Free Republic

PHOENIX — An organization of moms against gun violence is applauding a recent decision by the Phoenix Union High School Board. The board voted unanimously last week to require the parent or guardian of the district’s 27,000 students to read and sign a gun storage safety form. "This is just an obvious thing we can do to prevent future tragedies,” said board member Lela Alston. The "Secure Storage Notification Resolution" requires that gun storage and safety information be included in the student handbook of all 27,000 students of the district's 20 high schools. The resolution was prompted by the groups...

Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, January 31, 2020 A Phoenix-area resident, who is alleged to have been the leader of a group of Al-Qaeda terrorists in Al-Fallujah, Iraq, appeared today before a federal magistrate judge in Phoenix, Arizona in connection with proceedings to extradite him to the Republic of Iraq.  He is wanted to stand trial in Iraq for two charges of premeditated murder committed in 2006 in Al-Fallujah.The arrest was announced by Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Michael Bailey for the District...

Three moderate Democrat senators — Joe Manchin (WV), Doug Jones (AL), and Kyrsten Sinema (AZ) —may ultimately vote to acquit President Donald Trump in the upper chamber’s impeachment trial, according to a new report. At least one of the senators have signaled that they could vote in favor of only one impeachment article — the abuse of power — but oppose obstruction of Congress. In an interview with Politico this week, Manchin said he will only support one of the articles if he “can explain one and not the other.” The West Virginia Democrat, who has yet to decide...

As part of CNN’s day-long-pants-wetting resulting from Arizona Senator Martha McSally (R) calling out CNN correspondent Manu Raju as a “liberal hack,” CNN hosts Chris “Fredo” Cuomo (Cuomo Prime Time) and Don Lemon (CNN Tonight) railed against the Senator during the handoff between their shows on Thursday. Cuomo lashed out by describing McSally, the first female U.S. combat pilot, as a “punk” and later argued that her criticism of his colleague “should hurt her.” As he pivoted away from suggesting all Republican senators were liars, Cuomo started to target McSally. “That’s what’s so upsetting about McSally today. This is a...

Picture by Caldwell family, with permission. Cropped by Dean Weingarten Mountain lion populations are on the increase and pose significant threats to unarmed humans.  Mountain lions were involved in a flurry of interaction with humans in the last two weeks of 2019. On 26 December 2019, Gary Gorney was hunting pheasants with his two dogs, in the Custer Mine hunting area near Minot, North Dakota. His dogs alerted him to something ahead. Instead of a pheasant, a large female mountain lion charged him out of the grass. He shot and killed the lion with his 9mm pistol. Minot dailynews.com: Gorney...

Guns & Ammo's annual ranking of gun-friendly states. From worst (New York) to best (Arizona), here are the best states for gun owners in 2019. Top 5 - Most Gun-Friendly States: Arizona, Idaho, Alaska, Kansas, OklahomaBottom 5 - Least Gun-Friendly States: New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Hawaii, California Things were looking uncertain for gun owners in many states in 2018 thanks to a successful push in otherwise pro-­gun states to enact gun control legislation. Things seem to have stabilized in 2019. We are, at least for now, back to normal with states on the extreme ends of the spectrum growing...

This morning I had another experience with a dog aggressively defending its territory. I was on my exercise walk. The sky was light before the sun was up. A pair of dogs were in a fenced yard, with their owner. They took exception to my presence. The fence, next to the sidewalk, was only two feet tall, as incentivized by the silly local zoning laws. I am a dog person. I understand dog body language pretty well. As I passed the yard, on the sidewalk, with a boulevard to my right and the yard to my left, I considered...

Open carry of holstered pistols was commonly seen at the Gun Rights Policy Conference (GRPC) in Phoenix, Arizona, 21-23 September, 2019. The GRPC had an overflow crowd of over a thousand activists from around the nation. Many were standing in the back of the conference room, trying to find seats. It was the largest GRPC ever. There were numerous examples of holstered pistols in evidence. Open carry has become common and accepted in Arizona, as a result of Second Amendment activists in the state. In the 1990s, the open carry of holstered pistols was under attack in Arizona. During...

There is an ongoing thrust by the fanatical pushers for a disarmed population, to enlist corporate America to their cause. Understandably, corporate entities are uneasy about outright support for any political faction; come out strongly on one side or the other, you are potentially alienating 20-30 percent of your customers. The 50% that are not strongly engaged in politics are unlikely to respond. When it comes to Second Amendment issues, there are about 5 million NRA members and 100 million gun owners. There are about 30 million people that think owning a gun is immoral. The numbers game falls...

Joe Arpaio announced Sunday that he will seek a seventh term as the sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, promising to reopen his infamous tent city jail and bring back controversial jail policies that drew the ire of civil rights advocates and made him a darling of tough-on-crime conservatives. Arpaio, who called himself "America's toughest sheriff" during his 24-year run, said he'll challenge incumbent Paul Penzone in the 2020 sheriff's race. Penzone, a Democrat, unseated Arpaio in 2016 for the job. “On this day, August 25, 2019, after consultation and approval from my wife of 61 years, Ava, I have decided...

It has been less than three months since Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D-Ind.) and his fans were celebrating him being on the cover of Time magazine just two weeks after he was New York Magazine's flattering cover story. He followed that up with a fundraising win for the second quarter but things have been a bit quiet around him recently. Political fortunes are notoriously fickle but even more so in a presidential primary that features an unprecedented number of candidates. While Mayor Pete is by no means out of this race his polling numbers haven't followed his big cash haul and...

When the FBI raided a now-defunct Arizona body donation company, they found a gruesome scene, including remains from different bodies sewn together in a "Frankenstein" manner, and buckets full of limbs, a former agent testified. Biological Resource Center Inc., its owners, employees and other companies, including a funeral home and health care providers, are being sued by family members of dead people who had opted to donate their bodies "solely for medical and scientific purposes." Authorities instead found that bodies at the center were "mishandled, abused, desecrated and sold for profit," according to the suit.

On 17 July, at bout 1:30 a.m. in South Phoenix, Arizona, there was an attempted carjacking. The suspects may have thought the selected victim would be an easy target, because he was a teenager. It did not turn out that way. In Arizona, there is respect for the Second Amendment. Eighteen, Nineteen, and Twenty-year-old citizens are not prohibited from carrying guns or from carrying them in vehicles. The perpetrators in this attempted crime made a poor choice in the victim selection process. For the knife-man, it was a life ending one. From 12news.com: Around 1:30 a.m., police were called...

Sen. Krysten Sinema (D-AZ) shot to stardom because of her progressive values and ability to win in a red state. Sinema made a surprising move when she joined a handful of Republican Senators and Joe Manchin (D-WV), who wrote a letter to President Donald Trump encouraging him to implant a pilot program designed to weed out fake asylum seekers. The goal is to deport those who aren’t truly in fear of their lives and have valid asylum claims without adding to the immigration backlog. "This pilot program would apply to families who aren't claiming 'credible fear,' which of course is...

On this weekend’s broadcast of “Fox News Sunday,” 2020 presidential hopeful Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) criticized President Donald Trump’s effort to build a U.S.-Mexico border wall. Bennet said, “The president is acting like we are some weak, pathetic country. We have the ability to treat human beings humanely. We have the ability to lead our hemisphere in a discussion on how to deal with this refugee crisis.” He added, “We are a strong and powerful country. We supposed to lead humanity, not make our border a symbol of nativist hostility. That should be an embarrassment for everybody. The symbol of...

President Donald Trump's administration has begun issuing massive fines to illegal immigrants who are refusing to leave the country, as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) prepares large-scale nationwide arrests and deportations.Illegal immigrants are being warned they will be fined nearly a half-million dollars for refusing to leave the U.S. after judges order their deportation.According to a Tuesday report by National Public Radio, Edith Espinal-Moreno, a Mexican illegal alien living in Ohio, has already received a fine of almost $498k for ignoring an October 2016 "removal order."

Rev. Samuel Rodriguez was "full of indignation" when he saw the reports and heard from politicians about the deplorable and inhumane conditions for illegal immigrants at an El Paso County, Texas migrant detention center. But what he saw at the same facility toured by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. with a group of pastors was "drastically different." The president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, the world's largest Hispanic Christian organization, and senior pastor of New Seasons Christian Worship Center in Sacramento shared his firsthand experience touring a migrant detention center during a press briefing Monday. “I read the reports,...

Arizona has finally passed a repeal of its decade long ban on the possession of nunchakus. The ban was passed in the heyday of kung-fu movies. It stood as a monument to the power of the media to pass insanely stupid and intrusive legislation. Governor Ducy signed the bill on 10 May, 2019. From an Arizona Citizens Defense League email: On Friday, May 10, Governor Ducey signed SB 1291, repealing the decades old law that banned possession of nunchakus. We thank everyone who contacted on the Governor about SB 1291. You made a difference. The nunchakus ban was so...

A Republican state lawmaker from Arizona who resigned this week was accused of paying teen boys for sex in the 1980s, according to police records released amid a probe. Representative David Stringer, 71,...

Astronaut Mark Kelly, the husband of former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D), is running for Sen. Martha McSally's (R-AZ) during the 2020 election cycle. In the midst of the Mueller report dump, it was revealed that Kelly repaid $55,000 to the United Arab Emirates for a speech he gave last year, CNN reported. Kelly gave a speech alongside his twin brother, Scott Kelly, who is also an astronaut. The speech was part of an event sponsored by the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, called "The Sky is not the Limit: Life Lessons from NASA's Kelly...