Free Republic

On Thursday's CBS This Morning, Norah O'Donnell played up President Obama's experience as a lecturer in constitutional law just hours before the Supreme Court upheld his health care law. O'Donnell trumpeted how the President apparently "paid so close attention to this - not only reading the opinions, but going back and actually listening to them on tape." The correspondent also forwarded the White House's talking points on ObamaCare before and after the Court's decision came down: "This is something the President fought hard for, to equip some 30 million more people - have them get health insurance, and provide those...

or someone seemingly so bright, Rachel Maddow sure has a short memory. There she was on June 19, talking about a proposed debate between GOP Sen. Scott Brown and Democrat challenger Elizabeth Warren and mocking Brown with her trademark brand of arm-waving, arrested adolescent sarcasm (video after page break) -- Maddow Drops Bogus Claim about MSNBC Not Hosting Proposed Brown-Warren DebateMADDOW: This week, though, Scott Brown said he would agree to a televised debate with Elizabeth Warren, but he had conditions. And he said if his conditions weren't met, he wouldn't do it. His conditions are, first, that the widow...

<p>GRAZ, Austria – A devastating fire which gutted a crematorium in southern Austria was caused by an obese woman's excessive body fat blocking an air filter, Austrian public broadcaster ORF reported.</p> <p>The fire occurred at the facility in the city of Graz in mid-April. Firefighters had trouble extinguishing the blaze due to a thick layer of insulation lining the crematorium's walls.</p>

You'd think he wouldn't have such persistent trouble with the "illegal" part of that. Bad enough, as far as "the Rev" Al Sharpton is concerned, that Republicans want to rein in entitlement spending before America morphs into Greece and brings down much the world with it. (video clip after page break)Sharpton angered that Republicans oppose entitlement funding - for illegals Here's Sharpton on his MSNBC "PoliticsNation" show Friday night, talking with Florida Democratic Party chair Rod Smith and "HuffPost Live" host Alicia Menendez about President Obama's end-run around Congress on the DREAM Act -- SHARPTON: Now Alicia, while the president...

I know you're busy writing to your friends to ask them to skip your birthday present this year and send the cash to Obama, but I just want to interrupt you for a minute to introduce you to 32 parents who probably won't be fundraising for Obama anytime soon. Kent and Josephine Terry are the parents of slain Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, who sacrificed his life protecting ours. Last week, they spoke up for the first time with a message to Obama, who has asserted executive privilege to hide documents on Operation Fast and Furious. When asked what they'd...

On Sunday's NBC Meet the Press, moderator David Gregory led the show's panelists in dismissing the House Government Oversight Committee holding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt over the Fast and Furious gun-walking scandal as a mere political "distraction" created by Republicans. [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump] The committee's chairman, California Republican Congressman Darrell Issa, was also on the panel and interrogated by Gregory: "If you got everything you wanted, what do you think it would prove?....What would you be able to prove? I mean what the White House is saying is this is...

As the ObamaCare decision looms large on the horizon, the Left is doing their best to defame the Supreme Court in anticipation of a defeat of the president signature legislative accomplishment. In the past two days, liberal journalists Michael Tomasky and James Fallows have published histrionic tirades at their respective publications, the Daily Beast/Newsweek and The Atlantic. Fallows cries that the “Roberts majority” is ruining the court’s legitimacy by somehow violating unwritten "norms" of its behavior: Norms have given the Supreme Court its unquestioned legitimacy. The Roberts majority is barreling ahead without regard for the norms, and it is taking...

During an interview with Senator Marco Rubio on Sunday's NBC Meet the Press, host David Gregory hit the Florida Republican for his support of Mitt Romney, who "had to run hard to the right here on illegal immigration" and is "far behind President Obama among Latino voters." Gregory then quoted from Rubio's new book, An American Son, and proceeded to portray Republican opposition to illegal immigration as racially motivated: "'I begin to wonder if some of the people who speak so disparagingly about immigrants would be just as worked up if most of them were coming from Canada.' You suggest...

It's taken over four years for film director Paul Verhoeven to get anyone to turn his 2008 book "Jesus of Nazareth" into a movie, but numerous sources last week say he's finally done it. Deadline reported last Tuesday that Muse Productions will produce the film claiming Jesus Christ was the product of Mary being raped by a Roman soldier: Jesus might have been the product of his mother being raped by a Roman soldier, which Verhoeven said was commonplace at the time, and that Jesus was a radical prophet who performed exorcisms and was convinced he would find the kingdom...

When I hire a new employee, whether it is a musician, a crewmember or a driver several factors come into play. Of course, in the case of a musician, the first thing I consider is how well they play, how their style of playing goes with the band's music, and their stage presence. Another important factor for somebody becoming a member of The CDB is the respect they have for the heritage and reputation of a band that has been around for over forty years. And of almost equal importance is, if necessary, can you ride on a bus for...

Conservative author Glenn Beck on Sunday took to Twitter to blast New York Times columnist David Brooks for comments he made last year about the talk radio host's predictions concerning Egypt without President Hosni Mubarak. On PBS's Newshour last February, syndicated columnist Mark Shields mentioned Beck in a discussion about how people attending the CPAC convention viewed the goings-on in Egypt from a domestic political perspective: MARK SHIELDS, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: Well, I think it is a lack of self-confidence, surefootedness. They didn`t know what they wanted to say. They weren`t sure. The only one who was really critical that I...

Do you think trying to balance the federal budget is incendiary? NBC's David Gregory apparently does, for on Sunday's Meet the Press, he asked Congressman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) "whether a guy like Paul Ryan is a little too incendiary" to be vice president (video follows with transcript and commentary): David Gregory: Is Paul Ryan 'A Little Too Incendiary' To Be Vice President DAVID GREGORY, HOST: So I have a question about Paul Ryan. Paul Ryan's chairman of budget committee. You know, I mean like Marco Rubio, guys are the same age, 41 years old, and a big future ahead of...

From the Wow That's a Stretch Department: New York Times columnist Charles Blow has taken the story of a grandma being bullied by children on a school bus in upstate New York and found another metaphor for Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, and conservatives in general. "Those boys are us, or at least too many of us: America at its ugliest. It is that part of society that sees the weak and vulnerable as worthy of derision and animus," with the "us" being the conservatives. "This kind of behavior is not isolated to children and school buses and suburban communities. It...

CNN political contributor Hilary Rosen got a much-needed education about voter ID laws from George Will on ABC's This Week Sunday. When Rosen echoed the dishonest Democrat talking point that voter ID laws are considered "under the civil rights statutes" to be voter suppression, Will smartly replied, "Let the record show that the Supreme Court, with Justice John Paul Stevens, liberal Justice writing it, said that there is no Constitutional flaw in photo ID voter laws" (video follows with transcript and commentary): George Will Schools Hilary Rosen on Voter ID Laws GEORGE WILL: Mr. Holder himself has made himself obnoxious...

If needed, large landing ships Nikolai Filchenkov and Caesar Kunikov will maintain security of Russian Navy's technical support base in Tartus (Syria), said a source in the Navy Mail HQ. "Crews of Nikolai Filchenkov and Caesar Kunikov and rescue tug SB-15 with marines on board are capable to secure Russian citizens and evacuate property of the Tartus base, if required", the Navy spokesman told Interfax. Black Sea Fleet (BSF) press secretary Capt 1 Rank Vyacheslav Trukhachev said on Monday that large landing ship Caesar Kunikov returned to Sevastopol from the Mediterranean cruise in order to prepare for new deployments. "The...

Bill Maher said Friday, "Republicans don't care about dead Mexicans." This came moments after he admitted on HBO's Real Time he didn't know anything about the controversial White House mission known as Fast and Furious "until this week" (video follows with transcript and commentary): Bill Maher: 'Republicans Don't Care About Dead Mexicans' BILL MAHER: I mentioned the Fast and Furious in the monologue and I really didn't explain it to people who don't know. And by the way, I was one of those people until this week who didn't know. Why doesn’t it surprise me a dunce like Bill Maher...

One of the finest examples of how liberal media members really don't know what they're talking about occurred on HBO's Real Time Friday when Reason's Nick Gillespie gave a much-needed education to MSNBC's Rachel Maddow and host Bill Maher on the issue of Fast and Furious. In the end, Maddow and Maher embarrassed themselves in a fashion that should have both of their respective networks seriously concerned about their qualifications to disseminate information to the public (video follows with transcript and commentary): Reason's Nick Gillespie Schools Rachel Maddow and Bill Maher on Fast and Furious RACHEL MADDOW, MSNBC: I think...

All three journalists invited to the journalists' roundtable on the Diane Rehm Show on NPR Friday played down the Fast and Furious scandal as a loser for Republicans. Jeanne Cummings of Politico wanted Congress to drop it like a hot potato: "to create this big constitutional clash with the White House makes Congress, once again, look like it's just got its eye off the ball. This isn't what people want them to do... we're going nowhere here." NPR reporter Ari Shapiro recalled how Bush attorney general Alberto Gonzales was dogged by a U.S. Attorney-firing scandal because Republicans were willing to...

MSNBC's supposedly most intelligent "news" anchor almost had a total meltdown on HBO's Real Time Friday. When repeatedly asked by host Bill Maher and guest Nick Gillespie for her opinion of Massachusetts' healthcare program, Maddow whined like a little girl, "Leave me alone about RomneyCare, all of you" (video follows with transcript and commentary): Maddow Almost Melts Down on HBO's Real Time: 'Leave Me Alone About RomneyCare, All of You' BILL MAHER, HOST: Mitt Romney said on the campaign trail last week, he said, “We're going to get rid of ObamaCare and return to personal responsibility.” This is the return...

Rock 'em sock 'em liberal Ed Schultz continues doing his darndest to unintentionally help conservatives by the simple act of opening his mouth and letting words spill out. On his radio show yesterday, Schultz finally caught up with the Fast and Furious gun-walking scandal that's been brewing for 18 months since the murder of border agent Brian Terry (audio clips after page break). Unlike other leftists in the media intent on keeping their distance from Fast and Furious as if from a stench, the ever-optimistic Schultz sees a silver lining to the fatally flawed program (audio) -- It always takes...