Free Republic

The wide-open fight for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination appears certain to showcase a range of credible candidates, who differ from one another in both style and substance. What the next crop of top-tier GOP contenders may not feature, however, is a woman. The Republicans taking discernible steps to build the foundations required for White House runs are all men. And for a party trying to close the gender gap, the prospect of an all-male lineup may pose a significant public perception problem. After the 2012 race saw President Obama defeat Mitt Romney by a double-digit margin among women, one...

Taiwan's Central News Agency says a plane has crashed in a failed emergency landing, killing 51 people. The news agency cited the head of the fire department in the Taiwanese county of Penghu as saying that seven people were also injured in the crash.

The mysterious appearance of two large white flags flying over the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City this morning has the city scrambling to figure out why they were put there.... It is unclear why they are there and who put them there, authorities said.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he has stopped talking to US President Barack Obama on the phone, amid growing strains between Ankara and Washington over Syria and Gaza, AFP reports Tuesday. Turkey, a fierce opponent of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and an open supporter of armed rebel fighters, felt betrayed when the United States backed away from military action against Damascus in September. "In the past, I was calling him (Obama) directly. Because I can't get the expected results on Syria, our foreign ministers are now talking to each other," Erdogan said in a live interview on pro-government...

CNN's International correspondent Diana Magnay has been removed from covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after she branded a group of Israelis 'scum' on Thursday. Magnay had taken to Twitter to express her fury after a group of whooping Israelis watching missile strikes 'threatened to destroy' her team's car if the British reporter used negative language. Almost as soon as she posted the controversial comment, she deleted it - but not before it was retweeted more than 200 times. CNN said it has now assigned her to Moscow.

Via Charles Cooke, is this the worst listicle ever or the greatest? You’re expecting a list of different makes and models, I know. But look: 2. Revolvers Revolvers, named for their rotating chambered cylinder, placed second in the ATF’s ranking of guns found at crime scenes more than 46,000 recovered in 2012, the most recent year for which statistics were kept. Some grenade launchers, shotguns, and rifles also have rotating barrels, but the term “revolver” is generally used to describe handguns. Revolver types include single and double-action firing mechanisms, the latter of which does not require a cocking action separate...

ORLANDO, Fla. — It’s something most of most students learn in elementary school — the United States is made up of 50 states and the District of Columbia. But Cox Media Group reporter Justin Gray found out it’s a lesson that an Orlando agent with the Transportation Safety Administration seems to have missed. Gray, who lives in Washington, D.C., was flying out of Orlando International Airport when a TSA agent said Gray’s District of Columbia driver’s license wasn’t a valid form of identification. Gray said his license is legal and up-to-date, but the TSA agent didn’t seem to know what...

http://www.nerdist.com/vepisode/weird-al-yankovic-gets-tacky-with-pharrells-happy/ It was only a matter of time.

FEASTERVILLE, Pa. – A dead body on a gurney fell out of a coroner's van when a door malfunctioned, sending the corpse into the middle of a busy roadway in Pennsylvania. The Bucks County Courier Times reports the accident happened around noon on Friday near a shopping center in Feasterville, Pennsylvania.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- King James has reclaimed his throne in Cleveland. LeBron James stunned the NBA on Friday when he announced his long-awaited free agency decision, choosing to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers and leaving the Miami Heat.

YES 72.2% (137,924 votes) NO 12.98% (24,803 votes) NOT NOW 14.82% (28,308 votes) Total Votes: 191,035

Republicans have chosen Cleveland to host their national convention in 2016, the Republican National Committee announced Tuesday, marking the end of a months-long selection process. The second most populous city in Ohio bested Dallas in the final round. Other cities Republicans considered included Denver, Kansas City and Las Vegas.

President Barack Obama told his Cabinet on Tuesday to 'be creative' looking for areas where he might be able to govern by executive action given gridlock in Congress that is hampering his agenda. In a White House meeting, Obama brought together the top officials in his government a day after conceding that a deadlocked Congress will prompt him to act on his own authority where he can on an immigration overhaul. Obama said he wants to work with Congress where possible, "but if Congress is unable to do it," then he said his Cabinet officials and agency heads should look...

One person was killed and four others injured after a man opened fire at an overnight party early Sunday in East Hollywood to celebrate the upcoming Black Entertainment Television Awards. The assailant was a lone gunman who is still at large, said Officer Drake Madison of the Los Angeles Police Department. The shooting occurred at 5:17 a.m., when the gunman fired several rounds, Madison said. Ambulances transported three victims to a local hospital, where one died. The two others arranged their own hospital transportation. Investigators have not released information about the victims. The coroner’s office said early Sunday that it...

A tea party official charged with conspiring to take photos of U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran’s wife inside a nursing home apparently committed suicide Friday, police said, days after Cochran won a nasty Republican primary.

The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that police cannot go snooping through people’s cell phones without a warrant, in a unanimous decision that amounts to a major statement in favor of privacy rights. Police agencies had argued that searching through the data on cell phones was no different than asking someone to turn out his pockets, but the justices rejected that, saying a cell phone is more fundamental. The ruling amounts to a 21st century update to legal understanding of privacy rights. “The fact that technology now allows an individual to carry such information in his hand does not make the...

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 against Aereo that the company which sought to deliver broadcasts over tiny antennas over the Internet violates copyright law. "Insofar as there are differences [with previous cases], those differences concern not the nature of the service that Aereo provides so much as the technological manner in which it provides the service.

This nation was founded on the rule of law, and the equality of treatment under such. With that in mind, Rep. Steve Stockman will offer taxpayers access to the same set of excuses used by the IRS when dealing with inquiries into the tax records — and those of other politicians in scandals of their own. The new bill, titled “The Dog Ate My Tax Receipts Act,” would allow taxpayers to use any of the following ten reasons as a positive defense during an audit: 1. The dog ate my tax receipts 2. Convenient, unexplained, miscellaneous computer malfunction 3....

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil prices edged higher on Wednesday, with the U.S. benchmark pushing back toward $107 a barrel after militants in Iraq attacked the country's biggest oil refinery, underlining worries about potential threats to export facilities in the south.

Justina Pelletier is going home. A Massachusetts judge ordered the 16-year-old Connecticut girl, who was taken from her family by child welfare advocates more than a year ago, to be returned to her mother and father effective Wednesday. The ruling caps a long-running medical custody dispute that began when two highly-respected Boston hospitals clashed over the girl's diagnosis. The case sparked national outrage, and led Lou and Linda Pelletier, of West Hartford, Conn., to wage a bitter legal battle. “To hear the news is overwhelming," Lou Pelletier told FoxNews.com moments after learning of the ruling. "Now we can certainly begin...