Free Republic

The travesty imprisonment of Orville “Lee” Wollard will continue, with the blessing of Gov. Rick Scott. Last week, Scott cast the decisive vote to keep Wollard locked up for firing a warning shot after being attacked in his home by his daughter’s boyfriend. Police said the boyfriend ripped the surgical stitches from Wollard’s abdomen. The 60-year-old first-time offender has already served about seven years of a mandatory 20-year term. A Polk County jury had convicted him of shooting into a dwelling and aggravated assault with a firearm. A charge of child abuse was included because the boyfriend of Wollard’s daughter...

WACO (September 23, 2015) The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals refused Wednesday to force a lower appellate court to lift a gag order in the case of one of the 177 bikers arrested following the deadly Twin Peaks shooting, in spite of defense arguments that the order was not only improper, but also that the state has violated it. In an order released just after noon on Wednesday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals said: "In this procedural position, we decline to act; based on the complaint raised by the real party in interest (the defense), the trial court is...

Do you remember Lewis "Scooter" Libby? In 2003, the Department of Justice appointed a special counsel to investigate allegations that Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, unlawfully disclosed the covert status of CIA operative Valerie Plame. Yet Plame may not have been a covert undercover agent, based on the formal government definition of that role. And even if she were, it was widely known at the time that Secretary of State Colin Powell's subordinate, Richard Armitage, had most likely disclosed her status earlier. In other words, Libby was in an Orwellian position of being accused of a crime...

A fireman who raped a nine-year-old girl after rescuing her from a blaze then told her he would murder her mother if she told anyone is facing jail. John McGinn also raped and abused his partner, making her feel 'like a piece of garbage', and beat up another girl before giving her sweets to keep her quiet. The young girl attacked by the firefighter did not reveal her ordeal for two decades because she was so scared of his threats. McGinn, 56, claimed the accusations were 'downright lies' and insisted he would rather die than be a paedophile, saying his...

I don't get it. I honestly don't. Call me an idiot; declare me obtuse. I can't figure out the long game of the American left. I've been struggling with the thought for a while. But the answer isn't forthcoming. I don't mean to insult. I'm genuinely asking for clues. The progressive outlook seems negative. Everyone's being cheated. Everything's unfair. And offensive. Especially that. I've lived in this country for 52 years. I never knew it was such a cynical place. Instead of seeking ways to move the nation forward, spiritually and economically, the political left is on an inequity hunt....

link only: http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/kalief-browder-1993-2015

The City of Pearland, TX completely ignored its own code of ordinances in order to assess a fine against me over an animal I never owned. I proved my case in open court, but my evidence was ignored. I e-mailed Ted Cruz because he purports to be a champion of citizens' rights and principles. I asked for his help, but he couldn't even trouble himself to respond let alone offer any assistance. I guess he only supports individuals who can help fill his campaign coffers. Yessir, your tax dollars at work. Makes me proud to be a Texas conservative voter.

Gladiator games obviously are no longer going on in Rome. So when did they stop? We actually know the exact day: January 1st, A.D. 404. That’s 1611 years ago today. And it was because of a saint.

While President Obama frees vicious jihadists and killers from GITMO and refuses to go after the murderers in Benghazi, many brave US troops still rot in US prisons for their actions in defense of this country in Afghanistan or Iraq. This grave injustice cannot stand. It’s enough. Let our sons, our brothers, our fathers, our husbands go. My dear friend and fellow warrior Beverly Perlson sent the following letter to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel on Monday and said: “To all of you who love and support our brave men and women of the military, please forward this email along...

The first steps in a major shakeup of the Ferguson, Missouri police department – including the resignation of Chief Thomas Jackson – could come as early as next week, according to local and federal officials who’ve been briefed on plans still being worked out by city and state leaders. The plan, described by a source with direct knowledge of the plans as “extremely delicate,” said the details are still being hashed out in closed-door meetings between Ferguson city and St. Louis County officials who have sought consultation from the Justice Department, which is conducting a civil rights investigation into the...

What to make of the peculiar situation unfolding just across the border in Tijuana, where U.S. Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi languishes in solitary confinement for the crime of mistakenly crossing the border with his personal weapons in his truck on March 31? ADVERTISEMENT Nothing to inspire confidence, for certain. In fact, Tahmooressi’s ordeal might just confirm many of our worst fears about the Obama administration. [Big SNIP] That he refuses to get involved despite so obvious a brief for doing so—not to mention a legal duty—isn’t just a reflection of his incompetence. It looks more sinister than that. Tahmooressi is...

I'm sharing this here because there isn't a single grunt who doesn't appreciate these loyal, faithful friends and guardians. I also know there are some reasonably high ranked grunts here, and a heck of a lot still hooked into the system who can spread the word. This is truly a vile act. They are not disposable sensor packages with teeth. They are friends. Colleagues. I don't even like dogs much, but having 90 lbs of warm fur and teeth watching over you is immensely reassuring.

Tuesday night the Houston Chronicle published a story about the grand jury that indicted Texas Gov. Rick Perry. Those grand jurors who spoke with the Chronicle broke the law to do so, and they knew that they were breaking the law. They claimed that they were speaking to the newspaper to counter Gov. Perry’s “spin” on the case. That’s not the job of a grand jury, by the way. One of them is a woman named Rho Chalmers. Chalmers tried to get around her lawbreaking by attempting to build this wall of implausible deniability. Rho Chalmers, who name matches that...

I'm not sure if this is permitted, but if not the monitor can remove my post. I'm informing you about my book free on Kindle today, Aug. 11, because I believe it is in the public interest. The book is called: Injustice Hits Rock Bottom Down Under: The Vakras Case. Vakras and his girl-friend are non-Jews but they called out an anti-Semite on their Internet site referring to him as a left-wing Nazi. He sued and a brain-dead judge gave him $450,000 even though everything they said about him was true and their comments were virtually unknown among the public....

A grieving Bronx family is stunned that the teen accused of sucker-punching their father and husband is being charged with a misdemeanor that could result in the suspect doing less than a year in jail. Ildefonso Romero Jr. died days after a teenage boy allegedly sucker-punched him outside his home on Thieriot Avenue in Soundview on June 21. Witnesses said Romero had been protecting a girl from local teens who were apparently causing trouble in the street, and one of the teens punched Romero. Romero fell and hit his head on the curb, and his son found him unconscious on...

There were two things Jesse Ventura was never supposed to win: the 1998 Minnesota Governor’s race, and his just-ended trial seeking a big payday from a hero’s widow. But he was indeed a one-term Governor of an actual state, and now he has prevailed in another improbable arena— a courtroom where he asserted that one of America’s most admired war heroes lied about him on purpose. The $1.8 million dollar judgment from a ten-person jury voting 8-2 is a direct raid on the family budget of Chris Kyle’s widow Taya and their two children. The first half-million will be covered...

The emergence of an audio tape of a young Hillary Clinton bragging about helping a rapist get off easy has jarred her image as an advocate for women’s rights. It seems that Clinton succeeded in discrediting the rapist’s accuser even though she was convinced that he was guilty. When a panel of liberal pundits on MSNBC appeared to agree that Clinton seemed insensitive and cavalier on the tape, the aspiring 2016 presidential candidate tried her hand at damage control. “First of all, let me remind everyone that this tape was made 40 years ago,” she pointed out. “It’s old news....

A U.S. Navy sailor from Washington State is currently serving on a submarine thousands of miles away in the Pacific Ocean, but a judge has ordered him into an impossible custody scenario: Appear in a Michigan courtroom Monday or risk losing custody of his 6-year-old daughter. Navy submariner Matthew Hindes was given permanent custody of his daughter Kaylee in 2010, after she was reportedly removed from the home of his ex-wife, Angela, by child protective services. But now a judge has ordered him to appear in court Monday, or risk losing his daughter to his ex-wife in addition to a...

For the past several months, the Pelletiers have met face-to-face with Justina once weekly in supervised visits of no more than one hour. Now, Massachusetts DCF is denying the Pelletiers visitation with Justina in another blatant act of vindictive punishment. This new act demonstrates DCF's unwillingness to reunite the family and exposes the agency's lack of interest in the welfare of Justina or the Pelletier family. Instead, DCF is concerned with getting back at a family that spoke out against their heavy-handed custody grab. By prohibiting Justina from seeing her family, DCF is treating her differently than all other minors...

A long-running child custody case took a dramatic turn Tuesday, when a Massachusetts juvenile court judge awarded “permanent” custody of teen-ager Justina Pelletier to the state Department of Children and Families. The ruling by Judge Joseph Johnston leaves it up to the agency, not the court, to decide whether or when Pelletier should be returned to her West Hartford, Conn., home. “It’s a huge ruling,” said a person who had been briefed on the decision. “It’s a setback for the parents.” This person said the state, which has had temporary custody of Pelletier for more than a year, has no...