Free Republic

Charlotte Mills, the county’s election administrator, says Republican state Sen. Jedediah Hinkle was removed from the area where election officials were tallying votes Wednesday afternoon. Hinkle was vying for reelection of Senate District 32 against Democratic challenger Pat Flowers, and candidates aren’t allowed in the area where ballots are being counted. According to unofficial results posted Thursday, Hinkle was defeated by challenger Pat Flowers, a Democrat, by 338 votes. A photo in Thursday’s Chronicle shows Hinkle hunched over a stack of ballots. The caption incorrectly states that Hinkle is an election official and was searching through the uncounted ballots. Mills...

Goodbye to my friend, my role model and the greatest public servant I know, New Jersey Democrat Senator Frank Lautenberg, who died Monday at age 89. Goodbye to the last member of the Greatest Generation in the United States Senate and the last of the liberal lions. Goodbye to the man who is likely responsible for saving more lives than any other politician of his generation. In 2000, Lautenberg retired from the senate seat he loved so dearly and instantly regretted it. After all, this was the man who had authored laws that prevented tens of thousands of deaths from...

A New Jersey cop who was spotted sleeping in his patrol car last summer has now lost a loaded handgun, according to his lawyer. Trenton Police Officer Richard Takach misplaced the Glock semi-automatic handgun in the city's West Precinct parking lot around 3 a.m. on Monday, his attorney Stuart Alterman said. "It's not a sign of him being careless," Alterman added. "It was an accident. Nobody intentionally loses a weapon. He was changing in and out of his duty uniform to his street clothes. He was transferring his weapon from his duty holster to an off-duty holster. And unfortunately he...

The Boston trolley driver who reportedly crashed his train while text-messaging his girlfriend is a transgender 24-year-old who had a female-to-male sex change, FOX News has confirmed. Trolley driver Aiden Quinn changed the sexual designation on his driver's license and was once known as Georgia Ann Quinn, said Anne Dufresne, public relations director for the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles. Per Massachusetts law applicants must provide medical records confirming a gender change for the status to be reflected in official documents.

Dear Congressman Hunter, Welcome back to the private sector. Having had the opportunity to talk to you a number of times, I know that you are looking forward to doing some "real" work for a few years before you retire. I wish you well in the construction business. But I want to thank you for your service to the country. Frankly, the vast majority of politicians in DC provide nothing but disservice to our nation, including most republicans. But you, on the other hand, have been a national treasure. A true Reaganite from the beginning, you never wavered from your...

FBI's use of deadly force demands accountability By David SimonOriginally published March 14, 2002 HERE'S A fundamental truth about police work in America: In this country, only a law enforcement officer has the authority to use deadly force against fellow citizens in time of peace. As a well-armed society, we find it necessary to arm our law officers as a consequence and to accept that they will have to use those weapons as an act of personal deliberation. This is an extraordinary right. But on foot patrol, in a radio car, on drug raids or during car stops, there...