Free Republic

Ten years ago this month, a 21-year-old misfit who imagined himself a white supremacist zealot walked casually through the unlocked door of the oldest African Methodist Episcopal Church in the South. Without hesitation, he was invited into a basement fellowship hall to join 12 African American worshippers at their weekly Bible study. After roughly 45 minutes, once the congregants had closed their eyes in benediction, the young man removed a .45 caliber Glock from his waist pack and began to methodically assassinate nine men and women, ranging in age from 26 to 87. Three were on the ministerial staff, including...

Here's yet another reason why we can't have open borders. Over the weekend, United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) finally responded to information that a nightclub called "The Alamo," which was located in an industrial area in Summerville, S.C., may require the agency's attention. Summerville is located in Charleston County and sits about 25 miles northwest of the city of Charleston. The club had no license to operate or sell alcohol, and as far back as November, people filed noise complaints or reported fighting going on in the parking lot. [snip] As it turns out, the nightclub was run...

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz sought to energize activists at a Democratic state convention in South Carolina, as the party's 2024 vice presidential nominee works to keep up the high national profile he gained when Kamala Harris selected him as her running mate. Walz, a former schoolteacher who went on to serve in Congress and then became his state’s governor, keynoted the South Carolina gathering in Columbia, traditionally a showcase for national-level Democrats and White House hopefuls. Speaking to convention delegates for more than half an hour, Walz used colorful language and spoke plainly as he lobbed...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) wrote a letter to the editors of The Wall Street Journal that was published on Tuesday in which he vowed that the U.S. Senate was ready to “grind” Vladimir Putin’s “war machine to a halt” if President Donald Trump is unable to broker a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine soon. Graham, one of the most hawkish GOP senators, wrote his letter in response to a scathing Journal editorial titled, “Time for a GOP Senate Revolt on Sanctions Against Putin.” In the editorial, the Journal’s board argues for the GOP to advance Graham’s bill that would “hit...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) seems to be vulnerable in his home state of South Carolina’s Republican primary, a Lynch for Senate poll commissioned with Pulse Opinion Research found. The top lines of the survey spell bad news for Graham, as 57 percent of Republican primary voters in his state “would not vote for Lindsey Graham if the election were held today,” according to the press release. The poll found that likely voters in South Carolina are “dissatisfied with Lindsey Graham and are just as likely to vote for a more conservative, America First candidate.”

Eleven people are hospitalized and police are seeking a suspect or suspects responsible for shots fired in Horry County, South Carolina, Sunday night during a Memorial Day weekend party. The Horry County Police Department (HCPD) reported the shooting shortly after 9:30 p.m. Sunday. USA Today noted that “the shooting seemingly resulted from an argument on a docked charter boat during a private Memorial Day weekend gathering.” On Monday morning the HCPD posted to Facebook, “It has been determined that 10 individuals sustained confirmed gunshot wounds in the incident, and one other reported an unknown non-gunfire-related injury.”

At least 11 people were taken to hospitals after a shooting Sunday night in a South Carolina beach town, authorities said. Horry County Police did not give the conditions of anyone hurt in the shooting that happened about 9:30 p.m. in Little River.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) filed a Wednesday resolution to expel Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) over pending federal charges related to a scuffle involving lawmakers, protesters and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers outside a migrant detention facility in New Jersey. McIver was accused of assaulting, impeding and interfering with law enforcement after touring Delaney Hall on May 9 to conduct legal oversight. She has said she did nothing wrong while accusing ICE officers of pushing her. Democrats have defended McIver while accusing the Trump administration of a political prosecution, while Mace joined other Republicans who have widely criticized her actions.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — A woman was arrested Monday after being accused of entering a school bus and threatening a juvenile student in downtown Charleston last week. Kytazia Ryeshia Watson, 29, was charged with interference with the operation of a school bus, according to online jail records. A member of Sanders-Clyde Elementary School's administration said Watson got on a school bus Wednesday, May 14 in the area of the Bridgeview Apartments on North Romney Street and threated a male juvenile student, according to a Charleston police report. "I'm going to beat your a** and wait for your mom to come,"...

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) shared photos of her “naked silhouette” on Capitol Hill Tuesday, alleging that they were taken without her consent by her ex-fiance. “Freedom is not a theory. It is the right to breathe. It is the right to dress and undress, to sleep without someone’s camera filming your naked body,” the congresswoman said during a House Oversight Committee hearing. “The Founders wrote liberty in parchment, but hidden cameras erase it in pixels.” “I speak not just as a lawmaker, but as a survivor.”

Real men guard a woman’s privacy; predators harvest it. In my Oversight hearing today I’m going to expose predator and rapist Patrick Bryant for the monster he is. With evidence. Naked bodies. Legs spread apart. Upskirt photos. The kinds of things he would film and photograph women without their knowledge, permission or consent. He stored these images for YEARS. And the victims didn’t know. He is the inspiration for many bills I’ve filed since uncovering what he did to so many women. The Sue Voyeurs Act and the Stop Voyeurs Act among them. He still roams free. Free to continue...

The South Carolina Supreme Court today unanimously upheld the Fetal Heartbeat and Protection Act that protects the lives of unborn children when a heartbeat is detected, usually by six weeks gestational age. The 27-page opinion upheld that of 5th Circuit Court Judge Daniel Coble who ruled in May of 2024 in favor of the Heartbeat Act noting that it was the will of the General Assembly to establish the fetal heartbeat at six weeks of gestation. With limited exceptions, including protections for the mother’s life and health, the Fetal Heartbeat Act protects unborn children when the fetal heartbeat can be...

Lancaster County Sheriff's Office SC Updated May 12, 2025 Homicide – Riverside Road The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a shooting that left a woman dead on Riverside Road. A little before midnight last night, Friday, May 2, 2025, deputies were dispatched to the 3000 block of Riverside Road where they found the victim, a 40-year-old female, behind the wheel of her 2021 Honda Accord deceased from an apparent gunshot wound. Earlier in the evening the victim left her home nearby headed to Rock Hill. She was alone. Family members lost contact with the victim, began searching, and found...

A violent altercation in a Dollar Tree parking lot in South Carolina led to a car smashing into the building. “Watch as a chaotic brawl erupts outside a Dollar Tree in Bishopville, South Carolina, culminating in a car crashing through the storefront. Authorities report multiple arrests following the violent altercation that left the building severely damaged and forced its closure. A 17-year-old was charged with attempted murder and property damage after allegedly hitting a 15-year-old with a vehicle during the melee, before slamming into the store,” Rawsalerts wrote. “Despite the impact, the 15-year-old sustained only minor injuries. The car then...

The career criminal charged with killing a young aspiring teacher went on a 'shopping spree' with stolen credit cards after callously shooting her dead. Alexander Dickey, 30, was arrested on May 4 after going on a violent rampage that included theft, grand larceny, arson and murder. Police said Dickey kicked off his crime spree by breaking into a home on Cypress Street in Columbia, South Carolina, and killing 22-year-old Logan Federico.

A South Carolina firing squad tried to shoot a convicted cop killer in the heart and missed in a “botched” execution that left him in “excruciating” pain as he bled out, according to an autopsy and experts. Mikal Mahdi, 42 — who murdered a South Carolina police officer during a crime spree in 2004 — was shot to death by a three-person firing squad on April 11. But an autopsy later revealed that none of the bullets hit his heart directly, and that his chest showed only two bullet wounds instead of three, according to a disturbing report by NPR....

A beautiful 22-year-old college student was fatally shot inside of a Columbia, South Carolina, rental home on Saturday night by a career criminal who was “on a spree of thefts, break-ins and credit card fraud,” the Columbia Police Department said. Logan Federico, a college student from Waxhaw, North Carolina, was spending the weekend at a rental home with friends in South Carolina when she was senselessly murdered by a career criminal. After stealing firearms and credit cards from a nearby home, 30-year-old Alexander Dickey broke into the Columbia rental home early Saturday morning, entered Logan Federico’s room and fatally shot...

Thursday on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” senior political commentator Van Jones spoke with a group of African Americans in South Carolina who explained why they voted for and continue to support President Donald Trump. Seth Dawkins said, “I mean, part of it is he’s an &&&^&^&. I like — I like authenticity.” Detra German said, “It just opened my eyes to maybe he’s not this person that I have been led to believe that he was.” Kyasia Kraft said, “I saw how things were going during his first term, and I was pleasantly surprised, and I was pleased with what...

A shooting in Myrtle Beach, South Caroline left one person dead and 11 others injured late Saturday night, according to police. The Myrtle Beach Police Department is now scrambling to piece together the horrific scene as the popular tourist hotspot turned into a zone of terror. Just before the clock struck midnight on Saturday at 11:50 p.m., Myrtle Beach police officers stumbled upon a full-blown brawl involving a crowd of people. According to the authorities, they 'observed a disturbance involving multiple individuals.' Cops say a chaotic fight turned deadly in Myrtle Beach when someone whipped out a weapon, forcing an...

Nalin Haley, the son of former U.S. presidential candidate Nikki Haley, was received into the Catholic Church on Palm Sunday. “As parents, Michael and I always prayed that our children would have a faith and relationship with God,” Nikki Haley posted on social media Sunday. “Today we were so proud to support Nalin in his faith journey as he was confirmed into the Catholic Church, completed RCIA, and received his first holy Communion,” she said of her son. Nikki Haley, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and South Carolina governor, was born and raised in the Sikh faith...