Free Republic

When Old Media wants to “re-educate” people on how the unnecessary, regressive behavior of self-defense is inappropriate in today’s “civilized” society, it is important to dredge up “experts” to make their case. KVUE did the “best” job, finding a Texas State student to pontificate: "I'm sure it was in self-defense, but I'm very against that because they took two lives and who knows if this kid in the hospital is going to survive,” student Alejandro Salazar said. To his credit, Salazar apparently corrects himself in the comments section. Commenter “asalazar32” wrote: “I am not against self defense i did not...

Here’s the score from an Independence shoplifting case that involved a bag of meat, a wild ride atop a car’s hood and a gunshot wound: • The alleged shoplifter, Loucinda M. Carroll, 41, of Independence, has been charged with second-degree robbery. • The store’s manager, who was struck by Carroll’s car, landed on its hood and held on during an attempted getaway, was unharmed. • And the bystander who shot Carroll will not be charged because he felt he and the manager were being threatened, authorities say. Carroll suffered non-life-threatening injuries. The incident began at 6:49 p.m. Saturday at the...

A shooting on Saturday that claimed the life of a 25-year-old Olympia man “appears at this time to be a legitimate act of self-defense,” Grays Harbor Undersheriff Rick Scott said this morning. Westin Wolff was shot and killed at a remote campsite on Wynooche Lake early Saturday morning. The name of the person who shot Wolff is not being released. While the Sheriffs Office is investigating Wolff’s death as a homicide, Scott said the shooting appears to have been justified. “Homicide takes many forms, including justified homicide to criminal homicide. In criminal homicide there are varying degrees,” Scott added. No...

No charges have been filed against a 21-year-old man who police say was trying to protect his mother when he fatally stabbed the woman's boyfriend during a fight. Houston police said the woman's son stabbed Bruce Simmons, 49, about 9:20 p.m. on Friday in the 6300 block of Skyline Drive. Simmons was taken to Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The case will be referred to a Harris County Grand Jury without charges. The woman's son, whose name has not been released because no charges have been filed against him, was trying to defend his mother while...

JACKSON, MS (WLBT) - Jackson police have identified the armed burglar who was shot and killed while trying to break into a closed business Sunday. The man who died in the shooting was 33-year-old Lorenzo Rodriguez Jones of Jackson. The shooting happened at the Gipson Discount Foods, in the 14 hundred block of Highway 80, near Terry Road Sunday evening. When officers arrived, they found Jones with a gunshot wound to the chest, at the rear of the grocery store. Assistant Police Chief Lee Vance says he was breaking in when an employee who lives in the building, opened fire...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Authorities say a man who shot and killed two men and wounded another in a Sacramento apartment early Monday was acting in self-defense. Sacramento County Sheriff's Sgt. Tim Curran says authorities declined to arrest the 26-year-old man after witnesses reported that the three men confronted the man outside his apartment, then broke in and continued the attack after he had retreated inside. Investigators say during the attack, the man retrieved a handgun and shot all three attackers. Two of the attackers died at the scene. The third, a 23-year-old, was taken to a hospital. He is expected...

A Nashville, TN man used his gun to fend off two robbers who broke into his home Saturday night. Police say that two robbers broke in to the man's home on Lindy Murff Ct. The homeowner grabbed his self defense gun and shot one of the home invaders in the chest. Both criminals then fled to a nearby gas station, and tried to claim that they were themselves the victims of a robbery. The wounded criminal was taken to a local hospital, and is expected to survive and face charges. The unwounded criminal has been arrested. The homeowner was unharmed....

VANCOUVER, Wash. - A 78-year-old man with a licensed concealed pistol said he was trapped by two pit bulls he had never seen before, and the only way to survive was to shoot and kill one of dogs. Albert Gosiak (pronounced like go-shack) said he walked out of his East Vancouver house just for a minute Saturday morning. That's Albert Gosiak outside his Northeast Vancouver home. when he met two pit bulls in his walkway. Gosiak said the dogs were aggressive and he was trapped. He said he acted in self defense when he shot one of the pit bulls....

WASHINGTON, Aug. 27, 2009 – Boosted by a few strong years of testing successes, much of the United States’ missile defense technology that once was questioned is now ready to be fielded. The destroyer USS Hopper launches a standard missile 3 as it operates in the Pacific Ocean on July 30, 2009. The missile successfully intercepted a sub-scale, short-range ballistic missile launched from the Kauai Test Facility at Pacific Missile Range Facility Barking Sands, Kauai, Hawaii. The launch was the latest Missile Defense Agency test in conjunction with the Navy. U.S. Navy photo   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available....

Crook Vs tire iron. This from Today's THV, "Jonesboro police say a man was killed after being beaten by a homeowner during an apparent home invasion. Police say a man armed with a shotgun broke into the home about 11 p.m. Friday. Witnesses told police the homeowner scuffled with the intruder before striking him in the head with a tire iron. The suspected intruder was taken to a local hospital, where he died.

President Obama gave his first “national security” speech in a long time, speaking to the national convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. It was a speech worthy of cheers and jeers. On the plus side, the president sounded spot on making the case for finishing the job in Iraq, winning in Afghanistan, and taking care of America’s veterans.

As I listen to the report of the Attorney General making the decision to go forward with an investigation into the CIA – It hit me, these are the same exact steps that lead to the terrorist attacks during the Clinton years. a. Weaken the defense of the nation. b. Blame America for everything. c. Slowly bleed away support for the Intelligence Agencies. Coming from the “Blame America First” crowd, apparently, in their eyes, the US is not allowed to defend against, interrogate, and/or investigate terrorism or terrorist suspects. The blame America first crowd has roots in this country going...

Defense: Overlooked in the defense budget cuts is the decimation of missile defense systems. As North Korea tested an ICBM, our defense secretary was scrapping a system that could have destroyed it with a single shot.We will miss the F-22 Raptor, perhaps the only plane that could evade the sophisticated S-300 surface-to-air missile defense system Russia is selling to Iran. Russia's S-300 system is "one of the most lethal, if not the most lethal, all-altitude area defense" systems, according to the International Strategy and Assessment Service, a Virginia-based think tank. But the aircraft we and the nation will miss the...

Aug. 14, 2009 A 17-year-old killed Thursday by a man he was trying to rob had been ordered to stay out of trouble in March after he pleaded guilty to taking a woman’s car on a joy ride. Devin Ollie was supposed to participate in a substance abuse treatment program, stay in school or hold down a job and perform 20 hours of community service, according to a deferred prosecution agreement he signed March 23. Less than a month later, Ollie tested positive for THC, according to a July 11 letter from a juvenile justice program that was monitoring him....

A clerk at a Ben White Boulevard convenience store has been charged with murder after police say he shot and killed a man who was stealing a 12-pack of Budweiser early Sunday morning. Jorge Luis Vielma, 22, and another man were on a "beer run," according to police, and attempted to flee after taking the beer. Police say Juan Romero, 23, a clerk at the Shell gasoline station at Ben White and South First Street, fired about a dozen shots at Vielma outside the store as he ran for a friend's waiting Mitsubishi Eclipse. Vielma later died inside the car;...

PHOENIX (AP) - President Barack Obama took on both the defense establishment and freespending lawmakers on Monday, saying they were draining the defense budget with "exotic projects." "If Congress sends me a defense bill loaded a bunch of pork, I will veto it," he declared in a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He accused members of Congress of using the defense budget to protect jobs back home, including on wasteful projects he said were diverting money needed for U.S. military forces battling everything from nuclear weapons to "18th century style piracy and 21st century cyber threats."

Never has Ronald Reagan's dream of layered missile defenses—Star Wars, for short—been as politically out of favor as in the Age of Obama. Nor as close, at least technologically, to becoming realized. The latest encouraging news came Thursday courtesy of the Misssile Defense Agency. The Airborne Laser prototype aircraft this week found, tracked, engaged and simulated an intercept with a missile seconds after liftoff. It was the first time the Agency used an "instrumented" missile to confirm the laser works as expected. Next up this fall will be the first live attempt to bring down a ballistic missile, but this...

Intimidate the CIA, clear the Black Panthers?Examiner Editorial August 16, 2009 President Obama's Attorney General, Eric Holder, wants to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate charges that the Central Intelligence Agency abused alleged and proven terrorists. A successful prosecution under this inquiry would require proof that an interrogator "specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering." Such an investigation has little or no chance of success. But it has an extremely high chance of intimidating intelligence operatives when they seek information that could save American lives. It is extremely baffling why this sop for the Left would...

It was pouring rain just after 1 p.m. Monday, July 20, when a man burst into a Honduran grocery store on NW 36th Street in Miami. A shirt was wrapped around his face as he gripped a black semiautomatic handgun. Twenty-year-old Charles Bell shoved the pistol into the face of a manager behind the counter. Then he demanded the contents of the cash register and cartons of cigarettes in a plastic bag. Next he began herding customers to the back of the small market. But when he returned to the counter to collect his loot, a short, well-built 24-year-old manager...

KNOXVILLE — A home invasion robbery last week in South Knoxville that left a teenage boy dead was motivated by the illegal drug trade, and the homeowner who shot the boy had illegal drugs in his house, according to a defense attorney. T. Scott Jones, who has been hired to represent 17-year-old Zahn Christopher Ealey, said that his client surrendered to police Monday after negotiations with the Knox County District Attorney General’s Office led to an agreement that Ealey will face only juvenile charges in connection with the case. “Nobody’s a virgin in this thing,” Jones said. “That goes to...

An Horry County husband and wife fought off would-be robber inside their business. According to a press release, a man tried to rob Ron’s Busy Corner, 5709 Juniper Bay Rd, Conway, Thursday afternoon when he placed a knife to the back of the store’s owner. Police said Roger Lee Green, 34, of Galivants Ferry came into the store and pointed a knife to the back of the store owner while he was sitting at a table. The owner stood up, struggled with Green, along with a customer, and took the knife away. The owner’s wife was then able to get...

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- A resident shot and killed an intruder in southwest Bakersfield after the suspect shot the resident twice, a Bakersfield Police official said. At 11:11 p.m. Thursday, police received a report of a shooting at an apartment in the 1800-block of Canter Way, police said. Police said they found an adult man outside the apartment suffering from two gunshot wounds to the torso. The man informed officers that the suspect was still inside the apartment. Officers entered the apartment and found Roosevelt Mitchell III, 21, dead with a gun. The victim told them he was home with his...

Updated, 6:55 p.m. | A 72-year-old Harlem business owner used a shotgun to blast four men who tried to rob his restaurant-supply business Thursday afternoon, killing two and sending two others to the hospital with gunshot wounds, the New York City police said. The business, the Kaplan Brothers Blue Flame Corporation, at 523 West 125th Street, near Amsterdam Avenue, sells commercial gas and electric ranges, as well as parts and repairs. The police said that the four would-be robbers entered the business and announced that they were robbing it. One of them took out a Glock 9-mm pistol and started...

Russia and China, two potential U.S. adversaries in a future war, are committed to big increases in defense spending and global military adventures in the coming years, just as President Obama is forcing the Pentagon to scale back. The imbalance has defense experts worried that re-emergent Russia and China will be able to defeat U.S. forces in an air, sea and ground conflict because they will field superior fighters, ships and tanks in the next decades. This week, China announced its most ambitious military exercise to date. The People's Liberation Army is sending 50,000 troops to far reaches of the...

Defense: President Obama dreams of a world without nuclear weapons. Unless testing and maintenance of our nuclear deterrent is resumed, it will be a world without American nuclear weapons.In his Prague speech this spring, the president spoke of "America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons," ignoring the fact that before 1945 we lived in such a world and it was neither peaceful nor secure. We recently observed the anniversaries of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, actions that brought an abrupt end to the carnage of World War II and arguably...

This may be closer to reality than you think You’re sound asleep when you hear a thump outside your bedroom door. Half-awake, and nearly paralyzed with fear, you hear muffled whispers. At least two people have broken into your house and are moving your way. With your heart pumping, you reach down beside your bed and pick up your shotgun. You rack a shell into the chamber, then inch toward the door and open it. In the darkness, you make out two shadows. One holds something that looks like a crowbar. When the intruder brandishes it as if to strike,...

excerpt: The types of defense support which would likely be in greatest demand during a flu pandemic are contained in the Implementation Plan and the NRF’s Emergency Support Function (ESF) # 8, Public Health and Medical Response Annex .28 A review of these documents indicates an anticipated demand for the types of support from DOD listed below. Note, however, that DOD’s ability to support these requests would be limited by its national defense and force protection responsibilities. • providing disease surveillance and laboratory diagnostics • transporting response teams, vaccines, medical equipment, supplies, diagnostic devices, pharmaceuticals and blood products • treating...

An 18-year-old man was fatally shot early Sunday morning at a far West Side home, authorities said. The man, who has not yet been identified, was shot once in the head around 4:30 a.m. at a home in the 5800 block of Cliff Path, said Sgt. Barry Smith with the San Antonio Police Department. Smith said the man and several others had been fighting near the home when another man, who officers said owns the home, came outside. He began to fight with the others, Smith said, and then is believed to have shot the victim on his front porch...

The owner of Tony's Place, a pizza shop in Philadelphia, PA, reportedly shot an armed robber in self defense. Police say that an armed robber entered the pizza shop, which is located on the 2900 block of Frankford Avenue, at about 11:45 PM on Saturday. The robber is said to have threatened the life of the pizza shop owner, while demanding money. The shop owner reportedly grabbed his gun and fired in self defense. The robber was hit, and is in critical condition at a local hospital. Neither the shop owner nor any innocent bystanders were harmed. Armed robbers are...

A Tennessee man has been charged with assault for shooting a burglar he caught leaving his neighbor's home. According to a report in The Kingsport Times-News, Dennis McClanahan, 52, caught Dustin Eads, 29, breaking in to a neighbor's mobile home trailer. McClanahan had called 911 to report the break-in when he saw Eads exit the trailer. McClanahan confronted Eads at gunpoint and attempted to hold him for police. Eads reportedly went for the gun and a struggle ensued during which McClanahan struck him in the head with the handgun. Eads broke free and attempted to flee in his vehicle, while...

A sheriff's deputy said he believes the dog shot in Finley last week was fired upon by a property owner out of self-defense, which is not a crime in rural Benton County. Cpl. Scott Winsor has been unable to locate the person who shot the dog -- which was put to sleep hours after being found by a Finley woman -- but said he's spoken to a witness. "What the witness told us is that the dog had been a stray out there for a while and had been causing problems," he said. After being found by the woman, not...

SDI: If you missed the news, which isn't hard given how poorly these things are covered, our "unproven" missile defense proved itself again last week, when a U.S. warship downed a simulated North Korean missile in flight.The test, conducted in Hawaiian waters by the Navy and the Department of Defense's Missile Defense Agency (MDA), was the 23rd firing by ships equipped with the Aegis ballistic missile defense system. It was the 19th success, including the shoot-down of a dead U.S. spy satellite last year. A short-range ballistic missile simulating a missile like North Korea's Nodongs or Scuds was fired from...

Police say a suspected burglar was shot early Thursday morning during a McCracken County home invasion. The incident happened at about 2 a.m. at a home in the Kevil area. Tthe McCracken county sheriff says a man was trying to break into the home when a burglar alarm went off. The home owner confronted the burglar, then shot him. The burglar's name and condition have not been released.

Bold red headline on Drudge Report. Links to AP story.

In the past, I’ve written articles about the importance of self defense, and how it is the most basic human right. I’ve also mentioned the problem with second guessing those who defend themselves, and advocated for individuals who rightfully acted in self defense. Today I write about the opposite situation, where a citizen has acted in a manner that cannot remotely be called self defense. Hopefully, this will clear up any lingering confusion surrounding the huge difference between self defense and vigilantism. Briefly stated, self defense is the use of force against a criminal, in order to stop the criminal...

Defense: As the failure of engagement with Iran grows more apparent, the administration that has talked very softly may be getting the mother of all sticks ready. Guess we need high-tech Cold War weapons after all.Western intelligence sources have told London's Times that Iran has perfected the means to develop and detonate a nuclear bomb and is merely awaiting word from its supreme leader to produce its first one. Should the order be given, it would take just six months to enrich enough uranium and another six months to assemble the warhead. Time's up. Recently, and perhaps not coincidentally, Defense...

BRISTOL — Octavious Barnes died Sunday still clutching the $1,100 he took from an 82-year-old bar owner before he was shot. Now, three Blountstown women accused of helping Barnes, 24, face murder charges in connection to his death. “As we were processing the crime scene, it became clearer and clearer he (Barnes) didn’t do everything himself,” Liberty County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Brigham Shuler said Wednesday. Jessica Nicole Long, 19; Heather Marie Ammons, 22; and Mandy Allen, 43, planned and aided Barnes in the robbery of 82-year-old Bradley Harvil, owner and operator of the Slip N’ Slide bar, Shuler said. On...

"I thought he'd come in here and kill me," says Bradley Harvell. The 82-year-old Liberty County man got the shock of his life around 9:00 p.m. Sunday night when a man dressed all in black knocked on his door. Harvell lives off of State Road 12, near the town of Bristol, Florida. When Harvell opened the door, he says the man shocked him with a stun device. The intruder then pushed his way into the home. "He was saying give me your money," says Harvell. "All of it. I want all of it." Harvell says he gave the would-be thief...

FERNDALE, Wash. -- A stabbing in Ferndale sent a man to the hospital, but the teen with the knife remains free. A 25-year-old and 16-year-old got into a fight in the Ace Hardware parking lot Tuesday afternoon, said Ferndale Police Lieutenant Bill Hatchett. Police initially arrested the teen, but then released him. “All the witnesses have told us that the adult male was physically assaulting the 16-year-old male, at which time the 16-year-old male pulled out a pocketknife that he carries in his pocket, and used it against the adult male,” said Hatchett. “After questioning him, getting his story and...

GRANTS PASS, Ore. -- A Grants Pass man woke up in the middle of the night, and came face to face with an intruder. That intruder was a bear, and the man jumped into action. Everett Skinner was awakened by his daughter in the middle of the night. Skinner grabbed his shot gun. "I shot him once with the gun and that didn't bother him" skinner explained. "I put a third shot into his mid section and he was still growling and roaring" said Skinner. It took three more shots to finally put the bear down. The bear eventually collapsed...

Police say a suspected burglar was shot early Thursday morning during a McCracken County home invasion. The incident happened at about 2 a.m. at a home in the Kevil area. Tthe McCracken county sheriff says a man was trying to break into the home when a burglar alarm went off. The home owner confronted the burglar, then shot him. The burglar's name and condition have not been released.

PLAINFIELD, Conn.—Plainfield and state police are looking for an intruder who apparently was scared off when a homeowner fired his shotgun. Police say John Gold heard noises inside his home late Monday night and got out of bed to investigate and saw the movement of a flashlight. Police say when Gold couldn't immediately find his cell phone to call 911, he grabbed his shotgun and began loading it when the intruder confronted him. Gold told police he fired one shot and the intruder, who apparently was not injured, took off. ——— Information from: Norwich Bulletin, http://www.norwichbulletin.com

WASHINGTON — The House on Thursday approved President Obama’s plan to kill the F-22 fighter jet. But Democratic leaders bucked White House veto threats on other programs, and they heatedly rejected a Republican effort to strip more than 550 earmarked expenditures from the $636 billion military bill. Mr. Obama and other political leaders had hailed last week’s vote in the Senate to cancel the F-22 as a sign of their progress in changing military spending practices. But in sometimes tense exchanges on the House floor on Thursday, two Republicans, Representatives Jeff Flake of Arizona and John Campbell of California, sought...

DETROIT -- The victim of an armed robbery shot and killed his robber Thursday morning, police said. Police said an armed man attempted to rob a cab driver at the Citgo Gas Station on McNichols Street around 5 a.m. The cab driver pulled out a gun and fired several rounds, striking the thief three times, said police. The man was transported to Detroit Receiving Hospital, where he died. Police said the 38-year-old shooter called police to report the shooting. He is now in custody and being questioned. Police said the cab driver had a legitimate license to carry a concealed...

BOULDER, Colo. — It took three rounds from a shotgun, five bullets from a handgun and two shots from a rifle to kill the 120-pound black bear that broke into a Boulder County home early Monday morning. The bear break-in was the fifth time in a week hungry bears have gotten into Boulder County residences, all while the residents were home. That has wildlife officials urging area residents to take precautions and bear proof their homes. Brenda Fischer's barking dog woke her at about 2 a.m. Monday morning. When she went upstairs to investigate, she found a bear in the...

The Democratic-controlled House is poised to give the Pentagon dozens of new ships, planes, helicopters and armored vehicles that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates says the military does not need to fund next year, acting in many cases in response to defense industry pressures and campaign contributions under an approach he has decried as "business as usual" and vowed to help end. The unwanted equipment in a military spending bill expected to come to a vote on the House floor Thursday or Friday has a price tag of at least $6.9 billion. The White House has said that some but...

Orange County Sheriff's deputies say a robbery victim turned the tables on two robbery suspects. “I was in my bedroom sleeping and all of a sudden I heard a pow, pow, pow,” said eyewitness Barry Quintin. Deputies say Miguel Jimenez was walking into his apartment at Villa Tuscany near Ocoee when 18-year-old Andri Benjamin ran up, put a gun in his face and tried to rob him. But Jimenez was carrying a loaded revolver and a concealed weapons permit to go along with it. He pulled his gun out and shot Benjamin several times, killing him. Neighbor Barry Quintin says...

An attempted home invasion late Tuesday in North Las Vegas resulted in an exchange of gunfire and a woman and an intruder being shot. Police said someone tried to enter a home shortly before midnight in the 4100 block of Karma Drive, between West Craig and Alexander roads, when the homeowner opened fire. The intruder fired back and injured the woman, authorities said. Officers were dispatched to the home at 11:52 p.m. and upon arrival found a 31-year-old North Las Vegas resident with gunshot wounds to her leg. The injured woman said she had exchanged gunfire with unidentified men who...

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - A man died Wednesday after being shot in Murfreesboro. According to police, a young man shot and killed a 56-year-old man early Wednesday morning at an apartment located in the 600 block of Maple Street. Neighbors said the young man shot his father-in-law in self-defense. According to the neighbors, the 56-year-old man pulled a gun on his son-in-law first. Police confirmed that the shooting was classified as domestic related homicide; although, investigators have not ruled out self-defense or accidental shooting. In regards to an arrest, investigators spoke with and released a person of interest, which doesn't mean...

The military will need to come up with $60 billion in savings over the next five years to pay for new priorities to be set by the Defense secretary, a top Pentagon official said Tuesday. The order from Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates is based on an assumption that there will be no real growth in defense budgets over the next five years, a radical departure for a department whose budgets have increased more than 80 percent since 2001. Pentagon officials say new spending priorities will be informed by an ongoing review of the nation’s military posture, known as the...