Free Republic

As we await word that Quinn and Rose are returning soon, - and it looks like something is in the works - our friendly group of dedicated FReeper Q&R fans will continue to meet in our usual spot as we always have! So grab your coffee - or whatever you choose to start your day - and drop in for some political chit-chat, or just to shoot the breeze! We are all coming from - or going to - work, but we all stop in to say ‘hi!’ Feel free to join us!

James Foley was one of a new breed of activists calling themselves journalists. He didn’t travel to report on a story, but to promote an agenda. And the agenda was obvious from his Twitter feed. [snip] Foley came to Syria to support the Sunni Islamist rebels against the Syrian government. He cheered on the Sunni Muslim terrorists fighting to ethnically cleanse the Christians of Aleppo. In the conflict between Israel and Hamas, his tweets and retweets were chock full of pro-terrorist propaganda. link

22 Palestinians killed in last day; 140 rockets and mortars fired at Israel; Israeli strike reportedly targets Hamas military chief. Hamas says in an official statement that Israel "failed" to kill the group's military wing's commander Mohammed Deif, and that he will continue to lead the Palestinian struggle. Earlier, Fox News reported that an Israeli intelligence source said Deif was killed in an Israel airstrike on Tuesday. "The leaders of the enemy were behind their offices looking at the screens and their intelligence and apparatuses made them believe that the moment of celebration was imminent," the Hamas spokesman said. "You...

This is one of those moments that if you saw it in a movie, you would say, “This could never happen in real life.” But it did. Yesterday, a Russian dash cam caught a motorcyclist flying through the streets as they smashed into the back of a moving car, and just like a scene out of Mission Impossible, the biker does a front flip and safely lands standing on top of the car he hit. Amazingly, the motorcyclist survived – by flipping onto the top of a car and landing on both feet. No sweat. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vd_OuqUAaI

What does it mean when someone on YouTube adds you to their circle? I'm not familiar with this person. I don't participate in circles and am unclear how they work. Social media is creepy to me, so I don't participate in any of it. I hate GooglePlus, but I had to sign onto it in order to continue to participate on YouTube. Now I'm creeped out when some stranger puts me in their circle. Am I justified in my paranoia or is it harmless when someone does that? Does my YouTube name show up somewhere where I have no control...

Rho Chalmers, who disclosed to the Houston Chronicle yesterday that she was a member of the grand jury that indicted Texas Gov. Rick Perry, was an active delegate to the Texas Democratic Party convention during grand jury proceedings. Chalmers’ active participation in Democratic state politics is important because she claimed yesterday to the Houston Chronicle that her decision to indict Perry, a Republican, was not based on politics. “For me, it’s not a political decision,” Chalmers told the newspaper. “That’s what a grand jury is about – take the emotion out of it and look at the facts and make...

As we await word that Quinn and Rose are returning soon, - and it looks like something is in the works - our friendly group of dedicated FReeper Q&R fans will continue to meet in our usual spot as we always have! So grab your coffee - or whatever you choose to start your day - and drop in for some political chit-chat, or just to shoot the breeze! We are all coming from - or going to - work, but we all stop in to say ‘hi!’ Feel free to join us!

On Wednesday, Attorney General Eric Holder will go to Ferguson, Mo. to assess the progress being made in the FBI’s investigation into the shooting death of Michael Brown. With that visit in mind, it may be useful to consider what federal prosecutors would have to prove to obtain a federal civil rights conviction. It wouldn’t be easy. The elements required to prove a federal criminal civil rights violation are quite demanding. Here are jury instructions describing the elements of a federal civil right offense, taken from the leading federal jury instruction form book: First: That the defendant deprived the victim...

More than 400 fatal police killings a year are sanctioned by local, state and federal authorities as justified homicides, but the FBI doesn’t specifically track how many times officers are prosecuted for improperly causing a person’s death. The FBI said Tuesday that it doesn’t keep statistics on specific prosecutions of law enforcement officers because it doesn’t track crimes by profession, though it does track justified homicide rulings. In 2012, the last year available for full statistics, law enforcement ruled a total of 410 deaths as justified homicides, the FBI said. The annual number has been steady for much of the...

At 1:14 in the video at link, notice how Brown approaches the store owner then pushes him hard. Brown then moves to exit the store then turns around to approach the store owner a SECOND time. According to some witnesses, this 're-approach' is the same technique used against Officer Wilson. Allegedly, Brown approached Wilson attempting to push him back into his patrol car then punching him in the face, then walks away only to approach Wilson a SECOND time.

Kuwaiti police arrested five Omani women after security cameras showed they have robbed several gold shops in the oil-rich Gulf emirate. The five used to go into jewellery shops with a little boy and pretend to try some items to detract the attention of workers before leaving the shop with their loot. Police had been baffled by the camera’s failure to identify their faces before they decided to trick the women into falling in a trap. “Police published fake attractive offers for jewelry and cosmetics on an Instagram account they set up for this purpose. They then installed several cameras...

One female lawyer made an interesting comment back in 1990. Commenting on how many of the female lawyers in the American Bar Association have had abortions: “I’m practically the only one of my friends who hasn’t had an abortion. We’re talking about lots of women in this room…” Sandra J P Dennis Richmond Times – Dispatch August 11, 1990 It’s true that this quote is dated, but it makes one wonder. how has the high abortion rate affected the way these lawyers argued about cases relating to abortion? Are the statistics similar in 2014?

"If you don't want to get shot, tased, pepper-sprayed, struck with a baton or thrown to the ground," warns Officer Sunil Dutta of the Los Angeles Police Department, "just do what I tell you." The thing is, Officer Dutta (pictured) is also an Adjunct Professor of Homeland Security and Criminal Justice at Colorado Technical University. And he uttered those words not in the heat of the moment, but in an opinion piece in the Washington Post responding to widespread criticism of police attitudes and tactics currently on display in Ferguson, Missouri, but increasingly common nationwide. Dutta continues: Don't argue with...

Egypt on Tuesday urged U.S. authorities to exercise restraint in dealing with racially charged demonstrations in Ferguson, Missouri - echoing language Washington used to caution Egypt as it cracked down on Islamist protesters last year. It is unusual for Egypt to criticize such a major donor, and it was not immediately clear why the government would have taken such a step. Ties between Washington and Cairo were strained after Egyptian security forces killed hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood supporters following the army's ousting of freely elected President Mohamed Mursi in July 2013. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry's statement on the unrest in...

MISSION, Texas (AP) — On a recent moonlit night, Border Patrol agents began rounding up eight immigrants hiding in and around a canal near the Rio Grande. A state trooper soon arrived to help. Then out of the darkness emerged seven more armed men in fatigues. Agents assumed the camouflaged crew that joined in pulling the immigrants from the canal's milky green waters was a tactical unit from the Texas Department of Public Safety. Only later did they learn that the men belonged to the Texas Militia, a group that dresses like a SWAT team and carries weapons but has...

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK (CBS SF) — A Bay Area man died while rock climbing in Yosemite National Park shortly after his girlfriend accepted his marriage proposal. 36-year old Brad Parker, a veteran rock climber and Sebastopol resident was killed after falling from a climb along Matthes Crest according to the Press Democrat. Parker had completed a climb to the summit of Cathedral Peak where he proposed to his girlfriend Jainee Dial. She accepted his proposal, but the couple separated as Parker went to climb along Matthes Crest by himself. Yosemite Park Ranger Kari Cobb told the Press Democrat that Parker...

As we await word that Quinn and Rose are returning soon, - and it looks like something is in the works - our friendly group of dedicated FReeper Q&R fans will continue to meet in our usual spot as we always have! So grab your coffee - or whatever you choose to start your day - and drop in for some political chit-chat, or just to shoot the breeze! We are all coming from - or going to - work, but we all stop in to say ‘hi!’ Feel free to join us!

Less than a week after Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) was indicted by a grand jury on two felony counts, he may be in an even stronger political position than he was before the charges hit. Several prominent Republicans have spoken out on Perry's behalf. Conservative activists in Iowa and New Hampshire aren't shying away. Even a well-known Democratic strategist has suggested the case against him may be flimsy. For a politician who is openly weighing another run for president, it's a welcome turn of events: While politicians embroiled in legal fights of this magnitude typically find few public allies,...