Free Republic

President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence met with National Rifle Association officials Thursday night at the White House -- the second time in less than a week that he's had such a meeting. "Good (Great) meeting in the Oval Office tonight with the NRA!" the president tweeted. Following the meeting, NRA executive director Chris Cox tweeted, "I had a great meeting tonight with @realDonaldTrump & @VP. We all want safe schools, mental health reform and to keep guns away from dangerous people. POTUS & VPOTUS support the Second Amendment, support strong due process and don’t want gun control....

Russian President Vladimir Putin showed a concept video Thursday depicting nuclear warheads being released over Florida while showing off a new rocket during his annual state-of-the-nation speech, according to multiple reports. he crowd gathered for Putin’s speech to the Federal Assembly applauded Thursday as the video played, showing range of the newly unveiled Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile. Putin boasted that the ICBM is fast, with a range that’s “practically unlimited,” and the ability to overcome U.S. missile defense systems, Russian-owned news network RT reported. A brief concept video showed the missile being launched before dropping nuclear warheads over Florida.

DALTON, Ga. (AP) - A social studies teacher barricaded himself inside a classroom at a Georgia high school on Wednesday and fired a handgun, sending students running outside or hunkering down in darkened gym locker rooms, authorities said. No Dalton High School students were in the classroom when the teacher fired the weapon, and despite the chaotic lockdown and evacuation, the only injury was a student who hurt her ankle running away. It wasn't immediately clear why the teacher, 53-year-old Jesse Randal Davidson, had the gun. Under questioning by detectives, he refused to discuss what led to the shooting. The...

Events have a way of surprising you. When it was announced that Donald Trump Jr.and Justin Trudeau would visit India at roughly the same time, Indians prepared to see what gaffes the younger Trump would commit. Trudeau, on the other hand, was expected to wow India with his charisma and youthful charm. It simply hasn’t worked out that way. The junior Trump stuck to business events and largely kept his mouth shut, Though there was one awkward moment when he said that people in India might be poor but they were happy. “They are happy because your dad is not...

GANGNEUNG, South Korea – It ended with a duck and a dodge, which was sad. Shani Davis deserved better than that. He finished seventh in what was probably the final race of his Olympic career, and then he ducked out of the rink without walking though the mixed zone so that he could dodge the media. As athlete crimes go, this was a parking ticket. Not a big deal. But by doing it, Davis robbed himself. Maybe he doesn’t care about a grand sendoff. More likely, he didn’t trust us to give him one, and that is what is sad:...

The woman who had an affair with former U.S. Representative Tim Murphy is now running for Congress. Shannon Edwards will challenge Democratic incumbent Mike Doyle. Murphy resigned in October after it was revealed the pro-life Republican had asked Edwards to get an abortion.

COBB County, Ga. - An adolescent psychologist who was the head of a mental health and therapy firm in downtown Atlanta allegedly molested at least one girl and posted recordings of it online. Jonathan Gersh, 37, has been in Cobb County jail since Valentine’s Day without bond on several felony charges of child molestation and child pornography, jail records showed Tuesday afternoon. Because of his job, police said they believe there might be more victims. Homeland Security agents contacted Cobb detectives on Feb. 6 about a possible incident in the county, cops said. A police warrant indicated that federal law...

PHILADELPHIA - A statue that stood guard, buried and undamaged for more than 2,000 years, couldn’t contend with a man at a private party in Philadelphia who just had to sneak off and take a selfie, according to multiple media reports. The man, later identified as Michael Rohana, 24, was seen in a restricted area at the Franklin Institute during a party on Dec. 21 that was held after-hours at the museum, The New York Times reported. FBI officials said Rohana used his cellphone’s flash as a light source to see the displays. He then put his arm around one...

LONDON - All eyes were on Duchess Catherine over the weekend when she attended the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Awards. Kate Middleton, who is expecting her third child with the Duke of Cambridge, arrived at the Sunday event with Prince William. Much like award shows in the United States, attendees at the London event were encouraged to wear all black in support of the #MeToo and #TimesUp initiatives at this year’s BAFTAs, which are the British equivalent to the Oscars. Duchess Catherine opted for a green cap-sleeved gown and coordinating...

Failed Libertarian Presidential Candidate Gary Johnson is scheduled to speak at CPAC this year. That's interesting, to say the least. What does everyone think of the rest of the line-up? Besides POTUS and the VP, it looks like a mixed bag of conservative regulars, RINOs, and Never Trumpers with a few more slightly edgier choices. Does anyone here attend CPAC any more? Would be interested in your thoughts and experiences.

The Justice Department on Friday indicted 13 Russian nationals and three Russian groups of violating criminal laws with the intent to interfere with "with U.S. elections and political processes", according to agency. According to the agency, "the indictment charges all of the defendants with conspiracy to defraud the United States, three defendants with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, and five defendants with aggravated identity theft." The indictment says that some defendants "communicated with unwitting individuals associated with the Trump campaign" without revealing their association with Russia. The indictment also says the defendants posted negative information about a...

HOMESTEAD (KDKA) — A Homestead-area pastor is being accused of open lewdness and indecent exposure, but he says what police say happened is not what really happened. Officers were sent to the 800 block of Beechland Street around 11:30 p.m. Friday for a report of a suspicious vehicle parked outside of a home. According to a criminal complaint, when the officers arrived on the scene, they could see two men inside the vehicle. Police say one man — identified as 61-year-old George Nelson Gregory, of Munhall — was in the back seat, and the other man was completely naked and...

DULUTH, Minn. - Students taking English classes in a Minnesota city will no longer have to read two American classics or write reports about them, the Duluth News Tribune reported. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and “To Kill a Mockingbird,” which contain racial slurs, will no longer be required reading for students in the Duluth Public School district’s English classes next fall. However, the books are not banned: They will be available in the school as optional reading for students, the News Tribune reported. The decision comes two months after a Virginia school temporarily banned the two novels after a...

New allegations against Scott Baio surfaced Wednesday from another one of his Charles in Charge costars: Alexander Polinsky. Polinsky, 43, provided a statement to The Talk which was read out while Nicole Eggert was on the show to talk about her sexual abuse allegations against the actor. Eggert said on the show that Polinsky, who played Adam Powell on Charles in Charge, went with her to file to the police station when she filed a report against Baio and Polinsky also made his own police report supporting her allegations. In addition to supporting the actress’ claims, Polinsky alleged he was...

BROCKTON, Mass. - Officials with the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office say a Brockton, Massachusetts, mother was following a ritual when she stabbed her two sons to death Monday. Attorneys in a Tuesday court hearing for Latarsha Sanders, 43, said she told police she killed her 5- and 8-year-old boys in a ritual incident. It is not clear what the ritual was. According to prosecutors, the 8-year-old boy was stabbed 50 times. Police say Sanders stabbed her two sons before putting them in separate beds and covering them with sheets. Court documents show police asked her why she stabbed her...

“THEY want to build one every four miles,” says the cashier at Dollar General, a discount shop, in Lewisburg, a small town in the rolling hills of central Tennessee. Situated on a big parking lot, next to a provider of payday loans open 24 hours a day, a supermarket chain called Priceless and Dirt Cheap, another southern chain of discount shops flogging the unsold or returned merchandise of other retailers, the shop is one of three Dollar Generals in Lewisburg. Tennessee is the home state of Dollar General, which in recent years overtook its rivals to become the retailer of...

EAST BRIDGEWATER, Mass. - Two women are accused of performing voodoo on a 5-year-old girl who will now have scars on her face for the rest of her life. Police said two family friends poured boiling water with chemicals on her face because they thought she was possessed by the devil. East Bridgewater police said Rachel Hilaire and Peggy Labossiere burned the girl and told her 8-year-old brother they would cut off his head with a machete. “Two friends did a voodoo procedure is what they called it,” Deputy Police Chief Paul O’Brien said. “They are young kids, and they...

AKRON, Ohio (KTRK) -- A 2-year-old Ohio girl was found frozen to death on her front porch, according to police. "You're gonna carefully tilt the head back, you're gonna pinch her nose closed and completely cover her mouth with your mouth and then blow two regular breaths into the lungs," 911 dispatcher explains. The Ohio dispatcher tried to give CPR advice to a frantic mother who discovered her daughter unresponsive on their front porch. Akron police say around 3:30 p.m. Friday afternoon, they were called to an apartment on Doty Drive. According to the 911 call, the mother told the...

(CNN)Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, resigned Wednesday, a day after Politico reported Fitzgerald's purchase of tobacco stock after she took the position at the nation's top public health agency. Such an investment is obviously at odds with the mission of the CDC, considering cigarette smoking will result in the deaths of nearly half a million Americans this year. Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. The CDC's slogan is "24/7: Saving Lives, Protecting People." But Fitzgerald bet against that mission just one month into her tenure at...

Larissa Boyce stood in a Michigan courtroom, the 89th accuser to tell her story of having been sexually assaulted by gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar. All the accounts are chillingly similar, but Boyce's stands out — because she says she tried to get someone to stop Nassar two decades ago. "I told somebody," she said during her testimony Friday. "I told Michigan State University back in 1997." Although Nassar is best known as the former team physician for USA Gymnastics — a role in which he allegedly molested Olympic gold medalists like Aly Raisman and Jordyn Wieber — his busy sports...