Free Republic

A prominent Alabama state judge was seriously wounded Saturday when a domestic dispute escalated into a shooting, and authorities took his adult son into custody. Montgomery County Judge Johnny Hardwick, a jurist for more than two decades and the current president of the Alabama Association of Circuit Court Judges, was listed in serious condition Saturday evening after undergoing surgery. Montgomery County Sheriff Derrick Cunningham said Hardwick’s 36-year-old son, Khalfani Hardwick, was arrested shortly after the shooting occurred. [snip] Khalfani Hardwick pled guilty in June 2017 to shooting and wounding a man in the head in Montgomery in 2014, according to...

The man from the Bay Area will stand trial this week after a county DA's office filed a complaint against him—consolidating 31 misdemeanors from the past year. A serial shoplifter from the Bay Area who has been arrested 90 times will be put to trial this week after the Contra Costa District Attorney’s office filed a complaint against him—consolidating 31 misdemeanors from the past year. Jesse Leonardo Otero, 44, is well-known by Bay Area businesses and law enforcement for his frequent shoplifting and arrests, local news outlet KRON reported. Mr. Otero was released Dec. 8 from the Martinez Detention Facility...

Can we please call a moving van and a fumigator to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and – when the poison clears – can we have the house cleaned by a religious team? Rabbi, priest, imam – whoever and whatever it takes to get a ritual cleansing for the ages done of the White House, and remove the scum that has to be clinging to the walls with every breath Joe Biden takes in that hallowed place.You knew it was real, and I knew it was real. But in your heart of hearts, the things written in what was purported to be...

The drug decriminalization wave that swept across America's most liberal cities has fallen short of its promises of improving drug addiction recovery and overdose deaths. Beginning in the mid-2010s and making a significant uptick since 2020, drug decriminalization was sold by politicians and liberal activists as a way to combat substance-use disorder by treating it as a disease rather than a crime. The increase in 2020 was spurred by the activism following the murder of George Floyd, who had ingested both fentanyl and methamphetamine, the most prominent drugs found in overdose victims. Major cities across the country, including Philadelphia, Seattle,...

BATON ROUGE, La. — A Louisiana man has been charged in connection with the fatal stabbing of a Baton Rouge woman whose death was live-streamed on social media, authorities said. According to WBRZ and KATC, police said Baton Rouge man Earl Lee Johnson Jr., 35, who was initially arrested Monday evening on charges of motor vehicle theft and fleeing a police officer, was charged with first-degree murder Tuesday in the death of 34-year-old Janice David. In a news release Tuesday, the Baton Rouge Police Department said Louisiana State Police contacted East Baton Rouge sheriff’s deputies Monday after a 15-minute Facebook...

It's a story of hard streets, difficult decisions, heightened tempers, and hard drugs. It's a story about human beings, our duties, our failings, and our weaknesses.Jury selection for the trial of Officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd began this week. Despite how it’s been portrayed by activists and most reporters, it’s been a difficult process precisely because Floyd and Chauvin’s story isn’t a tale of good or evil. It’s a story of hard streets, difficult decisions, heightened tempers, and hard drugs. It’s a story about human beings, our duties, our failings, and our weaknesses. If you think...

PUEBLO, Colo.—It’s a common story across America: A city loses its main employer, usually a manufacturing company with well-paying, blue-collar jobs (that often go to China). The city’s economy crumbles, and those who can move out, do. Decades later, and looking peeling-paint tired, the city hasn’t managed to recover, but drugs have found a permanent home. In Pueblo, Colorado, the manufacturer was a steel plant beleaguered by a market crash in the 1980s and worker strikes in the 1990s. And one drug was given a red-carpet welcome. For years, Pueblo has been looking for industries to revive its economy, and...

Purdue Pharma, the company that makes OxyContin, the powerful prescription painkiller that experts say helped touch off an opioid epidemic, will plead guilty to three federal criminal charges as part of a settlement of more than $8 billion, Justice Department officials announced Wednesday. The company will plead guilty to three counts, including conspiracy to defraud the United States and violating federal anti-kickback laws, the officials said. The resolution will be detailed in a bankruptcy court filing in federal court. Ed Bisch, who lost his 18-year-old son to an OxyContin overdose nearly 20 years ago, said he wants to see people...

A raw series of text messages show Joe Biden offering fatherly comfort as his son, Hunter, lamented from a rehab facility about being a “f–ked up addict who can’t be trusted” and had damaged his dad’s political career. The intimate family exchange took place on February 24, 2019, two months before Joe launched his campaign for the White House. “Good morning my beautiful son. I miss you and love you. Dad,” the elder Biden wrote at 6:57 a.m. Hunter responded with a lengthy diatribe about his ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle, and his father’s political advisers, and he also complained bitterly about...

Today, White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Director Jim Carroll joined Assistant to the President and Senior Counselor Kellyanne Conway and representatives from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA), along with local officials to launch the Rural Community Toolbox (RCTB; ruralcommunitytoolbox.org). The RCTB is an online clearinghouse created by the Trump Administration with the express purpose of connecting rural leaders with funding, data, and information to combat drug addiction in rural America.With resources from 16 different Federal departments and agencies, the Rural Community Toolbox is a one-stop shop...

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If you're smoking weed to ease your stress during the coronavirus pandemic, experts say it's time to think twice. Smoking marijuana, even occasionally, can increase your risk for more severe complications from Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. "What happens to your airways when you smoke cannabis is that it causes some degree of inflammation, very similar to bronchitis, very similar to the type of inflammation that cigarette smoking can cause," said pulmonologist Dr. Albert Rizzo, chief medical officer for the American Lung Association. "Now you have some airway inflammation and you get an infection on top of...

San Francisco officials decided Tuesday to force some people with serious mental illness and drug addiction into treatment, even if it goes against the spirit of a city known for its fierce protection of civil rights. Several members of the Board of Supervisors voiced deep concerns Tuesday about the possibility of taking away a person’s civil liberties, but the proposal for a pilot program passed 10-1. Mayor London Breed and other supporters say the move — known as conservatorship — is necessary to help people who are often homeless, addicted to drugs and have a mental illness, making them a...

The governor of Colorado does our nation a grave disservice by misleading the public about the impact of marijuana on his state in the April 9 interview in Rolling Stone magazine. Neither the governor's statements, nor the smoke rising from 4/20 events, can hide the fact that drug use and addiction, especially among youths, are a growing public health concern in communities across Colorado and the nation. ... According to the 2016 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, Colorado is a national leader among 12-17-year-olds in: (1) Last year marijuana use; (2) Last month marijuana use; and (3) The...

Two-year old Maverick Hawkins sits on a red plastic car in his grandmother's living room in the picturesque town of Nevada City, Calif., in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. His playpal Delilah Smith, a fellow 2-year old, snacks on hummus and cashews and delights over the sounds of her Princess Peppa stuffie. It's playtime for the kids of the provocatively named Facebook group "Pot Smoking Moms Who Cuss Sometimes." Maverick's mother, Jenna Sauter, started the group after he was born. "I was a new mom, a young mom — I was 22 — and I was just feeling...

FULL TITLE: Supply of Opioid Painkillers NEARLY DOUBLED Under Obama, Trump Is Working to Reverse This Trend and Save Lives The opioid problem in America has reached a fever pitch wherein the abuse of prescription drugs is now matching the level of outcry and desperation that many Americans are feeling regarding this growing epidemic. Under the Obama administration, quotas for opioid distribution just about doubled and pushed a massive level of supply into the pharmaceutical system. The Trump administration is taking active measures to reverse the damage done by Obama, with the current administration officials calling for a 20% cut...

Dog tests positive for meth, heroin TUSTIN, Calif. – A dog picked up during an arrest in Tustin, California has tested positive for methamphetamine and heroin, authorities said. Tustin Police Lt. Robert Wright tells CNN that the dog named Bubba was found in a hotel room after officers served an arrest warrant for Joshua West, 40, on March 22 in Orange County. West was on parole for drug violations, said Wright. Police reported illegal drugs were found in the room along with used needles. The dog was turned over to Orange County Animal Care (OCAC) and transported to its facility....

It all started about a year ago when I began noticing more homeless men in the Chicago neighborhood where I work. Back of the Yards is a community that faces some of the city’s toughest problems: joblessness, crime, drug use. Many of these men would be sitting in doorways or shuffling along, many times asking for money. One day, I asked one of them: “Where are you from?” He told me a story that I later heard again and again and again. The men told me they were from Puerto Rico. They were addicted to heroin and they ended up...

A 9 year boy who found his mom high on heroine on the street, slapped the heck out of her in a shocking video that was posted on instagram. The distraught little boy can be heard screaming "Mommy, wake up. Can you talk to me? Wake up" while the woman stares blankly at him, making him slap her again and again.

For the first time since her arrest, Broward County Judge Lynn Rosenthal spoke publicly to 850 AM radio host Rich Stevens in an attempt to try to warn the public about Ambien CR. Judge Rosenthal was arrested in May after hitting a parked patrol car in a Fort Lauderdale courthouse parking lot. The arrest report noted she told police she took an Ambien the night before the crash. “It was a case of involuntary overdose in which I was sleep driving,” Judge Rosenthal said. “And it’s as simple as that.” But Judge Rosenthal also admitted Monday that she also had...