Free Republic

As I sit here looking out over the back yard, I see at least 40 robins that are migrating north en masse. I suppose they are telling us something. It seems that the winter of 2017 will never happen. The robins are moving north in January to get an early start on spring. Down the street on severely sloping ground, a neighbor years ago planted some crocus bulbs. The plant found it's desired habitat and has spread all over. There are hundreds and hundreds of the pale lavender flowers now. They began to bloom early last week and are now...

The Ivanpah solar plant in Southern California killed 6,185 birds in 2015. That includes burning about 1,145 birds with the intense heat coming off its many mirrored heliostat panels, according to a recent report on the government-backed solar project. An audit of how many birds and bats Ivanpah kills every year found “there were an estimated 2500 fatalities from known causes and 3686 fatalities from unknown causes” last year. Of the known fatalities, nearly 46 percent were killed by the intense, concentrated heat used to generate electricity. Western EcoSystems Technology, the firm auditing Ivanpah, estimated about 1,145 dead birds have...

American photojournalists and their editors are frustrated that they can't show more photos of U.S. soldiers dying in Iraq, saying that the nation isn't getting an accurate picture of the horrors of war. In a comprehensive report on Saturday, the Los Angeles Times noted: "A review of six prominent U.S. newspapers and the nation's two most popular newsmagazines during a recent six-month period found almost no pictures from the war zone of Americans killed in action." The paper explained: "Many photographers and editors believe they are delivering Americans an incomplete portrait of the violence that has killed 1,797 U.S. service...

Have you noticed the typical mainstream media and their handling of the Swift Boat affair? Chris Matthews has Max Cleland on his show. Now what the heck does Max know about the SwiftVets? NOTHING! Then he has Willie Brown and Michelle Maulkin on together. Matthews slimes Maulkin and doesn't let her talk at all, but a stop watch to it if you don't believe me. He let's Willie run his mouth uninterrupted. Willie doesn't know anything about the SwiftVets or Kerry's lies, neither does Michell at this point in time, however, this woman is a tremendous researcher and she will...

OXFORD - Oxonians are accustomed to hosting eclectic groups of visitors who come to sample its small-town charm. They're even tolerant of quirky antics, like leaving bottles of bourbon on the grave of author William Faulkner. Even the most gracious hosts, though, are glad to start the New Year without one particularly obnoxious group of visitors. Some 150 buzzards roosted for about six weeks near St. Peter's Cemetery before they finally succumbed to attempts to make them feel unwelcome. "We had them for about six weeks, and they got rid of them the week of Christmas," said Jane Broome, who...