Free Republic

Everything seems very serious, very important, very consequential now. The earlier debates — months ago — were looser. The eight or nine candidates would bounce onto the stage. Romney would greet Bachmann with a big mwah. Cain would smile brightly. The atmosphere was almost festive. But now we’ve gotten down to the nitty-gritty — crunch time. Newt immediately links himself to Reagan. Remember when pundits swore the Gipper couldn’t win? he says. He also points out that Reagan’s economic program was labeled “voodoo economics.” That was Bush 41’s — the future Bush 41’s — line, of course. But the 1980...

Gingrich, speaking for about 20 minutes Monday, called Romney's latest attacks "desperate" and "baloney." He told the crowd he expects to hear more of it from Romney at Monday's nationally televised debate at the University of South Florida. "If you've been campaigning for six years and you begin to see it slip away, you get desperate," Gingrich said. Newt Gingrich, riding a big victory in South Carolina, got more good news Monday before appearing at a rally of supporters in Tampa. A new Rasmussen poll put Gingrich in the lead in Florida with 41 percent of the vote. Mitt Romney,...

All four remaining GOP candidates have been confirmed for tonight's debate sponsored by NBC News, the Tampa Bay Times, The National Journal and the Florida Council of 100. The debate will take place at the University of South Florida in Tampa. This will be the first of 2 debates this week focusing on the Florida GOP primary on Tuesday, January 31st. Note the air times on the east and west coast. Television Air Time: Monday, January 23rd at 9pm ET, 8pm CT and 9pm PT on NBC Live Streams: (airing 9pm ET) NBCPolitics.com, National Journal, and TampaBay.com Participants: Gingrich, Romney,...

Picture Emerges of Teen Suicide Pilot CHARLES BISHOP: To some, he was a smart, humorous student, which makes his suicide flight all the more incomprehensible. By CURTIS KRUEGER, KATHERINE GAZELLA and ED QUIOCO © St. Petersburg Times published January 8, 2002 ----------- Charles Bishop was a teacher's dream. He read Shakespeare in class, pulled together a middle school literary magazine and enjoyed a good game of flag football. Friends and family members who knew him best described Charles as a patriot. The teen who flew an airplane into the Bank of America building, carrying a note sympathizing with Osama bin...

The lone 15-year-old pilot who stole a small private plane and crashed it into a high-rise office block in Tampa, Florida, left a note expressing sympathy to Osama bin Laden. Tampa Police Chief Bennie Holder said the note was found on the body of Charles Bishop, who was the only person killed in Saturday's incident. "I would characterize it as a suicide note," Holder said.. He said Bishop's note clearly stated that he had acted alone without any help from anyone else. "Troubled Young Man" But Holder said that in the note Bishop expressed sympathy for bin Laden, the Saudi-born ...

Teen Pilot Kept to Himself By PAT LEISNER Associated Press Writer January 6, 2002, 12:10 AM EST PALM HARBOR, Fla. -- The high school freshman who stole a small airplane and crashed it into a high-rise building Saturday was a quiet boy who kept to himself and bartered for his flight lessons by cleaning airplanes. Flight school officials said Charles J. Bishop, 15, was well versed in the operations at National Aviation Academy, where he had been taking lessons since March 2001. Bishop was presumed dead in the crash, authorities said Saturday night. He was a year shy of being ...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) - Authorities say a 25-year-old described as an Islamic extremist was arrested in a plot to attack sites around Tampa, Fla., after taking possession of disabled guns and bombs The U.S. Department of Justice announced the arrest of Sami Osmakac on Monday. Authorities say Osmakac is a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in the former Yugoslavia. He has been charged with one count of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. His first appearance in federal court is scheduled for Monday afternoon.

Federal agents over the weekend arrested a Pinellas Park man described as having extremist jihadist beliefs who wanted to blow up a target in Tampa and create "terror" in victims' hearts. "I want to do something terrifying," he said, according to a federal complaint, "like one day, one night, something's going to happen. Then six hours later, something else." Sami Osmakac, 25, was taken into custody after an FBI sting operation in which he tried to buy explosives, at least 10 grenades, Uzis and an AK-47, authorities said. Osmakac's intended target shifted over the course of the investigation, which spanned...

Drug Enforcement Administration agents have raided an Oklahoma car dealership that the government suspects may be one of about 30 such businesses in the U.S. involved in funding the terrorist group Hezbollah. DEA agents say the car lot of Ace Auto Leasing in Tulsa is part of a huge network that is selling cars and drugs -- and then using the money to support terrorism against the U.S., myfoxphoenix.com reports. During Friday's raid, agents could be seen carryout out filing cabinets and other items. They also questioned employees and took inventory. "They're making big time money and it's going right...

TAMPA — Shootings at Ybor City clubs and recent fatal gunfights in East Tampa alarmed police. Chief Jane Castor called for a community meeting. So many young men have been losing their lives in the senseless shootings, she said. In the past two months, four have died. And compounding it all, she said: In Florida, guns are readily available. So the group decided on its first move — a gun buy-back program. The Tampa Bay Lightning donated $12,500, which will be handed out Saturday. Organizers will pay $50 for each gun brought to the Seminole Heights Baptist Church. There's a...

My very conservative and funny 20 year old daughter and a friend just got back from the Occupy Tampa rally. She and her friend held up a sign that read "Tofu is Murder." To show you the mental capacity of the shiftless malcontents who populate these events, they took her seriously, and thought she was "down with the cause", whatever that is. I told her the good thing about these rallies is, no one is missing a day of work. :)

Occupy Tampa demonstrators may have been getting a bit too settled at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park with their around-the-clock protest against corporate greed, war and politics. During the past two days, a couple of canopies were set up there, and that tested the edgy relationship between demonstrators and police. On Friday morning, police told protesters to take down canopies and tables and move coolers that blocked a portion of the sidewalk along Ashley Drive. "That's like setting up a camp in a public park," said police spokeswoman Laura McElroy. The demonstrators complied, grudgingly dismantling the canopies and folding up the...

Posted: 5:37 pm EDT September 20, 2011Updated: 6:30 pm EDT September 20, 2011 TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida is bringing in thousands more police officers as added security during the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa. Roughly 4,200 law-enforcement officers from throughout Florida will be on duty and the state also will have 1,700 National Guard on hand the week of Aug. 27. Charlotte, N.C., is adding a similar number of police for the Democratic National Convention the week of Sept. 3.

Does Freeper have an ongoing thread for the Republican convention in 2012? It will be in Tampa, Florida. I don't think its too early to plan for Freepers who may be going. The Dems already are planning to protest and encouraging their minions to get hotel rooms, etc. I'm in Jacksonville, Fl and plan on being there to support our conservatives. I used to live in St Petersburg/Tampa so I know the area.

TAMPA, Fla. - Multiple sources are confimring Buccaneers great and Hall of Famer Lee Roy Selmon has died after suffering a massive stroke. SnipIn his first year with the Tampa Bay Bucs, Lee Roy won the team's Rookie of the Year and MVP awards. Selmon went to six straight Pro Bowls and was named NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1979. A back injury made the 1984 season his last, and the Bucs retired his number, 63, in 1986.

TAMPA --When drug dealers started disappearing from street corners earlier this year, Tampa police detectives thought something was going on. And when officers made traffic stops, they began noticing something odd. They were finding "massive amounts" of preloaded debit cards, along with ledgers and laptop computers, said Sgt. Terry Goff in an exclusive interview with The Tampa Tribune and News Channel 8. [snip] Erstwhile street criminals were now using laptops and mailboxes to steal hundreds of millions of dollars by filing fraudulent tax returns with stolen Social Security numbers. Investigators believe Tampa is at the tip of a national trend...

Just headlines so far. "Officials said the employees were working in the mail sorting area when they came across some kind of substance with a strong smell. The substance touched one of the workers' gloves."

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 22, 2011CONTACT: Levi Russell at Levi@FrontlineStrat.com, or (509) 979-6615TEA PARTY EXPRESS NATIONAL TOUR LAUNCHES FROM NAPA, CA ON SATURDAY!"Reclaiming America" bus tour will hold tea party rallies in 29 cities, span 17 daysThe Tea Party Express is making final preparations to launch their fifth national tour that will bring conservative rallies to 29 cities across the country. Billed "Reclaiming America," the latest tour will feature conservative singers, speakers, and entertainers, as well as local elected officials and candidates. The tour will help put a spotlight on the failed policies of the Obama administration, and call...

I stopped in at "Big Papa's Pit" in Tampa for some barbeque and Earl the manager showed a picture he had been sent. I just have to share it. This was on 275 in Tampa

A passenger was pulled off an American Airlines flight at Tampa International Airport and arrested Sunday morning after authorities found a knife in his carry-on bag. The suspect, Philippe Francois Martinez, 43, made it through security lines because TSA screeners who saw the knife initially detained wrong person and wrong carry-on bag, officials said. After TIA police searched the first bag and found no knife, officials reviewed security film, which provided a description matching Martinez. Officials found Martinez on the plane. A subsequent search uncovered the knife in his carry-on bag and led to his arrest.

As reported yesterday, the ultra-Leftwing, George Soros-funded 'Media Matters' confronted the reporter who first broke the ATF gun smuggling scandal as he sat outside the committee hearings on the subject in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday. Shoving a cell phone camera in his face, the Media Matters propagandist demanded to know why Mike Vanderboegh had 'lied' about the Tampa field office of the ATF smuggling guns into Honduras. Media Matters posted their story yesterday, in which they accused Fox News of reporting Vanderboegh's assertions without doing an adequate fact-check. It goes without saying that Media Matters, the pompous...

At ARFcom, Nolo Contendere, who does heroic work mirroring all the news reports of the growing Gunwalker Scandal writes: To all the agents that are wrestling with what to do, whether to become a whistle-blower or whatnot.... do it. Come forward. WE NEED YOU NOW MORE THAN EVER. If you want, I can get you in touch with the right people, or you can go straight to Grassley/Issa's committees yourself. Do not wait, do it now. You owe it to Brian Terry. Your higher-ups WILL turn on you, and you do NOT want to be carrying the water for these...

David Codrea is reporting that Congressman Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) wrote a letter today to Attorney General Eric Holder and Acting Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Kenneth Melson, expressing deep concerns over the allegations of release of guns to MS-13 from the Tampa ATF office. “These reports,” Bilirakis writes, “raise troubling questions about the motives, intentions, and competency of the ATF and DOJ.” “In recent days,” he notes, “it has come to light that the ATF and DOJ may have participated in the act of ‘gun walking’ beyond the acts conducted within the scope of “Operation...

Exclusive Special Report by Mike Vanderboegh and David Codrea WASHINGTON, DC: Congressman Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) wrote a letter today to Attorney General Eric Holder and Acting Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Kenneth Melson expressing “deep concern about reports that [ATF and DOJ] have participated in multiple acts of ‘gun walking,’ purposely allowing firearms to pass from straw purchaser into the possession of criminals and other dangerous third party organizations.” “These reports,” Bilirakis writes, “raise troubling questions about the motives, intentions, and competency of the ATF and DOJ.” “In recent days,” he notes, “it has come...

Exclusive Special Report by Mike Vanderboegh and David Codrea The source reporting Special Agent in Charge of ATF's Tampa Field Division Virginia O'Brien "ran a gun-running investigation that was walking guns to Honduras using the techniques and tactics identical to Fast and Furious" contacted these correspondents again this evening with this follow-up report: O'Brien is in full meltdown. She ordered supervisors from around the Division to report immediately to division offices and to plan on working through the entire weekend on the coverup. Her partner in the bungle was ASAC Scott McCampbell. At one point the case was ready to...

TAMPA, Fla., May 31, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A prominent national human rights and advocacy organization is calling upon Tampa city and Florida state officials to conduct an honest and thorough investigation into the suspicious death of Fatima Abdallah. The Florida chapter of the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI)/Stop Islamization of America (SIOA) is holding a Rally for Justice for Fatima Abdallah at 2 p.m. on June 10 at Lykes Gaslight Park in front of Tampa Police Headquarters. The Rally will include a news conference. Speakers will call upon State Attorney Mark Ober, Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn and Tampa City Council...

A Tampa mother is behind bars Monday after beating her one-year-old child for eating her marijuana. Tampa Police say India Couch, 22, faces drug and felony child abuse charges. Investigators say the child was left unsupervised, found the pot in her mother's purse, and ate an undisclosed amount of the drug. That's when police say Couch beat the child with a sandal and then hit the one-year-old hard enough to leave welts. TPD also says this mother attacked her live-in partner with a dumbbell.

TAMPA - The police evidence photo shows Fatima Abdallah's lifeless body on her brother's new Tampa living room floor. She lived there in a gated subdivision, a private investigator says, with three other Muslim families, shunned and divorced because she could not produce children. Conservative activist David Caton says he knows what it was. "This was what you would call an honor killing," he said. Acting on neighbor tips and the private eye's work, Caton, of the Florida Families Association is pushing police to reopen the case, insisting Abdallah died because her family believed she had dishonored them under Islamic...

TAMPA, Fla., Experts said a punishment involving a Florida 15-year-old wearing a sign detailing his scholastic missteps may be considered maltreatment. Ronda Holder, 33, said her 15-year-old son, James Mond III, was made to wear the sign on a Tampa street corner for about 4 hours Wednesday after he did not respond to previous attempts to make him focus on his schoolwork, the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times reported Monday. "I did 4 questions on my FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test) and said I wasn't going to do it ... GPA 1.22 ... honk if I need (an) education," the sign...

Gov. Rick Scott has turned down more than $2 billion in federal money for a high-speed rail project that would link Tampa and Orlando. "The truth is that this project would be far too costly to taxpayers and I believe the risk far outweighs the benefits,'' Scott said this morning in a release announcing his decision to turn down the rail money. Scott said he weighed three main points in deciding to turn down the money:

A group from the Westboro Baptist Church is planning to protest the funerals of the two teenagers killed by their mother; Julie Schenecker.   Click the link   airforcetimes.com cannot be posted due to copyright complaint.

TAMPA — A woman whom police investigated for her relationship with Dontae Morris, a suspect in two police killings, was arrested after a traffic stop Sunday on charges including 81 felony gun counts. Alaina Nichole Riggins, 26, of Seffner was being held on $614,500 bail in a Hillsborough County jail. Among the charges, police filed one for each of the more than 70 bullets they said they found on her. An arrest report says a Tampa officer observed a gold Toyota she was driving make repeated turns without using a signal on E Clifton Street early Sunday. The officer turned...

When security personnel at the MacDill Air Force Base's Dale Mabry gate detained Scott Allan Bennett in April after he seemed to be intoxicated, it appeared to be just a simple case of a service member suspected of driving under the influence. But that stop led to an investigation accusing Bennett of something far more serious – breeching security at the home of U.S. Central Command – which runs the war in Afghanistan - U.S. Special Operations Command and the 6th Air Mobility Wing. Bennett, 39, is accused of obtaining base housing under false pretenses, by pretending to be an...

The airport has closed its primary runway until Jan. 13 to repaint the numeric designators at each end and change taxiway signage to account for the shift in location of the Earth's magnetic north pole. The closure of the west parallel runway will result in more activity on the east parallel runway and more noise for residential areas of South Tampa. The busiest runway will be re-designated 19R/1L on aviation charts. It's been 18R/36L, indicating its alignment along the 180-degree approach from the north and the 360-degree approach from the south. Later this month, the airport's east parallel runway and...

TAMPA — A few times a month, the sommeliers at Bern's Steakhouse go hunting for wine lost and forgotten in the restaurant's cellars. They climb the shelves, crawl over cases and shine a flashlight on anything not on the inventory list. It's like mining for gems, says restaurant owner David Laxer. You never know what you'll find. This spring, they struck gold. A double magnum 1947 bottle of Chateau Latour. The selling price: $30,000. The first-growth Bordeaux will be on the 61st edition of Bern's wine list due out in early January. It's by far the most expensive wine in...

Heavy spending for the 2008 national convention did not start until the summer and fall of 2007. By end of September 2006, the party had spent $35,500 on convention arrangements. That compares with the more than $636,000 spent to date. The total spent on preparations prior to July 2007 was $411,000. The arrangements committee is on pace to spend $2 million to $3 million by summer. "They're hamstringing the next presidential nominee," said an official familiar with past convention arrangements. He said money spent now cannot be replaced, potentially limiting the choices the next nominee will have in staging the...

Pinged to my twitter account - quote: Security concern: Passenger at JFK removed from Tampa-bound JetBlue flight 3 minutes ago via breakingnews.com

VALRICO - For 48 hours, the family of David James had to cope with questions. Why was the 41-year-old Iraq war veteran gunned down in front of his 8-year-old daughter? Why was the man deputies say killed him, in a dispute over a teen skateboarding, allowed to remain free and continue working with children? Tuesday afternoon, some of those questions were answered.

September is the time to start preparing your lawn for the winter, especially if you want great spring results. “Waiting until early spring, or even winter, is too late for optimal results – the lush verdant carpet you want to see,” states Travis Wascher, owner of Excel Lawns, a lawn and landscaping business servicing the four county area of Tampa/Clearwater. Fall fertilization can be confusing for many. “Applying the appropriate amount of the correct fertilizer will stimulate a vigorous, healthy lawn that can overcome weeds and serve as a filter to protect Florida's ground and surface waters,” notes Wascher. “On...

ROMULUS, Mich. SNIPPET: "Delta Air Lines Inc. spokesman Kent Landers said flight 1721 left the Detroit airport in Romulus at about 7:30 p.m. Friday and returned about an hour later. He said the passenger was removed from the plane. FBI spokeswoman Sandra Berchtold said the female passenger wasn't arrested but wouldn't be allowed back on the plane."

Tampa, Florida -- An incident aboard a United Airlines flight to Tampa resulted in nine foreign-born people being removed from the airplane and left several passengers shaken. In fact, several thought the incident was serious enough that they asked to be booked on another flight. At least 15 passengers who arrived in Tampa Monday on a United flight were supposed to be here Sunday night. However, the incident involving the nine men changed everything.

It has long been the objective of the Left to remove personal, Spiritual dedication from any dimension of everyday life. Most recently, the Tea Party has come under attack with charges of racism. The Tea Party would have a hard time laying claim to “guilt as charged” by the media, given the number of black activists within their ranks. However, this has not deterred the Left from furthering the attacks. The goal and objective for the Left is to keep the Tea Party so busy defending themselves against these baseless charges that they are hampered from achieving their goal of...

TAMPA — The largest manhunt in city history ended peacefully Friday night when the man suspected of fatally shooting two Tampa police officers surrendered. Dontae Rashawn Morris, 24, turned himself in about 10:15 p.m. to face charges that he killed police officers David Curtis and Jeffrey Kocab early Tuesday. "I can't tell you how relieved the men and women of the Tampa Police Department are," police Chief Jane Castor said at 11:05 p.m. "Thank God he's behind bars right now."

The man who allegedly killed two police officers during a traffic stop -- and has evaded authorities for days -- is also wanted in connection with three other killings, police said today. Law enforcement officers wearing body armor and carrying assault rifles were in the third day of a manhunt for 24-year-old Dontae Rashawn Morris. At a news conference Thursday, Tampa Police Chief Jane Castor called Morris "a cold-blooded killer." But police declined to release details on the other slayings linked to him. In one case, WTVT of Tampa reported 21-year-old Derek Anderson was shot and killed outside his family's...

...But this is not a perfect world, and now, tragically, the families of Curtis and Cokab, instead of celebrating the 4th of July, will be burying these two fine young police officers, husbands, and family men. What started off in the early hours of Tuesday morning as a routine stop of a car with no license plate on display quickly turned deadly when, according to the police, the passenger in the car, identified as 24 year-old Dontae Morris, opened fire on both officers. The suspect, who has a lengthy police record, reportedly fled on foot and the car sped off,...

TAMPA — Two Tampa police officers were killed Tuesday after being shot during a traffic stop, police said. A massive search for two suspects was launched as the city reeled from the second fatal police shooting in less than a year. The shooting suspect, the passenger in the car, already was wanted on an outstanding warrant, police said. Officers Jeffrey Kocab and David Curtis, both 31, were shot in the head at 50th Street and 23rd Avenue, said Mayor Pam Iorio after a news conference. Kocab died at Tampa General Hospital. Curtis died several hours later, according to police. Curtis'...

As Barack Obama continues to golf, hit the ballpark, BBQ and party, the BP oil slick is now threatening Tampa Bay. Authorities have set up plans for evacuation. Veterans Today reported. As FEMA and other government agencies prepare for what is now being called the worst oil spill disaster in history, plans to evacuate the Tampa Bay area are in place. The plans would be announed in the event of a controlled burn of surface oil in the Gulf of Mexico, or if wind or other conditions are expected to take toxic fumes through Tampa Bay. This practice has been...

TAMPA — An off-duty FBI agent shot and killed an Army veteran Wednesday night after a confrontation and chase at MacDill Air Force Base, officials said. It all started at the base's family camp, a recreational vehicle area at the south end of the base, said Col. Larry Martin, 6th Air Mobility Wing commander. The veteran was visiting the base when an altercation broke out. He took off on a motorcycle with security officials in pursuit, according to Martin. "He became more and more aggressive as the pursuit continued," said Dave Couvertier, a special agent with the FBI. When the...

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- Fire officials say one person is dead in a shooting at an entrance gate to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla. Tampa Fire Rescue officials say they were called to the gate at 6:47 p.m. on Wednesday.

A Republican National Committee panel recommended the Gulf Coast city during a closed-door meeting, rejecting Salt Lake City and Phoenix. The decision came amid calls from Hispanic groups and others to boycott Arizona after it adopted a law to crack down on illegal immigrants. Florida, with its hefty 27 electoral votes, decided the 2000 election for George W. Bush. Obama won the state in 2008.