Free Republic

Just after midnight on November 17, 1978, a teenage boy pulled into the parking lot of the Burger Chef where he worked in Speedway, Indiana. The lights were on, so he figured his coworkers were still inside cleaning up. Deciding to pay them a visit, he walked up to the back door and noticed it was open, which was odd. When he entered, he realized the store was empty and the cash-register drawers were on the floor. Two days later, the four young people who should’ve been closing up that night were found dead in a neighboring county. More...

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The most populous county in Kansas has rejected demands from the local sheriff and the state’s attorney general to preserve old ballots and records longer than legally allowed, shredding materials sought for an election fraud investigation that has yet to result in any criminal charges. Johnson County in the Kansas City area issued a statement Thursday that its election office finished Wednesday destroying ballots and other records from 2019, 2020 and 2021, under the direction of the secretary of state, the top elections official in Kansas. State law directed local election officials to shred such materials...

"It has become so partisan and so divided that I would have to say it's almost two states." Former Gov. Tommy Thompson (R-WI) on the political polarization taking place in the Badger State. ****************************************************************** “This is from my hometown. This is from Johnson County, from the sheriff from Johnson County, which is a legit badge.” Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker explains where he got his "prop" police badge from. ****************************************************************** “He eats a lot of ice cream.” Walker is asked if he agrees with anything that Joe Biden has done as president. ****************************************************************** "There are many rivers that are feeding...

The Trump campaign is suing three Iowa counties over their absentee ballots, which arrived “pre-filled with information” — something the campaign claims violates Secretary of State Paul Pate’s (R) instruction to mail blank forms to voters. The Trump campaign has launched lawsuits against Johnson, Linn, and most recently, Woodbury County over the mailing of absentee ballot request forms featuring pre-filled information, including “names, dates of birth and a voting pin number that few people know,” according to the Associated Press (AP). In March, Pate announced that absentee ballot request forms would be mailed out to every active registered voter in...

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced that eight Iowa counties have more voter registrations than their eligible voting-age population. According to Judicial Watch’s analysis of data released by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) in 2019 and the most recent U.S. Census Bureau’s five-year American Community Survey, eight Iowa counties are on the list of 378 counties nationwide that have more voter registrations than citizens living there who are old enough to vote, i.e., counties where registration rates exceed 100%. These 378 counties combined had about 2.5 million registrations over the 100%-registered mark. In Iowa, there are at least...

Workers in Johnson County could have hundreds of additional dollars taken out of their paychecks annually to help pay for roadwork in the county and an expansion of the county jail — work expected to cost more than $130 million in the next five years. The Johnson County Council unveiled an income tax increase proposal to fund $110 million in road, bridges and infrastructure improvements across the county, mainly due to the construction of Interstate 69, and an estimated $20 million jail expansion project that would address a frequently overcrowded jail that the state has ordered the county to fix....

In the national explosion known as the midterm elections of 2018, ground zero had to be the Kansas 3rd District congressional race. There, a political novice who is Native American, openly gay and whom hardly anyone had ever heard of a year ago, swept away a historically popular, four-term Republican incumbent with 20 years of political experience, renowned for his campaigning skills and fundraising prowess. Sharice Davids was the most unlikely of candidates to beat Rep. Kevin Yoder. But that was before Yoder was body-snatched by President Donald J. Trump. To really grasp how that alliance had morphed two men...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Johnson County will accept nearly 1,500 provisional ballots either in full or in part, including dozens cast by unaffiliated voters who were incorrectly told by poll workers to cast provisional ballots. The ballots could tip the balance in the GOP primary for governor. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and Gov. Jeff Colyer were separated by a mere 110 votes as of early Monday. The Johnson County Board of Canvassers voted unanimously Monday to fully accept 1,176 ballots based on the recommendation of the county's election commissioner, Ronnie Metsker. This included 57 ballots from unaffiliated voters...

In April 2012, a Kansas SWAT team raided the home of Robert and Addie Harte, their 7-year-old daughter and their 13-year-old son. The couple, both former CIA analysts, awoke to pounding at the door. When Robert Harte answered, SWAT agents flooded the home. He was told to lie on the floor. When Addie Harte came out to see what was going on, she saw her husband on his stomach as SWAT cop stood over him with a gun.

On Friday, Jan. 9, at around 2 p.m. on a sunny afternoon, four armed individuals entered the shop and encountered Becky Bieker apparently alone behind the counter. Based on ensuing events, it seems fair to surmise that their intent was robbery. But whatever their plans may have been, they went awry when Jon Bieker, watching the store’s closed-circuit TV, saw his wife being brutally beaten and emerged from the rear portion of the store to protect and defend her. The way events were reported by local print and broadcast media, “gunfire broke out”; “shots were fired”; “a shootout ensued”; in...

The Johnson County moderate, a fixture of Kansas politics for decades, is an increasingly endangered species. Republicans and analysts on both sides of the moderate-conservative divide say the Nov. 4 election results confirm that conclusion. The centrist bankers, lawyers and businessmen who once defined the county’s politics are giving way to younger, more socially oriented conservatives who now play the major role in determining the county’s approach to government. “The old guard just doesn’t have the weight they used to have,” said Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a Republican just elected to a second term. “The fact that the elites...

Pat Roberts is up for re-election against a KS doctor with lose ties to the president trying to capitalize on his 15 minutes of fame. Pat Roberts, while not a vocal leader, has been a consistent vote for conservative principles in the Senate. His opponent, Milton Wolf, is running on a platform that Roberts has had his shot and failed to move the conservative movement forward. He has a valid point. Should Kansas conservatives continue to give Pat Roberts their vote even though they continue to lose ground on the national level or is it time to give someone else...

Sheriffs have risen up all over our great nation to stand up against the unconstitutional gun control measures being taken. The following is a list of sheriffs and state sheriff’s associations from all over our great nation who have vowed to uphold and defend the Constitution against Obama’s unlawful gun control measures. I applaud these public servants for their courage and conviction. I would encourage other Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers to add their voices to the growing numbers of faithful protectors of our freedom. List of State Sheriff’s Associations 1. Utah Sheriff’s Association List of County Sheriffs 1. Sheriff...

"Rove is the second leading Republican leader to criticize Moran. Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert has repeatedly knocked Moran, saying "he was never there." "I mean, he’d always be out there grabbing a headline," Hastert said, "but he was never there in my experience of doing the hard work to make things happen.” In the interview, Rove wa particulary harsh on Moran for how the congressman approached a 2001 bill on trade promotion authority that Rove said was aimed at knocking down trade barriers and would have helped Moran's rural western Kansas district. Rove said Moran tried to cut a...

Facing crowded field in District 3 race, former state Rep. isn't afraid to assert herself.

“This is the opportunity that pretty much all of these people have labored in the vineyards for years to bring to fruition,” Kensinger said. “And the spirit around them is pretty good.” Former state Sen. Nick Jordan, who lost to Moore by 16 points in 2008, was in a good position to hit the ground running after Moore’s announcement. He said he had been actively considering another run against Moore for the past two months and was boosted by a poll paid for by some of his donors that showed him with a strong name identification in the 3rd District...

Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-KS), who is currently running for the Republican nomination in a contested 2010 U.S. Senate primary, has now endorsed Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman in the NY-23 special election -- the second sitting member of Congress to openly do so, after Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN). Tiahrt's press release blasts the moderate GOP nominee Dede Scozzafava, questions her party loyalty, and casts the race as a test for the soul of the GOP:

Link

Phill Kline: Whether you support him or oppose him, love him or loathe him, he has the uncanny ability to be the focus of the public's attention and interest. And now that he has been defeated in his bid for Johnson County District Attorney – what comes next? Public speaking circuit? Radio talk show host? Private legal practice? Legal consultant? Professor? Another run at political office? A judgeship? In Kline’s eighth attempt at elective office in 16 years, he was defeated in the Aug. 5 Republican primary election by Calls to Kline and his staff were not returned by press...

Kristi Boone of Olathe never planned to file for the Kansas Legislature when this election year began. Neither had Chris Napolitano of Lenexa nor Judy Macy of Overland Park nor Sean Tevis of Olathe. They changed their minds, though, after attending the Democratic Party’s Feb. 5 presidential caucuses in Kansas. Now they are running as Democrats in Republican-rich Johnson County. All were swept along by a tide of enthusiasm for Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, the party’s presumptive presidential nominee, and Democratic successes in Kansas in 2006.