Free Republic

In shutting down the government, members of Congress have turned their own U.S. Capitol complex into a ghost town running on a skeleton crew. There aren't any tourists milling through the Capitol rotunda. Fewer police officers are working, so many entrances are closed. Up to two-thirds of each office's staff is at home, forced to shut off their BlackBerries. And many of the usual comforts of a lawmaker's day job have vanished.

The Associated Press TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Protesters angered by the acquittal of George Zimmerman in Trayvon Martin's killing are leaving the Florida Capitol after staging a 31-day protest. The small but determined group wanted Gov. Rick Scott to call a special session to repeal the state's "stand your ground" law. Scott refused. But House Speaker Will Weatherford agreed to hold a legislative hearing on the law. Organizers say they are not giving up on their goals.

ST. PAUL, Minn.—A task force studying security at Minnesota's Capitol is starting a review of regulations for having firearms in the building. The Advisory Committee on Capitol Security has two hearings planned on the topic, the first coming Wednesday. Next week, the panel expects to take public testimony. People with proper permits and notice can have a gun with them in the Capitol and nearby buildings. Hundreds of people have declared their intention to do so since Minnesota last updated its handgun permit law. During last session's hearings on eventually unsuccessful gun legislation, some people showed up with their firearms...

I guess freedom of assembly is not in style anymore… This was left on the voice mail of the organizer of today’s Audit the IRS Tea Party rally. The Capitol Police left this message attacking the Tea Party folks in Washington DC. “There are members of your group that are moving into other areas of the Capital grounds joining other groups on the east front of the Capitol. That activity is not authorized.” They didn’t want the Tea Party protesters to join the immigration rally on the other side of the Capitol building. They said it was not authorized.

Scandal politics are sweeping Capitol Hill. Just days after news broke that the IRS targeted conservative nonprofits, Speaker John Boehner’s House committees will morph into mock courtrooms where the White House will be the defendant in what amounts to a number of high-stakes political trials.The most recent scandal to grip the Obama administration came Monday evening, when The Associated Press disclosed that the Justice Department sought its reporters’ phone records — including those of correspondents who sit in the Capitol. Within hours, House Republicans vowed to investigate. To make things worse for President Barack Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder

**SNIP** “Just to put in a good word for the frustration that our staff is feeling in the Cannon [House office building] tunnel,” she said, in a YouTube video of her comments. “We’re still in the midst of the Spring Break session and the lines are very, very long and with the closure — again, when we’re in session, so not just doors, but magnetometers, having a staff only magnetometer open in the Cannon tunnel as much as possible so there are staff when — particularly when they are walking with us, who can go around them — it would...

“You know, those Capitol janitors will not get as much overtime. I’m sure they think less pay, that they’re taking home, does hurt.” — Gene Sperling, director of the White House economic council, on ABC News’ “This Week,” March 3, 2013 “On the issue of the janitors, if you work for an hourly wage and you earn overtime, and you depend on that overtime to make ends meet, it is simply a fact that a reduction in overtime is a reduction in your pay.” — White House spokesman Jay Carney, news briefing, March 4 At a news conference last Friday,...

(CNSNews.com) – For the second time in two years, Washington, D.C., has been ranked the number one city for cheaters. According to AshleyMadison.com, a web site that bills itself as “the world’s leading married dating service for discreet encounters,” the nation’s capital was at the top of the list of America’s Least Faithful Cities with 34,157 sign-ups – more sign-ups per capita in 2012. “With enormous public attention paid to political cheating scandals this year, including the Gen. Petraeus affair, there was no doubt that Washington residents would be influenced. Living in DC it’s crucial to keep up appearances and...

I estimated that there were over a thousand people in attendance. I counted 100, then counted roughly equivalent slices. I would estimate that about on third of participants were armed. The gun show a short distance away (competition for the rally) was packed. Dean Weingarten

Just a quick note. I am tired from driving to Phoenix to the protest against more gun laws at the capitol, then a quick look at the fairgrounds for the gun show, and then found my place in the desert broke into on the way back. I have some pictures of the rally at the capitol that I hope to post later. We arrived at the show about 11:45, and had a hard time finding parking. Finally found a spot and moved to the capitol. I counted out a hundred people, cut the crowd into roughly equivalent slices, and figured...

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. Still Has Capitol Hill Allies, but Support is WaningAs allegations mount, Illinois politicians are standing with Jackson -- for now By Lauren Fox November 19, 2012 **SNIP** Fellow Democratic Illinois Rep. Danny Davis says that while Jackson faces mounting problems, it's hard to believe his long-time friend would have engaged in such behavior. Jackson is accused of purchasing a $40,000 Rolex and redecorating his home with campaign finances. "If he were functioning not in an altered mental or emotional state, he would not have committed those acts," Davis says. "They don't seem like something that a...

Congress gives OK to electric car charging stations on Capitol HillBy Ramsey Cox - 08/03/12 12:35 PM ET Congress has approved legislation that would allow the Architect of the Capitol to construct battery-recharging stations for electric cars in congressional parking areas. The bill introduced by Rep. Dale Kildee (D-Mich.) requires that construction be at no net cost to the government but says the Architect of the Capitol could construct, operate and maintain battery-recharging stations in House and Senate parking lots. Users would pay a fee, which would eventually pay for the installation and maintenance of the stations. The bill passed...

Climate activists scuttle plans for ice-melting protest on Capitol HillBy Ben Geman - 07/07/12 10:59 AM ET A climate advocacy group has canceled plans to unveil an ice sculpture next to the Capitol Saturday that was meant to counter global warming skeptics in Congress, citing concerns it would be insensitive to West Virginia residents still without power. The group 350.org had planned to unveil ice forming the word “hoax?” on a day when Washington, D.C. temperatures are expected to reach almost 105 degrees, which would break the daily record and approach the city’s all-time high. The fast-melting ice would have...

A big splash occurred on Monday morning at the House Press Gallery in the U.S. Capitol. No, this wasn’t one of those unexpected guest appearances for celebrities to talk to reporters about some favorite cause. This splash came from an exploding urinal. More specifically, something suddenly broke in the piping of the third-floor urinal, and water began spewing from beneath the men’s room door. As the water flowed, it first surrounded the Associated Press’s working area, then spread toward both ends of the gallery, which was occupied by fewer than usual reporters and staffers, because the House is out of...

FBI agents arrested a 29-year-old man in a sting operation Friday night who planned a suicide bombing attack on Capitol Hill in Washington DC. Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd told reporters the suspect had been closely monitored by law enforcement while planning to detonate what he believed were explosives. He allegedly prayed in a Washington mosque shortly before his arrest. The suspect was allegedly of Moroccan descent and has spent 12 years in the United States, but it is not clear whether he has U.S. citizenship. He had been under surveillance for several weeks, sources said, and had considered a...

Washington - The FBI and Capitol police arrested a man Friday who thought he was going to carry out a bombing attack on the U.S. Capitol but was in fact dealing with FBI undercover operatives for the past few months, federal officials told NBC News. The man, Amine el Khalifi, 29, who is from Morocco, was arrested about noon ET Friday near the Capitol after he received what he thought was a firearm and a vest containing explosives from people he thought were supporters of al-Qaida, sources told NBC News. In fact, the vest had inert material that wasn't hazardous,

(CNSNews.com) - The 63-foot Sierra White Fir lighted at the U.S. Capitol Grounds on Dec. 6 as the official 2011 Capitol Christmas Tree includes a prominently displayed ornament paying homage to President Barack Obama, but includes no ornament readily visible to a person standing near the tree's base that uses the word “Christmas,” or includes an image of the Nativity, or bears the name or image of Jesus Christ. On the north side of the tree--at a height of about 4 feet and easily visible to people standing near it---there is an ornament that says: “I ♥ President Obama.”

A conservative group has set up a nativity scene at the Capitol building in Madison, and an atheists' group is seeking its own permit for an opposing display. A WISC-TV report says Wisconsin Family Action has been granted a permit to display its scene until the end of the month. The six statuettes that sit on a table depict the birth of Jesus Christ. Group spokeswoman Julaine Appling says the display is tasteful. She says there's room for a number of different voices. But the Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation says a nativity scene isn't appropriate for a state building....

Update, 5 p.m. Occupy Austin protestors left the Capitol peacefully after Texas Department of Public Safety troopers notified them that they could only stay for three hours in a 24 hour period without a permit. DPS officials weren’t immediately available to comment on the rules surrounding protests on Capitol grounds. Troopers at the Capitol declined to comment. Update, 3:50 p.m. About 30 protestors have now gathered at the Capitol. Ihor Gowda, who has participated with Occupy Austin since its inception in October, said that troopers with the Department of Public Safety have informed protestors that there is a 10 p.m.-6...

Gongwer News Service reported recently that the agency that oversees Capitol Square moved Monday to avoid a public hearing on gun regulations. On October 20, the unelected CSRAB voted to prohibit concealed guns on the property surrounding the Statehouse. From coverage at the time from The Columbus Dispatch: "The thought was that the board wants to be proactive as we continue to have more events outside," said Gregg Dodd, the board's deputy director. "The board's intent is to make the Statehouse the people's house, inclusive and acceptable to everybody, and we just want to assure that all families that are...