Free Republic

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit decided Wednesday that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must restore the safeguards to chemical abortion drugs used to end the life of a human baby. The federal appeals court’s decision came after it found that the federal government, under former President Barack Obama’s administration, improperly loosened regulations on the abortion drugs in 2016 to make it easier for women to access the drugs. The three judge panel said it was not lawful for the FDA to allow women to take the abortion drug mifepristone later during pregnancy (up to 10...

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a bid by Kansas Republicans to revive laws that require people to prove their citizenship before voting.

FBI Director Christopher Wray testified Wednesday that the actions taken by the bureau to obtain a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant against former Trump campaign aide Carter Page were “unacceptable” and “cannot be repeated.” During his first congressional appearance following the release of Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s FISA review last year, Wray vowed to reform the FISA system by implementing “specific procedures and safeguards.” “The failures highlighted in the inspector general report are unacceptable, period. And they cannot be repeated,” Wray testified before the House Judiciary Committee. “I have already ordered more than 40 corrective actions to our...

Environmental samples have been taken at a sensitive military site in Iran, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog said on Monday, citing "significant progress" in its investigation of Tehran's past activities. Such sampling is usually done by experts of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency. But IAEA chief Yukiya Amano says that Iranians carried out that part of the probe at Parchin. The transfer appeared to be part of a confidential draft agreement with the agency that allows Iran to gather its own samples. Inspecting the Parchin military site is a crucial part of the International Atomic Energy Agency's...

WASHINGTON -- It has been said that the most terrifying words in the English language are, "I'm from the government and I'm here to help." Never have those words been truer than today as thick, toxic crude oil gels along the shores of one of the most magnificent and valuable estuaries in the world, suffocating dolphins and pelicans, killing off entire links in the food chain and leaving behind a putrid mess that could take a generation to clean up. Thank you, federal government. As the only entity with oversight authority in waters that lap ashore in five different states,...

BAGHDAD — Flying high above Baghdad, the Iraqi Air Force demonstrated its capability to view polling stations and other potential critical-incident locations in preparation for the upcoming Provincial Elections. This “eye in the sky” is a sensor system, similar to that of a U.S. Predator UAV, down-linked for display into the Iraqi Prime Minister’s National Operations Center. The demonstration of this capability was conducted for the Iraqi National Security Advisor, Dr. Mowaffak al-Rubaie, other senior Government of Iraqi officials, and Coalition military advisors, Jan. 28. The demonstration was designed to showcase the functional capability of the Iraqi Air Force’s King...

Nuclear experts are expressing concern that countries trying to develop nuclear weapons may try to exploit resources in Africa. They say one of their concerns is that African nations lack the proper safeguards to thwart such exploitation as the continent increasingly looks to nuclear technology for its own energy needs. - In 2005, Tanzanian customs officials seized a large shipment of smuggled uranium 238, which can be used to make the materials used in nuclear weapons. The shipment was destined for a port in Iran. A United Nations investigation team concluded the uranium came from the Lubumbashi mines in the...

One inmate was killed and nearly 50 were injured in a race riot Saturday afternoon at North County Correctional Facility in Castaic that may have been sparked by a feud between rival gang members, authorities said. The melee — which was quelled in about an hour — broke out around 3:20 p.m., and was contained primarily to two dormitory areas at the prison, the population of which is approximately 60 percent Latino and 30 percent black, said Sheriff Lee Baca.................... In order to maintain some semblance of order, he said as of Saturday he was segregating all black and Latino...

What a wonderfully civilized society we have become--or have we? Maybe we have simply become weak, confused, ignorant, and self-loathing--at the expense of right and wrong! A while ago, a brutal savage from Georgia named Nichols raped and sodomized a young lady who once had trust in him. An overly civilized jury was unable to decide his guilt or innocence, after a smooth talking high-minded defense attorney, undoubtedly provided by the public defenders office at tax payer expense, managed to convince half of the jurors that he might have been innocent, the trial ending in a hung jury. So Nichols...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Under pressure to show results from one of the governor's key budget initiatives, the state's Department of General Services announced last month that a new procurement program saved state and local taxpayers $1.1 million on an order for 1,600 police cars. But the state will actually save less than $75,000, according to purchasing records and interviews - a result that may prove to be the latest in a trail of disappointments for the "strategic sourcing" program, which faces a Senate hearing in the coming weeks and growing criticism among lawmakers. Launched by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in June...

In the New York Times September 15, 2003 issue addressing the topic of: "City to Track Why Students Leave School" Children are being pushed out of school because they are not able to learn. I have addressed this problem in many articles that I wrote. I believe there should be accountability in the educational system, which would require laws and policies to implement safeguards to protect our children. According to policy, children are supposed to have a proper education until age 21, but who knows about this? Surely not parents and their children. Now the educational system is trying to...

COMMON SENSE ON BIO AND CHEM HAZARDS by SFC Red Thomas (Ret), Armor Master Gunner, Mesa, AZ Since the media has decided to scare everyone with predictions of chemical,biological, or nuclear warfare on our turf, I decided to write a paper and keep things in their proper perspective. I am a retired military weapons, munitions, and training expert. Lesson number one: In the mid 1990's, there were a series of nerve gas attacks on crowded Japanese subway stations. Given perfect conditions for an attack, less than 10% of the people there were injured (the injured were better in a few...