Free Republic

A Utah man has been arrested for allegedly walking into a church on Father's Day and shooting his father-in-law in the back of the head in front of horrified parishioners. Police say Charles Richard Jennings Jr., 35, stole a pickup truck at gunpoint after the incident at a Catholic church in Ogden but was captured hours later in the next county, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. The injured man is in critical condition but is expected to survive. Police describe the shooting as a "domestic violence-related incident." Witnesses say Jennings entered the church hand-in-hand with his wife before walking over...

Everything was calm and peaceful at St. James Catholic Church on Sunday afternoon before a man walked in and shot his father-in-law in the back of the head. Witnesses said they had just started to say a prayer when a man and woman walked into the church holding hands. The victim and his wife “were sitting in the back pew off to the right side when their daughter and her husband walked in holding hands,” said Leon Bedford. “He walked up to (the man) and leaned over and pointed his gun at him criminal style and pulled the trigger.” The...

The nation's new billion-dollar epicenter for fighting global cyberthreats sits just south of Salt Lake City, ~snip~ "We know it's a spy center. But who are they spying on?"

To paraphrase William Shakespeare, there’s something rotten in Washington, and the odor is emanating not just from the Internal Revenue Service and the Justice Department. It’s also coming from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other agencies accused of colluding with radical environmental groups to write regulations that are threatening the livelihoods of millions of Americans. A U.S. Chamber of Commerce study has found that the EPA has given green groups a seat at the table when drafting environmental regulations, but it has excluded the people and industries most likely to be affected. The Sierra Club has participated in “closed-door...

After the Supreme Court’s decision labeling Obamacare’s mandate a tax, the IRS has become the crucial centerpiece of President Obama’s health care rollout. But with the IRS’ targeting of conservative non-profits, Republicans are calling into question the agency’s involvement in the application of Obamacare. On May 23, Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) specifically targeted IRS involvement in Obamacare as a rationale for fighting the program: And here’s another thing we shouldn’t be doing: handing over the administration of Obamacare to these folks. I mean, think about it. A deeply unpopular law being administered by an agency that’s so betrayed the...

Editor’s note: The following is a lightly-edited transcription of an interview with William Binney, a former employee with the NSA who after over 30 years with the agency quit and became a whistleblower, bringing to light many of their illegal activities and mass surveillance of American citizens. Libertas Institute: Please describe your work experience with the NSA. William Binney: For approximately 28 years, I was primarily involved in breaking codes and dealing with ciphers and data systems and solving those, and working with data, trying to do threat assessment with all of that data that we had. After a while,...

UPDATE: Why Govt. Source leaked PRISMAdditional information is being reported that confirms what most of us have always suspected. NSA is collecting all our email data, tracking our movements, our photographs, our documents, etc. Also factor in the fact that a court recently ruled that Obama is free to collect our DNA without being found guilty of any crime. National Security Agency (NSA) building designed for massive data collection in Utah:WaPo reports the following:The National Security Agency and the FBI are tapping directly into the central servers of nine leading U.S. Internet companies, extracting audio, video, photographs, e-mails, documents and connection...

While Texas and North Dakota's boom in oil production have been well-publicized, five other western U.S. states made a notable contribution to the growth in U.S. oil production since 2010, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported Tuesday. Onshore oil production, including crude oil and lease condensate, grew by over 2 million barrels of oil per day (bopd), or 64 percent, in the U.S. Lower 48 from February 2010 to February 2013. Production in the Williston Basin in North Dakota and Texas' Eagle Ford play and Permian Basin outpaced other regions. However, gains in other Lower 48 states added up...

Boy Scouts and adult volunteers wore their uniforms Sunday as they marched in Utah's gay pride parade — defying a leader of the youth organization who had said they couldn't do so under the organization's guidelines prohibiting advocating political or social positions.

Boy Scouts and adult volunteers planning to wear their uniforms in Utah's upcoming LGBT pride parade aren't allowed to do so under the organization's guidelines prohibiting advocating political or social positions, a leader with the program said Friday.

By his own admission, Gordon Gee is an unlikely university president. Born during World War II in Vernal, Utah, Gee took an unfamiliar path to be head of one of the nation’s most prestigious schools — Ohio State University. Now, the intelligent, quick-witted rural Utah boy finds himself embroiled in a controversy of his own making, which may be due in part to his roots. “Despite leading universities for more than half my life, I am a most unlikely university president. Unlikely by virtue of several factors — academic background, temperament, faith, and family history,” he told the Columbus Metropolitan...

As of yesterday you are a Citizen of the World with no Privacy—no matter in which country you are located. The ribbon-cutting ceremony invite, sent to a select group of Utah politicians and dignitaries for the massive Utah Data Centre in Bluffdale, Utah was as mysterious as the facility itself. Canada Free Press (CFP) could find no pictures, no accounts of the event anywhere on the Internet today even though an earlier media release said reporters would be there. The bigger-than-the-CIA National Security Agency (NSA) had previously stated that the facility would start operations in September, 2013. Why should this...

SALT LAKE CITY — A well-known Utah gun rights advocate was booked into jail on three charges Monday, and on Wednesday police added a fourth charge.Clark Aposhian was arrested and charged following an incident outside the home of his ex-wife, and the most recent charge to be added is domestic violence in the presence of a child.Sgt. Mark Askerlund, Cottonwood Heights Police Department, described the allegations against Aposhian.“In this particular case it’s alleged Mr. Aposhian threatened to bury his ex-wife and her new husband or boyfriend, so that’s a threat.” (snip) Aposhian’s attorney, Mitch Vilos, issued a statement that said...

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden’s long-anticipated plan for the Oregon & California Railroad trust lands amounts to a bold call for — input. Anyone who thought that Wyden would propose something specific has to be disappointed. Nevertheless, people as prominent and impatient as Gov. John Kitzhaber dutifully issued stilted remarks thanking Wyden for his “leadership.” Tongues had to be firmly in cheek. No one dared point out that the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee had again failed to do anything to help the people who inhabit a large part of his state. Instead of legislation, Wyden offered...

While Texas and North Dakota's boom in oil production have been well-publicized, five other western U.S. states made a notable contribution to the growth in U.S. oil production since 2010, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported Tuesday. Onshore oil production, including crude oil and lease condensate, grew by over 2 million barrels of oil per day (bopd), or 64 percent, in the U.S. Lower 48 from February 2010 to February 2013. Production in the Williston Basin in North Dakota and Texas' Eagle Ford play and Permian Basin outpaced other regions. However, gains in other Lower 48 states added up...

BALTIMORE, May 20, 2013 (Operation Rescue) - The Maryland Board of Physicians has permanently revoked the license of abortionist Nicola I. Riley in a scathing 24-page order issued on May 6, which prohibits her from ever again applying for licensure or reinstatement of her license. “In view of the fraudulent and deceptive nature of Dr. Riley’s criminal conduct, her demonstrated lack of candor and integrity on her application to the Board and to Utah and Wyoming, and her demonstrated propensity for dishonesty and misrepresentation, Dr. Riley’s unprofessional conduct is not remediable,” stated the Board. “In light of the unprofessional manner...

Why does the U.S. Constitution make no mention of education? Because the Founding Fathers understood that the education of children must be at the local level. We now stand at the edge of a cliff as the federal Common Core State Standards continues its march across the country. How did we get here? In 2009, the U.S. Department of Education blackmailed the states with stimulus money in the form of Race to the Top (RTTT) grants. If states wanted to get out from under No Child Left Behind, and wanted more funding they had to agree to adopt the Common...

Saratoga Springs Mayor Mia Love has declared she wants another shot at the congressional seat occupied by Democrat Jim Matheson. The announcement that she wanted a rematch came during an afternoon speech Saturday to several thousand delegates at the Utah Republican Party’s annual organizing convention. “You and I have some unfinished business with Jim Matheson,” Love said during her speech, which was met with loud cheers and resounding applause.

The recent scandals that have rocked the White House represent Americans’ worst fears about big government: Your government is spying on you; your government is targeting you; and your government is lying to you. Americans should be outraged, but they should not be surprised. It would be wrong to view the controversy over the IRS scandal as a typical Republican vs. Democrat squabble. The IRS is a powerful agency that can influence nearly every decision Americans make through its authority to tax and regulate. The IRS grows stronger and more powerful the more the federal government spends and borrows. Organizations...

Sgt. Nathan Hutchinson of the Weber County (Utah) Sheriff's Office had no idea he and his narcotics strike force team would be shot at when they arrived to search for a pot growing operation in January 2012. Hutchinson braved gunfire to move two injured team members out of harm's way. He suffered four gunshot wounds and endured a lengthy recovery to return to duty. For his actions he has been selected as the March 2013 Officer of the Month by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. On the night of Jan. 4, 2012, Sgt. Hutchinson led a team from...