Free Republic

Not being a great meat-eater, I’ve always been intrigued by the Italian-American tradition of the ‘Feast of the Seven Fishes’ - the Christmas Eve dinner consisting of seven different fish dishes. I like seafood very much, but have had a hard time coming up with my ‘dream meal of seven’. One thing I’ve always wanted to try are Portuguese Codfish Balls (Bolinhos de Bacalhau), which I believe I first saw in an episode of the ‘Two Fat Ladies’. These seem to be usually made from rehydrated salt cod (the dried cod can be found in ethnic stores as well as...

CWBChicago is posting the complete Chicago Police Department investigative file on the Jussie Smollett "hate crime" investigation that we have received in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. We have not read or reviewed the files for completeness or accuracy. These files were provided by the Chicago Police Department in response to a FOIA request that CWBChicago submitted upon learning that the Cook County State's Attorney's Office had reached a sealed agreement to resolve Smollett's criminal exposure in the case. Our requests for video, including bodycam, surveillance, and interrogation, was denied.

As Army Football’s most disappointed fan, I vowed last year to ditch tomorrow’s annual faceoff against Navy – until a few months ago, when the squids had me sleep with the enemy and then shot me off an aircraft carrier. Let me explain. I don’t dislike football. But it doesn’t excite me the way, say, driving a tank or nearly crash landing into the Blackwater compound does (both of which I have done). I am obsessed, though, with the Army-Navy game. Maybe it’s because the teams embody sport in starkly military terms; or maybe it’s the cool uniforms. Who knows....

Federal regulators slapped a six-month ban on most cod fishing off New England this week and are threatening to cut next year’s catch by up to 75 percent, in a move some say will destroy the livelihoods of fishermen across the region. ... NOAA announced several measures, including the ban which expands no-fishing zones, on Monday. But fishermen whose livelihoods rely on catching cod, as well as the coastal communities that depend on money coming in from that industry, worry the new regulations will devastate them.

In May, New England's fishermen will again see a cut to the number of fish they can catch, this time so deeply that the historic industry's existence is threatened from Rhode Island to Maine. But as hard as the cuts are likely to hit fishing communities, local seafood eaters may not notice at all. In the region's markets, grocery stores and restaurants, imported fish dominate, and the cuts make that less likely to change. The cuts will shrink the catch limit 77 percent for cod in the Gulf of Maine and 61 percent for cod in Georges Bank, off southeastern...

New England lawmakers are asking the U.S. Commerce Secretary for an emergency assessment of the abundance of cod in the Gulf of Maine. ... The six lawmakers also are asking Bryson to freeze the cod catch limit at its current level until the study is complete. Fishermen are facing devastating cuts in cod catch next year

Link only - Tea party activists seeing red over Delaware's green initiatives

Well. We've just seen, the fruits of our corrupt, lame, spineless and wimpy "Republicans" idea of how to deal with democrats: Surrender. Abject surrender. How deeply disappointing this month has been.

Karl Rove appeared on the Scott Hennen Show this afternoon and got asked a question by a listener about the Delaware Senate race and Christine O’Donnell’s claims that he conspired with Mike Castle to undermine her campaign. O’Donnell also claimed that Rove was trying to avoid her. Rove’s response? He said that O’Donnell wasn’t telling the truth. He said that he didn’t endorse Castle, that he actually endorsed O’Donnell, and that he hasn’t been trying to endorse her. Though, Rove also admits that when asked he said that O’Donnell didn’t give Republicans their best chance to win the Senate race...

OK Michael Steele has started to act the part recently. But Mike. It's not a tenured position.

A few hours ago Christine was trading @ $7 / share on intrade. Now she's up to $15 / share. Biggest jump (more than 100%) on any political race/outcome on intrade today, thus far.

Delaware Republican Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell 's campaign has responded to our story earlier today about her 2007 Halloween one-night stand . "I am not a witch," it begins. Just kidding! The statement, which was posted to O'Donnell's Facebook page, is below.

The author sounds vindictive and mean-spirited who the reader feels has lost his way in life. Everyone knows that boys don’t kiss and tell, and here we have this clod barking as if he is a Philadelphia Phillies fan heckling the San Francisco Giant’s right fielder. As readers we become simultaneously angry about his callous disparagement of women and sorry for whatever is torturing his psyche. You can read an avalanche of reactions to the Christine O’Donnell one night stand claims here and here and satirically here. So who is this fellow who wrote it? That is a less interesting...

Christine O’Donnell, who, judging by the polls, is not long for this political world, did an interview with the Christian Broadcast Network in which she reflected on God (“God is the reason that I’m running”), being a conservative woman (“they wouldn’t do the things that they’re doing if I weren’t a woman”), and her time on the cable TV circuit circa the late nineties. It’s hard to say at this point whether Bill Maher’s relentless mocking of Christine O’Donnell has helped or hurt her. On the one hand she has been the subject of much not-so-nice criticism and the butt...

If months of fighting uphill have worn on Christine O’Donnell, it doesn’t show: the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate recently waded into a crowd of supporters at Fisherman’s Wharf in Lewes all smiles, bright and effervescent. The people waiting for her are more than supporters – they’re fans, nearly every one clad in the powder-blue campaign T-shirt. They lean in close when they talk, speaking in hushed, reverent tones. One presents a copy of Peter Lillback’s “George Washington’s Sacred Fire,” a 1,200-page doorstop about Washington’s Christian faith. O’Donnell is a political outsider, she said, and her supporters are outsiders, too,...

In a recent interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, Christine O'Donnell listed both God and Gloria Steinem as sources of inspiration and influence when times get tough on the campaign trail. The interview was conducted by CBN's The Brody File on Friday at Wesley College in Dover, Delaware and is posted on CBN's website. O'Donnell cited a double standard she believes is being applied to women, specifically conservative women who choose to run for office. "I don't feel it because I don't watch the news. (Laughs) No. I do feel it. There's certainly a double standard and I don't often...

So. The most recent poll released for Delaware last weekend (Rasmussen on the 14th) - showed Christine O'Donnell apparently surging almost 10%. All polling then, stopped.

She said in an interview with The Associated Press that she filed the amended disclosure after her attorney realized the error. Candidates are required to list account values only in broad ranges, and O'Donnell said hers is worth between $1,000 and $15,000. "It's not a lot of savings, but the reality is that a lot of people are hurting in this economy," she said. O'Donnell, who is running against Democrat Chris Coons, maintains that her personal struggles help her understand the urgency of fixing the economy. She said she gave up most of her freelance public relations work during a...

On ABC's "This Week," Meghan McCain called Delaware GOP Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell a "nutjob." Christine O'Donnell's campaign just emailed me the following response from campaign manager Matthew Moran: Christine overwhelmingly won her primary battle against the establishment candidate, so Ms. McCain's vast experience in politics and running for office probably won't influence many Delawareans of any age to listen to her latest rant. Her parents are truly a class act, and am certain they brought her up to be more respectful of a possible future colleague. As Christine rises in the polls, and repairs the damage done by the...

NYT columnist Maureen Dowd's support for women and equality in politics ends -- when the women are Republicans! Dowd has filed her nails and filed her Sunday column, newsroom sources tell the DRUDGE REPORT, and the fur is set to fly against "Republican Mean Girls." "Jan, Meg, Carly, Sharron, Linda, Michele, Queen Bee Sarah and sweet wannabe Christine -- have co-opted and ratcheted up the disgust with the status quo that originally buoyed Barack Obama," writes Dowd. "Whether they're mistreating the help or belittling the president's manhood, making snide comments about a rival's hair or ripping an opponent for spending...