Free Republic

A Los Angeles grocery chain entrepreneur was charged with running a lucrative criminal enterprise that orchestrated murders, bribed city officials, laundered money and aided drug traffickers, according to an indictment unsealed today. George Torres, 50, who owns the Numero Uno grocery stores scattered throughout low-income parts of Los Angeles, was arrested Tuesday ... on charges of racketeering, violence in aid of racketeering, tax evasion and fraud. ... If convicted, Torres could face more than 60 years in prison. More than $100 million of the defendants' assets are subject to seizure. Torres was the longtime business partner of Horacio Vignali, who...

- This is not the first time that Lee Baca, the sheriff who opened the jail door for Paris Hilton, has had his judgment questioned. He's been accused of using his authority to benefit friends and supporters. Since taking office he's accepted thousands of dollars worth of freebie meals, sports tickets and trips. Now Baca is facing accusations of favoritism after making the decision that allowed Hilton to leave jail Thursday to serve out her sentence at her West Hollywood home. After ordering Hilton back to her cell Friday, Superior Court Judge Michael T. Sauer said he "at no time...

A Rose by Any Other NameIt’s rare and fine morning when Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez of Mexifornia fills me with the urge to brush up my Shakespeare. She managed. It seems her fellow Congressman, El Jefe Del Caucus de Hispanica, Joe Baca was egregiously accurate in describing her rise to power and influence. He had the brazen audacity to call a member of Congress a whore. Perhaps he should have remembered she was a lady, afforded her greater respect and used more prosaic phraseology. Had he referred to Loretta Sanchez as a brazen strumpet, she might have been stupid enough...

As a community mourned the cold-blooded killing of an anti-gang deputy, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca stepped up his pressure Monday on parents, saying they are failing to take responsibility for their children. Deputy Jerry Ortiz was killed Friday, shot in the face while searching for an attempted-murder suspect in Hawaiian Gardens, about 25 miles southeast of Los Angeles. Jose Orozco, 27, whose criminal record began while he was a juvenile, was arrested in his slaying. "I'm going to continue to make a hard run at the families of these gang members," Baca said in an interview. "You are...

Some of Arnold Schwarzenegger's political foes are wondering if Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca is going a bit too far in his support of the governor. On Feb. 6, a plane towing a banner that read "It's No Party for Nurses, Patients and Students — Arnoldwatch.net" flew over Schwarzenegger's Brentwood mansion while the governor hosted a Super Bowl party. Groups representing nurses and consumers have criticized Schwarzenegger's opposition to proposals for expanding healthcare coverage, and they have been angered over what they say is the rollback of safety rules to assure minimum safe staffing in California hospitals. Jerry Flanagan...

In an article appearing in the Los Angeles Times yesterday - Thursday, November 25th, 2004 - the subject of 'Early Release' was addressed with facts that will infuriate all but the comatose. The article addressed the Los Angeles County Jail system. It addressed Sheriff Lee Baca's attitude regarding the early release program. It touches on budget shortfalls and reactions to them. The article mentions that police chiefs, prosecuting attornies, judges, police officers and victims are either serously concerned or downright angry about this program. Victims who were supposed to be notified regarding some of these early releases, weren't. Victims of...

 GLENDORA -- Police are bracing for thousands of people to hit the streets of Glendora today when KFI-AM 640 talk-radio hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou have a "Fire Dreier' rally in front of the district office of Rep. David Dreier. They are making Dreier the GOP's sacrificial lamb for what they claim is his allowing undocumented immigrants to wreak havoc on the state's economy. Their show will be broadcast live from 3 to 7 p.m. They say undocumented immigrants clutter up the freeways, prisons, hospitals and schools. "We are doing this to make a point. Dreier is a phony...

Father Joe Baca's path to ordination was difficult. Three times a seminarian at St. John's in Camarillo, Baca was three times shown the door for his "rigidness." Finally, Father Baca was accepted into the diocese of Fresno by Bishop John Steinbock and ordained on December 1, 2001 after completing his seminary training in Wisconsin. Father Baca's problems didn't end with his ordination. After starting at St. Patrick's parish in Merced, he was sent to Sacred Heart parish in Fresno on December 13, 2001, filling in for a pastor who had died suddenly. On March 1, 2002, he was sent to...

A few weeks ago, Jerry Seper at The Washington Times wrote a well researched three part series titled: "FREE PASS: America's losing fight against illegals."[1] It is still there for anyone interested in catching up on the topic. Last week, Seper struck yet again, this time describing the "Limits sought on Border Patrol" agents. According to Seper: "The Department of Homeland Security wants to restrict the U.S. Border Patrol's arrest of illegal aliens in the nation's interior, concerned that the recent apprehension of 450 illegals by agents in inland areas of Southern California failed to consider the 'sensitivities' of those...

The series of sweeps by Border Patrol agents in the Inland Empire and San Diego County appear to be over, but the political fallout may last until the November election. Rep. Joe Baca (D-San Bernardino), a staunch Latino rights advocate, jumped into the political storm by leading a protest of the sweeps — which netted more than 450 suspected illegal immigrants — and helping prompt federal officials to suspend the roundups. Because of his activism, Baca has become a lightning rod of criticism from supporters of the sweeps and from a Southern California Border Patrol union whose members felt the...

Monday, July 19th, 2004 Political Human Sacrifice Posted by The John and Ken Show @ 3:37 pm   Here are the poll results from the Political Human Sacrifice Phase 1:1) David Dreier - District 26 - 52.37% 2) Chris Cox - District 48 - 13.35% 3) Mary Bono - District 45 - 10.69% 4) Darrell Issa - District 49 - 6.05% 5) Dana Rohrabacher - District 46 - 4.65%In the next few weeks, we will invite each elected official to prove to us why they should not be “Sacrificed". We will be asking them to do various tasks, with...

Congressman John Culverson just stated he has just received informantion from Southern District U.S. Attorney Michael Shelby (Texas)that Al Quida members have been entering from our southern border and have been entering through Texas and blending into towns....He stated this was classified and he given the OK to release this information. The congressman may be a former congress memeber, I didn't hear his complete title. He is on KFI Los Angeles now.

On the Los Angeles based John and Ken show yesterday (Thursday), Shawn Moran, spokesman for Local 1613 of the National Border Patrol Council, a union representing Border Agents, reported that Congressman Joe Baca (D- Ontario, Fontana) accused members of his union of being associated with hate groups, acted to have the union disciplined, and threatened them with "Congressional action." Here are Moran's words(slightly edited by me to eliminate the host's distracting interjections): Basically the situation with Mr. Baca is one of our union representatives, a guy by the name of Stan Gallagher -- he's our chief union representative -- exercised...

MANCHESTER — U.S. Sens. Judd Gregg and John Sununu want to know why federal immigration officials decided not to step in when New Ipswich police stopped a van carrying nine illegal aliens this week. New Ipswich Police Chief Garrett Chamberlain said he contacted the Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau of the Department of Homeland Security Monday afternoon when a speeding stop led to the discovery of the illegal immigrants from Ecuador. But ICE officials in New Hampshire and Connecticut both said they were not interested in taking custody. They advised Chamberlain to get identities and other information and release them....

I've been listening to KFI radio this afternoon. KFI radio talk jocks John and Ken are frustrated at the Republican cave-in on the illegal alien sweeps (Asa Hutchinson of the Department of Homeland Security bowed to pressure and called off the sweeps that were rounding up illegals in Southern California). Getting no useful responses regarding support for the sweeps from the Republican members of Congress who represent Southern California districts, J&K have decided that the best way to focus their minds is to target one of them for electoral extinction. They're holding an on-air discussion with their listeners as to...

Border Patrol agents who executed highly popular roundups of illegal aliens in Southern California last month – the first of their kind in recent memory – say they've been told to stop such enforcement action, and the Bush administration official in charge of the immigration enforcement has refused to say if there would be additional sweeps in the future. In an extraordinary radio interview Thursday on Los Angeles talk-radio station KFI, talk-show host John Kobylt grilled Under Secretary for Border and Transportation Security Asa Hutchinson about why the roundups had been ended. The official, a former congressman who works under...

I've just been listening to Shaun Moran, an agent with the Border Patrol talk to Roger Hedgecock on his San Diego show (AM600, streaming audio available at the link). Moran says the Border Patrol has informed him and all agents that, contrary to policy up to now, there will be no more paid media appearances. Moran has been the official spokesman for the union representing Border Agents, and has made many paid appearances to inform the public in that capacity, most recently in regard to the illegal alien sweeps that the Border Patrol has recently made. Moran says he's sure...

<p>Department of Homeland Security Hears Your Concerns, doesn't care. Quit calling.</p> <p>Ok people, this is coming to a point where we all need to do something. For everyone that replied to my previous posts and wrote letters to their representatives, it's time again. The kicker is at the bottom. Please persevere and read thru to the end.</p>

Lawmakers Attack Violent Video Games Tue Jul 6, 3:28 PM ET By NICK WADHAMS, Associated Press Writer NEW YORK - The video game industry seems to delight in pushing the envelope — and the bounds of good taste — with ever-gorier content. That has put it under renewed attack from legislators and activists who claim some titles must be kept out of kids' hands, though courts have repeatedly granted games First Amendment protections. The opponents cite new research that they say suggests strong links between violent games and aggressive behavior. They are disturbed by games' cultural ubiquity and the always-improving...

Cell-phone use could be blacked out at LAX, the Rose Bowl and Universal Studios under an anti-terrorism plan being formulated by Sheriff Lee Baca and other law enforcement authorities. Baca is exploring the use of jamming equipment -- already used widely in foreign countries and to protect President Bush -- to interrupt cell-phone signals if a terrorist attack was expected in Los Angeles. The issue gained urgency after terrorists used cell phones to detonate explosives March 11 in railway bombings in Spain. Baca, who recently returned from a fact-finding trip to Pakistan, said a cell-phone jamming device helped avert the...