Free Republic

United Nations Special Rapporteur on Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese, who previously claimed that Israel does not have the right to protect itself from the Hamas terrorist organization, stated that calls for Hamas to release the hostages it kidnapped on October 7 are "unacceptable." Albanese responded to a tweet by former State Department official Dennis Ross, who wrote: "The suffering of Palestinians in Gaza is real. Why not call on Hamas to release all hostages and agree to have its leaders leave Gaza. They could save Palestinians from paying a further price. Real support for Palestinians should produce such a call....

ransomnote: The first video was recorded outside the restricted zone. The video features a car on the shoulder of the road supposedly burned from the nearby grassfire (car is essentially melted except for steel frame - steering colum, steering wheel, glass etc.) with most of the terrain surrounding it intact. I put several still images taken from the video below for those who don't want to watch it.Just a few notes: Police forbid access to the fire locations and tell people outside the restricted zone not to take pictures (from roadside - facing into the zone).Near the bottom of this...

Don't ever assume the rats have thrown in towel. I can guarantee you as I type this, these dirtbags (the Schumer's, Durbins, Blumenthal's, etc) are huddled together somewhere devising yet another desperate plan to try and stop tomorrow's vote. Don't ever underestimate the pricks.

..... She attacked the government's intention to enact the Overrule Clause, saying, "Those who seek to limit the Supreme Court are those who do not accept the value of democracy. It is time to fight for democracy, in Israel, in the United States and throughout the world. To fight against the delegitimization of political opponents, for the right to express positions, even if we disagree with them."

Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8AQzvUgH84 Former US Secretary of State John Kerry joined the "Women's March on Washington" together with his dog. Joining the women who worked in the White House under Obama, Kerry is the only member of former US President Barack Obama's Cabinet to have joined the march. .....

Tuesday on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends,” Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump discussed the unreleased classified portion of the 9/11 report, which some have some speculated ties Saudi Arabia to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Trump argued for their release, adding “it’s sort of nice to know” who your friends and enemies are. “I think we should have seen it a long time ago,” Trump said. “And you know, I think I know what it’s going to say. It’s going to be very profound having to do with Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia’s role on the World Trade Center...

After conservative icon and talk radio host Rush Limbaugh blasted House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) for declaring that impeaching Obama was off the table, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin praised Limbaugh for understanding the importance of not emboldening Obama to act even more lawlessly. "Rush is right," she wrote in a Wednesday Facebook post. "The GOP wants to take impeachment off the table? When will you learn liberals won't hate you less if you play nice in these tumultuous times? No matter how polite, complacent, and complicit you are, Obama will continue to harm our Republic and make you impotent....

Explanation: In this celestial still life composed with a cosmic brush, dusty nebula NGC 2170 shines left of image center. Reflecting the light of nearby hot stars, NGC 2170 is joined by other bluish reflection nebulae, a red emission region, many dark absorption nebulae, and a backdrop of colorful stars. Like the common household items still life painters often choose for their subjects, these clouds of gas, dust, and hot stars are also commonly found in this setting -- a massive, star-forming molecular cloud in the constellation Monoceros. The giant molecular cloud, Mon R2, is impressively close, estimated to be...

We’ve all been there, which may have been what made Rick Perry’s gaffe during Wednesday night’s televised Republican debates extra grimace-inducing. In a media interview on Thursday morning, the Texas governor defended his failure to recall the name of the third government agency he wanted to abolish – a glitch punctuated by an embarrassing “oops” – by pointing out that “All of us make mistakes. I’m a human being.” But what’s actually happening in our brains when we screw up? ....When our brain becomes narrowly focused – as Perry’s brain was when it was suggested that the name of the...

(Machine Translation from German to English) -- ("Perry' s Debatten-Desaster : "Ähm, oops, sorry"): "There should be a settlement with the intra-party rivals Herman Cain, but then Rick Perry catapulted out of the presidential race in the U.S. Republicans. In a televised debate of the candidates had the Texans a highly embarrassing blackout. It is exactly 21.20 clock in Michigan, as Rick Perry 's presidential ambitions. For almost one and a half hours, the top eight candidates debated the U.S. Republicans already in the north gym of Oakland University in Detroit.

(By Google Translation from French to English so diction off a bit:)--("Oups... Je ne me souviens plus": l'incroyable gaffe de Rick Perry") "At the last night debate between the Republican candidates, the Governor of Texas was a great moment of solitude. Which virtually eliminates him from the nomination contest. We already knew: the debates are not the strong suit of Rick Perry. These early performances have also cost him his status as favorite in the Republican nomination. But Wednesday night, the governor of Texas has hit the rock bottom. It was a great moment of solitude during a debate organized...

"Governor Rick Perry of Texas suffered one of the worst stumbles in American presidential debate history when he spent nearly a minute trying and failing to remember the name of a government department he had vowed to abolish....

Via Business Insider. A few choice quotes. Larry Sabato: To my memory, Perry’s forgetfulness is the most devastating moment of any modern primary debate. Rich Lowry: That might be the most uncomfortable moment I’ve ever witnessed in presidential politics. [.....] Update: CNN, live in the spin room: “I’m sure glad I had my boots on because I sure stepped in it out there.” Update: WaPo’s Aaron Blake tweets: “Top Perry fundraiser to me: ‘Perry campaign is over. Time for him to go home and refocus on being Gov of TX.’”

WINNERS * Mitt Romney: The former Massachusetts governor was on friendly territory tonight with an economic-themed debate set in the state where he was born. The crowd was very much on his side — cheering virtually anything he said. * Newt Gingrich: The former House speaker has happened onto a winning debate formula. He bashes the media at every turn, says the format of the debate is ridiculous and throws out red meat — fire Bernanke! — that gets the crowd on his side early on. With Cain’s problems and Perry’s brain freeze, Gingrich is likely to be the biggest...

ROCHESTER, Mich. – With under two months before the first votes are cast in the Republican presidential primary, the GOP candidates gathered for a debate in a state that has suffered gravely during the nation’s economic recession – but what stole the show were the varying fortunes of the two candidates that pose the biggest threat to Mitt Romney’s chances of securing the nomination: Herman Cain and Rick Perry. While the former has surged in the polls and continues to enjoy support despite new allegations of sexual harassment, the latter has plunged in recent months, even falling outside the top...

A good friend of mine (let's call him Bob) is convinced that unless the GOP puts abortion "aside as its focal point, it simply cannot win and regain power." That's especially interesting in light of Kathleen Parker's latest column, which disses the evangelical wing of the GOP. Bob's point is that "we've lost a majority of women over this issue as they have become one-issue voters." It's not only liberal women but also others who believe it's simply not the government's business. Kathleen Parker broadens the point considerably beyond abortion: "The evangelical, right-wing, oogedy-boogedy branch of the GOP is what...

We all know more than a few-- Dems who support 0. Reasoning makes them stubborn. Warning them angers, begging reassures them. But, there may yet be a way to breech the walls. Try this: "So you're voting for Obama?" "Oh yes, (blah blah blah)." "Well, he might win. That's too bad for Hillary." "Why so? " "Well you know, if Obama wins he'll probably get two terms, and then the pendulum will swing back. Or he might get booted after one, it's going to be a rough four years no matter who is in there. If Obama's fixed the economy,...

HOWDY FREEPERS!!!!!!!I wanted to take just a brief moment to talk about a disscusion with evolved on a state newpaper's message board from a letter to the editor that I wrote the other day regarding the elctions.The discussion focused on the selection of judges and how the Supreme Court works.This is something that has been discussed numerous times. Probably one of the main points is that a judges job is to interpet the Constitution, not legislate from the bunch.There were some in the discussion that got it and some that didn't. The focus was on the idea of replacing the...

Mayor Bloomberg will join a group of fed-up bipartisan bigwigs in Oklahoma next week to urge that our next President rise above partisan gridlock - giving Bloomberg a potential launching pad for a presidential bid. The two former senators who started the group told the Daily News that America needs a President to bring the country together - and if the Republicans or Democrats can't do it, they're prepared to back Bloomberg. "He's shown the ability to bring people together," said one of the hosts, former Sen. David Boren (D-Okla.), now president of the University of Oklahoma. "He brings to...

They are eerie sensations, more common than one might think: A man describes feeling a shadowy figure standing behind him, then turning around to find no one there. A woman feels herself leaving her body and floating in space, looking down on her corporeal self. Such experiences are often attributed by those who have them to paranormal forces. But according to recent work by neuroscientists, they can be induced by delivering mild electric current to specific spots in the brain. In one woman, for example, a zap to a brain region called the angular gyrus resulted in a sensation that...