Free Republic

Although former IRS official Lois Lerner refuses to speak, pleading the fifth amendment, her attorney spoke on her behalf regarding the controversy over two years of missing IRS emails. William Taylor III said that accusations by Republicans that she is hiding something is “silly… she doesn’t know what happened… It’s a little brazen to think she did this on purpose.” The IRS and Democrats contend that the emails were lost due to a hard drive crash. Yet, as Politico reported, it so happens that the computer glitch was concomitant with the 2009 time period in which Cincinnati IRS agents started...

INDIANAPOLIS — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin fired up a crowd of thousands inside Lucas Oil Stadium Saturday night to kick off the National Rifle Association’s “Stand and Fight Rally,” saying Americans’ constitutional rights as envisioned by the founding fathers are under attack and policies like gun-free zones constitute “stupid on steroids.” “They knew that if the Second Amendment goes, the rest of the constitution is not far behind,” she said of the country’s founders. In her approximately 12-minute address, Mrs. Palin also derided what she argued is akin to a ‘blame the messenger’ attitude on gun violence many Americans...

During a rant on his radio show Tuesday, Glenn Beck told his audience that he prayed to God that Russian President Vladimir Putin would die. It sounds harsh, but Beck seems to believe that what Putin is doing in Russia essentially amounts to starting World War III. As part of his outburst, Beck also mentioned that the unrest in Russia would soon spread to Europe. “I’ve never prayed for the Lord to take anybody before, but I have started praying with my family last night that the Lord calls Mr. Putin home soon,” Beck said. One of the ways that...

Atlanta, GA- Voters throughout the state turned out in record numbers to vote for a referendum to secede from the United States and join Russia. What began when a Tifton resident and Russian decedent (Alexei Sverkunova Johnson) was involved in a bar fight at the 5th Inn Lounge and Wings Place in Tifton, GA two weeks ago has escalated into international incident. Learning of the attack in the Tifton Tribune on Mr. Johnson, Russia President Vladimir Putin immediately dispatched members of the Russian military to parachute into small South Georgia community and stand guard around Mr. Johnson’s home. Witnessing the...

SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) – California may become the first state to issue digital license plates that can be registered electronically and record tolls. Privacy advocates are concerned the plates could become tracking devices for law enforcement. Instead of a metal license plate, the digital plate would be a computer screen, slightly larger than an iPad. Registering the plates could be done wirelessly.

Just got this in email tonight, and thought I'd pass it on to my fellow Texans. There's an important vote coming up on Wednesday, 8 May in the Texas Senate regarding smart meters. This is a call to contact your state Senator regarding this important vote. The email: To my Friends in Texas – I’m going to just ask you to trust me! Most of you on this list know that I’m not into “radical” stuff – and many know that although I have passed along a little info opposing Smart Meters in the past, it has definitely not been...

In a measure of solidarity with those affected by the budget-slashing government sequestration, President Obama is giving up 5 percent of his salary for rest of the year, which is almost as admirable and sensible as a mansion-owner shutting off his marble fountains during a drought. This is not to imply that the president shouldn't demonstrate some unity with those who've been furloughed or lost work because of the blind slashing the sequestration prompted. People like Jeff Maryak, profiled by BuzzFeed, who is considering re-enlisting to make ends meet after a 27 percent pay cut. People like those who've lost...

...“I, along with 3 million educators across the country, proudly support our members’ efforts in saying ‘no’ to giving their students a flawed test that takes away from learning and is not aligned with the curriculum,” said National Education Association President Dennis van Roekel...

It's official. Reality-television executives have lost their minds. The reality-TV shows featuring mostly black casts debuting in 2013 are setting back images of black folks in television at least 60 years. While critics are obsessed with the controversial film Django Unchained, there is a movement taking place in reality television that has elevated black buffoonery to the highest level possible while diminishing black culture to the lowest level in recent memory. The images of blacks on TLC's reality shows Best Funeral Ever and The Sisterhood and Oxygen's All My Babies' Mamas are appalling. They are also reminiscent more of images...

PAUL KRUGMAN: The Deficit Is Basically Solved Walter HickeyJan. 10, 2013, 4:00 PMMany people think that fixing the deficit is a painful process that involves deep cuts to crucial programs. Some think the process is too hard, and it's not worth trying yet. That's not correct, according to a chart from from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities' Richard Kogan showing just how far the United States has come in the past two years. We've talked before about how the painless and most effective solution to the deficit is additional growth in GDP. As the recovery progresses and GDP...

A new Foreign Military Intelligence (GRU) report circulating in the Kremlin today is saying that United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was injured, and a top US Navy Seal Commander killed when their C-12 Huron military passenger and transport aircraft crash landed nearly 3 weeks ago in the Iranian city of Ahvaz near the Iraqi border. Iranian intelligence agents quoted in this GRU report confirm that the C-12 Huron aircraft is still in their possession in Ahvaz, but will only admit that the plane was “forced to land because of technical problems.” The US Navy Seal member reported killed...

Even if we can't get rid of Roberts, the Chief Justice position rightly belonged to Antonin Scalia anyway after Rehnquist. Please correct this situation.

My wife is a Filipina, an RN who came to the US eighteen years ago on a work visa. She's now a newly naturalized citizen, and she just got through casting her very first mail-in ballot. She just went on a mini-rant after watching a news segment on the two presidential campaigns' efforts to court "the much-sought-after undecided women's vote," women constituting a sizable majority of the "undecideds," apparently. Her exasperated and repeated refrain: "I just can't believe they could still be undecided - what kind of woman can be that stupid!" Her rant voiced a strong confirmation of her...

Republican Mitt Romney is accusing President Barack Obama of engaging in "petty attacks and silly word games" just 18 days before the election. Romney on Friday rallied a raucous crowd in Daytona Beach, Fla., saying Obama was running a small campaign. Earlier in the day, Obama joked that a case of "Romnesia" was preventing Romney from remembering his own policy positions. The Republican also accused Obama of having no second-term agenda. He dubbed Obama's bid, quote, "the incredible shrinking campaign." Romney campaigned with running mate Paul Ryan. A colorful crowd of thousands greeted them — Daytona Beach is hosting its...

Generation Y is more likely than older generations to support clean energy and environmental protection and to believe climate change is happening and is caused by human activity, according to new Pew polling and analysis. Generation X is close behind. Boomers aren't so bad either. It's the old folks, the so-called Silent Generation aged 66-83, that are the big problem. There's long been talk about how gay rights will continue to advance as homophobic old codgers die off. Looks like the push for a cleaner, greener society will get a boost from that same cohort replacement effect.

The Republican presidential candidates have named their favourite movies, and while everyone plays it pretty safe, there are some surprises in there. Herman Cain says his favourite is The Godfather (a hilarious reference to his past in the pizza business), while Newt Gingrich goes for something old and grey: Casablanca. Michele Bachmann, meanwhile, goes for Braveheart and Saving Private Ryan, which both feature plenty of gallant losers. Rick Santorum settled on the corny Field of Dreams, which is about getting people to come, while Ron Paul said he doesn’t watch a lot of movies but that his wife likes musicals...

French president Nicolas Sarkozy squarely blames Israel for stalled talks and says the Jewish state's national identity is "silly." According to the oft-controversial French magazine Le Canard Enchaîne, President Nicolas Sarkozy thinks the idea of a Jewish state is "silly." "It is silly to talk about a Jewish state," Sarkozy said in reference to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's assertion no true peace could be made until officials in Ramallah accepted Israel's essential Jewish identity. "It would be like saying that this table is Catholic," he added. "There are two million Arabs in Israel." Sarkozy also placed sole blame for failed...

IN RESPONSE TO THE EMAILS CONCERNING MY DOG:

Monty Python members have reunited to voice a 3D animated film based on the memoirs of the late Graham Chapman. A Liar's Autobiography will feature recordings that Chapman, who died in 1989 aged 48, made of his 1980 book. John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin and Terry Jones have all signed up while Eric Idle is not involved. The film is due out in spring next year. Jones joked he had "no idea" until recently that Chapman was dead and "thought he was just being lazy". "However, I am now delighted to find myself working with him again on this...

SHRIMP ON TREADMILLS AND ANTARCTICA JELLO-WRESTLING - Those zany scientists at the National Science Foundation are at it again, and U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, (R-Okla.), isn’t real happy about it. Coburn’s report, ”The National Science Foundation: Under the Microscope,” was published this week, following months of warnings from Republicans that the agency would be targeted for spending cuts. Several of the report’s targets of criticism have been the subject of investigation for years. Remember the scandal a couple of years ago over top staffers at the NSF spending hours surfing the internet for porn? Or the Jell-o wrestling party at...