Free Republic

Full title: Homeowner shot a 14-year-old during burglary attempt. The 5 other teens with him were charged with murder Five Chicago teens are being charged with murder after a 14-year-old who was with them during an attempted burglary was shot by the homeowner, authorities said Tuesday. The group traveled in a stolen Lexus to an Illinois home where they were confronted by the 75-year-old homeowner, according to the Lake County Illinois Sheriff's Office. The man went out to investigate and told authorities he believed someone was trying to steal his car, a 2011 Audi. "At least one of the male...

The planets are young (1) Mercury and Venus by Russell Grigg Published: 14 August 2019 (GMT+10) In May and June 2019, the BBC TV showed British audiences a five-episode series about our solar system, narrated by Professor Brian Cox and titled The Planets. It was aired in Australia by ABC-Channel 2 in July–August 2019. Our response is titled “The planets are young”. We shall discuss Cox’s claimed long ages and evolutionary origin of these planets vs recent creation for them as described in the Bible, and see which scenario fits the evidence the best. We start with the first episode,...

Police are reportedly scrambling to find the 57-year-old British socialite—and accused madam of deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein—as she faces a new lawsuit from one victim who alleges Maxwell gave “organizational support to Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring” and procured “underage girls for Epstein’s sexual pleasure.” Since Epstein’s apparent jail-cell suicide on Saturday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said their sex-trafficking and conspiracy probe into the multimillionaire’s orbit is ongoing. (In a July court filing, prosecutors said they were investigating “uncharged individuals” in Epstein’s case.) Attorney General William Barr has vowed that authorities are coming for...

Democrats go to the movies twice as much as Republicans, a new study finds. The statistic was among many tidbits included in a seven-year survey celebrating the 1,000th movie surveyed by industry leader PostTrak, the exit-polling service founded by Rentrak (now owned by Comscore) and Screen Engine. During that time period, Democrats frequented the movies far more than Republicans, or 12.4 percent versus 5.5 percent. Ditto for Independents (7.2 percent). The same also held true for ticket buyers who identified themselves as liberal and conservative (10.1 percent vs. 5 percent). Nearly 10 percent of moviegoers didn't state their political affiliation....

As the city’s police department struggled to contain a standoff situation with an armed suspect, Philadelphia residents in the area could be seen lobbing trash or other projectiles at law enforcement Wednesday. Area residents also shoved the police officers, confronted them in an aggressive fashion, and lobbed objects at officers. Philadelphia police had been fired upon when serving an arrest warrant at a home in the city’s Nicetown neighborhood. Up to 6 officers were shot by a single individual, who may have been wanted for drug-related crimes. A lengthy showdown ensued between Philadelphia police and the shooter. The authorities were...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1vnTuVxwV4

Sen. Elizabeth Warren wants to cancel student loan debt for 95% of debtors. Fellow 2020 hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders wants to cancel all of it. What they and every other statist and socialist eager to default on trillions owed to taxpayers forget that President Barack Obama nationalizing student loans brought us to this catastrophe in the first place. Lost in the kerfuffle and fuming of the Affordable Care Act's passage in 2010 was the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, signed into law just seven days after Obamacare. Half of the act consisted of small and otherwise innocuous amendments to...

Israel is right to deny entry to its country by these two bigots.  See Ambassador David Friedman’s statement https://t.co/XiKNoYD2Hh— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) August 15, 2019 --------- Please read my attached statement with regard to the decision of the Government of Israel to deny entry to BDS activists, Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, in accordance with its national laws. pic.twitter.com/q9M2N1uRkr— David M. Friedman (@USAmbIsrael) August 15, 2019

WYNNE, Ark. - The wife of an Arkansas county jailer is accused of pulling a gun on four black high school football players going door-to-door for a back-to-school athletic fundraiser. Jerri Kelly, 46, of Wynne, was arrested Monday and charged with four counts of aggravated assault, false imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a minor, according to FOX13 in Memphis. Wynne, which has a population of about 8,000, is about 50 miles west of the Tennessee city. The Wynne Progress reported that a Facebook post by the mother of one of the players explained the situation: The four teens were...

Jeffrey Epstein kept a bizarre painting of Bill Clinton on prominent display in his New York townhouse, it was reported on Thursday. Epstein’s $77 million (£63.5m) home in the Upper East Side – the largest private home in the City, with 40 rooms over seven floors – was described by the young girls he allegedly abused as being full of surreal and intimidating art. Among the most unusual of works is an oil painting of Mr Clinton, dressed in a blue dress similar to the infamous one worn by Monica Lewinsky, and wearing red stilettos. Mr Clinton is shown lounging...

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that a federal court has ordered the State of Maryland to produce voter list data for Montgomery County, the state’s biggest county. The court ruling comes in the Judicial Watch lawsuit filed July 18, 2017, against Montgomery County and the Maryland State Boards of Elections under the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA).

Photos showing off the inside of a Russian nuclear submarine, the largest in active service in the world, have been released, with the huge ship being the inspiration behind the sub from the classic Sean Connery movie The Hunt for Red October. Images show crew members working on the Typhoon-class sub, also known as an Akula, a nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine belonging to the Russian Navy. The sub appears to be the Dmitriy Donskoi, which entered into active service in 1982 and, after the decommissioning and scrapping of its Typhoon sister boats, became the largest submarine in the world. The...

A case involving a Belfast bakery, that refused to make a cake with a pro-same-sex marriage slogan for a customer, has been referred to the European Court of Human Rights. Ashers Baking was found guilty of discrimination in 2015 for refusing to make a cake for Gareth Lee. Mr. Lee requested a cake with the words “Support Gay Marriage” iced on top, but the owners of the bakery refused due to their Christian beliefs. The bakery has said its objection was to the message on the cake, not the customer. Mr. Lee’s legal bid in Europe’s highest court will argue...

<p>FERNADALE, Md. (WJZ) — A 61-year-old man is dead after he was shot by an officer trying to enforce Maryland’s new ‘red flag’ law in Ferndale Monday morning.</p> <p>Anne Arundel County Police confirmed the police-involved shooting happened in the 100 block of Linwood Avenue around 5:17 a.m.</p>

Before we get to the racism disguised by these altruistic red flag laws, let's examine why there's such a call for them in the first place. The idea that mass shootings are based on mental health issues seems sensible, as we would like to think nobody in his right mind can commit these atrocities, but that line of thought is as wrong as those who choose to blame the gun. Psychologists understand there is a perfect storm of strain and stress that can cause anybody to go on a rampage when certain factors are culminated and met. Academic circles know...

The Trump administration is forging ahead with plans to construct new border barriers in wildlife refuges in Southern Arizona, telling a court that one project will begin with the removal of older fencing on Monday (Aug 19)... "They will be replaced with new bollard wall that will be 30-feet tall and includes a linear ground detection system."... Tucson Sector Project 2 will begin on August 19 with the removal of two miles of existing pedestrian fence, (director of the Border Wall Program Management Office) Enriquez wrote. That section will be replaced by two miles of new border wall on August...

While driving on a beautiful day in West Virginia, I heard this news reported over my car radio. Democrat presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren said Michael Brown was “murdered” by a “white” policeman in Ferguson, Mo. I became filled with anger. I thought, “This wicked woman's presidential run should be over.” Everyone knows Brown was shot while assaulting a police officer in his patrol car while Brown tried to take the officer's gun. Warren’s insidiously evil lie tells voters everything they need to know about her. Obsessed with gaining power, Warren has decided that the lives of brave and honorable police...

Warren, Harris stand with activists against Obama officials Democratic presidential candidates continue to throw shade on the legacy of former President Barack Obama. They rarely criticize him by name, but many of the 2020 hopefuls have implicitly attacked Obama's record on health care, immigration, and climate change, among other issues. The latest example of implied criticism, courtesy of two prominent contenders, focuses on the Obama administration's investigation into the controversial police-involved shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., in 2014. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass) and Kamala Harris (D., Calif.) marked the five-year anniversary of Brown's death on Twitter...

A reporter at the scene of an attack on police officers in Philadelphia said that bystanders were mocking and taunting the police while bullets rained down upon them. The Blaze explains that a video has surfaced of a crowd confronting and even shoving police while they were dealing with a hostage situation. Even as six police officers were being treated for injuries the attack by a man barricaded inside a home, the neighborhood residents expressed hostility and antagonism against the police. Reporter Alexandria Hoff of CBS-3 Philadelphia reported that she had been harassed along with the officers. Here's a tweet...

President Trump’s approval rating has edged up, driven by long-term confidence in his economy and boosted by the lackluster performances of the two dozen Democrats trying to beat him in the 2020 election, according to the latest Zogby Analytics poll. The contrarian survey, provided exclusively to Secrets, pushes back on some other recent polls showing a surge in Trump’s disapproval rating. Namely, it found that recent issues portrayed as trouble for Trump haven’t hurt him and that he is growing in support among Africans Americans, Hispanics, independents, and younger voters. “President Trump's job approval has continued to rise the last...