Free Republic

...after being cut from speech line-up and banned from laying a cloth on boxer's coffin during Muslim ceremony -Recep Tayyip Erdogan had specially flown to Louisville, Kentucky, to say farewell to Ali -But the president’s office said Erdogan left the United States for Turkey late Thursday after attending the prayer ceremony -He was due to speak at today's multi-faith service but lost his slot due to 'lack of program space' -Funeral organizers also 'refused to allow Erdogan to lay a cloth from the Kaaba on Ali’s coffin during the Thursday ceremony' -In addition he wanted the head of Turkey's religious...

The president of Turkey and king of Jordan joined the long line of world leaders, religious figures and superstars set to speak at Muhammad Ali's funeral Friday. Ali family spokesman Bob Gunnell announced funeral details at a news conference Monday. California imam and scholar Zaid Shakir will preside over the service at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville. …

Muhammad Ali's birthplace of Louisville, Kentucky, is paying tribute Saturday to the late boxing legend, who died Friday in Arizona at 74. At a ceremony at the city's Metro Hall, Mayor Greg Fischer said flags on government buildings would remain at half-staff until Ali has been laid to rest.

If the Republicans had nominated a skunk in the contest against Hillary Clinton, the National Rifle Association would have heartily embraced the odoriferous Mr. Stinky. A week ago, the NRA, which has millions of members and is eager to target congressional races in which guns are an issue, endorsed Donald Trump for president. He spoke, of course. Hand in the air for emphasis, he told the NRA that Clinton would try to "abolish" the Second Amendment. How does one "abolish" anything in the Constitution? It takes many steps. It's not going to happen. But that doesn't matter. It was what...

During his May 20 speech to the NRA Leadership Conference in Louisville, Kentucky, Sheriff David Clarke Jr. said, “The only person safe in a gun free zone … is the criminal.” He made this comment while referencing the horrendous May 12, 2006, sexual attack suffered by Kimberly Corban in her room on a college campus. Clarke said: This brave woman voluntarily shares the story of her horrific event so that other women do not have to experience what she did. She found out when seconds mattered, the police were not a 911 call away. She also learned that the only...

Kentucky pro-life lawmakers refused to attend the opening of the state General Assembly last week because a pastor began the meeting by praying for abortions. The Rev. Lauren Mayfield, pastor of the Lynhurst United Church of Christ in Louisville, Kentucky, was a guest of pro-abortion state Rep. Joni Jenkins, D-Shively, a member of the church, according to the Daily Independent. During the opening prayer on Tuesday, Feb. 23, Mayfield prayed for “these legislators [to] work toward preserving the dignity of women in the quest for reproductive justice,” the report states. She also prayed for vision, peace and justice and asked...

Remains of Illinois soldier, missing since 1969, coming home By Len Wells Evansville Courier & Press, Ind. (Tribune News Service) Published: January 9, 2016 ALBION, Ill. The remains of an airman listed as "missing in action" during the Vietnam War have been recovered. Officials with the U.S. Department of Defense confirmed the remains of Pfc. Kenneth Leroy Cunningham of Ellery, Illinois. He had been missing since Oct. 3, 1969. He was 21 at the time. Cunningham's remains will be flown back to the United States later this month, arriving at the airport in Louisville, Kentucky on Jan 19. His remains...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. —Mall St. Matthews was supposed to close at 10 p.m. Saturday for holiday shoppers, but instead it closed more than hour before due to what some may describe as a riot. “We started heading towards the exit and we saw larger numbers of teenagers and they started kind of running and congregating in one area, and then all the police, all the security started running that direction and then we decided it's time to head the other direction," said Chuck Hibbs.

Usually affirmative action diversicrats are sneaky enough to disguise their efforts to discriminate against targeted racial groups – almost always whites (because they are the majority) and Asians (because they study and work hard and achieve). They use code word language like “goals” and “diversity,” and avoid giving the impression that certain groups are ruled out from consideration. That’s what makes the honesty of a job posting at the state-funded University of Louisville so unusual.  Inside Higher Education (hat tip: Legal Insurrection) reports: can a department specifically reserve a position for an underrepresented minority candidate? That’s what some are...

Rep. Denny Butler of Louisville has switched his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican. ... The impetus for Butler’s decision to move from the Democratic ranks to the Republican column may stem from retiring Rep. Larry Clark’s endorsement of Alan Gentry in the Democratic primary to replace him in the 46th House District... “I know there’s been a, sort of a feud down there in the district that Larry Clark represented,” Stumbo said at the Kentucky Association of Counties conference in Lexington. “I assume that has something to do with it, but I hope that he will reconsider. He comes...

OUISVILLE (Evan Olwell) - On October 23, TFP Student Action members visited the University of Louisville to encourage students to defend true marriage. To the characteristic sounds of the bagpipes, TFP volunteers chanted slogans, distributed leaflets and held signs asking drivers to honk in support of natural marriage. Everything happened as usual. Some students warmly received the TFP flyer, while others refused. Some accepted it just to rip it up. The majority of cars that drove by reacted with friendly honking. Unusual Tolerance However, about 45 minutes into the peaceful demonstration, several students, representing the homosexual movement on campus, began...

The national office for the mainline denomination Presbyterian Church (USA), located in Louisville, Kentucky. The largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States recently hosted a same-sex wedding at its national office in Louisville, Kentucky. An official with Presbyterian Church (USA) officiated a wedding last Thursday between Paul Kempf and Robb Gwaltney at the Presbyterian Center's chapel. A PC(USA) spokesperson told The Christian Post that the ceremony had "perhaps 25 people in attendance, a combination of family and friends, along with a few staff." Gregg Brekke of the Presbyterian News Service wrote "… the ceremony [was conducted] by the Rev. David...

After his recent criticism of Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton, U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Louisville, says Vice President Joe Biden’s entry in the race “could cause a lot of problems for a lot of Democrats (with) split loyalties.” Speaking to Pure Politics on Tuesday, Yarmuth said he’s “not sure yet” if a run from Biden would be better for Democrats seeking to keep the White House. “Joe is very popular. He is a great public servant,” Yarmuth said. (3:53) “I’ve known him since he came to the Senate in 1972. He’s a wonderful man, and I think he’d be a...

IT was snowing in Maine on Jan. 9. I’d been to the dentist’s the day before. The staff there were pleasant enough when I changed genders 12 years ago. “We’ll just change your forms,” the receptionist had said, cheerfully. “It’s no problem.” That day, Papi Edwards, 20, a transgender woman of color, was shot to death outside a hotel in Louisville, Ky. If you’d told me in 2000, as a transgender woman just coming out, that I was a person of privilege, I’d have angrily lectured you about exactly how heavy the burden I’d been carrying was. It had nearly...

Police in Sandusky said 45-year-old James Young of East Canton died after jumping a fence to retrieve some of his belongings. They had fallen while Young was riding the Raptor roller coaster. Young was an Intervention Specialist for the 2014-2015 school years at the Louisville public schools. According to Michele Shaffer, superintendent of the district, he worked with students that needed extra help in reading and math. Shaffer told Fox 8 Young loved working as an intervention specialist and that his passion was to be a guidance counselor, which is what he received his master’s degree in.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A Hillview man has been arrested after he shot down a drone flying over his property -- but he's not making any apologies for it. It happened Sunday night at a home on Earlywood Way, just south of the intersection between Smith Lane and Mud Lane in Bullitt County, according to an arrest report. Hillview Police say they were called to the home of 47-year-old William H. Merideth after someone complained about a firearm. When they arrived, police say Merideth told them he had shot down a drone that was flying over his house. The drone...

The president of the Louisville police union caused a backlash when he issued an open letter calling unspecified activists “sensationalists, liars and race-baiters.” Dave Mutchler is the president of the River City Fraternal Order of Police and a sergeant in the Louisville Metro Police Department. He distributed the two-page letter six days after a police officer shot and killed 35-year-old Deng Manyuon, a Sudanese refugee who attacked him with a flagpole. …

A Kenucky polie officer shot a drunk man dead after the man attacked the officer with a flagpole.A Kentucky police officer shot and killed a man who attacked him with a flagpole. The local police chief said his officer was justified in using deadly force against the attacker.NBC News reported: A police officer who killed a flagpole-wielding man in Louisville, Kentucky, appeared justified in using deadly force, Louisville Metro Police Chief Steve Conrad said Sunday.“The officer believed his life was being threatened,” Conrad said at a news conference, adding that the shooting — which was captured in dramatic surveillance video...

It is not known exactly how Deng Manyoun entered the country, but he is believed to be a refugee from the Dinka tribe in south Sudan. Police in Louisville, Kentucky, are taking heat for the fatal shooting of an African immigrant from Sudan, who charged at an officer while swinging a metal flagpole just moments after he had allegedly assaulted a random woman on the street. The man, identified as 35-year-old Deng Manyoun, was staggering as if intoxicated when he ignored an officer’s command to drop the seven-foot flagpole. Officer Nathan Blanford, a 10-year veteran of the Louisville police force,...

LOUISVILLE, Ky (WDRB) -- A tourist in town for the Kentucky Derby was shot and killed near his hotel Saturday night. Police have charged three people in connection to 49-year-old Toronto resident Scott Hunter's murder. Friends of Scott Hunter describe him as a great guy and a lively character, he was a bartender in downtown Toronto for nine years. "We're trying to get our heads around it and trying to comprehend how something like this could happen," said Beau Opperman, Hunter's boss at House on Parliament and. Opperman says Hunter was in Louisville with a friend to go to the...