Free Republic

Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, apologized for his critical comments of Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, that were posted online Tuesday by a Republican research group. Speaking at a fundraiser, Braley, who is running for the Hawkeye State’s open Senate seat, said the Senate could end up with “a farmer from Iowa who never went to law school, never practiced law, serving as the next chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee,” before identifying that person as Grassley. “I apologize to Senator Grassley and anyone I may have offended,” Braley said in a statement released a couple of hours after the video...

Iowa Rep. Bruce Braley, a Democrat running for Senate, was caught on videotape disparaging fellow Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley as “a farmer from Iowa who never went to law school” — comments that later drew an apology from the candidate. The video, posted online Tuesday afternoon by GOP opposition research firm America Rising, shows Braley speaking to what the group described as a group of lawyers at a fundraiser in Texas. “If you help me win this race, you may have someone with your background, your experience, your voice — someone who’s been literally fighting tort reform for 30 years...

Jackass-style shark stunt goes horribly wrong It was a Jackass-style stunt that nearly turned around and bit Australian adrenalin junkie Shaun Harrington – or rather mauled him. Harrington, 27, and fellow forever-clowning twin brother Dean decided to go “cage diving” with sharks off the Gold Coast, which is Australia’s answer to Miami, last weekend for an extreme video shoot for their surfing and fishing clothing label, fittingly called The Mad Hueys. But the cage wasn’t the jaws-proof reinforced steel type typically used by shark divers – it was a flimsy $50 bird cage Shaun planned to put on his...

President Obama wanted to go in himself and fix glitches that have plagued HealthCare.gov since its rollout last month, he told a crowd Friday at the Port of New Orleans, "but," he added, "I don't write code." The president couldn't ignore altogether lingering dissatisfaction with the botched health insurance exchanges, despite that the crux of the speech was intended to move back on the offensive with other aspects of his second-term agenda - specifically, job growth through investments in infrastructure and increasing U.S. exports.

Afghanistan has some of the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the world, and a high concentration of donkeys. Enter the maternity saddle -- a new invention that promises to carry women in labor across Afghanistan's difficult terrain so they can get the medical care they need. The British charity HealthProm and designer Peter Muckle developed the inflatable donkey saddle to ease the burden on women about to give birth in remote areas of Afghanistan. The lack of suitable transport in mountainous areas leads many pregnant women to opt against heading to health centers in favor of giving birth...

As Congress continues to debate the authorization of use of force against the Assad regime, President Obama addresses the nation from the White House on the situation in Syria.

Ex-congressman Jackson is eligible to receive $8,700 dollars per month in disability pay due to his bipolar condition and could receive a partial federal pension of $45,000 per year once he reaches 65. While on the city council, Sandi Jackson had automatic pension contributions of more than $50,000 withdrawn from her pay, even though she chose not to be a member of the city pension fund.

Dennis Rodman wants a Nobel Peace Prize for his NBA diplomacy Dennis Rodman sat down with Sports Illustrated’s Franz Lidz to talk about his controversial trip to North Korea, saying that his efforts in world diplomacy should be enough to earn him a Nobel Peace Prize. “My mission is to break the ice between hostile countries,” he said. “Why it’s been left to me to smooth things over, I don’t know. Dennis Rodman, of all people. Keeping us safe is really not my job; it’s the black guy’s [Obama’s] job. But I’ll tell you this: If I don’t finish in...

c. 1940s: Military donkey ride

Belgian police have demanded that Lola, a theatre-starring donkey, be removed from the balcony of a cultural centre in Brussels after neighbours complained about her braying.Lola is staying on the first-floor balcony while she performs in a play at the Arab Cultural Centre, located in the same building in the Belgian capital. But police ordered Lola's keeper to move her indoors after receiving complaints about the donkey making too much noise. Despite the police demands, Lola was still outside on Friday, and the director of the cultural centre was berating her neighbours for interfering.

Sweden really is annoying. We've made both Germany and Russia look like fools on battle fields. We haven't experienced war for two centuries by now, but we're prepared for the next one. We once were poor, but today, we enjoy a standard of living that clearly is better than that of the average American or any other country on Earth for that sake. Few Americans could afford a car like the Volvo V70 (best selling car in Sweden) and only a small percentage of the American population own second homes (very common in Sweden). Furthermore, my Sweden is more technologically...

Shooter takes VP Joe Biden’s advice — and lands in trouble with cops Vice President Joseph R. Biden told a Field & Stream reporter in a published report on Monday that if “you want to keep someone away from your house, just fire the shotgun through the door.” That same day, a 22-year-old man in Virginia Beach, Va., did just that — and was charged with reckless handling of a firearm. WAVY 10 reported that the man was in his bedroom when two armed masked men leaned through the window and warned him to close the bedroom door. The 22-year-old...

New Delhi/Washington: India has sharply rejected that it "financed problems" in Afghanistan to create trouble for Pakistan, as alleged by Chuck Hagel, President Barack Obama's Defence Secretary nominee. Despite the controversy, the US Senate on Tuesday cleared the way for confirmation of Mr Hagel to be the US' next Defense Secretary. The confirmation is expected later in the day. "Senator Hagel's remarks are in sharp contrast to the viewpoint of the Obama Administration that has always been in praise of India's developmental role in Afghanistan and in fact has been pressing New Delhi to do more in Afghanistan," a statement...

Chris Matthews featured her as a "rising star," someone who with more seasoning might someday entertain a presidential run. But newly-elected Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane came across as more of a not-ready-for-prime-time-deer-in-the-headlights. Appearing on today's Hardball, Kane came out with this mind-boggler: "I think the people of Pennsylvania would accept a limit on the amount of clips. You know, I believe and I think a lot of people feel the same way that you don't have a right to go into a classroom and take down a class of children in under a minute." Really going out on a...

...Obama’s greatest adversary in the latest budget battle isn’t the Republican leadership in Congress — it’s his confidence in his own ability to force a win. He has been so certain of his campaign skills that he didn’t open a line of communication with House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell until Thursday, a week before the spending ax hits. And when they did finally hear from Obama, the calls were perfunctory, with no request to step up negotiations or invitations to the White House. ...In the last two days alone, he’s courted local TV anchors, called...

Calif. mayor charged for drunken fit over milkshake, report says (CBS) ATWATER, Calif. - Craig Mooneyham, who was filling in as mayor of Atwater, Calif., is accused of throwing a drunken fit over a $7 milkshake, CBS Sacramento reports. According to the station, witnesses say the mayor was so mad about having to pay $7 for a banana milkshake, he started cursing and nearly got into a fight. "He was just throwing the f-bombs and pretty much everything else," Liliana Gracian, an employee of Fosters Freeze, a fast-food chain, told the station. Mooneyham reportedly swore he was overcharged for extra...

**SNIP** To set this up, an executive of the fictitious Kabletown company entered CEO Jack Donaghy’s (Alec Baldwin) office saying, “Jack, you are gonna love this you magnificent bastard. Someone leaked your new salary. Occupy Wall Street is having a conniption.” “Really?” Baldwin asked. “They burned you in effigy!” the exec replied. “The hair went up like a roman candle. And the Democrats, they don't even know what to do with themselves. Just look at this jackass.” The exec then turned on the TV set in the office where Pelosi was on – what a surprise! – MSNBC...

On today's Morning Joe, host Joe Scarborough said that a Senior Fellow at the Independent Women's Forum testifying in favor of assault rifles looked "like a jackass." Gayle Trotter, who holds undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Virginia and is the co-founder of a D.C. law firm, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday. She argued that having an assault rifle could help a woman defend herself and her children against intruders. Immediately after playing a clip of her testimony, Scarborough said: "if you go out and try to defend assault weapons, then you end up looking like...

Original title: 'Did your son always have balls the size of cue balls?' Biden's bizarre question to father of Navy SEAL who died in Benghazi attack --------------------------- The father of one of the Navy SEALs who was killed in the Libya consulate attack has criticised the White House reaction to his son's death - especially a bizarre and obscene comment Joe Biden made to him. Charles Woods, father of Tyrone Woods, said he thought Barack Obama had 'no remorse' over the attack and felt Hillary Clinton was 'not telling the truth'. And he revealed that at the ceremony for the...

Poll asks: Who do you think did better in last night's vice presidential debate? Jackass Joe or Paul Ryan