Free Republic

Seconds after a state trooper handcuffed and arrested Brandon Ellingson for boating while intoxicated, the officer grabbed a life jacket on his patrol boat. Missouri Highway Patrol Trooper Anthony Piercy didn’t go for a Type I flotation device, with straps that wrap around the torso and allow for handcuffs. Instead, he pulled out a Type III life vest with arm holes — one that was impossible to secure on a man whose hands were already cuffed behind his back. In taped interviews conducted by Highway Patrol investigators and obtained by The Star, Ellingson’s friends said they watched from their boat...

Neurosurgeon and rising GOP star Ben Carson phoned in to Fox News Sunday (due to technical difficulties) this morning and debated Reverend Jesse Jackson over whether race was the predominant factor in the shooting death of Michael Brown and subsequent unrest in Ferguson, MO. Jackson had called Brown’s death a “state execution” and linked it to a pattern of law enforcement violence against African Americans, violence that almost always goes unpunished. Carson responded that the incarceration and violence in black communities was largely a matter of personal responsibility, not racial disparities. “If you take race out of the issue altogether...

THE ENQUIRER exposes America’s most expensive president EVER! IT’S champagne wishes and caviar dreams at the White House as the Obama administration turns into the most expensive presidency this country has ever seen, an eye-opening National ENQUIRER investigation has discovered. While race riots raged in Ferguson, Mo. following the shooting of black teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer, President Obama was enjoying yet another family vacation – this one in Martha’s Vineyard. In fact, Obama waited three days before appealing for calm from his posh vacation retreat 1,200 miles away from the unrest in the St. Louis suburb....

A 38-year-old man died early Saturday after he was shot multiple times during a Wiz Khalifa concert at the Shoreline Amphitheater late Friday night, police said. The man, whom police did not identify, died after he was shot in the backstage area of the large venue and was then rushed to a hospital, police said. Police received several calls at 11:05 p.m. that pistol shots had been fired. No arrests have been made, and police are searching for a suspect described as a black male between 5 feet 6 and 5 feet 8 with short hair. He was wearing a...

On the boiling streets of Ferguson, Missouri, one recent image must have stung the state’s Democratic governor, Jay Nixon, more than others. Scrawled across a cardboard cutout featuring an image of Nixon’s face were the words, “M.I.A. AGAIN!” Mike Fritz @mikewfritz Protests brought both blacks and whites out in hot and muggy Ferguson Wednesday. 4:19 PM - 20 Aug 2014 34 Retweets 12 favorites Criticism of Nixon swelled after the Aug. 9 shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed African-American teenager, by a white police officer. Some faulted Nixon for failing to take the lead in addressing the situation, which resulted...

Sunday, August 24, 2014 There Are No Self-Hating Jews Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog Let's say that Chester A. Maxwell decides that he hates America. He takes a flight from Massachusetts to Paris, renounces his citizenship and spends the rest of his life stomping up and down the beaches of France and screaming imprecations at Americans. Our friend Chester is not a self-hating American because he is no longer an American. He may have an American accent, like the same foods, books and movies that give him a common reference point with many of his old...

How many nine-year-old Antonio's need to die in Chicago before the national media will park its satellite trucks in front of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's City Hall and demand answers and action. How many black people, including black children, need to die in Chicago before the national media stops counting civilian casualties in Gaza as a political weapon against Israel and starts counting them in one of our own cities. Overnight in Chicago 10 people were shot. One night. One. How many more until the national media cares enough to look into the root causes of the violence, poverty, despair, terrible...

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon (D) declined to back the prosecutor in the case involving the shooting of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Mo. that has touched off nationwide unrest. African-American leaders in Missouri have criticized St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch’s handling of the case, arguing that he is inclined to side with law enforcement officials because he has received campaign contributions from police groups and has said publicly that his father was a cop who was killed in the line of duty. Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, Nixon declined to directly support McCulloch for the...

Considering the social conflict between cops and protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, the terrorist group commonly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is using the strategic moment in American history to recruit African-Americans to join the Islamic State's jihadist movement. Those fighting alongside ISIS, a globally growing terrorist group in which U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said was "as sophisticated and well-funded as any terrorist we have ever seen", have made no secret that they have vowed to bring turmoil to America. ISIS members promised to "divide America in two", while their spokesman Abu Mosa promised...

In June, we learned that the head of ISIS, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, had been in US custody but was released in 2009 when President Obama closed down Camp Bucca in preparation for the US withdrawal of troops (yes, the withdrawal he repeatedly denies having anything to do with) from Iraq. ... Abu Duaa was connected to the intimidation, torture and murder of local civilians in Qaim,’ according to a 2005 U.S. intelligence report. He would kidnap individuals or entire families, accuse them, pronounce sentence and then publicly execute them ... ISIS’ acts of unmatched evil include burying women and...

Smiling Obama swings into action... but once again, it's on the golf course: President plays again as FBI warn of homegrown ISIS threat and US edges closer to Syria strikes Obama under fire from critics for his hours on the golf course during a two-week break on the resort island of Martha's Vineyard Obama spokesman suggested the president needs to blow off steam with 8 rounds of golf on vacation Obama was slammed this week for grinning and fist-bumping through 18 holes just minutes after delivering somber remarks about James Foley's execution at the hands if ISIS terrorists Secretary of...

A jewelry store in Little Saigon, Orange County California, has become a magnet  for robbers.   In 2012, there was an attempted robbery in which one of the robbers was shot.  In 2013, several shots were fired at a thief who fought with the store owner, and escaped with a $9,000 watch.   Yesterday, 21 August, 2014, another robbery attempt ended in gunfire as a store employee drove off two robbers who had smashed a display case.  From ocregister.com: Two men wearing ski-type masks and hooded sweatshirts entered the store, used a hammer to break glass on a display case and...

Three men found guilty of murdering innocent mother as she celebrated 24th birthday Sabrina Moss, a nursery schoolteacher, was sheltering from the rain when she gunned down in the street By Alice Philipson 6:49PM BST 18 Aug 2014 Three men have been found guilty of murdering an innocent nursery school as she sheltered from the rain during a night out celebrating her 24th birthday. Sabrina Moss, who had a four-year-old son, was shot in the heart as she became caught up in a bloody drugs turf while standing with a group of about 15 others outside a fast-food restaurant in...

"No Californian should be exposed to the type of hate or threat of violence caused by the image of the Confederate flag," the bill's author, Assemblyman Isadore Hall III (D-Compton), said in a press release.

<p>DONETSK Ukraine (Reuters) - Pro-Russian separatist rebels force-marched dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war along a main street of the rebel-held Ukrainian town of Donetsk on Sunday.</p> <p>People shouted "fascists" at the group, who walked with heads bowed. They were largely unshaven and dishevelled and dressed either in combat fatigues or civilian clothes.</p>

Californians have moved to Colorado and Nevada. Massachusetts natives have moved to New Hampshire. New Yorkers have moved to North Carolina and Virginia — and, of course, have continued moving to Florida. Over the last few decades, residents of many traditionally liberal states have moved to states that were once more conservative. And this pattern has played an important role in helping the Democratic Party win the last two presidential elections and four of the last six. The growth of the Latino population and the social liberalism of the millennial generation may receive more attention, but the growing diaspora of...

The Fox News analyst who made headlines last December for saying she personally met Jesus is now entering the battle over homosexual relationships, suggesting U.S. Christians could support the concept. “Could there be a future where most American Christians support same-sex relationships?” asks Kirsten Powers, a former atheist who went public with her conversion to Christianity last year. “If so, it will be due to the emergence of conservative Christians who say orthodox believers can support life-long, monogamous gay relationships without undermining their commitment to biblical authority.” In her column in USA Today, Powers mentions by name evangelical Matthew Vines,...

Almost exactly two years after the Federal Trade Commission accused the people behind the popular “Your Baby Can Read” training program of making deceptive advertising claims, the product’s creator has finally reached a deal to settle charges that he and his company made baseless pronouncements about the effectiveness of the program and that they misrepresented scientific studies to prove these bogus statements.

Breakdown by Category 82,679,000 Medicaid51,471,000 Food Stamps22,526,000 Women, Infants and Children Program20,355,000 Supplemental Security Income13,267,000 Public Housing or Housing Subsidies 5,442,000 Temporary Assistance to Needy Families 4,517,000 Other Forms of Federal Cash Assistance Population Estimates (2013 estimates) California 38,332,521Texas 26,448,193New York 19,651,127Florida 19,552,860 Those four states have a population of 103,984,701. Those on welfare nearly totals that amount. Full Time Employment BLS figures show 115.735 million "usually" working full time at the end of 2012. There are currently 118.489 million "usually" working full time. Obamacare Welfare Expansion Inquiring minds may be asking "How did Obamacare effect welfare numbers?" Let's take...

It is hard to fathom what Obama is doing or thinking. No explanation comes close to being satisfactory. With fellow Democrats faulting him, and with threats to America multiplying, it is impossible to excuse his conduct on the grounds of ignorance. If he only knows what the public sees, that would be more than enough to develop a strategy. Indeed, it’s possible his military advisers are going public with terrifying claims about the terrorist group because they, too, are alarmed by his passivity. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, normally low-key, said of the Islamic State: “This is beyond anything that...