Free Republic

Clay Higgins leaves the St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office Clay Higgins, the charismatic Sheriff's captain who put St. Landry Parish Crime Stoppers on the international map with his viral videos, has resigned from the Sheriff's Office. Higgins made the announcement Monday morning on the steps of the St. Landry Parish Courthouse. He says he was not forced to resign, but he felt he need to turn in his badge, which the Sheriff accepted. "I will not kneel to violent street gangs. I will not kneel to murderers or the parents that raised them. I will not kneel to a discredited,...

If Democratic state Rep. John Bel Edwards is to become the next governor of Louisiana, he'll do so with the vote of moderate Republicans who, for whatever reason, just can't bring themselves to push the ballot button for Sen. David Vitter, one of their own.

Secretary of State John Kerry predicted on Thursday that nine in 10 Americans would back President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran once it has been in place for a year or more. “The fact is, a lot of polls show that the country actually supports it, and that’s a fairly even divide,” Kerry said of enthusiasm for the agreement now, according to The Huffington Post. “I think that’s pretty good, considering the amount of money that’s spent with myths being promulgated.” “If Iran destroys its Arak plutonium reactor core, filing it with cement, and it exists no longer, and Arak...

Victims, gunman identified in Grand 16 shooting The victims who died in last night's shooting at The Grand 16 have been identified as 21-year-old Mayci Breaux of Franklin and 33-year-old Jillian Johnson of Lafayette. The shooter, who shot himself in the theater, has been identified as 58-year-old John Houser of Alabama. Police say he was a "drifter" who had been in the Lafayette area since early July. He fired 13 rounds into the theater during the 7 p.m. showing of "Trainwreck." One of the victims and the gunman died at the scene. A second victim died at an area hospital....

There's no question that Auburn, Florida, Michigan, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Tennessee and Texas are seven of college football's heavyweights. Collectively, they've combined to win 26 national championships, and 21 of their players have hoisted the Heisman Trophy. Together, they're also known for a more dubious number: $51.35 million. That's how much money the aforementioned FBS programs have paid their former coaches to buy out the remainder of their contracts, and each of them will carry dead money into the coming season. Buyout information for former USC coach Lane Kiffin is unknown because USC is a private school and is not...

<p>MIAMI — President Barack Obama is using his annual hurricane briefing to warn that climate change will make these storms more intense and damaging.</p> <p>Obama is getting the briefing on the hurricane season during a visit Thursday (May 28) to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.</p>

WASHINGTON -- Former Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., is joining the Washington lobbying firm Van Ness Feldman, the firm will announce later Tuesday (May 26). Landrieu said she will join Van Ness Feldman as a senior policy advisor, working closely with another recent hire, former Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., the former top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee. Former senators are barred from lobbying their former colleagues for two years after the end of their congressional careers. For Landrieu, that means she can't lobby colleagues until January, 2017. But she can lobby members of the executive branch, and is free to...

An aggressive door-to-door salesman found himself in handcuffs after a Marrero resident said he forced his way into her home to talk about burglar alarms, according to authorities. Jens Petersen, 20, of Washington, Utah, was arrested and booked with unauthorized entry of an inhabited dwelling and peddling with no permit, a Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office arrest report said.

Nothing short of suspending Tom Brady and Bill Belichick for the 2015 NFL season would satisfy many New Orleans Saints fans for the New England Patriots' involvement in Deflategate. The NFL announced Monday a four-game suspension for Brady and several other sanctions for the Patriots for the intentional use of deflated footballs last season. Some penalties levied on the Patriots organization were harsher than what the Saints received in the bounty scandal.

Before new Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh has put his first points on the scoreboard in The Big House, the school has self-reported four minor NCAA violations in football that have occurred under Harbaugh's watch. The violations are classified as Secondary/Level III. Violations of that nature typically result in no punitive action by the NCAA and are handled through education of the coaching staff through the school's compliance department. According to mlive.com, two of the violations directly involved the former San Francisco 49ers head coach. In one violation, Harbaugh donated an autographed team helmet and a jersey to an auction...

Wednesday's release of the Ted Wells Report brought with it a conclusion that it was "more probable than not" that New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was "at least generally aware of the inappropriate activities" regarding the deflation of Patriots game balls. Brady's agent, Don Yee, issued a response Thursday, obtained by NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport. "The Wells report, with all due respect, is a significant and terrible disappointment. It's omission of key facts and lines of inquiry suggest the investigators reached a conclusion first, and then determined so-called facts later. One item alone taints this entire report. What...

As a Private Lawyer, Ted Cruz Defended Companies Found Guilty of Wrongdoing Two cases Cruz handled before joining the Senate could become an issue during his presidential bid. In his bio on his presidential campaign website, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) boasts of what he did as Texas solicitor general to defend the Second Amendment, the Pledge of Allegiance, and US sovereignty—all conservative causes. But Cruz does not detail another important chapter in his legal career: his work as a well-paid private attorney who helped corporations found guilty of wrongdoing.

Obamacare, now 5 years old, working mostly as designed: Bloomberg opinion By Jonathan Bernstein Obamacare turns five years old Monday. Let's go straight to what you need to know. -- The law is working more or less as it was supposed to. The two goals of the Affordable Care Act were to expand coverage and to cut costs. The first part has worked as the drafters expected. Even though the effort has fallen short in states that have refused Medicaid expansion (which U.S. Supreme Court allowed them to do), the law has sharply increased the number of Americans with health...

Republicans Admit: That Iran Letter Was a Dumb Idea A day after releasing a letter that potentially threatened the administration’s negotiations with Iran, some Republicans who signed on are realizing it was a bad call. Behind the scenes, Republicans are wondering if sending an open letter to Iran’s leaders was the best strategy to keep a bad nuclear deal from being negotiated. Earlier this week, 47 Republican senators signed a letter warning the Iranian government that many of them would remain in office long after President Barack Obama’s second term was over, meaning any deal reached between the U.S. and...

Things must be going even worse for the Democrats than the polls suggest. The campaign of incumbent Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., for example, has hit rock bottom. How else to explain her lame attempt to blame her electoral peril on racism and sexism? Modern illiberals are incapable of thinking their record or their ideas could lead to misfortune.

When Mary Landrieu was elected to the U.S. Senate 18 years ago, Louisiana residents needed her to become a strong and effective advocate for the state. She did that, forging relationships across party lines, pushing three different presidents and her colleagues in Congress to treat us fairly and building the clout that comes not only with seniority but respect. The benefits to Louisiana have been enormous. At a time when the New Orleans area needed eloquent and powerful leadership after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the levee breaches, Sen. Landrieu provided it. She championed our community's right to be rebuilt,...

Sen. Mary Landrieu will buy health coverage in Louisiana and lose out on federal subsidy WASHINGTON -- Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said Friday that she and her husband will buy their health insurance from Louisiana's Affordable Care Act marketplace. That decision means she won't qualify for the federal contribution provided to federal employees, including members of Congress and their staffs. It can be as high as $11,377 for a family health plan. Members of Congress and their staffs must buy insurance through Washington D.C.'s small business exchange to qualify for continued federal health subsidies, under a recent directive from the...

By Jay Inslee, Steve Beshear and Dannel P. Malloy, Published: November 17 Jay Inslee, a Democrat, is governor of Washington. Steve Beshear, a Democrat, is governor of Kentucky. Dannel P. Malloy, a Democrat, is governor of Connecticut. In our states — Washington, Kentucky and Connecticut — the Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare,” is working. Tens of thousands of our residents have enrolled in affordable health-care coverage. Many of them could not get insurance before the law was enacted.

Outraged over a teacher's alleged negative comments in class about President Obama has parents at Delcambre Elementary fighting back. The day after election day, Lindsey Shello's son told her his fourth grade teacher wore all black to school. He said the teacher told class she was attending America's funeral, because Barrack Obama was re-elected president. "She made the comment that since Michelle Obama is first lady and with the meal plan she has, the kids are gonna look like toothpicks in a few months," said Shello. Shello says the teacher also told the class, the US would become the new...

Outraged over a teacher's alleged negative comments in class about President Obama has parents at Delcambre Elementary fighting back. The day after election day, Lindsey Shello's son told her his fourth grade teacher wore all black to school. He said the teacher told class she was attending America's funeral, because Barrack Obama was re-elected president. "She made the comment that since Michelle Obama is first lady and with the meal plan she has, the kids are gonna look like toothpicks in a few months," said Shello. Shello says the teacher also told the class, the US would become the new...