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One of the earliest stealth weapons on record was a stone used by the young Israelite David to kill the Philistine giant Goliath. In the biblical account, David shunned the conventional armaments of his time: sword, helmet, armor. Instead, he went forth with a slingshot and a few stones, kept undetected in a pouch. As any schoolchild knows, one well-aimed fling was all it took to put Goliath down for good. The big guy never saw it coming. It is not clear to what extent David tested his weapon before doing battle, but he presumably had experimented. The first Book...

"...Daniel Yergin, founder of IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates, said it is impossible for OPEC to knock out the US shale industry though a war of attrition even if large numbers of frackers fall by the wayside over coming months. Mr Yergin said groups with deep pockets such as Blackstone and Carlyle will take over the infrastructure when the distressed assets are cheap enough, and bide their time until the oil cycle turns. "The management may change and the companies may change but the resources will still be there," he told the Daily Telegraph. "It takes $10bn and five to...

Rick Santorum said he will reconsider his presidential campaign if he fails to finish "ahead of the pack that's sitting in single digits right now" in the Iowa caucuses next week. "If the people of Iowa put their faith in me, we're going to continue on," Santorum told the Des Moines Register Sunday. The former Pennsylvania senator surprised pollsters with his narrow victory in Iowa in 2012. But eight days ahead of the Iowa caucuses, Santorum sits at just 1.2 percent in the Hawkeye State, according to the RealClear average of Republican polls.

Weiner's wife, Huma Abedin, is a close adviser to Hillary Clinton. (AUDIO-AT-LINK) Former congressman Anthony Weiner, whose wife Huma Abedin is the vice chairman for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, said Friday that he thinks Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders can beat Clinton in Iowa and New Hampshire, resulting in a drawn out Democratic presidential primary. "I think Bernie is doing remarkably well, a lot of my friends are supporting Bernie," the former New York congressman said on the Alan Colmes Show during a discussion on universal health care. "I think it's gonna be very close in Iowa and New Hampshire and...

East Catholic High is down the road a bit. Check out the video and pass it around https://www.facebook.com/EastCatholicHighSchool/videos/1031698306852693/

Civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) used a pair of appearances in Los Angeles on Saturday to urge young student activists to continue to fight for equality in the United States, warning that Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump could set the country back with his divisive rhetoric aimed at immigrants and Muslims. "I've been around a while and Trump reminds me so much of a lot of the things that George Wallace said and did," Lewis said in an interview with The Times after speaking at Cal State L.A. "I think demagogues are pretty dangerous, really. ... We shouldn't...

This is the information that was withheld from the public by our criminal coddling Congress. It is an amazing glimpse into the information that will be withheld for another 50 years. The fact that the files have been sealed implies that the information is too terrible for current historians to deal with. What follows is an article from NewsMax.com by Carl Limbacher published February 24, 1999. It reveals that many of the Democratic Senator's who said that there was no evidence worthy of impeachment, such as Barney Frank, were virtual co-conspirators of Clinton's corruption. It reveals that a true sociopath...

Two Chinese nationals were killed and another wounded in a suspected bomb blast in Laos, Chinese state media said on Monday. BEIJING: Two Chinese nationals were killed and another wounded in a suspected bomb blast in Laos, Chinese state media said on Monday, the latest incident in which Chinese citizens have been killed abroad as the country's economic footprint grows. China's embassy in Laos confirmed the blast, which occurred on Sunday morning. The victims had been travelling in a vehicle on the mountain roads of Xaysomboun province, the official Xinhua news agency said. ... Chinese workers have increasingly come under...

With only a few days until the Iowa caucuses, the political world is buzzing with anticipation for the presidential nomination process to go beyond polls and speeches to actual voting and caucusing. Paying attention to the difference between these two types of processes is important because caucuses attract a very different set of citizens -- more ideological, more consistent and more partisan participants. We think this difference will matter. So far, people have focused on Donald Trump's unexpectedly strong showing in the polls and on tensions between "outsider" candidates (like Trump) and more traditional "establishment" candidates. On the Democratic side,...

DO NOT VOTE ON THIS THREAD. This is the nightly DISCUSSION thread for the ongoing 2016 Free Republic Caucus. Per caucus rules, no comments are allowed on the caucus thread itself - hence this open chat thread. If you'd like to vote in the caucus, please look in the sidebar for the link, or check downthread here. Thanks, and let 'er rip! Windy

At a campaign stop in Iowa today, Donald Trump's speech was interrupted by protesters. One of the protesters was wearing a turban and after a brief interruption they were escorted out of the building. After the protesters was gone, Trump asked the crowd, "He wasn't wearing one of those hats was he?" The media pounced all over Trump claiming that he had mocked someone over their religion. Only one problem. He didn't do that. Trump was actually referring to his "Make America Great Again" hats that many of his supporters wear at campaign rallies. Here's the video.

JERUSALEM, Israel, January 22, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – The number of abortions in the nation of Israel continues to decline dramatically, according to the Israeli Health Ministry. The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) reported that there has been more than a twenty-percent drop in abortions from 2000 to 2014. The report explained that of the terminations in 2014 (17,500), half were cases of rape or other criminal activity. The CBS report noted that the percentage of pregnant women who appeal for an abortion is diminishing, too. In 2013, 9.6 out of every 1,000 pregnant women appealed for an abortion –...

Port of Calais in France closed after migrants storm the harbour and make it on to The Spirit of Britain ferry Around 500 migrants broke through police lines with 50 thought to have boarded P&O vessel British anarchists from 'No Borders' were among the 35 people arrested after leading the 'scandalous' invasion Others defaced a statue of France's wartime leader and former president Charles de Gaulle Road Haulage Association called for the French military to be deployed...

"An act of God" was responsible for U.S. Navy sailors entering Iranian waters, leading to their arrest at gunpoint, Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday told Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) members who detained the Americans. "Your job was excellent, interesting and timely and, in fact, we must consider this incident as an act of God, who brought Americans into our waters so they would be arrested through your timely action and in that manner with their hands held above their heads," Khamenei told the group in a face-to-face meeting, according to a report on the supreme leader's...

Welcome to the Free Republic CaucusPlease read the rules, and participate according to the guidelines provided.  Thank you. Only vote on this thread on: 01/25/2016  another thread will pop up five minutes before: 01/26/2016Wait to vote until 12:00 midnight EST, and don't vote after 12:00 midnight EST at the at the end of the day.  Look for the new thread. Votes outside the 24 hour period, will not be counted.  Give it five minutes or so on each end, so you are sure to get your vote counted. If you have questions, FReep Mail me.  DO NOT disqualify your vote...

January 25, 2016 Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, Apostle Reading 1 Acts 22:3-16 Paul addressed the people in these words:"I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia,but brought up in this city.At the feet of Gamaliel I was educated strictly in our ancestral lawand was zealous for God, just as all of you are today.I persecuted this Way to death,binding both men and women and delivering them to prison.Even the high priest and the whole council of elderscan testify on my behalf.For from them I even received letters to the brothersand set out for Damascus to...

BURNS-Leaders of the armed protestors holding the national bird sanctuary on Tuesday plan to push their anti-government agenda in Grant County, whose sheriff recommends the government give in to two of their key demands. Sheriff Glenn Palmer said in a statement to the The Oregonian/OregonLive that "the government is going to have to concede something" to end the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. He said freeing a father-son ranching team from prison would be a start. Sending the FBI home would be start." He referred to the FBI's lead role in ending the refuge occupation. "I just pray...

Last fall, in anticipation of this year's ASEAN summit in Laos, the President sent one of his most trusted advisers, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes, to visit. After shepherding last year's historic rapprochement between the U.S. and Cuba, Rhodes saw a similar opportunity to repair relations with Laos. He returned to Washington profoundly moved by the scope of the unexploded ordnance problem and convinced clearance was key to helping the impoverished nation better develop its agriculture and economy. The amount of unexploded ordnance in Laos hinders development and poverty reduction. Laos has less land to build factories, schools and...

Could a Mars colony become a nation? That question was posed by Michael Byers, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law at the University of British Columbia in a Washington Post article. Byers’ answer to his question was yes. A body of international law has evolved over time that recognizes the rights of people to self-determination.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy has announced that the U.S. House of Representatives is postponing votes it had expected to hold on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week and will not hold votes until Monday, Feb. 1--as a result of the heavy snowstorm that hit Washington, D.C. on Friday and Saturday. ...