Free Republic

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan repeatedly steered state transportation development money to projects that would increase the value of his real estate holdings, according to a lengthy investigation by Washington Monthly’s Eric Cortellessa. Cortellessa reports that Hogan, who ostensibly left his brother in charge of his real estate brokerage firm when he was elected, has, in fact, maintained ownership and control while serving as governor; the trustees he handpicked to run his company have continued to keep him apprised of its business dealings. And as governor, he has advanced highway and road construction projects that directly boosted the value of land...

ANNAPOLIS — In 2009, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley closed the visitor center at the Sideling Hill cut, the symbolic gateway to Western Maryland, as a cost-saving effort. Some saw the move as personal, or at least confirmation of how the former governor felt about the state’s rural counties. “We had only two visitor centers that were closed in the entire state under O’Malley,” said William Valentine, an Allegany County commissioner. “It wasn’t too hard to figure out what happened.” Current Gov. Larry Hogan reopened the Sideling Hill Visitor Center in 2015. Earlier this year when Hogan took the stage...

Mark Levin has proposed a series of "Liberty Amendments" to the Constitution through an Article 5 state convention. I have my own set of amendments which I hope to share here and add to the proposed Liberty Amendments. The first involves the resurrection of the city-state. This plan would take our largest cities, governed primarily by socialist Democrats, and separate them out as independent, self-governing, self-funding political units, with no connection to the states, but within the exclusive oversight of the federal government, just as the states are. There is a huge separation in this country right now between the...

SPARKS, Okla. – Near a remote, dirt road intersection not far from this Lincoln County community, there are at least five visible cracks in the road, evidence of the 5.6 magnitude earthquake that was centered here late Saturday evening, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Having experienced an earthquake both at Red Dirt Report headquarters in Oklahoma City and another one while visiting Oklahoma State University in Stillwater – all in less than 24 hours, your Red Dirt Reporter, along with RDR contributor Ted H. Smith and photographer Marie Mentesana did our research as to the location of the quake’s...

We did a circular 5 mile walk from The Parrot Inn, Forest Green. On the return leg we walked out of a wood and came to the Buttercup Field.

Like many townies, my prejudices about the Glorious Twelfth were well and truly fully formed. The official start of the shooting season was nothing more than an ancient ritual to massacre thousands of defenceless birds. So it was with some cynicism and not a little trepidation that I agreed to take part in the Glorious Twelfth last Tuesday, the traditional start of the shooting season, on a moor on the Durham/ Northumberland border. (edit) Having missed my first bird and about to hand over my place to the next gun, I looked back at the group. Mums with red-faced...

Valle de la Pascua 22.09.06 – Two of the most important cities of Venezuela´s Llanos saw impressive levels of support in rallies for opposition candidate Manuel Rosales. The first in San Juan de Los Morros and the second in Valle de la Pascua was, according to local resident Orlando Vale, the biggest rally the city had seen in many years. ¨What we saw today we hadn´t seen since the days of the first campaign of Carlos Andres Perez¨ said Vale, who added with emotion ¨and there are even more people today!¨ The rally started in a chavista neighborhood known...

MADRID (Reuters) - Spaniards are no longer allowed to smoke as they take a Sunday stroll in the woods, under new government rules aimed at curbing the risk of fires such as a recent one in which 11 firefighters died. Lighting fires in open spaces is banned nationwide until November, by when the country's severe drought may have eased. Friday's law, which comes into force immediately, emphasizes the danger of barbecues at picnic places, thought to be the cause of the fatal blaze in Guadalajara, and prohibits farmers from burning stubble, for example. Just under 30 percent of Spaniards over...

The war to the death against big estates decreed by President Chávez in the Poliedro put paid to the illusions held by many who still believed that the government was going to act rationally and within the confines of the law. ... This Commission will have a “constitutional mandate” to incorporate the land it considers “idle, abandoned or underused” into “the productive process of the country,” according to the Decree on the Reorganization of the Ownership and Use of Land Suitable for Agricultural Use. The land so considered will be handed over to groups of the population and organized communities...

Hunt protesters invade Commons(Filed: 15/09/2004)MPs have voted in favour of a Bill to ban hunting with dogs following a debate that was briefly suspended when five pro-hunting protesters broke into the House of Commons. The Bill was backed by a vote of 356 to 166 after a tense afternoon when riot police were brought in to Parliament Square to control pro-hunting protesters. Four of the protesters reached the floor of the House from behind the Speaker's chair before one of the men confronted Alun Michael, the rural affairs minister. He shouted: "This isn't democracy. You are overturning democracy." Another man...

World's mega cities expand as millions quit the countryside Peter Beaumont Sunday October 19, 2003 The Observer (UK) It used to be the stuff of 2000AD, the comic that introduced the world to Judge Dredd and two vast crime-filled cities, Mega City One and East Meg One. In its dystopian vision, the first mega city around New York began construction in 2030, intended to house three to four million people. In a sign of how quickly future dystopias age, the new Times Atlas of the World lists the growing club of real mega cities, all of them with predicted populations...

The countryside will erupt in fury if the Government does not listen to the Liberty and Livelihood march's concern about a possible ban on hunting, John Jackson, chairman of the Countryside Alliance, warned yesterday. At the start of the largest civil rights demonstration ever staged in the British Isles - which according to alliance figures attracted 407,791 people on to the streets of London between 10am and 5.38pm - Mr Jackson said hunting was the marchers' "touchstone issue". His warning was echoed by one of his regional chairmen, Michael Clayton, who said that in Leicestershire's hunting country, where 1,000 riders...