Free Republic

Many in U.S. Are Arrested by Age 23, Study FindsBy ERICA GOODE Published: December 19, 2011 By age 23, almost a third of Americans have been arrested for a crime, according to a new study that researchers say is a measure of growing exposure to the criminal justice system in everyday life. The study, the first since the 1960s to look at the arrest histories of a national sample of adolescents and young adults over time, found that 30.2 percent of the 23-year-olds who participated reported having been arrested for an offense other than a minor traffic violation. That figure...

A recent vacation in Mexico turned into a nightmare for a 79-year-old Illinois man. But it wasn't a devastating bus crash that almost killed U.S.-born Alfonso Acosta. It was his stay in one of Mexico's government-run hospitals. According to a harrowing account in the Quad-City Times, a daily newspaper, Acosta suffered a "major head injury, multiple facial fractures, broken ribs and a punctured lung." Yet for five weeks he lay "virtually untreated" at the hospital where he was taken in Toluca, about 40 miles southwest from Mexico City, say outraged family members in the United States who rushed to his...

Sen. Boxer: GOP bill will kill 8,100 AmericansBy C.J. Ciaramella | The Daily Caller – 17 hrs ago **SNIP** “They have attached a poison pill — literally, colleagues — because it will kill 8,100 more people more than would have otherwise been killed from pollution,” Boxer said. “They attach that to the payroll tax cut. So have that for a Christmas gift.” “We have asked for a lot from Santa in our day but we have never asked for lead, arsenic and mercury,” Boxer concluded.

Americans' hostility toward members of Congress is at a record high, a new Gallup Poll found. Seventy-six percent of those surveyed said most representatives do not deserve to be reelected, the highest number in the 19 years Gallup has asked the question and six points higher than in August, just after the contentious debate over raising the debt ceiling. Only 20% said most members should be reelected, a record low. "If voters' current sentiments toward Congress prevail through next November's election, it is possible that control of the House would flip back to the Democrats," wrote Frank Newport, editor in...

<p>Question: When the Libyan "military" comes to US staff colleges -- a real possibility-- do they get to bring their flags of al Qaeda with them?</p> <p>This is a joke, right? I'm dreaming, aren't I? Either give me a pitchfork, or wake me up when it's over.</p>

(CBS/AP) BEIRUT - The U.S. Embassy in Damascus urged its citizens in Syria to depart "immediately," and Turkey's foreign ministry urged Turkish pilgrims to opt for flights to return home from Saudi Arabia to avoid traveling through Syria. "The U.S. Embassy continues to urge U.S. citizens in Syria to depart immediately while commercial transportation is available," said a statement issued to the American community in Syria Wednesday and posted on the Embassy's website. "The number of airlines serving Syria has decreased significantly since the summer, while many of those airlines remaining have reduced their number of flights." The warning followed...

For some reason, Barack Obama has decided that part of his path to re-election will involve blaming his failures on the American people, who can be insulted into loving him again. This narrative involves convincing us that the American spirit was so degenerate by 2008 that not even the dazzling skills of the LIghtworker could save us… at least, not in a mere four years. In September, Obama declared that it was his unhappy duty to preside over “a great, great country that has gotten a little soft, and we didn’t have that same competitive edge that we needed over...

For some reason, Barack Obama has decided that part of his path to re-election will involve blaming his failures on the American people, who can be insulted into loving him again. This narrative involves convincing us that the American spirit was so degenerate by 2008 that not even the dazzling skills of the LIghtworker could save us… at least, not in a mere four years. In September, Obama declared that it was his unhappy duty to preside over “a great, great country that has gotten a little soft, and we didn’t have that same competitive edge that we needed over...

A growing number of Americans is thinking about turning expat, according to a survey by America Wave and Zogby International. The share of Americans planning to relocate increased to 2.5 percent from 0.8 percent in 2009. If this number describes the entire population, that means around 6 million Americans are planning on leaving the country. America Wave's Bob Adams (a Business Insider contributor) found that single people, political conservatives and men were more likely to be in this group.

New Americans are sworn in at ceremony celebrating Statue of Liberty's 125th anniversaryArticle by: KAREN MATTHEWS, Associated Press Updated: October 28, 2011 - 9:02 AM NEW YORK - A total of 125 immigrants from 46 countries have been sworn in as United States citizens at a ceremony marking the 125th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty. **SNIP** Lady Liberty is getting a high-tech uplift for her birthday. Internet-connected cameras on her torch that will let viewers gaze out at New York Harbor or see visitors on the grounds below.

As the world population reaches seven billion people, the BBC's Mike Gallagher asks whether efforts to control population have been, as some critics claim, a form of authoritarian control over the world's poorest citizens.> In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson warned that the US might be overwhelmed by desperate masses, and he made US foreign aid dependent on countries adopting family planning programmes. Other wealthy countries such as Japan, Sweden and the UK also began to devote large amounts of money to reducing Third World birth rates. > Meanwhile, Paul Ehrlich has also amended his view of the issue. If he...

Here is a message for those nonunion folks who are looking for jobs: Don’t expect any help from President Obama. If there is any doubt about this, just examine the record. Starting with the president’s pending $447 billion “jobs” bill, Mr. Obama himself has repeatedly stated that his plan is to keep teachers, policemen and firefighters on the job and to provide money to put construction people to work. Now just what do these folks have in common? If you have not guessed it, they are all union members. As noted by The Washington Times in an Oct. 18 editorial...

<p>“I think the downturn in the economy occurred in the year 2000,” Paul told CNN, adding that there have been no new jobs since then “and yet we’ve had a 30 million increase in population.”</p> <p>“Just go out and talk to the people – unemployment rate in the true numbers (is) over 20%, so there’s been a depression,” Paul said after an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”</p>

However, the judge would not rule that the plaintiffs have any Constitutional rights to own a dairy cow, consume milk from their own cow, board a cow at the farm of another farmer, or produce and consume the foods of their choice.

U.S. actor Sean Penn engaged in attempts to secure the release of two Americans freed by Iran this week, flying to Venezuela to ask President Hugo Chavez to intervene with Iran's leader, a source close to the release process said on Friday. Since Tehran freed Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer on Wednesday details have emerged about the efforts to win their freedom, which involved the United Nations, Iraq and Oman - as well as Chavez, who is a fiery critic of the United States. Venezuela's deputy foreign minister said on Thursday that Chavez brought up the case with his Iranian...

The number of Americans in poverty has jumped to an incredible 27-year high, with almost one in six people now falling into the bracket. More than 46 million people, or 15 per cent, are in poverty - which is up from 44 million, or 14 per cent, in 2009, the Census Bureau said. The report highlights the huge economic challenges facing President Barack Obama and Congress as they battle to save the U.S. economy.

<p>Christina Romer, the University of California at Berkeley economics professor and President Obama's first chief economist, once relayed the old joke that "there are two kinds of students: those who hate economics and those who really hate economics." She doesn't believe that, but it's true. I'm surprised how many students tell me economics is their least favorite subject. Why? Because too often economic theories defy common sense. Alas, the policies of this administration haven't boosted the profession's reputation.</p>

Eighty percent of Muslim Americans approve of the way Barack Obama is handling his job as president, according to a newly released survey conducted by the Abu Dhabi Gallup Center, a partnership between Gallup and the Crown Prince Court of Abu Dhabi. According to the survey, 65 percent of Jewish Americans approve of the job Obama is doing; 60 percent of atheists, agnostics, and those of no religion approve; 50 percent of Catholics approve; 37 percent of Protestants approve and 25 percent of Mormons approve.

WASHINGTON — The State Department is urging Americans in Syria to leave the besieged country immediately while commercial transportation is still available. The Syrian government is clamping down on a rebellion in the city of Hama, the center of anti-government activity. Thousands of protesters across the country are marching, demanding solidarity with the people of Hama and demanding the ouster of President Bashar Assad. On Friday, the State Department urged U.S. citizens who must remain in Syria to limit travel and warned U.S. citizens not in the country to avoid traveling there for now.

Some liberals inform us that conservative criticism of President Barack Obama is racially motivated, which is why they would no doubt be surprised that conservatives gathered in Denver recently gave some of their loudest cheers for presidential aspirant Herman Cain. Did they not notice he was black? Of course they did, but it didn’t matter. By the calculations of my own internal applause meter, they were at least meagerly less enthusiastic about the speeches of white Republican candidate Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and white Texas governor Rick Perry, whose hints he’ll run are about as subtle as his state is...