Free Republic

Taking responsibility for disaster prevention Disaster prevention, regardless of the peril, works through many small actions by individuals, every one of whom must take individual responsibility. To achieve a genuine increase in resilience requires dedication, coordination and determination, based on sound judgement, good science and (in many cases) high quality engineering. Sadly, the flip side of this is that individuals can undermine the efforts of everyone else, and in so doing turn a survivable incident into a disaster. The case of the Taiwan earthquake appears to be a good example. The collapse of the Weiguan Jinlong apartment complex should not...

Me and my family were touring the National Mall this Christmas. One of us had a bathroom emergency, but when we went to every public restroom, they were barred off from public use. We even tried to kick the Plexiglas window down near one's door to no avail, and the nearest usable restroom was more than a mile away, so we had to go on the ground. The park police told us they refuse to open them, but we saw then busy feeding the horses. They kept driving right by the bathroom.

Host of and investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson dropped a bombshell of information today during an interview with Steve Malzberg. According to sources close to the White House who Attkisson has spoken to, President Obama is now flat out refusing to accept or hear about intelligence surrounding radical Islamic terror groups. "I have talked to people who have worked in the Obama administration who firmly believe he has made up his mind, I would say closed his mind, they say, to the intelligence they try to bring him about various groups he does not consider terrorists even if they're on the...

U.S. officials say none of the Paris attackers identified so far were on U.S. watch lists, bolstering concerns about limits to U.S. intelligence that could handicap the refugee vetting process.The seven identified attackers were not on U.S. watch lists, multiple U.S. officials told CNN, and five of them apparently could have traveled freely to the United States. Only two of the seven were on French watch lists, and consequently would have been flagged had they attempted to travel to the U.S.The report reinforces concerns the U.S. is unable to properly vet refugees who have applied for resettlement in the states, particularly if...

Two federal agents operating under the umbrella of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are claiming that eight Syrian illegal aliens attempted to enter Texas from Mexico in the Laredo Sector. The federal agents spoke with Breitbart Texas on the condition of anonymity, however, a local president of the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) confirmed that Laredo Border Patrol agents have been officially contacting the organization with concerns over reports from other federal agents about Syrians illegally entering the country in the Laredo Sector. The reports have caused a stir among the sector’s Border Patrol agents. The sources claimed that...

Sixty-four percent of American adults said they disapprove of the way that President Barack Obama is dealing with the ISIS terrorist group, according to a Gallup poll that was conducted Nov. 4-8.The results of the poll, which was completed five days before the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris, were cited and linked in a Gallup analysis released Monday.Gallup asked 1,021 people 18 and older living in the United States whether they “approve or disapprove of the way Barack Obama is handling” four different policy areas. These included “the economy;” “healthcare policy;” “foreign affairs,” and “the situation involving Islamic militants,...

Obama's wanton lawlessness, criminal incompetence, willful neglect, refusal to enforce the law, refusal to secure the borders, refusal to even recognize the obvious enemy, refusal to take Islamic terrorism seriously, etc, leaves us wide open to terrorist attack. Our borders and nation must be secured! All Islamics here on temporary visas must be rounded up and deported now! Recent Islamic immigrants should be suspect. Obama's treasonous policies are inviting ISIS to attack us!! Don't let it happen again.

Three months after Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email address and server while secretary of state was referred to the FBI, an intelligence source familiar with the investigation tells Fox News that the team is now focused on whether there were violations of an Espionage Act subsection pertaining to "gross negligence" in the safekeeping of national defense information. Under 18 USC 793 subsection F,the information does not have to be classified to count as a violation. The intelligence source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity citing the sensitivity of the ongoing probe, said the subsection requires the "lawful...

Ohio recently made headlines with reports that half the abortion clinics in that state have closed and several others have curtailed services, reducing abortion numbers to the lowest since 1976. “When abortion clinics close, abortions decline and lives are saved. It’s as simple as that,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue and co-author of the book Abortion Free. “We have worked in Ohio on a number of projects in cooperation with local leaders that, in part, contributed to this decline.” While some refuse to acknowledge that abortion clinic closures contribute to lower abortion numbers, Newman explains that the evidence...

The Department of Health has confirmed a patient is currently in isolation and undergoing testing in Honolulu. The Hawaii Nurses Association said the person is being treated at The Queen’s Medical Center. Officials told KHON2 Ebola is a possibility, however the patient has yet to be specifically tested for the virus.

The father of a 7-year-old boy who died when he was electrocuted in the family’s pool has filed a lawsuit against the company that made the pool light and the one that serviced the family’s swimming pool. Calder Sloan died on April 17 when he jumped into his family’s pool and was electrocuted. The child’s death was wake-up call to many pool owners around South Florida.

The accident that injured comedian Tracy Morgan and killed a passenger on his limo bus was one of hundreds of crashes involving Walmart trucks in the past two years. Walmart trucks have been involved in 380 crashes in that time, federal data shows. Nine people have been killed; 129 have been injured.

I’m beginning to realize that we are performing a major injustice when we call all of the events of the past year “scandals”. Scandals are what soap operas base their story lines off of. Scandals are actions of a President and his intern in the Oval Office. I will even admit that breaking into a private office to search for dirt on your opponent can be considered a scandal. However, what we are talking about with this administration is the infringement of American's constitutional rights, the use of the government to target our own citizens, and most importantly, the death...

President Obama declares that, “We are not at war with Islam,” but the Islamic Quran and Sharia command that Muslims conduct jihadist war against non-Muslims to spread the religion and Sharia law worldwide. The question is why Obama maintains we are not at war with Islam, when Islam is clearly at war with the U.S.? President Barack H. Obama proclaims that the U.S. is not “at war with Islam.” The president then proceeds to draw an imaginary line between “moderate” and “radical” groups of Muslims that does not exist within the reality of Islamic “theology.” Obama claims that that there...

So whatever many of you think of Sean Hannity.. he is doing a great job keeping up with the Libya aftermath. Tonight he had on Lindsay Graham and Congressman Jason Chaffetz from Utah. What I learned from watching this has me FUMING!! Hannity showed multiple emails from Amb Stephens to the White House in which Stephens was concerned about the deteriorating security situation. The LAST email Stephens sent the day before said the British have pulled their Amb because of the security situation!! The British left, The RED CROSS packed up and left.. Al-Queda began putting up flags at government...

Maybe if Hillary wasn’t so busy doing God knows what she would have been paying attention to what was going on here, and maybe if Obama would’ve attended more than just 39% of his national security briefings he would’ve as well. Or maybe they both knew, and were SO negligent that they didn’t do anything. One or the other is the case here, because I’ve been on the ground in U.S. military/diplomatic installations in war zones, and intelligence is normally lapped up like mother’s milk as a matter of survival, and whenever threats start trending over a period of time,...

House Republicans are planning to introduce legislation Tuesday that will force major changes at the United Nations, an organization that the bill’s author has called a “stew of corruption, mismanagement and negligence.” The bill, by Republican House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, would require the UN adopt a voluntary budget model, in which countries selectively choose which UN agencies to fund. The bill is expected to be introduced on Tuesday, and will also end funding for Palestinian refugees and limit the use of U.S. funds only to projects directly outlined by Congress. An aide familiar with the legislation told...

(CBS/AP) PHILADELPHIA - Six former players and one current player have sued the NFL in Philadelphia over the league's handling of concussion-related injuries, the first potential class-action lawsuit of its kind. The players accuse the league of training players to hit with their heads, failing to properly treat them for concussions and trying to conceal for decades any links between football and brain injuries. The plaintiffs include two-time Super Bowl champion Jim McMahon, who has said he played through five concussions but now frequently walks around "in a daze" and forgets why he entered a room. The suit accuses the...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (CBSMiami.com) – The outrage over the not guilty verdict in the Casey Anthony trial has reached the Florida Legislature. Wednesday, Representative Bill Hager, R-Boca Raton, introduced what is being called, “Caylee’s Law,” according to the Orlando Sentinel. The law would make it a felony for a parent or legal guardian to fail to timely report a missing child in cases where the parent knew or should have known that the child was possibly in danger, the Sentinel reported. Rep. Hager said that the law will “ensure that parents are held responsible for their actions.” He continued, “It will...

Japanese Plant Had Barebones Risk Plan By PHRED DVORAK And PETER LANDERS TOKYO—Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s disaster plans greatly underestimated the scope of a potential accident at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, calling for only one stretcher, one satellite phone and 50 protective suits in case of emergencies. Disaster-response documents for Fukushima Daiichi, examined by The Wall Street Journal, also contain few guidelines for obtaining outside help, providing insight into why Japan struggled to cope with a nuclear crisis after an earthquake and tsunami devastated the facility. The disaster plans, approved by Japanese regulators, offer guidelines for responding to smaller...