Free Republic

Just moments ago on the Sean Hannity radio show, GOP candidate and RINO Rick Santorum took it upon himself to convict George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin case. He said, and I’m paraphrasing slightly: It was a heinous crime and he did a despicable, unjustifiable thing and the Sanford police should have reacted to that immediately. Again, I am paraphrasing a little as I did not have a recorder running to get his exact words, but that was essentially his statement.

Former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum on Thursday criticized comments in US Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) made earlier this month i n a speech that critics have said was unnecessarily confrontational toward a Middle Eastern Christian group. "We have a responsibility to stand by people who are being persecuted," Santorum told Business Insider in a wide-ranging interview in New York. "This shouldn't be an ideological test — well, you have to agree with us on all of these things, or else we won't be with you. No, we're going to be with you if you are a religious minority that's...

Meet Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky’s Dad, Marc Mezvinsky By Erin Dooley Sep 27, 2014 Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky has been dubbed “the Clinton baby,” but Chelsea’s new bundle of joy is also part of the Mezvinsky family – and Bill and Hillary Clinton aren’t her only interesting grandparents. Chelsea’s husband, Marc Mezvinsky, is heir to a once-powerful political dynasty. His father, Ed Mezvinsky, was a two-term Democratic congressman, representing Iowa’s first congressional district from 1973 to 1977. But in 2002, the former congressman pleaded guilty to swindling more than $10 million from family and friends in a Ponzi-esque scheme. Ed Mezvinsky himself...

York, Penn., desperate to turn around major holes in its budget and major shortfalls in academic achievement, is considering the drastic step of turning every school in the city into a charter school run by one of two for-profit companies.To do so, however, it will have to overcome major resistance from both parents and organized labor.York, which already has several small charters in operation, is considering hiring one of two charter school companies, Mosaica Education or Charter Schools USA, to take over all of the city’s remaining schools starting next year.The measure is primarily driven by York’s failing finances and...

Steve Malanga at Public Sector Inc. reports on Pennsylvania governments increasing taxes in order to pay increased pension requirements. Malanga follows tax increases in Scranton, York City, and in a number of school districts. He also notes that districts are looking to challenge property assessments in search of more revenue. The Warrior Run School District in Union and Northumberland counties has a different idea on how to raise revenues. Last week the school district sent registered letters to dozens of property owners advising them that it is challenging the assessments of their properties, asking for a higher value and tax...

SCOTLAND, Pa. (WHTM) - State police in Chambersburg are investigating an incident where someone took an authorized ride on a PennDOT pay loader. The heavy equipment was parked south of Shippensburg last week, but sometime over the weekend was taken for a four-mile drive on Interstate 81. Police said the pay loader was driven from Exit 24 for Fayette Street and ended up in a motel parking lot off the Scotland exit. Investigators believe the unauthorized ride occurred sometime between Saturday at 7:30 a.m. and Sunday at 1:30 p.m. Anyone with information is asked to call state police in Chambersburg...

1924: Pep, “The Cat-Murdering Dog” Pep "The Cat-Murdering Dog" was a black Labrador Retriever admitted to Eastern State Penitentiary on August 12, 1924. Prison folklore tells us that Pennsylvania Governor Gifford Pinchot used his executive powers to sentence Pep to Life Without Parole for killing his wife’s cherished cat. Prison records support this story: Pep’s inmate number (C-2559) is skipped in prison intake logs and inmate records. The Governor told a different story. He said Pep had been sent to Eastern to act as a mascot for the prisoners. He and the Warden, Herbert “Hard-Boiled” Smith, were friends. Pep was...

Penn State Young America’s Foundation Chapter were told to take down their table from a designated “free speech zone” on campus. They were handing out Constitutions – on Constitution Day.

CANADENSIS, Pa. – Nine days after a gunman opened fire in a deadly ambush at a state police barracks, authorities have had no contact with the suspect they describe as a self-taught survivalist despite an intensive search that shut down the heavily wooded community where he lived with his parents. Though a shelter-in-place order had been lifted in the Pocono Mountains community where police have focused their search, they continued to urge residents to be vigilant Sunday as the manhunt continues for Eric Frein. Frein's father, retired Army Maj. E. Michael Frein, told police that he had taught his son...

--snip-- Marsico is a high-powered lobbyist with Greenlee Partners in Harrisburg. He is married to Channel 6 reporter Annie McCormick. The two were married by former Governor Ed Rendell last year.

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin will speak at the Values Voters Summit next week in Washington, D.C. http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/09/19/Sarah-Palin-to-Speak-at-Values-Voter-Summit

<p>PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - A man armed with a banana robbed a convenience store in Philadelphia and rode away on a bicycle with cash and cigarettes, a security surveillance tape showed.</p> <p>The suspect strolled into Tejada Grocery and got in line behind another customer at the counter, where individual bananas were available for sale, according to the tape of Tuesday's robbery, which was released by police on Wednesday.</p>

Canadensis, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- Police in Pennsylvania appeared to be closing in Friday night on the suspect in the slaying of a state trooper. Police have surrounded a home where they believe Eric Matthew Frein is believed to be hiding, a local government official told CNN. The home, which was broken into, is not far from Frein's family home in Canadensis, Pennsylvania, in the Poconos Mountains. Police exchanged gunfire in the area with an individual believed to be Frein.

Chris Stigall hosted Texas Senator Ted Cruz at the National Constitution Center to discuss the upcoming elections and President Obama’s plan to combat ISIL in Iraq and Syria.(AUDIO-AT-LINK)Cruz said the government shutdown that Republicans forced last fall has led to the American public’s collective rejection of the Affordable Care Act. “As a result of that fight, we elevated the national debate and millions of Americans across this country focused on all the incredible harms, the disaster that is Obamacare, and as a direct consequence of that fight, today President Obama’s approval ratings are at the lowest they’ve ever been…We have...

A Message from Pennsylvania State Treasurer Rob McCord Yesterday, the state’s General Fund balance dipped below zero -- the earliest point in a fiscal year this has happened since at least the year 2000. In response and after consulting with the Department of Auditor General, Treasury made a $1.5 billion line of credit available to the commonwealth to cope with what is clearly an alarming structural fiscal imbalance. Treasury’s line of credit will help the commonwealth avoid high transaction costs typically associated with tax anticipation notes, and it allows the state to draw down on the loan only as needed...

In the weeks and months after Trayvon Martin was killed, his mother saw 50 different photos painting him as a thug.. It was as if portraying the slain 17-year-old as something he wasn't — a muscle-bound, tattooed rapper, or a young man wearing his pants low and flipping middle fingers with each hand — somehow justified his death, Sybrina Fulton said. "At first, I thought I was at fault myself. I thought maybe it was the hoodie," she said. But Fulton said she soon came to realize that even in 2012, she didn't have to look to her son's sweatshirt...

The suspect in the killing of a trooper and the critical wounding of another outside a rural barracks is a survivalist... Eric Matthew Frein, 31, of Canadensis, Pa., is still armed with the .308-caliber rifle that he used to open fire on the barracks late Friday, State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan said at a news conference where he revealed the suspect's name. Noonan called Frein "extremely dangerous." "

The NRA is reporting that an important gun law reform will be coming up for a vote this week.  From the nraila.org: Next week, the Pennsylvania Legislature returns from its summer break, and the NRA has learned that the state House of Representatives may be considering a vote on House Bill 2011 as early as next Monday.  This critical firearms preemption legislation is needed to strengthen and provide consistency in Pennsylvania’s firearm and ammunition laws throughout the state.  To date, nearly fifty municipalities have enacted illegal local gun control ordinances including Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Lancaster, Reading and the state capital...

Parents' House Seized Over Son's $40 In Drugs The rare moments Christos Sourovelis can take a break from running his own painting business, he can be found toiling away on his family's dream house in the suburbs of Philadelphia. "I'm a working guy. I work every day, six days a week, even seven if I have to," Sourovelis says. One day this past March, without warning, the government took his house away, even though he and his wife, Markella, have never been charged with a crime or accused of any wrongdoing...

Following the release of new footage that seems to show now former-Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice punching his then-fiancée in the face, it’s important to remember that the prosecutor who let Rice off with a slap on the wrist is now trying to throw the book at a young mother of two who tried to protect herself and her family from violence. Atlantic County Prosecutor Jim McClain approved an application for admitting Rice into New Jersey’s Pre-Trial Intervention program that allowed the NFL star to avoid jail time. Instead, Rice has to undergo counseling and will be immediately incarcerated...