Free Republic

img src=https://media.townhall.com/townhall/reu/ha/2014/30/0a5e65b4-cf5a-4137-b06d-13e222fb3af1.jpg> In the middle of the last century, Ringgold, Georgia, was the town that expedited the formation of an institution that built the country in that era, namely, early marriage. At the time, you could get married at the age of 15 -- provided you had the consent of your parents or guardian -- and, thanks to Ringgold's 45-minute blood test, you could get married quickly. Word got out rapidly, and this tiny little town just over the Tennessee state line became known as the marriage mecca of the Southeast and the mid-Atlantic. It fulfilled the hasty youthful heart...

German grocer Lidl said Monday that it will establish a $100 million regional headquarter and distribution center in Cartersville, GA, creating 250 jobs over the next five years. It's the company's fourth such center in the U.S. The news comes as Lidl announced four new store openings on July 13. Two stores will be located in Virginia, and the other two in North Carolina. Lidl opened its first 10 stores on June 15 across Virginia and the Carolinas. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF XRT, +1.82% is down nearly 9% for the year so far while the S&P 500 index SPX,...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Hailey Burns, a teenager who had been missing for the past year from her Ballantyne home, was found alive over the weekend and returned from Georgia to Charlotte with her family. An FBI special agent in Charlotte learned of information that led them to Burns, now 17, at a home in Duluth, Georgia, where she was found just after midnight Saturday. Michael Ren Wysolovski, 31, was taken into custody in Georgia and is facing a number of state charges, the FBI said. Wysolovski faced a judge on Monday and was denied bond after he was arrested and...

SAVANNAH, Georgia (KRON) — A Georgia restaurant owner and her teenage daughter were beaten up by a couple, and it was all caught on camera. And the attack all started over cold chicken. The video is disturbing. The owner of a Qwik Chick restaurant, Jeanette Norris, says the incident happened Thursday. A couple went to her stand and complained about their food being cold. After a few minutes back and forth, Jeanette says she refunded their money, but then she says the couple went crazy. They started cussing and beating down the window. Norris went outside to tell them police...

Eric Grant is a disabled Air Force vet. The fighting in Iraq - mortar shelling, breathing the smoke from burn pits - left him with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder and post traumatic stress disorder. Food stamps help him and his family get through some rough times. But he’s among many Georgians who’ve been able to drop that government assistance. Georgia is seeing a huge decrease in the number of people receiving food stamps, due in large part to the improving economy. But there’s also a brewing national debate on whether some people still on food stamps are taking advantage...

BAXLEY, GA (WTOC) - Police are still struggling for words to describe the attack that took place in Baxley Thursday afternoon after a mother and her daughter were assaulted at their family-owned restaurant. When you leave veteran lawmen speechless, you've reached a new low. It happened just after 3 p.m. at the Qwik Chick takeout stand next to U.S. Highway 1. Owner Jeanette Norris says it started when a couple ordered two meals. They complained that their chicken was too cold and that they didn't get enough fries. The owner checked the food and after more discussion, the female suspect...

Daniel Greenfield reveals why there’s no mystery behind the Democratic loss in Georgia, while Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and the George Washington University Profiling Project Deepen the Mystery of the “Russian Hacking” narrative. There was a great deal of press this week about the District 6 Georgia Congressional race in which once again -- for the fourth time -- the hyped “referendum on Trump” produced a Republican victory over a Democratic challenger in a special election. As usual, David Burge tweeted the most succinct wrap up of the left-wing take on their latest failure to recapture Congress and impeach Trump: “David Burge‏...

Jon Ossoff lost the House race in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District despite receiving nearly three-quarters of $1 million from the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. With $734,000 in campaign contributions, the abortion giant was the second-biggest spender on the Democratic side of the ledger — only trailing the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which poured $4.9 million into the race.

BAXLEY, Ga. - Police are hoping surveillance video that captured a violent attack will help them find the people responsible. Video obtained by Channel 2 Action News shows a restaurant owner and her teenage daughter beaten by two customers. It happened Thursday afternoon in Baxley, Georgia. The victims told police the suspects were unhappy with their order. The verbal argument turned violent when one of the suspects began punching the restaurant owner repeatedly. When the victim’s teenage daughter came out of the car to break up the fight, the male suspect punched her in the face.

Police are asking for the public's assistance in locating two people who officers suspect of assaulting a female restaurant owner and her teenage daughter at a Georgia restaurant Thursday afternoon. According to Baxley Police, the assault took place at a Quik Chik after customers were unhappy about an order, which escalated from a verbal altercation to the restaurant owner being knocked to the ground. As the two customers were leaving the scene one of them struck the owner's daughter, knocking her to the ground, police say. The two customers fled the scene by driving off in what police believe is...

As far as I know, Rodney Stooksbury is an actual living human being. I have even spoken with someone who has spoken with someone who swears he exists. Certain people, however, are convinced that Rodney Stooksbury does not exist. This is because, even though Rodney Stooksbury was the 2016 Democratic congressional candidate in Georgia’s 6th District, nobody could ever actually seem to find a photograph of the guy. Or a campaign website. Or any campaign material. Or anyone who has actually met Rodney Stooksbury. News outlets tried to track down Stooksbury, to no avail. According to one investigation, “when reporters...

Six Georgia inmates have been granted reduced sentences for saving a sheriff's deputy who collapsed during a work detail. The prisoners at Polk County jail got their sentences cut by 25 percent after saving an officer who passed out on June 12, CNN reported Thursday. The deputy suffers suffered from a chronic medical condition that became agitated by the heat outside.The deputy was on detail supervising the inmates perform lawn maintenance at a cemetery when he collapsed. The six inmates sprang into action, instead of fleeing, after the officer began hyperventilating before passing out. "When he started breathing, it was...

Democrat Stacey Abrams entered the campaign for Georgia governor on Saturday with a pledge to expand pre-kindergarten programs and make technical college education free, promising she’d bring a “bold and ambitious approach” to state government that will invigorate the economy. Abrams, who heads her party’s caucus in the Georgia House, said that as governor she’ll embrace the same knack for compromise with Republicans who have controlled the statehouse for more than a decade when she sees common ground. But she said she would stick to a fiercely progressive agenda on some of the biggest partisan divides, including efforts to restrict...

RUSH: You know, it’s kind of fascinating to watch. After the special election in Georgia, the Democrats think that losing is winning. They’re out there saying this as often as they can. But the Never Trumpers, you know, I didn’t mention any names, and I’ve told you why I don’t do that. I don’t want to start distracting side shows by people thinking I’m getting into feuds with individuals. That’s not the case. So I never mention names, and it’s not because I’m trying to tease you. It’s just it doesn’t serve a purpose and it ends up being a...

Despite the opposition Trump has galvanized, the Democrats still haven’t figured out how to win in the places where they’re trying to stage a comeback. ATLANTA—Around midnight, hours after their candidate conceded he had lost the Most Important Special Election in History, the last remaining supporters of Jon Ossoff took over the stage where he had recently stood. One of them waved a bottle of vodka in the air. Together, they took up the time-honored leftist chant: “This is what democracy looks like!” Sometimes, this is indeed what democracy looks like: you get outvoted. Democrats were counting on Ossoff, the...

As Democrats point fingers in the wake of Jon Ossoff's loss in a Georgia special election on Tuesday, some of them are aimed at Nancy Pelosi, the party’s longtime House leader, who appeared in almost every GOP attack ad broadcast in the most expensive House race in history.

Last night’s election in GA-06 has been widely portrayed as a referendum on President Trump. If you do a Google search for GA-06 and “referendum on Trump” you will get over 1.1 million hits. For instance, there is this from the New York Times: High-Stakes Referendum on Trump Takes Shape in a Georgia Special Election. Sadly, but unsurprisingly, it was dutifully and gleefully parroted by many self-described conservatives who have made #NeverTrump a lifestyle choice. The votes have been cast and if the GA-06 was a referendum on Trump and not simply a congressional race in which the winner was...

Karen Handel's victory speech. Here it is cued to a few seconds before the best part https://youtu.be/iFqFBfDO5xg?t=91

Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) blamed the non-stop talk about Russia for Jon Ossoff’s loss Tuesday in the Georgia special election in his appearance on MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe’. Senator Murphy appeared on MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe’ to talk about Jon Ossoff’s loss in Georgia’s 6th District and the future of the Democrat party. When asked if Democrats need to be more progressive or more moderate to win elections, Murphy responded, “I think the Democrats need to be hyper-focused on an economic message that tells people that the Republican party is all about the economic growth for millionaires and billionaires and the Democrat...

MARIETTA, GA. Democrats have discovered something unexpected in Jon Ossoff, the 30-year-old first-time candidate from Georgia: a model for winning back the House majority. Now they just need to try and replicate it —