Free Republic

Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors captured their first NBA title since 1975 last night in a 105-97 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Curry and Andre Iguodala, the Finals' MVP who called the Warriors a "team of believers" in post-game interviews, teamed up for 50 points, while the Cavs' LeBron James added 32. Even after the greatest achievement in basketball, Curry knows there's a much bigger prize in life, long after the buzzer sounds. In 2013, Curry talked to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes for the March issue of its bi-monthly magazine, writing that his faith identifies him more...

Golden State Warriors win series against Cleveland 4-2. Final score: 105 - 97

On the 50th anniversary of Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s famous report on the breakdown of the black family in urban ghettos, Baltimore has descended into the tragic violence and chaos he predicted. In a report titled, “The Negro Family: The Case for Action,” Assistant Secretary of Labor Moynihan, warned that the deterioration of the black family, would result in soaring crime rates if it continued unchecked. In the most famous passage of the 1965 report, Moynihan, who would later become a Democratic U.S. senator, wrote, “From the wild Irish slums of the 19th-century Eastern seaboard, to the riot-torn suburbs of Los...

An armed man in his 20s being surveilled by the FBI counterterrorism unit was shot and killed by an FBI agent and a Boston police officer in Roslindale this morning, according to Boston Police Commissioner William Evans. Evans said the suspect was wielding a large military-style black knife. FBI Special Agent in Charge Vincent B. Lisi is at the scene, and Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh is expected as well, FBI spokeswoman Kristin Setera told the Herald. Dozens of police officers have swarmed the small shopping plaza and officers are seeking surveillance video from a nearby Dunkin' Donuts, employees said....

An armed man in his 20s being surveilled by the FBI counterterrorism unit was shot and killed by an FBI agent and a Boston police officer in Roslindale this morning, according to Boston Police Commissioner William Evans. "He was on foot, under surveillance," Evans said. "The officers have been surveilling him and again they wanted to speak to him ... and he turned and our officers gave several commands for him to drop the weapon and unfortunately he came at the officers and they did what they were trained to do and that's never an easy decision for any officer...

"....At a rainy press conference near the crime scene, Commissioner Evans described the man as in "mid 20s", travelling on foot, and carrying a black "military-style knife". Some US media have reported the weapon as a machete. The suspect was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The two officers are in hospital to be examined for stress, but did not suffer physical injuries, police said...."

The man fatally shot by anti-terrorism officers in Boston on Tuesday and the suspect arrested Tuesday night in Everett had conspired to kill a police officer, according to two law enforcement officials briefed on the case. “We believe the intent was to behead a police officer,” one official said Wednesday morning. “We knew the plot had to be stopped. They were planning to take action Tuesday.” (snip)They had a brief exchange near a bus stop, according to an official with knowledge of the investigation, before Rahim lunged with the knife. The weapon was more than a foot long with a...

A man arrested in connection with a terror investigation in Boston will be in federal court Wednesday. David Wright was taken into custody at his home in Everett Tuesday afternoon, hours after a Boston police officer and an FBI agent shot and killed a man who was under 24-hour surveillance by terrorism investigators in Roslindale. According to CBS News, Wright and the man killed, 26-year-old Usaama Rahim, were communicating about attacks in the U.S. and that’s why he was arrested. Investigators are continuing to look for other people both men were communicating with. Wright will face federal charges in U.S....

A man with ties to the Bay Area was shot and killed by police in Boston on Tuesday. Officials say the suspect was being followed by the Joint Terrorism Task Force and was wielding a military-style knife at officers. Officials told NBC News the officer and agent had been investigating whether the man, identified as Usaama Rahim, had become radicalized by ISIS-inspired social media messages. The man’s brother, who is from Oakland, is asking for prayers. Back on the East Coast, the case remains under investigation.

How interesting. Obama’s DOJ would apparently like America to just be overrun with criminals who think they can do whatever the heck they want, because, hey, Obama told the cops not to bother chasing them, because we have to reduce police shootings? Hell no: The Washington Post decided to investigate and come up with a tally of all the police involved shootings for 2015, apparently to not only answer the burning demands of the public, but to pick apart the data and draw some conclusions. I was expecting a deafening volume of hyperbole out of this report – and there...

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Rev. Al Sharpton took aim at Cleveland's 2016 Republican National Convention in front of a packed house at Cleveland's Olivet Institutional Baptist Church on Friday night, speaking for nearly an hour. "Jeb Bush and Scott Walker and them think they are going to come in here and have four or five days of convention," Sharpton said. "We are going to have another convention outside."

Child-care assistant Eunice Medina, 23, was thrilled when Oakland's minimum wage took effect in March. But almost as quickly, Medina's workdays were cut and her hours shaved from eight to six.. Her employer, Asiya Jabbaar, says she had no choice. Despite slicing hours and laying off one of three assistants, Jabbaar says she still may need to close her business next year and convert it to a part-time after-school program. It's a big letdown for the 38-year-old Jabbaar, who launched Reaching Beyond Care in 2010 from her East Oakland loft apartment.Her experience illustrates what can happen to small employers when...

The story of Haji Yearam is the first known to us where a person claims to have seen the ark himself. He was born in 1832 in Armenia, moved at sometime to Oakland, California, where he lived until he died in 1920. "When Haji was a large boy, but not yet a man fully grown, there came to his home some strangers. If I remember correctly there were three vile men who did not believe the Bible and did not believe in the existence of a personal God. They were scientists and evolutionists. They were on this expedition specifically to...

OAKLAND — What's one more week compared to a 40-year championship drought? What's one more week when it means a shot at the first title in franchise history? The Warriors eliminated the Rockets with a 104–90 victory in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals on Wednesday, advancing to an NBA Finals date with the Cavaliers. This is a matchup worth waiting for, and a little patience will be required. Because both Golden State and Cleveland made quick work of their conference finals foes, the NBA will hit the pause button for a full week before the championship series opens...

An Oakland man who was kidnapped for ransom on Thursday night was found safe in a nearby city Friday morning locked in the trunk of a car when officers arrested two suspects in the incident, police said. The victim, a single male adult, had his hands and feet bound by the suspects but only suffered minor injuries and is now at home with family members, according to Officer Frank Bonifacio. Lt. Nishant Joshi said the victim told police he didn't know why he was kidnapped but authorities believe he was targeted. He said police are trying to determine if there...

Board members of California's Oakland Unified School District unanimously voted on Wednesday to cease suspending students for what they call "willful defiance." Those behaviors can include swearing/yelling at teachers, refusing direct orders, texting, and storming out of class, to name a few. The reason? Concern that too many black students are being suspended for willful defiance. One sophomore student, Dan'enicole Williams, told the San Francisco Gate, "They never take time out, if someone is sleeping in class, to ask what’s wrong. They may be acting that way because they didn’t eat the night before.” "We’re getting pushed out of schools,”...

Oakland City Council take over by activists D'jour.

"Peaceful protest turns violent," read the San Francisco Chronicle headline about the May 1 protest in Oakland that ended badly. Police arrested about a dozen people after activists trashed new cars and smashed bank windows. I love that headline. It makes it seem as if it's an anomaly when an Oakland protest ends with errant sparks and glass shards -- even though a social-justice demonstration in Oakland has a better chance of ending with vandalism than a Hollywood marriage has in ending in divorce. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf had warned that violence would not be tolerated, but to no effect....

OAKLAND (KCBS) — Glass from shattered windows, graffiti, and debris littered the streets Saturday in the aftermath of Friday’s May Day demonstration in Oakland. As the cleanup effort got underway, the damage was described as the worst seen in years. Late Friday night, violent protesters broke windows at businesses and damaged dozens of vehicles along Broadway’s Auto Row. They even set cars on fire. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaff said it was a very small band within the group of 300 or so demonstrators, who were responsible for the damage. “They came with rocks in their pockets and malice in their...

May Day protests grew violent in Oakland on Friday night after a day of passionate but peaceful rallies on both sides of the bay — all influenced by a decision in Maryland to prosecute six officers accused of brutality.