Free Republic

Hours after a chaotic end to the 2015 legislative session, Gov. Mark Dayton said he wants to summon lawmakers back to the Capitol to fix an "insufficient" education funding bill. Dayton renewed his promise Tuesday to veto the $17 billion spending bill that had yet to cross his desk, noting it left out his top priority of universal preschool. That means lawmakers, who came within $25 million of a deal that didn't materialize before the end of the legislative session Monday, will have to come back to St. Paul in the coming weeks for a special session held somewhere other...

Just a year after increasing Minnesota's statewide minimum wage from one of the nation's lowest to one of the highest, DFL Gov. Mark Dayton is pushing for another hike. Dayton told a group visiting St. Paul for a Muslim American Society in Minnesota event that he believes the minimum wage for Twin Cities airport workers should become $10 an hour immediately. "I'm going to urge the Metropolitan Airports Commission myself to raise the minimum wage at the airport to $10 an hour, starting immediately, because they earned it, they deserve it, the airline industry can afford it," Dayton said. The...

everytime i See the name Ohama..in Print...i mistake it for obama could I be suffering from Severe Obama Fatigue?

I have wondered about Beck for a while, but loved his exposure of the communist network in the US. Since he left FOX...he seems to have changed...and the immediate disregard to the Bundy situation really made me sick. Beck didn't even give the guy the benefit of the doubt and touted the NYT version. I know he has risen to fame since 2001, ghost written several books, had rallies, etc....but to have a network, now? A base in NY....a major website (so buggy and full of cookies it puts me off). Does anyone else find this strange? And claims to...

LeBron James knows that what's in the best interest of the NBA is usually in his best interest, which probably is why he complied with the league's request to wear a clear mask to protect his broken nose Saturday night rather than the cooler-looking black one he wore Thursday. As long as it’s transparent," James said of the mask. "As long as they can see my face ... my opponents. Just as long as it’s not black."

Well, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, young people can stay on their parents' insurance until they are 26," said the first lady of the United States. "But once they hit 26 -- they're on their own. And a lot young people think they're invincible. But the truth is, young people are knuckleheads. They're the ones who are cooking for the first time and slice their finger open, they're dancing on the bar stool."

"But I have to confess, as I thought this morning about the President flanked on one side by Mickey Mouse [laughter], and on the other side by Goofy [laughter], resembling actually a sort of Cabinet picture of the Obama administration [laughter and applause], I just felt better about the idea."

Voters now know a thing or two about Harry Reid's type -- the Senate majority leader, speaking at a fundraiser Monday, reportedly called New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand "the hottest member," in front of a crowd that included the blond mother of two. Politico.com reported that the remark caused Gillibrand to blush and surprised those in the audience. Reid apparently was explaining that senators are known for "many things," but that Gillibrand has a reputation as a Capitol Hill hottie. ...

they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synaogues; Matt 23:6 Two years ago the Soviet State of Oregon had one of the first heretics burned at the stake of Global Warming. Our 16 yr State Climatologist George Taylor was forced to retire over his stand against the cult of GW. He spoke heresy when he said 2 yrs ago he wasn’t convinced there was a connection between industrial emissions and CO2 levels in the atmosphere. This of course was right after egore’s movie which the entire liberalstablishment was googly eyes for and...

To Risk To laugh is to risk appearing the fool. To weep is to risk appearing sentimental. To reach out is to risk involvement, To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self. To place your ideas and dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss. To love is to risk not being loved in return, To live is to risk dying, To hope is to risk despair, To try is to risk failure. But risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing,...

Tomorrow, Nickelodeon is beginning its celebration of the 10th anniversary of SpongeBob SquarePants -- that absorbent, yellow fellow who lives in a pineapple under the sea -- with "The Ultimate SpongeBob SpongeBash Weekend." As part of that celebration the network has proclaimed tomorrow, July 17th, the first Global Day of Happiness. And it seems that Durham Mayor Bill Bell is on board. He even signed a proclamation urging Durham residents to make special note of this observance. The proclamation reads that a day in honor of happiness is 'most appropriate due to the current affairs within our nation.' It says...

Take a listen to the following line from Obama's latest press conference: We all know that the President is fond of reading Trig-Truther-in-Chief Andrew Sullivan and the Huffington Post, but his advisors really should have told him that the "Africa is a country" claim was a hoax or a blatant lie. I think she's still inside his melon.

JERUSALEM (CNS) -- Daniel Rossing uses one word to sum up the extent of teaching about Christianity in Israeli public schools: none. "The answer is very simply no. Israeli students do not learn about Christianity in school," said Rossing, director of the independent Jerusalem Center for Jewish-Christian Relations. "All indications are that there is a very widespread ignorance with regard to Catholicism in general and in particular in regard to the revolutionary changes which have taken place in the Catholic Church regarding Judaism and the Jewish people," said Rossing, who is an Orthodox Jew. Rossing is considered an expert in...

Most reports to local police departments are standard fare: car break-ins, residential burglaries and suspicious behavior. But occasionally, these reports — some of which we feature in our "On record" blotter in the Local section — cross the line into the absurd. Here are a few from 2008 that made us laugh out loud, raise our eyebrows or shake our heads. Suspicious activity: A man reported July 16 that someone entered his home in Blaine and taped a sink nozzle so that it would spray him when he turned on the water. Loud music: An Oakdale man called 911 about...

December 12, 2008 Obama's "natural born" problem By David Huntwork By now you are probably aware that there have been a multitude of lawsuits filed in regards to the question of whether or not President-elect Barack Obama is in fact eligible under the "natural born" provision of the Constitution of the United States of America to be the President of the United States (POTUS). The Constitutional provisions are very specific when it comes to the minimal qualifications for President. One is to be over thirty-five. He is. Two, is being in the country fourteen years. He has been. Three, is...

LAS VEGAS - Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton welcomed her traveling press corps aboard her campaign plane Wednesday with a humorous riff on the standard flight attendant speech familiar to commercial air travelers. “Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, and welcome aboard the maiden flight of Hill Force One,” Clinton said over the plane’s intercom as it taxied down the runway en route to Reno, Nev.

Manufacturers are hoping their range of cuddly toy versions of microbes including gonorrhea and syphilis will be a hit for Christmas.

Political observers are falling over themselves trying to determine the cladistics of a newly-emergent population of political animal, the Rudy booster. This appears to be the first new species of Republican to emerge in over two decades in the Family Republicanae (the last being Conservatisi reagani), and displays a particularly odd range of behaviors that call into question the long-term political viability of the new species, as well as that of Republicanae in general if they assume a position of dominance. Some observers have proposed classifying the new population as a subspecies of Rinous rockefelleri, whereas others have made a...

MILAN (Reuters) - Milan's fashion designers, having put up the for sale signs on winter collections, launched their ideas on Sunday for what men should be wearing next autumn -- and Dolce & Gabbana said it would be space-age glitter. Nobel literature laureate Dario Fo may have lamented last week that catwalk shows are boring but Dolce & Gabbana's, themed on the film "2001 -- A Space Odyssey," won audience applause and "overwhelmed" Jake Shears of glam rock band the Scissor Sisters. Models in space-suit style zip-heavy jumpsuits in whites and metallic colours strode down the catwalk, watched by over...