Free Republic

Why Sandy Has Meteorologists Scared in 4 ImagesShe's huge. She's strong and might get stronger. She's strange. She's directing the might of her storm surge right at New York City. Hurricane Sandy has already caused her first damage in New York: the subway system will be shut as of 7pm tonight. Meteorologists are scared, so city planners are scared.       * * * * * * * * * * Dr. Ryan Maue, a meteorologist at WeatherBELL, put out this animated GIF of the storm's approach yesterday. "This is unprecedented --absolutely stunning upper-level configuration pinwheeling #Sandy on-shore...

CREWS: Homosexuals in the military demand special privileges Toleration doesn’t cut both waysThe American armed forces exist to defend our nation, not to conduct social science lab experiments in which our troops serve as human subjects. Try telling that to this administration. The first anniversary of the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Sept. 20, has come and gone. Now, there is mounting evidence that proves our warnings were not idle chatter. The threat to freedom posed by this radical sexual experiment on our military is real: It is grave and it is growing. Activists inside and outside our...

Muslim Influence in Pentagon Prevails; Material on Radical Islam "Purged,” Outstanding Army Officer "Disciplined," TMLC Enters Case ANN ARBOR, MI – The Thomas More Law Center announced today that it is representing U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Dooley, a 1994 Graduate of the U. S. Military Academy at West Point.  In April 2012, LTC Dooley, a highly decorated combat veteran, was publicly condemned by General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and relieved of his teaching assignment because of the negative way Islam was portrayed in an elective course entitled, Perspectives on Islam and Islamic Radicalism. ...

Greetings to our Constituents, fellow Floridians, and indeed all Americans, It is early Sunday morning on July 1st, and I am reflecting on the astonishing events of the last week.  For me, the events center on a simple theme of individual freedom and sovereignty. On a beautiful Saturday morning, just yesterday, I gathered with almost 500 Americans, 300 of whom were about to participate in the First Annual US Navy SEAL Aaron Vaughn Memorial Frogman Swim. Aaron gave his life in service to this country as one of the Navy SEALs killed in the Chinook helicopter shot down in Afghanistan...

How the Wild West REALLY looked: Gorgeous sepia-tinted pictures show the landscape as it was charted for the very first timeBy Rob Cooper PUBLISHED: 09:11 EST, 25 May 2012 | UPDATED: 13:39 EST, 25 May 2012 These remarkable 19th century sepia-tinted pictures show the American West as you have never seen it before - as it was charted for the first time. The photos, by Timothy O'Sullivan, are the first ever taken of the rocky and barren landscape. At the time federal government officials were travelling across Arizona, Nevada, Utah and the rest of the west as they sought...

One dead, seven injured in Eaton Centre shooting One person is dead and seven injured after gunfire broke out in the Eaton Centre food court around 6:30 p.m. Saturday. Police say one of the victims is in life threatening condition and two are in critical condition. The other victims are said to have injuries related to trampling and pushing. One of the victims is said to be a 13-year-old. The interior search for the shooting suspect has ended and the suspect remains at large, said Const. Victor Kwong. Police are currently interviewing witnesses and reviewing security camera footage. The...

When presidents were military men Article by: John Nagl , Special to the Washington Post | Updated: May 25, 2012 - 11:52 AMIn every presidential election since 1992, the candidate with the less distinguished military resume has triumphed. Bill Clinton defeated war heroes George H.W. Bush and Bob Dole; National Guard pilot George W. Bush beat Vietnam veterans Al Gore and John Kerry; and Barack Obama was decisively elected over John McCain, who had displayed extraordinary valor during years of captivity as a Navy pilot in North Vietnam. In 2012, we won't have the chance to test this trend:...

SPY GAMES: Google Drive terms of service 'let US authorities raid your cloud'By Claire Connelly, Technology Reporter | April 30, 2012 10:53AM Terms of service "destroy expectation of privacy" US authorities could view cloud files without warrant Australian law is "all but irrelevant" THE terms of service of Google's new cloud service "Drive" could allow US law enforcement agencies to access your data, without your knowledge and without the need for a warrant. Or so says the inventor of one of the first cloud computing services, TrendMicro cloud evangelist, David Asprey. Mr Asprey told news.com.au that the terms of...

ATF's mysterious grenade smuggler case: new photos, documents turned over to Congress Evidence photos just turned over to Congress under subpoena show a frightening stash of grenade parts, fuse assemblies and more than 2,000 rounds of ammunition. It was all hidden in a spare tire of an SUV crossing from the US to Mexico in 2010. The accused smuggler, an alleged drug cartel arms dealer named Jean Baptise Kingery, was questioned by agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) but released. Documents handed over to Congress by the Justice Department shed new light on missteps in the...

Biometrics at border crossings huge hurdle for CIA spies By Defense Systems Staff | Apr 12, 2012 The use of iris scanners and biometric passports at airports, hotels and business headquarters around the globe is making it difficult for CIA spies and secret agents in other nations to travel under false identities, reports Jeff Stein at Wired's Danger Room blog. Throughout Europe, the Middle East and parts of Asia, governments are using iris scanners at entry points to link travelers' eyeballs to a particular name, the blog says. At the same time, biometric passports, which are embedded with microchips...

Announcement of sale of newspapers, website expected MondayBy Mike Armstrong, Inquirer Staff WriterThe sale of The Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com will likely be announced Monday, according to several sources. A local investor group has spent much of the last two months negotiating to acquire PMN from its hedge-fund owners in a transaction valued at $55 million to $60 million, according to multiple reports. With paperwork still to be signed, delays are always possible at the 11th hour. The buyers of Philadelphia Media Network Inc. are a group of local investors, led by George E. Norcross III, executive...

The RNC shoots itself in the mouth Opponents of the Affordable Care Act and the Obama Administration really could not have had a better week. They did a tremendous job framing their constitutional argument against the statute to the public, the lawyers on their side were brilliant, and it appears that they had a receptive Supreme Court majority. It was an eleven on a scale of one to ten. Now this. The RNC released an advertisement (embedded in the story linked below) with audio from the halting beginning to Don Verrilli’s oral argument on the individual mandate to make...

Sharyl Attkisson tweeted the following this afternoon: Family of Border Patrol Agent Brain Terry issues statement about reports of lack of coordination among feds: "The Terry Family, like most of America, is sickened to read the latest revelations relating to ATF's error-plagued..." "...and misguided Fast and Furious Investigation. It is beyond our comprehension that U.S. federal law..." "...enforcement agencies were not talking with one another. American citizens deserve better..." "...from their public servants; the FBI, DEA, ATF and U.S. Attorney personnel in Arizona should have been.. "..coordinating their investigative and prosecutorial efforts. This coordination should have started and.." "..continued with...

Magnetic field researchers target Hundred-Tesla goal The 1,200-megajoule motor generator that powers the magnetic pulse.     ==> Previous world record shattered during six-experiment pulseLOS ALAMOS, New Mexico, March 22, 2012—Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory’s biggest magnet facility today met the grand challenge of producing magnetic fields in excess of 100 tesla while conducting six different experiments. The hundred-tesla level is roughly equivalent to 2 million times Earth’s magnetic field.“This is our moon shot, we’ve worked toward this for a decade and a half,” said Chuck Mielke, director of the Pulsed Field Facility at Los Alamos.The team used...

Why Mitt Romney Will Lose To Obamaby Chris Freind 16 March, 2012Being in the media, I have no friends, as it should be.  If I did, however, 3 of 10 Republicans would surely take offense to this column, since it points out what is increasingly obvious to everyone but Mitt Romney’s 30 percent base of support: Mitt won’t beat Barack Obama. Should Romney become the GOP nominee --- likely, but not certain --- he will have a difficult time unseating the President.  Can he win? Given the stagnant economy, high unemployment, and skyrocketing gas prices, yes.  But will he?...

11-Year-Old Girl Killed in NJ School Bus Crash The dump truck had the right of way, police say. An elementary school student died, and several of her classmates were hurt, when a school bus and dump truck collided in Chesterfield, N.J. Thursday morning, according to authorities. The violent crash happened at Bordentown-Chesterfield Road (County Route 528) and Old York Road in Chesterfield, N.J. a little before 8:20 a.m., according to authorities. The school bus was driving students to Chesterfield Elementary School. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ There was a total of 25 children on the bus, Kindergarten-age through...

Deputy Says He Shot 'Irrational' Marine to Protect Kids in Car 15-year veteran of Sheriff's Department says Sgt. Manny Loggins was about to drive away, so he opened fire to prevent a perceived danger to Loggins' daughters. One other deputy was nearby at the time. The deputy who shot and killed an unarmed Marine sergeant after a predawn traffic stop said the Marine was acting so "irrationally" that it seemed dangerous to let him drive away with his two daughters, an official said Friday. So when the Marine -- later identified as Sgt. Manny Loggins Jr. of Camp Pendleton...

Exemption in disclosure law shields Penn State probe from publicWednesday, November 30, 2011 By Bill Schackner, Pittsburgh Post-GazetteScandals are many things, but they are not cheap. As Penn State University hires big-name law firms and image consultants, girds for costly lawsuits and settles up with campus leaders who resigned or were fired, the public is left to wonder: What will a decade's silence in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse case ultimately cost Pennsylvania's largest public university, and by extension, its students and the taxpayers? The question may never be answered because Penn State doesn't have to tell. An...

Pocket Spies 17 November 2011 We know the Internet has dangers. Everything we put onto the information superhighway should be considered chiseled into marble. Meanwhile, those smartphones that so many of us carry are tantamount to carrying hostile spies in our pockets. If the battery is charged and in the phone, the phone is a homing beacon whether it’s on or off. Now add services such as Facebook, and those excellent phone cameras with geotagging, and there is a combination for disaster. This has relevancy for our troops in Afghanistan. During certain missions, I would not even take my...

ATF legal counsel had "moral objections" to gunwalking By: Sharyl Attkisson November 3, 2011 5:18 PMWASHINGTON - An ATF attorney raised "moral objections" to a plan to provide criminals with firearms "to be released into the community, and possibly into Mexico, without any further ability by the U.S. Government to control their movement or future use." That's according to a memo written to the U.S. Attorney in Arizona in July of 2006. Yet ATF went ahead with the so-called "gunwalking," in its operation "Wide Receiver," and later in "Fast and Furious" and numerous other cases. Gunwalking refers to a...