Free Republic

Serving and former US Navy SEALs have slammed President Barack Obama for taking the credit for killing Osama bin Laden and accused him of using Special Forces operators as 'ammunition' for his re-election campaign. The SEALs spoke out to MailOnline after the Obama campaign released an ad entitled 'One Chance'. In it President Bill Clinton is featured saying that Mr Obama took 'the harder and the more honourable path' in ordering that bin Laden be killed. The words 'Which path would Mitt Romney have taken?' are then displayed.

Two teachers, including a former teacher of the year, are suing the Catholic Archdiocese of Miami, claiming they were fired for reporting suspected sex abuse involving the principal and a seventh grade girl. Chanell Morello and Lynn Hoffman immediately contacted the Florida Department of Children and Families and the Miami Archdiocese after the student made Morello aware of an incident allegedly involving St. Anthony Catholic School principal Norma Kramer.

DALLAS — Dallas will keep $2,000 found by a teenager in a parking lot last February. The money will go into the city's general fund — not back to Plano high school student Ashley Donaldson, who found the cash in an envelope at the Pavillion Shopping Center in North Dallas. "I don't regret making the decision I did," she said. "I feel proud of myself for giving the money back. It's one of the biggest decisions of my life." The 15-year-old Shepton High School student spotted the money on the ground and took it to a nearby Chase Bank. Over...

DAYTON -- The Dayton Police Department is lowering its testing standards for recruits. It's a move required by the U.S. Department of Justice after it says not enough African-Americans passed the exam. Dayton is in desperate need of officers to replace dozens of retirees. The hiring process was postponed for months because the D.O.J. rejected the original scores provided by the Dayton Civil Service Board, which administers the test. Under the previous requirements, candidates had to get a 66% on part one of the exam and a 72% on part two. The D.O.J. approved new scoring policy only requires potential...

William Scott Ritter Jr., a former United Nations weapons inspector who gained renown for his criticism of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, contends his online sexual encounters with teenage girls were only fantasy. Nearly two years ago, Ritter, of Delmar, watched his computer screen reveal that an anonymous person who had been exchanging sexually charged messages with him for 80 minutes was not a 15-year-old girl. It was a cop from a small town in northeast Pennsylvania, alone in his station house and trolling the Internet for suspected child predators. Ryan Venneman, a detective for the Barrett Township...

BOISE, Idaho — As many as 15 church members who knew several months before authorities did that a Boise police officer had molested children will face no criminal charges for failing to report the crimes, Idaho authorities say. The Ada County Sheriff's Office says members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are protected by Idaho's clergy privilege law. Police said Stephen R. Young confessed his crimes to church officials in January, but the crimes didn't become public until March. Young attended an LDS church in Eagle. SNIP Court records say Young admitted molesting four children, ages 1...

A just-released biography of King Carl Gustaf – The Unwilling Monarach – claims that he "frequently visited Mafia-run nightclubs to partake in wild orgies when he was a younger man" as reported by Gavin Reilly for The Journal. Good thing no U.S. politicians ever subjected themselves to black mail by attending Mafia-linked sex clubs, right? Although, in 1975 the NYDA and NYPD initiated an investigation dubbed Operation Together which, among other things, was looking into mob control over gay bars, several murders of gay club owners, drug trafficking at gay bars, and underage boy sex rings, and just as law...

A police officer's most powerful weapon isn't a gun, it’s the badge. The badge commands respect and demands a code of conduct for those who wear it. But what should be done when officers violate the codes they've sworn to uphold? Mill Creek Police Department Mill Creek Police Chief Bob Crannell faced that question when allegations surfaced earlier this year that two of his patrol officers were having secret sexual rendezvous. The incidents happened at an abandoned house, in a nature preserve, and at a construction site - all while on duty. "I was very surprised,” said Chief Crannell. Both...

A Pennsylvania teen who stored intimate photos of herself on her cell phone — but never e-mailed or shared them with anyone other than her longtime boyfriend — settled her federal privacy case against high school officials who had seized the phone without a warrant and turned it over to prosecutors. Still unsettled, however, is the question of how far educators can go when it comes to fulfilling their obligation to keep sexually explicit images, audio and text from reaching the eyes and ears of minors while on school grounds. "I hope this settlement will lead school officials in the...

Rene Lozano Jr. once lost control of his patrol car while chasing a traffic violator. The vehicle slammed into a utility pole, fatally injuring a rookie officer riding with him. A bullet narrowly missed another officer's head when Lozano's pistol accidentally discharged. He was the passenger in a stolen Mercedes-Benz driven by a friend. The bolt cutters used to steal the car were stashed under the seat. And he once was fired for making false statements about his arrest on charges of driving while intoxicated, a case that ultimately was dismissed because the arresting officer was unable to testify. That...

You read that right. Gang members in the most violent city in the nation criticized the police for being ineffective in combating...gang violence.

CHICAGO -- The idea seemed simple though bold: Call reputed gang leaders to a meeting with top police and federal prosecutors and deliver an ultimatum to end killings in the nation's third-largest city. But Chicago police Superintendent Jody Weis is facing mounting criticism for holding a so-called "gang summit" last month, even though several police departments across the country have relied on that approach for decades to help reduce crime. Among the chief complaints: that Weis himself was at the meeting, that the department should instead be adding more officers on the streets and that gangs won't take the message...

A longtime criminal court judge whom colleagues hailed as a stickler for the law resigned abruptly after authorities discovered a cleavage-heavy porn cache on his work computer during a routine system check, according to a published report. James Gibbons, a highly regarded former prosecutor, was on paternity leave after having fathered a child with a legal aid attorney 16 years his junior when authorities found the stash and seized his computer, reports the Daily News. "There was a lot of porn on his computer – all young women," an investigator told the paper. "Lots of crotch and cleavage shots." The...

It's no secret that HCC and its police department are going through some tough times. Well, throw another log on the fire. Two HCC employees have filed a lawsuit against the college claiming that officials authorized hidden cameras in a room used by female police officers to change in and out of their uniforms. "The hidden cameras' location reveal the intention behind their installation was not security," the federal lawsuit states, "but fit more in line with spying for spying's sake or designed to please the prurient interest" of those watching and listening to the videos. HCC security officer Alfreda...

Officers with the Roosevelt County Sheriff's Office executed a search warrant Friday, seizing marijuana plants from the home of Poplar, Mont., Police Chief Chad Hilde. Seized during the search were several suspected marijuana plants and materials alleged to be used in the growth of the plants. Deputies are currently getting an arrest warrant for Hilde through the Roosevelt County Attorney's Office... the search was part of the department’s Operation New Beginning launched in spring 2009 to keep illegal drugs out of the community.

Late one night in October, a 17-year-old on a bike was chased by a police officer in a cruiser. When the boy refused to stop, the officer aimed his Taser out the driver's window and fired. The boy fell off the bike and the cruiser ran over him, killing him.

A Miami-Dade judge has decided to drop the felony charge facing a former cop who is on trial for killing his K-9 companion. Allen Cockfield faced prison time if convicted of killing a police dog, which is a third degree felony. Cockfield, a 25-year veteran of the Miami-Dade police force, is accused of choking and then kicking Duke the K-9 repeatedly during an obedience training session in 2006. The two had been partners for six months before the incident happened. The judge ruled Cockfield didn't intend to kill Duke, despite his violent actions. The former cop still faces animal cruelty...

For committing an act of pure decency, three black women are being ostracized by many other black people. • On the night of June 29, Delores Keen, Renee Roundtree and Rose Dodson rushed outside Keen's apartment after they heard gunshots. They discovered two Tampa police officers, David Curtis and Jeffrey Kocab, lying together on the ground. The officers had been shot. Dontae Morris, a 24-year-old black ex-convict, would be charged in the shootings.

A Stoughton cop has resigned after hitting a strip joint on duty to try and meet "the world’s smallest porn star," putting an unapproved laser scope on his gun and lying to investigators, the town’s police chief told the Herald today. Officer Richard P. Bennett, 28, has stepped down after five officers reported he left his patrol to go to Alex’s gentleman’s club to meet "Bridget the Midget," a 3-foot, 9-inch tall porn star, Stoughton Police Chief Paul Shastany said. Bennett, who was honored by the department in June for his work in helping catch an accused killer, also installed...

<p>State Sen. Eric Schneiderman -- a candidate for attorney general, the highest law-enforcement post in New York -- was involved in a minor car accident outside the New York 1 studios in Chelsea and then fled the scene, the cable news station reported last night.</p>

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Four more New Orleans police officers have been charged in the deadly shootings of two people in Hurricane Katrina's chaotic aftermath and could face the most serious punishment yet - the death penalty - for the killings that have brought down a string of other officers. Six current or former officers are charged in a 27-count indictment unsealed Tuesday. Five former New Orleans police officers already have pleaded guilty to helping cover up the shootings on the Danziger Bridge....

A Houston woman who works for the Texas Department of Public Safety used her ready access to state driver's licenses for cash, authorities said. Gracie Gutierrez, 27, remained in custody after she was charged on Tuesday with bribery. Gutierrez is accused of accepting bribes to issue driver's licenses to people who are undocumented and have not taken the written or driving exam, said Donna Hawkins with the Harris County District Attorney's office. Also charged with bribery is Saul Ramirez, 20. Officials said he does not work for DPS. Ramirez was arrested while trying to sell a Texas driver's license to...

The man accused of killing 3-year-old Riley Fox, Scott Eby, left a big clue at the scene of the crime six years ago. Eby, who was living about a mile from the Foxes in 2004, left a pair of mud-covered shoes at Forked Creek, where he allegedly raped and killed Fox. The shoes had his name written on them. Police collected the shoes and put them into evidence but never followed up. They focused their case instead on the girl’s father, Kevin Fox who confessed to her murder. Charges were later dropped thanks to DNA evidence that excluded him. “Sheriff’s...

...On average, that's nearly three accidents or fender benders each day. Two accidents this year involved buses and Metro's light rail — both the result of bus drivers running red lights... The Chronicle's review of accidents, citations and breakdowns involving the Metropolitan Transit Authority's 1,210 buses documented a total of 1,029 wrecks last year. Metro Police classified 338 of them as “preventable,” meaning the bus drivers involved could have taken measures to prevent the accidents; 220 caused at least $1,000 in damages or resulted in people ending up at hospitals. Altogether, at least 334 people were injured in bus or...

<p>With a judge's earlier ruling that Chicago Police Officer John Ardelean had been arrested and detained without probable cause, Cook County prosecutors today dropped all charges against him in a crash that killed two people.</p> <p>The 36-year-old officer was charged with drunken driving and reckless homicide after his SUV broadsided a car on Thanksgiving 2007.</p>

State Senator Mike Nozzolio is calling for the immediate resignation of New York State Office of Children and Family Services Commissioner Gladys Carrion for sanctioning an inappropriate and illegal taxpayer-funded sex party at a juvenile prison in which at least one underage girl and a suspected prostitute were brought in to perform inappropriate sexual acts on inmates. “There must be zero tolerance for this shocking and outrageous incident being allowed to occur,” said Senator Nozzolio. “During these difficult economic times, while our hardworking taxpayers are struggling to make ends meet, it is simply unconscionable that taxpayer dollars are being wasted...

Dog ate out of peanut butter jar, which was then put back on the shelf for unsuspecting officers If a Fort Lauderdale police officer offers you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, run away. Several high-ranking officers are under investigation and could face criminal charges for letting a dog eat out of a peanut butter jar and then placing it back on the shelf for other unsuspecting officers to use, according to the South Florida Times. It's unclear how many officers ate the contaminated peanut butter, but the prank wasn't discovered until after a detective realized he had caught several...

FORT WORTH (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ― Fort Worth police Officer Wesley Lamb is accused of smoking marijuana while on duty and in uniform. Chief Jeff Halstead announced the arrest at a news conference Wednesday morning. 34-year-old Wesley Lamb was arrested Wednesday morning following a tip from a Fort Worth resident. He's accused of using and possessing marijuana while on duty. Halstead announced the arrest to a group of new police recruits Wednesday morning. He made it clear that this behavior will not be tolerated. Halstead also told the rookies that he has created a special team of investigators...

...Sexual abuse is a problem in prisons from Rikers Island to Albany.... Texas still stands out as the state where sexual assault in prison is most prevalent. Five of the 10 prisons with the highest rates of sexual abuse in the country are in Texas. That includes the top two, Estelle Unit and Clements Unit. Garrett Cunningham was an inmate at the Luther Unit in Navasota in 2000, when he says a corrections officer twice his size accosted him on his way to the shower, handcuffed him, raped him and then forced him into the shower. Cunningham said the officer...

FAIRMONT, W.Va. (Associated Press) -- Prosecutors in West Virginia have dropped a misdemeanor charge that accused an FBI security guard of spying on girls as they tried on prom gowns at a Fairmont mall. A Marion County magistrate convicted Charles Brian Hommema of invasion of privacy in December.

In Providence, RI three cops are among those arrested after a four-month investigation into an alleged drug trafficking ring, and one of the cops -- Sgt. Stephen T. Gonsalves -- is "a former driver for Mayor David N. Cicilline and husband of the mayor's executive assistant" Xiomara Gonsalves as reported by Thomas J. Morgan and Richard C. Dujardin for The Providence Journal. The other two cops are Detective Sgt. Joseph A. Colanduano, "a narcotics detective assigned to the Narcotics and Organized Crime Bureau" who has been "charged with conspiracy to deliver cocaine and compounding and concealing a felony, and larceny...

Kings County District Attorney Charles Hynes has concluded his investigation into possible criminality on the part of three ACORN employees caught on video giving advice to a couple posing as a prostitute and companion. (Though the right-wing gadflies who made the hidden camera video edited it to suggest that James O'Keefe was posing as the woman's pimp, the couple actually told ACORN employees he was trying to protect her from the pimp [PDF].) Yesterday Hynes cleared ACORN of any criminality, while perpetuating the misconception that O'Keefe had posed as a pimp and worn a cliche pimp costume during the meeting...

Here's the story!"In the tense new world of air travel, we're stripped of shoes, told not to take too much shampoo on board, frowned on if we crack a smile. The last thing we expect is a joke from a Transportation Security Administration screener - particularly one this stupid."

A former Duke University employee and adoptive gay father charged with molesting his five-year-old son--and offering the boy as a sex object to pedophiles online--is expected to make a plea bargain, according to a Dec. 1 article in local newspaper the Durham Herald Sun. Frank Lombard faces charges stemming from alleged instances in which he molested his young adopted son and chatted about the deeds online even as he carried them out. It’s thought that the U.S, Attorney’s Office is positioning the case for a plea arrangement because the Office is set to file an "information," which allows the prosecution...

As activists from groups as wide-ranging as the Girl Scouts and the World Council on Churches converge on the climate change conference in Copenhagen, some critics say it's turning into a "circus" sideshow, with 20,000 attendees creating an international echo chamber of climate piety. Apart from the main proceedings, there are 254 side events, 231 exhibits and more than 200 press conferences already on the schedule — meaning there are about 700 extra events keyed up for the 12-day conference. "These circuses get bigger and bigger," said Myron Ebell, director of energy and global warming policy at the Competitive Enterprise...

Now that the holidays are upon us, it’s time to get annoyed with the consumerism, secularism and political correctness that continue to whittle away at the meaning of the holiday season. The secular and consumption-driven nature of the season has become so routine that one has to work hard to remember to take time for the traditions and religious observances that once defined the season. I thought I had seen every example of how religious meaning has been stripped out of Christmas until a friend showed me the label on a festive seasonal bottle of Coca Cola the other day....

He said: 'I can confirm what has been written in other places: research in some areas of climate science has been and is full of machination, conspiracies and collusion, as any reader can interpret from the CRU files. 'The scientific debate has been in many instances hijacked to advance other agendas.' The researcher added although he does not believe that manmade climate is a hoax, he and other researchers have been ‘bullied and subtly blackmailed’ to fit in the scientific mainstream. 'In this atmosphere, PhD students are often tempted to tweak their data so as to fit the "politically correct...

What is the phrase? Oh yea: “Denial isn’t a river in Egypt” They say it to alcoholics in an intervention and to abducted kids suffering from Stockholm syndrome. Its cliché, but now is a point of massive irony. To start, allow me to recall the tale of the esteemed immunologist, David Baltimore. Dr. Baltimore is a Nobel laureate, chairman of the board of director of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and holds a professorship at CalTech. However in spite of his current position his reputation has been permanently scared by a scandal in the early 1990’s at...

The BBC received copies of some of the CRU emails more than a month ago, but did nothing about them, sitting on explosive evidence of fraud. The UK Daily Mail reports: .. The sequence of events strongly suggests that an insider leaked some emails to the BBC (and for all we know, others), hoping that they would be incriminating enough to intrigue anyone. When faced with a media stonewall, the insider then chose to post the complete files where they could not quickly be extinguished.

Senator Inhofe: Well, on this thing, it is pretty serious. And since, you know, Barabara Boxer is the Chairman and I’m the Ranking Member on Environment and Public Works, if nothing happens in the next seven days when we go back into session a week from today that would change this situation, I will call for an investigation. ‘Cause this thing is serious, you think about the literally millions of dollars that have been thrown away on some of this stuff that they came out with. Melanie Morgan: So what will you be calling for an investigation of? Senator Inhofe:...

A 12-year-old girl is prohibited from bringing aspirin to California public schools without a note from her mother or father – but in many California districts she may sign herself out of classes, leave her junior-high campus without parental permission, secretly have an abortion and return to school before the end of the day – and her own family may be none the wiser. Parents and educators across the state have been in heated debate over school policies allowing children to be excused during class time without parental notification for "confidential medical services" such as abortions, birth control, and drug...

Police in Cambridge, Mass., gave state Sen. Anthony Galluccio a ride home because acquaintances told them he was too drunk to drive about 13 hours before he was involved in a hit-and-run accident. Police were called to a gas station in Cambridge about 4:40 a.m. Oct. 4 after receiving a call about an intoxicated man. The station attendant told police he believed Galluccio was too drunk to drive. Police said another man told them he was trying to drive Galluccio home but couldn't find his house. Police said they drove Galluccio home in their cruiser. About 13 hours later, a...

MOBILE, Ala. — A former Alabama judge was cleared Monday of charges accusing him of paddling and sexually abusing male inmates. Former Mobile County Circuit Judge Herman Thomas was found not guilty on seven counts after more than a week of testimony. A judge threw out the remaining 14 charges. Defense attorneys had painted the 48-year-old as a prominent civic leader who became a victim of felons lying about him to manipulate the court system. Prosecutors said Thomas brought 11 young male inmates to a private courthouse office and severely paddled their bare bottoms for sexual gratification. Some of the...

State police have refused to release information that might shed light on the response of its Pocono barracks to a February crash off Interstate 476, the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, that led to the death of a Taylor man. The agency has failed to provide even basic information on the incident since The Times-Tribune began making inquiries in August. State police have classified the crash a "nontraffic incident," which directly conflicts with a Lackawanna County coroner's report that found 47-year-old Sam Turoni died from injuries suffered in a vehicle crash. A call reporting the crash was only briefly...

ROY -- The same day a 47-year-old Ogden High School teacher was accused of having a sexual relationship with a then 16- or 17-year-old former student, a Roy Jr. High teacher has been accused of the same thing with a former jr. high student. "They're victims. They're preyed upon. They're manipulated. They're not, by societal standards, mature enough to make some of these adult decisions on their own," said Roy police Chief Greg Whinham said. "We've been in this weird world where we're having one a week become the headline in the paper. There's definitely a problem." Ogden police and...

Perhaps the Garden State should switch its nickname to the Barnyard State. A New Jersey judge has dismissed animal cruelty charges against a cop accused of committing a sex act with cows, saying a grand jury had no way of knowing whether the animals were "tormented." Moorestown police officer Robert Melia, who is currently suspended, allegedly stuck his penis in the mouths of five calves in Southampton in 2006. Since New Jersey currently has no law explicitly banning such an act, prosecutors in Burlington county brought animal cruelty charges against Melia, the Philadelphia Daily News reports. "If the cow had...

On Monday, we asked if the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives could be reformed, citing companion bills in the Senate and House backed by the National Rifle Association that promise to roll back certain restrictions and moderate penalties for minor violations. Yesterday, we examined a campaign created by Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership. Their bottom line: "Boot the BATFE." No doubt many will consider this an unrealistic goal, and deem the likelihood of generating enough support to make it happen remote without revolutionary changes from the way government exerts control now. That doesn't mean it shouldn't...

Tom Brokaw: "It's frightening, frankly."

ERICHO, Ark. (AP) -- It was just too much, having to return to court twice on the same day to contest yet another traffic ticket, and Fire Chief Don Payne didn't hesitate to tell the judge what he thought of the police and their speed traps. The response from cops? They shot him. Right there in court.

WILKES-BARRE - Luzerne Sheriff Michael A. Savokinas abruptly resigned Tuesday afternoon, ending a 20-month stint in office that often was plagued by controversy and clashes with other county officials. "At this time, my presence seems to be a distraction for my already over-worked staff," Savokinas wrote in a three-page resignation letter to Gov. Ed Rendell. Savokinas, 36, complained about a "witch hunt" and smear campaign "orchestrated by county officials" to drag his "reputation through the mud," and claimed drugs found in his vehicle "were planted as a possible political vendetta." Savokinas added he "can no longer do justice to my...