Free Republic

Ralph Reed, founder of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, brought his message to Palm Beach County Wednesday, where he spoke to multiple area Republican clubs at the Binks Forest Country Club in Wellington. Reed shared his vision of the work that needs to be done among conservative groups in 2012 in preparation for the upcoming election. He also answered a few questions exclusively for BPR: VIDEO

A prominent Republican senator just told me that if Romney can’t win in Michigan, the Republican Party needs to go back to the drawing board and convince somebody new to get into the race. “If Romney cannot win Michigan, we need a new candidate,” said the senator, who has not endorsed anyone and requested anonymity. The senator believes Romney will ultimately win in Michigan but says he will publicly call for the party to find a new candidate if he does not. “We’d get killed,” the senator said if Romney manages to win the nomination after he failed to win...

Welcome to the 2012 Nascar racing season and our 11th year of posting&hosting race threads. We've come a long way since 2001. We've seen wars and battles and friends and adversaries come and go but if there has been any one thing that has driven us here, it is a desire to 'Support Our Troops' in any way we can or to at least Thank Them for their service and to keep the flame of freedom and liberty burning for all of those who have and will serve our country. Daytona is just the start of 9 months worth of...

STUART, Fla. - A 28-year-old man accused of having cocaine in his buttocks and nose was arrested following tips from informants and instructions to squat, according to recently released records. Ramon H. Blair was arrested Feb. 13 after a Martin County Sheriff's deputy learned from an informant that a man with $100 worth of crack cocaine "on his person" would be with a woman in a white Pontiac with no hubcaps.

Spotted this past week while we were passing through New Smyrna Beach...we didn't knock on the door, but our friends tell us this person is not kidding!

ALLEN WEST UNDER ATTACK! YOUR HELP NEEDED NOW!Congressman Allen West (R-Florida) is a freshman pro-troop conservative Member of Congress. As an African-American former military officer with service in Iraq, he has been under constant attack by the left. We are outraged that one of his political opponents – a little rich kid with inherited wealth and no achievements to his name – had the audacity to call Colonel West “a coward.� They are going all out to defeat West by redistricting him out of office, and the pro-troop community must rise up to help this patriotic American stay in...

COLLIER COUNTY - NBC2 Investigators discovered there are parents living in Florida illegally, but their children are getting millions of your tax dollars in public assistance. The amount they're receiving is growing. Despite little Sergio's smile, the Collier County kindergartener doesn't live an easy life. "He travels with his family. They don't know where they are going to sleep and eat when they get to another place," says Barbara Mainster, director of the Redlands Christian Migrant Association. The non-profit of 70 schools cater to poor migrant workers' children. Born in United States, Sergio's parents moved to the U.S. illegally to...

Republican Congressman Connie Mack now runs dead even with incumbent Democratic Senator Bill Nelson in Florida’s 2012 U.S. Senate race. But Nelson outdistances two other potential GOP challengers, former Senator George LeMieux and businessman Mike McCalister. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Florida Voters finds Mack and Nelson earning 41% support each. Five percent (5%) like some other candidate in the race, and 12% remain undecided at this early stage. (To see survey question wording, click here.) In Rasmussen Reports’ first survey of the Florida Senate race last November, Mack, a congressman from the Fort Myers/Naples area, posted...

MARIANNA, FL 2/10/2012 -- "It's a blessing to be here. I thank the Lord that I'm here every day," said store clerk Troy Groth. One look at the Big Star Liquors store surveillance video from January 18th and you can see why Groth is happy to be alive. "I'm grateful to the Lord," said Groth. Groth was working that night when two men tried to rob the store. Marianna Police said Hakhelius Moore, 18 years old, walked inside and immediately pulled out a gun. Groth instantly reacted with his own weapon and the two men exchanged fire. "Whenever I sit...

Complete title: Judicial Watch Statement on Court Ruling in Sexual Harassment Lawsuit against Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) (Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton today issued a statement in response to a ruling by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Judicial Watch’s sexual harassment lawsuit filed on behalf of Winsome Packer, a female federal employee who alleges that she was repeatedly subjected to “unwelcome sexual advances,” “unwelcome touching” and retaliation from Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) ( Packer v. US Comm. On Security & Cooperation in Europe, and Hastings and Turner (CV No. 11-00485)). On February...

WILTON MANORS— An uptick in suicides has caught the attention of city officials, who fear they may be dealing with more than a statistical aberration. "When you look at our numbers, they don't jump out at you," Police Chief Paul O'Connell said. "When you compare it to a population of 11,000 to 12,000 people, that's when you get the real picture of how it impacts a small community."

A sexual-harassment lawsuit against Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., was dismissed in federal court on Tuesday, but the legal battle isn’t over yet for the embattled lawmaker. U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Rothstein dismissed the charges against Hastings by Winsome Packer, an employee of the Helsinki Commission, which Hastings once chaired. But Rothstein said the case could continue against the commission itself. The lawsuit, filed last year, has also evolved into a House Ethics Committee probe. In the lawsuit, Packer claims she was “forced to endure unwelcome sexual advances, crude sexual comments, and unwelcome touching” by Hastings. She sued last year,...

TAMPA -- Following complaints by a gun rights group, and a law passed by the Florida Legislature last year, you can now carry your gun at the Florida State Fair. "We have changed the policy to comply with the state law – it allows a person with a concealed weapon permit to come in with a firearm," said Charles Pesano, executive director of the State Fair Authority. "We've changed some signs to reflect that." Instead of "No Weapons," the signs now say, "No Unlawful Weapons." The policy changed Sunday, after Florida Carry Inc. and Marion Hammer of the Florida NRA...

Miami police say one man is dead after a confrontation near a popular nightclub in the Allapattah neighborhood. Michael Anthony Lawrence, 39, died of gunshot wounds Monday, shortly after he was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital, Miami police Sgt. Freddie Cruz said. His shooter, identified as 28-year-old Wilmen Diaz, was questioned but not arrested. “The state attorney’s office is reviewing the case with our homicide unit,” Cruz said. “He has not been formally charged with anything.” Authorities say Diaz was leaving the Club Típico Dominicano, 1344 NW 36th St., with a woman about 12:17 a.m. Moments later, the couple was...

WASHINGTON, D.C., February 13, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – Within weeks, the top lawyers in a dozen states may file a federal lawsuit against the Obama administration’s controversial requirement that all insurance plans include access to abortion-inducing drugs, contraception, and sterilization, the attorney general of Nebraska told LifeSiteNews. Jon Bruning told LifeSiteNews.com that 12 states had signed onto a scathing critique of the mandate and were preparing to take more serious action. Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning On Friday, ten state attorneys general addressed a scathing letter to President Obama, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis....

Crews are working to clean up the damage left behind from the Occupy Miami camp in downtown Miami. The water has been turned back on, and a dozer is hard at work on what once was the Occupy Miami camp. Protesters were evicted the end of last month, but they left behind quite a mess. "All the sod here was dead," said Arturo Vidal, a member of the cleanup crew.

n his New York Times bestselling book, Throw Them All Out, Breitbart editor Peter Schweizer revealed how members of Congress enrich themselves and their relatives using earmarks and insider information. Now, the Washington Post, following in Schweizer’s footsteps, has conducted a study that found 16 members of Congress have used their power of the purse to benefit companies, colleges, and community groups tied to their relatives. *snip* Among those cited in the Washington Post report were the following (below):

A new team is set to join the NASCAR racing league, a sport currently holding the number two spot in revenues and number of viewers (after football) – American Israel Racing (AIR). The goal behind the new initiative: "Promote awareness of and support by Americans for Israel, the only true democracy in the Middle East." The new team is planning on having their car, adorned with an Israeli flag; participate in the Daytona 500 which is set to take place at the end of the month in Florida. The race is considered one of the most watched sporting events in...

First lady Michelle Obama visited South Florida on Friday to continue her fight against childhood obesity. The Homestead YMCA Family Center was filled with dozens of children, their parents and volunteers an hour before the first lady was expected to arrive. As though the crowd wasn't already pumped up, a YMCA volunteer led everyone in a series of jumping jacks and arm-whipping jump-rope moves.

Twenty-One Republican Candidates Take Steps Toward ‘Young Gun' Status Washington- The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) today announced its newest round of ‘On the Radar' candidates. By reaching the second step of the four-step ‘Young Guns' program, these Republican candidates have reached the fundamental benchmarks to place them on the road to victory. Now, these 21 candidates are ready to take on the Democrat establishment and return fiscal sanity to Washington. "These candidates have worked hard to meet the benchmarks that have been laid out before them and are determined to hold Washington Democrats accountable this November," said NRCC Chairman...

In a move announced by Gov. Rick Scott on Thursday, the state will give more than $22 million to help fund a major expansion at the Port of Tampa. The Port of Tampa is planning for a new Petroleum Terminal Project that will cost $45 million dollars overall. Port officials said the current terminal is almost 50 years old and designed for only two ships to dock at a time. According to officials, the Port of Tampa provides energy supplies for 9 million people from Fort Myers to Orlando. It also provides jet fuel for Tampa International Airport and Orlando...

Michelle Obama will be making a stop in South Florida Friday as part of her "Let's Move!" initiative to fight childhood obesity. The First Lady will be holding a town hall event at the Homestead YMCA Family Center Friday afternoon. Obama will participate in a panel discussion and answer questions with experts from WebMD and the YMCA about how families can implement healthy changes in their daily lives regarding nutrition and exercise.

A former Florida congressman who has been a top campaign bundler for President Obama said Wednesday he is taking immediate steps to de-register as a lobbyist for a Florida-based airline so he can continue to raise funds for the president. Ron Klein, who has raised between $200,000 and $500,000 for the president, was registered as a lobbyist last month for Spirit Airlines, a low-cost airline that has been fighting new Obama administration airline regulations. But the Obama campaign has a rule against accepting campaign contributions from federally registered lobbyists. After the Washington Free Beacon website reported on his lobbyist role...

TAMPA -- The funds for a planned high-speed rail line in Florida were rejected by Gov. Rick Scott last year. The governor contended that the proposed line between Tampa and Orlando would have ended up losing money, but a new state report suggests otherwise. According to a report the Florida Department of Transportation sent to the Federal Railroad Administration late last year, the rail line could have generated an annual surplus of between $31 million and $45 million within a decade of operation. About $2.8 billion in federal funds had been pledged for the project, which would have connected Tampa...

Democratic congressional candidate Patrick Murphy announced today that he will follow Allen West to the newly proposed District 18 to continue his campaign against him. The move comes after publically calling West a coward for leaving the district to run in a more favorable one. It seems that Murphy will be doing exactly that, with the blessing of popular Democratic leaders. He has yet to apologize to West for his remark.

Democratic congressional candidate Patrick Murphy announced today that he will follow Allen West to the newly proposed District 18 to continue his campaign against him. The move comes after publically calling West a coward for leaving the district to run in a more favorable one. It seems that Murphy will be doing exactly that, with the blessing of popular Democratic leaders. He has yet to apologize to West for his remark.

An altercation between two neighbors over a noisy dog resulted in one man being shot to death Saturday morning, police said. The second man was recovering from minor injuries, according to Ocala police. The shooting occurred at the intersection of Northeast Seventh Terrace and Northeast Fourth Street. Police identified the man who was shot and killed as 53-year-old Willie Chester. The Ocala Police Department received a call at 10:13 a.m. regarding shots fired. Arriving at the scene, officers found the two men injured and on the street, according to OPD officials. The men were taken by ambulance to Munroe Regional...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The Brevard County State Attorney's Office has dropped a felony charge this week against gun conversion manufacturer Jonathan A. Ciener. The Brevard County Sheriff's Office raided Jonathan Arthur Ciener, Inc. located at 8700 Commerce Street in Cape Canaveral last November and charged Ciener with one count of scheme to defraud in an amount less than $20,000. (Image above) Jonathan Arthur Ciener, Inc., is a company that sells gun conversion kits nationwide and advertises its kits on www.22lrconversions.com. Ciener's attorney, Greg Eisenmenger of the Viera law firm Eisenmenger, Berry & Peters, P.A., told Brevard Times that the...

No one knows how long he sat inside the green rental car and waited. Authorities say Matthew Wong, 50, watched the door of his wife's apartment early Monday, waiting for her to step outside. Thick, black garbage bags shrouded the backseat windows. A quilt covered the rear window. "It appears it was all planned," said Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office spokesman Larry McKinnon. "He was waiting out there to ambush her." What Wong hadn't planned on, deputies said, was getting caught in the flames that he had hoped would kill his wife, Gloria Davis, 47. After residents of the Countrywood Apartments,...

Thousands of pills, including oxycodone and hydrocodone, are missing from the Broward Office of the Medical Examiner in what the county inspector general described Monday as gross mismanagement.

Feb. 6, 2012 - Vice President Joe Biden will speak at Florida State University later this morning and will talk about college affordability certainly; an important topic in a college town like Tallahassee. We're told that the Vice President will discuss the importance of tackling rising college costs to ensure America's students and workers can obtain the education and training they need. The Obama administration says this is crucial so that this country will have a workforce prepared for the jobs of the 21st century. In his State of the Union address, President Obama laid out a blueprint for an...

Authorities are seeking the public's help in identifying a man who robbed a McDonald's on Saturday while wearing a President Barack Obama mask. Riviera Beach Police say that the man who held employees of the McDonald's at 3551 Broadway at gunpoint with a silver, semi-automatic handgun, was wearing a mask "resembling a likeness" to Obama. He ordered all employees to the back office at 6:21 a.m., and then ordered the manager to open the safe and place the cash in a cloth bag he brought. Before leaving the restaurant, the man threatened to kill the employees if they did not...

Ann Liston and Eric Adelstein are hardened Chicago Democratic consultants. Their behind-the-scenes role helping the Wisconsin Democratic Party collect more than 1 million signatures to recall Gov. Scott Walker has put them in a campaign unlike any they've ever seen. The two 40-somethings said Facebook's power to reach voters, combined with a recentU.S. Supreme Court ruling that unfettered limits on corporate and union political spending, has rewritten their industry's game plan. "It's horrible for democracy but great for business," Adelstein said Tuesday, referring to the Citizens United U.S. Supreme Court decision. Voters in Wisconsin, South Carolina and Florida have been...

George LeMieux has two big problems to overcome in his campaign to become the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate. One is Connie Mack, and the other is Charlie Crist. LeMieux has taken a lot of heat in this race because he was Crist's strategist and helped guide him into the governor's office. That is a legitimate concern for conservatives, but I don't put a lot of stock in that criticism because, as a former political consultant, I know it's incredibly rare for a consultant to agree with his client about everything. The relationship, no matter how close, is fraught...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has again flexed its regulatory muscles, this time over the state of Florida. At issue is whether Florida’s waterways will remain in part under state supervision or fall deeply within the purview of a non-elected federal bureaucracy. The “Water Quality Standards for the State of Florida’s Lakes and Flowing Waters” is an EPA rule—as opposed to federal or state law—that would set the nutrient criteria for Florida’s waterways to a specific number, rather than keeping to narrative legal language to protect against pollution, as is currently the case. The scope of the regulation is...

Two elections supervisors are taking action after an NBC2 investigation uncovers flawed record keeping and human error allowing people who are not citizens of the United States to vote. No one knows how widespread this problem is, because county election supervisors have no way to track non-citizens who live here. So NBC2 did something election officials never thought to do, and found them on our own. "I vote every year," Hinako Dennett told NBC2. The Cape Coral resident is not a US citizen, yet she's registered to vote. NBC2 found Dennett after reviewing her jury excusal form. She told the...

Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) is suspicious about the newly released January unemployment numbers. In response to news that the overall unemployment rate had dropped to 8.3 percent and the unemployment rate in the black community declined from 15.8 percent to 13.6 percent, West floated the possibility that the numbers might have been cooked. "Can someone tell me how employment in the black community has improved at a rate three times the national average in just a few months?? With numbers like today, urban communities should be well on their way to economic recovery then! There is something suspicious about the...

You did not misread the headline; and it’s not just a truism about Mr. Gingrich’s political orientation, I mean he’s correct—that Florida’s winner-take-all primary system isn’t fair. According to Republican National Committee guidelines, all contests held prior to April 1 must allocate delegates proportionally. But Florida, not wishing to change procedures or fall behind other states, decided to flout the RNC rule, which means that Mitt Romney will get all 50 of its delegates. Mr. Gingrich—who came in second—will get none. Under a proportional system, Mr. Romney would receive 23 and Mr. Gingrich 16. Not only that, NPR has calculated...

MADRID - Spanish oil firm Repsol YPF SA has begun offshore drilling in Cuban waters as part of its global exploration operations, a person familiar with the situation said Thursday. Deep-water exploration drilling began about 50 kilometers north of Havana and will take at least 60 days to complete, this person added. Repsol is resuming exploration in the area after it failed to find exploitable oil in 2004. The U.S. Geological Survey has said there could be a substantial amount of untapped oil off the Cuban coast. The Repsol well is much closer to Florida than any other well in...

Two elections supervisors are taking action after an NBC2 investigation uncovers flawed record keeping and human error allowing people who are not citizens of the United States to vote. No one knows how widespread this problem is, because county election supervisors have no way to track non-citizens who live here. So NBC2 did something election officials never thought to do, and found them on our own. "I vote every year," Hinako Dennett told NBC2. The Cape Coral resident is not a US citizen, yet she's registered to vote. NBC2 found Dennett after reviewing her jury excusal form. She told the...

A Muslim woman is threatening to sue Chevron unless the gas giant issues her a better apology for refusing to serve her while she was wearing a veil that exposed only her eyes. Wilfredo Ruiz, the attorney for La Fleur Mohamed, said Chevron's apology was "light" and did not properly remedy the "embarrassing moment" his client experienced on Oct. 28, 2011. "If Chevron does not move away from the rheotoric, then we will pursue a legal action," Ruiz told ABCNews.com. "If they admit their errors and compensate accordingly for a very oppressive way of treating her, then we don't see...

While chatter about a potential Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio vice presidency has reached a fever pitch in the aftermath of the GOP Florida primary, the rights of the unborn appeared to be the only thing on the mind of the Sunshine State’s freshman Republican senator on Wednesday night. Rubio delivered red meat to a pro-life crowd of hundreds attending the Susan B. Anthony List’s fifth annual Campaign for Life Gala. After taking a few digs at the age of his congressional colleagues and President Barack Obama’s teleprompter, Rubio jumped straight into the spiritual and philosophical foundations of ending abortion...

The center claims it does not owe anything: reportHollywood is going ahead with foreclosing proceedings against the Holocaust Documentation and Education Center after a 90-day deadline came and went Tuesday without the center repaying more than $260,000 in overdue loans, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported. The city’s Community Redevelopment Agency Board lent the Holocaust center the Harrison Street building’s $1.2 million purchase price in 2004, but the center has not repaid any of the nearly $2 million in principal and interest it owes, the Sun Sentinel said. The center, which disputes the building’s value, says it does not owe...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Police say a gold shop clerk held up in an alley behind his store fired on his two masked robbers, hitting one of them in the shoulder as they fled Tuesday. The person police say was the getaway driver is a Broward College volleyball player with a history of athletic success at Hollywood Hills High School. Fort Lauderdale police report that at 6:20 p.m., two masked, armed men approached Oleg Flyaster in an alleyway behind the Gold Buyers business at 5130 N. Federal Highway, demanding his wallet and pointing a gun at his face. Flyaster reached...

The Republican National Committee will not support Newt Gingrich in his quest to add some Florida delegates to his count. The former Speaker's campaign argued it deserves some delegates out of Florida despite the state party's position that its contest is winner-take-all. But an RNC memo obtained by The Hill says that is not a possible scenario. "With regard to proportionality, the RNC does not have the authority to intervene in a state’s primary plans beyond the imposition of the Rule 16 penalties," the memo says, referring to the state's loss of half its delegates for moving its primary up...

Misinformation and Legal Wrangling Delaying Mission-Critical A-29 Super Tucano for American Warfighters in Afghanistan SPARKS, Nev., Feb. 2, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), the winner of the U.S. Air Force Light Air Support (LAS) competition, today issued a point-by-point rebuttal of misinformation being spread by the disqualified contender for the contract. The LAS contract provides aircraft, training and support for the U.S. government's partner building efforts in Afghanistan and other nations. The aircraft is urgently needed to support aerial reconnaissance and light air operations in Afghanistan, as well as to develop the organic capability needed to complete the...

A South Florida Muslim woman has hired a lawyer after claiming she was refused service at a Boca Raton gas station because of her religion. La Fleur Mohamed said she was humiliated in the incident at a Chevron gas station. Very painful, very painful -- (I) felt really embarrassed," she said. Mohamed said the attendant refused to let her fill up because she wears niqab, or face veil, because of her religion. She claimed the attendant threw the money back at her and told her to leave. “I said, ‘Excuse me, but this is my religious right.’ She said, ‘Well,...

The Newt Gingrich campaign is gearing up to challenge the results of the Florida Republican presidential primary based on the Republican National Committee's own rules which state that no contest can be winner-take-all prior to April 1, 2012. It was assumed that Mitt Romney, who won Tuesday's contest, would gain all 50 of the state's delegates. But the Gingrich campaign plans to challenge Florida's allocation and demand the delegates be divvied up proportionally. Fox News has learned exclusively that on Thursday, a Florida Gingrich campaign official will begin the process of trying to have the RNC rules enforced so that...

"See below what I received from FNC Carl Cameron! This is really wild! More possible Florida election problems?" — Tampa, FL — Florida’s primary might not be over just yet. The Newt Gingrich campaign is gearing up to challenge the results of the florida primary based on the Republican National Committee’s own rules which state that no contest can be winner take all prior to April 1, 2012. (See attached RNC memo.) The Gingrich campaign plans to challenge Florida’s winner take all status & demand proportional allocation of delegates. Fox News has learned that Thursday, a Florida Gingrich campaign official...

The Senate has confirmed our fears and on Thursday they will be proposing a new tax on Internet purchases. During a full-fledged recession, leave it to the Florida Legislature to propose a new tax - and one that they have questionable constitutional authority to enact.On Thursday morning the Senate Subcommittee on Finance and Tax, chaired by Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff, will propose SB 7206 for consideration. This bill would institute a new sales tax on Internet purchases if the retailer uses affiliates or referrals in the state. This bill aims to tax transactions by companies like Amazon, and has been proposed...