Free Republic

Vermont has the highest rate of illicit drug use in the country with 15% of people saying they've used within the past month (compared to 4.2% in Utah, where illicit drug use is the lowest), according to 2010-2011 surveys from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The Northeastern state ranked high for almost every type of drug, from marijuana to cocaine. This trend is a consequence of factors including weather, politics, and proximity to big cities, according to Barbara Cimaglio, the Vermont Department of Health's deputy commissioner for alcohol and drug abuse programs. "You have everything from the...

As Americans ran from gunfire at the Navy Yard in Washington DC, commentator David Frum took to Twitter to talk gun control and suggest that gun control opponents were to blame for the shooting:

A downtown Seattle Starbucks employee was fired for taking an expired sandwich out of the trash and eating it, according to The Stranger. Coulson Loptmann, a 21-year-old part-time barista, said he grabbed a plastic-wrapped sausage sandwich out of the trash can in the midst of a seven-hour shift on Monday. According to Loptmann, the sandwich was one of a few being thrown out because of its impending expiration. Loptmann’s store manager found about Loptmann’s actions and contacted Starbucks’ human resources department. The Stranger learned that Loptmann’s manager terminated him on spot because his actions reportedly go against Starbucks’ policies. Zack...

The GOP sent letters to CNN and NBC today warning them to cancel their pro-Hillary movies before the election or face a a possible boycott. Chairman Priebus said if the networks go ahead with their Hillary projects the Republican Party would boycott their presidential debates. gop hillary After the outrageous stunt CNN’s Candy Crowley pulled in the 2012 debate the GOP should have already boycotted CNN from hosting future events. But the Republican elites don’t want to ruffle too many feathers.

On Wednesday, police in Austin arrested two Mexican nationals who reportedly participated in the gang-rape of a 13-year-old girl on June 29. The girl, a runaway, who lives at the Settlement Home for Children, was picked up by three Latino men and driven to the Avalon Arms apartments, where she was raped by a large group of men for several hours, according to police. As many as 13 men took turns sexually assaulting the girl. Many cheered and filmed the sickening crime on their cell phones, according to court documents.

Adiaratou Sall of Hazelwood says after ten years of banking with the Gateway Metro Credit Union she was refused service, for the first time ever, because she was wearing a headbag. Tellers wanted it removed for security reasons. KSDK The credit union says it has had a policy for years of no sunglasses, hats or hoods. Because of recent robberies the credit union is enforcing the policy more strictly. But Sall says she can vote, get a driver’s license and go through airport security with the same scarf and wants to know why banking should be any different. ”I feel...

What do I say now? ¿Qué le digo ahora?- On Monday, a majority of Senate Republicans voted to continue debate of the disastrous 'Gang of Eight' amnesty bill, surprising many when the vote easily cleared the required 60 threshold, 82-15. The reason many Republicans trust that a bill they haven't even read will "secure the border first" is because Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) has assured them it would - endlessly. He even wen't on a record-tying FIVE Sunday news shows to assert this (and a avalanche of other lies), and assured audiences he would never back a bill that did not...

Yesterday, Stephanie Cutter, Deputy campaign manager for President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign, appeared on Jake Tapper’s show The Lead on CNN. During the segment Stephanie Cutter admitted she had attended meetings with then IRS Chief Douglas Shulman at the White House: “A couple of facts here that I think are important for us to stick by, number one, the only reason we know about these visits is because the president makes everything public. Number two, what we’re really looking at some of these visits… What we are looking at the number of times that Mr. Shulman was cleared into...

The Democrat majority in the 2013 session of the Colorado legislature pushed through new gun control laws requiring universal background checks for any transfer of ownership and restrictions on the capacity of ammunition magazines. They did so over the advice and united objection of the County Sheriffs of Colorado, the association representing the 62 elected Sheriffs in the state. The Sheriffs crafted a five page memo  warning the legislators that the gun control measures they were proposing would be "unenforceable and possibly unconstitutional, while punishing law abiding citizens and doing nothing to reduce violent crime." About twenty of the Sheriffs...

When faced with a question of clemency or justice, Hickenlooper gave himself a pardon from responsibility. Colorado governor John Hickenlooper grants Nathan Dunlap a temporary reprieve In Colorado, the fate of convicted murderer Nathan Dunlap has been an issue of great debate. This past week, the governor of Colorado, John Hickenlooper, made what has to be one of the most cowardly decisions ever seen in politics by putting a man’s life and the expectations of his victims on hold just long enough to take the decision out of his hands. In 1993, Nathan Dunalap waltzed into a Chuck E. Cheese...

Lawmakers, aides may get Obamacare exemption By JOHN BRESNAHAN and JAKE SHERMAN | 4/24/13 9:49 PM EDT Congressional leaders in both parties are engaged in high-level, confidential talks about exempting lawmakers and Capitol Hill aides from the insurance exchanges they are mandated to join as part of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, sources in both parties said. The talks — which involve Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), the Obama administration and other top lawmakers — are extraordinarily sensitive, with both sides acutely aware of the potential for political fallout from giving carve-outs from...

I’m a huge Tiger Woods fan. That’s why it pains me that he continues to do damage to his once-nearly-pristine image. Having recently reclaimed his sport’s ranking as World No. 1 – as the Euros put it – Tiger flew this week to Augusta, Georgia as the favorite to win the Masters. He acquitted himself rather well the tourney’s first two days, save for a mishap yesterday on the 15th hole. He hit an approach shot to the green that, as bad luck would have it, ricocheted off the flag pole and careened into the creek. After taking a “drop”...

Reckon Jim Carrey lost a few of his 10 million Twitter followers Monday? In a biting "Hee-Haw" themed Funny or Die spoof, the outspoken comedian takes aim at America's "heartless" gun enthusiasts -- including Charlton Heston, the late actor and former NRA president.

The popular CBS reality show "The Amazing Race” is under fire for featuring an episode set in Hanoi, Vietnam, where contestants go to a B-52 Memorial, which is the wreckage of an American bomber plane shot down during the Vietnam War, to find the next clue in their televised round-the-world journey. In the episode, the twisted metal of the downed plane is treated as any other prop, with a bright ‘Amazing Race’ ‘Double-U-Turn’ signed planted in front of it, signifying to contestants the next phase of their scavenger hunt. The show also had contestants learn a song that was performed...

Confidential emails purportedly from former political adviser Sidney Blumenthal to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have been hacked and widely distributed to politicians and news sources. Included in the hacker “Guccifer’s” distribution list are Russian news services such as Pravda, Moscow Times, and RT.

A Berlin family of three has been living on practically nothing but love and the goodwill of others for more than two years and counting—not as a victims of the rough economy, but as activists who are on a money strike to protest what they call our “excess-consumption society.” ... Though Fellmer uses no money, he said Palmer does use a little, mainly in the form of child support she receives from the government, which is granted to all children.

DANA POINT – A 29-year-old man lured a 14-year-old girl with the prospect of drugs, alcohol and a free tattoo to get her to go to his Mission Viejo home, authorities allege. The tattoo artist, who worked at a shop near Fourth and Bush Streets in Santa Ana, is accused of having "highly inappropriate contact and sexual advances" toward the teen and her friend, said Jim Amormino, spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Department.((snip))After the incident was reported, investigators learned Nieves-Vera had been deported after he had been arrested by Murrieta police in 2004 on suspicion of child annoyance....

When celebrities and media personalities attempt to plumb the depths of our social consciousness, the result is rarely pretty. Such was the case Sunday night when NBC sportscaster Bob Costas shamelessly tried to capitalize on the recent and tragic murder-suicide involving the NFLÂ’s Jovan Belcher to score personal political points against law-abiding gun owners.For anyone who missed it, in his halftime segment during Sunday nightÂ’s NFL game between the Dallas Cowboy and the Philadelphia Eagles, Costas hit his captive audience of football fans over the head with this absurd rant: You want some actual perspective on this? Well, a...

The woman mayor who was kidnapped and murdered by a Mexican drug gang pleaded with her attackers for her young daughter’s life, it emerged today. Maria Santos Gorrostieta, who had already survived two assassination attempts, was driving the child to school at around 8.30am when she was ambushed by a car in the city of Morelia. The 36-year-old was hauled from her vehicle and physically assaulted as horrified witnesses watched, according to newspaper El Universal. They described how she begged for her child to be left alone and then appeared to get into her abductors’ car willingly. The little girl...

President Barack Obama released a one-minute web video ad Thursday that features a young woman, Lena Dunham, talking about voting for the first time in a blatant allusion to a woman losing her virginity.The ad is getting a disgusted, negative response from most of those who have seen it. On YouTube where the video is hosted on the Obama for America channel, commenting is disabled but viewers have found a way to vote their displeasure.As of 8:35 p.m. EDT the video's 'Likes' stood at 422.The 'Dislikes' were 1078.