Free Republic

Last month, Kiss singer Gene Simmons falsely claimed that the wealthiest one percent paid 80 percent of "all taxes" and created "all the jobs." Eager to spread more love, Simmons recently teed off on his former Kiss band mates Peter Criss and Ace Frehley, and anyone suffering from depression or drug addiction. When asked by SongFacts.com if he still gets along with Criss or Frehley these days, Simmons responded, "No, I don't get along with anybody who's a drug addict and has a dark cloud over their head and sees themselves as a victim." "Drug addicts and alcoholics are always:...

The George Washington Bridge spanning New York and New Jersey is getting a fence to help curb suicides as the number of deaths there approaches record levels. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey says there have been 13 suicides and 40 rescues on the span so far this year. There were 16 deaths for all of 2013. Plans call for erecting a 9-foot fence to replace the current railing to make jumping from the bridge difficult. Chief structural engineer Bernie Yostpile tells The Record newspaper that the project will cost $37 million to $47 million and will...

GERMANTOWN, TN - (WMC) - A young war veteran was shot and killed by Germantown police officers Tuesday night just before 10 p.m. Justin Neil Davis' best friend, who asked to be called Val, told WMC Action News 5 that Davis went to Cameron Brown Park in Germantown off Farmington Boulevard, because it is where he had happy memories of his childhood. Davis was reportedly sitting in his car with a rifle and thoughts of suicide when Germantown police shot and killed him. Wednesday night, family and friends say they still have questions.

A man killed himself at Burning Man-style arts festival by leaping into a towering burning art structure in front of hundreds of horrified onlookers, authorities and witnesses said. On Monday, scores of "burners" - who commune in the Nevada desert every August for Burning Man -were mourning the doomed festivalgoer after he dove into the flames during a moonlit bonfire ritual at the Element 11 fest near Salt Lake City late Saturday.

EUTHANASIA guru Dr Philip Nitschke is furious the ABC has finally pinged him for actually helping the healthy to kill themselves. “Attacked by rabid Christians & journalist jackals!” he tweeted last week. But you don’t need to be rabid or even Christian to consider Nitschke dangerous. For 20 years Nitschke, founder of Exit International, has had largely positive coverage from a media which too often assumed he’s just helping the dying and the suffering. Only now does he seem in trouble, with the Black Dog Institute, the Australian Medical Association and beyondblue publicly denouncing him. This follows the ABC’s revelations...

San Francisco's iconic Golden Gate Bridge moved a big step closer to getting an oft-debated suicide barrier after bridge officials on Friday approved a $76 million funding package for a net system that would prevent people from jumping to their deaths. The bridge district's board of directors voted unanimously in favor of the funding for a steel suicide net. The funding sources are $20 million in bridge toll revenue, $49 million in federal money and $7 million from the state. ... funding for the project remained a major obstacle. A significant hurdle was overcome two years ago when President Barack...

Mark Mayfield, a Mississippi tea party leader and lawyer facing charges in connection with taking photos of Sen. Thad Cochran’s wife at her nursing home apparently committed suicide Friday morning. Police said that Mayfield’s wife, Robin, called 911 just after 9 a.m. to say her husband had shot himself. Officers arrived to find the 57-year-old lying on the floor of a storage room in his garage with a single gunshot wound to the head and a “large caliber revolver” with the body. Lt. John Neal of the Ridgeland Police Department told POLITICO that there was a note recovered, but he...

A tea party official charged with conspiring to take photos of U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran’s wife inside a nursing home apparently committed suicide Friday, police said, days after Cochran won a nasty Republican primary.

In the six years I’ve served in the Legislature, our nation has endured 31 mass shootings, five of which happened in California. As tragic as mass shootings are, they don’t account for the nearly 3,000 Californians who die every year from gunfire related to street and domestic violence, or suicides. Following the tragedy at Sandy Hook, I had the opportunity to work with a wide-ranging group of academics, practitioners and advocates in the fields of mental health, public health and gun violence prevention. I was surprised by what I learned. First, I learned of leading public health data that attribute...

Two Las Vegas police officers and one civilian were shot and killed Sunday when a gun-toting duo went on a killing spree before shooting one another dead in an apparent suicide pact, authorities say. Las Vegas police spokesman Larry Hadfield told The Associated Press that the shooting spree began around 11:30 a.m. Sunday when a man and woman walked into CiCi's Pizza restaurant on North Nellis Boulevard and ambushed two officers who were eating lunch.

A Metro source has confirmed that two police officers died today, victims of a shooting in the northeast part of the valley. The source said one officer was shot and killed about 11:30 a.m. at Cici's Pizza at 309 N. Nellis Ave. The other officer was shot there and died while in surgery at UMC. At a 1:30 p.m. news conference Metro said one person was killed inside Walmart and two suspects were killed in the back of the store. The two suspects told other shoppers that they were part of a revolution and wanted a shootout with Metro. However,...

A woman reportedly shot dead her husband in front of a packed suburban Atlanta supermarket before then turning the gun on herself. Paula Strange, 54, is said by police to have shot dead 52-year-old husband Bruce Strange at a Marietta, Georgia Kroger just after 5.30 p.m., authorities said. It happened only minutes after an argument over dinner at a nearby restaurant, a source told MailOnline. The Kennesaw, Georgia couple was eating at a Mo’s Southwest Grill in the same shopping plaza where the shooting occurred less than half an hour before they were both dead, a person who answered the...

It’s the feel-good video of the day. I’d trade it for six cute puppy or kitten videos. (WeIl, except maybe this one.) It happened in Syria, when a bunch of terrorists, said to be from abroad, got together for a little party. (Video below) Sean Brown of Mad World News reports: The Syrian-based terror group is all sitting around singing, rifles stacked in the middle of the room in a menacing manner and their flag draped on the wall above. As their celebration continues, all of the sudden there’s a massive BOOM and the camera is shot off the screen....

A Vietnamese woman belonging to an outlawed Buddhist movement died Friday after setting herself on fire in protest against China's actions in a territorial dispute with Vietnam, according to activists and local media. The woman, 67-year-old Le Thi Tuyet Mai, surrounded herself with seven banners denouncing Beijing’s claims in the South China Sea before dousing herself in gasoline and setting it alight early Friday morning in front of the Reunification Palace in downtown Ho Chi Minh City. [....] “I offer my body as a torch to light the path of all patriots,” one of the banners displayed by Mai read,...

A West Virginia doctor is coming forward with new allegations against the Department of Veterans Affairs, claiming that she too was told to put patients seeking treatment off for months on end—and that at least two of them committed suicide. The claims add to the mounting controversy surrounding the VA, and allegations in several states that workers were concealing information about the long wait times veterans encountered. VA Secretary Eric Shinseki testified last week before Congress on the scandal, but so far has resisted calls for his resignation. Dr. Margaret Moxness, who says she was employed at the Huntington VA...

AUSTIN - The mental condition of state Sen. Dan Patrick, front-runner in the GOP runoff for lieutenant governor, became the key issue Friday in the already acrimonious race, as medical records leaked by opponents show he was hospitalized twice in the 1980s, once after a suicide attempt, and received treatment for severe depression and anxiety. In a campaign marked by nasty rhetoric bordering on the bizarre, incumbent Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who is trailing Patrick, began openly feuding with Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, a former rival for Texas' No. 2 elective office, over the disclosures: Dew­hurst ordered Patterson to stop...

Does anyone here remember R.Budd Dwyer, the politician who committed suicide on national TV during a press conference?

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FL (WFLA) - The girl shown in a home video in a pink top is Megan Campbell. She died at her Avila home on Wednesday morning. Megan spent many hours at her home. “She was the girl didn't get brought down by anything. She was always happy. Full of life,” said Lincoln. “And that's the legacy that all these girls would want to leave behind for Megan.” Investigators dropped several bombshells at a press conference Thursday evening. “What I can confirm to you is that all four individuals were shot,” said Col. Donna Lusczynski of the Hillsborough County...

Senate approves in-state tuition for undocumented students: The Florida Senate voted Thursday to let undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates at public colleges and universities. The 26-13 vote came as no surprise. The sponsor, Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, was confident he had the votes for week. But that didn’t stop him from getting emotional in debate on Thursday. “The eyes of America are on us,” Latvala said moments before the vote. “I think we’re setting an example. I think we’re doing the right thing.” Read more Medical Marijuana Photo Source Hightimes.com House passes non-euphoric medical marijuana bill: The Florida...

A terrorist "lawyer" from eastern Jerusalem, who had been charged with passing messages to jailed terrorists, committed suicide in his home on Tuesday. The "lawyer," Safadi Amjad, was on house arrest on a local court's orders when he put an end to his life. Amjad had been charged for transferring money and messages from Hamas terrorists imprisoned in Israel to their family members. The ersatz lawyer was one of six who were arrested in late March, after security forces busted their "legal practice" dedicated to aiding Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists. The six had used their cover of a legal...