Free Republic

It's looking likely that San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón will file misdemeanor domestic violence charges against newly sworn-in Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi. Prosecutors are "convinced this is very real," said a source with firsthand knowledge of the investigation. The case stems from a New Year's Eve incident in which Mirkarimi allegedly grabbed his wife - former Venezuelan telenovela star Eliana Lopez - with enough force to leave a bruise. Lopez has said publicly that she has no complaint against her husband and that the incident had been taken "out of context." Mirkarimi's attorney, Robert Waggener, said Tuesday that the sheriff...

Nicholas Cecil Leading Horse was born into the Sioux Nation in Valentine, Neb., on Christmas Eve 1946. The youngest of Lewis and Margaret Leading Horse’s six children, he would grow up to become Tacoma’s most expensive street drunk. From his mid-40s into his early 60s, he would cost taxpayers an estimated $2,407,100. The money was spent on emergency fire, police and medical care, ambulance rides, food, shelter, detox and sobering services, court and jail time, and rehabilitation efforts. A decade ago, The News Tribune added up Leading Horse’s tab from the previous 10 years and put it in the seven-figure...

As the national media continues to promote the idea that these absurd "Occupy" protests demonstrate some groundswell of popular opinion, reports continue to emerge from localized media showing how ugly these encampments are becoming. A report out of Cleveland that  police are investigating a rape claim made by a 19-year-old woman last weekend has received little attention. Do you suppose if a rape claim was made against a tea partier that it would receive more attention?It's gotten so bad in Baltimore that organizers are discouraging alleged victims from going to the police (maybe they should go to Sheriff Biden).Meanwhile,...

A few months after Massachusetts’s governor rejected a federal program that checks the immigration status of local arrestees, a drunk illegal alien with a criminal history killed a motorcyclist in the state and another who had been deported racked up his sixth drunk- driving charge. Had the state participated in the federal Secure Communities program, both men would have been turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for deportation long ago. Instead, they were released by local police and allowed to continue committing crimes in their respective communities. That’s because the state’s governor, renowned open borders advocate Deval Patrick,...

Huge increases in deportations of people after they were arrested for breaking traffic or immigration laws or driving drunk helped the Obama administration set a record last year for the number of criminal immigrants forced to leave the country, documents show. The U.S. deported nearly 393,000 people in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, half of whom were considered criminals. Of those, 27,635 had been arrested for drunken driving, more than double the 10,851 deported after drunken driving arrests in 2008, the last full year of the Bush administration, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement data provided to The...

The Vista Sheriffs Station conducted a Drunk Driving/License checkpoint Saturday night on Civic Center Dr. right in front of city hall. The large parking lot there came in handy for the 41 vehicles that were impounded and towed. 31 of the impounds were for unlicensed drivers, almost all of them Latino illegal aliens based on 3 hours of direct observation (see photos at left). The checkpoint also caught and arrested 7 people for under the influence of alcohol or drugs, according to a Sheriff's press release. Their vehicles were also seized in accordance with California law. According to Sgt. Petrofsky,...

Savannah-Chatham police are investigating a fight caught on video and posted on YouTube that happened during the St. Patrick's festival weekend. The video shows several women fighting outside and inside a red SUV, a man watching and then participating in the fight by hitting the vehicle and forcing the open door into the combatants while a crowd watches and encourages the participants.

Although most cities in California routinely conduct DUI police checkpoints, Escondido’s semimonthly checkpoints have garnered national attention due to the high number of illegal aliens drivers they have caught driving without licenses. Last Saturday’s DUI & drivers license checkpoint showed this examiner first hand why these checkpoints are so despised by illegal aliens and their supporters. ...

This list of countries that consume the most alcohol per capita in an average year includes beer, wine and spirits. Based on a 2011 report by the World Health Organization surveying citizen over the age of 15.

Austin, TX - Two men charged with driving while intoxicated had their charges reduced to public intoxication after police arrested them for riding a horse and donkey down 6th Street. Jose Rios, 33, and Samuel Olivo Jr., 48, were caught riding a horse and donkey in the 300 block of E. 6th Street while intoxicated. The two were coaxing people on the street to come, take pictures and pet their horse and donkey. Officers say the two were impeding traffic and could have caused an accident.

Vodka-drinking groups - some with small children - can be seen at lakes and ponds in and around the Russian capital where the current three-week heatwave may set a record of 98.6F (37C) this weekend. "Russia's Emergencies Ministry is very worried by the current situation. In the last day alone, 49 people drowned (in Russia), including two children, Vadim Seryogin, a department head at the ministry, told a news conference. More than 1,200 people drowned across Russia in June this year, he said, including 233 between July 5 and July 12. "The majority of those drowned were drunk," he said....

What is it with liberals and their violent fantasies? The Journolist has given us a public radio producer imagining herself laughing with glee as Rush dies a painful death, while other members want their political enemies thrown through plate-glass windows. This evening brings us "comedian" and liberal radio talk show host Stephanie Miller fantasizing about Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck and Geraldo Rivera being beaten with baseball bats by drunken Yankee fans. Miller was a guest on Ed Schultz's week-ending "Club Ed" segment. ED SCHULTZ: Speaking of sports, O'Reilly, Beck and Geraldo go to a Yankees game

DELAND, Fla. -- A DeLand man didn't like what a street preacher was saying as he left a bar so, police say, he head-butted the preacher in the face. The whole incident was caught on video.It happened over the weekend outside the Halftimes Sports Bar on Woodland Boulevard in DeLand.The fight started after the street preacher called the young man a sinner. That's what the young people say they're being called when they're outside the bars.WFTV was told there is a crowd, mostly from a local church, that gathers on the corner on Friday and Saturday nights, and they tell...

President Barack Obama has blown $10 million on drunken White House parties, Washington insiders tell GLOBE. This week's Special Report rips the lid off the Commander-in-chief's outrageous antics, including boozy conga lines and dinners featuring $150-a-pound Japanese beef! It's must reading for every American.

In full public view a drunken young man urinates over a city centre war memorial, soaking wreaths of poppies laid as a tribute to the dead. It's a shocking scene that will appal any person, even in a country where binge-drinking has become an accepted pastime for so many. In full public view a drunken young man urinates over a city centre war memorial, soaking wreaths of poppies laid as a tribute to the dead. It's a shocking scene that will appal any person, even in a country where binge-drinking has become an accepted pastime for so many.

Any experienced police officer or EMT will tell you that it is not unusual for drunks to survive vehicle accidents where many times the sober victims of the traumatic injuries caused from the same collision do not survive. Booze May Save Drunken Trauma Patients Trauma patients have better chance of survival if intoxicated, according to study By OLSEN EBRIGHT Updated 7:55 AM CDT, Fri, Oct 2, 2009 An intoxicated friend hands you his or her beer and says, "Watch this." A story like that usually ends with a trip to the ER. Obviously alcohol is to blame. But, according to...

The District ranks highest in the country for cocaine use and alcohol dependence, and has the third-highest percentage of marijuana usage, according to a new study. The study by the federal government’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is the result of national drug survey results from 2006 and 2007 of residents of the District and 50 states, compiled through interviews and calculated estimations.

Dori writes... In these brutal economic times, a lot of people are upside down in their mortgages and are losing their homes. But there's one group of people who don't have to worry about that - the residents of 1811 Eastlake. The housing project for chronic alcoholics in Downtown Seattle. While I support many shelters and job training programs for the homeless, this project has always struck me as misguided - public funds are spent on housing that allows alcoholics to drink in their publicly subsidized apartments. That's why I found these pictures so disturbing. A Downtown Emergency Service Center...

More than 40 passengers ran riot on a Thomas Cook flight from London Gatwick to Cuba, with one trying to open the emergency exit in mid-flight.

Gloves come on in Cask ’n’ Flagon coat-check clash By Gayle Fee and Laura Raposa / with Simone Press Tuesday, December 16, 2008 - A holiday bash at the Cask ’n’ Flagon turned into a merry melee the other night after a coat-check catastrophe caused a near riot at the bar across from Fenway Park [map] . Police and fire officials swarmed the scene after a slew of coatless patrons attempted to storm the watering hole’s kitchen and a fire alarm was pulled. Not to mention that the “Three Kings 13th Annual Holiday Extravaganza” was overcrowded and patrons were, according...

Seattle, WA (AHN) - Google Inc. has introduced a new feature in its Gmail that will prevent a drunk person from sending stupid or bad e-mails late at night. The optional feature called "Mail Goggles" activates when Gmail users compose e-mail at the program's default launching time of between 10 p.m. of Friday to 4 a.m. on Saturday. Arithmetical quizzes will appear on the screen that should be answered in seconds by the user. Failure to answer the quizzes will cause the e-mail to be put on hold.

These guys are webcasting live from Houma, La. Hope they wrote their SS# on their arms with a sharpie.http://www.gregledet.net/hurricam/images/houmamap.gif Every few minutes they come outside and prance around in the camera shot.

Bean-thin and sallow, George tugged on a cigarette in the blistering parking lot of a Camden men's shelter. Standing on the pavement, his foot on a picnic bench, he recalled how he took his first drink at 13. The hard living shows in the lines of George's face -- and in his medical history. When he gets sick, which is often, the 55-year-old has no place to go except one of the city's emergency rooms. George is a "super user," a new name coined to describe people who turn to the ER with astonishing frequency and at an astonishing cost...

With the exception of a few goofy teetotalers, in the average Old West town you couldn’t swing a dead cat without hitting a serious tippler (and he’d probably shoot you soon after). The drinkers you’re about to cross paths with—con-men, gunslingers, gamblers, madams, lawdogs and soiled doves—are among the very best.  THE GOOD…  Wild Bill Hickok (1837-1876)Law man, gunfighter, Union Army spy, military scout, dime-novel hero and dangerous poker player, James Butler Hickok was born in Troy Grove, Illinois. His youth was characterized by a love of guns, a cheerful fondness for “medicinal� whiskey, and a near-total disregard for...

Kevin Morgan was jolted awake by what sounded like an explosion. Then he heard something worse: an anguished mother crying for help. A Ford F-250 pickup truck driven by a woman suspected of being drunk careened through Morgan's Cobb County neighborhood early Sunday before plowing into -- and through -- the home of one of his neighbors. The massive truck killed 14-year-old Elliot Savary as he slept and injured his sister Leah, who is 13. Morgan was among the first neighbors to run to the aid of the teens' parents -- the mother frantically seeking help while her husband, Linley...

Heather Squires was the designated driver. Never exactly a fun thing, but a college buddy of her husband's was driving up from Tucson to celebrate his acceptance into law school. So when her husband, Jason, asked, Heather said yes. It's not safe to be the designated driver these days, either. At Chuy's in Tempe, Heather's brother and her husband and the soon-to-be-law-school student knocked off four pitchers of beer. Everybody was having a great time. Around 9:30 p.m., they decided to head home. So they piled into Jason Squires' new pickup truck. As planned, Heather drove. They didn't get very...

Wisconsin leads the U.S. in drunken driving rates — and Minnesota is not far behind. So says a federal government report released today. A CLOSER LOOK It's estimated more than a quarter of Wisconsin's adult drivers drove under the influence in the past year. Rounding out the worst five states — all from the Upper Midwest — were North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota. WHICH STATE WAS THE BEST?Utah had the lowest incidence of drunken driving. It was the only state where fewer than 10 percent of adult drivers reported driving drunk. Next came West Virginia, Arkansas, Kentucky and...

Previous observational studies have reported that heavy alcohol intake is a risk factor for hypertension but such studies may be confounded by factors such as diet, smoking, exercise levels and socio-economic position. Clinical trials exploring the link are difficult to implement and have limited follow-up time. The Bristol study, led by Dr Sarah Lewis of the University's Department of Social Medicine, took a different approach focused on people who have a mutation on a gene which affects their body's ability to eliminate alcohol. Alcohol is initially metabolised to an intermediate compound, acetaldehyde, which is further metabolised and then eliminated from...

I may be overly sensitive on this subject but my first reaction is that these victims of a Maryland street-racing incident were unlucky, undeserving and incredibly foolish: “A car plowed into a crowd that had gathered to watch a drag race on a suburban road early Saturday, killing eight people and injuring at least five, police said. Police said the white sedan was not involved in the street race but accidentally drove into the crowd of about 50 people that had spilled onto the highway to watch two racing cars speed off. *** According to police, two cars had lined...

Boozing Is Scotland's National Sport Says Govt. Minister Dec 29 2007 By Magnus Gardham BINGE drinking during the festive season has become Scotland's "national sport", a government minister has warned. Justice secretary Kenny MacAskill hit out as he promised a long-term strategy to change the country's damaging bevvy culture. He launched his latest attack on Scots' drinking habits as the country prepares to party on Hogmanay. He said: "Scotland has a huge cultural problem with alcohol. It's never more evident than around Christmas and New Year when getting drunk can feel and look like the national sport. "It's impossible to...

Anti-drinking ads which show stupid drunk behaviour inadvertently glamorise Medical Studies/Trials Published: Monday, 10-Dec-2007 . .   Advertising campaigns in Britain meant to discourage young people from drinking to excess have come in for some harsh criticism from researchers and comes at a time when experts are saying alcohol abuse is a widespread problem among the young. The researchers say adverts which focus on the idiotic behaviour carried out when people are drunk may be "catastrophically misconceived" and may backfire by inadvertently glamorising the habit. In a study, led by a research team at the University of Bath, researchers...

U.S. leg of Live Earth hits key notes "Today, more than 2 billion of us have come together in more than 130 countries on all seven continents," said former Vice President Al Gore, the event's organizer. "Times like these demand action," he added, after announcing the 7-Point Pledge that he hoped millions would sign while watching the concert. However, Etheridge aside, it was nonmusicians at this concert who made the most passionate pleas about demanding action for the environment. "Get rid of all these rotten politicians that we have in Washington, who are nothing more than corporate toadies," said Robert...

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Royal Caribbean Cruises has agreed to pay more than $1 million to the estate of a Connecticut man who vanished from his honeymoon cruise of the Mediterranean in 2005. The Florida-based company will pay $950,000 to the estate of George Allen Smith IV and reimburse his widow, Jennifer Hagel Smith, for legal costs up to $110,000. Hagel Smith will start a fund in memory of her husband with an initial donation of $25,000 that the cruise line will match, according to a copy of the settlement obtained by The Associated Press. The agreement was to be...

So you had a few drinks too many and, for the first time in your life, got pulled over on your way home. The prosecutor offers a simple deal: Instead of going to trial, you can plead guilty to driving while intoxicated and get probation. That's an easy one, right? For a surprising number of first-time DWI offenders in Harris County, however, the choice isn't so clear. Facing the stiff costs and strict rules that come with probation, thousands of convicted drivers in recent years have decided spending time behind bars is the better option. And in a county already...

A counter-culture arts festival which champions alternative living is being vetted by environmentalists for its contribution to global warming. Burning Man bans the sale of anything but ice and coffee and declares clothing optional. The festival, which is expected to draw nearly 40,000 people to the Nevada desert this week, is described as an "experiment in temporary community dedicated to radical self-expression and radical self-reliance". It has few rules, no structure and features performances, installation art and music, which culminate in the symbolic burning of a large wooden man. A group of San Francisco scientists, calling themselves Cooling Man, have...

Drunken driver crashes car, blames bartender By MELISSA BUSCH Bucks County Courier Times Middletown's Timothy Collins snitched on himself. Collins, who had been drinking, called police after he drove his car into his garage door on April 14. Collins pleaded guilty in Bucks County court Thursday to driving under the influence, but blamed the incident on an Old Falls Road bar in Levittown. Collins, 34, said he was forced to drive drunk after a bartender at the bar refused to call him a cab. The bar left him with no choice but to hop in the car for the approximately...

Don’t get me wrong, now, you folks on the left, who are always looking for somebody to pounce on just because they present a personal viewpoint in this land of free expression in these days of advanced PC senility which may be at odds with yours, but I’m not here to defend Mel Gibson’s reprehensible antics at his traffic stop, nor am I here to bury him.

U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) (L) and Representative Patrick Kennedy (D-MA) listen during Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's address of a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress in Washington July 26, 2006. REUTERS/Molly Riley (UNITED STATES)

From the flickering beginnings of motion pictures to the multiplex-filling offerings of today, alcohol has played a major role in the movies.

Fresh from rehab, Rep. Patrick Kennedy said yesterday he wants to be treated like an African-American from Washington if and when he gets charged for crashing his car on Capitol Hill. Denying that he was drunk and or that he asked the Capitol Police for preferential treatment, Kennedy, a Rhode Island congressman, said he's prepared "in terms of bookings, in terms of mug shots, fingerprints, whatever they might have me do." "It's what anyone else would have done to them if they were an African-American in Anacostia," Kennedy said in a shaky voice, referring to the mostly minority neighborhood in...

VAIL, Colo. -- Two 12-packs and a raft bought at Wal-Mart by three 19 and 20-year friends were no match for Class III rapids on the upper Colorado River between Radium and Rancho Del Rio. One man, Thomas Williams, nearly drowned when the raft overturned last Sunday. He was rescued by a nearby rafting guide. "I was under for so long I just blacked out," Williams told the Vail Daily. "I didn't realize I was being dragged along by the river." Class III rapids, on a scale of 1 to 6, include a large continuous set of waves with small...

America's war on drugs is actually a Raid on Taxpayers. The war costs an estimated $70 billion a year to prosecute, and the drugs keep pouring in. But while the War on Drugs may have failed its official mission, it is a great success as a job-creation program. Thousands of drug agents, police, detectives, prosecutors, judges, anti-drug activists, prison guards and their support staffs can thank the program for their daily bread and health benefits. The American people are clearly not ready to decriminalize cocaine, heroine or other hard drugs, but they're well on their way to easing up on...

It can't be argued that the Patrick Kennedy adventure on wheels is being ignored by the media. But part of the coverage has been suffused in a bit of overweening Kennedy-dynasty sympathy. Washington Post reporter/columnist Dana Milbank, who danced a jig of mockery in orange hunter clothes over Dick Cheney's shooting accident, wrote in Saturday's Washington Post about the "miserable character" who suffered after the crash: Kennedy tried to ignore the din of shouted questions as he walked to the door, but he couldn't avoid the woman in the front row who asked if he would resign. He shook his...

Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I) will cooperate with a United States Capitol Police investigation into a traffic incident that occurred  early Thursday morning involving the lawmaker.       “I was involved in a traffic incident last night at First and C Street SE near the U.S. Capitol,” Kennedy said in his statement. “I consumed no alcohol prior to the incident.”        According to a source close to the Capitol Police, Kennedy crashed his vehicle into a security barrier shortly before 3 a.m.        Reports have indicated that Kennedy allegedly told officers who stopped to investigate the accident that he was late for a vote after stepping...

Nearly every other day, the Seattle Fire Department responds to an apartment house for chronic street alcoholics to administer emergency medical aid to an ailing resident. The $11.2 million housing project, located at 1811 Eastlake Ave., puts to test a unique concept in housing homeless hard-core alcoholics because residents are allowed to drink in their rooms. The 39 aid calls to the building since it opened in mid-December far exceed what backers of the controversial project anticipated. And that raises questions about whether one of the key theories behind the project — saving taxpayer money by reducing visits by homeless...

VIENNA, Austria -- Booze, not bird flu, killed 40 songbirds in Austria. That's according to experts who carefully studied the remains of the birds found in Vienna. A spokeswoman for Vienna's veterinary authority said the disoriented birds flew into windows after gorging themselves on fermented berries full of alcoholic juices. She told Austrian TV that the birds' livers "looked like they were chronic alcoholics." All died of broken necks.

Ottawa program offers drinks to homeless alcoholics Last updated Jan 3 2006 07:37 AM EST CBC News Shelters across the country are taking a closer look at an Ottawa shelter that gives drinks to homeless alcoholics after a study suggested the program is having a positive impact. Two men in the program receive their drinks at an Ottawa shelter. Dr. Tiina Podymow envisioned the program after volunteering with chronic alcoholics, including some who drank upwards of 40 drinks per day of alcohol and liquids such as mouthwash. Participants in the Managed Alcohol Project were given permanent beds in a shelter...

Alcohol sales banned for Jets-Patriots MNF Associated Press HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Fears of rowdy fans during the holiday season have led officials to ban alcohol sales at next Monday night's game between the New York Jets and the New England Patriots at Giants Stadium. Jets spokesman Ron Colangelo said the ban was put in place to protect fans. "It's for the safety of our fans, so that they can have a comfortable environment at a time when the holiday season can get very festive," Colangelo told The Record of Bergen County for Tuesday's newspapers. The ban comes after a sometimes...

IN 2004, law enforcement officials arrested 771,605 people for marijuana violations, according to federal statistics. Bruce Mirken of the Marijuana Policy Project was so alarmed he sent out a press release noting that there were more arrests for marijuana charges than all violent crimes combined. The number of arrests for possession alone was 684,319. Said Mirken of the 771,605 statistic: "This is, in fact, an all-time record. This number of arrests is the equivalent of arresting every man, woman and child in San Francisco." Some 40 percent of Americans say they have used marijuana or hashish in their lifetime, and...