Free Republic

A man, accused of raping multiple children in Bucks County, Pennsylvania faced a judge for the first time on Tuesday morning. William Thomas, 58, issued a flat denial to the disturbing allegations during his preliminary hearing. He appeared via video from prison. Thomas was arrested late last week on child pornography charges, and five additional counts of child rape were filed on Monday. In court, Thomas told Judge Jan Vislosky, "I'm scared to death, ma'am." He said he "never inflicted any pain on a child, nor would I want to." Thomas did not have an attorney, and the judge repeatedly...

Something extremely rare in Philadelphia politics happened today: A Democratic elected official who has been under investigation by the FBI announced that he would not run for office again. In a last-minute news conference, District Attorney Seth Williams told shocked journalists that we was dropping out of the primary election because he “made mistakes --SNIP-- Philadelphia Democrats are known for holding onto their dear lives—not stepping aside—when faced with federal investigations

A Pennsylvania lawmaker had strong words for Donald Trump after the president reportedly joked he would "destroy" a Texas lawmaker's career. In a Facebook post, state Sen. Daylin Leach, D-Montgomery, linked to a Politico story about Trump's meeting with several county sheriffs, including Chester County Sheriff Carolyn Bunny Welsh. According to the website, Harold Eavenson, sheriff of Rockwall County, Texas, brought up the issue of civil asset forfeiture.

BRUSSELS (AP) - Belgian authorities say that a U.S. youth in Pittsburgh tried to hack into the Brussels airport computer system and disable it the night after the March 22 attacks that killed 32 people. The federal prosecutor's office said in a statement Thursday that at its request, the FBI interrogated the American minor and said he confessed. The statement said the hacking attempt was unsuccessful and stressed that "it appeared there were no terrorist motives."

Nick Bond, the captain of his hockey team, had scored a goal during the game Sunday morning, but he left the rink after telling his coach -- who was also his father -- that he had a headache. Moments after leaving the ice at the Wissahickon Skating Club in Chestnut Hill, the Springfield (Montgomery County) High School senior collapsed and was taken to Einstein Medical Center, where surgeons operated to relieve pressure on his brain. Bond died Monday afternoon. Coaches and parents said that they did not see Bond take any blows to the head and that he did not...

(Full article title: Out of work: Chelsea Clinton's husband Marc Mezvinsky shut down his hedge fund in December just weeks after Hillary lost election) Marc Mezvinsky quietly shut down his hedge fund Eaglevale Partners back in December. Bloomberg reports that Mr. Chelsea Clinton and his partners are now working to return money to investors, including Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd C. Blankfein. The decision to shutter the fund came just a few weeks after Mezvinsky's mother-in-law Hillary lost the election to president Donald Trump. Mezvinsky has kept a low profile ever since Hillary's loss in the election, but was photographed by...

"You've been through a lot,” he told six smiling members of the Assali family, and congratulated them for their "perseverance." "It's nice to have you here," he added. "Thank you for wanting to come to Pennsylvania." This was their second attempt to reach relatives in this Lehigh County city. More than a week earlier, brothers Basam and Hassan Assali; their wives, Jozfin and Jurfeet; and Hassan's two children had been turned away at Philadelphia International Airport. All had valid visas, but President Trump's travel ban had rendered the documents meaningless. Back they went to Syria.

According to the New York Times, the Church World Service wants Muslim immigrants from the Middle East to feel welcome.  And they seem to think: what better way to make them feel welcome than to put on a hijab and head over to the local mosque for feminist fun and adventure! These ladies, who likely hate Donald Trump for being "sexist," think nothing of wrapping themselves up in an outfit closely associated with some of the worst sharia law has to offer women – the subservience, the second class citizenship, the beatings, the clitorectomies, the sex slavery, and so...

“After the hearing, Thornton described his client as ‘a young kid who was tweeting from his bedroom. He’s very sorry that he ever got himself involved in something like this.'”His targets would have been even sorrier if this poor “young kid” had carried out his plans.Meanwhile, is anyone investigating where he learned his understanding of Islam, or is that question being waved away yet again with the claim that he was “radicalized on the Internet”?“Pennsylvania man, 20, pleads guilty to charges he conspired to aid the Islamic State,” Associated Press, January 30, 2017 (thanks to Creeping Sharia): A 20-year-old Pennsylvania...

Since education policy professor Sara Goldrick-Rab arrived at Temple University eight months ago, she's brought in two large grants, totaling more than $6 million for research on making college more affordable. They include a nearly $4 million grant, announced Monday, under which she will lead a team researching the effectiveness of “completion grants” aimed at preventing needy college seniors from dropping out. Goldrick-Rab is partnering with the national Association of Public and Land-grant Universities to implement the U.S. Department of Education research grant. --SNIP-- Because her plate has been full, she is not yet teaching. She’ll begin with one class...

A good Samaritan was an unwitting getaway driver in a bank robbery after offering a ride home to a man he met in a Columbia tavern Monday. Greg Kreiser said he was just trying to help out the man when he expressed hesitation about driving after having a few drinks, and didn’t mind as the man asked if they could make a few stops on the way.

Federal authorities have identified a Philadelphia journalist as the woman who infiltrated and might have secretly recorded a closed-door discussion of congressional Republicans at their Center City retreat last week, according to law enforcement sources familiar with the matter. After a probe involving multiple agencies, they said Emily Guendelsberger is unlikely to face federal charges in Philadelphia, despite getting past security and into a room in the Loews hotel where Vice President Pence met privately with senators and representatives.

A black University of Pennsylvania student recently declared that his fall semester at the Ivy League institution was “traumatic” because he had three white professors who refused to acknowledge their privilege, and one scholar in particular who “constantly perpetuated these systems of oppression … [that] led to me mentally breaking down in the classroom.” Student James Fisher wrote about his experience earlier this month in an op-ed in the Daily Pennsylvanian campus newspaper. In it, Fisher opens by saying: “Last semester was honestly the worst semester I’ve had at Penn so far. And all because of one thing: the white...

Philadelphia's Commission on Human Relations is ordering owners and staff of 11 gay bars and clubs to undergo anti-discrimination training after a report found that the city’s famed “Gayborhood” has been unwelcoming to minorities and transwomen for decades. The commission released a report last month based on verbal and written testimony from community members that found Gayborhood businesses “are owned by white, cisgender, males who create preferable environments for white, cisgender male patrons.” “Although the expectation is a ‘safe space’ for all LGBTQ people, many people of color, women and transgender individuals experience racism, prejudice and discrimination in these spaces,”...

BELLEVUE, Pa. - Authorities are searching for a man caught on surveillance video robbing a Bellevue gas station at gunpoint. The armed robbery happened Monday night at the convenience store at the Shell gas station in Bellevue, police said. Amber Kalupson was working inside at the time of the robbery. “He didn't take the change. He just took the cash. And as he was taking it, he said, ‘Your paychecks are guaranteed. (Expletive) you. (Expletive) white people, and (expletive) Trump. I have to feed my kids,’” Kalupson said. Kalupson said the armed man entered the store from the parking lot,...

I knew that would get your attention! So, tonight I'm a fly on the wall at the United Way of York County (PA)Campaign Victory Celebration, watching the "lucky" donors whittle down to the final two, one of whom will receive a $30,000.00+ loaded up Harley and the other who will receive a $3000.00 travel voucher from AAA. There are two finalists. I know one of them....Lynn Henry, one of sons of Spring Grove area schoolteacher who lived past her 101st birthday, who followed in his mother's footsteps and taught in the Dallastown Schools for a long time before retirement. And,...

A 20-year-old Harrisburg man pleaded guilty Monday to trying to help the Islamic State group and to tweeting out a list that identified and targeted people serving in the U.S. military. Jalil Ibn Ameer Aziz faces the potential of up to 25 years and a $500,000 fine after admitting to a charge of conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State group and to transmitting a communication containing a threat, both felonies. Aziz, a natural born American arrested in Harrisburg in December 2015, used about 70 different Twitter accounts and an encrypted mobile messaging application to spread messages from...

Many of the dominant images from President Trump’s first 10 days in office make it look as if the country is turning on him. The millions who protested him at women’s marches across the country. The thousands who jammed airports over the weekend to support immigrants and refugees hurt by his travel ban. Nevertheless, it’s unlikely any of this early backlash will mean much to the swing-state voters who sent Trump to the White House to deliver a message that the political system wasn’t working for them. “Is the white, blue-collar voter in Pennsylvania going to be upset by all...

They were called “furry parties,” according to police, gatherings where adult men would dress up as animals and occasionally fulfill sexual fantasies. But on several occasions, according to court documents released Sunday, the strange fetish turned sinister when a Bucks County man allegedly took off his fox costume and raped a boy who was brought to the party and dressed as a tiger.

Authorities in Bucks County make an arrest in a fetish-themed child predator sex ring they say was going on for the better part of a decade. Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said for the last seven years at least four men sexually abused a young boy at sex parties where the men would dress up like different animals. “This child victim was repeatedly abused by a group of criminals who cared only about their gratification, they cared nothing about this young boy,” he said. “This is a horrendous case.” On Friday police in Bucks County arrested 57-year-old Kenneth Fenske...