Free Republic

Homeland Security is collecting DNA from less than 40% of illegal immigrants encountered trying to enter the U.S., a whistleblower has told Congress.The department is required to collect the DNA under federal law, but Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican, said it’s usually not happening.Between Oct. 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023 the department’s Customs and Border Protection agency encountered 2.3 million unauthorized migrants. It only provided roughly 843,000 DNA samples to the FBI, which runs the national database, Mr. Grassley said, citing information provided by the whistleblower. He called the lapse “deeply concerning.” “This failure weakens our justice system...

Is This My Father's Democratic Party? Palestinian Flags the Day After 1,000 Civilians Killed in Israel Promoting Genital Mutilation of Children Transgender Exposing Breasts on the White House Lawn $32 Trillion in Government Debt $1.7 Trillion Budget Deficit Every Month is Pride Month Exclude White Men From Opportunity to be VP or Supreme Court Justice Spend Trillions on Useless Unreliable Windmills Cut Disposable Income Through Raging Inflation Send $120 Billion to a Corrupt Regime that Employed Your Son in a Bribery Scheme No this is not my father's Democratic Party.

Bird flu is affecting more than just birds in Colorado. Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) officials said four dead skunks in Larimer County recently tested positive for the highly pathogenic avian influenza, according to the Coloradoan. The strain has killed countless chickens, waterfowl and raptors in what officials are calling one of the deadliest outbreaks in years. The bird flu was first detected in wild geese in March of last year.

The House Republican leadership has rejected 6 out of the 8 House Freedom Caucus rules changes that have been considered so far, Just the News has learned. The amendments that failed included a requirement that spending bills must pass before the fiscal year officially begins on Oct. 1. If not, other legislation would not be able to be considered on the floor. An amendment that would ensure all members of the Republican Conference are able to participate in conference meetings was rejected, and a rule change to allow one member, with the support of 25 others, to request having one...

A 58-year-old man was struck and killed by an arrow intended for a skunk Friday night, police in central New York said. James Parker Jr., 58, and another man were trying to kill a skunk with a crossbow, but when the other man shot the arrow it “unintentionally” struck Parker instead, according to a news release from New York State Police.

Political, Christian and Conservative Issues Politics Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, R-KY, told a Rotary Club gathering that: “Our new president, of course, has not been in this line of work before, I think he had excessive expectations about how quickly things happen in the democratic process.” I submit that it’s to President Trump’s credit to not have been a career fraud, err, I mean career politician. This gives President Trump the unique perspective of actually knowing how to accomplish things, ahead of schedule and under budget. What McConnell was really saying in thinly veiled nuances was that President Trump...

There's a skunk under my deck and I'm not sure how to deal with it.

Tennessee's rule factory is cranking at full tilt, and Nashville lawmakers want to tell Memphians how to pay for bike lanes, what monuments we can move, and whether or not we can own skunks (seriously). No gas tax for bike lanes A new bill would prohibit spending any gas tax revenues on bike lanes, pedestrian walkways, and "other non-vehicular facilities." Portions of the state gas tax are required to go to cities and counties. Those governments sometimes use the gas tax funds for matching dollars to get federal money for bike and pedestrian projects. The new bill says all of...

FAIRFIELD, Conn. (CBSNewYork/AP) – Police in Fairfield, Connecticut, are investigating the discovery of two dead skunks with a sign reading “Obama Stinks.” Article at link I think

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Something stinks in upper Manhattan. Residents claim skunks have invaded Inwood and Washington Heights, roaming the streets surrounding Fort Tryon Park and stinking up the neighborhood. “I tell my friends down in midtown or Hells Kitchen that there’s a skunk problem up here and they don’t believe it,” resident Mark Bailey said. “They’re in front of every building…they’re not just in the parks, they’re all over.” [...]

Residents of South Dakota’s state capital are holding their noses this fall and it has nothing to do with politics. The city of Pierre is being invaded by skunks.

Police in Florida said a man attempting to take care of a skunk on his friend's property accidentally shot himself in the hand and face while loading a rifle. The Manatee County Sheriff's Office said the 31-year-old Sarasota man was at a friend's house Friday night and attempted to load a .22-caliber rifle after they spotted a skunk in the yard, the Bradenton (Fla.) Herald reported Monday. Police said the man, who did not know there was already a round in the chamber, had his right hand on the barrel when he accidentally hit the trigger and a bullet injured...

Persistent Pepe Le Pews Pester Clients, Staff at State Health Department Satellite [Office]. The West Las Cruces Public Health Office, bothered by skunks burrowing beneath its portable building home for at least three years, will shut down Tuesday for at least a week in an attempt to deal with the smelly problem once and for all, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported. "They've removed I don't know how many skunks and released them pretty far from the area," Health Department spokesman Chris Minnick told the Sun-News. "Inevitably the skunks come back; they're pretty persistent." Although no skunks actually have entered the...

Pierce Flanigan died suddenly of a stroke. Wednesday of this week. He was my lifelong friend. But this is about his life, not his death. To save much time in a complex story about the Flanigan men, I wrote part of this story in 2005, with the title, “Condi Rice & Pierce Flanigan’s Father’s Hat,” about Pierce’s father’s death. It also introduces the one story about Pierce when he was 12 years old, that I offer as a symbol of the man, Our fathers, who were friends, had installed us both in Troop 35 at the Church of the Redeemer...

STOCKTON, Calif. - Residents of new housing developments on the outskirts of San Joaquin County cities are waging a stinky turf battle with skunks. Animal control officials warned residents that skunks are holding on to their underground burrows even as brand new homes take root above. "They're just a nuisance right now," said Tom Ramirez, who supervises animal control for the Stockton Police Department. "They're multiplying everywhere." Skunks live in dens that hold up to 75 animals, Ramirez said. New development hasn't scared them, only pushed them deeper, he said. If bothered, skunks can spray a foul scent up to...

Though the investigation into who “outed” Plame was premised on the notion that (a) her identity was not publicly known before Robert Novak’s article in July 2003 and (b) the disclosure came from the Administration—particularly persons in the White House to somehow “punish” Wilson, there is increasing evidence that Wilson himself widely divulged that information to burnish his own credentials as an expert. I reported long ago that at the June 14, 2003 EPIC conference (where he listed his wife as Valerie Plame in the program) Wilson revealed he was the Ambassador who was the source for the May 2003...

"The same unit [the Office of Special Plans] that fed Chalabi's intelligence on WMD to Rumsfeld was also feeding him Chalabi's stuff on the prospects for postwar Iraq," said a leading US government expert on the Middle East. Says a former US ambassador with strong links to the CIA: "There was certainly information coming from the Iraqi exile community, including Chalabi--who was detested by the CIA and by the State Department--saying, 'They will welcome you with open arms.'"

In a development that got no media play over the weekend, Lewis 'Scooter' Libby's defense lawyer announced on Friday that he has located five witnesses who will testify that Joe Wilson outed his wife Valerie Plame as a CIA employee before Robert Novak did so in his July 2003 column. According to the NationalReviewOnline's Byron York, Libby's lawyer Ted Wells told the court that his witnesses "will say under oath that Mr. Wilson told them his wife worked for the CIA." Wells said that he expects Leakgate Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald to call Wilson to testify in a bid to...

Another suggestion: who "outed" Plame I said that Wilson revealed he was the Ambassador who was the source for the May 2003 Nicholas Kristof piece and the June 2003 Walter Pincus piece, in which he falsely accused the Administration of jiggering evidence on June 14, 2003 at the Washington EPIC conference (where he also listed his wife’s name as “Valerie Plame.”) There’s ample reason to believe he flourished her name and connection to the agency in greater detail regularly, which makes the entire investigation into who publicly disclosed her identity particularly ridiculous. A shrewd reader at Free Republic has found...

If nothing else, we have to admit that the dorks on the left are certainly fun to watch. The so called unbiased "media elite" came to work dressed in black after the election. Most of what we hear coming from the left these post-election days is a perpetual whine. There have been no real specifics about what they are whining about. Other than the fact that their socialist candidate lost, they just seem to want to be difficult. Yeah, it's very interesting to hear the constant vitriol coming from the very same liberals who gave us perpetual sensitivity training. Their...