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If you followed the political fight over Planned Parenthood last year, you are probably dumber now. An anti-abortion group's release last summer of a dozen undercover videos of Planned Parenthood executives talking about selling fetal tissue for research led to congressional hearings, state investigations, and failed efforts to deny the group federal funding. The anniversary of Roe v. Wade Thursday offers us a chance to take stock of how little difference all of that made. The controversy over Planned Parenthood resulted in just about zero productive political conversation between people who disagree about abortion law. It is just a...

After 444 days in captivity, the hostages were released -- just moments after Carter left office. The timing, he points out, was no accident. "I had just been negotiating with the Iranians and with 12 other countries," Carter says. "And at 9 o'clock that morning, they were already in the airplane ready to take off from Tehran. But the Ayatollah Khomeini kept them there until after I was no longer president." When Carter received word from the Secret Service that the hostages had actually taken off from Tehran, he was elated. "It was one of the best days -- best...

A lot of differences in these polls are based on how tightly polls are screening voters. Looser screens help Bernie & Trump. For instance, the CNN poll implies a turnout of about 320K in the Iowa GOP caucus, versus ~120K in 2012. There are sometimes reasons to prefer looser screens. It can be hard to predict who will vote. Also, self-selection in who responds to poll.

Gilmerton Cove is a mysterious cave system in suburban Edinburgh. For a long time assumed to have been the work of an 18th century blacksmith, it is now emerging that he could not have possibly created the entire system himself. The question that everyone asks, therefore, is who then created the enigmatic structure? ...The Cove is a series of caves, connected by a 40 feet main passageway, with two entrances, and located no more than ten feet underground. ...There are clear signs that the various rooms were once separated from each other by wooden doors. Elsewhere, there is a well...

The International Monetary Fund said nearly 4 million migrants will arrive in Europe by the end of 2017 -- a rate of 1.3 million per year from 2015 to 2017. For perspective, the three-year migration figure equals the population of Oklahoma. That IMF prediction exceeds the numbers forecasted by the European Union, Britain's Telegraph reported Wednesday. The international agency warned of difficulties the newcomers face in finding work due to language barriers and job qualifications. "International experience with economic immigrants suggests that migrants have lower employment rates and wages than natives, though these differences diminish over time," the IMF said...

The United States on Thursday began enforcing new visa rules on some travelers who have visited or who have dual nationality with states considered seedbeds of terrorism, AFP reports. The Department of Homeland Security said would-be visitors to the United States who have been to Iran, Iraq, Sudan or Syria since March 2011 will now always have to apply for a visa. This will be the case even if the traveler is from a country in the U.S. visa waiver program -- the 40 nations seen as friends of America whose citizens can visit freely. .....

Ted Cruz is closing in on Donald Trump in Iowa, leading in some polls.  His rise in Iowa may bring cheers from his supporters, but it strikes fear in my heart. Don't get me wrong – I love Cruz.  He's my second choice for the nomination.  If anything happens to Trump's lead, Cruz is my guy.  No, the point of this article is that for conservatives, there is no second choice in this election. Only one guy has taken on the GOP establishment and entire media conglomerate and won.  Trump has changed the race, pushed the opposition aside, stampeded...

Conservative talk radio host Glenn Beck showed his disappointment with former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on Tuesday. After Palin publicly threw her support behind Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump at an Ames, Iowa, campaign rally, Beck took to social media to express his disappointment: -snip- Beck also tweeted commentary stating that with the endorsement, Palin may not be as conservative as she purports to be.

I hope the FBI is checking into the reason WHY Hillary had highly sensitive information on her private, non-government server that was HIDDEN FROM CONGRESS AND POSSIBLE OVERSIGHT BY OTHER GOV'T AGENCIES. Did Zero order her to do this as part of some treasonous plot to forward our national security information to hostile countries such as Iran? Did Hillary SELL access to her private server to the highest bidders by giving them passwords to her email accounts where classified information was located? Although Hillary was Secretary of State, did she have 'need to know' for each of the various Top...

The Hollywood liberals who give Academy Awards to their friends got called out for their lack of diversity this week. It seems this year the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences couldn't find a single actor of color worthy of an Oscar nomination for a lead or supporting role. Its 6,000-odd members went 0 for 20 in their search. For the second straight year. Have Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx, Will Smith, Morgan Freeman, Don Cheadle, Laurence Fishburne, Cuba Gooding Jr., Djimon Hounsou, Forest Whitaker, Octavia Spencer, Samuel L. Jackson, Jennifer Hudson, Angela Bassett, Halle Berry and Queen Latifah taken...

Caught drunk, armed and packing perplexing pork product A Virginia man is due to appear before a Grand Jury in February having been caught in his neighbour's garden while drunk, armed, wearing a camouflage mask and carrying "a suspicious bag of bacon". Evan Patrick Cater, 31, of Madison Heights, was cuffed last October when officers discovered him "hiding behind a dog kennel on a neighbor’s property around 10 p.m. Oct. 18 after the property owner heard his dogs barking and went to investigate", as the the local News & Advance explains. According to Amherst County Sheriff's Office, Cater was "intoxicated...

Two videos have been posted to Facebook (see here and here) by the French group 'Calais Libre' along with the comment "Here are the expelled migrants in action last night, and you can hear the pretty words that they use (expletive deleted)". According to the group, 300 migrants also attacked police on the local highway in the early hours of this morning. MUSLIM MIGRANTS BURN 'THE JUNGLE' REFUGEE CAMP TO THE GROUND: GRAPHIC WARNING: The Muslim migrants seen setting fire to their own refugee camps are shouting obscenities while they do it. You may want to keep your sound off.

Conservative talk show host to make Iowa appearances with Cruz. Beck slams Sarah Palin for endorsing Donald Trump. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, may gave felt snubbed by outsider darling Sarah Palin's embrace of Donald Trump but now he's got conservative firebrand Glenn Beck in his corner. Beck, a Dallas-based influential conservative radio talk-show host, will campaign with Cruz in Iowa on Saturday. This week he told Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, "Cruz is my guy."

Glenn Beck said Tuesday night in a Facebook video to his fans that Sarah Palin's endorsement of Donald Trump reminded him of Howard Dean's widely-mocked 2004 campaign moment that came to be known as the "Dean Scream."

The S-400 is the most dangerous operationally deployed modern long-range SAM in the world. Its maximum effective range is up to 400km (215 nautical miles). The system reportedly can track 100 airborne targets and engage six of them simultaneously. The S-400 reportedly has the capability to counter low-observable aircraft and precision-guided munitions, and is also reportedly extremely mobile.

Conservatives expect an "outsider" candidate to win the Republican presidential nomination according to a poll by FedUp PAC. With all GOP establishment candidates trailing outsiders Donald Trump and Ted Cruz in recent polls, 76% say they expect one of the outsiders to get the nomination at the July convention in Cleveland. Conservatives also saw Trump and Cruz as leading the pack in last week's Charleston debate, with 49% naming Trump as the winner and 35% choosing Cruz. No other candidate was higher than the 6% of Marco Rubio. Those responding were more closely divided on the question of who was...

The Legacy Lives On! Mark’s Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation “Conservatism is the antidote to tyranny precisely because its principles are the founding principles.” --Mark Levin in Liberty and Tyranny Welcome to “The Levin Lounge”… Step in and have a virtual FRink.Taking the country by storm, one radio station at a time – and kicking the BUTTS of the competition! Welcome all, to the most FUN LIVE THREAD on FreeRepublic.com! You can call Mark’s show: 1-877-381-3811

As radical leftist NGOs continue to garner attention for their politicized impact on public discourse, Jerusalem-based research institute NGO Monitor this week released a database revealing just where they get their massive funds from. [...] A staggering total of over 261 million shekels ($66 million) was received by the 27 NGOs in the course of the two years, and of that amount 65% - consisting of nearly 170 million shekels - came from foreign governments. Another 34%, nearly 89 million shekels, was raked in from private donors and foundations, while the last 1%, over two-and-a-half million shekels, came from unclear...

It is 364 days, 18 hours, 32 minutes, 46 seconds until the crypto-Muslim President "Stompy-Foot" Obama leaves office. That is: 364 days 8754 hours 525272 minutes 31516366 seconds

There are many reasons to vote for Donald Trump for president. He is an expert at hard-hitting quips. He is willing to throw the kitchen sink at anybody who crosses him. He has blue collar appeal and an unlimited expense account. There is one giant reason not to vote for Donald Trump: he has no central guiding values other than his own glorification. Practically speaking, here is the Donald Trump Doctrine for the Donald Trump Presidency in The United States Of Trumpia: Enemies of Trump Must Be Punished. During the infamous CNBC debate, Trump explained his greatest weakness: "I trust...