Free Republic

A former Seattle Police officer is accused of cozying up to a felon and the felon’s wife in a drug trafficking operation that drew the attention of Seattle’s Office of Police Accountability. That officer, Brandon Gandy, ultimately quit his job before being fired. Now, the state’s Criminal Justice Training Commission is piecing through his story in an attempt to determine whether his certification to work as a police officer should be revoked. OPA records allege that Gandy worked as "muscle" for the woman when she sold drugs in her and her husband's home. They also state that Gandy would occasionally...

With the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference over and done with in San Francisco, some business owners are complaining that the city is reverting into a den for homelessness and drug use. Restaurant owner Tony Pankaew said in a local media interview.that San Francisco rushed to clean up the city for Chinese President Xi Jinping and other foreign dignitaries for APEC. "They cleaned up the people, they cleaned up the streets," he told CBS News Bay Area. "They made the city look good and look impressive for the foreigners, for the politicians." "Now they have started to come back," Pankaew...

Sen. Chuck Schumer says he’ll “watch China like a hawk” after Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to stop the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. Most of the fentanyl that comes into the U.S. is made out of chemicals that come from Chinese companies. As part of the agreement, China will enforce laws and regulations against those Chinese companies. But, Schumer warns, we’ve been burned before. “It’s rare to get China to make commitments like this, but we cannot let it stop at words. We have to see results. In the past, China has made commitments and not lived up...

Oregon’s first-in-the-nation law that decriminalized the possession of small amounts of heroin, cocaine and other illicit drugs in favor of an emphasis on addiction treatment is facing strong headwinds in the progressive state after an explosion of public drug use fueled by the proliferation of fentanyl and a surge in deaths from opioids, including those of children. “The inability for people to live their day-to-day life without encountering open-air drug use is so pressing on urban folks’ minds,” said John Horvick, vice president of polling firm DHM Research. “That has very much changed people’s perspective about what they think Measure...

"The FDA's regulations related to animal testing no longer fully conform with applicable law," writes the Kentucky senator.Congress unanimously passed the FDA Modernization Act 2.0 in December 2022. The law allows drug companies to find alternative methods of assessing their products, without testing them on animals or human beings. The bill was sponsored by Sens. Rand Paul (R–Ky.) and Cory Booker (D–NH). Its goal was to speed up the drug approval process, and to let scientists experiment with approaches methods that are more humane than testing on live subjects. Reason's Elizabeth Nolan Brown aptly summarized the bill's achievements, noting that...

A former New York City dog walker thought he was going to get a $10 million payday when a painting he’d come to own by a famous artist — whose works sell for millions of dollars — went to auction this week. The retiree, who is living off Social Security, was devastated when the painting sold for a meager $40,000. Mark Herman, 68, of Manhattan, said he had a vision while on psychedelic mushrooms that the painting by the late abstract artist Chuck Close would be worth $10 million. But that drug-induced dream crumbled as he watched the work sell...

This spring, rumors were swirling that HERBL, one of California’s largest cannabis distribution companies, was on the verge of collapse. So Mike Beaudry, the company’s CEO, sent out an email on May 18 declaring that “these rumors are categorically not true. HERBL continues to be fully operational.” Less than a month later, HERBL had completely collapsed. HERBL’s failure left a trail of damage that hurt small pot brands and shorted the state some $17 million in unpaid taxes. HERBL is only the latest high-flying California pot startup to crumble, following companies like Flow Kana, which raised $175 million in capital...

In the late interwar period, a few years before the ascendency of Adolf Hitler to the Chancellery, the famed German film director Fritz Lang created a classic of the silent film era. Spione (English: Spies) is a thriller of international espionage, intrigue, and manipulation by a criminal mastermind. Playing diplomats, politicians, and detectives against each other, using prostitutes, opium, and blackmail to control his adversaries, Lang’s arch villain Haghi pushes the world to the precipice of total war before he is brought down by the film’s hero. There is a man operating like this today. He has control of vast...

President Biden is expected to announce a controversial deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping aimed at slowing the deadly flood of fentanyl across the United States. The two leaders are tipped to announce a deal as they meet Wednesday at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference in San Francisco, one of the cities most blighted by what has become the deadliest drug in the US. “We’re hoping to see some progress on that issue this coming week,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Monday, ahead of the meeting. “That could then open the door to further cooperation on other issues where...

A pair of jaguars discovered in a cage on a ranch exposed a cruel new fashion among Ecuador's drug lords. In the style of Colombian cocaine baron Pablo Escobar, they are erecting private, illegal zoos as a status symbol. In May, police came upon the sorry sight of the two endangered felines perched on a log surrounded by iron bars. They were held on a property owned by Wilder Sanchez Farfan — alias "Gato" (The Cat) — a suspected drug lord with ties to Mexico's Jalisco New Generation cartel and wanted in the United States. Farfan was arrested in Colombia...

Illegal Chinese marijuana grows have taken over much of rural Maine. The government is either incapable — or unwilling — to do anything about it. The Maine Wire has identified more than 100 properties that are part of a sprawling network of Chinese-owned sites operating as unlicensed, illicit cannabis growing operations in rural Maine. According to an unclassified memo from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) obtained by the Maine Wire, the illicit grows are operated by Asian Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs). The properties cover Somerset County, Penobscot County, Kennebec County, Franklin County, Androscoggin County, and Oxford County. The...

Two new preliminary studies on recreational marijuana and health strengthen existing evidence that regular use negatively impacts heart and brain health, according to the American Heart Association.The first report, drawing on data from a major study involving more than 150,000 people from all walks of American society looking at the relationship between lifestyle, biology and environment, found daily use of marijuana raised the risk of developing heart failure by about one-third compared with non-users.A research team from Medstar Health, a not-for-profit health provider in the Baltimore-Washington metro area, found that among 156,999 healthy people it followed, those who used marijuana...

UPDATED: Sunday, November 5, 2023 8:15PM CHICAGO -- At least 34 people have been shot, seven fatally, in weekend gun violence across Chicago, police said. A child was shot and critically injured inside a South Side home on Sunday afternoon, Chicago police said. Earlier Sunday, a man was killed and another was wounded in another Englewood shooting, police said. The two were shot while standing on a sidewalk around 1:10 a.m. in the 7400 block of South Stewart Avenue, according to police. One man, whose age has not been reported, was fatally shot in the head and the other, a...

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Six-time convicted felon William Groves remains in a lockup after prosecutors convinced a Cook County judge he's a danger to society. The 48-year-old is accused of opening fire in a crowd of people attending a Halloween party in the city's North Lawndale neighborhood, injuring 15 people. Groves, who had a pre-trial detention hearing on Tuesday, has arrests and convictions dating back to when he was 19 years old. He faces 15 counts of attempted murder and unlawful use of a weapon by a felon for the attack that happened early Sunday in the 1200 block of South...

As I go about my business around town and to various parts of the state and the country, everything looks so very different from the America I knew as a kid and young adult. Everywhere I go, people look weird. Girls in their early 20s with bright pink, green, purple or blue hair, have half their heads shaved, or their bangs cut straight across in a “bowl” cut that would have been embarrassingly ugly for even boys to have to wear when I was a kid.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- At least 15 people were shot at a Halloween party on the city's West Side early Sunday, Chicago police said. The shooting happened just after 1 a.m. in the 1200 block of South Pulaski Road in the Lawndale neighborhood., police said. There was a large gathering at the location to celebrate Halloween. Officers responded to the scene and observed a male suspect shooting, police said. The man fled on foot and was later arrested, and a firearm was recovered by officers. Six women and nine men were shot, police said. The victims' ages ranged from 26 to...

Progressive political commentator Ana Kasparian pulled no punches in her assessment of how bad liberal mecca San Francisco has become thanks to rising crime, homelessness, and Democrat policies. During the latest episode of businessman and commentator Patrick Bet-David’s podcast, the "Young Turks" co-host called the California city a "nightmare" and warned visitors, "Your car’s going to get broken into, okay? You’re going to get robbed." The conversation began with Bet-David bringing up Kasparian’s X post from last month in which she claimed, "California is *without question* a shit show under Newsom. But I guess propping up proven failures is what...

Matthew Perry has died at the age of 54, TMZ has reported. The beloved “Friends” star was reportedly discovered dead in the jacuzzi of a home in Los Angeles’ ritzy Pacific Palisades neighborhood just after 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon. Law enforcement sources told TMZ that first-responders rushed to the address with the call first reported as a cardiac arrest. They added that no drugs found at the scene and no foul play is suspected. In a statement, the Los Angeles Police Department stated: “We responded to the 1800 block of Blue Sail Rd for a death investigation on a male...

The latest mass killing in the U.S. happened Wednesday night in Lewiston, Maine, when a man opened fire at a bowling alley and a bar, killing at least 16 people, two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press. Dozens of people were also wounded. The alert for Lewiston was made shortly after 8 p.m. as the sheriff’s office reported that law enforcement agencies were investigating “two active shooter events.” The man identified as a person of interest in a mass killing in Maine is a firearms instructor trained by the military and was recently committed to a mental health facility,...

Investigators found odd, little pills buried in the pockets of Hamas terrorists who attacked Israel on Oct. 7. They were later identified as the drug Captagon, a powerful, synthetic stimulant. Captagon gained international notoriety in 2015 when it was discovered to be used by ISIS fighters to suppress fear and fatigue prior to carrying out terrorist operations. Now, because it’s cheap, as well as easy to make and smuggle, Captagon and its counterfeits are likely to remain a favorite tool of extremist militant groups to enhance their soldiers’ violent tendencies. Some reports have even labeled Captagon as “the jihadists’ drug,”...