Free Republic

An East Coast blizzard howling, global temperatures peaking, the desert Southwest flooding, drought-stricken California drying up—surely there’s a common thread tying together this “extreme” weather. There is. But it has little to do with what recent headlines have been saying about the hottest year ever. It is called business as usual.

Picture from The Canadian Press Details about the school shooting in Canada are still in short supply.  But it seems likely that the shooting was motivated by the media coverage that is given to mass shooters, especially school shootings, in the western world.  From thestarphoenix.com: "The community usually pulls together really strong in times like this," said Clearwater River Dene Nation Chief Teddy Clark on Friday. "Both Clearwater and La Loche, a lot of people are in shock. This is something that you only see on TV most of the time." (skip) Desjarlais-Thomas forwarded to The Canadian Press a...

Liberals are mad at Wal-Mart for NOT building new stores????? Well this seems like it’s right out of the Twilight Zone: liberals in Washington D.C. are upset that Wal-Mart had decided not to build two news stores!The Washington Post reports:District leaders furious Walmart breaking promise to build stores in poor neighborhoodsJanuary 15, 2015Walmart abruptly announced Friday that it was abandoning a promise to build stores in Washington’s poorest neighborhoodsUnder the initial deal, Walmart could build stores almost anywhere in the District, as long as it opened two stores in its poorest wards and areas of the city sometimes referred to as...

Rick Perry just endorsed Ted Cruz and I posted that news in a thread this morning. It's gotten over 100 comments. On it I posted Rick Perry's comment in defense of Ted Cruz about the "New York Values" dust-up [Comment #84 at the link above]. [Rick Perry: "...."Mr. Trump took umbrage by Ted Cruz talking about New York values, and, you know, became very serious about - as we all were - what happened on September the 11th of 2001," he said. "We were all New Yorkers that day - don't get confused with that, but you know, I would...

Niagara Falls, a distinct collective of three waterfalls that straddle the border of the U.S. and Canada, will go dry in the next two or three years. But it will only happen on the American side of the falls in New York. For some, this will be the second time in their lifetime that the falls have dried. In 1969 researchers stopped the flow of water to study the effects of erosion and buildup of rock at the base of the falls. That year, people traveled from all over the world to see the landmark without water.

Word For The Day, Monday January 25, 2015 In order that we might all raise the level of discourse and expand our language abilities, here is the daily post of "Word for the Day". Paraprosdokian -nA paraprosdokian is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence, phrase, or larger discourse is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first part. ["Paraprosdokian" comes from the Greek "παρά", meaning "against" and "προσδοκία", meaning "expectation". The term "prosdokia" ("expectation") occurs with the preposition "para" in Greek rhetorical writers of...

Venezuela's heavier oil fetches even less on international markets and is down to about $23 a barrel, near its break-even production point of about $17 to $18 a barrel. A default in 2016 "is becoming increasingly difficult to avoid," said Barclays economist Alejandro Arreaza in a report on Venezuela this week. If oil stays at $32 per barrel, Mr. Arreaza estimated that Venezuela will need to use 90% of its oil income this year just to meet its obligations, including sovereign debt and money owed to China. The cost of insuring Venezuelan sovereign debt has jumped in recent months, signaling...

"It troubles me that there can't be a serious discussion about immigration issues because people are afraid of being called racist. People are afraid of being called a bigot. And I think one of the things that people like about Donald Trump — those who like him — is that he's going ahead and saying it, and it's creating a kind of inoculation against something people have feared so much, which is being called a bigot." (full article below) http://althouse.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-coming-cascade-of-smart-educated.html

Politically we appear to be living in the year of the outsider. Donald Trump has shocked the established political class and its loyal journalistic following. Senators Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders are upsetting governing elites almost as much as Trump. The public says it is angry and isn't going to take it anymore. Yet the prescription offered by these three candidates is very different. The Donald constantly trumpets that he is a deal maker. Cruz and Sanders are more interested in the substance of the deal and always ready to say no deal. There's no doubt that politics involves compromise....

Snowzilla took the entire eastern seaboard down.Les Nessman reported the breaking news: (H/T: Jonah Goldberg.)Barry used the anthropogenic climate disaster to take a little time off from his usual Sunday work day to appear on CBS' "Sunday Morning" where he revealed that - rumors to the contrary - he didn’t plan on running for a third term. Because A) he’s tired:  President Barack Obama says he wouldn't run for a third term even if he could. He says the presidency takes a toll on family life, and the office "should be continually renewed by new energy and new ideas." B)...

Jeb Bush has the support of just one percent of likely Republican caucusgoers in Iowa, according to a new poll from CBS News. The poll, released Sunday, found Bush with the same level of support as Carly Fiorina, Rick Santorum, and John Kasich. That puts Bush behind Chris Christie (2 percent), Rand Paul (3 percent), Ben Carson (5 percent), Marco Rubio (13 percent), Ted Cruz (34 percent), and Donald Trump (39 percent). The poor numbers for Bush come nearly a month after Right to Rise, the super PAC supporting the former Florida governor, made a $25 million ad buy in...

German People Take Matters Into Their Own Hands And Buy Guns In RECORD Breaking Numbers, Lock-And-Load Against Muslim Invaders In a surprisingly pleasant report from the BBC, gun and weapons sales in Germany have reached record numbers as the German people, whose trust in their government and her decisions has been utterly destroyed by Chancellor Merkel’s foolish and suicidal ideas about Muslims and mass migration, have realized that they have to take matters into their own hands for the sake of themselves and their children. VIDEO Via the BBC

A blizzard worse than Blizzard 2016—an icy storm of furious American voters—is descending upon Washington as voters prepare a revenge mutiny. "Revenge mutiny" is my term for throwing overboard traitors who threw you overboard first. It's happening within both the Republican and Democratic parties. We've knocked on doors. We spent weekends in drab phone banks making calls for candidates who promised the opposite of what they delivered. We're done. Rome wasn't built in a day. America will not be destroyed in a day. Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, and Bernie Sanders' surging energy—simultaneous with Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush, and Chris Christie's...

What can be said of Christ's being the "express image of His person"? Are not we all created in the image of God and does not this reference merely speak of Jesus as the perfect man, the one in whom the image of God has not been besmirched or corrupted? I think the text means more than that. Philip Hughes says this: "The Greek word translated 'the very stamp bearer' means an engraved character or the impress made by a die or a seal, as for example, on a coin; and the Greek word translated 'nature' denotes the very essence...

DECORAH, Iowa — When Bernie Sanders entered the presidential race last spring, he was considered a fringe figure — an unapologetic independent whose “political revolution” would eschew campaign customs and center around his liberal agenda. Now, with an upset over Hillary Clinton in next Monday’s Iowa caucuses potentially within his grasp, Sanders has emerged as a more combative — and in some ways, more conventionally political — candidate. Sanders opens his rallies by ticking through the latest polls — an uncharacteristic touch of bravado intended to convince Democrats that he is not only viable in a general election but a...

Super Bowl 50 Live Thread Super Bowl 50 Sunday, February 7, 4:30 PM EST CBS Denver Broncos Vs Carolina Panthers

Stock futures pulled back from last week's big rally after a slide in crude oil prices resumed. Crude oil prices continued to spiral lower on Monday after a 9% jump to end last week. The turn lower on Monday was tied to comments from Saudi Arabia's state oil giant, Saudi Aramco, suggesting the company is continuing to invest in oil and gas projects despite global oversupply. West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell 2.8% to $31.29 a barrel.

PARIS, January 24, 2016 - The United States potentially will make recommendations to position U.S. troops with Iraqi security forces in northern Iraq to support the next phase of isolating the key city of Mosul, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said. Marine Corps Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., who met here with his French counterpart for talks focusing on the multinational effort against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, told reporters traveling with him that the U.S. troops would be placed where they can best support the Iraqi forces in the fight. "We're about winning....

In an earlier piece -- which I strongly urge you to read -- I expanded on certain factors evident in the Trump phenomenon. Trump is tapping into anger against the Establishment and over immigration and is a plain-spoken breath of fresh air. sounding a nationalistic note in an age where it is not the "elite" norm. not campaigning as conservative but a populist, which, almost by definition, tends to make one popular in an era of mass discontent. a crusader against hated political correctness, which has stifled tongues and killed careers nationwide. And in being the first prominent person to...

Businessman Donald Trump Trump is now the definitive favorite for the Republican nomination, despite the fact that his demise has been predicted again and again. Victory in Iowa is by no means assured for the real estate mogul. But he has bounced back into the lead in the RealClearPolitics (RCP) average of polls in the state after brief periods during which retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and, more recently, Cruz had displaced him.