Free Republic

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Maggie Williams, a junior on the Summit High School track team, broke a school record in the 800-meter last Thursday. Her moment of glory has been somewhat overshadowed a by moment of concern – Williams passed out as she stumbled her way across the finish line. She and her coach say the mask is to blame, and now the Oregon Health Authority is updating its guidelines.

Black Teens Break Into a Mentally Ill White Man’s Home, Douse Him with Lighter Fluid, Set Him on Fire, Eventually Killing Him Two black teens reportedly broke into a mentally ill white man’s home in Rochester, N.Y, doused him with gasoline, and immolated the man which resulting in severe burns that ended up killing him, law enforcement has stated. 16-year-old Zayvion Perry and 14-year-old Adriel Riley Jr. are being charged with second-degree murder for allegedly setting 53-year-old Steven Amenhauser on fire. The two alleged perpetrators reportedly caused Amenhauser to suffer in agony for days in the hospital before he finally...

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Two former Oklahoma jail employees and their supervisor face misdemeanor cruelty charges after investigators found they forced inmates to stand handcuffed for hours and listen to the children’s song “Baby Shark” on repeat, a prosecutor said Monday. At least four inmates were secured to a wall with their hands cuffed behind them while the song played on a loop at a loud volume for hours, The Oklahoman reported. The separate incidents occurred in November and December, according to court records. The misdemeanor charges were filed Monday against former Oklahoma County jail employees Gregory Cornell Butler Jr....

The Justice Department has concluded that the evidence underlying multiple warrants authorizing the surveillance of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page failed to show Page was a foreign agent, as the law requires. The department delivered its conclusion in a December letter to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), the secretive federal body that approved the department’s four surveillance applications of the Trump aide. A Justice Department assessment found that in at least two applications "there was insufficient predication to establish probable cause to believe that Page was acting as an agent of a foreign power," states a FISC court...

At least 15 roaming horses were fatally shot at a Kentucky strip mine site, authorities said, describing it as a "battlefield for just horses." The horses were found along U.S. 23 near the Floyd-Pike County line, WYMT-TV reported Tuesday. Some were as young as a year and others were pregnant, authorities said. “This is very inhumane and it's a very cruel act of somebody who just apparently had nothing else to do or whatever just to go back on a strip job and shoot down horses who were, one of them obviously was feeding, had grass in its mouth,” Floyd...

President Trump’s restoration of an Executive Order from the Bush Administration that allowed individuals to refuse to participate in performing abortions was voided by Manhattan U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer this week. In his 147-page decision, the Judge found that “there is no legal foundation for a person to refuse to obey a state law mandating participation in an abortion procedure. If a state requires a licensed medical practitioner to perform an abortion or to assist in its performance there is no ‘right of conscience’ escape clause.” Engelmayer rejected assertions that a patient in the 26 states that have laws...

To understand communism, it’s important to look at the man who was the first to institute a government dedicated to Karl Marx’s ideals: Vladimir Lenin. When I was in college, I recall a conversation with several classmates who joked about throwing a get-together and naming it “The Communist Party.” They mocked the idea that anyone would fear this supposedly well-meaning ideology. I wonder if they would have been laughing if they were in the presence of gulag survivors. This Nov. 7 marks the 102nd anniversary of Lenin’s rise to power in Russia, and Nov. 9 will mark the 30th anniversary...

“Encouragement for St. Timidity” (2 Timothy 1:1-14) Fear, or timidity, can paralyze a person and render him ineffective. This is true when it comes to our life as Christians. We live in a hostile world. We’re in enemy territory. The world is not friendly to the Christian faith. Where will we find the courage we need to be faithful Christians? Faithful Christians are those not ashamed of the gospel, nor afraid of suffering for it. Not ashamed, not afraid. The alternative is that we turn into tame and timid “people-pleasers.” St. Paul addresses this issue when he writes to Timothy...

Bomb-sniffing dogs sent from the United States to its Middle Eastern ally Jordan are falling ill and dying due to poor treatment and negligence, a federal investigation has found. A year-long evaluation by inspectors at the State Department found that at least 10 such dogs in Jordan died between 2008 and 2016 from medical problems. Even those who survive are suffering from "unhealthy conditions," such as inadequate kennels, poor sanitation, and overwork. Photos in the report, published last week, show emaciated dogs with ribs protruding from their sides. Their nails are overgrown, and their ears are home to ticks so...

Muslims around the world are celebrating Eid al-Adha, the feast of sacrifice, the second of two Islamic holidays celebrated worldwide marking the end of the annual pilgrimage or Hajj to the Saudi holy city of Mecca. Across the world men, women and children prayed and sacrificed animals as part of the celebrations. Eid al-Adha is the holiest of the two Muslims holidays celebrated each year. Photos from Pakistan show men in the street slaughtering goats, camels, cows and sheep as of the festivities. As many as 10 million animals worth up to $3 billion are sacrificed during the festival, the...

Fair Oaks Farms Apologizes After Video Surfaces Of Workers Abusing Calves; 4 Employees Fired CHICAGO (CBS) — The owners of an Indiana dairy farm are apologizing after undercover video released by an animal rights group showed workers kicking, beating and throwing around newborn calves. The video was filmed at Fair Oaks Farms, a popular destination for school field trips and tourists about 75 miles southeast of Chicago. The video was filmed by a member of Animal Recovery Mission, which had an undercover investigator get a job at Fair Oaks Farms from August to November of last year in order to...

Jennifer, a member of the evangelical community in Kentucky, shared her testimonial as a survivor of Female Genital Mutilation(FGM) earlier this week. Jennifer is a white, Christian, American – not the usual face of an issue that is often framed as a faraway cultural practice restricted to rural villages in sub-Saharan Africa. When I read Jennifer’s story about how her Christian mother subjected her to FGM to protect her purity and chastity, I had flashbacks to when I had been in the same position. I was visiting an aunt in India over the summer when I was seven years old....

Chelsea Clinton criticized President Donald Trump’s immigration and conservation policies Monday, saying the administration has consistently hit “new levels of cruelty” during a Late Night with Seth Meyers interview.

NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WECT) - A New Hanover County man was arrested on animal cruelty charges after he allegedly failed to provide fresh water and food to his pet fish and abandoned it after he was evicted from his home last month. Michael Ray Hinson, 53, was taken into custody on Wednesday and charged with three counts of misdemeanor cruelty to animals and one count of abandonment of an animal. He was given a $4,000 unsecured bond and later released from jail. When deputies seized the fish, it appeared to be malnourished and suffering from hole in the head...

Every time I pass the little girls in the grocery store, dressed in their uniforms selling Girl Scout Cookies, helicopter moms hovering behind them...........I have the urge to tell them that because of the corrupt relationship that exists between GS and PP, I won't be buying their cookies. And, to tell them that PP sells live baby body parts for lots of money....and further to tell them to look it up for themselves....and to close with 'don't believe anything your parents and teachers tell you' 'think and find out for your selves'......It then occurred to me that if we had...

Another day, another left-wing hate hoax crime. Michigan – Nikki Joly, a biological woman who transitioned into a man, is accused of burning down ‘his’ own home, killing 5 pets in a hate hoax crime. Joly’s home burned down in 2017 and the FBI investigated it as a hate crime because Joly was a transgender man and gay rights activist in a conservative town and reportedly received threats over ‘his’ activism. It turns out Nikki Joly was frustrated that the ‘Jackson Pride Parade’ and festival held just days before the home was set ablaze, hadn’t received more attention or protests....

A Danville couple is questioning the vetting process of walkers hired through a popular dog-walking app after home video appears to capture a man kicking and whipping their family pet. What makes them worry even more is that the on-demand dog-walking service, Wag!, only conducts background checks on applicants once before they are hired and does not do continuous checks. The dog-walking app has no relation to Wag Hotels.

The Christmas season is a time for giving. Unfortunately for some, it is also a time for taking. The marginal human beings who boosted the contents from locked storage containers in the parking lot of the Greater Bridgeport Christian Fellowship Church would fit into the latter category. What the thieves made off makes the crime even more reprehensible: It was $80,000 worth of toys earmarked for needy children.

An affidavit we obtained describes the day a man on the Northeast side shot and killed a cat on an apartment balcony. A witness provided a statement of the event, accusing Donald Martin, 77, of animal cruelty. The statement says the witness saw the cat eating out of a bowl on the morning of Nov. 12 before hearing a loud noise. After the witness looked up, she saw Martin holding something in his hand as the cat seized up. Animal Care Services investigators said he shot at a group of cats, which residents at the complex typically help caring for......

In North Carolina, Tammie Hedges rescued 27 dogs and cats from drowning when Hurricane Florence hit the state. She provided shelter, food, and medicine to animals fleeing the flooding. After the storm ended she turned the rescued animals over to government authorities who promptly arrested her for “operating a shelter without a license.” She is currently out of jail on a $10,000 bond. North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services spokesman, Henry Hoseman explained that “Ms. Hedges lacked the proper credentials to undertake the actions she took. She may have felt that she was doing the right thing, but...