Free Republic

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — An arsonist was sentenced to death on Monday for killing five men who died of heart attacks during a wildfire that ripped through the hills east of Los Angeles a decade ago. Superior Court Judge Michael Smith had the option of sentencing Rickie Lee Fowler, 31, to the harshest penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Rupert Murdoch apologized on Monday for a “grotesque” cartoon in his London-based Sunday Times newspaper depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu building a bloody wall trapping the bodies of Palestinians, after complaints from Jewish groups. The image, which shows Netanyahu holding a trowel dripping blood, was published on Holocaust Memorial Day and carried the caption “Israeli elections. Will cementing peace continue?” The Board of Deputies of British Jews said the cartoon was “shockingly reminiscent of the blood libel imagery more usually found in parts of the virulently anti-Semitic Arab press”. The so-called “blood libel”—accusations that Jewish peoples murder children and...

<p>A group of sideshow drivers briefly shut down all northbound lanes of Interstate 880 near the Coliseum in Oakland on Saturday afternoon while they burned rubber and did doughnuts.</p> <p>Participants filmed the minutes-long stunt and posted it to YouTube. The videos show at least a half-dozen souped up cars stopping traffic.</p>

As Connecticut lawmakers discuss how already-strict state gun laws might be strengthened in response to the Newtown shootings, some lawyers are expecting a spike in firearms confiscations under an existing law. Connecticut's gun seizure law allows police to take a licensed firearm from someone who is considered a danger to themselves or others and hold it for up to a year. The law was passed in response to the workplace shooting deaths of four people at the Connecticut State Lottery headquarters in 1998. The gunman, Matthew Beck, had a history of suicide attempts. "This law has been used over 300...

Be it resolved that any person legally competent to posess firearms shall, by posessing such arms, be obligated to muster under authority of legally elected officers, to recieve training in firearms laws and firearms qualification and basic militia tactics, and shall have assigned duties during times of national or state emergencies, to include invasion by foreign powers, insurrection or natuiral disasters. Such duties shall include, but not be limited to community policing, assisting in evacuationn and other relief actions and securing of basic infrastructure. Such assigned duties shall take into consideration the physical limitations of the member. Persons found mentally...

Should Congress approve comprehensive immigration reform? No -- there's no need for it, and Congress won't get it done anyway Yes, with an emphasis on the pathway to legal status for illegal immigrants who are here Congress should address this through a series of bills, as opposed to one massive package Yes, but any deal must secure the border

Over the weekend, Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer spoke at the National Review Institute Summit in Washington, D.C. During a question-and-answer session, he was asked if he thought President Barack Obama would attempt to hand-pick his successor in order to help guide the country down a path to “socialism.” ... Krauthammer said it was less important whether Obama chose his successesor and more crucial what kind of groundwork he would lay for him or her ... Krauthammer urged conservatives to make a case for liberty and its benefits in order to defeat the President’s agenda ...

The Milwaukee Teacher’s Education Association is promoting a series of workshops to help heal teacher’s infected with racism. The “Healing Racism Workshops” provide college credit for educators who enroll in the class. “We have all been assigned a race by America’s pervasive socialization process,” read a flyer promoting the workshop. “This racial conditioning permeates the fabric of our inter-personal and inter-group relations, taking little account of laws and statutes, and reaching deep into the hearts and minds of individuals.” But critics of the class said it smacks of blame and victimization. “Here we go again,” said Kyle Olson, founder of...

A truly scary and terribly frustrating aspect of the in-your-face communist takeover of Americais the fact that perhaps half (or more) of the American population can’t see it. There are plenty of wide-awake American patriots who are watching in stunned amazement at the blatantly criminal actions of Barack Obama (or whatever his name is) and his lawless administration. But, there are so many other Americans who are oblivious to it. When regarding the dullness of the masses of disengaged or otherwise ignorant and deceived Americans, I am often reminded of the opening verses of one of the songs on Pink...

State Rep. Dan Muhlbauer's declaration that he stands firmly behind the U.S. Constitution's gun-rights amendment drew a strong challenge at the Carroll Chamber of Commerce's first legislative forum of the Legislature's 2013 session Saturday morning. Muhlbauer continues to draw heat for comments he made in an interview with the Times Herald soon after the shooting massacre at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school in December. In that interview, Muhlbauer, D-Manilla, suggested strong gun-control measures, including possible confiscation of particularly high-powered weapons, and received nationwide media attention. At Saturday's forum attended by about 40 people in the New Hope activities building, Muhlbauer...

The Russian government says it aims to raise its sovereign credit rating this year to an A, where top countries are rated AAA and the lowest are D, and has called in Goldman Sachs to help improve its image to investors around the world. ... "Russia is an open country, safe, we are part of the global economy and global political processes," Medvedev said.

Ginny Burdick, a Democratic state senator from Oregon, called for gun registration while laughing about a shooting victim and insulting gun owners as "Rambos" in a video posted to YouTube on Sunday, Twitchy reported. "There’s a real Rambo complex going on here," she said. "You know my favorite one was the guy who after Aurora [Theater massacre] brought his gun to the same theater so he could get the attacker again and he shot himself in the butt," she added, laughing. "And that's a much more likely scenario instead of heading off an intruder." Ironically, the video starts with Burdick...

(Vatican Radio) The ‘delicate historical moment’ that the ancient Chaldean Church of Babylon is experiencing and the need for unity in its leadership were the chief concerns expressed Monday morning as the Patriarchal Synod opened here in Rome. Emer McCarthy reports: Convoked by Pope Benedict XVI, under the Presidency of Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches, the Synod has the task of electing a new Patriarch, Pater et Caput of the Chaldean Church, to succeed Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly.Comprised of fifteen men, the bishops come mainly from Iraq, ancestral home of the Chaldean Church, but...

WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) issued the following statement regarding today’s bipartisan immigration reform proposal: I appreciate the good work that senators in both parties have put into trying to fix our broken immigration system. There are some good elements in this proposal, especially increasing the resources and manpower to secure our border and also improving and streamlining legal immigration. However, I have deep concerns with the proposed path to citizenship. To allow those who came here illegally to be placed on such a path is both inconsistent with rule of law and profoundly unfair to the...

A Pennsylvania man with a life-long passion for fast food got a whopper of a funeral when his procession made one last visit to a drive-thru Burger King. Marking 88-year-old David S. Kime Jr.'s love of the popular restaurant chain, family and friends picked up 40 Whopper Jr. burgers on the way to the cemetery - including one they buried with him. Described by relatives as a man who 'lived by his own rules', his daughter, Linda Phiel said, 'His version of eating healthy was the lettuce on the Whopper Jr.' She added that since his wife, Grace, died 25-years-ago,...

Michel Sapin made the gaffe in a radio interview, which left French President Francois Hollande battling to undo the potential reputational damage. “There is a state but it is a totally bankrupt state,” Mr Sapin said. “That is why we had to put a deficit reduction plan in place, and nothing should make us turn away from that objective.” The comments came as President Hollande attempts to improve the image of the French economy after pledging to reduce the country’s deficit by cutting spending by €60bn (£51.5bn) over the next five years and increasing taxes by €20bn.

Nazis Would Be Proud of Sunday Times Racist, Anti-Semitic Israel Cartoon(photo) The Sunday Times runs Nazi style cartoons attacking Jews. By Joel Leyden Israel News AgencyJerusalem --- January 28, 2013 … One has to ask The Sunday Times in London just one question. Which Arab state paid you to bash Israel? To take a punch at the Jews? Why would any newspaper in any free democracy take a racist shot at Israel, at every Jew around the world? As over 60,000 civilians are murdered in Syria, as Iran declares its intention to build nuclear weapons for use against the Infidels...

Nikki Y. McNeil, 33, was trying to leave an Ocala residence Saturday evening when Lamark D. Tucker Sr., 36, her ex-boyfriend -- and father of her three children -- took away both McNeil’s car keys and cell phone, according to a news release from the Marion County Sheriff's Office. McNeil then used spare keys to leave, but as McNeil pulled away, Lamark jumped onto the hood of the car and held on while continually threatening McNeil as she drove nearly ten miles, the release stated. McNeil, deputies said, stopped at least twice asking people for help.

The UN appealed to the international community for money to help the millions of Syrian devastated by the violent civil war engulfing the country. With the goal of raising $1.5 billion, the organization appealed for donations at an aid conference in Kuwait, saying it has raised just 3 percent of that...

The White House strongly condemned the wave of violence... President Barack Obama called on Egypt's leaders to declare that violence is totally unacceptable. White House spokesman Jay Carney said Washington welcomed the call of President Mohammed Morsi to hold a national dialogue.