Free Republic

This week, people were shocked when the Drudge Report posted a giant picture of Hitler over a headline speculating that the White House will proceed with executive orders to limit access to firearms. The proposed orders are exceedingly tame, but Drudge’s reaction is actually a common conservative response to any invocation of gun control. The NRA, Fox News, Fox News (again), Alex Jones, email chains, Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher, Gun Owners of America, etc., all agree that gun control was critical to Hitler’s rise to power. Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (“America’s most aggressive defender of firearms ownership”)...

In the ongoing dispute over the Spratly Islands claimed by China and Vietnam, the latest development is that China is opening up 3G services on the islands, not only to Chinese soldiers but also for the country’s fishermen. The development will be yet another drop of lemon in the souring of Sino-Vietnamese relations in the past year. The Vietnamese government even voiced its complaint on nguyentandung.org, the Vietnamese Prime Minister’s website. The island disputes recently ignited with anti-China protests in May 2011 after Chinese patrol boats attacked two Vietnamese oil exploration ships near the Spratly Islands. Chinese soldiers and fishermen...

GREGG COUNTY, TX (KLTV) - For more than a year, KLTV has been investigating the allegations by several East Texas men that they were all married to the same woman at the same time. Now, that woman has been charged with bigamy. Candice Andrade, 32 of Kilgore, was arrested in Gregg County on November 15 and released the same day. Her trial date has not been set. In June of 2011, two men said they discovered they were married to Andrade at the same time. They told KLTV they found a third husband in Houston. In November 2011, they discovered...

A fire broke out during routine maintenance at the U.S. State Department on Saturday, injuring four maintenance workers, officials said. The fire began inside ductwork on the building's eighth floor at about 11 a.m. (1600 GMT) as workers were replacing insulation, State Department and fire officials said. Workers doused the fire with hand-held extinguishers before fire department personnel arrived, District of Columbia Battalion Chief Edward Mills said. Mills, who was one of the first responders to the scene, told Reuters TV the cause of the fire remained under investigation but did not immediately appear suspicious.

Lubbock, TX - The Department of Economics at Texas Tech University and Worth Publishers invite you to a public speech presented by Prof. Paul Krugman, winner of the 2008 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, on Thursday, October 25th at 5:00-7:00 pm on the TTU campus in the Human Sciences Building, Room 169. Prof. Krugman's speech is entitled "The Crisis: Year Six", and will be immediately followed by a "Questions & Answer" session. Space is limited, so please arrive early. Professor Paul Krugman is the 2008 Nobel Prize winner and a Professor of Economics at Princeton University. He received his...

Work on the US$683-million Vietnam Space Center began Wednesday in Hanoi’s Hoa Lac Hi-tech Park, newswire Dan Tri reported. The nine-hectare facility will be built by the Vietnam National Satellite Center, an arm of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, with assistance from Japanese engineers and technicians. Japan will also provide official development assistance worth around $600 million for building the facility, expected to be finished in 2020. The Vietnam Space Center will function as a hub for research and production of small satellites for weather forecasting, research, and disaster management. It is expected to help reduce annual losses...

Intra-party rivals may pull him down Prime Minster Nguyen Tan Dung's grip on Vietnam's government is weakening. The Vietnamese premier is under attack by intra-party rivals who don't like his rich friends and fault his management of the economy. If Dung goes down, important changes in Vietnam's management of economic and social issues are likely to follow. As a rule, Vietnam's Communist Party doesn't wash its dirty linen in public. Its spokesmen work hard to maintain the party's aura of competence and infallibility. Party members don't gossip with outsiders about party matters. Decisions made by the party's Politburo or its...

LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) - Lubbock will consider a deal to sell water from Lake Alan Henry to a company called Citation Oil. The item comes up for discussion Thursday before the Lubbock Water Advisory Commission, which in turn will make a recommendation to City Council. City of Lubbock Director of Water Resources Aubrey Spear says he does not think the oil company plans to use a controversial practice called "fracking" also known as hydraulic fracturing. However, he still plans to suggest the Commission and the City Council to say ‘no' to the deal. Spear said, "If there's no real compelling...

Levelland, TX - High gasoline prices are bad news for most of us, but there is a silver lining. A Levelland-based company, Home Creek Energy LLC, is making the most of high prices with a major oil-drilling project. The Perry Ranch Multi-Well Production Project will be 117 wells in seven Texas counties. The locations go as far east as Baylor County and as far West as the western edge of Cochran County. It's a multimillion-dollar project with the goal of netting more than $1.15 million per month. Some of the drilling will go more than 10,000 feet below the ground....

SLATON, TX (KCBD) - Parents at Stephen F. Austin in Slaton are concerned about their children's safety after a group of preschoolers displayed inappropriate behavior on the playground. Superintendent Julee Becker confirmed that the incident did involve sexual behavior, but she says supervision levels on school grounds, especially on the playground, have been increased. Several parents of students with disabilities called KCBD NewsChannel 11, worried that their kids would not be able to defend themselves if touched inappropriately. Becker said the students involved were disciplined accordingly and says it was a one-time incident. Josie Dabila, grandparent of a Stephen F....

LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) - A local vet is under scrutiny once again after a new complaint has been filed. Kelley Floyd filed a complaint against Lubbock mobile veterinarian Dr. Penny Kelso due to her treatment of a Labrador retriever named Spooky. "Someone else might call her and lose a beloved pet," Floyd said. "That's what we're trying to prevent." Kelso has been reprimanded by the Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners five times. In 2008, Kelso had her license suspended for two years. This most recent case involved a house call that Dr. Kelso made to Patricia Mott's dog, Spooky....

LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) - Strange glowing blue lights flying up and down, side to side and sporadically disappearing and reappearing in the night sky…this is what many south Lubbock residents say they've seen over the last few weeks. After taking several calls, emails and Facebook posts, KCBD decided to check it out and see what was behind these mystery lights. Keith Mowery was just one of many who spotted the blue lights about three weeks ago at his shop off of 87th and Avenue P. "My buddy called me and said you need to get outside right now," said Keith....

LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) - KCBD NewsChannel 11 has confirmed that a Lubbock airport police officer was arrested Thursday, accused of soliciting prostitution and trespassing. A police report says Gary Dwane Fisher, 58, and a 44-year-old woman "knowingly agreed to engage in sexual conduct for a fee while on public school property." The woman was also arrested. The school property was the Lubbock ISD Administration Building, 1628 19th Street. The report also says that Fisher "knowingly solicited another in a public place to engage with him in sexual conduct for a fee." The City of Lubbock confirms that Fisher is not...

LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) - They clean houses, but this new Lubbock business claims to offer nude or partially nude services. It's called Lubbock Fantasy Maid Service. The owner, Melissa Borrett, tells us she started the business after struggling to make ends meet. "As a single mother, I had been working a variety of different jobs, including waitressing out at the strip club. I was having to answer to a lot of people," Borrett said. For $100 an hour she says they will clean your house nude or topless. They opened about a month ago and she says business is booming....

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A federal appeals court scolded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday for rejecting a series of state pollution control projects in Texas that federal regulators said failed to satisfy requirements of the Clean Air Act. The ruling from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stopped short of ordering the EPA to accept the previously rejected Texas measures. Yet the three-judge panel directed the agency to take another look at the state's regulations and issue a quick decision.

The President and CEO of Lubbock's Planned Parenthood has been arrested for indecent exposure. According to Lubbock Police, Tony Ray Thornton, 56, was arrested at the baseball fields inside of Mackenzie Park. According to the incident report, Thornton was taken into custody at 3:25 Monday afternoon. He was booked into the Lubbock County Detention Center and released from jail Tuesday morning around 11 a.m. Thornton has worked with Planned Parenthood in Lubbock for several years. We'll have more information as it becomes available. Copyright 2012 KCBD. All rights reserved.

LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) - Occupy Lubbock will be forced to leave next month due to City of Lubbock maintenance. Protesters have occupied the area on 19th Street and University for nearly six months. They started by holding signs on the corner of the street. Now they have several tents where they sleep and organize protests. They say they are protesting against the one percent of people that control the majority of our country's wealth. The group chose their location because it was city property, not a park. Therefore, they were allowed to stay under the condition they would not vandalize...

LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) - The City of Lubbock received official word on Tuesday morning that it is being sued for more than $8.9 million by a company called Republic Power. In a sense, the story begins in 1983 when Lubbock, Brownfield, Floydada and Tulia created the West Texas Municipal Power Agency. WTMPA buys wholesale power on behalf of the cities. Republic Power says starting in 2008, it had a partnership with WTMPA to purchase two power plants in Odessa. It goes on to say the City of Lubbock had a 92% majority interest in WTMPA and could have objected at...

LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) - A Lubbock teenager is accused of posting online advertisements and forcing an underage girl into prostitution. According to court documents, Markee Toliver, 19, is facing three felony charges of knowingly employing a child who was under the age of 18 to engage in sexual conduct, causing a person under the age of 18 to commit prostitution, and trafficking of a person who is under the age of 18 into forced labor (sexual performance of a child). Toliver was caught through an undercover sting operation this week, conducted by the Lubbock Police Department. Investigators say they tracked...

LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) - The Transportation Security Administration unveiled new, less-invasive scanners last month, promising to keep up security while protecting passenger privacy. The new software used Automated Target Recognition technology to focus on the detection of unusual objects without showing a detailed image of the bodies being scanned. Now, less than a month later, the scanners are no longer working. The Aviation Director for the Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport says they suffered water damage after a nearby air conditioning unit leaked on them. The TSA is currently determining whether to fix the scanners or to replace them entirely....