Free Republic

In fact, the fly ash emitted by a power plant - a by-product from burning coal for electricity - carries into the surrounding environment 100 times more radiation than a nuclear power plant producing the same amount of energy.

BALTIMORE - South Dakota Republican Sen. John Thune told reporters Thursday that he is “personally very offended about being called the establishment” by some GOP presidential candidates. "I think in a presidential campaign the rhetoric is kind of hot. I think it's just inevitable. We can't control what candidates are going to say or are going to do," said Thune, who is the Senate Conference Chairman, during the GOP retreat. "We can only control what we are going to do here and as individual members of Congress."

Judicial Watch Uncovers New State Department Records Confirming Arab Smuggling "Cells," Al Qaeda Leader in Mexico. For more than a decade the U.S. government has known that "Arab extremists" are entering the country through Mexico with the assistance of smuggling network "cells," according to State Department documents obtained by Judicial Watch that reveal among them was a top Al Qaeda operative wanted by the FBI. Some Mexican smuggling networks actually specialize in providing logistical support for Arab individuals attempting to enter the United States, the government documents say. The top Al Qaeda leader in Mexico was identified in the September...

Ed Schultz, the progressive talk radio host and former MSNBC personality, has landed at RT America -- the Kremlin-backed cable news channel that has been criticized for advocating a pro-Russian agenda.

René Angélil, the husband of award-winning Canadian singer Celine Dion, died on Thursday at the age of 73 after a long battle with cancer, Dion announced. "It's with profound sadness that we are announcing that René Angélil, 73, died this morning at his Las Vegas home after a courageous battle with cancer. The family wishes to mourn in private," her website said. "Other information will be provided in the next few days." The Canadian entertainment manager, who discovered Dion, 47, when she was 12-years-old and drove her career to stardom, married her in 1994 at a lavish wedding in Montreal's...

The Sherlock Holmes series by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is enjoyable fiction that has millions of fans across the world over a hundred years.  It glorifies reason, logic, and observation of facts.  I do not consider myself a fan, but have enjoyed reading several of the novels and short stories.  The BBC has created a successful television series featuring the Holmes and Watson characters in a modern setting.  I have seen one of those episodes, and it did not seem too bad, though the focus on Holmes as a drug addict was a bit grotesque.  The new movie is...

Congressional Republicans gathered to think big thoughts. But the presidential primary keeps interrupting. BALTIMORE - House and Senate Republicans arrived here for their annual retreat to think big thoughts about the year ahead: How to use their majorities to advance a conservative agenda and win over voters at the polls. But the increasingly bizarre presidential contest keeps butting in. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) threatened to force votes on Donald Trump's policies. Every time a Republican leader comes out to talk to reporters, they're asked about a brokered convention, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Trump or Sen. Ted Cruz...

Something from Wednesday's rally in Pensacola to get you warmed up for the big debate. If there was one thing missing from this primary, it was a Trump-nationalist version of the "mmm mmm mmm Barack Hussein Obama" video from 2009. Finally, that hole has been filled. The girls are fine performers but what you're watching for here is the lyrics. There's no political event, I think, that can't be made better by roping young children into singing, "Deal from strength or get crushed every time." What is happening here?

Who do you think will be the nominee? Vote at www.2016.gop Donald Trump • 66.7% Sen. Ted Cruz (TX) • 22.2% Gov. Jeb Bush (FL) • 11.1% Gov. John Kasich (OH) • 0% Sen. Marco Rubio (FL) • 0% Dr. Ben Carson • 0% Gov. Chris Christie (NJ) • 0%

News Flash: When the rich and mighty meet next week at the World Economic Forum's annual pow-wow, Jan 20-23, in the ski resort of Davos, Switzerland, North Korea will have no envoy among them. If that sounds intuitively obvious, think again. It was only this Wednesday, following North Korea's Jan. 6 nuclear test, that the WEF organizers of the Davos conference told the press they had disinvited North Korea's delegation.Well done. Except this leaves us with the question of why the World Economic Forum decided to invite North Korea in the first place.Until Kim Jong Un's regime carried out its...

We were scheduled to attend a luncheon-function last Saturday; but we woke up tired to a very gray day, and weren't feeling terribly sociable; so we decided to ditch our plans, and go off on our own :-) First, we were hungry. Someone on last week's cooking thread had mentioned pulled pork, and I was hankering for it; so we thought we'd check out a new eatery in the neighborhood: Mission Barbecue. Decent BBQ places are few and far between in our area - the best local one was bought-out by a larger firm a couple of years ago, and...

There's no point pretending the illegal seizure and release of America's sailors is anything other a huge propaganda victory for Iran - and a humiliation for the United States. Insofar as there was a strategic calculation behind Obama's outreach to the mullahs, it was that the nuclear deal and the lifting of sanctions would incentivize the Islamic Republic to start behaving like any other house-trained member of the community of nations. In other words, they'd stop pulling this stuff. As it was, Joe Biden and John Kerry could not resist bragging that the swift resolution of this situation was testament...

The young Navy lieutenant who apologized to the Iranians after U.S. boats entered Iran’s territory has been identified as Lt. David Nartker. The 27-year-old grew up in Chicago and now lives in Ohio. Videos on his Facebook page show him firing weapons. Read: Iran Releases Humiliating Photos of Captured U.S. Sailors On Their Knees Nartker was among the 10 U.S. sailors who were captured by Iran earlier this week. The sailors were later released. But he found himself at the center of an international uproar after Iran released footage showing an interrogator haranguing him about being in Iranian waters. “It...

This one is a bit surreal. Footage from a Donald Trump rally has gone massively viral, but not because of yet another bombastic and inflammatory comment from the Republican candidate. This time, the center of attention is a song and dance routine put on by the so-called "USA Freedom Kids" during a rally that's as frightening as it is unintentionally hilarious. A casual look at the lyrics, which are set against a MIDI-quality remix to the jingoistic "Over There" that was employed for recruitment in the early 20th century, show a tin ear for lyrics and a bizarrely confrontational worldview...

Hiram Percy Maxim was born to Hiram Stevens Maxim, the inventor of the Maxim machine gun. In 1901, the young Maxim developed two inventions parallel with each other because they were basically the same product in concept and design. His Maxim Silencer Company produced both the automobile muffler and the firearm silencer in 1902. The silencer was basically a metal tube containing a series of curved baffles that allowed gas from the cartridge to be released more gradually to form sound waves with less dramatic peaks. It was patented in 1909. Iterations of his car muffler went on to become...

story from AP, so, not risking an excerpt.

The great Kingdom of Saudi Arabia—the long-time dictator of crude oil prices for the world—is struggling on all fronts. The Saudis are losing their proxy wars in both Syria and Yemen; their OPEC leadership is under threat; they are not winning the crude oil price war; and its long-running alliance with the West is in question. From Saudi Arabia’s perspective, Iran seems to be gaining ground everywhere. Saudi Arabia has several weaknesses that help explain the current anxiety emanating from Riyadh. 1. Saudi Arabia losing its leadership in the OPEC Saudi Arabia has been the default leader of OPEC; however,...

Video LinkCruz just kissed his fanny good bye.

It's said that some people will believe anything. And that's what Guardian editors must be thinking, based on their latest story on the Litvinenko affair. It's titled "Fresh Evidence Suggests Litvinenko Was Killed to Keep Him Quiet." Here's what the Guardian wants its readers to believe: 1. Some bad actor (widely expected to be the Russian state according to the Guardian) wanted to "prevent [Litvinenko] from testifying about Vladimir Putin’s links with Russian organized crime." 2. That there is now added "credence to the theory that eliminating Litvinenko was a matter of utmost urgency for the Kremlin." 3. "Amateur killers"...

There is a myriad of entities, self-interests and parasitic entities who corrupt the entire U.S. body politic. However, at the epicenter of all of them is one man, Tom Donohue, the head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Coc is the legislative influencing firm behind all of the crony capitalistic and Wall Street schemes. In a recent article, Donohue steps out from behind the mahogany door and decries the frontrunner of the presidential race. (Via Wall Street Journal) The head of the nation's biggest business lobby inveighed against presidential candidates singling out immigrants, ethnic or religious groups, highlighting divisions...