Free Republic

Reaction from Republican Sen. Richard Shelby and congressional Democrats rolled in Wednesday following President Trump's tweets announcing a ban on transgender people serving in the military. Shelby, an Alabama Republican, said the president's announcement reverses the current "big tent" policy for the country's all-volunteer military and that he wanted to look more closely at Trump's morning tweets.

Data Show Counties in 11 States Have More Registered Voters than Eligible Adult Citizens. ... The 11 states are: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina and Tennessee. The states have 90 days after receiving the letters to address the problem and provide Judicial Watch documentation showing that they have conducted a “statewide effort to conduct a program that reasonably ensures the lists of eligible voters are accurate.” Judicial Watch informed the states that should they fail to take action to correct violations of Section 8 of the NVRA, it would file suit. Section...

A staff member of a Dothan church shot and killed a man who robbed him and another parishioner inside the church on Sunday night, police said. Dothan police found Steffon Parreese Valentez Tolver, 26, dead of a gunshot wound in the parking lot of the Crossroads Baptist Church 2574 Westgate Parkway at around 10:34 p.m., police said. Police said Tolver had entered the back door of the church and robbed a parishioner of about $50. When Tolver then attempted to rob a staff member of the church, the staff member fired his handgun once, hitting Tolver in the upper torso....

Rainbow City PD releases video to refute claims of officer brutality In an effort to silence claims of police brutality made in a viral Facebook post, Rainbow City police have released body camera video of a traffic stop that occurred Thursday night. The post, which has been shared 28,600 times as of early Friday evening, claims officers beat, use a stun gun and pushed a man off a bridge around 10 p.m. The post says the man was taken to a Gadsden hospital and airlifted to UAB Hospital, but next of kin was not notified. Photos of the man in...

Roy Moore, former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, announced an endorsement for his U.S. Senate campaign that may well resonate with the Crimson Tide nation. Former Alabama All-SEC running back Siran Stacy appeared with Moore on Thursday night at a candidate forum in Huntsville. *** "The hopelessness is over for America," Stacy said. "God is raising up generals all over this great nation and he's raising up one specially in Alabama. I'm honored to be a part of Judge Moore's team." Stacy played from 1989-91 after transferring to Alabama. He helped lead the 1989 team to the Sugar...

“America, baby!” An Alabama roofing company has created an internet buzz with a now-viral advertisement promising customers free assault rifles with the purchase of a new roof. “Donald Trump says, ‘Make America great again.’ I say, ‘Make America gun again,'” co-owner Zach Blenkinsopp announces in the ad. “If you sign up for a new roof with Digital Roofing Innovations, you are going to get you a free AR-15 rifle after we complete the roof.”

U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks won a straw poll Thursday night conducted at a candidate forum in his hometown of Huntsville. Brooks was among nine candidates participating in the forum organized by the Christian Citizen Task Force, which estimated more than 300 people attended the event. Organizers said 240 ballots were cast - 200 for Republicans and 40 for Democrats. Brooks was the first choice on GOP ballots with 101 votes, followed by former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore with 74. U.S. Sen. Luther Strange - who was appointed to the seat in February that is on the ballot in...

After being removed twice for refusing to abide by federal court rulings in defense of the posting of the Ten Commandments in public areas, former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore is now the leading candidate – as seen in internal polling – to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ vacated United States Senate seat. According to Politico Pro’s Daniel Strauss,fellow candidate – and current member of Congress – Mo Brooks’ internal polling indicates that Moore is leading all competitors with 31 percent, with Sen. Luther Strange in second at 23 percent and Brooks trailing closely behind in third with 21percent, with...

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore holds the lead in the race for the United States Senate, polls show. According to Politico, Moore currently has 31 percent of the vote in a field of almost a dozen Republican primary candidates. Next in line is sitting Sen. Luther Strange, who formerly served as Alabama attorney general, at 23 percent of the vote. U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks holds 21 percent of the vote, while all other candidates generated less than 5 percent public support. “With roughly six weeks to go until Election Day, we must work even harder than...

If I told you that Baptists broke the Ramadan fast at a local mosque, it might grab your attention. If I added that a Republican U.S. Senate candidate showed up after the evening prayers for a stump speech, you'd think I was surely making it up. If I claimed that we all had dinner together, you'd probably be bracing for a particularly bad punch line. He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. ... Luke 22:36 That is...

The US Army's Redstone Arsenal post in Huntsville, Alabama, is on lockdown because of a "possible active shooter," the facility's Twitter account said Tuesday. There were reports of a shooter at Building 5301 -- the Aviation and Missile Command building -- at the post's Sparkman Center, Army spokeswoman Kim Hanson said.

Possible active shooter on Redstone Arsenal, officials asking people to avoid the Sparkman Center

REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. – Officials with Redstone Arsenal have confirmed there is “some sort of situation” near the Sparkman Center, Building 5301. We know there was a planned drill planned for tomorrow morning. We understand that employees have been told to shelter in place. WHNT News 19 has multiple crews headed to Redstone Arsenal to find out exactly what is going on. Please refresh the story for the latest information.

The summer reading list for Gene Ponder's AP Government and Economics class at Spanish Fort High School in Alabama is causing some trouble. Mr. Ponder filled his list with books authored by conservatives -- and libertarians. I know – right? Imagine that - a conservative public school teacher! Sweet mercy, America! Miracles do happen. Mr. Ponder’s summer reading list was a bonus assignment and included writers like Ann Coulter and Mark Levin and Ronald Reagan and Thomas Sowell. For the past 10 years, he’s instructed the students to spend a portion of their summer reading just one book on the...

Concerns from local residents have led to a summer reading list for a Spanish Fort High School AP Government/Economics being pulled. Spanish Fort High teacher Gene Ponder’s summer reading list for his class included a number of texts from a majority of conservative and right-leaning authors including Ann Coulter, Michael Savage, Ron Paul, Thomas Sowell, Chuck Colson and Ronald Reagan. Some of the titles of the books included “Trickle Up Poverty: Stopping Obama’s Attacks on Our Borders, Economy and Security,” “Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto,” “48 Liberal Lies About American History,” “Guilty: Liberal ‘Victims’ and Their Assault on America,”...

Throughout the 2016 campaign and into the early stages of his presidency, Donald Trump vowed to make infrastructure improvements around the country. The promise was all part of his brand of populism — spend more money domestically and less abroad. America first. “We need members of both parties to join hands and work with us to pass a $1 trillion infrastructure plan to build new roads and bridges and airports and tunnels and highways and railways all across our great nation,” Trump pledged at a campaign rally in Melbourne, Florida, earlier this year. Given Trump’s Russia investigation toxicity, it will...

“If you’re white, you’re probably racist,” an editor for the University of Alabama’s student newspaper told her classmates in a recent op-ed. Writing last week for The Crimson White, Opinions Editor Marissa Cornelius begins by listing various “internalized racist beliefs” she considers common to white students, such as “being scared of the Walmart on Skyland Boulevard” or being surprised that a black classmate is “articulate.”

On April 10, Antonio Sanchez was driving from a landscaping job in Pelham to his home in Pinson when he was pulled over for having a large pile of branches in the back of his truck. The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office deputy who stopped him did not give the father of seven a ticket for the branches. But the deputy ran a check on him and discovered that his license was suspended [reporter omits why the DL was suspended] and he had missed a court date for a public intoxication violation. The deputy who stopped Sanchez for having branches...

A lawyer for an Alabama inmate put to death by lethal injection said Friday she is concerned his trembling limbs and labored breathing were an indication something “was not right” with the procedure. Robert Melson, 46, was pronounced dead at 10:27 p.m. CDT Thursday at a southwest Alabama prison, authorities said. Melson’s attorneys had filed a flurry of last-minute appeals seeking to stay the execution, arguing that the state planned to use a sedative that would not reliably render Melson unconscious before other drugs stopped his longs and heart. In December, an Alabama man coughed and heaved for the first...