Free Republic

An Oklahoma lawmaker has introduced a bill that would make wearing a hoodie — the popular cold-weather garment that protects your face and head from the elements — a crime punishable by a fine of up to $500, KFOR (Oklahoma City) is reporting. Ostensibly, the proposed hoodie ban is meant to make Oklahoma safer from people who would conceal their identity, but civil liberties groups argue the ban is little more than another means of racial profiling.

The average price for a gallon of gas has dropped for 99 days in a row, with six states – Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma and Missouri – having average prices under $2 for the first time since 2009, according to price surveys Friday. Prices have plummeted about 40 percent since the start of June. Put another way, the Auto Club estimates that Americans are saving $500 million -- per day, each day – compared to the high prices paid last spring, allowing that money to be spent with businesses other than oil companies or just kept in the savings...

In early December, an Oklahoma abortion doctor was arrested after an undercover sting revealed that he was offering to perform abortions on women who were not pregnant. Patel-Arrested-Dec-2014--300x231 News reports indicate that undercover agents set up appointments with 62-year-old Nareshkumar Patel where they say he administered ultrasounds and pregnancy tests and then told them they were pregnant, when they weren’t. Affidavit Patel A copy of the probable cause affidavit against Patel has revealed what the sting uncovered. According to the document, in June, a medical licensure investigator called Patel’s Oklahoma City abortion clinic, Outpatient Services for Women to schedule an...

Dr. Naresh G. Patel, who is accused of providing abortion-inducing drugs to women he knew were not pregnant, is no longer medically licensed in Oklahoma. A doctor accused of providing abortion-inducing drugs to three undercover investigators who were not actually pregnant can no longer practice medicine in Oklahoma. Dr. Naresh G. Patel, 62, of Oklahoma City, on Monday agreed not to practice medicine in the state, pending an investigation into the allegations by the state Medical Licensure Board. Patel was arrested Dec. 9 at his Warr Acres clinic and is charged with one count of racketeering and three counts of...

There have been more than 500 magnitude 3.0 or greater earthquakes in Oklahoma this year, up significantly from 109 in 2013 and just 35 in 2012, according to U.S. Geological Survey officials. As of Monday, there were 549 of the higher magnitude quakes in 2014, with 19 being magnitude 4.0 or greater. USGS officials focused on magnitude 3.0 or greater quakes because the smaller the magnitude, the more potential there is for missing an event, USGS Geophysicist Robert Williams said. The USGS is looking into the increase in earthquakes, mostly occurring in central and north-central Oklahoma, he said. “Starting probably...

Despite growing public support for legalizing marijuana, a lawsuit filed by Nebraska and Oklahoma shows that at least two segments of American society are prepared to fight the idea before the nation’s highest court—social conservatives and law enforcement. The lawsuit seeks to overturn Colorado’s experiment in legalized recreational pot, alleging that the two conservative states are being overrun with Colorado marijuana that is making it harder for them to enforce their own drug laws. …

An Oklahoma City abortion doctor was charged Thursday with racketeering — a felony offense punishable by at least 10 years in prison. Dr. Naresh G. Patel, 62, also was charged with three counts of obtaining money by false pretenses. Patel was arrested Dec. 9 at his Warr Acres clinic after an undercover fraud investigation. The clinic, Outpatient Services for Women, has not reopened since his arrest. He is accused of providing abortion-inducing drugs to three female undercover investigators who posed as patients. Each paid the clinic $620. Women not pregnant Each time, Patel did an ultrasound on the woman’s abdomen,...

Who Really Discovered America? Did ancient Hebrews reach the shores of the North and South American continents thousands of years before Christopher Columbus? What evidence is there for Hebrew and Israelite occupation of the Western Hemisphere even a thousand years before Christ? Was trans-Atlantic commerce and travel fairly routine in the days of king Solomon of Israel? Read here the intriguing, fascinating saga of the TRUE DISCOVERERS OF AMERICA! William F. Dankenbring A stone in a dry creek bed in New Mexico, discovered by early settlers in the region, is one of the most amazing archaeological discoveries in the Western...

OKLAHOMA CITY – After legalizing the recreational use of marijuana, Colorado is at the heart of a lawsuit. The Denver Post is reporting that Nebraska and Oklahoma have filed a lawsuit with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the justices to strike down Colorado’s legalization laws. The Colorado attorney general’s office says the lawsuit alleges “that Colorado’s Amendment 64 and its implementing legislation regarding marijuana is unconstitutional under the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution.” “Because neighboring states have expressed concern about Colorado-grown marijuana coming into their states, we are not entirely surprised by this action,” said Colorado Attorney General John...

Crude oil production from U.S. wells is poised to approach a 42-year record next year as drillers ignore the recent decline in price pointing them in the opposite direction. U.S. energy producers plan to pump more crude in 2015 as declining equipment costs and enhanced drilling techniques more than offset the collapse in oil markets, said Troy Eckard, whose Eckard Global owns stakes in more than 260 North Dakota shale wells. Oil companies, while trimming 2015 budgets to cope with the lowest crude prices in five years, are also shifting their focus to their most-prolific, lowest-cost fields, which means extracting...

Here in Oklahoma, the news that Senator Tom Coburn will be retiring early from his second term has still not entirely settled in with most folks. For ten years we awoke each day knowing that our state’s voice in Washington would be one of principled reason and absolute integrity. It’s not that our other senator, Jim Inhofe, or our House members, like Tom Cole and Frank Lucas, are lacking. They are all solid conservatives, as is former congressman James Lankford, whom we elected in November to replace Coburn in the Senate. But as conservatives across the nation have recognized for...

Seven more states signed on to a lawsuit challenging President Obama's executive action halting the deportation of as many as 5 million undocumented immigrants, bringing the total to 24 states, Texas Atty. Gen. Greg Abbott announced Wednesday. The new states to join the coalition were Arizona, Florida, Arkansas, Michigan, North Dakota, Ohio and Oklahoma. The original 17 states, including Alabama, Kansas and Texas, filed suit in U.S. District Court last week, arguing that Obama overstepped his powers in enacting such changes on his own. "The president's proposed executive decree violates the U.S. Constitution and federal law, circumvents the will of...

Enterprise Products Partners (EPD) is shelving a proposed pipeline that would have transported crude from North Dakota to Oklahoma, the company announced on Friday. The news came in the midst of a brutal slide in global oil prices that have raised concerns about whether U.S. companies will continue to build on the expansion of oil production. Middle East oil producers have yet to announce a cut in production to offset the drop in crude, in what some analysts say is a slow-bleed strategy designed to make pumping crude as uneconomic as possible for the world's fastest growing non-OPEC oil producer....

It seems I’ve run afoul of the atheist portal here at Patheos One. More. Time. Nobody sticks in these folks’ collective craw more than I do. They love to hate me and they love to trash me. If one of them was slowly slipping away, I think the doc could show them one of my blog posts to get their poor little heart started beating again. I’m not sure how I do it, and to be honest, I don’t care, but I do get under their skin. They react to me the way Tribbles react to Klingons. I’ve studiously ignored...

OKLAHOMA CITY – Formal charges are pending against a high-profile abortion doctor in the metro. Now, one of his former patients breaks her silence over what she calls ‘the worst experience of her life.’ Dr. Patel was arrested earlier this week for fraud. Investigators say he lied to women in order to charge them more for abortions that were, at times, unnecessary. Unlike the undercover agents Patel falsely identified as pregnant, this woman was pregnant when she went to his office. She also has a heart condition that was making it a very difficult pregnancy. She claims Dr. Patel lied...

An Oklahoma TV station has reported that eight more patients have come forward to talk about their experiences with an abortionist arrested and charged with fraud earlier in the week. Abortionist Patel Arrested Dec 2014 Tuesday, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt charged 62-year-old abortionist Nareshkumar Patel with three counts of obtaining money under false pretense after improperly prescribing abortion-inducing drugs to patients he said were pregnant, but were not. “After an undercover investigation, our office today arrested an abortion doctor in Oklahoma City on fraud charges for prescribing abortion-inducing drugs to patients who were not pregnant. This type of fraudulent...

Oklahoma abortionist Nareshkumar Gandalal “Naresh” Patel, who once faced charges of raping and sodomizing his abortion patients, is now out of jail on bond after his arrest yesterday. Now, Patel has posted a $2,000 bond and has been released from jail. His Outpatient Services for Women abortion facility remains closed for now. At the time of Patel’s arrest, police also executed search warrants on his home and abortion facility. Police raided the Outpatient Services for Women abortion center in Oklahoma City and arrested Patel. The arrest came after a Operation Rescue filed a five-count complaint against him with the State...

A group of protesters held signs emblazoned with messages like “Stop the killing” as they marched Tuesday morning through Oklahoma City to protest a fatal officer-involved shooting. The protesters described the man killed, Jerry Demonte Nowlin, 39, as a kind, community-oriented family man. Nowlin died late Sunday at OU Medical Center after being shot by officers about 8:30 p.m. at the Heritage Pointe Apartments, NE 26 and Kelley Avenue, according to police.

There's no official Sen. Ted Cruz presidential team — yet. But the Texas Republican is already surrounding himself with key strategists and advisers that could make his transparent White House ambitions a reality. The tea party firebrand relies on a small circle of advisers to inform his views and amplify his ultraconservative message. The inner circle breaks down into two groups: his chief advisers in the Senate office, and the chiefs of his nationally-focused political operation, which he beefed up in the summer of 2014 by hiring a crop of seasoned Republican campaign operatives. These are the key players that...

Dr Nareshkumar Patel was arrested this morning at his abortion clinic in Oklahoma City.Dr Patel has had previous brushes with the law because he disposed of the bodies of babies he had aborted by putting them in a garbage bag and burning them in an open field. He also has been accused of raping his patients.He was arrested this morning as a result of an undercover operation by the office of Oklahoma’s Attorney General Scot Pruitt.I have participated in a Forty Days for Life vigil outside Dr Patel’s clinic. It’s on a nice street in a quiet neighborhood. The surroundings...