Free Republic

One of the deputies involved in a gun battle Tuesday afternoon with fugitive former police officer Christopher Dorner has died of his wounds, law enforcement sources told The Times. The San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy was airlifted to Loma Linda University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, according to the sources. Another deputy was also wounded in the shootout near a cabin where Dorner was believed to be holed up in the snow-covered mountains near Big Bear. His condition was not immediately known. The afternoon gun battle in which hundreds of rounds were exchanged was part of a quickly...

While the title says it all, I thought a goodbye was in order. While I've been a FReeper for well over a decade, I must declare that it is time to part ways. While I have the greatest respect for a great many of you, the days where I can in good conscience remain silent about the issues that set me apart from the rest of FReeperdom have past. For clarity, or perhaps catharsis, I'm not entirely certain which, I'll lay them out on the table an call the ZOT™ down upon myself. The racism: I just can't handle it...

Tony Zerilli, alleged to be the underboss of Detroit's biggest crime family, is breaking his silence on one of the greatest unsolved crimes in American historyA man who federal agents say is a main character in the infamous unsolved mystery about the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa is breaking his silence after decades of refusing to answer questions. The reputed gangster says the union leader was buried in a field in suburban Detroit -- about 20 miles north of the restaurant where he was last seen. Eighty-five years old and barely able to walk, Tony Zerilli never thought this day would...

A federal judge in Manhattan refused on Wednesday to require the Justice Department to disclose a memorandum providing the legal justification for the targeted killing of a United States citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki, who died in a drone strike in Yemen in 2011. “I can find no way around the thicket of laws and precedents that effectively allow the executive branch of our government to proclaim as perfectly lawful certain actions that seem on their face incompatible with our Constitution and laws while keeping the reasons for their conclusion a secret,” she wrote. “The Alice-in-Wonderland nature of this pronouncement is not...

Former Democrat Joe Lieberman used his last speech on the U.S. Senate floor on Wednesday to call for bipartisanship and get in a last dig over the controversial result of the 2000 election, when he was the Democratic vice presidential nominee. Lieberman, 70, announced in January 2011 that he would retire when his fourth term ends next month rather than seek re-election. He reflected on his career in remarks that lasted for about 20 minutes, recounting landmarks in his career and changes in society since he became a U.S. senator in January 1989. “When I started here in the Senate,...

Team Obama's Justification For Killing A 16-Year-Old American In A Drone Strike Is StunningMichael Kelley | Oct. 24, 2012, 2:04 PM Former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, a senior adviser to President Obama's reelection campaign, recently became the first person on Team Obama to address the killing of 16-year-old American citizen Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, Conor Friedersdorf of the The Atlantic reports. Abdulrahman was the son of New Mexico-born cleric and al-Qaeda propagandist Anwar al-Alwaki. Both were killed in separate drone strikes last year. A reporter asked Gibbs: "Do you think that the killing of Anwar al-Alwaki's 16-year-old son, who was...

Police say an eastern Indiana man has been shot dead while trying to rob a pizzeria. Richmond police said 30-year-old Freddie McCoy of Richmond was shot by an employee of Mercurio's Pizza about 10 p.m. Saturday. Capt. Jim Branam tells the Palladium-Item that McCoy died at Reid Hospital after being treated by medical personnel at the scene of the shooting. It's not clear from the report if McCoy had a weapon.

As the GOP head to Florida, the literal poster boy for trial lawyers in Florida is endorsing Obama. It is not a surprise. Charlie Crist was Barack Obama’s favorite Republican for the longest time. They stood shoulder to shoulder in support of the stimulus. RedState played a great role in helping beat Charlie Crist. Marco Rubio is such an improvement But I do hope Charlie Crist gets a speaking role at the Democratic National Convention. They could use a refreshing voice such as Crist’s. See, Charlie Crist has long maintained Todd Akin’s abortion position — no exceptions except life...

KHARTOUM: Up to 31 people including at least one Sudanese minister were killed when a plane taking them to an Islamic festival crashed in the south of the country, an official and state media said on Sunday. The plane went down in mountains around Talodi, a town in the border state of South Kordofan, while taking a government delegation there to celebrate the festival marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, state news agency SUNA said. State television reported that 26 passengers were killed, among them Guidance and Endowments (religious affairs) Minister Ghazi al-Sadeq. Abdel Hafiz Abdel...

August 8, 2012 (MILWAUKEE) (WLS) -- Wade Michael Page died of a self-inflicted gunshot after opening fire at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin on Sunday.

Did you know the government publishes a quarterly list of every individual who renounces his or her citizenship? The Wall Street Journal's infographics team decided to crunch the data and came up with a chart tracking the growth of how many Americans no longer wish to be so. The results are fairly striking:  WSJ.com The accompanying article by Laura Sanders notes that in 2010, Congress passed a law requiring foreign financial institutions to certify that U.S. taxpayers aren't hiding money in them as a condition for being allowed to do business here.

An announcement from Rep. Ron Paul indicates that the Republican presidential candidate will no longer actively campaign for the GOP nomination, but will continue to work to secure delegates at upcoming Republican state conventions. "Moving forward, however, we will no longer spend resources campaigning in primaries in states that have not yet voted," said Paul, in a statement released Monday afternoon. "Doing so with any hope of success would take many tens of millions of dollars we simply do not have."

The last surviving founder of the Sandinista guerrilla movement that overthrew Nicaragua's U.S.-backed right-wing dictatorship in 1979 has died. Tomas Borge Martinez was 81. First Lady Rosario Murillo said in a simultaneous broadcast on Radio Ya and other stations that Borge Martinez died late Monday.

A French Muslim leader says a 31-year-old worshipper believed to have mental troubles entered a mosque in northern France and beat two men with a baseball bat, killing one and badly wounding the other.

Rep. David Dreier, R-San Dimas, announced today he will not seek reelection The rules committee chairman made the announcement on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. "Mr. Speaker, I have chosen to leave Congress at the end of this term," Dreier said. "I take the unusual step of announcing this from the floor of Congress for two reasons. First, this is where my fellow Californians sent me to represent them. Second, I am a proud institutionalist, and I believe that this institution is as great as it has ever been." Dreier currently represents the 26th District, which has...

German chemical company BASF today (16 January) announced that it is stopping production of genetically-modified (GM) crops for the European market, citing hostility from consumers as the reason for the decision. “There is still a lack of acceptance for this technology in many parts of Europe — from the majority of consumers, farmers and politicians,” said Stefan Marcinowski, a member of BASF's board. “It does not make business sense to continue investing in products exclusively for cultivation in this market.” The company will move its plant-science unit from Limburgerhof in Germany to the United States. It will also close other...

Seven teenage boys were packed into the Toyota Corolla, sitting on top of each other, when the car pulled over on the 1500 block of East Luzerne Street in Juniata Park. It was about 10:30 Tuesday night, and the youths were looking for a fight, police said. It had started in school with an argument between some of the friends in the car and three teenage brothers, spilled onto Facebook with threats, and escalated into plans to settle the matter with a physical battle. As the teens waited in the car, a man in a gray hoodie came out of...

PARIS — The death of Osama bin Laden last year severely damaged Al-Qaeda’s finances and left the shadowy network struggling to survive in the mountains of Pakistan and Afghanistan, analysts say. Deprived of its historic leader, whose legendary name drew in generous contributions from rich families in the Gulf, Al-Qaeda’s money troubles have forced it to scale down its activities, they said. “When Osama was alive, Al-Qaeda had more money,” said a senior security official in in the northwestern Pakistan city of Peshawar.... Zawahiri has neither the stature, the influence nor the networks to collect funds from Gulf donors and...

  1-5-01 Kid didn't know it was '02 yet. I have prepared this statement in regards to the act I am about to commit. First of all, Osama bin Laden is absolutely justified in the terror he has caused on 9-11. He has brought a mighty nation to its knees! God blesses him and the others who helped make September 11th happen. The U.S. will have to face the consequences for its horrific actions against the Palestinian people and (illegible, could be Iraq?) by its allegiance with the monstrous Israelis who want nothing short of world domination! You will ...

Des Moines, Iowa (CNN) – Rick Perry's "re-assessing" phase will apparently last through the remainder of the week. After his disappointing fifth place finish in the Iowa caucuses, the Texas governor has scrapped his entire campaign schedule and will return to Austin to ponder whether to forge ahead with his bid.