Free Republic

In Washington, D.C., where issuing traffic citations is a $179 million-a-year business, drivers get speeding tickets for violations they donÂ’t commit and for vehicles theyÂ’ve never owned. Those are among the findings in a 115-page audit of the three city agencies that issued nearly 2.5 million parking and traffic tickets in fiscal 2013, according to a withering report issued Monday by the D.C. inspector general. The report portrays the District as the Wild West of traffic enforcement when compared with neighboring jurisdictions and the states, with a shortage of regulations, a legion of ticket writers often confused about the rules,...

A D.C. sixth-grade teacher will apologize for an assignment that asked students to draw comparisons between former President George W. Bush and Adolf Hitler. The McKinley Middle School teacher sent students home with a Venn diagram and asked them to compare and contrast Bush and Hitler. At least one parent found it troubling on a number of levels. He told News4 he sees a certain lack of respect for the office of the president. And the instructions read "both men who abused their powers," which the parent said presents opinion as fact. D.C. Public Schools released a statement late Wednesday...

Post your conditions or noticable behavior of your city officials here. Little Rock-

A day after the New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade announced a step toward LGBT inclusion, a pastor at the Archdiocese of Washington said that it is time to end such events altogether as they have been “hijacked.” Instead of wearing green and attending St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, Monsignor Charles Pope, said Catholics should “enter their churches and get down on their knees on St. Patrick’s Day to pray in reparation for the foolishness, and to pray for this confused world to return to its senses.” The statements were published on Pope’s designated blog on the Archdiocese of Washington’s...

COLORADO – Two F-16 fighter jets under the direction of North American Aerospace Defense Command assisted the FAA today with an unresponsive general aviation aircraft. The aircraft took off from Waukesha Airport in Wisconsin and was on its way to Manassas Airport in Virginia when it crashed into the Atlantic ocean, approximately 140 NM SW of Washington, DC. (snip)

A WUSA-TV news van was burglarized in Washington, D.C., Friday while the news crew was interviewing locals nearby, the station reported. The robbery happened as they were reporting about a “sketchy neighborhood” app. The crew said they had locked their van in D.C.’s Petworth neighborhood, but someone popped the lock and absconded with “the gear of photojournalist James Hash, the backpack of reporter Mola Lenghi, and the purse of intern Taylor Bisciotti.”[snip]

Sometimes - but not always - news reporters get exactly what they are looking for when covering a story. For one news crew from CBS News affiliate WUSA in Washington, D.C., they got a little more. The news crew's vehicle was burglarized while they were working on a story about a controversial app that alerts people to "sketchy" neighborhoods, WUSA reports. The crew had locked their news van on a street in Petworth in Northwest, D.C. while they were out in the neighborhood conducting interviews. When they returned they found the lock had been popped out of the door of...

A quarter of a century ago, Washington DC had a fearsome reputation for crack abuse and rampant gun violence - it was the "murder capital" of the US. But now, once-blighted neighbourhoods close to the centre of the capital are thriving. When Ruben Castaneda moved to the US capital in 1989 to take up a job with the Washington Post, he was struck by how easy it was to score crack. Days after arriving in the city, he was taken to S Street Northwest by a "strawberry" - a streetwalker who offered sex in return for drugs. "The moment she...

Former D.C. Mayor and now Councilman Marion Barry was being treated at Howard University Hospital after being involved in a head-on car crash on Saturday night. ... he was driving the wrong direction along a one-way stretch when he hit another car.

Former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry was hospitalized Saturday night after he drove a vehicle into an oncoming lane of traffic and was involved in a wrong-way car crash on Pennsylvania Avenue in Southeast. Mr. Barry’s spokeswoman Latoya Foster said the 78-year-old, now a D.C. Council member representing Ward 8, “had a hypoglycemic attack, became disoriented and had a minor fender bender.” Ms. Foster said both the diabetic former mayor and his passenger, who she did not identify, were being checked out for injuries. “He’s OK,” she said of Mr. Barry.

The stay of the permanent injunction ordered by Judge Frederic J. Scullin in the Palmer v. D.C. case has raised considerable ire among those who believe that the right to keep and bear arms has been denied in the District of Columbia for far too long.   Many thought that if constitutional carry were allowed for a period of time in the District, crime rates would have dropped.  Alan Gura predicted such a drop.    Many thought a crime rate drop would make it hard to justify a stay.   Some accused Alan Gura of being an accomplice of the establishment...

According to District of Columbia, City Council member Phil Mendelson, gun ownership and the carrying of firearms “must be more heavily restricted [in D.C.] than any place else in the nation.” After all, says Mendelson, “four U.S. presidents have been assassinated by gunfire” “and there are frequent threats on the foreign diplomatic corps.” (1) But Mendelson and the rest of D.C.’s gun grabbing, Democrat gentry were finally stripped of their ability to ignore the Constitution when the District’s longstanding ban on carrying a firearm for self-defense was declared illegal. On July 26th, U.S. District Court Judge Frederick Scullin provided gun...

No surprise: effective immediately, DO NOT CARRY IN DC. The Court has given Washington, DC a 90-day stay on the ruling that nullifies DC’s “no carry of handguns” law. DC will now be hustling to come up with some kind of carry law. Based on the tyrannical government there, you can bet it will be as restrictive as they can possibly make it. After all, why would they want to make DC safer for its citizens? VCDL will continue to monitor the situation there.

DC Police Chief Lanier just told force not to arrest a person who can legally carry a gun in DC or any state. As of 6:24 p.m. on July 27, 2014, this is a welcome development. Many have said that the D.C. political establishment will ignore the judges order. This shows that Police Chief Lanier is, at minimum, unwilling to be found in contempt. Notice the broad extent of the order: no arrests for a person who can legally carry a gun in D.C. or any State.

There have been rumors flying about on what Alan Gura has agreed to on a stay on the Palmer v. D.C. case.   These were fueled in part by the wording in the District's request for a stay, which originally claimed that it was unopposed.  According to Alan Gura on his blog, that is not the case: I have a better understanding of what the city will now do. The city will probably file an appeal — that’s within their right. The city would ask for a stay pending the resolution of the appeal — they can ask for that,...

According to Emily Miller, the famous investigative reporter, DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson emailed her this message in reaction to the District Court finding that the constitutional rights of Americans did not stop at the District borders: "Because of the District's unique national security concerns, the right to carry a firearm in public must be more heavily restricted than any place else in the nation. Four U.S. presidents have been assassinated by gunfire, and at least five others have been shot at, including Ronald Regan who was seriously wounded in 1981. Neither the Secret Service nor the Capitol Police...

STUNNING DEVELOPMENT: DC Police Chief Lanier just told force not to arrest a person who can legally carry a gun in DC or any state.More -- DC police chief using guidance from AG -- grants full reciprocity for all open and concealed carry from others states.

A prominent veterinarian and farmer, who is also a member of the North Carolina State University's Board of Trustees, was arrested in the District of Columbia after police discovered a holstered, loaded handgun in his briefcase.   He apparently was scheduled to attend a meeting in the Cannon House Office Building.  Capitol police discoverd the firearm in an ankle holster inside of his brief case.   I suspect it was the Ruger LCP, a popular, small, pistol. A friend believes that the small gun was inadvertently left in the luggage.  From the comments at thestate.com: I know Ron personally and he...

Emily Miller is the famous investigative reporter who wrote the series  "Emily Gets Her Gun" about applying for a permit to legally own a firearm in the District of Columbia.  The series led to her successful book of the same title.   An autographed copy sits near my elbow.   I met Emily a couple of years ago at a Gun Rights Policy Conference.   She is a sharp woman, intimately familiar with the insanity of D.C. gun laws, who owns a legally registered handgun in the District of Columbia. She recently tweeted: Stay tuned- I'm writing a story with the details...

Dick Heller (yes the famous Heller of the Supreme Court case) is celebrating the resounding victory in the Palmer v. D.C. carry outside the home case that was released yesterday.    From Dick: Within minutes of getting home and sitting down at my kitchen table, I received a phone call. It was George Lyon, a plaintiff in the case as well as an attorney. He shared the good news that Judge Scullin, who was appointed by Justice Roberts, had issued a decision striking down the ridiculous and useless restrictions on self-defense with a firearm outside my home. With George on the...