Free Republic

A heckler who got into a heated exchange with Bristol Palin at a Southern California bar and restaurant last week has apologized for the incident. Palin had just finished riding a mechanical bull at the Saddle Ranch & Chop House when Stephen Hanks shouted, "Do you ride Levi like that? Your mother's a whore." (snip) "Having had an opportunity to view the camera footage of the incident this past Thursday ... , I have come to the conclusion that no matter what my feelings are towards Sarah Palin, I should not have expressed them towards her daughter, Bristol Palin," Hanks...

A group of American military officers and Afghan officials had just finished a five-hour meeting with their Pakistani hosts in a village schoolhouse settling a border dispute when they were ambushed — by the Pakistanis. An American major was killed and three American officers were wounded, along with their Afghan interpreter, in what fresh accounts from the Afghan and American officers who were there reveal was a complex, calculated assault by a nominal ally. The Pakistanis opened fire on the Americans, who returned fire before escaping in a blood-soaked Black Hawk helicopter. The attack, in Teri Mangal on May 14,...

Joe McGinniss, author of Random House would-be blockbuster The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin, has confirmed the authenticity of the e-mail posted by Andrew Breitbart earlier today, which suggests that the book may have included allegations that McGinniss was aware he had not substantiated.

Bold farmers in Indonesia routinely ignore orders to evacuate the slopes of live volcanoes, but those living on Tambora took no chances when history's deadliest mountain rumbled ominously this month. Villagers like Hasanuddin Sanusi have heard since they were young how the mountain they call home once blew apart in the largest eruption ever recorded — an 1815 event widely forgotten outside their region — killing 90,000 people and blackening skies on the other side of the globe.

Are you an unhinged billionaire? Are you a sucker for impulse buys? Do you sit around wondering if the fellow née Nicolas Kim Coppola is an immortal Confederate soldier who feasts on human blood? Then have I got an eBay purchase for you, pilgrim! Behold this recent auction titled "Nicolas Cage is a Vampire / Photo from 1870 / Tennessee":

<p>"This is a man who has been relentlessly stalking my family to the point of moving in right next door to us to harass us and spy on us. He traffics in innuendo and falsehoods. A few years ago he interviewed members of Sarah's administration for a magazine article, and afterwards they said that he was the most disingenuous and intellectual dishonest writer they'd ever dealt with. He's spent the last year interviewing marginal figures with an axe to grind in order to churn out a hit piece to satisfy his own creepy obsession with my wife. I'd ask that people consider these facts when evaluating his latest lies."</p>

The Naked Politics blog is repeating the “reporting” of the National Enquirer about Sarah Palin having an affair with former Miami Heat basketball player Glenn Rice. It is on the FRONT PAGE of The Herald website. So as a journalist, I ask: Do we know this story to be TRUE? Are we certain it is TRUE because we’ve done the work or have a reasonable certainty that is TRUE? Did anyone actually try to confirm this story before giving it Herald front page credibility? Did anyone call Glenn Rice to get independent confirmation? He lives in Miami, you know. Is...

This is a man who has been relentlessly stalking my family to the point of moving in right next door to us to harass us and spy on us to satisfy his creepy obsession with my wife. His book is full of disgusting lies, innuendo, and smears. Even The New York Times called this book ‘dated, petty,’ and that it ‘chases caustic, unsubstantiated gossip.’

They’ve been accused of rampant thievery, spending billions of dollars like drunken sailors, groping children and little old ladies, and making everyone take off their shoes. But the real job of the tens of thousands of screeners at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is to protect Americans from a terrorist attack. Yet a decade after the TSA was created following the September 11 attacks, the author of the legislation that established the massive agency grades its performance at “D-.” “The whole program has been hijacked by bureaucrats,” said Rep. John Mica (R. -Fla.), chairman of the House Transportation Committee. “It...

A Gettysburg couple is being sued for keeping a cluttered stairway that caused a police officer to trip and become injured. Ronald and Tammy Carstetter are being sued for failing to keep their stairway clean, inspect their stairway for debris, and warn guests of tripping hazards on the stairway inside their home at 250 E. Middle Street. In October of last year, Sgt. Kevin Wilson of the Gettysburg Police Department responded to complaints about a domestic situation occurring in the home. Ronald's daughter, April Carstetter, said she was having an argument with her stepmother Tammy at that time and called...

Two bison trapped at a Pennsyvania zoo were shot to spare them from drowning in rapidly rising floodwaters. Officials at Hersheypark's ZooAmerica defended the decision as the most humane choice, though critics blasted it. The one-ton animals were trapped in their pen as waters surged from Tropical Storm Lee. Zookeepers could not evacuate them, though they managed to save other animals. "Unfortunately, no one could anticipate a weather event that went from inches of rain to feet of flooding in a matter of a few short minutes," the zoo said in its statement. "Faced with the prospect of watching the...

When, at the outset of the unrest that would eventually lead to his downfall, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi asserted that al-Qaeda was behind the challenge to his regime, Western commentators treated his claims with widespread derision and dismissed them out of hand. If it was not already clear from earlier revelations about al-Qaeda-linked rebels, it is now unmistakably clear that such derision was misplaced. The commander of the rebel forces that have taken control of Tripoli is none other than Abdul-Hakim Belhadj, the historical leader of Libya's al-Qaeda affiliate, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG). As MEMRI, the Middle East...

The Navy has fired another commanding officer, the 18th this year, surpassing last year’s mark of 17 with slightly less than four months left to go. Cmdr. Mark Olson of USS The Sullivans was relieved of his command due to a loss of confidence in his abilities following an Admiral’s Mast on Wednesday, according to a Navy news release. Vice Adm. Daniel Holloway, commander of U.S. 2nd Fleet, made the decision after close examination of an incident that occurred Aug. 17 during a gunnery exercise in the Cherry Point Operating Area range, the release said. Navy officials said inert rounds...

The new super PAC backing Rick Perry has drawn up plans to spend $55 million as part of an ambitious campaign strategy aimed at blowing away the Texas governor's rivals in early primary states and securing him the Republican nomination by next spring, according to internal committee documents obtained by NBC News. The documents underscore the central role that such super PACs — or super political action committees unconstrained by any limits on how much they can collect from wealthy donors and corporations — will play in the 2012 presidential election. They also show that the strategists behind the new...

In what could be a way of lowering expectations for next Thursday's big economic speech, aides to President Obama are privately spreading word that he will not present his entire jobs plan in his address to a Joint Session of Congress. Aides say Thursday's speech will be part of a bigger plan the White House will roll out throughout the fall with the president hitting the road for speeches and town hall appearances. Aides have already confirmed that Obama will be traveling to California, Colorado, and Washington state for one three-day swing later this month that will include economic events...

The Department of Energy has removed from the public eye the total cost of renewable energy projects backed by billions of dollars in federal loans, in response to requests from recipients. The loan guarantee program, which has come under fire by a Republican- controlled Congress, has committed more than $30 billion to 42 renewable energy projects since 2009, when the federal stimulus bill allocated capital for this purpose. Each project is listed in detail on the DOE's website, but the costs were recently taken down. (snip) "We are committed to providing the public with as much information as we can,...

It's a surprise, at first, how comfortable Command Sgt. Maj. Jeffrey Mellinger and his boss, Gen. Ann Dunwoody, seem talking with each other in her office. But the respect between the soldiers is quickly obvious. And just as obvious is that the four-star leader of the Army Materiel Command is going to miss her top sergeant. Mellinger was drafted into the Army on April 18, 1972, and is believed to be the Army's last continuously serving enlisted draftee. After nearly 40 years in uniform, he is retiring this year. In a Change of Responsibility ceremony this morning at AMC's new...

<p>Rick Perry’s campaign for Texas governor last year criticized his GOP primary opponent’s ties to a lobbyist caught on film apparently suggesting he could secure meetings for a deposed Central Asian politician with top Bush administration officials in exchange for a $200,000 donation to the Bush library.</p>

Per Ben Smith at Politico: @benpolitico Ben Smith Perry said just now, per WHO Radio’s ag reporter, that he supports a “safety net” of subsidies or tax breaks...for corn farmers. 38 minutes ago via UberSocial for BlackBerry

Thank you and good evening. It is a great honor to be in the presence of the Imam of 16 million Muslims around the world, a global humanitarian leader, a man of peace with a pluralistic vision for people around the world, His Highness, the Aga Khan, the 49th Hereditary Imam of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims. Your Highness, on behalf of 23 million Texans, and over 600,000 thousand Muslims living in Texas, I extend our heartfelt appreciation for your 50 years of great international leadership. We are delighted to welcome you to the Lone Star State and participate in...