Free Republic

Flooded rail lines. Bigger, more frequent droughts. A rash of wildfires. Those are some of the alarming predictions in a White House climate change report released Tuesday, part of President Barack Obama's broader second-term effort to help the nation prepare for the effects of higher temperatures, rising sea levels and more erratic weather. "Climate change, once considered an issue for a distant future, has moved firmly into the present," the National Climate Assessment says, adding that the evidence of man-made climate change "continues to strengthen" and that "impacts are increasing across the country." "Americans are noticing changes all around them,"...

Immediately following his statement from the Rose Garden on Saturday, which President Barack Obama said he would delay a strike on Syria until seeking authorization from Congress, Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer took to Fox News to slam the president. Krauthammer criticized Obama for the way he has handled the unfolding of events surrounding the crisis in Syria. “[T]he most astonishing thing is the lack of any urgency,” Krauthammer said. “As you say, Congress will be back in a week. He says, ‘I can strike in a day or a week or a month,’ as if he is a judge...

Anthony Pellicano, the high-profile private investigator whose clients included some of the biggest stars in Hollywood, was charged today with conspiracy and making threats against a Los Angeles Times reporter. Anita Busch was researching a story in 2002 about the relationship between actor Steven Seagal and a reputed Mafia figure when someone fired a bullet through the windshield of her unoccupied car. Left on top of the vehicle was a dead fish with a rose in its mouth and a sign reading: "Stop." The charges today were filed by Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley after a lengthy investigation...