Free Republic

NEWS Suspect in UC Merced stabbing ID'd as 18-year-old Faisal Mohammad of Santa Clara KGO Updated 4 mins ago Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke has confirmed the suspect in Wednesday's stabbing at UC Merced has been identified as Faisal Mohammad, an 18-year-old from Santa Clara. UC Merced is under a precautionary lockdown after a male student stabbed four people and the suspect was shot to death by police. Investigators say it started with a fight Wednesday morning inside a classroom. The suspect pulled a knife and then took his attack outside. Two of the stabbing victims were students, one was...

In Tuesday’s elections, voters rejected recreational marijuana, transgender rights, and illegal-immigrant sanctuaries; they reacted equivocally to gun-control arguments; and they handed a surprise victory to a Republican gubernatorial candidate who emphasized his opposition to gay marriage. Democrats have become increasingly assertive in taking liberal social positions in recent years, believing that they enjoy majority support and even seeking to turn abortion and gay rights into electoral wedges against Republicans. But Tuesday’s results—and the broader trend of recent elections that have been generally disastrous for Democrats not named Barack Obama—call that view into question. Indeed, they suggest that the left has...

Hillary Clinton accused of race smear against Bernie Sanders by hinting he is calling gun violence a 'black problem' Hillary Clinton seems to have a new critique of Bernie Sanders' gun stance. While not naming her Democratic rival directly, Clinton said before the Charleston, South Carolina, branch of the NAACP Friday that talking about 'urban' gun violence, as Sanders did at the first debate, was simply code for 'black.' 'There are some who say that it is an urban problem,' Clinton stated. 'Sometimes what they mean by that is: It's a black problem. But it's not. It's not black. It's...

The Federal Bureau of Investigation processed a record number of background checks in the month of October, indicating that gun sales were at an all time high for the sixth month in a row. The FBI’s National Instant Background Check System processed 1,976,759 firearms related checks in October. That is a 373,290 increase in checks over last year and a new record for the month. It also makes October the sixth consecutive month to see a record number of checks.

The DOJ has acted as a partisan arm of the White House Sen. Cruz Questions Associate AG Nominee Stuart Delery on Operation Choke Point (video) WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today in a full Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) questioned the Hon. Stuart Delery, nominee for U.S. Associate Attorney General. Mr. Delery approved Operation Choke Point, a Department of Justice (DOJ) initiative that unconstitutionally sought to choke off access to banking services for gun dealers and other lawful business enterprises.“The DOJ has a long and bipartisan tradition of staying out of politics, of defending the law and the...

A suspect stabbed five people on a university campus in central California Wednesday morning before police shot and killed him, authorities said Wednesday. Two of the victims attacked at the University of California, Merced, were taken by helicopter to hospitals for treatment, spokeswoman Lorena Anderson said. The three other victims were treated locally, she said. Student Alex Lopez was heading to his class, when he realized something was wrong on campus. "I was listening to a podcast, and there was a break in talking, and I just hear a gunshot," he said.

Ian Gregor with the Federal Aviation Administration said planes are not being allowed to land at Lindbergh Field because arriving planes would have to fly over the shooter’s apartment to land. Rebecca Bloomfield with the San Diego Airport Authority said that departures were not affected because they takeoff in a different direction She said anyone with a flight, or plans to pick up friends or family should call their particular airline.SWAT officers flooded the area, shutting down streets and trying to isolate the gunman. Residents were told to shelter in place.At one point the gunman was shooting east out...

In President Obama’s hometown of Chicago on Halloween night Saturday, a robbery was thwarted when a concealed carry permit holder with a valid firearm owner’s ID card under Illinois law shot the thug dead. It showed that even in Obama’s Chicago, more guns mean less crime and, in this case, one less career criminal. It also shows that opponents’ fears that concealed carry laws will mean carnage in the streets as garden-variety disputes escalate into a proverbial gunfight at the OK Corral are false. Since the U.S. 7th Court of appeals struck down Illinois’ ban on concealed carry as unconstitutional...

The National Rifle Association was victorious in Virginia last night after billionaire Michael Bloomberg and other outside gun control advocates attempted to influence local Senate elections.  BREAKING: #NRA-backed candidates retain control of #Virginia Senate #ElectionDay #2A— NRA (@NRA) November 4, 2015 As Matt has already noted, this means long time Clinton ally and Democrat Governor Terry McAuliffe will be forced to work with a Republican majority until the end of his term. Last month, McAuliffe issued a series of gun control executive orders after failing to get legislation passed by Republicans. After two failed attempts at getting some gun control measures passed,...

Michael Bloomberg lost a lot of money in the two Virginia elections in 2015 last night. Bloomberg's surrogate disarmist organization spent about 2.2 million dollars trying to buy a Virginia state Senate seat, and a Virginia House of Delegates seat.Bloomberg reportedly spent $2.2 million in the two elections.  He spent $700,000 in the Senate race.  From townhall.com: A day earlier, Everytown said it would spend $700,000 on ads for Democrat Dan Gecker, who is battling Republican Glen Sturtevant to represent part of Richmond and the surrounding suburbs in the Senate. That seat is being vacated by retiring Sen. John...

Joshua Prince, Esq. and Allen Thompson, Esq., have written an important article about natural law and the right of self defense in the St. Thomas Law Review.  A tip of the hat to Dave Hardy for a link to the article (pdf).   The article is well written and impeccably footnoted.  I found many references of which I was unaware, including an excellent history of how the idea of "retreat" as a necessity became included in some state's law, relatively recently.  Here is the introduction: In 1776, Thomas Jefferson stated what American political and legal thinkers took to be "self-evident":...

HATTIESBURG, MS (WDAM) - A Baptist church in Hattiesburg that is self-described as "a different kind of Baptist church" was kicked out of the Pine Belt Baptist Association. A written statement by University Baptist Church Pastor Dr. Rusty Edwards said members of the association voted to dismiss UBC from its membership on Tuesday, Oct. 20. ... The statement specifically outlined University Baptist Church's decision to openly affirm the practice of a "homosexual lifestyle" into their church. According to the statement, the church is listed as an "affirming" church on the website gaychurch.org. The Pine Belt Baptist Association said that doctrine...

Yes, the Mufti and Hitler shared the same goal. When Benjamin Netanyahu spoke of the Palestinian Grand Mufti’s role in the destruction of Europe’s Jews, he exaggerated the Mufti’s role but not the Mufti’s sentiments, nor his agreement with Hitler’s evil intentions, or his promise to eliminate the Jews of the Arab world with German help. He spoke of these sentiments to Hitler when they met in Berlin on November 28, 1941. Lost in the discussion about how much the Mufti influenced Hitler is the inescapable fact that the Mufti and the Führer shared the same goal, the destruction of...

Lying is nothing new for Hillary Clinton. From the Whitewater scandal, to the Bosnian Sniper Lie, the Benghazi Cover-up lies, to the Email Scandal, Hillary will lie her ass off. And not one of her supporters will give a good God Damn. This is really no surprise. America is used to being lied to by its government. Lying is a pretty much given when it comes to politics. None of these lies really affect the average Joe. So the average Joe becomes a Hillary Whore. Ignoring the integrity of the individual, because we need to elect a President who squats...

A World Net Daily article (is) claiming that fearful Europeans are making a run on their local gun stores in response to the flood of young, mostly male Muslim “refugees” that are flooding into Europe in what many see as nothing more or less than an invasion. A Czech TV report confirms that long guns – shotguns and rifles – have been flying off the shelves in Austria, and Austrians who haven’t already purchased a gun may not have a chance to get one for some time. They’re all sold out. And those arming themselves are primarily women. “If anyone...

Even those of us who have worked in Washington for many years and become accustomed to the inner workings of government can still be amazed by what lurks behind the curtain sometimes. Case in point: the Environmental Protection Agency.Most Americans have at least heard of the EPA, even if they have only a dim notion of what the agency actually does. It tends to skate along under the radar, unless something unusual happens, such as the toxic spill that turned the Colorado’s Animas River orange last August. Of course, what really made the spill unusual is that the EPA itself caused it.Otherwise, Americans don’t hear...

the murder rate was cut nearly in half from 7 per 100,000 in 1993 to 3.6 per 100,000 in 2013. Over the same period, overall gun deaths (including accidents and suicides) have fallen by one-third from 15.2 to 10.6 per 100,000. In spite of this, Pew reports, the American public believes that homicides and gun deaths are increasing in the United States. Those who think violence is getting worse should probably watch less television and look around them instead. The murder rate in the US is currently similar to 1950s levels. Meanwhile, the number of privately owned guns (and gun...

I took it for granted that a leftist like Bernie Sanders would be opposed to the death penalty. Still, I was truly shocked to see Sanders—not in some throwaway comment on the campaign trail but in prepared remarks on the Senate floor—flatly call the death penalty "murder." On his MSNBC show this morning, Al Sharpton played the Sanders clip to illustrate how Sanders is working to differentiate his policy positions from those of Hillary Clinton, who says she supports the death penalty in "rare" cases. Question: how can we begin to explain the moral compass of liberals like Sanders who...

Conservative powerhouse Rush Limbaugh let loose on liberals and GOP establishment types critical of Republican presidential candidates Ben Carson and Donald Trump. On his website, Limbaugh said, “I don’t care what you think of Donald Trump’s personality. Frankly, it’s none of your damn business,” he said. “You go do what he’s done and then tell him he’s worthless. Go do what Ben Carson’s done and then tell him and tell the rest of us that he doesn’t know what he’s doing, or any of the others up there on that debate stage,” he added. Limbaugh remarks come as the popularity...

Gun control activists have demonized the organization, anti-gun rights groups have held protests against them, President Obama has accused them of wielding too much political power and Hillary Clinton has compared them to terrorists. Yet, the National Rifle Association still has the support of the American majority. Yet in a Gallup poll from Oct. 7-11, a solid majority of Americans (58%) say they have an overall favorable impression of the NRA. This includes the highest recording of "very favorable" opinions (26%) since Gallup began asking this question in 1989. In December 2012, soon after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary...