Free Republic

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