Free Republic

Atlanta News First Investigates obtained surveillance video and police records that tell a different story than the one the public heard.

A group of seven Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), is again demanding unprecedented details and justifications for Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s personnel and chain of command decisions, including promotion lists. The senators are pressing for the specific legal authorities, criteria, and processes used, along with any reasons beyond standard military performance, qualifications, or conduct. They also requested demographic breakdowns of promotions and removals to flag and general officer ranks.

Federal agents crushed the California arm of a vicious transnational organized crime syndicate in series of stunning raids Tuesday that saw the arrest of at least 11 accused criminals in the Golden State — and over a dozen more in the US, Canada and Europe. Los Angeles federal agents led the global takedown of the India-based Bishnoi Gang, a fearsome global mob blamed for extortion, drug dealing and the assassination of political figures, industrialists, actors and musicians in North America and India.

Michelle Mickens was placed on indefinite leave for claiming the world was 'safer' after the TPUSA founder was killed Former Georgia teacher Michelle Mickens settled her lawsuit with the Oglethorpe County School District on Wednesday after claiming she was unfairly punished over quotes related to Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk after his assassination.In October, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) filed a lawsuit on behalf of Mickens after she was placed on indefinite leave and reportedly encouraged to resign for making controversial comments about Kirk's assassination on her private Facebook page in September."I think it's worth it. I think...

Georgia Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff narrowly won his Senate seat in a January 2021 runoff, defeating Republican David Perdue by just over a percentage point. New Fox News polling suggests a different dynamic this time, as Ossoff holds a double-digit lead over GOP challenger Mike Collins in the 2026 Georgia Senate race.

ATLANTA — A fiery crash between a CSX train and a semi-truck shut down MARTA and part of a busy area of Atlanta’s westside. The truck scattered what looked to be Amazon packages up and down the street. Emergency crews said it appears no one was injured in the crash, but the driver of the semi-truck is nowhere to be found. Why it took hours to track down the driver LIVE on Channel 2 at 4:00 p.m.

The U.S. Army Office of Special Trial Counsel (OSTC) announced that an Army sergeant who opened fire on his own unit and his male fiancé at Fort Stewart in Georgia last summer has been sentenced to six consecutive life sentences with the possibility of parole. Sgt. Quornelius S. Radford, 29, was convicted by a military judge of attempting to murder five soldiers and his fiancé during an Aug. 6 shooting rampage. In addition to his life sentences, Radford will forfeit all pay and allowances, be reduced in rank to E-1, and receive a dishonorable discharge from the Army, according to...

Georgia’s Republican legislative leaders on Wednesday rejected Gov. Brian Kemp’s call to redraw congressional and legislative districts during a special session, citing concerns about moving too quickly after a US Supreme Court decision weakened federal Voting Rights Act protections for minority voters. House Speaker Jon Burns sent Kemp a letter hours before a special session was set to begin Wednesday, and he announced the decision as demonstrators filled the Georgia Capitol with chants of “Black voters matter!” The decision marked a setback for both Kemp and President Donald Trump, who has urged Republican-led states to redraw congressional districts to their...

President Trump early on Sunday endorsed Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) over former college football coach Derek Dooley in Tuesday’s Georgia GOP Senate runoff. “Mike is strongly supported by the most Highly Respected MAGA Patriots in Georgia and beyond, and many Republicans in the U.S. House and Senate — He is a WARRIOR and WINNER!” Trump wrote in a lengthy post on Truth Social, earlier referring to Collins as “‘MAGA’ Mike Collins.”

A mix of restaurants, cultural institutions and high-rise residential living makes Midtown Atlanta one of the city’s most attractive neighborhoods. Lately, however, a series of violent incidents has shaken residents and left many wondering if city officials can keep us safe. In April, I was standing outside my apartment when I heard gunshots ring out in Piedmont Park. A rowdy, unauthorized gathering of teenagers had turned deadly. A 16-year-old girl was killed by a stray bullet. A few months earlier, I was in a restaurant on a Sunday afternoon when a large man brutally attacked a server. I helped pull...

A pro-Palestinian Texas businessman has been bankrolling an anti-Israel super PAC that’s now backing a a trio of insurgent far-left New York congressional candidates, records show. Hussein “Sam” Mahrouq — the owner of Enterprises International, which runs AutoMax and Dollar Rent-A-Car — donated $400,000 to the American Priorities PAC, which was formed earlier this year as a counter to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. The organization said Tuesday it would drop $2 million on TV, streaming and digital ads to boost House candidates, Darializa Avila Chevalier, Claire Valdez and Brad Lander, who have all been endorsed by Mayor Zohran...

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin has taken the ax to over $22 billion in environmental-justice and DEI grants and contracts in order to help reprioritize the agency’s commitment to protecting human health and the environment, rather than allowing it and its mission to be co-opted by progressives who use them to further its own socialist agenda. While former President Joe Biden was in office, his administration handed out billions of taxpayer dollars to a number of activist organizations that placed their ideological agenda ahead of taking action to legitimately provide solutions for environmental issues impacting communities across the United...

A Georgia congressman is proposing a controversial new idea -- he’s calling the “Make D.C. Square Again Act." He said it would expand Washington, D.C. by adding Arlington and Alexandria into the nation's capital. In a post on X, Congressman Rick McCormick said Arlington and Alexandria were “always meant” to be part of D.C., arguing the change would simplify long-running debates over political maps and representation. "What we want to do is make D.C. square again. It's a simple concept. Square. We repeal that unconsituational law, gIve back Virginia exactly what it should have, give D.C. what it should have...

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. - A man convicted for his role in a horrific rape and fatal stomping at a Decatur park decades ago could soon be released from prison. What we know: The Georgia State Board of Pardons and Parole is reviewing the case of Lapas Favors to determine whether to grant him parole. Favors is currently serving a life sentence for murder, kidnapping and armed robbery. The charges stem from a violent 1981 assault at Glenn Lake Park in Decatur. Two working mothers, Jean Buice and Bettye Ann Miles, had just finished eating lunch and returned to their car...

After Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., lost the Republican U.S. House primary in Kentucky's 4th Congressional District to President Donald Trump-backed challenger Ed Gallrein on Tuesday, former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene declared that the future of the GOP had been "destroyed." "I am proud and thankful to have served in the U.S. House of Representatives with my friend Thomas Massie, a giant among weak pathetic men. Releasing the Epstein files was our demise. But it was worth every single bit because now everyone knows the truth. You are ruled by the Epstein class that cares nothing about you and your elected...

Georgians handed Democrats a decisive defeat on Tuesday by reelecting two Republican-backed candidates in a pair of highly contested state Supreme Court races. In one race, incumbent Justice Charles Bethel is projected to defeat leftist Miracle Rankin. Unofficial results show the former beating the latter by 2.2 points, with more than 95 percent of votes tabulated as of publication, according to The New York Times. Meanwhile, incumbent Justice Sarah Hawkins Warren is projected to defeat left-wing candidate Jen Jordan in a massive landslide. Per the Times, preliminary results show Warren beating Jordan by a whopping 18.6 points, with more than...

Republican Gov. Brian Kemp is term-limited, opening up the governorship and creating crowded primaries on both sides. President Donald Trump has endorsed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, but he and wealthy businessman Rick Jackson advanced to a primary runoff on the GOP side. On the Democratic side,... (See the site for nice graphics and results)

Fulton County, Georgia, recently made an admission that should have commanded national attention. During a hearing before the Georgia State Election Board, county officials acknowledged that approximately 315,000 early ballots cast in the 2020 presidential election were unlawfully certified yet were nonetheless included in Georgia’s final, official results, in a race Joe Biden was officially declared to have won by just 11,779 votes.The admission arose from a challenge filed by David Cross, an election integrity activist, who alleged that Fulton County violated Georgia election law in its handling of early voting. Under state statute, each ballot scanner is required to...

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger became the latest enemy of President Donald Trump’s to lose a Republican primary on Tuesday. Billionaire Rick Jackson and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones advanced to a runoff election for the GOP nomination for Georgia governor — locking out Raffensperger, who rose to prominence defending Georgia’s 2020 election results but struggled to gain traction among his party’s increasingly MAGA base. Raffensperger’s defeat is another sign of Trump’s grip on the GOP, following the president’s wins ousting state Republican senators who clashed with him over redistricting in Indiana and Sen. Bill Cassidy’s loss in Louisiana on...

Six states are holding primaries today (May 19), including Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Oregon, and Pennsylvania. A good deal of focus will be on the Kentucky 4th District House race, where incumbent Republican Thomas Massie faces a challenge from the Trump-endorsed Ed Gallrein. We'll definitely be keeping tabs on that one, as well as the GOP House and Senate primaries in the Bluegrass State. (Trump endorsed Rep. Andy Barr (KY-06) in that latter race. Will he be the GOP nominee to replace the outgoing Mitch McConnell?) SEE: 'Get This Loser Out': Trump Now Demanding Massie Primary Defeat Judge With Notorious...