Free Republic

Without firing a shot (except at the firing range), Americans have won a revolution -- state by state. Texas is the latest to join the freedom coalition. The Texas Tribune reported to its dismay, "Texans can carry handguns without a license or training starting Sept. 1, after Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday signed the permitless carry bill into law. 35 years ago, it was illegal in 16 states (including Texas) for a civilian to carry a concealed weapon. Only Vermont did not require a pistol permit. Working through the slow process of going state to state to change the law,...

With no end in sight for a 10-day-old government shutdown, Coast Guard helicopter mechanic Bradley Jones prepared for an overnight shift on New Year’s Eve worried that his family’s mounting bills won’t get paid. Like more than 1,100 other Coast Guard personnel living and working in the Tampa Bay area, Jones, 26, got a temporary reprieve when the Trump administration and the service branch came up with a reported $75 million to fund paychecks due Jan 1. But beyond that, there are no guarantees. And for a force whose motto is Semper Paratus — Latin for “always ready” — the...

The race for Florida governor appears headed for a recount, as Democrat Andrew Gillum continues to gain on Republican Ron DeSantis during the tallying of the final uncounted ballots cast in the midterm elections. Gillum, the outgoing mayor of Tallahassee, conceded the race Tuesday night before 11 p.m. after results appeared to show him too far behind his opponent to make up the difference. DeSantis, a former congressman, gave his victory speech shortly after. But thousands of votes remained untallied. And over the next 36 hours, the margins gradually shrank. As of 9 a.m., DeSantis' lead was just 42,948 votes...

Florida has turned from purple to red. For the first time since Reconstruction, Republicans will hold every statewide office assuming Gov. Rick Scott’s narrow lead over incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson holds up in an expected recount. Wins by Scott and former U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis in the governor’s race complete the Republicans’ complete domination of what was once a swing state. And the biggest winner is President Donald Trump, who carried the state two years ago and campaigned hard for Scott and DeSantis. Scott and DeSantis won Tuesday by portraying their opponents as too out of touch, too...

TIERRA VERDE — Judson Kidd and James Donovan are a gay couple with an adopted black son. From the day they moved into their waterfront house last summer, they never felt welcomed in the conservative, overwhelmingly white community of Tierra Verde. Neighbors never waved or introduced themselves, they said. One mother yanked her daughter away when she started to play with 2-year-old Van. Then came Halloween, and the disturbing decorations at the big house up the street. The yard had been transformed into a graveyard. "CNN,’’ was written on one white cross, with a gruesome gray skull at its base....

Ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s has released a new “Pecan Resist” flavor to support the anti-Trump resistance. Among the organizations they are partnering with for the new flavor is the Women’s March, which has pro-Sharia Law activist Linda Sarsour as a board member. Today we launch Pecan Resist! This flavor supports groups creating a more just and equitable nation for us all, and who are fighting President Trump’s regressive agenda. Learn more and take action here >> https://t.co/Bi8YE1FvOZ pic.twitter.com/Kr6CKBX1sc — Ben & Jerry's (@benandjerrys) October 30, 2018 The new flavor is described as having “nutty chunks” with a powerful...

The Indianapolis Star issued an apology to its readers after an outcry over an editorial cartoon that skewered Christine Blasey Ford ahead of her upcoming Senate hearing. The cartoon, which was published in the newspaper’s print edition Sunday, depicted Ford sitting in front of the Judiciary Committee with her back to the reader. “Here are my demands,” she is depicted telling the panel. “No questions from lawyers, dim the lights, I want roses, sparkling water, a bowl of green M&Ms." The cartoon was mocking Ford, who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her at a...

Barack Obama warned supporters that politicians had “monkeyed around” with elections, during a campaign speech at Kent State University in New Philadelphia, Ohio, on September 3, 2008. Then-Senator Obama (D-IL) said (0:29 in the video below): “I come from Chicago. It’s not as if it’s just Republicans who have monkeyed around with elections in the past. Sometimes Democrats have, too. You know, whenever people are in power, they have this tendency to try to tilt things in their direction.” Obama called for establishing a “voting rights division” within the Department of Justice (DOJ) to combat “voter fraud” and what he...

The Department of Justice announced Friday nearly two dozen foreign nationals have been charged for illegally voting in the 2016 presidential election. From DOJ: A federal grand jury in Wilmington, North Carolina returned Indictments charging the following foreign nationals with false claim of United States citizenship in order to register to vote, and voting by an alien: -Jose Cruz Solano-Rodriguez, age 41, of Mexico; -Guadalupe Espinosa-Pena, age 63, of Mexico; -Sarah Emilia Silverio-Polanco, age 35, of the Dominican Republic; -Elizabeth Nene Amachaghi, age 44, of Nigeria; -Maria Rufina Castillo-Boswell, age 31, of Philippines; -Dora Maybe Damatta-Rodriguez, age 64, of Panama;...

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam's agency told lawmakers in September that the record surge in requests for concealed weapons permits was one of his agency's "chief ongoing concerns." Equipment used to process weapons permits and other licenses was "redundant," inefficient and outdated, leading to higher costs and "greater operational risk." A $13.3 million fix was needed to meet demand, his agency said in a 2017 budget request. That blunt assessment, previously unreported, conflicts with how Putnam has characterized the concealed weapons program amid reports his department mishandled applications for licenses. When the Tampa Bay Times first reported last month that...

In the wake of the bloody melee, a curfew is in place in Lewiston, a longtime gateway city for Somali migrant resettlement. And increasingly, Lewiston, Maine resembles Manchester, UK or Saint-Denis, France than an American city. Police said Thursday a man who was badly beaten two days earlier in a nighttime brawl near Kennedy Park remains in guarded condition. A clash of two groups occurred on Knox Street after teens in a car reportedly drove past the park and shot pellets and BBs at a group gathered there, according to Sun Journal sources who said they witnessed the events. Several...

Police arrested a 19-year-old former St. Catherine University student on Wednesday after eight small fires were set in seven buildings on the St. Paul campus. No injuries were reported, and the St. Paul fire and police departments are investigating. Police had no immediate information about what the motive might have been. All but one of the fires were in trash cans, mostly in women’s restrooms, said Assistant Fire Chief Mike Gaede. The largest fire was a chair that had been set ablaze in a lounge area, which activated a sprinkler system. “That, by far, did the most damage to the...

The Department of Justice issued the first financial report for Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s “Russia” investigation Tuesday, indicating the costs ran well into the millions months ago. The report, which covers the investigation from its inauguration on May 17 to the end of September, shows a total expenditure to that point of $3,213,695. But buried in the report is the fact that the Department of Justice spent an additional $3,546,000 outside the Special Counsel’s budget to support Mueller’s investigation, yielding a total expenditure through September of $6,759,695.

On Friday, Yasmin Seweid, 19, the Muslim college student at Baruch College who lied to police, telling them she had been harassed on the New York subway by white men who attempted to seize her hijab, pleaded guilty to falsely reporting an incident and disorderly conduct. Seweid had claimed the incident occurred on the No. 6 train on Dec. 1, 2016. She told The New York Daily News that three drunk white men screamed “Donald Trump!” and hurled anti-Islam slurs at her, then tried to rip her hijab off of her head. She stated, “I heard them say something very...

Hillary Clinton — the same Hillary Clinton who spent her campaign months talking up the dangers of “dark money” in politics — was just outed for moving about $800,000 of the cash stashed for her presidential run to ANTIFA groups. Pardon, Ms. Clinton, the bluntness of the question. But isn’t that “dark money?” Apparently, Clinton’s been busy using her “Onward Together” Super-PAC dough to back resistance movements around the United States. The Gateway Pundit has more: In building investigations, Daily Caller first discovered that Hillary transferred a mass sum of money from her campaign over to Onward Together: Clinton transferred...

A tweet suggesting that the devastation of Hurricane Harvey was "instant karma" for the red state of Texas has cost a University of Tampa professor his job — making him just the latest academic fired for off-duty speech. The University first distanced itself from sociology professor Kenneth L. Storey on Monday. But a tide of online outrage continued. A #FireKenStorey hashtag spread far beyond the university. Angry Facebook comments piled up. "Don't think this is a school we will be looking at for my daughter anymore," one commenter said. An alumnus wrote, "Good thing I already paid you, because I'll...

The first lady started her morning in Texas wearing a classic stiletto but by the afternoon, the former model proved to the Twitterverse that she can pull off a look with a classic sneaker, too. Melania Trump made her way to Corpus Christi, Texas, alongside President Donald Trump, in a smart white collared blouse with black trousers and Adidas Stan Smith sneakers. The low-cut white leather shoes feature perforated Three Stripes and a color contrast heel tab in black. They’re available for $60 on adidas.com. She completed the look with another departure from her usual wardrobe — topped off with...

Support for gun rights is a bedrock issue for President Donald Trump. The gun industry, though, appears to be taking a hit with his election. Since January, two key indicators of firearms ownership in Florida have declined compared to the same seven-month period in 2016, when they reached record highs. Through July, people filed about 559,000 requests for concealed weapons permits, down about 4 percent from the same period a year ago. Also during that period, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement ran about 139,000 background checks at the request of licensed gun dealers, down about 10 percent from 2016....

As the American left targets historical icons for removal and/or destruction, one is reminded of the way the Taliban destroyed centuries-old Buddhist statues and the Islamic State’s ongoing violence against Christian churches and landmarks. In short, the American left, the Taliban, and the Islamic State (ISIS) hold two things in common. First, an inability to appreciate the whole of history as it happened, which includes good times and bad. And secondly, a tendency to express this lack of appreciation via violence and destruction.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has impaneled a grand jury in Washington to investigate Russia's interference in the 2016 elections, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing two people familiar with the matter. That's a sign that his inquiry is growing in intensity and entering a new phase, the report said. Legal experts quoted by the newspaper say the move suggests he believes he will need to subpoena records