Free Republic

Former Kansas senator and 1996 Republican nominee Bob Dole endorsed Donald Trump for president on Friday, calling for the GOP to unite around Trump in order to defeat Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee. Dole's support gives the GOP presumptive nominee the support of another party elder on a day when other top Republicans announced their opposition. Trump inconspicuously announced the endorsement earlier on Friday at a rally in Omaha, Nebraska, as he ticked off the names of several prominent Republicans who have come around to his candidacy since he became the party's presumptive nominee earlier this week.

When a decorated soldier was told to turn a blind eye in the case of a child who was being repeatedly raped and beaten, he knew it was an order he had to refuse. Now, doing the right thing will cost him his career. . . .

A Spanaway convenience store clerk who shot and killed a shoplifter Friday night has been arrested and booked into jail for investigation of second-degree murder, officials said. . . . The shooting took place at the same convenience store where the clerk's wife was shot in the stomach by a robber in February as she worked behind the counter, police records show. The wife is expected to recover from her wounds but is still unable to work. . . . Kim says the confrontation unfolded when one of the suspects, who had been shoplifting and harassing customers, went to the...

A U.S. judge has approved the extradition of a New Hampshire man to Nevada, where he is to face trial on charges that he helped organize a high-profile armed standoff with federal agents at the ranch of Cliven Bundy in 2014. The transfer of Jerry DeLemus, 61, to Nevada may proceed since no order was received from the U.S. District Court in Nevada staying the transfer, according to a ruling issued late on Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Andrea Johnstone. No date has been set for the extradition. DeLemus is a well-known conservative activist who co-chairs the New Hampshire Veterans...

A self-avowed anti-Islam activist who allegedly participated in the militiamen occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon has been arrested. **SNIP** Ritzheimer first became nationally known in May last year when he organized an anti-Islam rally that was held in front of a mosque in Phoenix. At the time, Ritzheimer called it a "freedom of speech" rally to "push out the truth about Islam," and encouraged participants to "utilize their Second Amendment rights" while at the gathering. When local government and civil rights groups overwhelmingly denounced the rally, Ritzheimer declared "I can't let my kids grow up in...

"When you're in a fight, people just don't like the fight, so they're going to respond negatively," DeLay said on CNN. "It's who wins and comes out of the fight that has long-lasting effects. And I got to tell you right now, out here in the real world, outside of New York and Washington, D.C., these people think Ted Cruz is a hero. They think that those Republicans in the House are heroes. And they think that Obama is destroying this country." Cruz helped kick off the congressional chaos by speaking on the Senate floor for 21 hours in a...

No words

Stephen Hewett-Brown was trying to escape a stalled elevator in the apartment building on Broome St. near Pitt St. in Manhattan, police said. He was trapped around 11:30 p.m. when the lift started moving. "She started going in, but the elevator started going down and he pushed her out,” Coronado said, translating for the Spanish-speaking woman. "He said 'Happy New Year' and pushed her out." It was sheer chance that the man was even in the elevator to aid Sanchez, Coronado said. He was told the hero didn't live in the 26-story building but had come from the Bronx to...

A 15-year-old high school football player was hailed a hero after he was fatally shot as he covered three girls when a man “randomly” opened fire on a crowd in Tennessee, police said Friday.“Zaevion Dobson, a 15-year-old Fulton High School student and football player, was struck and killed after he had jumped on top of three girls to shield them from the shooters,” Knoxville police Chief David Rausch said, appearing emotional as he held back tears during a news conference.None of the three girls were injured, according to a GoFundMe page for Dobson, that said he was “our hero.”Thursday’s deadly...

Isn’t it ironic that a Messianic Jew, Nicholas Thalasinos, was one of the people killed in the terrorist attack in San Bernardino.  Nicholas was a co-worker with the shooter, and had argued with him, saying that Islam is violent.  Maybe that is why he was killed, to show how non-violent Islam is.  He is reported to have been threatened with death just hours before the attack.  The NY post is reported to be using the fact that he called Islam violent a possible reason for the attack.  From facebook, Carl Ludwig: This literally makes me sick.Nicholas Thalasinos was a...

The unnamed police officer told cowering workers: 'I'll take a bullet before you do - that's for damn sure' as he led them through the bowels of an under-siege conference center. They had been hiding inside the city's Inland Regional Center, where not long before Farook Syed, 28, and his wife Tashfeen Malik, 27, burst in on a holiday party and opened fire with automatic weapons.

A little boy by the name of Hal Moore was born on Feb. 13, 1922, and reared in Bardstown, Ky. He had a different DNA – a leadership DNA. Although the family home was in the town, his home was surrounded by nearby woods. This boy loved nature, the woods and even the stars. Often at night, he would lie on his back and watch the stars dance. He practiced throwing his favorite knife into a tree aiming for the exact spot. In shooting a rifle, he never missed his target. As a teenager, he enjoyed competed in shooting contests....

Supporters of Houston’s “Equal Rights” Ordinance (HERO) are predictably crying foul after voters resoundingly rejected their ballot measure last week. Apparently it lost only because bigots poisoned the debate with “misinformation.” Sore losers that they are, its proponents can’t accept that the voters understood what was at stake and voted accordingly. The ordinance prohibited discrimination based upon a number of protected categories, most of which were uncontroversial and already covered by state and federal laws. That was the window dressing. The real issue concerned banning discrimination based on the amorphous social construct known as “sexual orientation” and the even more...

Sometime in the near future, a transgender teenager in Texas will attempt suicide — and maybe succeed — because vilifying people for their gender identity remains politically acceptable in America. The hateful rhetoric of leaders like Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is the latest, ugliest example. Mr. Patrick was ebullient on Tuesday night after it became clear that Houston voters had decidedly rejected a broad equal rights ordinance that opponents maliciously and misleadingly characterized as a boon for cross-dressing sex offenders. [Snip] As opponents of the ordinance celebrate their victory this week, transgender people across...

Houston's controversial equal rights ordinance failed by a wide margin Tuesday, with voters opting to repeal the law that offered broad non-discrimination protections, according to incomplete and unofficial returns.The hotly contested election has spurred national attention, drawing comment from the White House and the state's top officials. Largely conservative opponents of the law allege that it would allow men dressed as women, including sexual predators, to enter women's restrooms. Supporters of the law, including Mayor Annise Parker, argue that it extends an important local recourse for a range of protected classes to respond to discrimination. HERO fails by wide margin...

"It’s [already] illegal to go into a bathroom with the intent to harm someone. And, last time we checked, rapists and abusers are going to behave as you would expect them to behave–without regard for the law, with or without an equal rights ordinance."

A veto referendum on the anti-discrimination ordinance known as the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) will be on the ballot for Houston voters in Harris County, Texas on November 3, 2015. It’s controversial for two significant reasons and is the result of a several year battle between the residents of Houston and its outgoing lesbian mayor Annise Parker. Despite protections already provided by Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Proposition 1 on the ballot reads: Read more at http://constitution.com/hero-zero-protection-for-womens-girls-rights/

Fellow Freepers; I was aware of the support group for SFC Alwyn C Cashe to receive the Medal of Honor. I am sorry to say, that today was the first time I actually got to read what he did after his Bradley Fighting Vehicle was hit by an IED. I believe he deserves the Medal of Honor. For anyone who has been inside the extremely tight quarters of the dismount crew compartment with a full load of personnel and equipment it is excruciatingly tight. Throw in fire,suffocating smoke mixed with expended halon from the fire suppression system, fuel flooding the...

Stone suffered a collapsed lung and had to undergo open heart surgery, according to the gofundme account

A hero former Marine has helped save a mother and her baby from a smoking car wreck in New York despite having lost his legs in a bomb blast in Afghanistan. Matias Ferreira, 26, was driving through the Queens area of New York City on Wednesday when he came across a car wreck with a mother trapped inside screaming for help. Despite wearing prosthetic legs below both knees after stepped on a bomb in Afghanistan in 2011, Ferreira ran to help, climbing into the back seat to free her baby from its car seat. Meanwhile, Ferreira's brother and father-in-law, who...