Free Republic

This report refers to Shannon Watts as one in a group of “regular people” who began advocating for stricter gun control measures in recent years. After the December 2012 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., she created the “One Million Moms for Gun Control” Facebook page. It later became “Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.” We should have noted that Watts has a background in corporate communications. From 1998 to mid-2012, she was a corporate communications executive or consultant at such companies as Monsanto and FleishmanHillard. Before that, Watts had what she says was a...

Erin O’Flaherty made history when she became the first openly gay to win the Miss Missouri contest. As the pageant queen moves on to this year’s Miss America competition in September, she will stand as the contest’s first openly lesbian contestant. Reportedly, 23-year-old O’Flaherty declared her sexual orientation since she was 18 as openly gay throughout her pageant career. After winning the Miss Missouri competition in Mexico, Missouri, Ann Jolly, chairman of the board of the Miss Missouri Scholarship Organization, reportedly confirmed that O’Flaherty is the first LGBT contestant to win the title. “I’m on cloud nine, really, just to...

Missouri has its first openly gay Miss Missouri, and she will represent the state at the Miss America pageant later this year. Erin O’Flaherty, 23, was crowned Miss Missouri on Saturday in Mexico, Missouri, and is the first openly gay woman to be named Miss Missouri, said Ann Jolly, chairman of the board of the Miss Missouri Scholarship Organization. O’Flaherty said Wednesday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press that she came out as gay when she was 18, competed openly and knew going into the Miss Missouri pageant that she’d be making history if she won. …

ESPN announced it will give the University of Missouri (MU) football team a special humanitarian award in July for the team’s strike, which led to the the school’s president being fired and a massive drop in enrollment.[snip]Now, ESPN has decided to reward MU’s football team for its acts. The sports network announced Friday that the 2015 team will be collectively honored at its second annual Sports Humanitarian of the Year awards, which are held in tandem with the ESPY awards. During the July 12 show in Los Angeles, the team will be given the Stuart Scott ENSPIRE award, named in...

The city of Ferguson and other defendants in a wrongful-death lawsuit by Michael Brown’s parents are seeking access to any juvenile records of the black 18-year-old who was fatally shot by a white police officer in 2014 — a request once rejected by a judge after a newspaper and blog sought such documents. The motion, filed this month, seeks St. Louis County family court records concerning outcomes of any Brown-related juvenile cases “or records of any alleged delinquent acts committed by or pertaining to” him. The motion argues that any such information “is reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery...

What is with this school? The University of Missouri seems to be a breeding ground for unhinged progressives, who appear to have turned a vigil remembering the victims of the Orlando attack into some weird lecture about race. The College Fix had the details concerning what Mizzou graduate and activist Tiffany Melecio said before addressing the diverse crowd, namely how she was nervous getting up on stage because of all the white people in attendance. “I was really nervous to get up here because there’s a lot of white people in the crowd, and that wasn’t a joke,” she said...

ST. LOUIS (KTVI) – The carjacking suspect wounded in a shootout near Busch Stadium last month has died. (Follow up story from earlier post.)

Over the past year or so, several major cities across the United States have experienced a violent crime wave not seen since the 1990s. This spike in violent crime, measured by the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program, has confounded Leftist sociologists, bleeding-heart politicians, and members of the media, who constantly tend to blame private gun ownership and the police themselves for increased criminal activity. In fact, one of the prime causes of this problem may very well be the media and Leftist politicians, including the President and his previous and current Attorneys General. And the spark that appears to have...

Whoa !! Federal Judge Orders Unredacted Release of Grand Jury Witness Testimony Including Names In Michael Brown Case… Wow, just wow. This judge is nuts! Has he forgotten the example of Ty Da Shooter? Has he forgotten Jeffrey Williams opening fire on Ferguson police? According to the Associated Press a federal judge, U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber, has ordered St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch’s office to release the full unredacted transcripts from the Grand Jury testimony in the Michael Brown shooting case against officer Darren Wilson. Specifically, Judge Webber is forcing McCulloch’s office to also release the...

In August 2008, William Lesinski walked into a Car Credit City in Bridgeton and made a decision that would be far more expensive than he ever imagined. Wanting to buy his son a car as a high school graduation gift, Lesinski put $1,750 down and drove off the lot in a 2003 Ford Mustang. The loan for the car was $11,367, and it carried 29 percent annual interest over nearly four years. His son would make the payments, but the loan was in Lesinski’s name. After paying the balance down to a little more than $10,000, his son, who had...

"ST. LOUIS (KTVI) – A man was wounded in a shootout with attempted carjackers late Monday night near Busch Stadium, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department said." "The carjacking suspect was admitted to the hospital and is listed in critical condItion."

ST. ANTHONY, Idaho. An Ashton man who took his 14-year-old daughter out of state to marry a 24-year-old man will spend at least 120 days in jail. Keith Strawn was sentenced on one felony injury to a child charge Tuesday afternoon. “While you spend those 120 days in jail, perhaps you will think about the 120 days your daughter was in a vile farce of a marriage to a rapist.” — District Judge Greg Moeller District Judge Greg Moeller ordered Strawn to serve a suspended sentence of four years in prison with two years fixed and two years indeterminate. ......

The following is a list of prominent Republicans who say they’re not planning to attend the Republican National Convention -- based on responses from their offices and previously published reports: Former President George W. Bush Former President George H.W. Bush 2008 Republican presidential nominee and Arizona Sen. John McCain 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney 2016 presidential candidate and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval Wyoming Gov. Matthew Mead South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson Kansas Sen....

The University of Missouri, which was rocked by race protests last year that toppled its two leaders, caused its biggest donors to retreat and dampened interest among prospective students, will spend more than $1 million to audit its diversity policies. In addition to the $1.1 million audit, the UM System also plans to spend $2 million on other diversity initiatives, including the hiring of a chief diversity officer and systemwide task force, the Missourian reported earlier this week. IBIS Consulting Group will conduct the comprehensive audit, interviewing students, professors and staff on all four campuses in the UM System, according...

The conventional wisdom is that Hillary Clinton will crush Donald Trump in the November election. As I detailed previously, a generic Democratic candidate begins the general election with a huge Electoral College advantage based on how states have voted in the last six presidential elections. The count in September 2015 stood at 257 electoral votes for the Democrat and 206 electoral votes for the Republican, with five battleground states worth 75 electoral votes. Where is the race today as we near the end of the primary process? Based on current polling and primary results, Clinton likely would win the presidency...

A well-known activist who played a significant role assisting Black Lives Matter activists and other demonstrators in Ferguson and Baltimore was arrested last month in Prince George’s County and charged with prostitution and human trafficking. Police accuse Charles Wade — founder of Operation Help or Hush — of using online ads to organize meetings between a 17-year-old girl and Johns who paid her for sex, according to court documents. Wade was arrested, the documents state, on suspicion of setting up a meeting April 25 at a Howard Johnson Inn in College Park, where the teenager agreed to have sex with...

Ferguson, Mo., activist Charles Wade, who co-founded Operation Help or Hush, was arrested and charged with seven counts, including felonies for human trafficking, after an undercover cop responded to a Backpage.com ad for sex.Ferguson, Mo., activist Charles Wade, who has been a prominent figure in the Black Lives Matter movement and is credited with co-founding the nonprofit Operation Help or Hush, was arrested in April and charged with human trafficking and prostitution. According to the Daily Caller, Wade was arrested after an undercover officer answered a Backpage.com ad listing for a 23-year-old prostitute. When the officer arrived at the Howard...

Charles Wade was arrested in April on prostitution and child trafficking charges. On April 25, he really got himself in a fix. He was arrested and charged with human trafficking and several prostitution-related charges. The police report notes, that as part of the charges, he is accused of allegedly pimping out a 17 year old girl in Prince George’s County, Maryland. So far, the Mainstream Media has been reluctant to share Mr. Wade’s current legal troubles. The Obama White House has no comment as well. Read more at http://dcwhispers.com/black-lives-matter-leader-arrested-charges-human-trafficking/#KRqBJWXVUZ8eSGVD.99

A prominent Black Lives matter activist in St. Louis was arrested in April and faces charges of human trafficking and prostitution against a 17-year-old girl. The activist, Charles Wade, said in a statement that he was helping the girl, who he believed to be 20, obtain temporary housing. Wade runs Operation Help or Hush, a charity that says it provides housing, food assistance and other forms of direct aid to both activists and local residents in general. Conservative news site The Daily Caller appears to have been the first to run a story about his arrest, but copies of the...

Missouri’s Republican-led Legislature this year passed tax breaks for goods and services ranging from wheelchairs to yoga classes, setting up a potential showdown with Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon over what he said could lead to a hole in the state budget. Nixon said the tax cuts could cost as much as $80 million, but backers say Nixon’s cost estimate is overblown. Legislative researchers project that the tax breaks cited by the governor will cost closer to $22 million in the fiscal year that begins July 1. Nixon said he will closely review the costs and take “actions necessary to keep...