Free Republic

Straw hat in hand, Tyrean “Heru” Lewis jumped out of his pickup truck along busy Shackelford Road in North St. Louis County and walked into the treeline, where he had something special to show. On the other side, uniform rows of vegetables — lettuce, radishes and bok choy — sprouted on half an acre. The land is not on a remote country farm, but just 17 miles from the Delmar Loop in the heart of the metro. As Lewis, founder of Heru Urban Farming, checks the crop he gets excited about its progress, raising his voice over the sound of...

Almost a year ago, on 28 June 2020, a mob of loud, screaming BLM protestors in St. Louis, Missouri, followed the agitators/leaders into private property through a locked gate. Reacting to the threats, Mark and Patricia McCloskey grabbed two firearms, an AR-15 type rifle, and an inoperable Bryco semi-automatic pistol. The McCloskeys seemed fully justified under Missouri law. The state Attorney General defended them in public. The Governor said he would pardon them if they were prosecuted.This did not deter radical St. Louis Circuit Attorney (prosecutor) Kim Gardner. She insisted on prosecuting the McCloskeys. Eventually, she was removed from the...

Despite having their weapons seized and pleading guilty to charges in connection with pointing guns at Black Lives Matter rioters on their private property during the summer of 2020, Mark and Patricia McCloskey appeared defiant Saturday, posting a picture of a new AR-15 the St. Louis couple intends to buy. Twtter Link"Checking out my new AR!" Mark McCloskey tweeted along with two pictures: one with McCloskey at a gun store with the owner, and another with him and his wife, Patricia. In both, he is holding an AR-15 rifle. The picture came just two days after the McCloskeys pleaded guilty...

Gun-toting attorney Mark McCloskey has shown off his new rifle just two days after pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges and agreeing to surrender the weapon he pointed unarmed Black Lives Matter protesters. ‘Checking out my new AR,’ reads the caption. McCloskey is seen in the photos wearing a curt smile and brandishing the weapon with a finger just above the trigger. One photo also includes his wife Patricia giving a thumbs up. The gun-toting St. Louis couple, both personal injury attorneys in their 60s, appeared in court Thursday where they admitted to a judge that their actions had put peaceful...

She’s cute, white, cheerful and popular — a bad combination in politically fanatical America in 2021 Comedienne Ellie Kemper is in trouble! What for? Well, it’s a bit hard to understand. Let Cockburn go and take a couple of hours to figure it out.OK, Cockburn is back — and more confused than ever. Apparently, Kemper, 41, is in trouble because she won a local St Louis beauty pageant 22 years ago, when she was 19. Why is that bad? The pageant was the Veiled Prophet Ball, put on by the Veiled Prophet Organization of St Louis. OK — and why...

The mayor of St. Louis says having more cops won't prevent crime, and she's used her first month in office to introduce controversial reforms including defunding the police. Tishaura Jones, who is the first black woman ever elected to serve as mayor of St. Louis, approved a $4million cut in the police budget as her city experienced the highest levels of violent crime in half a century last year. The 49-year-old Jones assumed office on April 20 after running on a platform that includes an end to St. Louis’ ‘arrest and incarcerate’ model of policing - even as her city...

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Garner, elected the city’s top prosecutor with the help of liberal billionaire George Soros, could lose her law license over charges of professional misconduct in her pursuit of Republican then-Governor Eric Greitens. The Missouri Supreme Court’s Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel found Gardner concealed evidence and lied to courts while handling Greitens case, and concluded: “probable cause exists to believe that Respondent (Gardner) is guilty of professional misconduct.” She now faces a disciplinary hearing that could end with her losing her license to practice law. In 2018 Greitens was accused of taking a nude photograph...

City officials in St. Louis, Missouri, are moving forward with a plan to cut $4 million from the police budget and remove 98 vacant officer jobs. The local Board of Estimate and Apportionment voted 2-1 in favor of the spending plan, which pledges to remove $4 million from the $171 million police budget and reallocate that money to social services, according to the St. Louis Post Dispatch. The plan, according to St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones, is intended to “address the root causes of crime and support the victims of crime as well as those who have been underserved and...

I recently wrote about the mysterious killings of endangered white rhinos in South Africa’s Pilanesberg Park years ago. The killers turned out to be gangs of aggressive teen elephants who, raised without fathers or role models to “curb their youthful exuberance,” grew up to be troublemakers. The delinquents fell in line after park staff relocated adult male elephants to the park who “kicked butt” with the compassion of a father and established a new hierarchy. The violence and killings of white rhinos stopped. I compared the young elephants to young blacks in urban cities who were raised without fathers or...

ST. LOUIS – Police have controlled a situation with inmates rioting again at the St. Louis Justice Center Sunday night. The riot broke out around 8:45 p.m. on the 3rd floor. Police say about 60 inmates busted windows, set fire, and threw things to the ground.

ST. LOUIS (KMOV.com) -- The West County Center was put on lockdown Friday night after shots were fired inside the mall. The mall's security said the center went on lockdown after a shot was fired on the second floor. The Des Peres Police Department said two groups of people got into an argument when one of them fired the shot. No one was injured. Officers from multiple agencies responded. A witness we talked to said he saw the gunman fire a shot from the second floor, then went down the escalator and kept shooting...

Conservative radio pioneer Rush Limbaugh was laid to rest during a private ceremony at Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri, on Wednesday, according to the Southeast Missourian. 97.1 FM TALK reports: Sources say the north St. Louis County cemetery was closed to the public for several hours Wednesday, as an estimated 40 family members and dignitaries had to clear security before being allowed through the gates. Many expected Limbaugh to be buried in his hometown of Cape Girardeau, Mo. Instead, he will rest in eternity alongside some of St. Louis’s most famous residents. Limbaugh’s widow, Kathryn, told the Southeast Missourian...

The Southeast Missourian (Cape Girardeau newspaper) reports that Rush Limbaugh was buried in St. Louis, Mo

Squad member Rep. Cori Bush quoted Martin Luther King Jr.’s, “A riot is the language of the unheard,” in response to an inmate riot at the St. Louis city jail over the weekend. “I want to talk to my constituents in the window. Their lives and their rights must be protected,” she tweeted: “A riot is the language of the unheard.” – Dr. MLK Jr. I want to talk to my constituents in the window. Their lives and their rights must be protected. My team and I are working to ensure that the urgent needs of people who are incarcerated...

Unable to convince his deputies to clamp down on disorder while in power, Donald Trump now leaves a city occupied to cheers in honor of his successor (and his successor's army).WASHINGTON — For six months, President Donald Trump pushed for a harsher crackdown on the riots raging across the United States, facing constant pushback from officials worried that would further inflame the chaos and lead to needless death. As Joe Biden takes the oath of office and Trump exits Washington, the outgoing president’s dream is finally realized — ironically, too late to change a thing.Over the past week, somewhere between...

Today a grand jury indicted the McCloskeys for a June incident when a group of protesters walked onto their private property on their way to protest at the Mayor’s house. The McCloskeys cam out of their home armed with guns to protect their property. Trespassing charges against the protesters were all dropped but progressive DA Kim Gardner brought charges against the McCloskeys. Their attorney said the indictment is no surprise: Their attorney, Joel Schwartz, said he wasn’t surprised by the indictment, saying the grand jury didn’t have all the facts.“Once all the facts are out, it will be clear...

Watching American cities burn across the map all summer long is a little dispiriting for those of us foreigners whose first acquaintance with these burgs was through American songs. I have been to St Louis a handful of times, but, if you sneak up on me unawares and yell the name at me, I'm more likely to eschew my limited personal experience and burst into a few bars of "Meet Me in St Louis" or "The Saint Louis Blues" - notwithstanding that the former renders the town exclusively as "St Louiee" and the latter does likewise in all but a...

By almost any account, Stan Musial was considered the greatest Cardinals player. By the same accounts, Bob Gibson, who died at age 84 Friday night in Omaha, Nebraska, under hospice care after fighting pancreatic cancer for more than a year, was considered the franchise’s greatest pitcher. Gibson was the Cardinals' second National Baseball Hall of Famer to die in the past month. His longtime teammate, Lou Brock, died at age 81 on Sept. 6. Gibson's death came on the 52nd anniversary of perhaps his greatest game, a record 17-strikeout performance in Game 1 of the 1968 World Series.

U.S. Attorney William McSwain of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania blames Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner for the rise in violence in the City of Brotherly Love. Krasner’s policies, McSwain announced, “create a culture of lawlessness; they leave criminals emboldened; and they have inevitable consequences.” Indeed, since Krasner took office in 2018, homicides are up 49 percent and shootings have climbed by 59 percent. If the trend holds, Philadelphia will tally more than 450 homicides in 2020—the highest count in nearly 30 years. Crime is spiking precisely because Krasner isn’t holding serious offenders accountable. An analysis by my group, the...

LOWER SAUCON TWP., Pa. (WLVT) - Despite a change of venue, Mark and Patricia McCloskey still made their way to the Lehigh Valley to speak. The Northampton County Republican Committee rented a pavilion at Town Hall Park to host the Missouri couple who gained fame in June while standing outside their home with guns drawn as Black Lives Matter protesters marched by. An estimated 200-plus people showed up Thursday night to to listen to their story and their support of the Second Amendment right to bear arms. The event was originally planned for a park in Palmer Township but the...