Free Republic

One of the largest churches in Boise, Idaho, apologized for participating in "white supremacy" and announced it is removing the likeness of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from a stained-glass window. In a statement, the pastors and staff at the Cathedral of the Rockies began by "acknowledging our own sin with a stained glass window," which also features presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. "The recent deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor brought long-overdue urgency to our discernment process," the church board wrote in a statement to members. "We are reminded of our privilege. We have waited...

When Idaho State Police Capt. John Kempf shouted “Stop. Police,” at the group of about 50 at McEuen Park on Saturday, they ignored that command. Instead, they ran. Sirens began screaming. Lights started flashing. Adults and kids kept running. And Kempf watched and smiled. Some ISP troopers on hand even applauded. “This is exciting, especially in light of the COVID stuff and everything else that’s going on, so it’s great to see the community coming together for a cause,” he said. That cause was the “ISP 5K Foot Pursuit,” an event to highlight the partnership between CASA (Court Appointed Special...

The country music sounds blasts from the past good to be here again I'm looking at a radio programming book from 1968 and here in York, PA WNOW at 1250 AM and 105.7 FM was the place for country music back then. I would start listening in during the fall of 1970 to begin my country music journey..... Today out of Dallas we get Glenn Beck with predictable negative comments about Russia. Russia and Texas have something in common. They produce oil and natural gas. Energy. Last December President Trump signed legislation to sanction companies helping to build the Nord...

Empirical and anecdotal evidence shows that Antifa is, in fact, highly networked, well-funded and has a global presence. It has a flat organizational structure with dozens and possibly hundreds of local groups. Antifa's stated long-term objective, both in America and abroad, is to establish a communist world order. In the United States, Antifa's immediate aim is to bring about the demise of the Trump administration. A common tactic used by Antifa in the United States and Europe is to employ extreme violence and destruction of public and private property to goad the police into a reaction, which then "proves" Antifa's...

Chad Daybell has been taken into custody after human remains were found on his Idaho property Tuesday morning, Rexburg Police Assistant Chief Gary Hagen said at a news conference. Daybell is the husband of Lori Vallow, whose two children have been missing since September.

Fremont County Sheriff deputies, Rexburg Police officers and the FBI arrived at the house on the 200 block of 1900 East around 7 a.m. The warrant from the Rexburg Police Department is sealed so it is unknown what information officers are trying to obtain. Numerous roads around the home are closed and drivers are being re-routed. The media is being asked to remain in a staging area. Nobody has been taken into custody and police tell EastIdahoNews.com they will be on the scene for hours. FBI spokeswoman Sandra Barker confirms the agency’s Evidence Response Team is assisting Madison County with...

A Friday afternoon (June 4, 2020) letter signed by Mayor Steve Widmyer and the Coeur d'Alene City Council expressed support for the rights of armed citizens who have been patrolling downtown since Monday. “It’s tough,” said Councilman Dan Gookin, “because the cops want to stay neutral. The cops want to do their job. We are the ones who take positions on this. But everyone’s been behaving marvelously. There’s been a lot of people downtown — I’m going to call them ‘militia,’ because I don’t know what else to call them. There’s been a lot of militia downtown, and they’ve been...

May 27, 2020 The Honorable Donald J. Trump President of the United States The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW Washington, DC 20500 Dear President Trump, We write today to urge you to consider the important role non-immigrant temporary visa programs will play in aiding post-pandemic economic recovery in America. Any changes to these programs should be very narrowly tailored to prevent additional damage to the already struggling American small businesses who rely on the assistance made possible through these visas. The coronavirus pandemic has brought devastating loss of life and livelihood across our country. As we begin to reopen,...

Reports and rumors that groups bent on rioting and violence in Coeur d’Alene brought out men and women with guns on Monday determined to stop them if they arrive. Dan Carson was patrolling Sherman Avenue with an AR-12 automatic 12-gauge across his chest, an AR-15 strapped to his back, two 9mm handguns holstered and a .38 special, too. “I heard there are some people on the way who shouldn’t be here,” he said early Monday evening. Those people, he said, were Antifa and Proud Boys, militant far-left and far-right groups. Carson said he was in Spokane Sunday night helping protect...

A police raid on a business operating in spite of a Repbublican governor's emergency orders but first.... "Analysts have long talked about the end of an American-led system and the arrival of an Asian century. This is now happening in front of our eyes. If the 21st century turns out to be an Asian century, as the 20th was an Amercian one, the pandemic may well be remembered as the turning point of this process" The words of the European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell...... In Idaho last Thursday state police raiding the Hardware Brewing Company in Kendrick. The...

Higher education reform will only come from the outside, probably from political reform. Or so we thought. Along came the coronavirus, also an outside force, that is upsetting the status quo in higher education. State universities are now preparing to cut budgets in the face of inevitable funding reductions from states and drops in student enrollment. The inevitability of cuts does not make reform inevitable, however. Left to their own devices, universities are likely to prioritize diversity over excellence and bureaucracy over faculty and student needs. Governors, state legislatures, and state boards of education should, as John M. Ellis argued...

There have been two new cases of the coronavirus reported in the Panhandle Health District since Friday. PHD reports there are a total of 70 cases, with 66 in Kootenai County and four in Bonner County. Boundary, Benewah and Shoshone counties still have no cases. Sixty-seven of the cases are no longer being monitored. As of Wednesday, only seven of the 70 cases have resulted in hospitalizations. There has not been the feared outbreak of cases since restaurants, salons and gyms reopened Friday. Gov. Brad Little’s reopening plan for the state allows bars to open May 30.

"We won't be staying in our cars and you don't have to wear a mask. There may be a lot of people giving hugs and lots of hand shaking going on. Doing our part to strengthen the herd immunity against Covid-19" Libertarian activist Ammon Bundy announcing a worship service..... Meanwhile the federal Bureau of Land Management is investigating after a complaint from hikers about Ryan Bundy building irrigation infrastructure on land traditionally used by rancher Cliven Bundy but claimed as federal land now designated as the Gold Butte National Monument..... Also in the linked story the US Ninth Circuit Court...

Libertarian activist Ammon Bundy praising the stand taken by a Washington state law enforcement officer over what what the officer sees as gross violations of Constitutional rights under the present coronavirus regime in the United States.... In northern Idaho's Kootenai County Ammon Bundy will be among the speakers at "Liberate America".... Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods in Israel being warned that they will be locked down tight again for holding religious bonfire observances last night..... Newborn babies and mothers among those killed in a terrorist attack on a hospital in Afghanistan's capital of Kabul today.... An Israeli soldier killed when a stone...

Willow Creek, Montana (CNN)The children filed in, one by one, keeping their distance, to have their temperature taken at the door as Willow Creek School in Montana opened Thursday. "They're incredibly excited. They are so glad to be back," said Erika Wahl, the mother of two students at the school, which has between 50 and 60 students in grades K-12. "They miss their teachers, they miss their friends." While 48 states and Washington DC have ordered or recommended that schools close through the end of the academic year because of the coronavirus pandemic, schools in Montana and in Idaho opened...

Introduction I mentioned the other day that a pub/restaurant in Kendrick, Idaho had reopened for business. The state police showed up, but were kind of stymied because one of the customers inside was the lieutenant governor of Idaho. And there are also wheels within other wheels. Hardware Brewing Co. — for that is their name — just received notice that they might have their liquor license removed for their effrontery, which was somewhat complicated by the fact, as I also heard the other day, that our sheriff and his deputies were all inside having a drink. It is as though...

A restaruant where customers can sit down has been open for business in Kendrick, Idaho since May 1st in violation of the coronavirus martial law house arrest order of Republican Governor Brad Little. Now the Hardware Brewing Company being threatened with an alcohol license suspension by the Idaho State Police..... Anti-house arrest lockdown protests in several German cities today Munich, Frankfurt and Cologne..... An incident being called "fatal" involving an Iranian logistics ship near the port of Jask with unofficial reports calling it a "friendly fire" incident..... Al Qaeda affiliated jihadists in northwestern Syria launched a surprise attack on government...

Well here we are in the Year of our Lord Anthony Fauci.....OK......well a set of songs ending with Noel Paul Stookey "wherever two or more are gathered...there is love" and we need "love" right now that reaches out to help others be free..... In Iowa yesterday a Republican photo op with VP Pence and GOP Governor Kim Reynolds, the GOP Senators Grassley and Ernst. They were with religious leaders and Iowa will allow regulated worship services that comply with social distancing and sanitary rules. The government regulating churches. That is so like China... And it was so like the USSR...the...

Well here we are in this stressful wartime situation. I am out working and even volunteering a bit six days a week experiencing what's real out there. Fear and anger and shortages of goods..... Covid-19 Russia Update: Almost 10-Thousand New Cases.... DC 19 Update: Spain's Inmates Allowed Out Of Their "Cells" To Exercise As one person put it to me today: "It's like we're living in North Korea" Well, we maybe on the way to Venezuela or North Korea with some signs appearing in front of us in plain sight but the folks there you can argue have it worse...

The Russian pipe laying vessel Academic Cherskiy has reached Danish waters on a journey that began on the other side of the world earlier this year. Russia sent the vessel in a bid to complete the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to bring natural gas directly from Russia into Germany and onto other European countries. Its a move that's been opposed by the United States, which wants to sell liquefied natural gas made in the USA to Europe. To make the point the US imposed sanctions on any companies helping to build the pipeline with President Trump signing the legislation..... Canadian...