Free Republic

DETROIT (AP) - An imprisoned hit man has signed a chilling affidavit taking responsibility for four murders at a Detroit drug house in a renewed effort to free a young man who pleaded guilty to the same killings at age 15, attorneys said Wednesday. Davontae Sanford was just 14, illiterate and blind in one eye when he walked up to police at the murder scene in 2007 and immediately became a suspect. He eventually pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sent to prison, but a new legal team from two law schools wants the conviction thrown out. The affidavit...

Unarmed father of three shot dead by police on live TV after leading them on high-speed chase in which he claimed he had a child in his backseat Frank Ernest Shepherd, III of Houston, Texas was shot dead by police after leading them on a 20 minute high-speed chase The chase ended when Shepherd crashed into another car He then got out of the vehicle and reached into the backseat, and was shot moments later No weapons were found in the car and it is not known what Shepherd was reaching for Shepherd was a father of three with another...

Greetings, The Center for California Studies is advertising for applications for our Visiting Scholar Program. This program provides a selected scholar or researcher administrative and organizational support to further their research as it relates to California democracy, politics, and governance. The Visiting Scholar is a non-paying, non-benefit one year position. Applications are due by Friday April 17, 2015. To learn more about our program please visit http://www.csus.edu/calst/visiting_scholar.html. Please see the attached description and application for more information, and fax or scan and email completed application to: 916-278-5199 or brian.aguilar@csus.edu. Claire A. Bunch Coordinator, Fellows Outreach and Special Projects Capital Fellows...

The father of Sam Griner, better known from the "success kid" viral meme, is seeking help in finding a life-saving kidney donor while also raising money for the costly medical expenses that follow. For years an adorable toddler meme dubbed the "success kid" has delivered countless laughs and smiles across the Internet. Now the actual boy's father needs the Internet's help. Justin Griner, whose photograph of his then 11-month-old son Sam clenching a sandy fist in the air has been shared and edited numerous times, is now in dire need of a kidney transplant. "One can only survive with no...

At the end of 2014, Nikon issued a notice saying that fake D800E DSLRs have been discovered during service center repairs. Technicians found that the cameras were actually ordinary D800 DSLRs (a few hundred dollars cheaper) that had their covers replaced with D800E shells. Nikon issued an update today saying that other models are being faked as well, namely the D610 and D4S

The Meitivs continued allowing their children some independence until Sunday, when the couple dropped the kids off at a park so they could play after a six-hour drive back from upstate New York, telling them to be home by 6 p.m. Danielle Meitiv said she and her husband began worrying when the kids weren't home by 6:30, but that Child Protective Services didn't call them until 8 p.m. to say the children were in their custody. Police had picked them up on the walk home after another concerned citizen called.

By today’s safety standards, every baby boomer should have been dead by the time we were 12. We defied danger on a daily basis. We never knew that we were doing risky things, of course; we just thought that we were having fun. Nonetheless, we spent our days immersed in activities that we’d never for a second allow our children or grandchildren to do. Or even think about doing. Here are some of the ways we courted trouble:

I think this link will work - it's a FB link, but public and requires no login/registration: He shoots... The live cam link is here.

CNSNews.com) - The U.S. Justice Department issued a stern reminder on Monday that when it comes to income taxes, "no one is above the law or below the radar." And to reinforce that message, the DOJ news release listed 23 cases where the government successfully prosecuted tax cheats. In one case, a California man was sent to prison for 55 months for selling fraudulent tax products; other cases involved the under-or concealing of income, the skimming of cash receipts, failure to pay tax due, filing false returns, and transferring assets to avoid taxes. The people named in those 23 cases...

Okay maybe I’m just a little excited here but I think this is a great clip that showcases Ted Cruz’s prowess on the issues, and in this case the Second Amendment, background checks and public opinion versus the Constitution. And he’s not afraid to say why the Second Amendment really exists, and it’s not to go hunting with your pals. WATCH VIDEO

Click here for video. King Kong's got nothing on her. A chimp being filmed by a drone for a television show based out of a zoo in the Netherlands decided she wasn't too keen on the invasion of privacy and swatted the drone from the sky, but the finished film was "special" nonetheless, according to the zoo. When a drone hovered over the chimpanzee exhibit at Burger's Zoo, while filming "Burgers' Zoo Natuurlijk" Friday, "the intelligent primates immediately discovered the spying little plane and right away armed themselves with long sticks against this inquisitive electronic intruder," the zoo's website said....

ALPINE — In the wide-open Big Bend, where private property rights are sacrosanct and a “no trespassing” sign means just that, unwelcome interlopers, from nosy environmentalists to federal employees, always have been quickly sent packing. Thus, the news that a couple of billionaire businessmen intend to run a large natural gas pipeline through 143 miles of mostly private ranch land to the Mexican border has folks here in shock. “We are all under the impression that private property is private property. You go to talking about condemning something by eminent domain, you’ll get shot in this part of the country,”...

BAY COUNTY, Fla. – Two college students are under arrest after police found cell phone video allegedly showing the gang rape of an intoxicated teen outside a popular Panama City Beach bar during spring break. Hundreds stood by in “broad, open daylight” as the 19-year-old woman, who appeared to be passed out on a chair behind the Spinnaker Beach Club, was sexually assaulted by one man after another, Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen told AL.com. Many watched, some recording with their phones — but no one tried to intervene, officials said.

An Oregon school district has agreed to pay $225,000 to three girls who claimed in a lawsuit they were bullied into sending nude photos of themselves to boys at their middle school. The girls alleged in a 2013 “sextortion” lawsuit against the Clatskanie School District that the boys traded the embarrassing pictures like baseball cards and that school officials told them to “suck it up” when they complained. “I feel like it made me have to fight battles I shouldn’t have to fight, especially at such a young age, but I feel it made me stronger,” one of the girls,...

It's been a while since I've been on here, but decided to check back in to see what FR thinks of the potential Republican field for 2016. Frankly, I'm pretty excited: Ted Cruz - A+ conservative pick Rand Paul - named after Ayn Rand, and son of Ron Paul, what could go wrong? :) Would definitely love to see the country move more in the libertarian direction. Marco Rubio - B+ due to immigration stance, but still a strong republican Scott Walker - A+ union buster. Rick Perry - A+ Good guy from a good state with executive experience Chris...

A Florida teen says he's finally found home almost two years after his plea at church for a family to adopt him generated 10,000 inquiries. Davion Navar Henry Only was born in prison, raised in foster care and never felt wanted before taking the pulpit at St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church in 2013 to ask for help. Of all the inquiries nationwide, a minister's family in Ohio seemed like the best fit. But when Davion got into a fight with one of the minister's children, he was sent back to Florida's foster care system. The 16-year-old then reached out to...

Does anyone here have any knowledge of the commodity market? there seems to be a lot of activity with copper and I am interested to see what the professionals think about it, since I do live in the "COPPER STATE." Thanks in advance.

Associate Professor in Organic Chemistry Maurie Trewhella, of Victoria University (Australia), has just made a stunning claim about global warming, in a letter to the editor. According to Trewhella; Ian Dunlop’s warning (Comment, 7/4) is especially sobering. The slowing of atmospheric temperature rise over the past 15 years or so, used by climate change sceptics to debunk the work of the IPCC, is, on the contrary, evidence that the solar energy delivered to the Earth is being absorbed by the oceans. The Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets are acting as giant dampers to contain temperature rise in the oceans. When...

Pro tip: Don’t fly your camera drone too close to chimpanzees. They might knock it out of the air using a stick. That’s what happened to one camera drone user over in the Netherlands while flying a drone in a zoo’s chimpanzee habitat. One of the chimps decided that “enough is enough”