Free Republic

Exclusive: Ben Kinchlow weighs in on Martin-Zimmerman issue, Iranian-Israeli crises I am sitting outside a coffee shop, having a cup of hot tea with my business partner. Lying on the table is my video-enabled iPhone with Facebook, Twitter, Evernote, iCal, email alerts and 1247 contacts with texting capability. Let us not forget news alerts from Fox and CNN, plus apps and email alerts from a couple of consul general offices and other news sources, including the Israeli GPO (government press office) and the Jerusalem Post. My partner and I have been busy resolving several issues, including the Iranian/Israeli crises. “Do...

Is there any interest in discovering the facts about the killing of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman? Facts, after all, can undermine ideology. They have the power to dispel fantasy. They can put the brakes on error. They lead, sometimes, to logical conclusions. All of which means, in this particular case, that when the facts come out, they might well undermine “the cause.” We simply don’t know all of the facts yet. We can say with certainty, however, that the cause is not justice, no matter what the protesters, agitators and officials say. The cause is not truth, either. The...

The Absence of Black Leadership in America – Beyond Trayvon Martin. Today, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and NAACP leader, Ben Jealous, marched in Sanford, Florida, the city in which Trayvon Martin, 17, was killed last month. These black leaders have come out in full force in support of justice for Trayvon, demanding that George Zimmerman, the shooter, be arrested. But, where are these black leaders when there’s not a tragedy they can profit from?

The shooting death of a black 17-year-old Trayvon Martin by a white/Hispanic George Zimmerman in Sanford, Fla., has caused a national fury... I have to offer this assessment about Sanford, social activists and others jettisoned into this Florida fray: Will blacks in America ever show anger and disgust for our murders, the black-on-black killings that permeate most urban cities, our disdain for life, our acceptance for thugs, gang members, etc.? Philadelphia has chalked up 80 murders in 2012, just about one a day, almost like downing a multivitamin tablet. Don’t forget your murder. Now go out and make this a...

LONG BEACH — For the past 37 years, Oral Alfred Stuart Jr. was classified as AWOL and a Marine Corps deserter. But his family never believed it. Even if Stuart had left his beloved Corps, which he voluntarily joined in 1974 and proudly tattooed on his arm, he never would have left his parents without so much as a goodbye. "I always believed something must have happened to him. He loved the Marine Corps ... (and) he would have been in touch with our mother," insisted Carl Stuart, Stuart's older brother and one of only a few surviving family members....

Hollywood agent/producer Bettina Sofia Viviano -a liberal Democrat approached in 2008 to produce a documentary re. Obama irregularities/voter fraud- went on blogtalkradio this weekend to promote Will Not Be Silenced, where the filmmaker made some remarkable claims... Viviano heard first-hand from Bill Clinton that they KNEW Obama was not eligible to be president Alas, Bubba shut his trap after a long time friend was murdered just as he was about to go public and 'out Obama'. The Clintons then surreptitiously launched the 'birther' movement. She was told by Democrat Party operatives that Soros met with both Obama and Hillary to see if either...

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- President Barack Obama apologized Thursday for the burning of copies of the Muslim holy book at a U.S. military base this week, as violent protests raging nationwide led a man dressed in an Afghan army uniform to kill two U.S. troops. The Afghans' furious response to the Quran burning - three days of riots in several cities nationwide - reflected the anger at what they perceive as foreign forces disrespect for Afghan laws and culture.

7 Dead, 18 Wounded By Weekend Gunfire In Chicago February 20, 2012 6:11 AM Two people were killed, and five others were wounded, in a shooting at a liquor store in South Shore. (Credit: CBS) CHICAGO (CBS) — Seven people were killed and 18 more were wounded – including a Chicago Police officer – in a violent weekend on the streets of Chicago. One of the incidents left two people were dead, and five others injured, at a South Shore neighborhood liquor store Sunday evening.

Wednesday marked the first time since early 2011 that there were no shootings or murders in the city of Chicago in a 24-hour period, Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said in a statement released Thursday. “On January 18, for a 24-hour period, there were no shootings and murders in the city of Chicago,” McCarthy said. “The last time we went a day without a murder or shooting was nearly a year ago in early 2011. This is clearly the result of the tremendous police work of the men and women of the Chicago Police Department.

SAN DIEGO — San Diego County investigators trying to determine a motive behind a New Year's Day murder-suicide involving two Navy pilots and two other people are looking at whether jealousy may have played a role. Sheriff's Capt. Duncan Fraser said Thursday investigators are looking at all aspects, including whether there was a relationship between one of the pilot's sisters who was also killed and the Navy pilot who committed suicide. John Robert Reeves, 25, shot himself in the head, and the three others with him were murdered, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department said, citing autopsy results. Fellow Navy...

The Knox County Criminal Court Clerk today released 155 pages of the TBI’s investigative report of former judge Richard Baumgartner. The redacted version outlines in more detail information that Special Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood used Thursday to award new trials to the convicted killers of University of Tennessee student Channon Christian, 21, and her boyfriend Christopher Newsom, 23, in January 2007.

*snip* The unusual case began to unravel in rural Nobel County on November 6, when a terrified and blood-soaked man from North Carolina knocked on a door and asked for help, Sheriff Stephen Hannum said in a press release. The middle-aged man told police that he met two people for breakfast in a little town called Marietta to discuss the job. The asked him to drive out to see the farm and got him to walk in some woods after telling him the road was closed due to a landslide. As they got deeper into the woods, he heard what...

The House Judiciary Committee hosted a Department of Homeland Security oversight hearing last Wednesday with Secretary Janet Napolitano. As you may recall, the House Homeland Security Committee shares a certain amount of legislative jurisdiction with the House Judiciary Committee regarding the Department of Homeland Security. While the Homeland Security Committee covers border security issues, most immigration legislation is covered by the Judiciary Committee. As a result, during the authorization process, the Secretary of Homeland Security is often called to testify before two committees. It’s not a fun process for the Secretary to get grilled and asked obscure questions. I might...

TRIPOLI, Libya—Fresh evidence has emerged that fighters battling for control of Moammar Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte were responsible for numerous extrajudicial killings and other possible atrocities, raising new questions about the final moments in Libya's revolution and adding to the challenges of national reconciliation. Residents of Sirte and medical workers say that they have identified dozens of corpses of both Gadhafi loyalists and antiregime fighters, who appear to have died by shots to the back of the head while their hands were bound. They say these bodies are among hundreds of unidentified corpses littering the streets of Sirte and filling...

Though reporters asked about it during President Obama’s Thursday press conference, media coverage of the gun-running “Fast and Furious” scandal has generally been lacking. On Hugh Hewitt’s syndicated radio program Thursday, columnist Mark Steyn explained why he hasn’t ignored the story, and attacked the Obama administration’s involvement in the program. “In this case the government of the United States is the gunrunner,” Steyn said. “That is basically what is happening here. There would be no guns running to these Mexican cartels if the United States government hadn’t instituted a program to facilitate it.” Steyn noted the lack of media outrage...

EXCLUSIVE: House Republicans are going to call for a special counsel to determine whether Attorney General Holder perjured himself during his testimony to the House Judiciary Committee on Operation Fast and Furious, Fox News has learned. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, is sending a letter to President Obama arguing that Holder cannot investigate himself and will request a probe by a special counsel. The question is whether Holder committed perjury during a Judiciary Committee hearing in May. At the time, Holder indicated he was not familiar with with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives program known...

The enormous success on Broadway of "Book of Mormon" brings to mind the longest and most difficult mini-series development in the then-William Morris Agency's history. Feature agent and former New York colleague Fred Milstein called me one morning and spoke about a series of forgeries and murders by a 28-year-old elder of ths Mormon church against fellow Mormons. I could try to explain the convolutions of this story, but the most incisive and coherent analysis comes from a former LDS elder who calls himself "Stray Mutt." It is herein paraphrased. Mark Hofmann [pictured left] was a gifted and masterful forger....

CBS News recently got their hands on secret recordings of conversations about Fast and Furious that took place between an ATF agent and a gun store owner, both of whom were located in the Phoenix area (and both of whom were thoroughly acquainted with Fast and Furious). The recordings captured agent Hope McAllister talking with Andre Howard, owner of Lone Wolf Trading Company, at a time when Howard was noticeably worried that Fast and Furious was going to become public knowledge or be put under the microscope of a congressional investigation. Howard especially feared that Senator Charles Grassley might push...

In a conference call this morning with Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Darrell Issa, reporters were told the Attorney General in Mexico has confirmed at least 200 murders south of the border happened as a result of Operation Fast and Furious. Eleven crimes in the United States have been linked to Operation Fast and Furious up to this point. Issa said he expects as the investigation in the operation continues, more crimes connected to Fast and Furious will come to light and be exposed. This is not surprising, considering out of 2500 weapons the Obama Justice Department allowed to...

As Wisconsin heads toward lifting a ban on carrying concealed weapons, researchers at the University of California-Davis have turned up some unsettling information about those who may take advantage of the law. In a study using 15-year-old data -- the most recent available -- published online in the journal Injury Prevention, the UC Davis Violence Prevention Research Program says those who carried concealed weapons or who had confronted someone with a gun were twice as likely to be heavy drinkers than non-gun owners. Gun owners who drove with loaded weapons were four times more likely to hop behind the wheel...