Free Republic

San Diego police officer Browder killed a man who initially he said was unarmed. After viewing this video, he changed his story and claimed the man was holding a knife, which he wasn't.

WSJ: White House Used NSA to Spy on Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu, Members of Congress, American Jewish Groups Dec. 30, 2015 7:23am Sharona Schwartz Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was the target of National Security Agency eavesdropping which also netted the private conversations of members of U.S. Congress and American Jewish groups, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. The alleged spying took place despite a promise two years ago by President Barack Obama -- after it was revealed that the NSA had listened in on German Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone calls -- that the U.S. "will not monitor the communications of...

A growing number of state organizations seek to remedy what they consider negligent policies and shoddy oversight of public land on the part of federal agencies. Under the umbrella name Transfer of Public Lands, the movement offers a solution to the problem that is simple in concept: transfer ownership and management of public lands administered by federal agencies to equivalent state agencies. These agencies, being accountable to governors, state legislators and citizens, will manage the public lands in a more conscientious, cost-effective way. ... Unlike states east of the Continental Divide, public lands in Western states such as Washington and...

Groups question keeping Four Corners Power Plant open for 25 more years. A coalition of environmental groups has filed a notice of intent to sue the Office of Surface Mining, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and others over a July decision to allow the Four Corners Power Plant to operate through 2041. A coalition of environmental groups announced earlier this week its intent to take legal action against several federal agencies for extending operations at the Four Corners Power Plant and Navajo Mine just outside Farmington. On Dec. 21, San Juan Citizen Alliance, among other regional and national conservation groups,...

The agreement never sold well either in solidly Republican Klamath County or on the California side of the border, where the idea of removing dams and tilting the scale toward environmental and tribal purposes was regarded suspiciously. "They try to say the community is for it, and it's not true at all," said Klamath County Chairman Tom Mallams, noting that almost all successful candidates in the area run against the agreement. ... Among western Republicans, the idea of removing the dams has been viewed with great suspicion, even though the aged structures are relatively small hydroelectric producers, aren't used for...

CHICAGO — How do you make sure police officers are held accountable if most of their full disciplinary records are no longer available? That question is at the center of what might be the next big battle brewing over police accountability across the country, and specifically in Chicago. The recent release of videos showing deadly shootings of black citizens by white police officers in Chicago has many demanding police accountability and has led to a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the patterns and practices of the Chicago Police Department. And now, there is a legal fight over the destruction...

Obama To Visit Families Of The 14 Killed In Massacre As Some Criticize Trip December 17, 2015 10:15 PM SAN BERNARDINO (CBSLA.com) -- President Barack Obama will visit San Bernardino Friday to meet with family and loved ones of the 14 people killed in the San Bernardino massacre. On the eve of his visit, some were critical of the president for not visiting sooner. Some are also asking why he doesn't plan to meet with survivors. KCAL9's Tom Wait spoke to one of the president's strongest critics. "It's almost as like this is like an afterthought, that he's flying on...

FORT COLLINS - New Belgium Brewing has joined forces with Ben & Jerry's to donate $100,000 to a California-based nonprofit that works to mobilize the snow-sports community to battle climate change. The two "B-corp" companies, Fort Collins-based New Belgium and South Burlington, Vt.-based Ben & Jerry's, partnered to create a special beer and ice cream, with a portion of their proceeds going to Pacific Palisades, Calif.-based Protect Our Winters. The companies presented the check to POW on Friday during a celebration at Stoney's Bar and Grill in Denver. ... In addition to fundraising for POW, the campaign encouraged people to...

The UN Climate Change conference is wrapped up yesterday. After two weeks of world leaders opining mindlessly, protesters heckling speakers, and participants enjoying lavish French cuisine, bureaucrats agreed to squander billions of dollars to solve a non-existent problem...[Break]... The accord is so preposterous that even the "godfather of climate science", former NASA scientist James Hansen is ripping the deal apart before the ink is dry: "It's a fraud really, a fake," he says, rubbing his head. "It's just bullshit for them to say: 'We'll have a 2C warming target and then try to do a little better every five years.'...

Al Gore predicted the North Polar Ice Cap would be completely ice free in five years. Gore made the prediction to a German audience in 2008. He told them that "the entire North 'polarize' cap will disappear in 5 years."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday called for "a pause or a moratorium" on resettling Syrian refugees in the United States. Republicans on Capitol Hill are coalescing around the position that refugees from Syria should not be allowed into the country until the vetting process is more thoroughly examined, with a vote in the House possible this week. McConnell said that "the ability to vet people coming from that part of the world is really quite limited." He pointed to a refugee from Iraq who was resettled in Kentucky and later implicated in a terrorist conspiracy despite being...

There is a 2016 presidential candidate who once expressed grave concern about immigrants in this country. In fact, this candidate invoked 9/11 as the reason for their concern saying that while the hijackers may have arrived in the country legally, they overstayed their visa thereby making them illegal. Before you think you know which party this candidate belongs to, let me just say that this person is not a Republican. I know you’re thinking, “What? But Democrats always say that Republicans are anti-immigrant and racist!” WRONG. The person who spoke about the desire for a database to track all immigrants...

Newly released emails show that a senior Defense Department official offered the State Department “forces that could move to Benghazi” immediately during the deadly 2012 attack there on the American consulate. Jeremy Bash, the former Pentagon chief of staff, offered to provide forces at 7:19 p.m. on the evening of the attack, "only hours after they had begun," according to Judicial Watch, which disclosed the email on Tuesday. "We have identified the forces that could move to Benghazi. They are spinning up as we speak," Bash wrote. Portions of the email remain redacted by the Obama administration. "The Obama administration...

Nonsensical Gun Control is the kind that wants to disarm you just when you need it most. It goes beyond nonsensical really. It goes all the way to tyrannical, murderous, and conspiratorial. Former inmate of Dachau, Theodore Haas, was asked by Aaron Zelman, founder, ‘Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership’ “Did the camp inmates ever bring up the topic, “If only we were armed before, we would not be here now”?” Hass responded: “Many, many times. Before Adolph Hitler came to power, there was a black market in firearms, but the German people had been so conditioned to be...

On “This Morning” with George StephanupinhillarysPocketopoulos, Hillary Clinton actually used the phrase “providing aid and comfort to ISIS” in describing Jerry Falwell’s comments against Muslims, which is an accusation of treason. Watch below: She’s kinda saying the First Amendment freedom of speech doesn’t apply if you’re talking about Muslims badly. In a sane America, this would be absolutely disqualifying for the presidency. But we live in Obama’s America. Is there a stealth creeping campaign by Democrats to delegitimize speech against Muslims for the aim of criminalizing like they did in Canada?

The day after the horrific terrorist San Bernardino shooting spree, Attorney General Loretta Lynch pledged to a group of Muslim activists that she would take aggressive action against anyone who used “anti-Muslim rhetoric” that “edges toward violence.” Joe Walsh, former Congressman from Illinois, didn’t back down from the Attorney General’s threat. In fact, Walsh has released a statement to Hypeline News directly challenging Lynch: What the hell does that mean? I have a 1st Amendment right, Ms Lynch, to say whatever I want about Muslims. You want to try and prosecute me for what I say? I dare you. Here...

WASHINGTON — One day after 14 people were slain in a mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid on Thursday blamed lawmakers for not acting on an "epidemic of gun violence" and described the National Rife Association as the Republican Party's "quasi-militant wing." "Republicans must decide if they are more scared of gun violence or the NRA," the Nevadan said. Delivering his comments on the Senate floor, Reid ticked off a list of some of the nation's deadliest mass shootings in recent years that included the young students killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown,...

[..]This ignores the fact of how stupid terrorist watch lists are because they don't do the job the government claims they're supposed to. The Intercept (which isn't exactly a conservative or libertarian publication) got hold of the National Counterterrorism Center guidelines for putting people on watch lists last year. Some of these guidelines includes social media and what 'walk-ins' say, even if government employees are told not to use hunches.So, yes, you might be on a terrorist watch list if you tweet, Facebook, or use other social media sites to post an article someone doesn't like. The rules are so...

More than 50 spies working for the military have come out with shocking allegations: according to them, the Obama administration has taken their painfully honest assessments of the war against ISIS and effectively reinterpreted them to paint a rosy picture of things that reflects well on the president’s efforts against the terrorist group. The spies specifically went out of their way to clarify that it wasn’t just a matter of rogue agents telling falsehoods to advance their own careers. Rather, as one of the operatives involved said, “The cancer was within the senior level of command,” revealing how high this...

Gavin and Tom delivered their fraud right on schedule ahead of Paris, just as I predicted they would. They claim that October had the highest temperature anomaly ever recorded for any month....Somehow, they managed to calculate Earth’s temperature within 0.01 degrees – even though they had no temperature data for about half of the land surface, including none in Greenland and very little in Africa or Antarctica.