Free Republic

A .50-caliber rifle found at Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's hideout in Mexico was funneled through the gun-smuggling investigation known as Fast and Furious, sources confirmed Tuesday to Fox News. A .50-caliber is a massive rifle that can stop a car or, as it was intended, take down a helicopter. After the raid on Jan. 8 in the city of Los Mochis that killed five of his men and wounded one Mexican marine, officials found a number of weapons inside the house where Guzman was staying, including the rifle, officials said. When agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and...

Have you heard a familiar ring to the arguments for accepting mass immigration or massive waves of refugees? First there is the plea to do the moral thing. Pope Francis provided one such plea this week. "Hers is the plea of thousands of people who weep as they flee horrific wars, persecutions, and human rights violations, or political or social instability, which often make it impossible for them to live in their native lands." The message is almost flattering, in the way it says, "It's terrible out there."

As a white liberal running in a majority African American district, Tennessee Democrat Stephen I. Cohen made a novel pledge on the campaign trail last year: If elected, he would seek to become the first white member of the Congressional Black Caucus. Now that he's a freshman in Congress, Cohen has changed his plans. He said he has dropped his bid after several current and former caucus members made it clear to him that whites need not apply.

According to the Constitution, the legislature is the first and most powerful branch of government. And yet, many believe -- on the left and the right -- that the institution has atrophied. By all accounts, House Speaker Paul Ryan is eager to change that. He has his work cut out for him. At the Republican congressional retreat in Baltimore last week, I participated in a panel discussion about how to revive Congress' traditional role. It was off the record, but I can certainly repeat a story I told. When my father was in the Army, he was stationed in Japan....

If Ted Cruz is a “natural-born citizen,” eligible to be president, what was all the fuss about Obama being born in Kenya? No one disputed that Obama’s mother was a U.S. citizen.Cruz was born in Canada to an American citizen mother and an alien father. If he’s eligible to be president, then so was Obama — even if he’d been born in Kenya.As with most constitutional arguments, whether or not Cruz is a “natural-born citizen” under the Constitution apparently comes down to whether you support Cruz for president. (Or, for liberals, whether you think U.S. citizenship is a worthless thing...

U.S. Army Sgt. Ivan Schwartz survived D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge by remaining very, very careful. Schwartz had landed on Utah beach, going ashore when the sand was littered with dead men and smashed vehicles. He carried rounds for an 81-millimeter mortar, survived a close call when Allied planes dropped bombs close to friendly lines, and strung wire for a field telephone to a forward observer post while under artillery fire — an act that earned him the Bronze Star.

RENO — Detectives say a Nevada woman accused of fatally stabbing her husband with a carving knife 12 years ago has said that she and another man tried to encase his body in concrete when they buried him in a shallow grave. Pam Erwin, 57, of Elko was arrested Jan. 5 on murder and conspiracy charges. She made an initial appearance in Humboldt County Justice Court in Winnemucca last week in the death of James Erwin. Her alleged accomplice, James Alan Melendez, 52, of Lake Havasu City, Arizona was arrested Jan. 11.

Finnish police are investigating 15 alleged sexual assaults in Helsinki on New Year's Eve, reportedly carried out by 'groups of men of foreign appearance'. One rape, two attempted rapes and 12 sexual assaults all allegedly involved '10-20 men with foreign backgrounds' who roamed around the city centre on New Years Eve, a police report said. The incidents reflects similar events in Cologne, Germany where more than 800 complaints regarding sexual assaults, rape and robbery have been filed in connection with New Year's Eve.

The “inversion of the original meaning of liberty” in Obergefell v. Hodges, observed Justice Clarence Thomas in dissent, “will likely cause collateral damage to other aspects of our constitutional order that protect liberty . . . It appears all but inevitable that [civil and religious marriage] will come into conflict.”In Obergefell’s aftermath, it is possible that the government will ask religious institutions to choose between retaining their non-profit tax status and retaining their beliefs. But the “collateral damage” will not stop at their sanctuary doors. Many churches, synagogues, and mosques also operate schools, and they will be the next targets. Of the 30,000 private schools in...

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — The surge of criminal background checks required of new gun purchasers has been so unrelenting in recent months that the FBI had been forced to temporarily halt the processing of thousands of appeals from prospective buyers whose firearm purchase attempts have been denied. Since October, the bureau's entire cadre of appeal examiners— about 70 analysts — was redeployed here to help keep pace with waves of incoming background investigations that continued through December when a record 3.3 million firearm sales were processed. The transfer of examiners, which had left a backlog of 7,100 appeals, is only part...

Most people think little about their appendix, and that's only natural, because the function of the appendix has been considered unknown - until now. New research supports that our appendixes might actually be useful after all, and doctors may soon be changing their tune about this neglected organ. The appendix, which looks like a slim tube measuring between two and four inches long, sits in our lower right abdomen. It was originally thought to be vestigial - a part of the body that evolution forgot. Popular belief was that this leftover organ was originally part of a fermenting chamber in...

Bill Clinton's affairs numbered in the "thousands," and Hillary Clinton's response was to "disseminate information and destroy the women with whom he dallied," according to Linda Tripp, a key figure in the Monica Lewinsky scandal. "Everyone knew within the West Wing, particularly those who spent years with him, of the thousands of women," Tripp told Breitbart.com's Aaron Klein in a an interview Sunday night on “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio.” "But as to the hundreds or thousands, remember I worked closely with the closest aides to the president," she said. “And it was a loosey-goosy environment so there was not a...

Drivers faced tricky journeys today as freezing Britain was hit by fog and ice with temperatures down to almost -12C for the second day in a row. The Met Office has issued yellow ‘be aware’ severe weather warnings for ice in Scotland and fog in the West Midlands as the landscape turned frosty. Dense freezing fog is expected to linger parts of England, with scattered light wintry showers forecast across the North and East later on. Swathes of the country shivered overnight as a widespread frost took hold and the mercury dipped to -11.6C in the Scottish Highlands. And forecasters...

Latakia, January 19, Interfax - Russian servicemen deployed at the Hmeimim airbase in Syria's Latakia celebrated the Feast of the Baptism of Christ, one of the oldest Orthodox holidays, overnight into Tuesday. "Today, the entire group will take part in the Epiphany blessing of the waters because for a person wearing army shoulder boards, especially not on Russian soil, faith is not an idle word. The Feast of the Baptism of Christ has always been celebrated very warmly," Armed Forces Priest Ilya has said. An ordinary army tent is housing the Russian airbase's field church, where the blessing of the...

What is Mystery? Msgr. Charles Pope January 19, 2016 In the secular world a "mystery" is something that baffles us or eludes understanding, something that lies undisclosed. And the usual response of the world to a mystery is to resolve it, to get to the bottom of if, to uncover it. Mysteries must be overcome! The riddle, the "whodunit," must be solved!In the Christian--especially the Catholic--world, a mystery is something a bit different. In our world, the concept includes the recognition that there are hidden aspects of things, people, and situations that extend beyond their visible, physical dimensions.One of...

It appears that the freed Iranians in our latest felons for hostages swap are refusniks: they refused to go home to their beloved Iran. That’s right, they decided to stay right here in the good old US of A enjoying the freedoms guaranteed by our constitition. Because America needs a few more illegal alien felons roaming about. The good news: at least none of them are known terrorists. Still, they are free to roam about the country continuing their lucrative careers by jeopardizing national security, violating (newly imposed) trade sanctions and hacking into unsecured servers in the former Secretary of...

The idea that China is totally dominating the United States is equally absurd. Yes, China has experienced impressive gross domestic product (GDP) growth over the last decade or so, but (a) that’s what developing countries do (especially former centrally planned ones with more than a billion people); and (b) America remains much, much wealthier, greener, more egalitarian, and more productive. It’s not even close—no, really. China’s incessant quest for GDP growth through the kind of economic interventionism that Trump just loves has led to some serious economic distortions. Moreover, unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last six...

Internet security software firm SplashData has released its annual list of passwords of the worst and most common passwords that you absolutely must not use. If you use any of the ones we list below, you must change them immediately. They might be easier for you to remember, but they are also equally as easy for hackers to guess. Indeed, many of them are probably preset by malicious software algorithms looking to get into your accounts. So if you have any wish to keep your money in your bank, your Twitter or Facebook accounts your own, or don't want a...

The real estate mogul and “Celebrity Apprentice” host has made more than $1.3 million in donations over the years to candidates nationwide, with 54 percent of the money going to Democrats, according to a Washington Post analysis of state and federal disclosure records. Trump said in a recent interview that he had relatively few Republican options in an overwhelmingly blue state. “Everyone’s Democratic,” he told Fox News in an interview about his potential candidacy. “So what am I going to do — contribute to Republicans? One thing: I’m not stupid. Am I going to contribute to Republicans for my whole...

A female asylum seeker helper working in a Hamburg refugee registration centre is poised to quit because of cheating, death threats and demands for a luxury life from the migrants. In a searing indictment of the behaviour of the refugees, the unnamed woman said her idealism had been eroded and virtually destroyed. At first she was enthusiastic and wanted to help out with processing the tens of thousands of migrants arriving in Germany on a weekly basis when they first began to arrive.