Free Republic

Decorating the tree is a fun-filled festive experience, but not if have a cat eager to climb it or dog desperate to chew on the tinsel. Pet owners around the world have shared the extreme lengths they go to every December to pet-proof their Christmas trees. In some households, decorative firs have to be protected by metal cages or even hung upside down from the ceiling just to keep naughty pets at bay. But Christmas is a time for everyone - even animals - so to make sure they still have a holly jolly time, some of the spoiled pets...

Indoctrination of today’s Students by the Far Left I do cry for you, Champaign-Urbana. The truth is I have left you. Now through all of my quiet days. Your old promise of giving students an education. Was it all just an illusion? Forgive me for my sarcasm in taking liberty with Evita's famous lyrics, but Wright Street is fast becoming Wrong Street when we realize academia is indoctrinating rather than educating America’s young people. Here is what a University of Illinois “academic” just published: "On many levels mathematics operates as Whiteness." In a newly published math education book, School of...

Captain Chris Jett of the Burnet County Sheriff's Office said the officer was on his way home in the 12000 block of FM 1431 near Smithwick just after 10:00 p.m. when he saw the suspect shooting into a car with family of three. The officer called 911 and exchanged gunfire with the suspect. The suspect was shot in the chest and ran off into the woods, where he was found.

The White House on Thursday said President Trump is donating his quarterly paycheck to the Health and Human Services Department to help combat an opioids crisis that is killing tens of thousands of Americans each year. Mr. Trump, a billionaire, is donating his full presidential salary to various causes and agencies. Previous checks went to the National Parks Services and the Education Department. Acting HHS Secretary Eric D. Hargan said Mr. Trump’s latest donation of $100,000 is a “tribute to his compassion, his patriotism and a sense of duty to the American people.” “But it’s his compassion, above all, that...

The “Fruits” of Contraception Msgr. Charles Pope • November 30, 2017 • In our culture’s current self-examination on sexual harassment and sexual abuse, we would also do well to ponder how the “contraceptive mentality” has contributed to the many sexually related problems of the day. This view insists that there is no necessary connection between sex and having children; it separates what God has joined. This has led to a whirlwind of confusion about the nature and purpose of sexual intimacy as well as about marriage and family. Many treat sex lightly and frivolously; they falsely think that sex...

According to the charging document, those false statements were that: "On or about Dec 29, 2016, FLYNN did not ask the Government of Russia’s Ambassador to the United States ... to refrain from escalating the situation in response to sanctions that the United States had imposed against Russia that same day; and FLYNN did not recall the Russian Ambassador subsequently telling him that Russia had chosen to moderate its response to those sanctions as a result of his request." "On or about December 22, 2016, FLYNN did not ask the Russian Ambassador to delay the vote on or defeat a...

ORANGE, Texas (KTRK) -- A missing east Texas teenager has been found in Louisiana, the Orange County Sheriff's Office confirmed. Heaven Ray Cox, 15, was reported missing on Saturday in Orange, Texas. Deputies said the residence where Heaven was located belonged to a relative of a person that was known by the teen. Heaven's mother believed her daughter left with a man she met on Snapchat and could have been going with him to California.

Thousands of Twitter users on Friday were urging people to #BoycottSanFrancisco after a jury there decided Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, a five-time deported Mexican man charged with shooting and killing Kate Steinle, was not guilty. The Boycott San Francisco hashtag began trending on Twitter Friday morning as people vowed not to travel there or buy goods or services produced in the city.

ABC News’ Brian Ross reports first media report of this.

"Mike Flynn is "prepared to testify" against Trump, his family, & the campaign, including Trump ordering him to talk to Russians"

Environmental scientists are urging lawmakers around the world to ban glitter from being used in art supplies because of the damage glitter particles do to the environment. Scientists are particularly concerned that the plastic particles that make up glitter would pollute the environment and poison the animals who eat from it, CBS Philadelphia reported. Dr. Trisia Farrelly, an environmental anthropologist at Massey University in New Zealand, says she wants to see glitter banned because of the damage it does to the ecosystem. “I think all glitter should be banned because it’s microplastic,” she said.

A Park Hills, Mo., couple has been charged with abuse of their infant, including possibly dropping the baby while trying to imitate a TV commercial and zapping the baby in a microwave, court documents say. Derick Boyce-Slezak and Mikala Boyce-Slezak, both 22, were each charged Tuesday in circuit court in St. Francois County with felony abuse or neglect of a child... Other court records indicate that the couple are also the parents of a girl, who they waived custody of shortly after she was born in January 2016.

The revelation last year of an unorthodox tarmac meeting between former President Bill Clinton and then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch set off a frenzied scramble at the FBI to track down the source, newly released documents show. Conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch, which on Thursday released 29 pages of FBI emails related to the 2016 meeting, said the messages show officials were more concerned about the leak than the substance of the report.“These new FBI documents show the FBI was more concerned about a whistleblower who told the truth about the infamous Clinton-Lynch tarmac meeting than the scandalous meeting itself,” Judicial...

The Republican Party’s tax reform proposal is a “moral abomination,” retired founder of investment management firm The Vanguard Group John C. Bogle said Tuesday, the same day the Senate Budget Committee voted to advance the bill. The proposal, which House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) vowed would slash the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent, is also an “experiential abomination,” Bogle said at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Who won Ohio's big medical marijuana grow licenses? 5 things to know COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The last of Ohio's 24, highly sought-after medical marijuana cultivation licenses were awarded Thursday, ending months of anticipation but leaving many applicants and industry observers with more questions about the process. The Ohio Department of Commerce winnowed 185 applicants down to 24 winners -- 12 level I licenses for up to 25,000 square feet of grow space and 12 level II licenses for up to 3,000 square feet. The department announced the 12 large growers on Thursday. Application records released Thursday reveal some information about...

Senate Republicans were confident that they had the votes needed Friday to pass their tax plan as last-minute changes brought more GOP lawmakers on board. Sens. Steve Daines, R-Mont., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., earlier Friday said they would back the bill after securing further tax relief for pass-through businesses. Then, Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., committed to supporting the plan, leaving Republican leaders confident that they had the support. On Friday morning, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, called holdout Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., the last two senators who need to get on board. The GOP can...

Just an open vanity to discuss the drawings

A suspect and his accomplice accused in the Thanksgiving shooting death of 10-year-old Delilah Hernandez were arrested Thursday evening. Cody Gann, 18, faces a murder charge and Jasmine Cary, 19, was arrested on a warrant for evading arrest, according to the San Antonio Police Department. Delilah was fatally shot Nov. 23 as she slept in her home in the 100 block of Harding Boulevard and was not believed to be the intended target, according to previous reports... "The house has had problems in the past," McManus said at the scene. "We believe it's gang-related directly to the brother."

New Braunfels police arrested a man Tuesday after an 11-year-old girl said someone took a photo of her underneath a bathroom stall. The case stems from an incident at a New Braunfels Wal-Mart on Aug. 12, according to police. Officers were called to the store after the girl told her parents what happened, authorities said. When officers arrived, they found Hermes Estuardo Mendez, 36, still inside the women's restroom, police said... Detectives searched his phone and found a pornographic photograph of a 5-year-old girl.

An upstate hunter who fatally shot a neighbor he mistook for a deer while illegally hunting after sunset has been slapped with criminal charges, officials announced Thursday.Thomas Jadlowski, 34, of Sherman was arraigned Thursday on a two-count indictment on manslaughter in the second degree and hunting after legal hours in connection with the Nov. 22 incident that left 43-year-old Rosemary Billquist dead. Jadlowski had surrendered himself to the Chautauqua County Sherriff’s Office.