Free Republic

Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. said in a television interview Wednesday night that he agrees with the views of an anti-federal government group that recently gave him an award.During a interview on a range of topics with WISN-TV (Channel 12), Clarke was questioned about being named "sheriff of the year" by the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association and an image of Journal Sentinel columnist Daniel Bice's recent article about the award flashed in the background.Bice first reported that the association is the brainchild of Richard Mack, a former Arizona lawman who believes a sheriff's primary duty is...

In Milwaukee, the homicide rate for black residents is 27.9 per 100,000 compared to 9.7 for Latinos and 1.7 per 100,000 white residents. Of known 2011 homicide suspects in Milwaukee, 93 percent are black, while 4 percent are white and Latino. The city itself is 40 percent black, 17 percent Latino, and 37 percent white, according to Census figures. {SNIP} Milwaukee is among the 20 most violent cities in America. The largest number of homicides in Milwaukee occurred in the 53206 Zip Code. {SNIP} In 2011, 17 of the 86 homicides in Milwaukee occurred in 53206. Between 2005-2009, there were...

ATF agents let a man armed with a gun and threatening to shoot someone walk out of their storefront sting operation in Milwaukee last summer, failing to arrest him or take the weapon, the Journal Sentinel has learned. The suspect, Bobby Ball - a felon with a violent history - promised to return to the store and sell the agents that gun and others but he never came back, according to sources familiar with the case. Instead he spent four months on the loose, until he was picked up in Minnesota on a drunken-driving arrest. He is now awaiting sentencing...

Shortly after Barack Obama won reelection in November, New Jersey governor Chris Christie pointed out that Republicans’ cloudy political prospects had a bright silver lining. “One of the reasons you have 30 Republican governors in America, and why we’re the only organization to add Republican strength,” Christie said, “is because people see us getting things done.” Christie’s stance countered most of the elite postelection commentary, which gleefully pronounced the Republican Party’s political irrelevance. But the governor was right. Since Obama first took office in 2008, Republicans have picked up a net nine governorships, bringing their total to 30 states,...

More Muslims than Jews. A nondenominational frenzy. A city brought up on Catholicism and the Lutheran way is reinterpreting its relationship with God.At noon, cars begin rolling into the parking lot behind the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, a plainly clad building at South 13th Street and Layton Avenue. Women wearing flowing jilbab clothes and hijab head coverings enter through the far-right door at the entrance to the ISM and climb a staircase to a balcony looking out over the mosque’s white-walled prayer hall. Men, some wearing ornate taqiyah hats and crochet skullcaps, enter to the left, walk into the hall...

Milwaukee County's David A. Clarke Jr. apparently is far from the only sheriff taking a stand against tougher gun control measures proposed in the wake of the Newtown school shooting. A group called the Constitutional Sheriff and Peace Officers Association says 408 sheriffs have "vowed to uphold and defend the Constitution" against President Obama's proposals. A group called the Second Amendment Sisters linked to the CSPOA list, which includes a posting by Clarke saying those who want gun control have "the mindset of sheep." Two other Wisconsin sheriffs are on the list: Dale Schmidt of Washington County and Jeff Rickaby...

Ever wonder why police chiefs from big, crime ridden cities are always chosen to testify before the Senate about gun control while sheriffs are often ignored? Police chiefs are appointed. They simply serve as politicians and mouth pieces for their city councils and liberal mayors. This is the case in anti-self defense Philadelphia, Chicago, Washington D.C. Milwaukee etc. Sheriffs on the other hand are elected and represent the voices of the people they serve. On Monday Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, the sheriff who sent out a public service announcement encouraging residents to learn how to use a firearm in...

Forbes put Detroit Mayor Dave Bing on its cover in 2011 for a story with the optimistic headline: “City of Hope.” The premise was that the city had hit rock bottom and was poised for a turnaround. “Right now, it’s all about survival,” Bing told Forbes. Two years later, Detroit’s problems continue to multiply, sadly. It is still dealing with high levels of violent crime and unemployment. Home prices, already at historic lows, plummeted a further 35% during the past three years to a median of $40,000 as net migration out of the city continued. The latest blow was Tuesday’s...

Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke is calling proposals to seize firearms unconstitutional and warns of dire consequences if such plans are enacted. “This is about attacking the Second Amendment, it’s about going after the wrong crowd,”. Clarke blasted gun-control proposals triggered by presidential executive orders and said he would not enforce unconstitutional laws. “First of all, to me that would be an act of tyranny,”. ‘So the people in Milwaukee County do not have to worry about me enforcing some sort of order that goes out and collects everybody’s handgun, or rifles, or any kind of firearm and makes them...

As we’ve reported several times before, one of the leading proponents of the teacher/political activist model is Bob Peterson, president of the Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association. The outspoken union leader recently laid out his educational strategy during remarks to a gathering of the British Columbia Teacher Federation. His words are plain and his intentions are frighteningly clear. He wants schools to stop teaching kids how to think and start teaching them what to think. “We do care about people,” Peterson told his audience near the end if his presentation. “We wouldn’t have gone into teaching if we didn’t care about...

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has launched an internal investigation into a flawed storefront sting in Milwaukee marred by a series of missteps and failures. The review was launched this week after a Journal Sentinel investigation exposed a 10-month federal operation during which an agent's Colt M-4 machine gun was stolen and burglars ripped off $35,000 in merchandise from the agency's phony store. U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) on Friday joined a chorus of public officials from both parties demanding accountability from the ATF. Two other congressional letters were sent to the agency Thursday, including one...

A store calling itself Fearless Distributing opened early last year on an out-of-the-way street in Milwaukee's Riverwest neighborhood, offering designer clothes, athletic shoes, jewelry and drug paraphernalia. Those working behind the counter, however, weren't interested in selling anything. They were undercover agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives running a storefront sting aimed at busting criminal operations in the city by purchasing drugs and guns from felons. But the effort to date has not snared any major dealers or taken down a gang. Instead, it resulted in a string of mistakes and failures, including an ATF...

A sheriff who urged Milwaukee-area residents in a radio ad to learn to handle firearms so they can defend themselves is dismissing pointed criticism from the city's mayor -- calling the mayor's response "weak" and telling Fox News "my job is to protect the public." Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke Jr. stirred controversy after releasing a 30-second radio ad saying budget cuts have hurt officers' ability to respond. "With officers laid off and furloughed, simply calling 911 and waiting is no longer your best option," he said in the ad. "You can beg for mercy from a violent criminal, hide...

Scroll down a bit to download the PSA. I can't do a hot link to the file. It's a MP3 file, you can get at the source. This sheriff is one of the good guys. This has gone viral. The lefties have their panties in a wad over this PSA. HAH!! I’m Sheriff David Clarke, and I want to talk to you about something personal…your safety. It’s no longer a spectator sport; I need you in the game, but are you ready? With officers laid-off and furloughed, simply calling 9-1-1 and waiting is no longer your best option. You can...

One rule of thumb when hosting a radio talk show: don’t bring an audio clip on the air “cold,” i.e., without having heard it yourself. That’s probably especially true when you’re guest-hosting for a good friend and mentor. However, after Hot Air reader Tim R sent this to me near the end of the first hour of last night’s Hugh Hewitt show, I asked Duane “Generalissimo” Patterson to check it out for hour two as I was wrapping up an interview with John Eastman on the recess-appointment ruling. In the break, I asked, “Can we use that?” Duane answered, “Oh,...

Editor’s Note: This article is based on “The Machine,” a documentary on that aired on TheBlaze TV Nov. 1 as the first of an occasional news magazine series called “For The Record.” An encore broadcast is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 8 at 8pm ET.President Barack Obama’s campaign team could have more control over the outcome of the 2012 election than you think, according to a report by TheBlaze documentary team that reveals the potential for highly targeted voter fraud in key cities that could determine who gets the electoral votes from many swing states.The potential fraud would be focused on...

Obama's Closing Pitch: Jay-Z, Katy Perry, and Bruce Springsteen NOV 1, 2012 • BY JOHN MCCORMACK Barack Obama will be calling on the star power of some celebrities during his final campaign push. The Obama campaign just announced in a press release: CHICAGO – Obama for America announced today that President Obama will spend the final day of the 2012 campaign in Madison, Wisconsin; Columbus, Ohio; and Des Moines, Iowa, ending his 2012 campaign in the state where his 2008 campaign began. The President will kick off the day in Madison, where he will be joined by Bruce Springsteen, who...

Mitt Romney will campaign in the Milwaukee area Monday, a campaign official said. Details are to come.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel — Wisconsin’s largest and most influential news organization — won’t be endorsing in the very tight presidential and Senate races this year. (Oct. 17 headline: “Marquette Law School Poll finds presidential and Senate races tied in Wisconsin.”) I asked editorial page editor David Haynes about this and he replied in an email: “I’m writing a column on our decision for the Sunday paper. We may post that early (Friday). As a point of history: The JS did not endorse in the 2000 presidential election, and I remember [editor] Marty Kaiser writing at the time that it...

The Milwaukee police officer whose gun went off in Southrige Mall last year has pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct. Michael Edwards, 46, was originally charged with endangering safety by use of a deadly weapon but pleaded guilty Wednesday to the reduced charge of disorderly conduct. The gunfire at the mall happened Nov. 2. Edwards told Greendale police he was was at Auntie Anne's Pretzel with his fiancee when he reached into his left back pocket for his wallet and felt his gun slide down into his pants. He reached for the gun to stop it from sliding down and it discharged. The...