Free Republic

Trust the experts they say.The government has your best interests at heart.Don’t think for yourself, we keep being told.Yeah, well, the AP says what those of us who have been following the Lahaina wildfire already knew: the people who obeyed the authorities died, and those who said “Screw that!” survived.https://t.co/ydyZUqV9gl— Dr. Benjamin Braddock (@GraduatedBen) August 23, 2023This story confirms what I have been writing for a few days. Not because I am a particularly astute journalist–everything I have reported has been publicly available, either through various news stories, blog posts, or videos on Twitter.I just have no faith left in...

At least five bodies have been discovered during the massive manhunt for fugitive Brian Laundrie, who is the sole person of interest in Gabby Petito’s homicide. While the 23-year-old remains on the lam more than a month after skipping out of his family’s Florida home, the other bodies have been found in areas where authorities have been looking, according to The Sun. “How many bodies are just all willy nilly laying about?!” one person marveled in a Reddit thread, according to the report. “Since starting the hunt for BL there have been what, 5 BODIES?” One of the bodies was...

What is a Christian's responsibility to submit to governmental authority when laws and regulations are in conflict with a Christian's belief? As a pastor, I am regularly confronted with this question, from parishioners and even in my own life as a citizen of the United States.I was asked the question yet again on our most recent Inauguration Day, when President Joseph Biden was sworn into office. The question was couched in relation to the compliance called for in Romans 13:1–5:Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities...

Public health authorities in California have unveiled a “Blueprint for a Safer Economy” that requires counties to meet new “health equity metrics” in order to emerge from the current Covid-19 lockdowns. It’s a broad experiment in social justice. Under the plan, counties must reduce “disparities in levels of transmission” in “low-income, Black, Latino, [and] Pacific Islander” communities before they can move forward with reopening. In effect, local businesses must remain closed until local bureaucrats are satisfied that ill-defined racial quotas have been met. The underlying assumption of the blueprint is that race-based coronavirus disparities are the result of “systemic racism,”...

As our health care system and economy teeter under the strain from COVID-19, elected officials are making some of the most important decisions of our lifetimes. Especially at the state level, many are emerging as competent leaders. Others, though, are undermining their authority and the public trust by hiding behind a wall of secrecy. Americans have never put up with “don’t ask questions, just trust me” for long — especially in a crisis. In Pennsylvania, for example, Gov. Tom Wolf initially was an open book in dealing with the coronavirus threat, holding daily news conferences and providing updates. But then...

“Might trigger violence.” Tucker Carlson wonders how Americans will react if health authorities forcibly remove family members from their homes following a World Health Organization official’s suggestion that this scenario could happen.During his monologue last night, the Fox News hosted drew attention to a statement made by Dr. Michael Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organization’s Health Emergencies Program, back on March 30 which was not reported by the mainstream media.Ryan was asked by a reporter; “Do you think that home quarantine will be as effective anywhere for people who are positive, or would central quarantine be needed...

If you live in the Bay Area, you’ll be hearing a lot about Senate Bill 595 over the next year or so. If you’re a regular user of any of the region’s seven state-owned toll bridges — that’s all of them, except the Golden Gate Bridge — you’ll want to pay close attention. SB 595, which won final passage Thursday and now awaits Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature, provides for a vote in the nine Bay Area counties next year to raise bridge tolls by as much as $3. If the Bay Area Toll Authority, the agency that oversees the bridges,...

Authorities on Wednesday night continued to investigate a Redlands home tied to Syed Farook, a suspect identified in connection with the mass shootings that killed at least 14 people and injured at least 17 people at a social services center in San Bernardino on Wednesday morning. A few hours after the mass shooting, authorities followed a tip to the home on Center Street in Redlands. As officers approached, the suspects fled in a dark SUV. A police pursuit ensued, ending back in San Bernardino, where a gunbattle broke out.

The Ebola hoaxes have begun. Authorities in Columbus, Ohio, received a call around 9 p.m. Thursday, according to NBC's WCMH, claiming a local woman was suffering from Ebola-like symptoms. ABC's WSYX reported it was also claimed the woman had recently traveled to West Africa, where the Ebola outbreak has lead to almost 9,000 cases and 4,500 deaths.

Authorities recently dismantled an ISIS-inspired plot to carry out a "knife and gun" attack at a Canadian shopping mall, NBC News reports. Anonymous intelligence officials told the American news network that a group of people walked through a Canadian mall to scope out its exists and plan an attack that would see them mowing down people on crowded escalators until police showed up.

Another night of protests and violence erupted in Ferguson, Missouri, on Sunday evening as tensions remain high following the death of unarmed teenager Michael Brown at the hands of the police on August 9. The violence began to flare again around 9 p.m. local time as police in riot fear fired teargas on hundreds of protestors - including children - for encroaching on their command post. Authorities also used rubber bullets and several protesters have reported getting hit. Many of the marchers retreated, but a group of about 100 stood defiantly about two blocks away until getting hit by another...

French authorities say they foiled an Islamic terrorist plot reportedly targeting the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and a nuclear power plant last year. The revelation comes as the country unveiled new anti-terror rules which included a proposal to ban terror suspects from leaving the country if it is thought they intend to fight abroad, The Telegraph reported. French authorities revealed they arrested a 29-year-old Algerian butcher living in southern France June 2013, after they found coded messages between him and a high-ranking Al Qaeda member discussing how “to conduct jihad in the place you are currently,” according to Le Parisien....

Concerned that the City is an inhomogeneous hodgepodge with pockets of great wealth in some neighborhoods and squalor in others, newly appointed Housing Preservation and Development Commissar Vicki Been announced a plan to move 80,000 to 120,000 poorer families into middle class neighborhoods. “This way instead of having blight and filth in every direction they might look poorer families will be within easy walking distance of a better kept neighborhood,” Been boasted. “The crimes that plague poorer sections of our City would be more evenly dispersed throughout the whole City. Victims will come from a more broadly representative subset of...

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — Channel 9 has confirmed the Seminole County Sheriff's Office has been called to a disturbance involving George Zimmerman on Monday. The disturbance is at a residence in unincorporated Apopka, although authorities haven't said what that disturbance involves.

Seeking leads as the massive manhunt for Christopher Dorner -- the former Los Angeles police officer suspected in three killings -- progressed into its fourth day, authorities on Sunday announced a $1 million reward for information leading to his arrest. LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced the reward at a news conference at Los Angeles Police Department headquarters. “This search is not a matter of if, but a matter of when," he said. "I want Chris Dorner to know that.” Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/02/10/searchers-struggle-to-pick-up-trail-former-los-angeles-cop-wanted-in-killing/#ixzz2KY18yu4g

There is frequently talk of warrantless spying on citizen communications and online data, but what about how the government and law enforcement can track people — legally? With the scandal between the former CIA Director Gen. David Patreaus and his former mistress Paula Broadwell coming to light thanks to content stored in an email account, many have begun to wonder about the privacy of their own communications. Tech experts say it really comes down to outdated laws. Laws which Congress is expected to update soon, but this update might not be in favor of more privacy. TheBlaze spoke with “ethical...

Education: As if Occupy Wall Street and its parasitic protesters weren't a bad enough example for children, now teacher unions and their enablers are getting into the act with disturbing ideas about "teaching" its tenets. Little noticed in the protest army sitting in against Wall Street, the educational establishment is more involved than you might think. From teachers disrupting school board meetings to classroom use of lesson plans about the "Occupy" protests to "teach-ins" that aim to educate the public about protest demands, we are witnessing a vast spread of economic illiteracy for political purposes. It started early this month...

UKIAH -- An estimated $800 million worth of marijuana has been seized following a massive raid on illegal grows on public lands deep in Northern California's pot country, authorities said Tuesday. ... Several Mexican-based drug trafficking organizations were behind the illegal grows, Department of Justice spokeswoman Michelle Gregory said. In previous years, officials have blamed Mexican drug cartels for some of the state's largest growing operations, but Gregory stopped short of making that claim.

A cryptic code sent by the Zodiac killer on November 8, 1969 to San Francisco Chronicle has baffled authorities for decades, until now. Now a 27-year-old man is claiming he cracked this code as well as the identity of the Zodiac killer, who murdered at least seven people in the late 60s. Corey Starliper of Tewksbury, Massachusetts, was intrigued by the case after watching a 2007 movie "Zodiac" about the killings. He claims to have spent nine hours working on cracking the code. "I found it exciting, that I was actually able to get into his head when nobody had...

Mexican soldiers discovered the largest marijuana plantation in the country's history, hidden under black cloth in the middle of the desert. The 300-acre plantation is four times larger than the previous record discovery by authorities and workers had even installed toilet facilities, the Defence Department said. The towering pot plants sheltered under black screen-cloth in a huge square on the floor of the Baja California desert, more than 150 miles south of Tijuana, across the border from San Diego.