Free Republic

A drug ring that employed a vast network — including a voodoo priest — supplying methamphetamine across Central Florida and the U.S. was shutdown this week, the Polk County Sheriff's office announced Wednesday. The 13 suspects arrested Tuesday were among 25 couriers, distributors and street dealers identified in Operation Hoodoo Voodoo, the investigation of a multimillion-dollar meth pipeline from Mexico. Javier Flores, known as "El Don (The Boss)," supervised the shipments from his home in southern California and remains at large, according to Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd. On Tuesday, 44 pounds of the powerful amphetamine were seized at Love's...

With two weeks left to sign up for coverage, California's health insurance exchange announced Monday it has surged past a major milestone -- 1 million enrollments -- well ahead of its March 31 goal. And a new report suggests what may be the biggest motivator for people when they are choosing a new health plan: cost. Insurers like Blue Shield of California and Health Net have seen a major jump in market share, thanks to their competitively low rates, according to a report Monday from the Kaiser Family Foundation, while Anthem Blue Cross' dominance has softened. The shifting landscape indicates...

The National Guard reservist charged on Monday with attempting to blow up the Los Angeles subway allegedly possessed terrorist manuals on how to be a “lone wolf” terrorist and was a frequent reader of al Qaeda’s Inspire magazine, which provides tips on how to make and detonate various bombs, according to FBI court documents. The FBI charged Nicholas Teausant, a 20-year-old National Guard reservist, with attempting to help al Qaeda carry out a plot to attack the subway system in Los Angeles. Teausant was a frequent Internet contributor to forums for would-be terrorists and is said to have owned a...

A Church Hill woman is facing charges after police say she crashed her car into a church and then stabbed her husband. Police tell us the suspect, 23-year-old Stephanie Hamman, says she drove through the church after 'God told her to.' The front of Providence Church in Church Hill, Tennessee is destroyed after police say Hamman drove through the building. Click here to view photos from the scene. Officers say she told them, "God told me he wanted me in there, so I drove my car through the front doors." "The damage had pretty much taken out our door. It's...

The man pleaded guilty to a smuggling charge ThursdayA man has admitted to smuggling thousands of dollars’ worth of dried sea cucumbers into the U.S. from Mexico, according to federal officials. On Thursday, Cheng Zhuo Liu, 50, of Chula Vista, Calif. appeared in federal court in San Diego. Liu pleaded guilty to smuggling 100 pounds of the endangered species on Oct. 3, 2013 by hiding them in his Hyundai’s spare tire area, according to U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy. That amount of sea cucumbers has a market value of between $5,000 and $10,000. The marine animals are protected under the Convention...

(Reuters) - Russian state media said Crimeans voted overwhelmingly to break with Ukraine and join Russia on Sunday, as Kiev accused Moscow of pouring forces into the peninsula and warned separatist leaders "the ground will burn under their feet". RIA news agency said 93 percent backed annexation, citing an exit poll released as voting ended at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT). Another Russian agency said turnout was over 80 percent. Caught in an East-West crisis reminiscent of the Cold War, Kiev said Russia's build-up of forces in the Black Sea region was in "crude violation" of an international treaty, and announced...

I posted this as Putin's Kiss yesterday, and it only got one hit. Maybe if I post its title as a movie on Netflix that might stir more interest, because like the Lives of Others, this movie/documentary is well worth watching. The parallels between Russian society and ours is not only instructive but frightening, and I wish our leftist youth could see themselves as Masha in Putin's Kiss. Want to see what America will become before the end of the Obama regime? Want to see where it is happening right now, and from which we are just days away? Want...

<p>A Smyrna woman has been charged with murder after police say she admitted lacing her husband's steroid injections with antifreeze.</p> <p>State police say 44-year-old Jamie Baker was arrested on Thursday and charged with first-degree murder in the death of her husband, 42-year-old James Baker.</p>

The executive director of Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers is facing up to two weeks in jail on a contempt of court charge for stuffing an anonymous tip in his mouth instead of handing it over to a judge Friday.

Dwindling defense budgets have been a boon to drug trafficking networks in Latin America as U.S. intelligence and interdiction assets in the Caribbean have been pared down, the top American commander responsible for the region said Thursday. “Because of asset shortfalls, we’re unable to get after 74 percent of suspected maritime drug smuggling,” Marine Gen. John F. Kelly told the Senate Armed Services Committee during a hearing about threats and military posture in the Western Hemisphere. “I simply sit and watch it go by.” Kelly said that, because of tightening defense budgets, he does not anticipate getting additional assets for...

"I was in shock. I was outraged and I just assumed kits were being tested," said actress Mariska Hargitay about the thousands of rape kits in Detroit and across the country that have been left sitting in storage without being processed, allowing rapists to remain free to attack again. And they often do. Hargitay joined Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy to announce legislation that will soon be introduced to state lawmakers that is aimed at setting guidelines and deadlines for rape kits tests to be processed. "Testing rape kits is vital for keeping rapists off the street," said Hargitay during...

Jordan Wiser — an 18-year-old U.S. Army enlistee, EMT trainee, and personal safety expert — is exactly the kind of person who should carry a pocketknife. Even so, he was expelled from his technical school — where he was training to be a police officer — put in jail, charged with a felony and discharged from the Army Future Soldiers program. His dream to be a soldier, police officer or firefighter is likely dead. Why? Because he kept a pocketknife in his car so that he could assist at accident sites, consistent with his EMT training. Wiser shared his story...

<p>Authorities said the two girls, ages 17 and 15, admitted to police that they assaulted the boy, 16, with a knife on "multiple occasions." "His parents refer to him as (having) been diagnosed autistic," said Sgt. Cara Grumbles, a spokeswoman for the sheriff's office. "Some of the sexual acts involved animals. It's awful."</p>

Is identity theft a real enough problem to warrant $10/month monitoring service? I must decide whether or not to get the service but to initiate it I must trust the service with a lot of personal data.

Milwaukee police say a maintenance man shot and killed two teenagers as he was being beaten with a baseball bat. It happened Wednesday afternoon in an apartment building on Milwaukee's west side. Authorities say a 19-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl died at the scene. Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn says the two teens, along with a 21-year-old man, got into an argument with the 39-year-old maintenance man in a stairwell in a common area of the building. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports one of the three beat the maintenance man while he was being held. The maintenance man then...

The FBI recently released 2013's top 10 most dangerous cities and surprise! They're all run by Democrats. Patriot Nation News breaks down the cities and their Democratic mayors: Camden, NJ —Mayor Dana Redd, Democrat Flint MI — Mayor Dayne Walling, Democrat Detroit MI — Mayor Dave Bing/Mike Duggan, Democrat(s) Oakland, CA — Mayor Jean Quan, Democrat St. Louis, MO — Mayor Francis Slay, Democrat Cleveland, OH — Mayor Frank Jackson, Democrat Gary, IN — Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson, Democrat Newark NJ — Mayor Corey Booker/Luis Quintana, Democrat(s) Bridgeport, CT — Mayor Bill Finch, Democrat Birmingham, AL — Mayor William A. Bell,...

When a government program is botched from the outset, everything about it becomes suspect. If money from the program flows to an elected official’s husband, you have to wonder — even more than you might usually wonder. If a teen hired by the program gets caught up in a murder rap, you can’t help but wonder why that teen was ever hired. When a government program is poorly executed at the outset, as was an anti-crime program set up by Gov. Pat Quinn, the benefit of the doubt fades fast. In August 2010, just before a tough election that pitted...

MADISON (WKOW) -- Police arrested six people believed to be involved in what they're calling one of the most brutal crimes in recent memory. . . . The suspects are accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting the woman who was six months pregnant. "I can tell you that in my 27-plus years of policing here in Madison, this is probably one of the most disturbing and heinous crimes that I've ever seen," says Interim Chief Randy Gaber.

Apparent suicide. Costello's death ends trial on day two.

NEW YORK (AP) — In his most extensive comments about the 2012 Connecticut school massacre, the father of gunman Adam Lanza describes his struggle to comprehend what his son did — an act that "couldn't get any more evil" — and how he now wishes that his son had never been born. Peter Lanza also told The New Yorker magazine in a series of interviews last fall that he believes Adam would have killed him, too, if he had the chance. And he often contemplates what he could have done differently in his relationship with Adam, although he believes the...