Free Republic

A conservative activist best known as a crusader against violent video games is lobbying the Cuyahoga County (Ohio) prosecutor’s office to consider a criminal menacing charge against Donald Trump surrogate Roger Stone after he threatened to publicize the hotel room numbers of Republican National Convention delegates who vote for presidential candidates other than Trump. Jack Thompson, who has appeared on “60 Minutes” touting a connection between real-world violence and games like “Grand Theft Auto,” sent a letter on Thursday to prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty, contending that Stone might have violated Ohio laws against menacing and aggravated menacing. The GOP convention...

hree teenage girls died early Thursday when a stolen car they were in crashed into a pond at a cemetery in St. Petersburg. Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri identified the three teenagers who died as Ashaunti N. Butler and Laniya Miller, both 15, and Dominique M. Battle, 16. Gualtieri said all three girls had criminal histories for grand theft auto. He said between the three of them, they had been arrested for grand theft auto seven times in the past year. According to Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, the girls stole the 1998 gold Honda Accord from a Walmart in the...

RICHMOND, Ind. — A man who led police on a three-county chase in August is in jail again, this time on public nudity charges. David Simpson, 22, address at large, is in Wayne County Jail on a charge of public nudity after police say he was found running naked in Glen Miller Park in Richmond Wednesday night. In August, Simpson allegedly drove a stolen BMW from Indianapolis to Englewood at speeds of 110 miles per hour. Multiple law enforcement jurisdictions were engaged in a chase with the stolen vehicle. Simpson attempted to drive through a closed construction area on Interstate...

In the videos, a man could be heard swearing profusely and laughing loudly as tires squealed in the background. "I said we'll scare the [expletive] out of [expletive]s," the man said, apparently referring to the attack on the joggers. A voice also could be heard saying, "We had fun" and making a reference to the video game "Grand Theft Auto," in which criminals use stolen vehicles to cause death and destruction.

A mentally challenged Florida man who had saved up for months to purchase a copy of "Grand Theft Auto V" was robbed of the video game as he left a GameStop store this week, police report. After buying the game Tuesday afternoon, Rohan Dawkins was approached in a Delray Beach parking lot by a couple who pulled up in a car. After asking Dawkins for the time, Tommy Davis, 27, grabbed the bag containing the best-selling game, which was released this week. When Dawkins sought to retrieve the item, Adele Jones, 25, allegedly kicked and punched the 21-year-old Dawkins,...

A Chambersburg man is in jail after allegedly fleeing from police Monday at speeds up to 120 mph while driving a stolen car into Maryland, causing several crashes before finally hitting the back of a tractor-trailer. Gabriel Edward Gomez, 25, of 31 N. Franklin St., was arrested in Washington County, Md., after crashing the 1992 Toyota Camry on Interstate 81 southbound, near mile marker 9. He remains in the Washington County Detention Center in lieu of $200,000 bail. Pennsylvania State Police, Chambersburg, said a trooper checked the Toyota and learned it had been reported stolen. He attempted to stop the...

PITTSBURGH -- A man ran up to the scene of a three-car crash, opened one of the vehicles' doors, took the female driver into a headlock and manhandled her to the ground -- but it was the woman who was eventually taken away in handcuffs, not him. (snip) Valentino Amaro told Channel 4 Action News reporter Ari Hait that he met the woman in the same area last night and let her spend the night at his home because she needed a place to stay. But when he woke up to go downtown to his job at the Omni William...

Alleged car thief found playing 'Grand Theft Auto' ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Sheriff's deputies in central Florida found a suspected car thief playing the "Grand Theft Auto" video game, and they later charged him with just that. Polk County deputies investigating the theft of a 1998 Dodge Durango arrested 30-year-old Michael Ray Ekes on Thursday. They found the SUV outside a Haines City home. Ekes was inside in the house, playing the popular video game. Ekes was charged with grand theft auto, burglary and drug possession. At the time of his arrest, he was out of jail on bond for...

Are you lame if you call the police on your teenager for playing video games at 2:30 am on a Saturday night? I’m not sure but we can always ask a Roxbury, Massachusetts mother that dialed 911 because her son was playing Grand Theft Auto on his “PlayStation.” We’re not sure which version of the game he was playing, but it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things..According to a story in the Boston Herald, 49 year old single mother Angela Mejia who had had enough of her son lying about being in bed at 2:30 AM on a Saturday...

Date goes from bad to worse By Michael P. McConnell Daily Tribune Staff Writer Police say man skipped out on restaurant bill, stole woman's car. FERNDALE — A first date went from bad to worse when police say a man not only skipped out on a restaurant bill but stole his new girlfriend's car while she was still seated at the table. A Detroit man faces trial on charges he stole his date's car after they ate and he asked her for her keys so he could get his wallet out of her vehicle. "She gave him her keys and...

FERNDALE, Mich. (Aug. 28) -- Police say a first date went from bad to worse when a Detroit man skipped out on the restaurant bill, then stole his date's car...

The owner of a Nebraska car dealership and two executives were in police custody facing theft charges Thursday after 81 cars were taken from the dealership's lot, authorities said. -snip- Police became aware of the case Tuesday, when they received a call from Toyota company officials, Spencer said. Toyota told police they had received a call that all of Legacy's new Toyotas were gone from its lot. Employees arriving at the dealership for work on Tuesday also found the three executives gone, police said. They had packed up their personal possessions. Some computers were gone, as well. Fait and Patch's...

Boy, 11, charged with killing pregnant woman The victim — 8 months pregnant — was found shot in her farmhouse Feb. 21, 2009 WAMPUM, Pa. - Police in western Pennsylvania say an 11-year-old boy has been charged in the death of a pregnant woman who was found shot in a bedroom of her farmhouse. Police say the boy is charged with criminal homicide and criminal homicide of an unborn child in the killing of 26-year-old Kenzie Marie Houk. The victim was 8 months pregnant. Lawrence County police issued a statement saying the boy had been arraigned and sent to the...

The collapse of the U.S. auto industry would be easier to take if the cars were junk. That’s how it was the last time one of the Big Three (Chrysler) went belly up back in 1979. If you’re old enough to remember the Cordoba, you know what I’m talking about. It was easy to comprehend the failure of late ’70s-era Chrysler because Chrysler’s cars of that period were junk. People tend not to buy junk — end of story. Simple relationship. Cause and effect. But today? Never have the products of the Big Three — especially GM and Ford —...

Bush: Automakers will get $13.4B from TARP plus an additional $4B later if they become 'viable.' More soon

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe said Friday a White House suggestion that part of the $700 billion Wall Street bailout now will go to automakers means Washington might be "completely out of control.'' "I've been a U.S. senator for some time, and I have never seen anything like this,'' the Oklahoma Republican said. Inhofe was responding to a statement by White House press secretary Dana Perino that the administration might use part of so-called TARP money to prevent a collapse of troubled automakers. "A precipitous collapse of this industry would have a severe impact on our economy, and it...

Are there any projected time frame forcasts available predicting how long it will take the Automakers to begin rehiring the new work forces needed assuming all UAW contracts are invalidated through bankruptcy filings ?

UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said today that U.S. automobile companies are being put at a disadvantage by government in competing against Volkswagen’s new auto assembly plant in Chattanooga. The union leader questioned why government leaders in Tennessee are willing to provide assistance to the German-based Volkswagen while the state’s U.S. senators declined to back a federal loan to help the Big Three U.S. car makers. Mr. Gettelfinger said that trying to equalize UAW pay with what foreign car makers pay in the United States, as urged by U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., is like comparing apples to oranges. In its...

Bush changes mind, may save auto giants Facing the potential bankruptcy of iconic American firms, President Bush on Friday abandoned his longstanding objection to using using the Wall Street bailout fund to help save G.M., Ford and Chrysler. A frustrated Republican congressional official said: "If only they had said this last week, we could have saved ourselves a full week." Ten hours after the Senate rejected a separate lifeline for the automakers, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said in a statement it would be "irresponsible" to let the companies crash. So she said Bush will "consider other options," including...