Free Republic

SNIPWhile the number of votes swayed by the leaked audio remains uncertain, two things are now abundantly clear: The recordings were fake, created using artificial intelligence; and US officials see the episode in Europe as a frightening harbinger of the sort of interference the United States will likely experience during the 2024 presidential election.“As a nation, we are woefully underprepared,” said V.S. Subrahmanian, a Northwestern University professor who focuses on the intersection of AI and security.Senior national security officials in the US have been gearing up for “deepfakes” to inject confusion among voters in a way not previously seen, a...

Portland-based newspaper deletes tweet amid backlash The Oregonian newspaper received fierce backlash Friday after it revealed the race of the victim of a police-involved shooting in Portland in an apparent effort to quell potential riots. The Portland-based paper reported that police had responded to reports of a man in a park with a gun. The victim was described by the paper, which cited sources, as a "[W]hite man in his 30s." ...."Did a newspaper just imply that they leaked info about the skin color of a police shooting victim in order to avert a riot? Or is something else going...

It's a story of hard streets, difficult decisions, heightened tempers, and hard drugs. It's a story about human beings, our duties, our failings, and our weaknesses.Jury selection for the trial of Officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd began this week. Despite how it’s been portrayed by activists and most reporters, it’s been a difficult process precisely because Floyd and Chauvin’s story isn’t a tale of good or evil. It’s a story of hard streets, difficult decisions, heightened tempers, and hard drugs. It’s a story about human beings, our duties, our failings, and our weaknesses. If you think...

A week ago Sunday, social media erupted when a graphic video emerged showing a white Kenosha, Wisconsin police officer shoot, multiple times, a black man in the back as he attempted to enter a vehicle containing three children. The man later identified as 29-year-old Jacob Blake survived, and remains hospitalized.As the video went viral, violence erupted in this mid-sized Wisconsin community. Rather than call for calm, Wisconsin’s first-term governor, Democrat Tony Evers, fueled the outrage by framing the shooting as yet another “Black man or person” “shot or injured or mercilessly killed at the hands of individuals in law...

Body camera footage of SC shooting contradicts police claims By JEFFREY COLLINS COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina homeowner who was shot by a deputy checking a medical alarm did not jerk open his front door with a gun and was instead standing in the home’s foyer when the officer shot through a window, according to body camera footage released Monday. Homeowner Dick Tench has a concealed weapons permit and did have his gun in his hand, but was devastated when the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office’s initial account of the incident had him pointing his weapon at a police...

The California legislature has been batting around Assembly Bill 392 for most of the year without getting across the finish line. The legislation was crafted in response to “deadly shootings of unarmed black men” in the state and it had originally been billed as one of the toughest use of force laws regulating police activity in the country. But negotiations with law enforcement officials resulted in some changes being made to the language (without which it wouldn’t have passed) and activists are saying it’s too watered down to be effective. (Including some complaints from a very curious choice of people...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: We've got four more police officers shot. It has to stop. But, you know, one of the problems with this is that... I hate to say it. But some of these people -- Black Lives Matter, when they're involved and other civil rights groups -- when they start shooting up the cops, there's praise for them in certain sectors of our society. Certain elements of the Democrat Party are supportive. Certain elements of the media are supportive. We've had police officers shot in Texas; Missouri; San Antonio; Sanibel, Florida; St. Louis, Missouri; and Gladstone, Missouri. And I......

First, there were 990 fatal police shootings in 2015. How does this compare to other causes of death? Well, I can’t tell you because so few people are killed by police. The number is so small that it is outside the range of the usual mortality lists. I can say that death by police is not in the top fifty causes of death in the US, so it is relatively rare. It is extremely rare for women, because the overwhelming majority of those killed by police were men. And I would be greatly remiss if I did not highlight that...

attle catcher Steve Clevenger was suspended without pay for the remainder of the season by the Mariners on Friday, a day after he apologized for a pair of controversial tweets he posted on the violent protests in Charlotte, N.C., and the Black Lives Matter movement. One of those tweets stated that the people protesting a police shooting of a black man “should be locked behind bars like animals.” His apology came several hours after Mariners General Manager Jerry Dipoto issued a statement of their own, saying he was “very disappointed at the tweets” and the team is “currently examining all...

Congratulations! In the last 10 days, Five Dallas police officers and three officers from Baton Rouge, La, are dead. Another officer in Missouri was ambushed and is fighting for his life. Many others, police officers and civilians, have been wounded. Police fear for their lives. You, the liberal self- white-hating media, Black Lives Matter, and the racist/divider in chief Obama, have created pandemonium in this country. With the constant, biased reporting of black men being shot by white police officers, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the divider-in-chief, Obama, we are now headed toward and all-out race war in this...

Two Houston police officers fatally shot an African-American man who pointed a gun at them despite their commands that he lower his weapon, authorities said on Saturday, two days after five Dallas policemen were slain by a black military veteran. The two Houston officers, both Hispanic, encountered a man standing in the middle of a street with a revolver around 12:40 a.m. while on a routine patrol police spokeswoman Jodi Silva said. The officers exited their patrol vehicle to speak to the man, who initially had the firearm pointed to the sky. The officers ordered him to lower the weapon,...

Hours before the murders of five police officers in Dallas, Texas, President Obama was again spouting false claims about racism by the police. He sees racism whenever there is any disparity in outcomes, no matter what the cause. Obama and others inflame passions, but take no responsibility, and instead use events to push for more gun control. Yet, shouting racism can endanger the lives of police officers. The Dallas police chief tells us one of the shooters “wanted to kill white people, especially white officers.” After the Trayvon Martin case, there were numerous cases around the country of blacks attacking...

Just a question: Should the police killings by people inspired by (or belonging to) Black Lives Matter be used as a justification to deprive law-abiding Americans of their gun rights, as Republicans now appear to be supporting? Or should we conservatives instead tell everyone to take a deep breath and first have the administration show that they're willing to deal with Black Lives Matter as a terrorist group, as they should have been dealt with practically from the start? After that, then we can discuss what, if any steps, need to be taken to cut down on mass killings.

The Alton Sterling and Philando Castile shootings have caused an uproar among leftists because they fuel their narrative that racist white police officers are hunting down innocent black men. But the statistics – brought to light by the superb work of Heather MacDonald – tell a different story. Here are five key statistics you need to know about cops killing blacks. 1. Cops killed nearly twice as many whites as blacks in 2015. According to data compiled by The Washington Post, 50 percent of the victims of fatal police shootings were white, while 26 percent were black. The majority of...

Morning Joe did a very decent job today of covering the shooting of police officers in Dallas and the issue of police shootings of African-American. The remarks were generally even-handed. Even Al Sharpton was cautious and balanced in his comments. And so it was surprising that of all people, Chuck Todd made the most tendentious remark. Speaking of the shooting of Philando Castile in St. Paul, Minnesota, and discussing the need for better police training, Todd said: “how do you train prejudice and hate out of somebody’s heart? That’s a tough thing.” Is there racism among police? Of course, as...

Judge Jeanine Pirro got emotional this morning after the tragic situation with the Dallas Police department that saw snipers shoot 12 police officers, killing five. Most police officers feel abandoned by the political leaders. Barack Obama weighed in from overseas and focused on the guns once again. Pirro went after him and Congress for not addressing the problem sweeping America. We really need to find the way forward, amid all the hate, violence and ill intended behavior and rhetoric. I have 3 suggestions. 1. It's OK to voice your opinion about the problem(s) and the solutions as long as you...

Potential VP choice Newt Gingrich is the king of common sense. During his interview Friday appearance on Fox and Friends, Newt was asked how would a Donald Trump presidency fix things and he gave some great analysis to start a national conversation. Something I feel missing from this entire conversation is how the press, media should be held liable and responsible. They promote racism intentionally for better ratings. Whatever happened or did not happen in the most recent shooting of another career criminal we will never know. The facts have already been skewed and video fixed to only show the...

Sheriff David Clarke had an emotional response to Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Jesse Jackson's response to the Dallas police shootings and their race baiting rhetoric. To open fire on innocent people performing their job is despicable. Our country is quickly becoming no different than some of those countries in other places in the world with civil unrest. It seems to get worse each day and I for one am very nervous how this country will be in the years to come. Watch this terrific interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxJaP23SHUQI have several thoughts on how we got this way, and I know many...

Two Baton Rouge police officers who were shot early Saturday during a confrontation with a suspect are hospitalized in stable condition, police said. Baton Rouge Police Chief Carl Dabadie Jr. said he believed the officers' injuries did not appear to be life-threatening. The suspect is undergoing surgery at the same area hospital. "Everything is still preliminary, and we're still working the scene," Dabadie said. He did not release the names of the officers or the suspect. The suspect's godsister identified him as Calvin Smith, 22, CBS Baton Rouge affiliate WAFB-TV reports. Gina Chambers told WAFB-TV that Smith has a history...

A year ago today, a white police officer shot and killed a black teenager in a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri, catalyzing a firestorm of protests and re-animating national conversations on issues of race, policing, and violence in the US. Michael Brown's bleeding corpse was subsequently left facedown in the middle of the road for four hours on the afternoon on August 9, 2014 — exposed to the midday summer sun and eyes of residents, a few of whom snapped cellphone images that would eventually spread across social media, the nation, and the world. At Brown's funeral, two weeks later,...