Free Republic

Paul Babeu, an up-and-coming member of the Republican Party, stepped down from his role as a co-chairman of Mitt Romney’s Arizona campaign on Saturday, in the wake of allegations that he threatened to deport a Mexican ex-boyfriend when the man refused to keep quiet about their years-long relationship.

There is a lot of blame to go around over the mishandling of the Iowa Caucus results. However, a good chunk of the blame lies with the Lee County GOP central committee. There were eight precincts in the state, out of 1774, that failed to turn in the necessary paperwork to have their votes certified. Four of those precincts were in Lee County. The central committee met on Monday for the first time since the Iowa Caucus. Many in the crowd of 50 were eager to discuss the numerous failings. “We’re going to talk about the caucuses,” one central committee...

Feds Wicthhunt against Sheriff Joe. ------- DOJ released a report last month alleging that Sheriff Joe's office racially profiles Latinos, ------ Sheriff Joe has denied the allegations, calling the DOJ report a politically motivated attack by Obama's administration. --------

A mother who "deliberately and unjustifiably frustrated" a father's attempts to visit his child was appropriately stripped of child support and primary custody, an appellate panel in Albany has held. The Appellate Division, Third Department, unanimously affirmed a Schuyler County Family Court judge in a case where the custodial mother had repeatedly hindered her estranged husband's efforts to establish relations with his daughter, even though the father made no attempt to enforce his visitation rights for six years. Luke v. Luke, 510880, centers on a child born in 2001 to Melvin W. and Heidi L. Luke. The Lukes, who are...

Union County, Ill., authorities are currently looking for a fugitive from justice. In a statement released jointly by their offices, Union County Sheriff David Livesay and Union County State's Attorney Tyler R. Edmonds are seeking the public's help in apprehending Bryan T. Todd, who was last believed to be in the Anna area. The request for help from the public was put out at 9:20 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 23.

Syracuse -- Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney sailed unopposed into a second term on Tuesday, a popular politician with a growing state and national profile. That doesn’t give her much in common with President Barack Obama, who is languishing in the polls as he heads into what will be a tough re-election battle. But there is one area where Mahoney identifies with the president: They are both facing what she says is reflexive opposition from Republicans whose main goal is to hold them back. “It’s just been, since he’s been elected, all eyes on 2012 — how can we defeat...

'There are a couple of things ... that could be a little bit exciting' The results of a formal law-enforcement investigation into whether Barack Obama is eligible to be president of the United States could come as a "shock," according to Maricopa County, Ariz., Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Tuesday night, speaking to a tea-party group in Arizona, Arpaio said, "I can't tell you everything, but there could be a shock there somewhere that my guys came up with. I can't talk too much about it. It's in the process." WND previously has reported that Arpaio has constituted a special five-member law...

Maricopa County, AZ Sheriff Joe Arpaio today launched his 20th "Crime Supression Sweep", as his Posse members flooded the streets of southwest Phoenix. The area has seen a big spike in illegal alien-driven crime, including the killing of a police officer, and the kidnapping of a female business owner by Mexican drug smugglers. And the Sweep has already reaped dividends: The sweep began around 2:30 p.m. Thursday and during the first few hours of the operation, deputies made 18 arrests, of which 11 are suspected illegal aliens. Some of the charges that suspects have been arrested for include possession and...

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. -- Prince William County filed a lawsuit today against the Department of Homeland Security, according to a county press release. In 2007 the Prince William Board of County Supervisors passed an ordinance that requires county police officers to check the immigration status of anyone they arrest. If police find that they have arrested someone who is in the country illegally, they turn that person over to the department for deportation. To date the county has turned over more that 4,000 people over to DHS, the release stated. After Carlos Martinelly Montano was charged in Aug. 2010...

As many as eight people were wounded in a shooting at a car show in Kent, Washington, late Saturday afternoon, according to a King County fire and rescue dispatcher. "We have a ton of medical staff on the scene and are transporting people to local hospitals," the dispatcher said. A witness who works at a business near the shooting site told CNN affiliate KOMO that she heard about 10 shots.

RUSH: I asked the question last hour: "Where in the world are the Republicans feeling this pressure to do a deal with Obama? Where is the pressure to cave to Obama on raising the debt ceiling? Where's the pressure coming from?" Pat Buchanan has the answer in a recent post at the Drudge Report. "By refusing to accept..." By the way, the title of his piece is: "An Establishment in Panic -- By refusing to accept tax increases in a deal to raise the debt ceiling, Republicans are behaving like 'fanatics,' writes David Brooks of The New York Times," the...

Several people have become interested in a quite controversial topic called "AGENDA 21." They have requested being on a ping list for this topic. While I do not have time to do a thorough treatment of this subject, nor am I in any way an expert, I am willing at least for a time,to ping people as I run across articles which might pertain to this concern. It might be good to start with an examination of just what it is or might be. To kick this discussion and exploration off,I did a Google search (just for fun) on "Agenda...

LIBERTY COUNTY, Texas -- Dozens of bodies have been found in a mass grave in Liberty County, officials said Tuesday. The Liberty County Sheriff's Office said 25 to 30 bodies were buried at the intersection of County Roads 2049 and 2048 between Hardin and Daisetta. The bodies are those of children, according to preliminary reports. The FBI was called in to assist the investigation.

Jefferson County To Lay Off One-Third Of It's Workforce To Avoid Largest-Ever Municipal Bankruptcy Grace Wyler Jun. 7, 2011, 10:36 AM Alabama's troubled Jefferson County may be forced to lay off nearly 700 employees - one-third of its workforce - as it struggles to avoid what would be the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. County officials will meet today to discuss the layoffs, which are part of a plan to reduce the county budget by $12.3 million, The Birmingham News reports. The cuts are needed to make up for a $70 million loss in occupational tax revenue this year....

The American Civil Liberties Union have filed a lawsuit so that prisoners at a South Carolina jail can have access to pornographic-type material. Lawyers defending the religious freedom lawsuit against the Berkeley County Jail in Moncks Corner, South Carolina, said that the inmates were not allowed to have any reading materials apart from the bible.

Here at American Vision we get a steady stream of comments and questions. After our conferences, speeches, articles, the number-one question we always get is this: “What Can We Do?” In response to that, we have begun this new project called, “Restoring America One County at a Time.” This project attempts to provide practical answers to that question in at least ten major areas of life. The steps are not easy, but if we’re truly serious about a free society, this project will help you make a beginning. In this introduction to the project, I want to discuss briefly its...

I have a long commute. I travel on surface roads to and from my job in DC every day. All those hours spent sitting at traffic lights affords me plenty of time to observe my surroundings. Everywhere from the District through the Maryland suburbs of Chevy Chase, Kensington, Silver Spring and Olney, median strips have been left to high grass, weeds, storm debris and leaves. They are mowed only two to three times during the prime growing season, and when they are mowed, the overly long grass is blown out into the street where it becomes a hazard for drivers,...

County chair removal bill gets hearingLegislation would allow a state party committee to judge competency. By John W. Gonzalez Published 02:04 a.m., Tuesday, April 12, 2011 Legislation that would allow the forced removal of a county’s incompetent political party chairman drew mixed reviews Monday in Austin at the House Elections Committee. The measure by state Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, would apply to either major party and drew support from both sides of the aisle, but it was left pending amid GOP concerns that it would nullify the will of voters who choose county chairs. Martinez Fisher didn’t mention...

ROCHESTER—A state appeals court has overturned sex abuse charges against an Ontario County man and ordered a new trial. In doing so, the court also admonished the Ontario County District Attorney’s office for improper comments made during trial. In a decision released Friday (April 1), the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, ruled that Richard M. Wildrick’s rights were violated when the Ontario County Court refused to issue subpoenas for the school records of one of his alleged victims, an underage boy. That refusal, the court held, denied Wildrick his right to a fair trial because the prosecution had...

PHOENIX - Just days after Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio announced a plan to have posse members search for drugs by air, he's calling the mission a success. On Monday, Sheriff Arpaio announced "Operation Desert Sky." About 30 posse members volunteered their time and aircraft to help deputies patrol the desert. On Thursday, Arpaio showed off the mission's haul so far: more than a ton of marijuana, 115 arrests. Six of those arrests were illegal immigrants smuggling drugs. "So it is a big problem when you talk about drugs (slash) illegal immigration, it's getting more connected every day," said Arpaio....

This is a video of a teleconference of Michelle Bachman at the Baxter Center in Rock Hill, South Carolina, Feb 18. She was supposed to appear in person, but she stayed in DC to finish voting last Friday. The video is over 1 hour long.

The body of a woman who died at her work desk went undiscovered by colleagues for at least a day. LA County employee Rebecca Wells, 51, apparently died while she was at her work station cubicle on Friday morning. Her lifeless body lay slumped over her desk until it was found by a security guard at the LA County Department of Internal Services on Saturday afternoon. Though her time of death is not clear, Ms Wells, who was a compliance auditor, had not been seen since 9am Friday. Detectives say, at worst, she had been there a day. Co-worker Hattie...

The Arizona shootings have made Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, the man in charge of investigating the tragedy, a liberal hero for his comments targeting what he calls the “irresponsible” political rhetoric of conservatives. But he also has critics who say his department was well aware of Jared Loughner’s mental instability and may have been slow to respond to death threats the suspect made in the months leading up to Saturday’s rampage. Mr. Dupnik has been Pima County sheriff for 30 years and is a seasoned law enforcement professional. But he hasn’t sounded that way of late. A Democrat and...

I'm looking for input relating to County level spending, specifically in CA if possible. For example: How does one assess the fiscal performance of a county/city or is that even possible? Do City and County employees participate in the SS program, in addition to receiving a pension from the City or County? What about School teachers? In my county, the road department is always whining about not having sufficient funding to fix county roads - is there a way (for a citizen) to assess performance at the county department level?

County Settles Case of Pro-Life Advocates Strip Searched Bel Air, MD -- Harford County officials have settled a case involving a federal lawsuit attorneys filed on behalf of pro-life women who were shackled and strip searched after peacefully protesting abortion in Maryland. http://www.lifenews.com/2010/12/27/county-settles-case-of-pro-life-advocates-shackled-strip-searched

An annual survey conducted by Business Insider magazine has concluded that Ashburn, Va. is the nation's most obscene city -- stealing the crown from last year's winner, Herndon. The survey used comedian George Carlin's famous "seven dirty words you can never say on television," plugged them into Google Trends, and then assigned a score to cities across the country based on the frequency of foul terminology in their Web searches. This year, Ashburn took the prize. (Herndon stayed on the list, taking third place, according to the survey.)

Tensions in the Orange County Jewish community are high following a UC Irvine talk by George S. Rishmawi, co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). The talk triggered a barrage of letters from various divisions of the Jewish community, which in turn lead to the unusually high internal fractiousness. ISM is a well-organized anti-Israel movement purporting to be a non-violent initiative, despite demonstrated support for the late Yasser Arafat and ISM members’ assistance to known terrorists. Israel banned ISM foreign activists in April of 2003, following a terror attack perpetrated by British Muslims at a pub in Tel Aviv. Rishmawi,...

Buchanan County Clerk Kelley Stahlin confirmed on Wednesday morning she has fired election winner Mary Baack-Garvey from the clerk’s office. Citing tensions that she said had existed for years, Ms. Stahlin said she let go of Ms. Baack-Garvey to quell any drama until the latter takes office on Jan. 1. “With all of the insubordination and the blatant disregard ... I just felt it best with us going forward that there wasn’t room for both of us in here,” she said. Claiming she doesn’t think she will suffer any repercussions for the decision, Ms. Stahlin said she had no regrets...

Minnesota officials are investigating a citizen's allegations that mentally disabled voters in one county were coached by their attendants to cast their ballots for specific candidates, a county attorney told FoxNews.com. Montgomery Jensen, a voter in Crow Wing County, says he and his wife saw a group of mentally incapacitated individuals ushered through the voting process by mental health staff, who told some of the group who they should vote for and, in some cases, filled out ballots on their behalf, according to an affidavit filed with the county attorney's office on Monday, a copy of which was obtained by...

Amid the worst recession in modern history, the salaries of top Los Angeles County officials have shot up 12 to 45 percent in three years and some public servants are now making more than $400,000 annually in total compensation, according to county records. The analysis of a county salary database obtained through the California Public Records Act found 17,686 of the county's more than 100,000 employees make more than $100,000 annually in total pay. This includes a Coroner's Office executive secretary making $113,825 and a firefighter who collected a whopping $271,498 last year.

DeKalb County is suing a man for growing too many vegetables on his own land, Channel 2 Action News reported. Steve Miller of Clarkston said he plans to fight the county and has gotten his 2-acre property rezoned so that he can have his garden. But he still faces nearly $5,000 in fines, Miller told Channel 2. Miller has been growing a variety of vegetables for 15 years, and his neighbors support him. He sells what he grows at local markets and gives some away, he said. "It's a way of life, like it's something in my blood,” Miller told...

Abuse Of Power: Our misnamed Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against an Arizona sheriff at the top of the administration's enemies list. Prosecute border sheriffs and sue states but protect the Black Panthers? Gotcha. The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, the county itself and outspoken Sheriff Joe Arpaio. The suit alleges that the sheriff's office is in violation of civil rights laws by refusing for 17 months to fully cooperate with an investigation into police practices and jail operations. The federal probe itself deals with alleged discrimination, unconstitutional searches and seizures,...

The Justice Department filed another lawsuit against immigration practices by Arizona authorities, saying Monday that a network of community colleges acted illegally in requiring noncitizens to provide their green cards before they could be hired for jobs. The suit against the Phoenix area Maricopa Community Colleges was filed less than two months after the Justice Department sued Arizona and Gov. Jan Brewer (R) over the state's new immigration law. It also comes as the department is investigating Joe Arpaio, the sheriff in Maricopa County, who is known for tough immigration enforcement. In Monday's lawsuit, Justice officials said the colleges discriminated...

The White House is very proud of its Race to the Top education program but should remember that pride goeth before a fall in educational standards. “U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced today that 10 applicants have won grants in the second phase of the Race to the Top competition,” the White House revealed on Tuesday. “Along with Phase 1 winners Delaware and Tennessee, 11 states and the District of Columbia have now been awarded money in the Obama administration’s groundbreaking education reform program that will directly impact 13.6 million students and 980,000 teachers in 25,000 schools. “The 10...

PHOENIX — Border Patrol officers are being told by supervisors to stay out of certain areas because they’re too dangerous, Cochise County’s top law enforcement officer said Tuesday. “Agents have told me — this isn’t second-hand — that there are places where they don’t work right along the border because it’s too dangerous,” Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever told Capitol Media Services. More to the point, he said the line officers told him they are simply listening to what they are told by their superiors. “There is concern at the management level, at a certain level, that it’s too dangerous...

Click Here

Jackson County will no longer prosecute people for certain gun related offenses. The District Attorney made his statement Friday following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling earlier in the week that says gun laws should be left up to the states. Jackson County's District Attorney Gerald Fox says it's every law-abiding American citizen's right to arm themselves for self defense," The 2nd Amendment as part of the Bill of Rights really does protect an individual American's right to keep and bare arms for defense of self, home, family and community."

Arizona Senator Jon Kyl has confirmed, Arizona is, in fact, on the border with Mexico. Kyl sent Milwaukee County Supervisor Peggy West a letter in which he says, "You will be interested to learn that Arizona does indeed share a border with Mexico. I have enclosed a map for your convenience." Kyl goes on to urge West to, "actually read the Arizona law before forming an opinion about it." West appeared confused about Arizona's location during debate about a measure that would have had the county boycott the state over its controversial new immigration law. She said, "If this was...

Associated Press - June 25, 2010 10:24 AM ET EL MIRAGE, Ariz. (AP) - The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office has raided a sanitation business in El Mirage and neighboring Youngtown northwest of Phoenix. The Sheriff's Office said deputies began serving search warrants early Friday at Parks & Sons sanitation of Sun City. The search warrants are based on anonymous tips from current Parks & Sons employees.

This was posted at conservativecave and it needs to go viral. The youtube is 1:35 long and it shows Democrat County Supervisor Peggy West of Milwaukee talking about boycotting Arizona, she says she would have to look twice at this type of law if Arizona was like Texas and shared a border with Mexico. It's pointed out to her later in the video that Arizona does share a border with Mexico but we don't get to see her reaction http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQp8M0bkarM

PHOENIX (AP) - Sheriff's deputies raided two Sizzler steak house restaurants in Phoenix, arresting nine employees who are suspected of being illegal immigrants and using fraudulent documents to get jobs. The Saturday raids were part of an investigation into whether the operators of the two Sizzler locations broke a civil law by knowingly hiring illegal immigrants.

Maricopa County sheriff's deputies raided two restaurants to arrest nine employees who were suspected of being illegal immigrants and using fraudulent documents to get jobs. The raid was made as a part of an investigation into whether the operators of two Sizzler Steakhouse locations in west Phoenix broke a civil law by knowingly hiring illegal immigrants. The sheriff's office says it received a tip from a former Sizzler manager who claimed he had been fired for his refusal to hire employees without the proper documents. A message left at one of the two restaurants wasn't immediately returned Saturday afternoon. A...

CASA GRANDE - Pinal County officials have found two dead bodies in the desert off I-8 and milepost 150, not far from where a deputy was shot and injured in April. Dispatch received a 911 call in Spanish from a man Sunday night stating that he and a friend had been shot. Then the cell phone signal was lost. About an hour later, officials found the victims, dead. Two weapons, one an automatic rifle, were found nearby. Detectives say the bodies were found about 500 to 1,000 yards from some sort of migrant camp. "Detectives are telling us that this...

ITHACA, NY--The City of Ithaca, Police Chief Ed Vallely, Deputy Chief John Barber, Deputy Chief Pete Tyler and the Tompkins County District Attorney's office discriminated against Ithaca Police Officer Chris Miller and other white male officers, Miller is alleging in a $17 million lawsuit filed in federal court May 20. The lawsuit alleges they increased their discrimination against Miller after he filed human-rights complaints and retaliated with baseless accusations, threats of indictment and termination, harassment, greater scrutiny, and unjustified and unlawful discipline, including a bogus investigation of him in 2009. The suit also names the Ithaca Police Benevolent Association and...

In a complex case that has drawn the attention of the family of Terri Schiavo, a Vietnam veteran's wife claims a Catholic hospital has tried to end her husband's life by starving him to death, placing him under a "do-not-resuscitate" order and refusing to allow him to return home. Gary Harvey, 60, a Vietnam veteran in Horseheads, N.Y., fell down a flight of stairs on Jan. 21, 2006 and suffered a traumatic brain injury that put him in a vegetative state. Gary, an only child who is estranged from his two adult children, did not have a living will.

PHOENIX – Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is expected to announce Monday if he'll run for Arizona governor. Several sources confirm to the ABC15 Investigators that Arpaio has already made a decision, and will likely run for the office. In a news conference after this story was first published, the Sheriff said he was still weighing his options, but also that he would in fact have an announcement on Monday. However, when asked about a state sales tax during the news conference, the Sheriff either misspoke or leaked his decision. "When I'm the governor, I'll study the issue," he said....

Are the chips being stacked in the favor for an Andrews, Indiana politician? If you ask the citizens around Huntington County, the answer would depend on the view of the one asked. How did it start, you ask? In February of this year, Kristopher Underwood (Huntington County GOP Chairman) filed for candidacy for Huntington Township Board. Following procedure, he filed at the Huntington County Clerk's Office. The clerk, Fran Felts, stamped the paperwork and filed it. The file date was Feb. 20, 2010 at 7:35 am. Nobody noticed the problem.

Okay - it's late, I'm bored and as my husband says I was hitting my "country porn". I LOVE THIS SONG!!!!

A Dodge County mother and father have been accused of trading sex with their 14-year-old daughter in exchange for monthly payments on their minivan. Dodge sheriff’s investigators say the girl’s parents made her do “sexual favors” for the manager of Shorty’s Used Cars in Eastman so they wouldn’t have to make the $281 payment on the 1998 Dodge Caravan they bought two years ago. The allegations surfaced after a months-long investigation into the girl’s welfare that began last summer. “It makes me personally sick to my stomach,” Dodge sheriff’s Capt. Tony Winborn said Tuesday. “The only thing I can tell...

Raleigh, N.C. — The Wake County Board of Commissioners on Monday heard from the public concerning a controversial decision to eliminate coverage of elective abortions from the health plan for county employees. After learning from County Attorney Scott Warren that the state Supreme Court outlawed payment for the procedure by public entities in 1982, County Manager David Cooke authorized on Feb. 10 to eliminate health plan coverage for elective abortions. The county had apparently not noticed when Blue Cross Blue Shield added the elective abortions coverage to the plans it provides. The commissioners were scheduled Monday to ratify or otherwise...