Free Republic

If Americans were already concerned about the U.S.'s vetting process for Syrian refugees, they're really not going to like to hear what a new report says about how those refugees are initially selected in the first place. According to the Center for Immigration Studies, the U.S. relies on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to make first selections about who has the potential to come to America, as well as carry out the pre-screening process. "Out of the four million-plus registered Syrian refugees in the region, UNHCR has so far submitted 22,427 cases to the United States for...

In a surprising twist in the 2016 election, presidential aspirant Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) has proposed a new plan for helping President Obama resettle Syrian refugees in the United States. Under Rubio's new proposal, outlined on FOX News Sunday, the United States would focus on resettling the oldest and youngest refugees inside the United States, including those orphaned and widowed in what has become an Islamist battleground. Rubio argued these refugees could be admitted under the "commonsense" test: "the 5-year-old orphan, a 90-year-old widow, and well-known Chaldean priest, these are obviously commonsense applications, and you can clearly vet them just...

Link only due to copyright issues: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/readers/2016/01/11/odgaards-support-cruz-president/78422030/

Former Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman (R) want the 2016 presidential pack to make some promises about bipartisanship -- and they've gotten several takers. ...cut... The bipartisan Congressional Problem Solver Caucus was launched in 2014, and now Lieberman and Huntsman have turned their attention to the presidential race with the Problem Solver Promise Pledge. That pledge says the candidate vows to work with both parties to arrive at solutions if elected to the highest office in the land. It also entails candidates committing to begin work on one of four No Labels agenda items within...

      ~The FReeper Canteen Presents~ Road Trip: Naval Station Mayport, FloridaNaval Station Mayport is a United States Navy base in Jacksonville, Florida. It contains a protected harbor that can accommodate aircraft carrier-size vessels, ship's intermediate maintenance activity (SIMA) and a military airfield with one asphalt paved runway. Since its commissioning in December 1942, NS Mayport has grown to become the third-largest naval surface fleet concentration area in the United States. Mayport's operational composition is unique, with a busy harbor capable of accommodating 34 ships and an 8,001-foot runway capable of handling most aircraft in the Department of...

As far as I know this is David Bowie's last video and if you can say nothing else about the man you must admit he went out with style. Grand, spooky style.

Fox announces debate lineup!

In an extremely unusual airstrike, the U.S. dropped bombs Sunday in central Mosul, Iraq, destroying a building containing huge amounts of cash ISIS was using to pay its troops and for ongoing operations, two U.S. defense officials told CNN. The officials could not say exactly how much money was there or in what currency, but one described it as "millions." Two 2,000 pound bombs destroyed the site quickly. But the longstanding impact may be even more significant. The officials said the U.S. plans to strike more financial targets like this one to take away ISIS's ability to function as a...

While the White House has proclaimed that the President will be speaking to the average American in his last State of the Union speech tomorrow night, Tuesday, 01/12/16, based upon past experience, I expect the usual ego trip.

Fox Business Network on Monday announced the candidate lineup for the Jan. 14 Republican presidential debates. The participants qualifying for the prime-time, 9 p.m. ET debate are: Billionaire businessman Donald Trump; Texas Sen. Ted Cruz; Florida Sen. Marco Rubio; retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson; New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie; former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush; and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

California's roadways just got a lot more crowded - with illegal immigrants. Nearly half of all new non-commercial licenses issued in California in 2015 went to illegal immigrants. A new Department of Motor Vehicles program granted 605,000 new drive's licenses out of 1.4 million to illegal immigrants. "This was a major undertaking and never before had the department implemented a program such as this one," Artemio Armenta, spokesman for the Department of Motor Vehicles, told the Orange County Register Jan. 8. "We were surprised, but not unprepared." A local member of the Tea Party Patriots told the newspaper that California's...

Obama admin unleashing the hounds? We’ve all heard about the Hillary email scandal. The secret server, the private address, the (now over 1300) messages containing classified info, and the felonious orders to strip classifications are all well covered ground. ...And they also may just be the tip of the iceberg. According to a new report, the FBI has expanded its inquiry and is now investing the “pay for access” allegations that made news earlier this year. The story goes that substantive donations to Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea’s “Clinton Foundation” would garner special acknowledgement or favors from the then Secretary of...

Crude-oil prices plunged more than 5% on Monday to trade near $30 a barrel, making the specter of bankruptcy ever more likely for a significant chunk of the U.S. oil industry. Three major investment banks - Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc. - now expect the price of oil to crash through the $30 threshhold and into $20 territory in short order as a result of China's slowdown

A Turkish teen who was arrested for stabbing his Jewish teacher in Marseille, France, on Monday stated that he was acting on behalf of Daesh. The 15-year-old student rushed at the teacher in broad daylight, chasing him and stabbing him from behind until he fell. The 35-year-old teacher’s shoulder and hand were injured in the attack. He survived by kicking the teenager off and using a Torah he was carrying as a shield. Prosecutor Brice Robin explained at a news conference that the teenager "has the profile of someone who was radicalised on the Internet.” The teen, who will turn...

Cars are tools that are involved in about as many deaths as guns. If you are a driver prone to drinking and driving, should we only allow you to drive an ultracompact car? Not an SUV which could kill more people? No, we take away the drunk driver’s access to legally drive any car. This is about freedom to do as you like until you prove incapable of showing good moral judgment.In this country, we give freedom and take it away once you prove to be unworthy of the freedom we have given you. Nobody suggests taking away cars or...

And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the...

The Pew Research center has consistently found that millennials are no more likely than older generations to agree that its more important to control ownership than protect the right of Americans to own guns. In fact, a Reason-Rupe poll, that I helped conduct in 2013, found that millennials were the least likely to say that government should prohibit people from owning assault weapons: 63% of 18-34 year olds thought people should be allowed to own assault weapons, compared to 54% of 35-54 year olds and 36% of those 55 and over.

In accordance with a ten year plan of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to implement United Nations’ Resolution 16:18 which criminalizes all criticism of Islam worldwide, the U.S. House of Representatives issued H. Res. 569 condemning violence, bigotry, and "hateful rhetoric" toward Muslims in the United States. This proposal comes on the heels of Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s post San Bernardino promise to prosecute anyone guilty of anti-Muslim speech. It is clear that Ms. Lynch is firing a canon at a fly. According to FBI’s annual Uniform Crime Report, there were 1014 hate crime incidents motivated by religious bias...

Leading senators on Monday petitioned multiple Obama administration agencies to stop stonewalling a congressional investigation into the immigration histories of at least 113 foreign-born individuals implicated in terrorist operations after legally entering the United States, according to a copy of the letters. The latest investigation comes just days after the Washington Free Beacon disclosed that an additional 41 foreign-born individuals who legally entered the United States had been arrested for planning a number of terror attacks. Sens. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) and Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.) disclosed Monday that they had been pressuring the Obama administration for months to disclose...

HOUSTON - Four defendants accused of robbing a Houston restaurant on New Year's Day and killing a man are scheduled to appear in court Monday. 20-year-old Tiala Alexander, 18-year-old Telavell Coleman, 19-year-old Dadriana Holmes and 18-year-old Enzo Ubadimma are charged with capital murder. Ubadimma and Coleman appeared in probable cause court Sunday where they were seen waving and smiling to media covering the case. The victim, Herman Ray Browning, Jr., was dining with his family at a west Houston Vietnamese restaurant, Huong Giang Hue, when two unidentified gunmen grabbed an unknown amount of cash from the register. They then forced...