Free Republic

John Conyers was elected to Congress for the first time in 1964, winning Michigan's 1st District with 84 per cent of the vote against that year's Republican sacrificial lamb. For the next quarter-century he was ritually returned with even larger margins of biennial victory. But the Detroit that was so faithful to him was in steep demographic decline, and, when Michigan lost one of its seats, poor old Conyers was redistricted onto somewhat less favorable turf: in 2010 he was reduced to a mere 77 per cent of the vote - his worst result ever. After fifty-three years in the...

Ardent troop supporter, music teacher and FReeper seekthetruth (Jean) passed away on September 27, 2019. Many of us here have read her posts or received her messages, particularly where activists could gather to demonstrate in support of our military men and women. Jeanie's FR home page tells of her years of bringing delight through music to her kindergarten pupils. She was a Trump enthusiast as well. She is survived by her husband Jim, many family members, and her dear friend and military support activist Beverly Perlson, whose communiqués about military issues and causes were often posted on FR by seekthetruth....

My brother Kirk Randolph Elder died suddenly and unexpectedly 16 days before his 70th birthday. He and Tresta, his wife of 41 years, had planned a trip to Hawaii, where they were going to celebrate Kirk’s birthday. Kirk was a retired supervisor at an oil refinery, and we were extremely close. He started coming on my radio show about four years ago, reluctantly at first. We’d discuss politics, culture and sports. A registered Democrat, he and I often disagreed. Yet, week after week, I received letters from listeners who called him their “favorite Democrat.” Kirk always showed respect for Republicans...

Lauren Bruner, one of the last four survivors of the attack on the USS Arizona by Japanese planes on Dec. 7, 1941, died Tuesday in California. He was 98. -snip Bruner, who was a 21-year-old fire controlman third class in charge of the ship’s .50-caliber guns, was the second to last person to leave the burning ship after the onslaught by the Japanese. In a 2014 interview with Arizona Public Radio, he recalled that on the morning of Dec. 7 he raced up from below the ship’s deck when the attack began. He said he saw a Japanese plane fly by so closely that...

FULL TITLE: Rock star Eddie Money known for the hit songs Take Me Home Tonight and Two Tickets To Paradise dies at age 70 from esophageal cancer Eddie Money has died at the age of 70, his family has confirmed. The singer - best known for his hit songs in the 1970s Take Me Home Tonight, Two Tickets To Paradise and Baby Hold On - passed away at his home in Los Angeles, California, his publicist revealed. The singer died Friday following complications from stage 4 esophageal cancer, according to TMZ. He's had numerous health problems recently including heart valve...

Former Cincinnati Bengals running back Cedric Benson died late Saturday night, according to a report from the Austin American-Statesman’s Tony Plohetski. Benson, 36, was involved in a motorcycle crash with a minivan in northwest Austin, where he played college football at Texas, that left him and another person dead plus two others injured.

Douglas Marshall Saxon (4 Jul 1950 – 13 Aug 2019) was born in Jamaica, NY to Marshall Saxon and Jacklyn Smith. He grew up mostly in and around Florida, living in Miami, Coral Gables and Hialeah. At 19 he volunteered for the U.S. Army and served in Vietnam (’68-’69) with the 1st Armored Cavalry Division, where he was a medic and tank driver. After his stint in the Army he traveled around the U.S., eventually ending up in Los Angeles, CA where he met and married the love of his life and had one daughter. Throughout his life his interests...

Obituary for Col. Ben H. Swett, U.S. Air Force, Retired Col. Ben H. Swett, Ret., passed away on July 20, 2019 in MedStar Southern Maryland Hospital. He had been a resident of Temple Hills, Maryland since 1971. He was born on September 3, 1934 at Saint Agnes Hospital, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, son of Herbert Elbridge and Marcia Harriet (Fadner) Swett. Though originally named “Herbert Benjamin,” he always used “Ben H.” as his first and middle names. Ben H. Swett attended grade schools in Wisconsin and Colorado, and graduated from Pasadena, Texas, High School in 1951. In 1955, he graduated...

Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens has died at the age of 99, ABC News has confirmed. Stevens was nominated to the high court by Republican President Gerald Ford in 1975 and retired in 2010 after serving more than 34 years on the court. He is survived by his children, Elizabeth Jane Sesemann and Susan Roberta Mullen, nine grandchildren: Kathryn, Christine, Edward, Susan, Lauren, John, Madison, Hannah, Haley, and 13 great grandchildren. His first wife Elizabeth Jane, his second wife, Maryan Mulholland, his son, John Joseph, and his daughter, Kathryn, preceded him in death.

Frank Meza, a South Pasadena, California, physician who was recently disqualified from the Los Angeles Marathon for not following race rules, was found dead on July 4 in a dry channel of the Los Angeles River, numerous outlets reported. Meza was 70 when he recorded a time of 2:53:10 at the Los Angeles Marathon on March 24 this year. His time was 90 seconds faster than the official age group world record for the distance, 2:54:48, set in 2004. Meza’s performance raised suspicions among those online who root out race cheaters, especially because Meza had already been disqualified twice from...

Donna passed away unexpectedly last Tuesday. She wasn’t ill but passed quietly in her sleep. Donna was my best friend and living companion for the last 48 years. I will miss her terribly. McB.

This is all the online Obituary said: "Williams, Kenneth L., III, 75 of Orange, died 6/2/2019." Published in Orange County Register on June 8, 2019

From a bed at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis on May 4, Gabriele Grunewald posted a photo of herself on Instagram asking for some “brave vibes” as she fought an infection, which forced her to miss her own “Brave Like Gabe” 5K to raise money for rare cancer research. “It’s not lost on me that maybe this is one of the most poignant ways to show just how critical research is,” she wrote. “Cancer is nothing if not incredibly inconvenient and we need more options.” Just five weeks later—10 years after she was diagnosed with adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC), a...

A motorcycle rider in Florida was killed on Sunday when he was struck by lightning while driving on Interstate 95. The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported that the motorcyclist from Charlotte, North Carolina suffered the fatal crash after lightning struck his helmet. Florida Highway Patrol Capt. Kim Montes told reporters that a Virginia State Police trooper had happened to see the accident while on vacation. He told law enforcement that he saw a bolt of lightning strike the man's helmet a second before the deadly crash. The 45-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene at 2:11 p.m. on Sunday. His name...

I just wanted to thank everyone for your kind thoughts and prayers. I really appreciate reading them. It really was a shock for me. Like I said, Donna was not sick. She just went to bed early Monday night. Her door was mostly closed when I got up the next morning. I went over to my mother's house to get her out of bed and make breakfast. I then came home around 10am and she was still sleeping. I went in her room to wake her and found her gone. I am still in shock. I find myself forgetting that...

Yesterday, out of the blue, I clicked on Howlin's Facebook page and learned that she'd passed away. I found her obituary and learned that she had departed on September 19, 2018 at the age of 72. She was a mainstay at Free Republic and her last post there was on April 22, 2007. I liked her a lot and I will miss her.

FRiends, after a long series of illnesses, AmericanVictory has been hospitalized and has received the “Anointing of the Sick” by a priest. He is surrounded by his wife EDINVA and their grown children. This professional couple have been FReepers for many years (classes of 1999 and 2000) and have freeped with the DC Chapter at Walter Reed and the Tea Party of 2009, as well as having volunteered at official events in Washington. AmericanVictory needs our prayers, as does the family. Please address your posts to AmericanVictory; EDINVA.

Live by the media hype, die by the media hype...for someone else. Such is the sad fate of poor Beto O'Rourke who just a few short weeks ago basked in the glow of mainstream media adulation. Unfortunately for the Irish guy with the Mexican nickname, the media has switched its attention to another shiny object in the form of Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, now "burning with the velocity of a prairie fire on a gusty Indiana day." On Wednesday, Politico chronicled Beto's tragic loss of his magic mojo in "Why the Media Dumped Beto for Mayor Pete."...

Dan Robbins, the artist behind the paint-by-numbers craze that swept America, has died in Sylvania, Ohio, at the age of 93, his son told the AP news agency. He was working at a paint products firm in the 1940s when he invented the kits. By the 1950s millions were being sold across the US every year. His inspiration for the idea came from Leonardo da Vinci, who used a similar method when teaching his apprentices how to paint. Mr Robbins first joined Palmer Paint, a company selling children's paint sets, after serving in World War Two.Dan Robbins with a paint-by-numbers...

Rapper Nipsey Hussle has been arrested for interfering in the arrest of a man authorities were after for violating his probation. The incident occurred on the night of Friday, August 29th. Police responded to a report that a man had violated his probation and was currently located in a clothing store in downtown Los Angeles. Upon searching the store for the alleged parole violator, they came across Hussle, who committed an undisclosed action that authorities viewed as obstructing an officer which subsequently resulted in his arrest. He was released shortly after his arrest after posting bail in the amount...