Subdivision national championship tonight, at least one group will be watching for something other than the final score on the field. The Freedom From Religion Foundation [FFRF], a highly litigious atheist group, looks to sue Clemson University over the role head football coach Dabo Swinney's Christian faith plays in how he runs the program. The only problem is the group can't find a current or former player willing to step up as a plaintiff.

Major and Minor are two of seven modes. The scale in this song uses an Ab in the key of G-minor, (that's imprecise, but the best way we can think of it). The flat-2 note in the III mode can be heard in traditional Catholic Church music (think Holy Modal Rounders); every week I actually sing this mode in the Lord Have Mercy (Kyrie Eleison in Greek), in Church called the Phrygian mode. The song composer, Flatbush Waltz, is mandolinist Andy Statman. The Quebe Sisters Texas Swing Band at the Library of Congress Andy Statman's FLATBUSH WALTZ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN1mODxfd18&t=15m56s

German police fear repeats of the Cologne New Year's Eve sexual assaults, saying extra attention will now be paid to fighting similar attacks. Police used the Arab term 'taharrush gamea' (collective harassment) to categorize the assaults - causing an angry reaction on Twitter. The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), the main investigative authority in Germany, said in a response to Welt newspaper it knows sexual harassment of women in public is widespread in Arab countries, and that this is exactly what happened on New Year's Eve in Cologne. Collective harassment is translated as "taharrush gamea". Police register over 500 cases...

On CBS, Mrs. Clinton continued to knock Mr. Sanders for a past Senate vote to give gun manufacturers immunity from prosecution when a gun is used in a crime. She is seeking to highlight one of the few areas where she is to Mr. Sanders's left on an issue. "It's the only industry in our country where we have given that kind of carte blanche to do whatever you want to do with no fear of legal consequences," Mrs. Clinton said. She added, "And he often says, well, look, I'm from Vermont and it's different. It's not like being in...

Answer the following questions to see which 2016 Presidential candidate you side with.

Darcy Olsen, CEO and president of the Goldwater Institute, has written a must-read book for anyone facing a serious ailment, The Right to Try: How the Federal Government Prevents Americans from Getting the Life-Saving Treatments They Need.It is common knowledge there is a problem with the FDA delaying the approval of drugs. But until now, most Americans did not realize just how bad the situation is  — hundreds of thousands of people, including children, needlessly lose their lives every year because new, breakthrough drugs that have worked in clinical trials and are legal in other countries are not approved here....

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly is planning payback for President Obama's dismissing Mr. Netanyahu's objections to the Iran nuclear deal last year. Mr. Netanyahu is said to be rallying moderate Arabs to thwart Mr. Obama’s bid to become the Secretary-General of the United Nations after he leaves the White House next year. Mr. Obama has already discussed the issue with Republican, Democratic and Jewish officials in the United States, according to Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida. Mr. Netanyahu recently is said to have gotten wind of Obama’s plans which he calls the Obama Project. "Wasn't eight years of having Obama in...

The Michigan Legislature unanimously passed House Bill 4713 this week. The bill provides legal protections for individuals by clarifying how certain crimes may be prosecuted. The problem of overcriminalization at the state and federal level is well-documented. The number of criminal laws increases each year, and, in a troubling development, the use of severe criminal sanctions for regulatory violations is becoming more common. In Michigan alone, more than 3,100 criminal prohibitions can be found in state statutes, with many other penalties promulgated through administrative regulations. HB 4713 addresses criminal statutes that fail to require a culpable mental state for the...

Did God create time? Published: 9 January 2016 (GMT+10) When preaching the Gospel to people of other religions, it is important to make clear that the God we worship is the ultimate being. God is the sole source of all things, He is uniquely worthy of worship, and the fundamental sin of humanity is that we put other things before God. If we don't make this clear, there is a danger that people of other religions will add God to their pantheon, as today's feedback illustrates.

This is a tale about "the most transparent administration in history." We thank President Obama for that description, for we were momentarily at a loss about how to describe the executive branch during his tenure. On Friday, the most transparent administration in history's State Department released a batch of emails from Hillary Clinton's time as secretary of state. More interesting than what they contained — it was the usual batch of previously denied classified material — was that they landed on sleepy reporters' desks at 1 o'clock in the morning. It's common for officials to put out bad news when...

According to an investigation by the Washington Free Beacon, Democratic presidential candidate Sen Bernie Sanders's spouse Jane O'Meara Sanders, and stepdaughter, Carina Driscoll, both drew sizable salaries from Sanders's House campaigns between 2000 and 2004. Presidential campaign Press Secretary, Symone Sanders denied there was any scandal in how prior campaign donations have been deployed. "All of this money was freely given to him by his supporters," she pointed out. "Obviously, they could afford it." Ms. Sanders also argued that "it proves that Bernie is the 'family values' candidate. A man who takes care of his own family as well as...

The biggest icebergs breaking off Antarctica unexpectedly help to slow global warming as they melt away into the chill Southern Ocean, scientists said Monday. The rare Manhattan-sized icebergs, which may become more frequent in coming decades because of climate change, release a vast trail of iron and other nutrients that act as fertilizers for algae and other tiny plant-like organisms in the ocean. These extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as they grow, a natural ally for human efforts to limit the pace of climate change blamed on manmade greenhouse gas emissions. Ocean blooms in the wake of giant icebergs...

Unbelievable! I was watching a great video on YouTube as a result of reading this article posted on FR: Mid-East Prophecy Update - January 10th, 2016 . The video is essentially a "prophecy" sermon by Pastor J.D. Farag of Calvary Chapel Kaneohe, Hawaii from yesterday, 1/10/16 addressing current events in the middle east, Israel, America, Europe and the rest of the world. (Very, very interesting!) Lot's of info about Islam, etc. Also addresses guns. At the 22:30 minute mark Pastor J.D. Farag begins to talk about Matt Bracken's "Tet, Take Two: Islam's 2016 European Offensive". He says it is "a...

Former Vice President Al Gore shocked Americans in "An Inconvenient Truth" when he said polar bears were drowning because global warming was melting Arctic sea ice, but now a new study shows that polar bears did just fine even when there was no ice covering the Arctic. Scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the University of Alaska, Fairbanks released a study claiming the "stratigraphic record of the last 1.5 (million years) indicates that no marine species' extinction events occurred despite major climate oscillations," including periods where the Arctic was completely ice-free in summertime. "Some species thought to be...

We will not be successful on the 21st Century battlefield unless we have a 21st Century plan, a mandate. And I believe it must be "peace through strength." The enemy we are facing, global Islamic jihadism, understands only strength. We will not have peace without it.

Folks are furious at actor Sean Penn and Mexican-American actress Kate del Castillo because they got chummy with El Chapo, the notorious drug kingpin rearrested last Friday. Why exactly is that? Penn was not "acting" as a journalist, he was one when he and the soap star bravely entered the jungle and risked physical and financial harm to pursue the huge exclusive interview with the fugitive who was the most wanted man in the world. I would have done it. And I would have kept my mouth shut if I promised the source that I would keep my mouth shut...

Old St Paul's Cathedral: the venue of England's first lottery draw By 1566, England's harbours and coastal defences were looking a little shabby. To fix them, Queen Elizabeth I would either have to raise taxes (boo) or hold a glittering prize draw and raise the money that way. Unsurprisingly, she chose the latter. Selling tickets for the chance to win a prize was nothing new. The idea had been around on the continent for at least a hundred years, where lotteries were sometimes held by merchants looking to shift expensive stock that wasn't selling. On 11 January 1569, outside the...

Complete title (edited for length) "January 11, 2016 - Trump, Cruz Running Away With Iowa GOP Caucus, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Cruz Way Ahead On Favorability, Character Traits " Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz are locking in their lead among Iowa likely Republican Caucus participants, with Trump at 31 percent and Cruz at 29 percent, while U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida trails with 15 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Dr. Ben Carson has 7 percent, with no other candidate above New Jersey Gov. Christopher Christie's 4 percent. This compares to the results of...

-SNIP- Also this summer, King compared Sanders with Republican candidate Donald Trump, saying they’re "both speaking with non-politically correct language, and Bernie has taken some positions that I agree with. And part of his immigration policy is something that I agree with." -SNIP- But the praise is not accidental. Sanders' opposition to the 2007 immigration reform bill and his rhetoric about the effect of immigrant labor on American workers have dismayed immigration activists and liberal allies in the past. He has expressed concern repeatedly over the years that guest workers in the United States depress wages and squeeze Americans out...

Real estate mogul Donald Trump maintained a slight lead in Iowa in a Quinnipiac University poll released Monday afternoon, with rival Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) trailing him by just 2 points among likely Republican caucusgoers. Trump polled at 31 percent to Cruz's 29 percent. That's a 3-point jump for Trump and a 2-point jump for Cruz since the last Quinnipiac poll in December. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) rose by a point to take third place at 15 percent. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, once a darling of Iowa's crucial evangelical voting bloc, polled at 7 percent. That's a 3-point decline since...