Free Republic

Mexican national and previously-deported illegal alien Francisco Javier Chavez skipped a court appearance last week, after a California sheriff’s office released him. Chavez, accused of beating his live-in girlfriend’s two-year-old daughter so badly he broke both of her arms and her leg, was released from the San Luis Obispo County Jail on $100,000 bail. Police arrested Chavez on July 30, then released him on July 31 — despite the severity of the latest allegations against him, his lengthy criminal record, and U.S. Immigration and Enforcement Customs’ request to detain him. He faces seven felony counts: Three counts for child abuse,...

An attorney for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl said Thursday recent comments made by Donald Trump threaten his client's right to a fair trial, after the presidential candidate called Bergdahl a "dirty, rotten traitor." At a town hall in New Hampshire on Wednesday, Trump referred to Bergdahl as a "dirty, rotten traitor" and appeared to pantomime his execution while criticizing the soldier's release as part of a prisoner exchange with the Taliban. Attorney Eugene R. Fidell said in a statement that his client was unable to speak out in his own defense because he is facing a preliminary hearing in the...

Florida police say four teens hacked a 17-year-old boy half to death with a machete before ordering him into a hole and burying him while still barely alive. Then two of the alleged attackers celebrated by having sex nearby. Desiray Strickland, 18, was arrested Wednesday in the sickening murder of Jose Amaya Guardado on June 28. Kaheem Arbelo, 20, Jonathan Lucas, 18, and Christian Colon, 19, were arrested last week, and reportedly confessed to the crime. The foursome apparently plotted the gruesome killing for a couple of weeks, according to court documents obtained by the Miami Herald. They allegedly dug...

As unarmed security officers ordered them to stop, more than a dozen teenage boys swiped $60,000 worth of handbags from a Buckhead boutique early Wednesday, Atlanta police said. The incident at the Christian Louboutin store at 3065 Peachtree Road was the second smash-and-grab burglary in the area in as many days. The French designer store is less than two miles from a Neiman Marcus Last Call that was hit by suspects Tuesday morning.

Up to 150 people drowned in a river or were shot dead fleeing Boko Haram gunmen who raided a remote village in Nigeria's northeastern Yobe state, residents said on Tuesday.Dozens of militants arrived on motorcycles and in a car on Thursday last week and sprayed automatic gunfire, scattering terrified inhabitants of Kukuwa-Gari."They opened fire instantly, which forced residents to flee. They shot a number of people. Unfortunately many residents who tried to flee plunged into the river which is full from the rain. Many drowned," Modu Balumi, a resident of the village, told AFP."By our latest toll we have 150...

Many U.S. adults, including almost half of Hispanics, believe that taking antibiotics will ease the symptoms of a cold, a new study shows - even though most colds are viral and antibiotics don’t work against viruses. Compared to all Americans on average, Hispanic consumers are almost three times as likely to get antibiotics from a source other than a prescribing physician or to use antibiotics left over from a previous illness, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Using antibiotics when they won’t work, or using them incorrectly, helps bacteria become resistant, making the...

"We are the first group to collect lice samples from a large number of populations across the U.S.," said Dr. Kyong Yoon, a researcher at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, in a press release. "What we found was that 104 out of the 109 lice populations we tested had high levels of gene mutations, which have been linked to resistance to pyrethroids." Pyrethoids are a type of insecticide used for mosquitoes and other insects that contain permethrin, the active ingredient in over-the-counter lice treatment products. Yoon collected lice from 30 states, analyzing them for knock-down resistance, or kdr, mutations. Kdr...

Morale at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is in the gutter, sources tell The Daily Caller. Staffers at ICE find themselves in a politicized culture and are looking for ways to leave the agency for other job opportunities.“There are people at ICE who are just dying to get out. There are often these openings that you see at USA jobs. For any given job, there might be one position open and you are getting on average four or 500 applicants for that one job and many of those applicants are coming from places like ICE,” one source told TheDC.Additionally, ICE...

President Obama President Obama isn’t the Antichrist – but he sure is “paving the way” for him, said some Christian evangelists who’ve been watching the White House in biblically prophetic light with alarm. “Although President Obama is certainly not the Antichrist, his policies are paving the way for the Antichrist,” said pastor Robert James Jeffress, Jr., of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas, Christian Today reported. “While I am not suggesting that President Obama is the Antichrist, the fact that he was able to propose such a sweeping change in God’s law and still win re-election by a...

Christians preaching the Gospel outside a Planned Parenthood clinic in Portland, Oregon, on Wednesday were doused with scouring powder by a man who apparently had police protection since a police officer on duty just stood by and did not stop, much less arrest him.The Portland Police Department later said it would not press charges against the assailant as the incident was deemed "a private criminal complaint."The preachers were taking part in activities at the Biblical Church Evangelism Conference hosted by Beaverton Grace Bible Church, according to Christian News Network.About 20 Christian preachers were on the public sidewalk preaching and holding...

(Newser) – A man claiming to be Osama bin Laden's youngest son Hamza released an audio message calling for al-Qaeda supporters to step up lone-wolf attacks on the United States and its allies, he Telegraph reports. He singled out Washington DC, London, Paris, and Tel Aviv as targets. If the recording, which was shared by supporters on Twitter, is indeed from Hamza bin Laden, it would be the first time he has acted as an official spokesperson for al-Qaeda, according to the BBC. The Telegraph reports evidence from the Abbottabad compound where Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011 suggest...

The son of the former Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden has called on his followers in Kabul, Baghdad and Gaza to wage jihad on the West.The demand by Osama’s son, Hamza Bin Laden, was made in an audio message released by al Qaeda website.Hamzad is believed to be either 23 or 24 years old and the audio recording is believed to be the first such message from him him.Touted as a future leader of the terror network, Hamza is believed to have taken part in attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan as early as 2005.The Al-Jazeera network broadcast footage that...

Before her death earlier this year, American hostage Kayla Mueller, was repeatedly raped by top leader of ISIS, Abu al-Baghdadi, according to counter terrorism officials.

Kidnapping infidels and releasing them for ransom or killing them, as well as enslaving them if that option is deemed most advantageous for the Muslims, is fully sanctioned in Islamic law: “As for the captives, the amir [ruler] has the choice of taking the most beneficial action of four possibilities: the first to put them to death by cutting their necks; the second, to enslave them and apply the laws of slavery regarding their sale and manumission; the third, to ransom them in exchange for goods or prisoners; and fourth, to show favor to them and pardon them. Allah, may...

Just four days after U.S.-led global powers and Iran completed their nuclear deal, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, reaffirmed the "Death to America" mantra that has pervaded his regime since its establishment in 1979, stating, "The entire country is under the umbrella of this great movement." Iran has killed hundreds of Americans in the Middle East, both directly and through its terrorist proxies. It has threatened U.S. regional interests by funding anti-Israeli terrorists, propping up Syria's terror-backing Bashar al-Assad and de-stabilizing U.S.-backed governments. Moving forward, this deal will enable Tehran to threaten U.S. security more directly in at least...

August 14, 2015 ISIS Leader Repeatedly Raped American Hostage, U.S. Finds WASHINGTON -- American hostage Kayla Mueller was repeatedly forced to have sex with Abu Bakr Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), U.S. intelligence officials told her family in June. "They told us that he married her, and we all understand what that means," Carl Mueller, Kayla's father, told The Associated Press on Friday, which would have been his daughter's 27th birthday. Her death was reported in February. Her mother, Marsha Mueller, added, "Kayla did not marry this man. He took her to his...

Two people, including a 14-year-old girl, were killed and seven other people were wounded in shootings across Chicago since Wednesday, according to police.. Tracy Davis, 14, was found with a gunshot wound to the head around 2:20 p.m. Wednesday in the 700 block of North Homan Avenue in East Garfield Park, She was dead on the scene, officials said.

Food banks across the country are seeing a rising demand for free groceries despite the growing economy, leading some charities to reduce the amount of food they offer each family. U.S. food banks are expected to give away about 4 billion pounds of food this year, more than double the amount provided a decade ago, according to Feeding America, the nation's primary food bank network. The group gave away 3.8 billion in 2013.

Having stamped out a number of tropical diseases – including malaria – decades ago, is America today complacent about a rising wave of infectious disease? By Carrie Arnold. 11 August 2015 One rainy Friday morning in March 2015, Dr Laila Woc-Colburn saw two patients with neurocysticercosis (a parasitic infection of the brain) and one with Chagas disease, which is transmitted by insects nicknamed ‘kissing bugs’. Having attended medical school in her native Guatemala, she was used to treating these kinds of diseases. But she was not in Guatemala any more – this was Houston, Texas.For half a day each week,...

Fidel Castro marked his 89th birthday Thursday by insisting the United States owes Cuba "many millions of dollars" because of the half-century-old American trade embargo. Castro spoke out in an essay published in local media a day before US Secretary of State John Kerry makes a historic visit to Cuba to reopen the US embassy as part of the countries' restoration of diplomatic relations.