Free Republic

Credit: Polk County Sheriff’s Office ******************************************************************** Someone find the world’s smallest violin. An illegal alien and an alleged Tren de Aragua gangster broke down like a baby being arrested in connection with a violent liquor store robbery spree across central Florida, authorities said. Ramon Jesus Carpintero-Luna, 26, was caught alongside four other suspects tied to a series of armed heists that targeted more than 30 liquor stores, netting an estimated $30,000 in stolen goods. Many of the thefts involved threats of violence and a specific focus on high-end liquor, including bottles of premium scotch, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s...

A Republican running for a seat in the Arizona Legislature is facing criticism after two pictures that appeared to show her in blackface and brownface surfaced with just a few weeks to go before the midterm elections. The two photographs released on social media are believed to show Mary Ann Mendoza, a Republican, dressed in an "Aunt Jemima" costume with blackface and dressed as the Native American figure Pocahontas with her face painted brown. The Washington Examiner has not been able to verify the photos independently, but Mendoza's political opponents have already used them to paint Mendoza as a racist....

Spanish language media reported last Sunday that radical pro-abortion supporter Maria de Valle Gonzalez Lopez died during what she labeled her “dream” abortion operation. She was 23 years old and was the leader of the Radical Youth in the La Paz municipality in the province of Mendoza. Her death has sparked a fierce debate about abortion in Argentina and led for calls for women to know that the procedure can sometimes carry serious risks. On April 11, the woman underwent a legal abortion procedure in a local hospital. The operation turned out to be fatal for her. This fact came...

SSgt Wuterich Tells His Story in Court Today Neal Puckett and Haytham Faraj January 20, 2012 Scott Pelley of CBS 60 Minutes, asked just as direct and hard-hitting questions as any government prosecutor in a 2006 interview of SSgt Wuterich. Today in court the prosecution played nearly 3 hours of outtakes where Pelley attempted to get Wuterich to admit his Marines went on a rampage in Haditha Iraq. The prosecution team hoped to show that Wuterich admitted to shooting 5 military aged men and made irresponsible decisions to declare a house hostile and then prove he did it without clear...

April 20, 2012 SECNAV Boots Two Sergeants for Lying At Haditha Court-Martial Neal Puckett Navy Secretary Ray Mabus has ordered administrative separation processing of two squad members who testified against SSgt Wuterich in January and admitted lying to NCIS and on the stand about the November 2005 shooting deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha.  During the January 2012 court-martial of the squad leader, SSgt Wuterich, Sgt’s Humberto M. Mendoza and Sanick P. Dela Cruz testified on the stand that they lied to NCIS during the investigation, the Article 32 investigations and withheld information.  Their motivation to do so was...

OWENS CROSS ROADS, Ala. - An Alabama 13-year-old found dead in a wooded area last month was beheaded after she saw two men stab her grandmother to death, an investigator testified Thursday. The grisly details of Mariah Lopez’s slaying came out during the preliminary hearing of Yoni Martinez Aguilar, AL.com reported. Aguilar, 26, and Israel Gonzalez Palomino, 34, are each charged with two counts of capital murder in the deaths of Lopez and her 49-year-old grandmother and legal guardian, Oralia Mendoza. Palomino is also charged with possession of methamphetamine. Members of the middle schooler’s family wept as Investigator Stacy Rutherford...

California state senator Tony Mendoza resigned Thursday from the Legislature after an independent investigation found that he "more likely than not" harassed several women he worked with during his tenure at the state Capitol. Mendoza, who represents the Artesia area, was suspended last fall when the harassment charges came to light. He denies the charges and his resignation letter called into question the integrity of the investigation. The resignation came after Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León introduced Senate Resolution 85 on Wednesday, which cites the house's zero-tolerance sexual harassment policy and the results of the investigation as grounds...

No good deed goes unpunished. The truth of that adage was confirmed in spades last week when a Montana couple, Jason and Tara Shane, described as Good Samaritans for helping a stranded young, Mexican motorist were shot and killed for their effort. Their daughter, Jorah Shane, 26, was wounded. Jesus Deniz Mendoza, 18, a Mexican national who entered the United States legally two years ago, shot the Shanes when they stopped to assist with a broken-down car. Shortly after the shooting, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement indicated that Mendoza had legally entered the country from Mexico through the San Ysidro...

At the age of 21, Sergio has an undying love of politics. He has already interned for two state lawmakers and hopes to pursue a career in politics. He plans to commit himself to changing his community, but there is one catch: Sergio is in the country illegally; he can’t even vote. "It is something that I am really passionate about, but because of my position, it gets really frustrating," Sergio said. A student at San Diego State University, Sergio graduated from San Diego High School with a 4.3 GPA and entered SDSU with a full, privately funded scholarship.

APRIL 26, 2009 The Idiot's Bible By MARY ANASTASIA O'GRADY Just days after Hugo Chávez gave President Barack Obama a copy of "Open Veins of Latin America" in Trinidad last week, the English-language version of the book shot to the No. 2 slot on Amazon.com. Americans seemed to be curious about Mr. Chávez's reading tastes. But in Latin America, "Open Veins" is a well-known rant by Uruguayan Marxist Eduardo Galeano. And it also has another distinction that Mr. Chávez may be less inclined to publicize: It is widely regarded in free-market circles as "the idiot's bible." The book was tagged...

All of my family (my brother, brother-in-laws, father, uncles, cousins) are in Texas and I'm stuck here in Florida, but we are having a discussion (online and on the phone) that will resume tomorrow about this picture: The arguments are about all the different models of weapons found in this pic.

See http://politicalvanguard.com/index.php?id=scorecard for full report. I'll post the hot story of the week and a summary here... Hot stories of the Week: After Sen. Abel Maldanado (sic) opened his Controller's Monday, stories started circulating that Republican Assemblyman Keith Richman would move from the Treaturer's race where his trails Simon by 40+ points to the Controller's race. Tony Strickland would benefit from that move because that would mean two moderates - Richman (voted against Arnold's budget because it did not include tax increases) and Maldonado would be fighting it out against a lone conservative. Republican candidates (or potential candidates) for Senate...

Local Republicans express mixed feelings BY TRICIA CORTEZ Times staff writer Local Republicans had sharp words for state Rep. Richard Raymond (D-Laredo) and the 52 other "Killer Ds" who crossed state lines into Oklahoma Sunday night in protest of a controversial redistricting map. The "midnight map" was headed for a Monday vote on the 150-member Texas House floor. Area Republicans differed on their opinions of the rushed redistricting process that took place in Austin. They also had mixed feelings over the splitting of Laredo and Webb County down I-35. "I think that would benefit Laredo because Laredo would be split...

<p>Granted, there is upheaval in the world and there are battles where a great deal is at stake -- life itself. All the more precious, then, the minor skirmishes on the home front that mean a great deal in a small way and remind us of how lucky we are to feel innocent hatreds, from summer to summer, at the ballpark.</p>

In a "Letter to the Editor," October 30, Webb County Republican Chairman Javier Mendoza was accused by a former classmate of making anti-immigrant statements in a college government class that he took in 1998. Leslie Smith, no address given, in an email to the Laredo Morning Times, said that Smith had called Mexican immigrants "stupid and dirty." Mendoza replied to Smith's allegation in an October 31 "Letter to the Editor." Mendoza said: "It is sad that Smith has no standards and will attack my integrity. I have no clue where this person got the idea that I would call immigrants...

<p>Gary Mendoza may well be a rising star in the California Republican Party. Less certain is whether he can soar high enough in the next few weeks to win the statewide office of insurance commissioner.</p> <p>"The hardest thing to do is establish your viability," said Mendoza, a former state corporations commissioner and deputy to former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan who now works as a lawyer in Riordan's firm.</p>

CBS 11 investigates very serious questions about what our government knew about planned terrorist attacks against America... including 9/11 and Oklahoma City. As far back as seven years ago, federal authorities may have been told terrorists were already in this country taking flying lessons and picking their targets. Sources say the evidence was overwhelming and the U.S. was clearly and repeatedly warned. CBS 11 Special Correspondent Steve Narisi traveled to the Philippines where the questions were first raised and perhaps even answered. "My reaction was that they had done this and they have succeeded. Those were my words. They...