Free Republic

COLUMBIA, SC Columbia police are searching for a man who they say stabbed three people at a home off of West Beltline Boulevard and then set the house on fire early Sunday morning. Herbert Davon Oree, 20, is wanted for three counts of attempted murder, 3rd degree arson, 1st degree burglary and possession of a knife during commission of a violent crime, according to the Columbia Police Department. Oree broke into a home on the 1700 block of Bailey Street shortly after 3 a.m., stabbed three people – two males and a female – and set fire to part of...

TEL AVIV – A group that advocates a nuclear-free world and was identified earlier this month by the White House as central in helping to market the Iran nuclear deal to the news media has funded National Public Radio since 2005, an Associated Press investigation has revealed. Think tanks funded by the Ploughshares Fund include the Arms Control Association, Brookings Institution, and the Atlantic Council, the AP reported. Unmentioned by the AP is that the Ploughshares Fund is financed by billionaire GEORGE SOROS' OPEN SOCIETY INSTITUTE. The involvement of Ploughshares in selling the Iran agreement to the public was revealed...

It’s been nearly four years since a September 11, 2012, raid on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, left four U.S. citizens dead, including an ambassador, and more than two years since the House of Representatives formed a special committee to investigate the attack. The House’s report on the events is coming soon – very soon. It just might not be the whole report. In an interview with Chuck Todd on “MTP Daily” Friday, committee chair Rep. Trey Gowdy, a Republican from South Carolina, said he plans to release the much sought-after draft in June. “We’re going to get...

CHESTER COUNTY, SC (WBTV) - Two female employees got in a physical fight at a Chester County McDonald's Wednesday night. The ordeal was caught on camera. Just before 10 p.m., officers were called to the fight between a 25-year-old and 30-year-old employee at the McDonald's on J A Cochran Bypass in Chester. The two were reportedly arguing over pies when the 35-year-old-employee told the 25-year-old employee to leave the restaurant, saying she would cover her shift. When the 25-year-old refused to leave, the other employee called police. That's when the employee got in the 35-year-old employee's face and told her...

Ted Cruz and his allies are preparing for the coming National GOP Convention. According to NBC News, Cruz who recently attended a GOP convention in Texas told his supporters that the days ahead will be "challenging" for the Republican Party. He, however, expressed hope that those who remain loyal to him and the party "will be the remnant, will be the core of pulling this country back from the abyss." Aside from this pronouncement, [he] has remained mum about whether he will throw his support for presumptive nominee Donald Trump. According to the NBC report, the support of Cruz and...

The South Carolina legislature has banned abortion after 19 weeks. The Associated Press reports that the State House voted 72-29 in favor of the ban, while the Senate agreed to a compromise back in March. Pro-abortion lawmakers still disagree with the law, but conceded that the current bill that’s expected to be signed into law by Gov. Nikki Haley is the best they could get: The South Carolina Legislature passed a bill Tuesday prohibiting abortion after 19 weeks, becoming the 17th state to pass the restrictive ban. The legislation will now head to Gov. Nikki Haley's desk. The Republican said in...

The reports of the Bush dynasty’s collapse are greatly exaggerated; but now that Jeb’s disastrous campaign has finally reached its finale, it admittedly does feel like a distinct era of Republican Party politics is leaving the stage with him. (SNIP) The stump speech was for Rush Limbaugh; the budget was for the Chamber of Commerce. It worked for Poppy in ’88, and Dubya pulled it off twice. (SNIP) A sizable chunk of rank-and-file Republicans are wise to the bait and switch now; pandering to the Birchite wing of the Republican Party with dog-whistles won’t cut it. If you want to...

Sen. Lindsey Graham paused for five full seconds and stumbled over his words pondering the question: When is the last time he split with fellow Republican Sen. John McCain on a major issue? “I don’t know, let me think about it,” Graham (S.C.) finally said of his closest Senate friend. “There have been several. I just can’t recall right now, right off the top of my head.” Yet that’s what has happened in the wake of Donald Trump’s ascendancy to presumptive Republican nominee for president. In the Republican civil war over Trump, this is perhaps the most glaring example of...

Trump had courted the hawkish Graham, a leading voice in the GOP on defense issues, for his input on national security policy, the senator said. But Trump turned on the charm for Graham, who called the conversation “very cordial [and] funny.” “He’s got a great sense of humor. He’s from New York, he obviously can take a punch,” Graham told reporters. “I wished him well and that’s where we are.”

COLUMBIA — A bill that would have made the Muslim world’s Sharia law an illegal defense in South Carolina courts was narrowly defeated in the state Senate on Wednesday, killing it for the year. The measure, sponsored by Charleston Republican Rep. Chip Limehouse, would have prevented an attorney from arguing that the laws of a client’s home country allow for certain actions in South Carolina. “I’m not surprised,” Limehouse said of the bill’s failure to advance. “The Senate can be the graveyard of many good ideas.” Limehouse said the measure was needed to curb the advancement of terrorist organizations in...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pkqn6wsrUfs

Charlie Rose and a trio of former Obama speechwriters laughed it up this week as they discussed the president's infamous promise that that under the Affordable Care Act, "if you like your healthcare plan, you can keep your healthcare plan."

Charlie Rose and three of Barack Obama’s former speechwriters had a good laugh Monday night while joking about the president’s infamous, oft-repeated false promise that under Obamacare, “if you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan.” Obama said dozens of times in the run-up to the Affordable Care Act’s signing and enactment that no Americans who liked the insurance plan they had would lose it under the Affordable Care Act. In reality, millions of policies were canceled because of the law’s regulations, and Obama was forced to apologize to the American people. The infamous remark...

KERSHAW COUNTY, SC An Elgin woman was arrested Monday after deputies say she admitted to stealing more than $97,000 in church funds and using the money to buy drugs on the streets of Columbia. Debora Barfield, 53, was charged with breach of trust with fraudulent intent and forgery, according to a news release. Barfield served as church secretary for St. John’s United Methodist Church in Lugoff, and oversaw church funds. Investigators determined Barfield forged about 145 checks to steal the money. “Drug abuse makes no distinction on who it destroys – black, white, rich, poor, young or old,” Kershaw County...

South Carolina senator and former Republican presidential candidate Lindsey Graham has been a sharp and frequent critic of his party’s presumptive presidential nominee, Donald Trump, but on Wednesday he changed his tune slightly. While saying that he still cannot support Trump for president, Graham however said that he sees some good ideas in Trump’s proposals and believes the former reality television star could win the White House in November. But it won’t happen unless he changes the way he presents himself to the public, Graham added, because “crazy loses to crooked.”

Asked if he can support Trump, former Marco Rubio backer Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina answered: “Oh yeah.” “The country is better off having a Republican in the White House than having a Democrat in the White House,” Scott said. “I’m certain that the center-right construct is better for our country than the far liberal left that we have to contend with. So if you compare the right to left in this campaign it’s very clear that we are in a far better position” supporting Republicans and Trump. Still, Scott shot speculation from the Capitol Hill press that he...

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — A Muslim student admitted to the Class of 2020 Corps of Cadets at The Citadel will not be allowed to wear a religious headscarf with the military college's standard uniform. In a statement released by Citadel President Lt. Gen. John Rosa, the decision to reject the request came from an "essential" need to standardize the appearance of the cadets regardless of their religious requirements. "This process reflects an initial relinquishing of self during which cadets learn the value of teamwork to function as a single unit. Upon graduation, The Citadel's graduates are prepared to enter a...

(Trump) used the term "lightweight" to describe Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., once in the presidential race, and suggested former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, another former rival, was still licking his wounds from the vicious campaign. The party's 2012 nominee Mitt Romney, Trump said, "blew the election" that year and never even thanked Trump for his work on Romney's behalf. Arizona Sen. John McCain, the 2008 nominee, said it would take a lot for him to ever stand on stage next to Trump, even though McCain has agreed to support the party's nominee.

Complete Headline: Relatives' fury as black church plans to KEEP over half the donations received after race hate massacre last year - doling out just $1.5million to victims' families More than $3.3million was sent to Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church from around the world after massacre last year Officials have now handed $1.5million to victims' families and survivors $1.8million has been kept for 'building maintenance' and scholarships Church has previously been accused of lack of transparency over money Attorney said donors only specified $280,000 be sent to the victims Relatives of those killed in the Charleston church massacre have hit...

It's early yet, but Chris Hayes has the early clubhhouse lead for "most disgusting MSM metaphor used on Donald Trump." On his MSNBC show this evening, Hayes called Trump "a hot wet rag applied to an infected wound." Imagine the outrage if a conservative described Hillary Clinton with a similar simile. Hayes was interviewing the MSM's favorite kind of Republican: Bob Inglis of South Carolina, a former congressman who's terribly worried about global warming and called those of us not so concerned "hoaxsters." Inglis said he'd never vote for Trump: surprise! View the video here.