Free Republic

HIGHLAND PARK, Ill., July 5 (Reuters) - The man charged with killing seven people at a Chicago-area July Fourth parade slipped past the safeguards of an Illinois "red flag" law designed to prevent people deemed to have violent tendencies from getting guns, officials revealed on Tuesday. [...] Sergeant Chris Covelli of the Lake County Sheriff's Office said earlier in the day that Crimo had legally purchased a total of five guns, including the suspected murder weapon, despite having come to law enforcement's attention twice for behavior suggesting he might harm himself or others. The first instance was an April 2019...

American officials in five border counties have backed Kinney County’s declaration of an “invasion” from the south, a first in US history Kinney County in Texas has declared a local state of disaster, officially classifying the flood of migrants streaming from across the Mexican border as an “invasion” and requesting assistance from state and federal authorities. Kinney County Judge Tully Shahan officially declared the invasion on Tuesday. Five other counties nearby have also enacted similar decrees, or are planning to.

The man who shot President Ronald Reagan in the early 1980s says he supports stricter gun control measures — including keeping firearms out of the hands of people with mental health problems. John Hinckley Jr. — who was released from court oversight last month – believes there are “too many guns in America,” he told ABC’s “Nightline” in an interview that aired Tuesday night. “I certainly don’t think the mentally ill should have access to guns, I mean that’s kind of obvious,’ Hinckley, 67, told reporter Juju Chang.

On a recent excursion to the northwest, the Cowboys linebacker shared a video of himself feeding a fish to a wild bear. “Definitely a couple firsts this weekend,” Vander Esch wrote on his Instagram. “Not often you get to feed a wild bear and get a picture with two sturgeon in the same frame. Amazing weekend with family making memories that will last a lifetime! Thank you @killgoreadventures for an awesome trip.” Killgore Adventures, the fishing and ATV rental firm that Vander Esch tagged, is based in Idaho.

Neoconservative pundit Bill Kristol is among the most vociferous critics of right-wing populism. His long-time advocacy of never-ending wars and mass migration make him a sworn enemy of anyone who believes in preserving the Historic American nation and its foundational principles. Previously, a staunch Republican, Kristol has hedged his political takes to become more amenable to neoliberals in the Democratic Party. In an America where a large number of people no longer believe in its founding ethos, people have added their own spin to events like July 4 — the day the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence...

President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris tried Wednesday to “reassure” Cherelle Griner that the administration is working on getting her wife, WNBA star Brittney Griner, released from a Russian jail — a day after Cherelle said it was “very disheartening” that she hadn’t heard from the White House about efforts to free the hoopster. Biden “offered his support to Cherelle and Brittney’s family, and he committed to ensuring they are provided with all possible assistance while his administration pursues every avenue to bring Brittney home,” the White House said in a readout of the conversation. Noting that Brittney Griner...

Incorrect answers are fairly common on Jeopardy!, but viewers couldn’t get over a couple whoppers from Tuesday’s show. In fact, the opening round category “A Number Between 1 and 100” drove much of the fanbase to Twitter, where they commented on the shockingly incorrect response. “Your standard phonograph record until the 1950s, or the age Diana Ross turned in 2022,” was the first clue to cause trouble. Contestant Jake Marvin wagered all his winnings on the Daily Double clue, but he may have lost more than money when he incorrectly guessed 90. The 78-year-old singer has a very passionate fanbase,...

I’ve been called the most vile, hateful things, accused of inciting violence and spreading hate myself, all for sharing videos freely posted to TikTok by progressive leftists who are proud of their words and actions. It’s a simple concept: Use their own words and actions to expose them. It works because this is the first time these people, who are living out their fantasies in their intolerant, liberal bubbles, have had to face reality. Under the account Libs of TikTok, I just repost what they’ve already posted themselves. It’s like holding up a mirror. And it infuriates them. For this...

The parents of the suspect who police say carried out the mass shooting in Illinois on July 4 have issued a statement for the first time since the attack.“We are all mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, and this is a terrible tragedy for many families, the victims, the paradegoers, the community, and our own,” the parents of Robert “Bobby” Crimo III said.“Our hearts, thoughts, and prayers go out to everybody,” they added.The brief statement was released by Steve Greenberg, a lawyer who said the parents have hired him to represent them.Robert Crimo, who lost a Highland Park mayoral bid...

After pledging $4 million to Brandeis University over “guilt” about the lack of racial diversity on “Friends,” co-creator Marta Kauffman is now expressing regret over how the show represented another demographic: transgender people. In an interview with The Conversation on the BBC World Service that will air on July 11, Kauffman called it a “mistake” to refer to the transgender mother of Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry) as his “father.” “Pronouns were not yet something that I understood,” Kauffman told the BBC. “So we didn’t refer to that character as ‘she.’ That was a mistake.’” The character, who had the stage...

Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C) legal team on Wednesday said he will challenge the subpoena from Fulton County, Ga., investigators probing former President Trump’s interference in the 2020 election in the county, calling the investigation “all politics” and a “fishing expedition.” Atorneys Bart Daniel and Matt Austin said in a statement their client was “neither a subject nor target of the investigation, simply a witness” and said they expect to “prevail” in the legal challenge. Fulton investigators are probing Trump’s alleged attempt to sway the election in his favor in the Georgia county, including when he made a call to Secretary...

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is leading his Democratic gubernatorial challenger, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, by 6 percentage points, according to a new poll released Wednesday. A University of Texas-Texas Politics Project Poll found that 45 percent of Texas registered voters surveyed would vote for Abbott if the election were held that day, compared to 39 percent who would vote for O’Rourke. A separate 10 percent said they had not thought about it enough to have an opinion, while another 3 percent said they would choose someone else. Broken down by party, the candidates are the overwhelming favorite within their...

Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman used a security detail paid for with taxpayer funding on a vacation to the Jersey Shore in mid-2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic, reports The Washington Free Beacon. Fetterman, a Democrat and the current lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, made the trip when the Pennsylvania Department of Health warned against nonessential travel to curb a surge in cases during the pandemic. He was also advocating for strict coronavirus lockdowns, masking and other measures at the time. The trip, which took place from June 24-27, 2020, cost taxpayers $3,500 in overtime, food and lodging for state police.

Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, chaos and “mismanagement” has consumed the White House, according to a report. CNN reported on Wednesday that a call last week between dozens of celebrity Democratic supporters and activists and White House aides to discuss the ruling “encapsulates the overwhelming sense of frustration among Democrats with Biden.” According to the outlet, it also “offers a new window into what many in the President’s party describe as a mismanagement permeating the White House.” Top Democrats told CNN Biden is not acting with urgency. One member of Congress described the White House...

A new type of battery being put to use in Finland is exploring the potential of sand as an energy storage medium Wind and solar power are intermittent, generating power when it's available rather than when it's needed, so the green energy transition will require huge amounts of energy storage. This could end up taking many forms, from conventional lithium-based "big battery" installations, to flow batteries, silicon phase-change batteries, molten salt batteries, iron-air batteries, gravity batteries, carbon dioxide expansion batteries, and other more unusual ideas like buoyancy batteries. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages in terms of efficiency, size,...

Pollster and consultant Douglas Schoen said Hillary Clinton should run for president again in 2024 and she would be one of the best options for the Democratic party right now. In an opinion piece for The Hill, published on July 3, Schoen dismissed current President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris' chances due to their waning popularity. Schoen also noted that he and former New York City Council President Andrew Stein wrote an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journalin January of this year emphasizing why Clinton would be a good candidate. "Our reasoning was that President Biden's low...

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Police in Richmond, Virginia, said Wednesday that they thwarted a planned July 4 mass shooting after receiving a tip that led to the arrest of two men and the seizure of multiple guns — an announcement that came just two days after a deadly mass shooting on the holiday in a Chicago suburb. … Police initiated an investigation, along with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and FBI, which led to the arrests of two men on charges of being a non-U.S. citizen in possession of a firearm. Additional charges are possible, Smith said. Officers seized...

The process of freeze drying really is punching above its (very light) weight. It makes for a delicious chocolate-covered strawberry, gives astronauts expanded food options, and now, the technique could be used to store DNA and cell information for cloning purposes. With a success rate as low as 0.2 percent, freeze drying of cells still has a long way to go before becoming a standard cloning and storage strategy, but it's a really exciting step. "Maintaining biodiversity is an essential task, but storing germ cells as genetic resources using liquid nitrogen is difficult, expensive, and easily disrupted during disasters," researchers,...

A Los Angeles jury found Eric Holder guilty Wednesday of the first-degree murder of rapper Nipsey Hussle. The jurors — composed of nine women and three men — deliberated about five and a half hours before coming back with a unanimous verdict on Wednesday morning. Holder stood quietly as the foreperson read the verdict in front of Los Angeles Superior Court Judge H. Clay Jacke. He faces a maximum sentence of life without the possibility of parole. The jury also found Holder guilty of voluntary manslaughter for shooting two men — Kerry Lathan and Shermi Cervinta Villanueva — as they...

The U.S. originally spearheaded NATO against the global hegemony sought by the Soviet Union, which, much like NATO, promoted "conflict and confrontation" with every government that did not share its ideology. The historical irony is that the U.S. emerged from the ashes of the Cold War as an ideological nation itself with the same zeal to remake the world.Reckless NATO expansionism led by Washington contributed to the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War—which then provided NATO expanders an excuse to invite Finland and Sweden into its ranks. Though the alliance's advocates say these countries are joining of their own volition to seek security...