Free Republic

The Harris County Sheriff's Office in Texas released body camera videos one week after a woman was shot by deputies after allegedly being mistaken for an intruder. On Feb. 3, deputies responded to a burglary at the Pines of Woodforest Apartments in the Cloverleaf area at about 2 a.m. The caller spoke with our sister station, ABC13 Eyewitness News in Houston, last week, saying he wishes he hadn't reported the suspected break-in, considering what happened next. "I was sitting on my couch, and I just started hearing glass breaking," Mitchell said. "I heard [the sheriff's office] knock on the door,...

All 379 passengers and crew members aboard a Japan Airlines plane, which collided midair with a Coast Guard aircraft Tuesday, survived despite a fiery landing at Tokyo’s Haneda airport. Five of the six crew members on the Coast Guard plane were killed following the collision shortly before 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, according to Reuters. Only the captain of the Bombardier-built Dash-8 maritime patrol plane has reportedly been found. The crew was reportedly on their way to Niigata airport on Japan’s west coast to deliver aid and resources to survivors of a powerful New Year’s Day earthquake that struck the region,...

House Republicans took action this week to reverse an Obama administration policy that critics claim prioritizes diversity over skills for hiring air traffic controllers and could be “risking passengers’ lives to advance their woke agenda.” In passing the $4 billion Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill Thursday, the House included a provision to eliminate the “biographical assessment.” Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, sponsored the amendment. The assessment reportedly gives more points to applicants who have not been employed for the last three years than to an applicant who answers that he has been a pilot or a veteran with an air traffic...

Biden talks about his team as if he asked to see headshots over resumes. Ultimately, that’s a surefire way to upset just about everyone.President Joe Biden is incredibly proud of his staff’s sexual and racial diversity. You don’t even have to ask. He’ll tell you that his choices were tailor-made to “look like the country,” meeting he demands of his party’s identity-focused base. Yet, as we’ve seen time and time again, staffing based on immutable characteristics instead of earned qualifications can only end poorly.Party activists oftentimes stubbornly adhere to a radical worldview, a position much easier to hold when not...