Free Republic

As the nation struggles to come to grips with the opioid crisis and all of the families impacted by this lethal threat, Democrats in Ohio are more concerned with wooing the support of the drug dealer lobby. Issue 1 is the initiative on the ballot on November 6 calling for a statewide constitutional amendment titled the “Drug and Criminal Justice Policies Initiative.” It should’ve been called the “Drug Dealer Amnesty Act.” Issue 1 is disguised as prison reform to emphasize drug treatment over incarceration. I say “disguised” because Issue 1 is really about increasing Democrat voter turnout — not promoting...

Mainstream now means teaching LGBT to second-graders. On July 14 the California board of education added LGBT mandates to the state’s new K-12 social studies program, revised for the first time in ten years. This ended a long struggle over school-based Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender studies, playing out for decades inside and outside the state. The San Francisco Chronicle called the event “a landmark move that puts the ongoing LGBT civil rights fight into the mainstream of public education.” The newly adopted state curriculum is “not only acknowledging diversity,” commented state superintendent of public instruction Tom Torlakson with customary...

Rep. Tony Cardenas on Sunday defended President Obama against charges that he betrayed Hispanic voters when he decided to delay executive action on immigration until after the midterm elections. Cardenas, a California Democrat, conceded that Hispanics were frustrated with Obama and disappointed with his decision. But the congressman blamed House Republicans, who have blocked consideration of a bipartisan immigration reform bill that passed the Senate last year, for “forcing” Obama into the position of having to take potentially unpopular unilateral action to legalize a portion of the 11 million illegal immigrants currently residing in the U.S.

It took a little while to realize that Sen. Elizabeth Warren was standing right in front of us. RootsCamp, the annual “unconference” that sequesters thousands of hopeful progressive activists in the Washington Convention Center, kicked off with an hour of punchy, concise speeches. Almost none of the press had arrived in the plenary ballroom when the freshman Massachusetts senator, the one they keep writing will-she-run-for-president tales about, got up for an unscheduled 9-minute address. “I wanted to be with people who get things done!” said Warren. No one had announced her name, and she didn’t give it—none of that was...

A PEDOPHILE who broke into a Brisbane family's home, stripped naked and molested a three-year-old girl and took indecent photographs of the toddler as she slept has received a combined jail term of effectively eight years. The Brisbane District Court was told Craig Anthony Ellis broke into the family's Aspley home on Brisbane's northside and sexually assaulted the toddler on January 21, 2009. Ellis, then aged 29, tried to flee when the girl's parents were awoken by their daughter's muffled cries - resulting in the toddler's father crash tackling the naked intruder while the mother struck the pedophile with an...

I am 24, live with my parents, can’t find work and am floundering in a sea of debt five figures high. I think of myself as ambitious, independent and hardworking. Now I’m dependent, unemployed and sleeping under the same Super Mario ceiling fan that I did when I was 7. How did this happen? I did what every upstanding citizen is supposed to do. I went to college. I took out loans so I could enroll at Alfred University, a pricey private school. The next year, I transferred to the more finance-friendly University at Buffalo, where I could commute from...

The gravesite of a Southeast Texas Marine killed in Iraq has been vandalized just days after hundreds of mourners turned out for his funeral. Lance Cpl. Jeremy Burris of Liberty was 22. Burris died Oct. 8 when an explosive device went off in the Al Anbar province. His services were held Tuesday. Workers at Cooke Memorial Cemetery on Friday discovered flags and posters had been torn apart, plus flowers were cast aside. The incident is under investigation.

One of the Hard Left's most prominent subversive groups is the target of a corruption investigation by the Pennsylvania State Attorney General. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that a whistleblower alleged the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), commonly referred to as the Quakers, diverted funds bequethed to it for medical scholarships to other activities, most likely pro-illegal alien assistance and war resistance. The AFSC is at the center of the Hard Left's network of groups many consider anti-American, including United for Peace and Justice and MoveOn.org. Over the years, the Quakers have been the darling of the Hollywood Left and intellectual...

FORT COLLINS, Colorado (CNN) -- The editor-in-chief of Colorado State University's newspaper will keep his job after he published a four-word column that said, "Taser this: F**k Bush." The CSU Board of Student Communications met Thursday for nearly four hours in a closed hearing before deciding to admonish instead of fire Rocky Mountain Collegian editor-in-chief David McSwane. Speaking for the board that oversees student media, CSU faculty member Jim Landers read a prepared statement and refused to comment further. "We see the editorial as an opinion which is protected by the First Amendment," Landers read. However, Landers said the board...

<p>I called the USMC Officer Recruiting Office at Berkeley and expressed my support to one of the recruiters. H asked how I knew about the situation, and I told him your blog was my source. He said the Pinkos vowed they would be back on the weekends and during the week, every week, until the office is shut down. They went to the landlord of the building and have been harassing him, and he may complain to the city/mayor about it, as other building tenants do not appreciate their antics since it interferes with their businesses. The recruiter hoped that more support would come in and that the word would be spread. He said earlier this week, some Gold Star and Blue Star family members came to the office to show support. One of the family members was a father whose Marine son had died in Fallujah. A man with the Pinkos said to him, “How does it feel to have your son die for oil?” Tensions, of course, were very high and there was almost a fight. I know that I could not hold my temper (and tongue) as these Marines are doing. I despise what these harridans are doing. Question their patriotism? There’s no question about their patriotism.</p>

The biggest news yesterday came before General David Petraeus or Ambassador Ryan Crocker uttered a single word in the hearings on progress in Iraq.And it came in the form of a newspaper ad, paid for by MoveOn.org. The ad, which accused Petraeus of "cooking the books for the White House", was roundly condemned by Republicans who time and again in the hearings held up the ad in the New York Times and called on Democrats to condemn it. The statement from RNC spokesman Mike Duncan was typical of the rhetoric: "Will Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and the rest of the...

A bill removing words such as idiot, lunatic and insane from the pages of the Ohio Revised Code got final approval from the Senate today. Ohio law refers to an idiot nine times. The word lunatic appears six times, while more than 50 instances of the term insane can be found in decades-old laws written to describe people suffering from a mental illness. House Bill 53, which passed 32-0, will remove those words and others, replacing them with inoffensive phrases. Gov. Ted Strickland will sign the bill, a spokesman said. The changes will make Ohio law more sensitive and "help...

Young people have been running amok at Sacramento showings of "Coach Carter," the Samuel L. Jackson film about a Richmond basketball coach who straightens out wayward students. Rachel Kahan was at a Century Stadium 14 showing on Arden and Ethan when a riot broke out. "Kids were beating up a security guard, and they attacked the manager," she said. "It was awful. And what makes it worse was that the behavior was exactly what the character Coach Carter is fighting against." Other showings have been disrupted by shouts and threats from boozed up fans. Paramount Pictures, which distributes "Coach Carter,"...

Bruce Martin, a 52 year old who's been homeless on and off for the past few years admitted he hadn't bothered voting in too many elections.'I don't have an address, man,' he said, sitting crosslegged on the grounds of the Community Drop In Center, 214 W. 10th Street. 'I sleep on the rooftops,' Martin said. 'That makes it kind of hard to register.' Not anymore. With some help, Martin along with about a dozen other transient men and women, registed to vote on Monday. 'They can use the Community Drop In Center address if they want to. It's OK,' said...