Free Republic

Just when it seemed that the racial tensions couldn't get any worse after George Zimmerman's “not guilty” verdict regarding the charge of the second-degree murder of black teenager Trayvon Martin, along comes Nancy Grace, the host of a weeknight news/interview program on the HLN cable news network, who did her best to fan the flames even higher. Responding to lead defense attorney Mark O'Mara's closing argument on Friday night asking the jury to give Zimmerman his life back, the acerbic host growled: “Give Zimmerman back his life? He’s out on bond driving through Taco Bell every night, having a churro.”

I listened to Rush this morning, explaining how the liberals overlooked how Jeantel's interview on the "crazy ass crumpet's" show last night had warned St. Trayvon to run away from the chicken hawk. Here is the original testimony that describes what she feared. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjaNsWK8oW8 I kept on cracking up how the prosecution kept asking her to repeat "crazy ass cracker." The defense should have made much more of the "rapist" remark, since this was not about the facts, but about social engineering. It is conceivable that she think Trayvon is a hero for saving his kid brother, who was back...

Times reporter Ruben Vives is reporting live in South Los Angeles, where protesters are taking to the streets around Crenshaw and Martin Luther King Jr. boulevards to oppose the not-guilty verdict for George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who killed Trayvon Martin. Earlier, dozens of protesters gathered in Leimert Park for a vigil in support of Martin. Following the vigil, marchers moved along Crenshaw Boulevard chanting "No justice, No Peace." Police estimated that 80 to 150 people began engaging in lawless activity along Crenshaw as they jumped on top of vehicles and appeared to assault bystanders. Some protesters stormed a...

Apart from what the Department of Justice might decide to do with George Zimmerman, there remains one piece of unfinished legal business from the sensationalized case — what to do with the sensationalizer. The death of Trayvon Martin might have fallen under the media spotlight over what it meant for the definition of self-defense and the limits of community-watch programs even without the overtones of race. After NBC selectively edited Zimmerman’s call to police, though, that angle overtook all other aspects of the case, and many other unrelated crime stories with a little more national significance.With the acquittal behind them,...

<p>Zimmerman, 29, blinked and barely smiled when the verdict was announced. He could have been convicted of second-degree murder or manslaughter. But the jury of six women, all but one of them white, reached a verdict of not guilty after deliberating well into the night Saturday.</p>

Pennsylvania's attorney general Kathleen Kane said Thursday that she will not be defending the state in a recent lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union regarding the state's ban on same-sex marriage. Kane, a Democrat, has decided not to defend the state because she is a proponent of same-sex marriage, and therefore the responsibility to defend the state's same-sex marriage ban will now be passed to Republican Gov. Tom Corbett, who opposes same-sex marriage. Pennsylvania law states that the attorney general may pass her responsibility to defend the constitutionality of state laws to the governor's office or executive branches,...

George Zimmerman's prosecutors want to add lesser charges for the death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin, including manslaughter and third-degree murder, possibly because they're worried he'll be acquitted. Originally, Zimmerman just faced second-degree murder charges for shooting and killing 17-year-old Martin. He claims self-defense, saying that Martin punched him in the face and smashed his head into the sidewalk. In the state of Florida, third-degree murder doesn't require proving that Zimmerman acted with some sort of "ill will" or hatred. The new charge, however, does need a felony-basis. In a surprising move, the prosecution argued Zimmerman committed child abuse as...

As expected, the Judge in the George Zimmerman case ruled that in addition to Second Degree Murder, she will instruct the jury on the lesser included offense of Manslaughter, as required by Florida case law. In a surprise move this morning, the prosecution asked the Judge to drop the Aggravated Assault charge and to instruct the jury on Third Degree Murder, which is murder in the course of committing a felony. The felony the State wanted as the predicate was Aggravated Child Abuse (Jury Instruction) because Trayvon Martin was 17 at the time of the shooting. According to Don West,...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: I have here in my formerly nicotine-stained fingers a story from PJMedia.com that just cleared this morning. It's by Bryan Preston. Here's the headline, and the headline pretty much says it, but we'll delve into it. "Newly Released Documents Detail the Department of Justice's Role in Organizing Trayvon Martin Protests." Let me reread that with just a slight difference. "Newly Released Documents Detail Eric Holder's Role in Organizing Trayvon Martin Protests -- Judicial Watch announced today that it has obtained documents proving that [Eric Holder] the Department of Justice played a major behind-the-scenes role in organizing protests...

Washington, D.C. – Judicial Watch announced today that has obtained documents in response to local, state, and federal records requests revealing that a little-known unit of the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Community Relations Service (CRS), was deployed to Sanford, FL, following the Trayvon Martin shooting to help organize and manage rallies and protests against George Zimmerman.

Speaking an event hosted by the conservative nonprofit FreedomWorks, Rafael Cruz described President Barack Obama as being “just like a dictator like Fidel Castro.” The Cuban-born father of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz spoke at length about his life in Cuba, his experiences with socialism and authoritarianism, and the false promises of dictators. Cruz told the crowd of tea party supporters, “as a teenager I found myself involved in a revolution. I remember during that time, a young charismatic leader rose up talking about ‘hope and change.’” As the crowd laughed, Cruz threw them a curve ball: “His name was Fidel...

The Tweet: "SCOTUS VRA majority is four accomplices to race discrimination and one Uncle Thomas. Marriage decision may blur court's backsliding."

Kick-Ass 2 trailerJim Carrey is refusing to support his new film "Kick-Ass 2" out in theaters this August. The outspoken actor on gun control violence took to Twitter yesterday saying he couldn't back the movie because of its amount of violence. I did Kickass a month b4 Sandy Hook and now in all good conscience I cannot support that level of violence. My apologies to e — Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) June 23, 2013 I meant to say my apologies to others involve with the film. I am not ashamed of it but recent events have caused a change in my...

And, he’s quick to add, so should every other president of the past century. A fun clip for many reasons. One: Because Ayers is such a far-left caricature, you can bait him all day long knowing to a virtual certainty what his responses will be. The two RCP guys can’t suppress their smirks at how easy it is. There’s a 99 percent chance that he’s going to call O a war criminal and a one percent chance that he’s going to betray his anti-war ethos by defending O’s drone policy out of pure personal loyalty. Either way, it’s news. Two:...

<p>Short AP articles must be excerpted to 50% at all times.</p>

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Taliban fighters beheaded two boys aged 10 and 16 as a warning to villagers not to cooperate with the Afghan government, local officials said. The boys, named Khan and Hameedullah, had travelled to Afghan army and police checkpoints near their home in the southern province of Kandahar, scrounging for leftover food to bring to their families, the officials said. "The boys were on their way back ... when they were stopped by Taliban insurgents who beheaded them," the chief of Zhari district, Jamal Agha, told Reuters. "Both of them were innocent children and had nothing to...

Chris Christie has appointed New Jersey’s Attorney General Jeff Chiesa, a former federal prosecutor who worked for him as governor and as U.S. Attorney, as the interim senator replacing the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg. “I said on Monday I was going to select the person I thought was going to be the best person to represent New Jersey between now and Oct. 13,” Christie told reporters. “During the last few days as I’ve gotten to deliberate on this decision, it became clear to me that Attorney General Chiesa would be the best person to represent the people of New Jersey...

The Obama administration is secretly carrying out a domestic surveillance program under which it is collecting business communications records involving Americans under a hotly debated section of the Patriot Act, according to a highly classified court order disclosed on Wednesday night. A senior Obama administration official said on Thursday morning that a court order seeking the business records of Verizon customers, disclosed by the newspaper The Guardian -snip- NYT comments The Guardian breaks the story. AND prints the text of the court order! Why does it take a British newspaper to uncover the secret surveillance of US citizens by their...

It's no joke to the Obama administration, apparently. NBC's Pete Williams reported on Morning Joe earlier today that the Department of Justice will “definitely” open an investigation into the leak of the NSA’s data-mining efforts with Verizon — and who knows how many other telecoms — that ended up in the Guardian last night.CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO Shocked? A “senior administration official” tells the Huffington Post that Williams’ report is, er … premature. Williams later dialed “definitely” back to “highly likely”: However, a senior administration official told The Huffington Post Thursday morning that it’s premature to suggest an...

Is it time for Newt Gingrich to drop out? In an editorial published yesterday, National Review, the leading organ of the conservative movement, said the time has come for the former House speaker to leave the GOP presidential race. This editorial is a gut punch to an already staggering campaign. In the three weeks since the South Carolina primary, Gingrich’s stock has plummeted. Coming out of the Palmetto State, he “sounded really bad” in the two debates that preceded Florida, according to GOP analyst and Daily Beast contributor Rich Galen. The veteran pol may have been “sick, tired, or [just]...